#like do they think Puss is like that just because they wanted a Drama Queen for Team Shrek?

[furubatsu]

Curious to think how many kids these days know that Puss in Boots, played by Antonio Banderas was meant to be a parody of his--at the time of Shrek 2--iconic role as Zorro. And how many kids think that Puss in Boots is just...like that on his own?

#if that makes sense #shrek 2 #puss in boots #dreamworks #antonio banderas #just thinking about how iconic the Puss character has become #compared to like his star making role as Zorro #like do they think Puss is like that just because they wanted a Drama Queen for Team Shrek?

[not-close-to-straight]

100% Professional (Eight)

MASTERLIST

****************

"I'm surprised you wanted to meet here." Peter glanced around the coffee shop and then slid into the chair across from Wade. "Not that this isn't a nice place, it's just um--" 

"--just that I usually don't take my fucked up face out into pubic places?" Wade finished, and when Peter's eyes opened wide in horror, Wade waved him off. "Don't, Pete. Don't stress out about it. I know that's not what you were going to say. It's my new thing, cutting people off with something self deprecating to take the awkwardness out of the minute. It's fine." 

"I was definitely not going to say something about your face." Peter finished slowly. "I was uh-- I was going more for the 'wow Wade, I didn’t think hippies were your people'." 

Wade chuckled and Peter relaxed a little more. "Yeah, this is a little granola crunching and Birkenstock wearing for my usual taste. Close to home though, and I'm too lazy to walk much further, so here we go." 

"You're walking places now?" Peter smiled when a waitress put down a pot of coffee. "Since when?" 

"Group therapy." Wade said shortly. "One of the guys said it helped to walk places because they could focus on the number of steps instead of who may or may not be watching them, and then once they made it about the halfway point, why bother turning around, right?" 

"Group therapy." Peter repeated, obviously trying to find the right way to respond to that information. "So um-" 

"I didn't ask to see you cos I wanted to talk about therapy." Wade interrupted. "Or about how I'm making an effort to better myself or anything like that." 

"Then why'd you want to see me?" Peter poured a cup but didn't take a sip, just cradled the warm cup in his palms instead. "I can't imagine it's to ask me out on a date." 

"No." Wade huffed a laugh. "Uh no. That's not it. But I did want to see if maybe you wanted to go to a movie or something, just as friends." 

"Friends." 

"Something's here, Pete." Wade drummed his fingers on the table, fidgeted at his jacket, scratched at the drawn on eyebrows. "There's something between you and I and even though it's pretty fucking obvious I might never be ready for actually dating, I don't want to lose you completely. So. Friends?" 

Peter was quiet and Wade cleared his throat to add, "It's fine if you say no. I get it. It was a weird start because I was basically paying you to hang out with me, then it got worse when I had my breakdown and then it got weirder when I panicked about the date and stopped talking to you for a couple months and--" 

He stopped when he realized Peter wasn't even listening. "Pete? What are you doing?" 

"Hm?" Peter looked up from his phone. "Sorry, what?" 

"You're not listening." Wade tried and failed to keep the shock and hurt from his voice. "Well shit Pete, I knew I made shit weird but I thought I deserved a conversation without the phone out, huh?" 

"Oh!" Peter brightened into a smile and turned his phone around for Wade to see the screen. "The theater down the street as an all day marathon of old school horror films since it's Halloween next week. Sound good? They have that pizza joint inside and we could just eat pizza and drink beer and watch terrible horror films all day." 

Wade blinked at him and Peter clarified, "I was listening Wade. There's something between and it might not ever be dating but I don't want to lose you either. So let's get some pizza and beer, talk through old movies and figure out when we're going to do it again." 

"Just like that?" Wade took a sip of his coffee so it wouldn't be quite as obvious how badly his hands were shaking. "You don't have any questions for me? Or need to say anything?" 

"How's your new massage therapist?" Peter pulled out a few bills and tossed them on the table, holding out his hand to help Wade up. "Do you like them?" 

"They are 100% professional and very ugly." Wade confirmed. "Super boring and never lets their hands stray anywhere close to inappropriate." 

"Wow, they sound terrible." 

"The worst." Wade confirmed and when Peter laughed out loud, something wonderful loosened in his chest. "It's good to see you again Pete." 

"Mm-hmm." Peter pushed Wade down the street towards the theater. "You buy pizza and I'll buy beer?" 

"Sounds good." 

****************

****************

First it was movies, Peter and Wade taking advantage of all the Halloween hoopla to watch special showings of classic horror films. They laughed at the terrible effects and cackled at the cheesy lines and got into arguments about whether or not the always blond girl was only hired for the size of her rack or if there had actually been a screaming audition. 

"There might have been some screaming but it probably wasn't for the movie." Wade decided. "I feel like her audition took place on a couch, ya feel me?" 

"Oh ye of little faith." Peter snorted. "She's obviously talented and was definitely cast for her--" the woman on screen stumbled for no apparent reason and fell into a strategically placed puddle, soaking her white t-shirt clear through. "-- you know what? Comment withdrawn." 

The movies were fun, and from there they moved on to grabbing lunch together a couple times a week. Wade got more comfortable using light make up to cover the worst of his scars, he manged to find eyelashes that didn't made him look ridiculous and his drawn on eyebrows no longer rubbed off if he wore a beanie, so he headed down towards the Daily Bugle on Tuesdays and Thursdays to meet Peter at a sandwich shop and talk about their days. 

"J Jonah Jameson is without a doubt the crankiest guy in the world." Peter said around a mouthful of meatball sub. "His wife came in and gave him a kiss and he complained about how her chap stick tasted afterwards. He has a beautiful wife who visits him at work just to give him a kiss and he complains about her chap stick? That guy would piss off the Pope, I swear." 

"I think the doorman in my building is sleeping with the receptionist." Wade said the next time around, picking at his Italian sub with a suspicious expression. "And I don't mean dating. I mean I went to take the stairs, heard noises I've only heard on the Discovery channel--" Peter snorted soda up his nose when he cracked up laughing and Wade grinned. "--so I took the elevator and lo and behold, no one was at the desk or the door. "

"Oooh sexy." Peter leaned over and snagged one of Wade's fries. "But I got one better. Gwen was protesting at Hammer Tech the other day...

*********

The only natural progression from lunch was dinner but Peter came towards Wade side of town for that so they could try a new Thai place one week and then something Greek another and repeat their favorite taco stand at least six times in between. 

Sometimes they met at Wade's apartment and walked together, other times they just met at the restaurant and snagged a table by the window. Sometimes the conversation stayed to light topics, other times Wade would open up about what they were talking about in therapy, or Peter would talk about Gwen and Flash and things would get serious and thoughtful and Peter always had to stop himself from reaching out and trying to hold Wade's hand. 

Things were bound to change at some point, they were bound to slip over that line from just friends and give in to the attraction still simmering beneath the surface and it was one night at their favorite taco stand that it finally happened. 

"If this kills me, I'm coming back to haunt you." Peter warned as Wade handed him a spicy chicken taco. "I swear." 

"Quit being such a puss and just eat it." Wade said impatiently. "It's spicy chicken Pete, quit staring at it like I'm serving you salted dog or something." 

It might have been the over whelming spice, it might have been Wade's salted dog comment, but either way, Peter took a bite of the taco and promptly bent over trying to cough his lungs up, gasping for air and chucking the taco to the side so he could hold onto the cart and not collapse. 

"Ignore him." Wade told the vendor. "He's a drama queen. Your food is delicious. C'mon Pete, you're embarrassing me in front of the taco guy, pull it together." 

"I'm dying." Peter wheezed, clutching at Wade dramatically until the big solder finally laughed and hauled him up, pounding at his back good naturedly. "Wade, save me! Save me!" 

Peter finally got his breath back, finally got over the eye watering seasoning and managed to breathe without wanting to choke and straightened up to his full height, wiping at his eyes and scolding, "Do not hand me something new to eat and then hint that it may or may not be dog meat!" 

"Sorry, Pete." Wade grinned unrepentantly. "I'll wait until after you swallow it next time." 

"Fuck me, I hate you." Peter coughed again and Wade rubbed at his shoulder. "Jesus, that was-- no offense man--" he waved at the taco vendor. "--but I'll stick with the usual if that's okay with you? Spicy chicken is not my thing apparently.”

"One usual coming up." he promised and Peter turned back to Wade, leaning in and resting his forehead on Wade's shoulder without putting any thought into the motion. 

Wade apparently didn't think anything about it either, since he slid his arm tighter around Peter's back and held him close, turning his nose into Peter's hair and inhaling the scent of his shampoo. "Sorry about the fireball chicken taco." he muttered, then oophed when Peter pinched his side savagely. "Ow! Damn Pete! Let's work on a safe word before we start getting kinky!" 

Peter laughed hard enough to make his entire body shake then, and neither one moved away until the taco vendor cleared his throat and announced, "I have your usual, Mr. Parker." 

"Thank you." Peter reached for his food with one hand and linked his other fingers with Wade. "So, ridiculous chicken aside, what else do you want to do tonight? I hear they are putting up lights in the park since Christmas is only a few weeks away? That could be fun, or if if’s not fun, at least it will be sparkly which is just as good right?" 

"Pete." Wade looked down at their linked hands and then up at Peter nervously. "What are you doing?" 

"Oh." Peter dropped Wade's hand immediately, and even backed up a step. "Sorry. I just um-- sorry. I wasn't trying to pull anything. We're friends, Wade. Just friends." 

"Just friends." Wade repeated and Peter added, "100% professional." 

"Friends don't have to be professional." Wade pointed out, fighting a smile and the overwhelming flare of hope when Peter lit up into one of those beautiful grins.

"I guess you're right about that. Friends don't have to be professional." Peter inched closer, and then closer again and reached for Wade's hand. "This is okay?" 

"Yeah." Wade swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, this is okay." 

"Lights in the park?" Peter pressed at Wade's palm. "Or do you want to call it a night?" 

"...I'm not ready to say good night to you yet." 

"Oh good." Peter flushed a little when Wade squeezed his fingers. "I'm not ready to say good night to you either."  

****************

SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHAPTER!

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#ncts fics #spideypool #peter parker #wade wilson

[maribatshipper]

3 Fairy Godmothers Chapter 5

Chapter 4

"Hey, You! Back away from Mah Wife!"

Anna spins happily, clapping.

"YOU!" Fairy Godmother glares. "You couldn't just go back to the swamp and leave well enough alone!"

Anna flies next to her evil sister and glares, "You were going to make Fiona commit Bigamy!"

Shrek exclaims, "NOW!"

"PIGS IN BLANKET!"

Suddenly, a pig comes flying to the two fairies, grabbing onto Fairy Godmother's leg, surprising Anna, causing her to spin around laughing at her sister's predicament.

"Pinocchio, get the wand!" Shrek yells as he throws Pinocchio towards the two.

"I see London! I see France!"

Anna laughs even more as Pinocchio flies overhead trying to grab her sisters wand. Fairy Godmother shoots at Pinocchio with her wand, turning the puppet into a human.

"I'm a real boy!" He exclaims while falling.

Elsie sighs, "Alright, time to assist."

Elsie opens her wings and flies towards her sisters as the wolf blows Jenny away, causing Jenny to drop her wand. Jenny takes Anna's off her only for Elsie to tackle her and wrench the wand away, dropping both hers and Anna's in the process. Then a game of keep away is played, keeping all the wands from all three fairies. A pig catches all three wands and throws them to Donkey, while Anna and Elsie try to keep Jenny away from all three wands. Donkey throws them to Gingy, causing Jenny to dive for the gingerbread man.

"Oh no you don't, Jennifer!" Anna exclaims.

Jenny yells, "Traitors!"

Anna pulls one of Jenny's wings, causing her to completely miss Gingy, who ends up throwing them to the 3 blind mice, who fail to catch the wands. One of them fires at Pinocchio, turning him back into a puppet, and he let's out a disappointed groan. The wands land a few metres away from the fairies and Shrek. Elsie, Anna, and Shrek get similair ideas. Jenny dives for them.

"That's mine, that's mine!" She exclaims as she picks them all up.

Elsie, Anna, and Shrek knock the wands out of her hands, causing her to gasp in shock. The wands go flying. Donkey runs towards them with Puss on his back. Puss jumps into the air, catching all three.

Donkey exclaims, "Pray for mercy from Puss..."

Puss finishes, "And Donkey!"

Elsie and Anna cheer when Jenny says something killing the joy.

"She's taken the potion! Kiss her now!"

Elsie and Anna gasp as they fly towards Fiona and Charming to stop Charming, only to stop short because they are too late.

"NO!" Shrek exclaims.

He falls to his knees in defeat. Elsie and Anna exchange defeated glances. When Charming breaks the kiss, he puts his hand on her cheek for a moment while she stares at him lovingly. She puts both hands on his cheeks causing the two sisters to feel pain in their hearts at this scene.

"HYAH!" Fiona suddenly exclaims as she headbutts Charming, knocking him out.

Anna laughs, "Hahah! Oh you got us good, Princess! It's about time someone gave Charming a headbutt!"

Shrek gets up off his knees and walks towards Fiona, glad she's not in love with Charming.

"HAROLD!!" Jenny exclaims.

Anna goes to give her sister a good beating when Elsie holds her back.

"You were supposed to give her the potion!"

Harold smugly replies, "Well, I guess I gave her the wrong tea."

"Mummy!" Charming exclaims as he throws Jenny all three wands.

Fiona questions, "Mummy?"

Elsie gasps, "NO!"

Jenny growls after she catches all three, "I told you ogres don't live happily EVER AFTER!"

Shrek holds Fiona protectively as Anna gasps in shock as she sees what she's about to do. Jenny fires the wands all at full power towards Shrek. Shrek pushes Fiona out of the way as Harold and Anna fly into the fray. Anna holds out her hand, causing glowing pink force field to appear around Shrek, Fiona, Harold and herself. The forcefield doesn't protect the King like it should have, and the magic lightning from the wands hits his armour, causing most of it to fly off towards Jenny.

Anna's forcefield cracks and some of the magic hits her, throwing her over Shrek's body, near to Donkey. Jenny looks at herself after getting hit by the magic lightning, raises her wand, and then explodes into bubbles, causing the wands and her glasses to crash into the ground. Jenny's wand's power disappears.

***

Elsie gasps as she realises what she just witnessed. Everyone looks at the armour in mourning.

Pinocchio asks, "Is he...?"

Gingy sniffs, "Yep."

Suddenly, there's a croak from the armour.

"He croaked." Gingy sniffs.

Suddenly, a frog wearing a crown comes out of the armour. Elsie's eyes widen as she recognises the frog.

"Harold?" Queen Lillian asks.

Fiona asks, "Dad?"

Shrek stares at the frog king in shock.

Harold sighs, "I had hoped you would never see me like this."

Donkey scoffs, "Hey, and he gave you a hard time!"

Shrek scolds, "Donkey!"

Harold interrupts, "No, no. He's right, I'm sorry. To both of you. I only wanted what was best for Fiona. But I can see now, she already has it." Everyone smiles at the frog as he continues, "Shrek, Fiona, would you accept... an old frog's apologies... and my blessing?"

Lillian smiles, "Harold."

Harold sighs, "I'm sorry Lillian. I just wish I could be the man you deserve."

He goes to hop away when Lillian catches him and brings him up to her face.

"You're more that man today then you ever were. Warts and all."

Harold croaks in happiness. Suddenly, everyone hears another groan.

"Anna!" Elsie exclaims as she remembers her sister.

Everyone rushes over to the pink-haired fairy godmother. Her hair all messed up, some parts of it singed, her dress having rips on her legs and sides, and a few cuts and bruises all over her body.

"Did we win?" Anna groans.

Elsie smiles, "We won, sister. We may have lost Jenny, but we won."

Anna smiles in pain, "This has been some exciting adventure, hasn't it?"

Elsie nods, "It was. Thanks to you, Shrek and Fiona are both alive, and Harold's a frog again."

Anna winces as she looks towards the king in pride.

"I'm proud of you, Harold. You learned how to- Hsss! How to see over your pride to see Fiona has happiness." Anna smiles.

Fiona asks, "Why didn't you help Fairy Godmother?"

Anna scoffs, "Bigamy. A serious crime. I was not about to let my nephew or a princess commit it. Heck, I wouldn't let anyone commit bigamy. And I actually care about my Godchildren. I think I see a light... Let me..."

Anna's eyes close, seemingly for the last time. A few people go to cry when Elsie rolls her eyes and pulls out some fairy dust and dumps the entire contents of the bag on her sister.

"What a drama queen!" Elsie scoffs.

Anna laughs as she flies into the air, all wounds healed.

"You know, I'm feeling much better now! I guess I just needed some dust!" Anna jokes.

Suddenly, the clock chimes that it's Midnight.

"Boss! The Happily Ever After potion!" Puss exclaims.

"Midnight," Shrek gasps. He turns to Fiona and continues, "Fiona, is this what you want? To be this way forever?"

Fiona asks, "What?"

Shrek explains, "'Cause if you kiss me now, we can stay like this."

Fiona asks, "You'd do that... for me?"

"Yes."

Fiona looks at everyone. Anna gives her two thumbs up. Fiona turns back to give Shrek her answer.

"I want what any princess wants. To live happily ever after..." Fiona smiles.

Shrek leans in for a kiss, only for Fiona to stop him with her hand.

"With the Ogre I married." She finishes.

Puss whispers, "Whatever happens, I must not cry. You cannot make me cry..."

He then starts sobbing.

Elsie rolls her eyes and whispers to the cat, "Suck it up, Buttercup!"

Suddenly, Shrek and Fiona start glowing blue and fly into the air. Donkey does too, causing the fairies to roll their eyes. Suddenly, the blue glow around the couple turns gold, practically blinding everyone, but they refuse to look away.

Anna whispers to her sister, "I'll put walking sticks at the entrance. The guests will need them and we both know it."

The couple and Donkey float gently back down to the ground in their true forms. Donkey looks disappointed.

Shrek smirks, "Hey. You still look like a noble steed to me."

Fiona giggles and grabs her husband's chin, "Now, where were we?"

Shrek smirks, "Oh, I remember."

He dips Fiona and she giggles as they kiss and melt into each others lips.

"HEY!" Puss interrupts, "Isn't we supposed to be having a Fiesta!?"

A/N and that's that part. Don't worry, it's not over yet!

There is one other part I just have to put here. Well, two, actually. Before you ask, no. You're not getting the Livin' La Vida Loca. I can't be bothered with that. I cannot write that scene, Don't even know how I'm supposed to explain that scene in writing, and I don't think either Elsie Lovelock nor Annapantsu have covered that. Well, see ya cool weirdos and normos another day, week, month, or year!

#Shrek #elsie lovelock #annapantsu

[notthatitmattersbutyes]

Jason Todd x Reader - Jealous lemon 😏

Jason's POV

.................................................

There's nothing I love more than watching (y/n) sleep. She's so peaceful. So cute when she dreams. Wait.. what is she saying..

"Dick.." Did she just say Dick? Maybe I heard her wrong. "Dick.. don't.. stop.." NOPE I heard right. She's moaning now. She's dreaming about fucking Grayson! What the fuck! That's it. I'm going in the living room. I'll sleep on the couch before I sleep next to her. Fuck this.

......................................................................

Your POV

You wake up and Jason is not in bed, which is odd considering you usually wake up entangled in his arms and legs. What a sap he is, all cuddly in the morning. You get up to find him and he's there, on the couch. Must have had a nightmare. You walk over thinking he's asleep but he's on his phone, scrolling. "Hello, love." You say, kissing the top of his head. "'Sup" He says, not even looking up. "Did you have a nightmare last night? Why were you sleeping on the couch?" He flicks his eyes over you with a look you can't place, then returns to his phone. "Nope." He says, popping the 'P' for extra effect. You roll your eyes and go make breakfast. You had a pretty bad nightmare yourself last night but he was obviously bothered by something and didn't feel like talking, so you went about your morning routine. Jason stayed in the living room the whole time. "Hey, Jay?" You call, eating your toast at the kitchen counter. "Hm?" He says. "Can we stop by the manor today? I really miss everyone." You can't be sure but you think you hear him mutter , "Oh, I'm sure you do." But before you can ask what he really said, he yells back, "Fine-but I don't want to stay long." You take what you can get and get dressed. You decide to wear something special to get Jason out of his funk. A black lace bralette under a gray deep v-neck. You can see your cleavage and lace out of the top of the shirt and you pair it with black lace panties under skinny jeans, tightest you have, and sandals. You wear a deep red lipstick and a dramatic winged eye and appreciate your look. Your hair is undone and wild like he likes it and you feel pretty confident. You walk out to meet Jason, who was standing by the door way impatiently twirling his keys. "Are you ready now?" He says. "Um.. yes, I am." He looks at your outfit, rolls his eyes and leaves the apartment, walking down to the car. You are beyond confused and to be honest, a little annoyed with him. What was his deal!?

It was a quiet ride to the Manor. He put on music but it was so low you couldn't make out the words. When you finally roll up, he turns off the car, gets out, and walks into the house, not bothering to wait for you. Okay, now you're pissed. He was being such a.. such a.. well ass but he was always kind of an ass. This was different. Usually when he was upset about something, you were the one he would talk to about it. Now it seemed like you were the one he was mad at. Fine. Two can play at that game. You devised a plan to get back at him and you walked up to the door and charged in.

Alfred greeted you at the door. "Good evening, Miss (Y/L/N). Is Master Todd alright?" You hugged the man and rolled your eyes as you pulled back. "I couldn't tell ya, Al. He's been acting weird. But I have a plan." You said with a wink. Alfred leaned in and whispered, "Respectfully; Give him hell, love." You giggled and made your way to the living room. Jason sat sulking with his arms crossed in the single chair, not allowing you to sit anywhere near him. Damian was reading a book by the fireplace and Dick was sitting on the couch, watching tv. Tim was the main part of your plan but since he and Bruce were in the cave, Dick will have to do. You were a little annoyed with him from your nightmare last night but told yourself it was just a dream and to get over it.

You sauntered over to Dick, passing Jason without so much as a glance, and sat down next to him giving him a hug. "Hey, Dickie-bird! How's my favorite BatBoy?" He chuckled and hugged you back, tightly, which ended up squeezing your breasts together and showing off the top you had on. Perfect. "I'm good, sweetness. What's the deal with sour-puss over there?" He said, pointing to Jason. You looked over to your boyfriend who was trying to look calm but you saw how angry he was. Oh well, served him right. "Oh don't mind him. I'm more concerned with you guys. What's new? How's your week been? I haven't seen you guys in so long I was beginning to forget what you looked like!" Jason let out a curt laugh and stalked out of the room. Once he was out of earshot, you let out a sigh and put your head in your hands. "Whoa, (Y/n) what's wrong? Are you two fighting?" Dick asked, rubbing your back. You let a tear fall. "I don't even know! He was fine last night then I woke up and he was on the couch and has been outright ignoring me or been really rude all day and I don't know what I did besides wake up!" You started to cry a bit more and Dick got visibly upset. "Let me guess, you were using me to make him jealous? Hurt him like he's hurting you, in a sense?" You looked up. "Yes, Dick, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to use you that way I just-"

He stopped you by putting his hand up. "I'm in. He's being an asshole, he deserves it"

"Todd's been annoying since I've known him but this is different. You two are usually disgustingly clingy and I can't believe I miss that. Make him pay." Damian said and walked away. You and Dick looked at each other and laughed heartily just as Jason walked in drinking a soda. He looked at the two of you and asked, "What are you two laughing at?"

"Oh (y/n) just said something so funny! She said.. well then.. oh you had to be there I guess." Dick said. Jason huffed and went to sit down again, this time grabbing the remote on his way and turning the tv way up. You knew he was trying to drown you out. Dick had an idea though. "(Y/n), you know what game I haven't played since I was younger?" You were genuinely curious. "What's that, Dick?" He looked you dead in the eyes and said "Twister." You immediately knew what he was doing and played along. "Oh, I love Twister! No one ever wants to play with me. It's like you grow up and no one has fun anymore. Do you happen to have the game?" Dick grinned. "Why yes I do, sweetness. Yes I do. Jason, you wanna play?" Jason mumbled a "No thanks." Before he finished the soda and smashed the can in one hand. Drama queen. Dick grabbed the game and set it up right behind the couch and right in Jason's line of sight. "Okay I'll go first," Dick said. "Okay... right hand red." You then took turns spinning and moving around the board. Unfortunately for you, you barely touched each other until the 15th turn. Finally your bodies were entwined and you two were in a fit of giggles, genuinely enjoying yourselves and forgetting Jason all together. That is until you two fell, Dicks arm accidentally pulling your shirt and exposing the lacy bralette with his face inches away from yours. A sudden, "AHEM!" Brought you back to the reality of the situation. "What the hell is this!?" Jason screamed. Oh boy. This was more than you had anticipated, you never meant to get that close to Dick physically, just play the game and make Jason squirm then go home and screw it out. But Jason was pissed. This was bad. "Jason, I-" you start but he goes and grabs you by the arm, pulling you up and away from Dick. Dick, knowing it was all a joke in the first place, let Jason go off on him. "Keep your fucking hands off my girl, fucker. Next time you won't walk away looking so pretty." Dick got up with his hands up and walked away, leaving you and Jason alone in the living room. He looked at you adjust your shirt and fumed. Breathing heavily. You knew Jason would never hurt you but you had to admit, he looked scary. He reaches his hand out and touched your cheek with restraint. His eyes were clouded with unshed tears. "Go up to my old room." You were about to cry yourself. You just wanted to teach him a lesson, not really hurt him. "Jason, I'm sorry I know it looked bad but-" you start but he cuts you off. "Now!" He growled. Not wanting to start an argument in the living room, you go up and sit on the bed that's been left there. Jason walked in and slammed the door shut, stalking over to you. You take in a deep breath. "You're fucking Grayson, aren't you?" He whispered. You started back wide eyed. "What!?"

"I heard you in your sleep last night! 'Oh Dick, don't stop, oh!' I thought I was just being stupid but then you wanted to come here and you dress like a fucking whore for your side piece? Now I know I'm right. So why huh? What did I do? I don't fuck you like he does? Is it because he's just 'sooo sweet?'" By now he had you pinned to the bed between his arms, you were laying on your back and he was right on top of you. You took a deep breath. "I'm not fucking Dick. And how DARE you accuse me of something and then rather than ask me about it and let me explain, you just sulk!" He was getting restless and didn't know what to do. You could tell he was losing control. You expected him to punch the wall. You expected him to get up and look for Dick and beat him to a pulp. What you didn't expect was for him to kiss you passionately like his life depended on it; but that's exactly what he did. He broke away with tears leaking down his face. "I can't lose you, (y/n). I can't. I don't deserve you in the first place so it wouldn't surprise me if you left me but seeing you dressed like this, his body rubbing up against yours.. why did you do that!?" He started out sweet and sincere but ended up getting angry all over again. You knew nothing you would say now would help so you let him go off. "Take off your clothes, now. I'll show you who you belong to." You listen to him and take everything off, leaving on your bra and panties and he undressed to absolutely nothing. He grabs your hips, tears your underwear in half, and waists no time pounding into you. It stung at first but became pleasurable as he continued his assault.

He had never fucked you like this. "You feel that dick, baby? You feel it? That's all you're going to feel. Forever. You're MINE. Dick could never touch you like this. Never make you feel like I do." He reaches between your legs to rub your clit. You moaned out his name. "God, Jason.." "oh, so you can say my name? Say it again, doll. Say it loud. I want Grayson to hear." He quickened his pace and you moaned, unable to formulate the words. Because you didn't speak up, he stopped all together. You got frustrated and screamed "MY GOD JASON, FUCK ME!" He laughed and said "Whatever you want, princess." And began driving into you. Faster than bed before. He grabbed your hair and said, "Say it. Come on, baby, say you're mine." You moaned at his husky tone. "I'm all yours, baby.. oh GOD JASON!" You were about to cum and he was close to, you could feel his cock get harder inside of you. You looked up at him straight into his eyes, and held his face with both hands. "I.. love ...you... only you..." you said between thrusts. With those words, he came undone and came inside you, setting off your own mind blowing orgasm. As you both came down from your high, you looked up at him, still inside you. "I love you, Jason." He pulled out and lay next to you. "I know you do, I love you too, I just.. why were you acting like that today? You had a dream about Grayson so.. do you want him on some level?" You sat up and made sure you made eye contact. "I had a nightmare last night. Dick was the Joker and he.. he was doing those terrible things to you. I didn't say "Oh Dick, don't stop" I said Dick! Don't! STOP!" As in, stop killing the man I love. And I dressed like this today for you because I figured you had a nightmare and wanted to bring you out of your funk. But you were mean to me so I was going to flirt with one of the boys a bit, nothing too bad, just enough to make you jealous so you'd talk to me about why you were upset. Then during Twister Dick actually fell, that was an accident, I swear. I have 0 feelings for him." Jason was watching you the whole time you spoke and when you stopped he placed his hand on your hair, bringing you in for a kiss. Then he reached in the drawer and pulled out a box. "(Y/n) I have kept this ring here since I first met you. I didn't want it at the apartment in case you found it and I thought it was silly of me to get it in the first place after knowing you for a short time but we have been together for a while now and you know I love you and-"

"Jason, spit I out." He laughed and opened the box to reveal the most beautiful ring you've ever seen. "(Y/n) will you marry me?" You put the ring on and cried. "Yes! Of course.. as long as you start telling me when you're upset" he smiled the biggest smile he's ever smiled and agreed.

The end

#jason todd x reader smut #jasontodd #batman #lemon #fanfiction

[theonewiththefanfics]

Not Pretending (one-shot)

Synopsis: Reader’s reunion is just around the corner, which means meeting her ex. They used to be high school sweethearts, but after she found out he was cheating she broke up with him. But now, still being single, the Reader feels like she needs to bring someone and when Bucky offers his assistance, feelings might be revealed.

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Warnings: some suggestive stuff, I think swearing, mentions of cheating

Genre: pure fluff

Word count: 4812

   “Steve!”    “What?” the man was startled beyond belief by Y/N’s sudden entrance, so much so his coffee went flying.    “Please tell me there is a mission I have to go on. Please, please, please!” she was on her knees, clutching Captain America’s legs while he himself looked around the room at a very confused Nat and a worried Bucky.    “Umm… no?”    “Ugh,” the girl dramatically fell down to the floor and stayed there, arms and legs stretched out in a starfish while her hair was a messy Y/H/C halo around her face. “Seriously?” she propped her head up to once more look at Steve. “None?”    He only shook his head in dismissal, making the girl groan once again.    “Okay, fine. Are you free tomorrow night?”    “No, Nat and I are gonna go and see that movie we’ve been talking about. Y/N what’s going on?”    She propped open one Y/E/C eye and looked Steve over. “Really? Can you maybe go and see it today?”    “No, we have tickets for tomorrow and answer my question- what’s wrong?”    The Avenger that was lying on the ground had now stood up and was making her way to the couch where Natasha and Bucky were sitting, ‘Brooklyn 9-9’ playing in the background. Steve followed the girl before plopping down in between his girlfriend and best friend before Y/N laid across the three, her head in Nat’s lap, the redhead's palms massaging her head in a soothing motion.    “Why do you need to steal my boyfriend?”    “Because,” Y/N exasperated feeling Steve gently rub her thigh, “my school is having a reunion and I have to go.”    She felt Bucky play with her toes before he spoke up. “And what’s so bad about that?”    Y/N looked into Nat’s green eyes before she slowly exhaled as if not wanting to say the words. “My ex is going to be there.”    “Like the Ex?”    “The very same.”

   “Guys,” Steve was utterly confused, “what are you on about? What ex?”    Y/N rolled to the side, pressing her head into Nat’s stomach like it could hide her from the reality. “We were high school sweethearts, used to be the most popular couple in school. Well, that is until I found out he was cheating on me the whole time right before we left for college.”    “Damn, sweetheart, I’m sorry.”    “Don’t be. I’m completely fine, it’s been years since I got over it, but now with this reunion, I need to go with someone. It’s not that I’m not fine going alone, but can you just imagine all the pitiful gaze and stuff? Yeah, no thank you! So I,” the girl looked back up at Nat, ‘The Puss In Boots’ look on her face, “need to borrow your boyfriend. Or maybe even you, don’t care.”    “Y/N, don’t. Stop with the eyes,” she scolded the woman in her lap, still gently stroking the Y/H/C hair. “I can’t and neither can Steve. We’ve been planning this for months. I’m seriously sorry, but why can’t you just stay home then?”    “Do you know how that will look? Everyone will think that I ain’t over him, that I can’t be an adult in the same room because he did a shitty thing and still even years later I can’t move on.”    Steve and Nat huffed, seeing Y/N’s frustration before an idea popped up in that blond head of the super soldier. “Honey, there is nothing more that I’d like to do than play your boyfriend and beat that ex’s ass of yours, and I know Nat would be absolutely thrilled to do that as well, but maybe Bucky can help you out. I don’t think he’s doing anything tomorrow.”    There was a mischievous look in Steve’s eyes as he looked to his right over to the Winter Soldier. In all fairness, Bucky had wanted to offer his help the second Y/N had entered the room, no matter what it was, but now, his heart was beating so fast he was sure he was going into cardiac arrest. You see Bucky Barnes had a major crush on his fellow Avenger and just the thought of pretending to be with Y/N sent butterflies rolling around in his stomach, but he was not about to push himself like that on Y/N.    “No it’s fine, Buck, you don’t have to,” she gently smiled at the man, making his breath catch in his throat. “I know how you are with crowds, so I ain’t gonna make you do that. I’ll just go on my own and die.”    “Doll,” he was surprised how even his voice sounded when his heart was beating a hundred miles a minute, “if you need me, I’m there.”    “Really, Buck?” there was such hope laced in her words, “you’d do that?”    ‘I’d do anything for you, love’ is what he wanted to say, but instead, he gently squeezed her foot and replied with a “just tell me what time I need to be ready and we're good to go.”    “God, Bucky!” she jumped up and threw her arms around the super soldier, hugging him tightly. Bucky’s only wish at that moment being that she didn’t hear or at this point feel his heart’s erratic beat. “I love you so fucking much!”    With that, she skipped to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee, ready to watch the newest episode of the show when Y/N threw her head back and groaned again. “I don’t have anything to wear!”    A small smile was plastered on Nat’s lips as she gave Steve a quick kiss and stood up.    “Come one, you Drama Queen,” the ex-assassin threw an arm around the girl’s shoulder and led her out of the common room, “let’s make you the hottest woman in that place.”    “So,” Steve smirked at Bucky seeing his friend's eyes still trained on the spot where Y/N had been just a few seconds ago. “You’re gonna be her boyfriend then?”    “Shut up you punk. And help me find something to wear,” but there was a bashful smile gracing the man’s face as he stood up and thought that even if it was for just one night, he’d get to be the boyfriend of the woman who held his heart.

   “Y/N were going to be late!” Bucky was standing outside her door, fidgeting with the hem of his red henley. Steve had helped him pick out something that was casual, but at the same time not too informal, as he knew how worried and anxious Y/N was about the whole situation.    “Coming just give me a- off!” there was a loud thud before the door swung open making Bucky gape in amazement. She didn’t look that different from her usual style, but the little black dress, cinched at the waist with a golden belt and the plunging backside made Bucky forget all the languages he knew.    “Sorry, I can’t be bothered with the heels, so you’re gonna be stuck with my short ass and flats.” He looked down at the ballerina shoes, that were laced in a crisscross motion up to her calves making the man gulp in desire. His mind was veering with the thought of slowly untying the laces and looking at Y/N with her chest heaving in anticipation as his hands caressed her body    “Hello? Sarge? You’re spacing out on me. Do I look that bad? I can go and quickly change, I wasn’t that sure about the dress, but Nat insi-“    “God, no doll, you look absolutely breathtaking.”    “I uh… thanks,” now Y/N was at loss for words, the gaze in Bucky’s eyes was so intense, she felt completely exposed.    He cleared his throat and offered the girl his elbow. “Shall we?”    “Yeah, just let me grab my purse.”    Together they made their way to the garage, Tony’s cars all lined up perfectly in a row.    “I thought we were getting a cab?” there was confusion on Y/N’s face as they approached a very expensive looking Jaguar.    “In the beginning we were, but Tony practically threatened to kill me if I didn’t take one of the cars. And why not treat ourselves to something nice?” he opened up the passenger door for Y/N and she swiftly climbed in. “Besides, it’ll give your ex something else to drool over rather than yourself.”    The girl’s eyes became wide as saucers at the comment Bucky had made, noting the slight blush creeping up from his chest to his neck and then his cheeks.    “Aren’t you a charmer?”    “Only for my girl,” he smiled and the engine roared to life.    There was no one else in the team that Y/N felt as comfortable with as she felt with Bucky. He was the only person the girl thought she could be her true self, all the flaws on display, all the broken pieces every bad thought- he’d just accept that and care for her the way she was. And vice versa. Bucky had never felt so free to be around someone. With Steve, he had this need to play the old Bucky he was back in the 40’s, the expectation to be that person, even though Bucky was nowhere near that still lingering in the air. He had changed too much to be the same man Steve almost expected him to be. But not with Y/N. Bucky had told her all of his secrets, well apart from harbouring a giant crush on her, but everything else- she knew about. His nightmares, how he sometimes felt inadequate to be an Avenger, considering his past, he’d allowed her to see his scar and trail her fingers across it. He felt like he didn’t have to pretend, to put on a facade, so now, quickly glancing over at the girl whose beautiful Y/E/C eyes didn’t leave New York City’s lights, he couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit giddy of how it would be to be her boyfriend for real.    “Turn here,” she pointed at a large opening in the gate where there were already tons of cars queueing to get an available space.    “Buck?” her eyes scanned the crowd moving towards the gym where the reunion would be held.    “Yeah, doll?” he parked the car, unbuckling his seatbelt and looking over at a clearly nervous Y/N. Her fingers were twirling a ring that sat snugly on her pointer finger. Bucky had given it to her on her last birthday and the girl never took it off. The sight of it made him feel all fuzzy and fluffy on the inside.    “Can we maybe go back home and order a pizza? Have a ‘Harry Potter’ marathon? Please, I don’t wanna go.”    “Love, relax,” he took her palms in-between his, gently rubbing her knuckles, trying to relieve the pent-up tension. His metal hand smoothly glided over her skin. Y/N had told him if he wanted he could leave the glove on, but Bucky had insisted on not. He was not about to be ashamed of who he was, not next to Y/N, the one person who accepted all of his faults. “We’ll be fine. We can stay there for half an hour and if you wanna leave then we can. The pizza will be one me,” he pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and stepped out of the car, walking around to open Y/N’s door. He saw how her legs were almost shaking with anxiety, but the second his arm wove around her waist she melted against him.        “Now let’s go show those idiots what an amazing and beautiful woman you have become.”    The girl linked arms with Bucky, his metal one to be exact and the pair, their hearts thundering in their chests, walked inside Y/N’s old school.    The first thing she noticed is how pretty much nothing had changed. The same white walls with the burgundy stripe on the top and bottom, her school’s colours, the same banners about being respectful towards your peers and not doing drugs etc, etc.    “There,” she pointed at a table where a blonde woman, her curls perfectly styled to frame her face, sat.    They marched together as a pair and Y/N felt herself relax at Bucky’s never-wavering pressure on her palm.    “And who might you be?” the woman shot Y/N a dazzling smile.    “Y/N L/N.”    “No way!” she exclaimed as if the two were old friends. “The Y/N L/N, the same nerd that was my lab partner in chemistry?”    “Beth?” it came out more like a question than a statement of recognition. The last time the Avenger had seen her was at their graduation, her hair had still been the natural chocolate colour and her nose was definitely not as small, let alone the lips that had been pumped to their fullest capacity.    “Of course, who else!” she threw her arms around Y/N squeezing her in a tight hug, which the girl had no other choice but to respectfully accept.    Slapping the girl’s name above her heart, she turned to look Bucky over, her eyes roaming over his broad shoulders like he was prey, but he didn’t seem to notice Beth. His own gaze was perfectly trained on Y/N, how the colourful lights from inside the gym danced across her features and sparkled in her Y/E/C eyes.     “And who might you be, handsome?”    There was a giant ring on her finger, yet it didn’t stop the woman from flirting with everything that had breath in their lungs.    “I’m Bucky. Bucky Barnes. Y/N’s boyfriend. And if I have any say in this, soon enough I'll, hopefully, be more than that.”    Y/N’s eyes immediately shot to look Bucky over and her breath hitched with the statement.    They were just pretending, he was pretending, at least that is what Y/N repeated in her mind over and over again, otherwise the possibility of passing out just skyrocketed.    “Well you’re one lucky girl, L/N,” she pressed Bucky’s name over his henley, the palm lingering on his pecks a bit longer than necessary. “I’ll see you on the inside?”    Without sparing another second she sat back down and turned her attention to the line that had formed behind the pair.    “Please, let’s just get in and get this over with.” Y/N dragged Bucky by his hand as they stepped onto the polished floor.    “Doll,” he wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned down to her ear. To others, this would look like what a normal boyfriend would do, but for Y/N it was hard to keep it together, his smell invading her nose. Her eyes almost rolled back into her head. How can someone’s scent be that sexy?    “Look at it like a mission. A quick in and out. Nothing more. We gather intelligence, mingle and poof, back in the tower in our PJ’s with a hot pizza on its way.”    “Thank you,” she cupped his rugged cheek and placed a piece of brown hair behind his ear that had untangled itself from the bun he’d created. “I seriously don’t know what I’d do without you.”    “Anytime, doll.” His gaze held such love, such care. The pair unconsciously started to lean in, Bucky’s eyes never straining from her lips and vice versa. They were just about to kiss when a voice Y/N hadn’t wanted to hear, invaded their senses.    “L/N! Oh my God! I did not expect to see you here!”    Bucky looked over her shoulder and noted a man with dirty blond hair and green eyes walking towards the pair, a slender woman right by his side.    “Max!” she threw on a fake smile as Y/N turned around expecting to go and give the obligatory hug, but Bucky’s metal arm wove around her waist and he placed his chin in the crook of her neck, the five o'clock shadow tickling her skin. Y/N’s mind immediately went to how it would feel between her legs, scraping her things and leaving a beautiful burn, but this was definitely not the time nor place.    “He the ex?” Bucky murmured.    “Yep,” she popped the ‘p’ and turned her attention back to the approaching man.    “Damn!” he exclaimed leaning in for a hug and holding onto the girl a bit longer than needed, his hand roaming dangerously close to the small of her back and to her ass. “I almost didn’t recognise you. I’m Max,” he extended a hand towards Bucky, clearly puffing out his chest and straining his biceps to appear stronger. But he was nothing compared to the super soldier. “Y/N and I used to be a thing back in the day.”    “Bucky. And Y/N and I are a thing now. Have been for three years.”    Which was somewhat true. They had met three years ago during a mission when the Avengers had gotten ambushed and she’d picked the bad guys out one by one saving everyone’s asses, including Bucky’s. On the way back in the quin-jet they had hit it off and become immediate friends.    “Best three years of my life,” Y/N turned to look at the super soldier and his heart swelled to see her eyes hold nothing but the truth.    “Naw, sugah, don’t say that. We had a good run,” Max butted in, clearly looking Y/N over as if not believing how good she looked.    “Yeah and well it ended, so what can we do.”    Bucky noted the hidden distain in Y/N’s voice and gripped her waist tighter from behind.    “Oh, this is Arabella, my girlfriend.” The woman extended a perfectly manicured palm and Y/N grasped it.    “Pleasure,” she had an accent to her voice, though it was hard for the girl to detect from where.    “Likewise.”    “Love, I’m gonna go get us drinks okay?” Bucky leaned down and pecked Y/N’s cheek. She felt a blush creep up her neck, but most importantly she noted how weird it felt that her and Bucky being together, didn’t feel weird at all. And yes, obviously she had dreamt of it since the crush had started to develop, but Bucky’s acting was so impeccable, it was as if he was also enjoying being a couple. But she had to remind herself, he was only acting, that’s it.    “Hurry back, love.” She replied with a sweet kiss on his own cheek.    “I’ll be like lightning.”    With that, he disappeared into the crowd towards the punch bowls and that left Y/N, Max and Arabella alone.    “Would you mind getting a drink for us as well, sweet-cheeks?” Max turned to the woman, who nodded before walking off, the red dress clinging to her every curve.    Max’s eyebrows were high up in his forehead, a look in his eyes Y/N couldn’t really figure out. “So an Avenger, huh? Never expected for you to go in that kind of a direction. Let alone date one. And the Winter Soldier? Seriously?”    “Things change, people change, with that their dreams as well. And yeah, the Winter Soldier. You gotta problem with that?”    Her arms were crossed over her chest, a defensive pose. Y/N absolutely despised when people mentioned Bucky’s past and her protective instincts kicked in. She’d beat anyone to a pulp if they even looked at him the wrong way. Bucky himself had had to pull the girl away from quite a few fights when her ears had picked up on nasty comments coming from some SHIELD agents who didn’t support Bucky’s involvement.    “Well, just knowing that you could do so much better, it makes me wonder, but other than that, no not really. I mean you look hot as hell.”    It took every ounce of willpower in Y/N’s body not to punch him straight in the face and break his perfect nose in a crumpled mess.    “Yeah, better like what? Like you?”    “Come on, sweetie, that was a one-time thing and you know it. I slipped up. We were good together,” he was sauntering closer and closer, his hands moving to rest on her waist. But Y/N didn’t move, deliberately.    “We were weren’t we?” she looked down onto the ground, her gaze roaming over their feet.    “The Power Couple throughout all high school. What do you say? Wanna relieve it?” his finger was under her chin, making their eyes meet.    “I would… If I didn’t have any brain cells and had absolutely no idea what was good for me. Bucky may have been the Winter Soldier, but you have no idea what I am capable of when you talk bad about the people I love or care about, so Max, if you would be so kind, I would take your filthy hands off of my body before I break every finger in them or better yet, allow Bucky to do so.”    Y/N’s eyes looked over Max to where Bucky was walking back, no doubt having heard the conversation with his super soldier hearing, a proud smile plastered on his face.    “You heard my girl. Take your hands off, or you’ll be in a worse condition than I was after I lost my arm.”    Bucky handed the girl her drink and threw his left arm over her shoulder, the metal glinting in the variously coloured lights.    “I can still see you’re making dumb decisions, Y/N.” Max stepped back, hands in his pockets as if actually scared the pair would break his fingers.    Arabella had come back and handed Max his drink, the guy downing it in seconds.    “My only dumb decision was ever being with you, ever trusting that your cheating days were behind when we started dating. Arabella,” Y/N addressed the woman, “you seem like a lovely girl, you can do so much better than this nobody. Cause if he has no problems hitting on an ex in a crowded room full of people we both know, he’ll have no problems doing that with a stranger.”    With that Y/N and Bucky walked off, the man dragging her onto the dance floor where Benny Goodman’s ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ had started to play. Y/N immediately recognised the tune as Bucky had wanted to relearn how to dance like he used to back in the day and the girl had been his partner in various moments.    “That was so hot,” he shouted over the music, drinking his punch and Y/N doing the same before distracting the plastic cups and jumping onto the dance floor.    “No one talks bad about my family,” she smiled so wide Bucky felt his heart skip a beat. With the amount that it did that, especially around Y/N, he was surprised he wasn’t dead.    To Y/N’s own bewilderment, she found herself having a great time, Bucky flipping and spinning her around to the music, eliciting laughter with every movement. Even with the songs like ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ which the DJ promptly introduced as taking them back to that cringe-worthy emo phase, Bucky was belting out every lyric alongside Y/N.    Throughout the reunion, she could feel a pair of eyes constantly watching her. She knew it was Max, but the girl didn’t care. In her world there existed nothing but Bucky. And as the DJ turned on a slow song, the most cliche one possible- Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’-, their feet skidded to a halt and the man pulled their bodies close to one another, chests heaving from their activities.    “You know what, this is not that bad. And all thanks to you Bucky,” Y/N smiled up at him, forehead going to rest on his broad chest.    “I’d do anything for you, doll,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.    Her heart almost stopped at the sincerity of his words, as he softly sang the song.

I will not give you up this time But darling, just kiss me slow Your heart is all I own And in your eyes, you're holding mine

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark With you between my arms Barefoot on the grass Listening to our favourite song When you said you looked a mess I whispered underneath my breath But you heard it, Darling, you look perfect tonight….

   Bucky looked down at the girl who was already looking into his piercing blue eyes.    “I don’t want to pretend,” it was now or never and he was not about to lose his chance, “not with this. I want to call you mine and I want to be yours. I want to wake up next to you and wrap you in my arms. I want to hold you and kiss you and I want to make fun of how messy you look in the mornings, which you’ll rebuff with your usual 'shut up', but this time you’ll accompany it with a kiss. I,” he couldn’t form words anymore, how intensely Y/N was looking at him, “I love you and I don’t want to pretend that I’m fine with being just friends. Not anymore.”    It took her a couple of moments to soak in what Bucky had said. She had to actually pinch herself on one of the palms that were still tightly wrapped around Bucky’s neck. Was her heart beating? Was there air flowing into her lungs? Y/N couldn’t tell anymore, for she was probably dead. I mean that would be the only reason why Bucky would say any of that. Right?    “Doll?” his palm gently cupped her cheek, eyes searching for any kind of an answer, a refusal anything, but before he could even move a muscle, Y/N pressed her lips to his, having to stand on her very tippy toes to reach the man.    But once Bucky’s brain processed what was happening, a giant smile made it’s way onto his face, as he fully wrapped both of his arms around the girl and lifted her up, spinning them around.    “So, I hope that is a yes? To being my girl?” he asked her after catching his breath.    “Only if you be my man.”    “Doll, I’ve belonged to you since the day you walked into my life.”    Y/N couldn’t help herself, she pushed her fingers into the dark locks, that were now fully untangled and kissed him deeply, slowly and hard, making their bodies mould together like clay.    “So how about that pizza?” She smoothed down the now wrinkly henley, letting her shaky fingers skim his skin were the shirt ended and his pants started. “And maybe something else after that?” There was a suggestive smile on her face as she wiggled her eyebrows.    Bucky groaned throwing his head back before kissing her once more.    “You’ll be the death, of me, woman.”    “Well then if you’ll allow me, I’d like to show you a good time before you go,” she detached herself from Bucky’s body and put a swing to her hips. Now there were two pairs of eyes trailing along where she was walking towards the exit, but Y/N cared only about one, who soon caught up and picked her up bridal style, a shriek escaping the girl’s mouth as she barely had time to clutch onto Bucky’s shoulders.    And when they got home, and ordered that pizza, a movie playing in the background, when their clothes got thrown on the floor, and the pair lost themselves in the world of lust and moans, breathless calls of their names and explosions of pleasure, when their bodies were sore and sweaty, a tangled mess of limbs, sweet caresses and light kisses, Y/N thought to herself that maybe reunions and exes weren’t that bad. Not if that meant finding your one true love.

Tags (crossed out couldn’t be tagged, sorry love): @thunderous-flower @who-cares-rn @lumelgy   @callmebucky-doll@projectxhappiness @palaiasaurus64 @coal000 @nerissa98 @killuaenthusiast 

A/N: I should be doing my essays, but I’m still in a very fluffy Bucky mood :))

P.S. please tell me what you think :)

P.S.S. if you have any requests or wanna be tagged in future stories, please drop a message :)

P.S.S.S. please don’t repost without credit :))))

#Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky imagine #bucky barnes imagine #Sebastian Stan #reader insert #sebastian stan imagine #sebastian stan x reader #the winter soldier #the winter solider imagine #winter solider imagine #sam wilson #winter solider x reader #the winter solider x reader #Black Widow #the black widow #natasha romanoff #natasha romanov #steve x natasha #Steve Rogers #Avengers #The Avengers #avengers fanfiction #avengers imagine #avengers x reader #marvel #marvel imagine #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #sebastian stan x you

[dancingwithdylan21]

Stripped - Part 2

Summary: Being a high powered publicist, the reader is hired to work with the destructive rock star Dylan O’Brien. Her task is to revamp his difficult image from the ground up. Will the reader succeed? Or will she get sucked into his crazy life?

Pairing: rockstar!Dylan x Reader

Word Count: 2,381

Part 1

~

“You must be out of your damn mind, beautiful.” Dylan’s sudden shift in attitude catches you off guard, the smugness oozing out of him giving you goosebumps.

Why does this infuriating man have to be sexy as hell? And why does he have to be your client?! You continue to focus on Dylan who’s now licking his kissable lips and it’s driving you insane. You need to shut this down. Now.

“Give me your phone.” You sternly command springing up from the couch. Within seconds you’re standing in front of the intoxicating man with your palm held out.

“Excuse me.” Dylan immediately growls slipping back into his anger filled persona.

“Hand over your phone, Dylan.” You repeat loudly, successfully holding back an eye roll.

“And why would I do that?”

“Cutting off communication. Remember? You’ll get it back eventually.”

“Just do it, man. I’ll text the important people, tell them to contact me if they need to reach you.” Tyler adds as he stands up to stretch his legs around the room.

“This is happening whether you like it or not. Just go with the flow and make it easier on all of us. Ok?” You add.

“It’s password protected ya know. You won’t be able to snoop on my ass.” Dylan huffs with aggravation, then unwillingly pulls his iPhone from his jeans front pocket.

“Oh darn. My master plan is foiled.” You sass back, not able to stop the giggle that follows. Tyler joins in himself, ignoring the unimpressed puss on the rock star’s face.

“So what’s the plan?” Tyler asks quietly, looking apprehensive but also hopeful.

You bring your attention back to Dylan who’s sporting a pout as he sinks himself deeper into the couch. He’s doing his best to watch the Friends rerun on TV but you can tell he’s too distracted at the moment.

“Let’s go talk on the balcony, Ty.” You quickly open up the glass slider door and settle into one of the cloth covered chairs. You can hear muffled grumblings from the two men until Tyler stalks outside shutting the slider behind him.

“What did you get me into, dude?” You ask slightly amused as you watch Dylan through the glass door. Talk about glorified babysitting.

“Trust me, I know. The thing that kills me is that he’s a good guy, he just…he does bad shit.” Tyler replies dragging his hand down his face. The poor guy looks exhausted and you realize that this plan needs to work not just for O’Brien but for everyone in his life.

“I just told him that he’s gonna be cut off from everyone and everything. An addict would be panicking and freaking the fuck out. Wanting to score as much shit as they can instead he’s sulking like a little kid.”

“Dylan doesn’t get high as much as you’d think. At least not with the hard stuff.” Tyler wearily admits fumbling with the hem of his collared shirt.

“What…”

“Dyl uses to distract himself when shit gets to be too much inside of his head. It happens sporadically. The bastard is lucky enough that it hasn’t turned into an addiction yet.”

“Then why the rehab?” You wonder skeptically.  

“To stop his antics. O’Brien is a stubborn fucker, Y/N. He won’t listen to anyone. I needed a way of keeping him under control. And rehab did that.”

“Tyler...“

"I know, I know. But listen…I’ve known Dylan for fifteen years. He gets into these destructive phases where any and all common sense flies out the fucking window. I know the signs by now and he was on the verge like six months ago. Hence his most recent stint in rehab.”

You can sense Tyler’s sudden hesitation, he searches your face like he’s debating if he should continue on or not. He’s praying that you make good on your word instead of abandoning this whole arrangement.

“I remember reports of him overdosing like a year ago. Was that true?” You ask curiously.

“Unfortunately. It was the anniversary of his mom’s death. He was already super stressed to begin with, everything became overwhelming and he went crazy.” Tyler sighs heavily flashing back to that awful night.

He found his friend’s bloody, unconscious body lying in a heap of broken glass. Of all the places O’Brien could have passed out, he ends up crashing down onto a glass coffee table.

“I know it wasn’t deliberate. But I also know…at the time he would’ve been fine with whatever the outcome.”

“Jesus Christ, Tyler. Please tell me you at least know the root of all this?”

“Mostly family problems. His dad specifically. They’ve had a volatile relationship ever since Dylan’s mom Lisa died. He was 18 when it happened.”

“I guess I can add daddy issues to the list.” You add softly making Tyler sadly nod his head in response.

“The poor bastard’s been dealing with the guilt and bullshit from his father for almost 12 years now. Honestly I don’t blame him for wanting a break from it.”

“Guilt about what?” You sneak a peek at Dylan to see that he’s now fast asleep. He’s slouched down further onto the couch and propped his boots up on a nearby ottoman. He looks so peaceful that you momentarily forget that he’s a pain in the ass. The moment passes though when you hear what Tyler’s about to say.

“His dad blames him for Lisa’s death and he thinks his son doesn’t deserve all of his success. It’s why Dylan has a love/hate relationship with his career. He’s passionate about it but then the remorse sets in and he almost wants to destroy it.”

“Shit. Was it…I mean…did he…” You stumble out not expecting that answer.

“Yes it was his fault but it was an accident. It’s not my place to get into details, hopefully you’ll get him to open up eventually.”

Well this is just fucking dandy. You’ve dealt with difficult situations before with your job but this one takes the cake. The fact that you have a personal history with one of the people involved makes this harder. And it definitely piles on more pressure than usual.

Deciding you’ve found out enough backstory for now, you and Tyler start nailing down details for this ridiculous operation. He fills you in on where the rockstar likes to go to relax and you have the perfect place in mind. You know this whole process will be tough enough for Dylan, so there’s no way in hell he’s going to another hotel. Too many temptations.

Heading back into the hotel room, you notice Dylan is now wide awake and shoving fruit loops into his mouth. Oh how this man kills you.

“Ok dude…we leave first thing tomorrow morning. So pack everything up that you need because you’re not coming back here.” You inform him, blocking his view of the TV screen.

“Huh?” Dylan mumbles with his mouth full, looking adorably perplexed by your words. Although his innocent act doesn’t last long once he realizes you’re on to his game.

“Do me a favor, O’Brien. Stay. Here. Do not leave this hotel room until I come and get you tomorrow. And no visitors either. Your disappearing act starts now.”

“Yeah that doesn’t work for me.” He waves you off with a defiant smile then continues eating his cereal.

“Don’t worry, Y/N. I’ll keep an eye on him.” Tyler shoots you a wink and it makes Dylan throw his head back while moaning theatrically. Drama queen.

You say your goodbyes then rush home and get to work. You don’t have much time to get your preparations in order. Fortunately this isn’t your first rodeo and you have plenty of connections that can help out in a pinch.

Your friend Veronica, who’s a realtor, sends you info on rentals that have immediate availability. You find one that sounds like a winner then continue to get ready for this lovely adventure you’re about to endure.

~

The next mornings sun shines too soon and you seriously regret checking your phone. You have a google alert setup for Dylan’s name, so anytime the fucker makes headlines you get notified. And you’ve been notified a shit ton since you fell asleep last night.

Not only did the difficult rock star go out last night, his drunken ass hit a plethora of bars and clubs in LA. The evidence of it is littered everywhere online. Thanks so much for the help, Tyler.

Apparently Dylan’s god damn chaperone needs a chaperone himself. Fucking men. They never listen. You gave one simple instruction and Dylan couldn’t keep his annoying self in line. And Tyler…well Tyler’s gonna get a god damn earful once you see him.  

You stroll lazily up to your client’s hotel room door with Starbucks in hand. After a couple of knocks, the door swings open to reveal a very large bald man who’s sizing you up.

“Victor?” You giggle remembering Tyler’s description of Dylan’s driver. Apparently he looks like a Rottweiler but has a heart of gold like a Golden Retriever.

“Yes, ma'am but you can call me Vic.” He holds out his hand. “And you must be, Y/N. Come on in.”

You trail behind Vic into the other room and what’s before you is almost comical. There’s a hungover rock star sitting next to a nervous looking manager and they both look pretty miserable.

“Hello, boys. You ready to get this shitshow on the road?” You question fighting back a yawn.

Tyler looks ready to speak but suddenly decides against it, instead he just nods in your direction. Dylan barely grunts a response, yanking his worn Mets baseball cap down further onto his head.

Everyone finally piles into Vic’s dark SUV to settle in for the long ride. Of course he’s the only one who knows where you’re all headed. You decide it’s better to keep the other two in the dark for the time being.

You let the quiet car ride go on for a bit. Mostly because you want your coffee to kick in before mentioning last night. Although the stupid cup of java is not strong enough because you’re still fucking sleepy. Screw it.

“So tell me what happened last night, people. Cause it sure as hell wasn’t what we agreed on.” You glance between the two handsome men getting different reactions from each.

“For the record, I didn’t agree to shit.” Dylan interjects earning himself a dirty expression.

“It’s my fault. I fell asleep.” Tyler looks like a poor wounded animal and you almost feel bad for him. Almost.

“You had one job, man.” You groan flicking the side of his head with your finger.

“And you…” You quickly twist yourself around towards the backseat to where Dylan’s sitting.

“Your drunken ass got around everywhere last night huh? There’s a ton of pictures circulating online right now. All of which you’re clearly shitfaced!" You exclaim as a huge grin graces Dylan’s face.

“I was thirsty, Y/N.”

“Dylan…”

“Oh relax. No one saw me punch a douche bag named Brett in the VIP lounge at Hyde. I did good.” He says proudly.

“Son of a bitch! You were supposed to stay home, O’Brien.”  Ugh. It’s too early for this shit.

“Oops.”

“Oops? You can take your oops and shove it up your ass, pretty boy.” You narrow your eyes in his direction.

“Aw you think I’m pretty?” Dylan retorts without missing a beat.

“Piss off.” You mutter grumpily shifting back around in your seat.

“Well Y/N’s definitely a morning person.” Dylan cackles, making sure to file this useful tidbit away for the future.

“Where we going?” Tyler wonders out loud.

“You’ll see soon.”

“I need my beauty sleep. Wake me up when we get there.” Dylan mumbles stretching out in the backseat.

The tension that was once in the car has disappeared and you decide to lean your head back and rest as well. You actually get some shut eye but it’s rudely interrupted by a panicked hand shaking you.

“Is this…is that a lake?” Tyler’s shocked reaction continues as he whips his head around to look at everything we drive by.

“You’re a smart one.” You deadpan.

“But…”

“Shhh. Don’t wake Dylan up yet.” You whisper as Vic turns onto a long dirt road that leads to the house you picked out.

Tyler’s eyes are now bugging out of his skull and he looks ready to jump out of the moving car. For the love of god. These guys are so friggin high maintenance.

Once the car is thrown into park, you gingerly exit through the passenger side door. Tyler follows suit and waves you over to move away from the car. This should be good.

“This is a lake house!” Tyler does his best to keep his voice low while gesturing around wildly.

“And? You said he likes being by the water.”

“The ocean, Y/N. Don’t play stupid. I vetoed the lake house idea. They remind Dyl of the one his family had growing up. He refuses to go near one.”

“Yes I’m aware.” You shrug casually.

“Are you insane?”

“Probably. Regardless Dylan needs to face this shit, Tyler. Clearly the way he’s been coping isn’t working for him.”

“I know but…”

“O’Brien is a grown man. He can handle it…he’ll have to.”

“What the fuck?!” Oh shit. The beast is awake. You twirl around to see Dylan fuming as he takes in his tranquil surroundings.

“Welcome to your new place of residence.” You saunter over to him, pretending that rage isn’t painted on his features. Normally you’d be intimidated as fuck but you’re still too half asleep to care right now.

“You’ve gone too far, L/N. I’m officially done with this bullshit. You’re fired.” He seethes through gritted teeth.

“Nope. Tyler hired me.” You counter with sly smile.

“Oh he’s fired too.” Dylan shoots back before laying his whiskey brown eyes on his manger.

“You’re fired!” He loudly shouts at Tyler before turning his gaze to his driver.  

“And you’re fired!” The rockstar points at Vic then starts to furiously pace back and forth.

“Dylan…”

“Everyone’s fired!” He barks practically stomping the hard ground with his work boot.

“And here I thought you were gonna overreact.” You smirk knowingly. “Thanks for proving me wrong, O’Brien."

~

Masterlist 

#dylan o'brien #dylan o'brien x reader #dylan o'brien au #dylan o'brien fanfiction #rockstar!dylan #rockstar au #dylan obrien au #dylan obrien x reader #dylan obrien #teen wolf rpf #teen wolf au #teen wolf imagine #teen wolf fanfiction #dylan o'brien imagine #stiles stilinski #stiles stilinksi x reader #stiles stilinski au #stiles x reader #dylan x reader #stiles stilinksi imagine #stiles stilinski fanfiction #mitch rapp x reader #dave hodgman x reader #stuart twombly x reader #stiles stilinski reader insert #dylan o'brien reader insert #mitch rapp reader insert

[dancingalone21]

Stripped - Part 2

Summary: Being a high powered publicist, the reader is hired to work with the destructive rock star Jensen Ackles. Her task is to revamp his difficult image from the ground up. Will the reader succeed? Or will she get sucked into his crazy life? 

Pairing: rockstar!Jensen x Reader

Word Count: 2,429

Part 1

“You must be out of your damn mind, beautiful.” Jensen’s sudden shift in attitude catches you off guard, the smugness oozing out of him giving you goosebumps.

Why does this infuriating man have to be sexy as hell? And why does he have to be your client?! You continue to focus on Jensen who's now licking his kissable lips and it’s driving you insane. You need to shut this down. Now.

"Give me your phone." You sternly command springing up from the couch. Within seconds you're standing in front of the intoxicating man with your palm held out.

"Excuse me." Jensen immediately growls slipping back into his anger filled persona.

"Hand over your phone, Jensen." You repeat loudly, successfully holding back an eye roll.

"And why would I do that?"

"Cutting off communication. Remember? You'll get it back eventually."

"Just do it, man. I'll text the important people, tell them to contact me if they need to reach you." Matt adds as he stands up to stretch his legs around the room.

"This is happening whether you like it or not. Just go with the flow and make it easier on all of us. Ok?"

"It's password protected ya know. You won't be able to snoop on my ass." Jensen huffs with aggravation, then unwillingly pulls his iPhone from his jeans front pocket.

"Oh darn. My master plan is foiled." You sass back, not able to stop the giggle that follows. Matt joins in himself, ignoring the unimpressed puss on the rock star's face.

"So what's the plan?" Matt asks quietly, looking apprehensive but also hopeful.

You bring your attention back to Jensen who's sporting a pout as he sinks himself deeper into the couch. He's doing his best to watch the Seinfeld rerun on TV but you can tell he's too distracted at the moment.

"Let's go talk on the balcony, Matty." You quickly open up the glass slider door and settle into one of the cloth covered chairs. You can hear muffled grumblings from the two men until Matt stalks outside shutting the slider behind him.

"What did you get me into, dude?" You ask slightly amused as you watch Jensen through the glass door. Talk about glorified babysitting.

"Trust me, I know. The thing that kills me is that he's a good guy, he just...he does bad shit." Matt replies dragging his hand down his face. The poor guy looks exhausted and you realize that this plan needs to work not just for Ackles but for everyone in his life.

"I just told him that he's gonna be cut off from everyone and everything. An addict would be panicking and freaking the fuck out. Wanting to score as much shit as they can instead he's sulking like a little kid."

"Jensen doesn't get high as much as you'd think. At least not with the hard stuff." Matt wearily admits fumbling with the hem of his collared shirt.

"What..."

"Jay uses to distract himself when shit gets to be too much inside of his head. It happens sporadically. The bastard is lucky enough that it hasn't turned into an addiction yet."

“Um. Then why the rehab?” You wonder skeptically.  

“To stop his antics. Ackles is a stubborn fucker, Y/N. He won’t listen to anyone. I needed a way of keeping him under control. And rehab did that.”

“Matt."

"I know, I know. But listen...I've known Jensen for fifteen years. He gets into these destructive phases where any and all common sense flies out the fucking window. I know the signs by now and he was on the verge like six months ago. Hence his most recent stint in rehab."

You can sense Matt's sudden hesitation, he searches your face like he's debating if he should continue on or not. He's praying that you make good on your word instead of abandoning this whole arrangement.

"I remember reports of him overdosing like a year ago. Was that true?" You ask curiously.

"Unfortunately. It was the anniversary of his mom's death. He was already super stressed to begin with, everything became overwhelming and he went crazy." Matt sighs heavily flashing back to that awful night.

He found his friend's bloody, unconscious body lying in a heap of broken glass. Of all the places Jensen could have passed out, he ends up crashing down into a glass coffee table.

"I know it wasn't deliberate. But I also know...at the time he would've been fine with whatever the outcome."

"Jesus Christ, Matt. Please tell me you at least know the root of all this?"

"Mostly family problems. His dad specifically. They've had a volatile relationship ever since Jensen's mom Donna died. He was 18 when it happened."

"I guess I can add daddy issues to the list." You add softly making Matt sadly nod his head in response.

"The poor bastard's been dealing with the guilt and bullshit from his father for almost 12 years now. Honestly I don't blame him for wanting a break from it."

"Guilt about what?" You sneak a peek at Jensen to see that he's now fast asleep. He's slouched down further onto the couch and propped his boots up on a nearby ottoman. He looks so peaceful that you momentarily forget that he's a pain in the ass. The moment passes though when you hear what Matt's about to say.

"His dad blames him for Donna's death and he thinks his son doesn't deserve all of his success. It's why Jensen has a love/hate relationship with his career. He's passionate about it but then the remorse sets in and he almost wants to destroy it."

"Shit. Was it...I mean...did he..." You stumble out not expecting that answer.

"Yes it was his fault but it was an accident. It's not my place to get into details, hopefully you'll get him to open up eventually."

Well this is just fucking dandy. You've dealt with difficult situations before with your job but this one takes the cake. The fact that you have a personal history with one of the people involved makes this harder. And it definitely piles on more pressure than usual.

Deciding you've found out enough backstory for now, you and Matt start nailing down details for this ridiculous operation. He fills you in on where Jensen likes to go to relax and you have the perfect place in mind. You know this whole process will be tough enough for Jensen, so there's no way in hell he's going to another hotel. Too many temptations.

Heading back into the hotel room, you notice Jensen is now wide awake and shoving fruit loops into his mouth. Oh how this man kills you.

"Ok dude...we leave first thing tomorrow morning. So pack everything up that you need because you're not coming back here." You inform him, blocking his view of the TV screen.

"Huh?" Jensen mumbles with his mouth full, looking adorably perplexed by your words. Although his innocent act doesn't last long once he realizes you're on to his game.

"Do me a favor, Ackles. Stay. Here. Do not leave this hotel room until I come and get you tomorrow. And no visitors either. Your disappearing act starts now."

"Yeah that doesn't work for me." He waves you off with a defiant smile then continues eating his cereal.

"Don't worry, Y/N. I'll keep an eye on him." Matt shoots you a wink and it makes Jensen throw his head back while moaning theatrically. Drama queen.

You say your goodbyes then rush home and get to work. You don't have much time to get your preparations in order. Fortunately this isn't your first rodeo and you have plenty of connections that can help out in a pinch.

Your friend Veronica, who's a realtor, sends you info on rentals that have immediate availability. You find one that sounds like a winner then continue to get ready for this lovely adventure you're about to endure.

~

The next mornings sun shines too soon and you seriously regret checking your phone. You have a google alert setup for Jensen's name, so anytime the fucker makes headlines you get notified. And you've been notified a shit ton since you fell asleep last night.

Not only did the difficult rock star go out last night, his drunken ass hit a plethora of bars and clubs in LA. The evidence of it is littered everywhere online. Thanks so much for the help, Matt.

Apparently Jensen's god damn chaperone needs a chaperone himself. Fucking men. They never listen. You gave one simple instruction and Jensen couldn't keep his annoying self in line. And Matt...well Matt's gonna get a god damn earful once you see him.  

You stroll lazily up to Jensen's hotel room door with Starbucks in hand. After a couple of knocks, the door swings open to reveal a very large bald man who's sizing you up.

"Clif?" You giggle remembering Matt's description of Jensen's driver. Apparently he looks like a Rottweiler but has a heart of gold like a Golden Retriever.

"Yes, ma'am. And you must be, Y/N. Come on in."

You trail behind Clif into the other room and what's before you is almost comical. There's a hungover rock star sitting next to a nervous looking manager and they both look pretty miserable.

"Hello, boys. You ready to get this shitshow on the road?" You question fighting back a yawn.

Matt looks ready to speak but suddenly decides against it, instead he just nods in your direction. Jensen barely grunts a response, yanking his baseball cap down further onto his head.

Everyone finally piles into Clif's SUV to settle in for the ride. Of course he's the only one who knows where you're all headed. You decide it's better to keep the other two in the dark for the time being.

You let the quiet car ride go on for a bit. Mostly because you want your coffee to kick in before mentioning last night. Although the stupid cup of java is not strong enough because you're still fucking sleepy. Screw it.

"So tell me what happened last night, people. Cause it sure as hell wasn't what we agreed on." You glance between the two handsome men getting different reactions from each.

"For the record, I didn't agree to shit." Jensen interjects earning himself a dirty expression.

"It's my fault. I fell asleep." Matt looks like a poor wounded animal and you almost feel bad for him. Almost.

"You had one job, man." You groan flicking the side of his head with your finger.

"And you..." You quickly twist yourself around towards the backseat to where Jensen's sitting.

"Your drunken ass got around everywhere last night huh? There's a ton of pictures circulating online right now. I think this one is my personal favorite." You hold out your iPhone to show the photo and a huge grin graces Jensen's face.

"Kaleo! They're my boys, man."

"Jensen..."

"Oh relax. No one saw me punch a douche bag named Brett in the VIP lounge at Hyde. I did good." He says proudly.

"Son of a bitch! You were supposed to stay home, Ackles."  Ugh. It's too early for this shit.

"Oops."

"Oops? You can take your oops and shove it up your ass, pretty boy." You narrow your eyes in his direction.

"Aw you think I'm pretty?" Jensen retorts without missing a beat.

"Piss off." You mutter grumpily shifting back around in your seat.

"Well Y/N's definitely a morning person." Jensen cackles, making sure to file this useful tidbit away for the future.

"Where we going?" Matt wonders out loud.

"You'll see soon."

"I need my beauty sleep. Wake me up when we get there." Jensen mumbles stretching out in the backseat.

The tension that was once in the car has disappeared and you decide to lean your head back and rest as well. You actually get some shut eye but it's rudely interrupted by a panicked hand shaking you.

"Is this...is that a lake?" Matt's shocked reaction continues as he whips his head around to look at everything we drive by.

"You're a smart one." You deadpan.

"But..."

"Shhh. Don't wake Jensen up yet." You whisper as Clif turns onto a long dirt road that leads to the house you picked out.

Matt's eyes are now bugging out of his skull and he looks ready to jump out of the moving car. For the love of god. These guys are so friggin high maintenance.

Once the car is thrown into park, you gingerly exit through the passenger side door. Matt follows suit and waves you over to move away from the car. This should be good.

"This is a lake house!" Matt does his best to keep his voice low while gesturing around wildly.

"And? You said he likes being by the water."

"The ocean, Y/N. Don't play stupid. I vetoed the lake house idea. They remind Jay of the one his family had growing up. He refuses to go near one."

"Yes I'm aware." You shrug casually.

"Are you insane?"

"Probably. Regardless Jensen needs to face this shit, Matt. Clearly the way he's been coping isn't working for him."

"I know but..."

"Ackles is a grown man. He can handle it...he'll have to."

"What the fuck?!" Oh shit. The beast is awake. You twirl around to see Jensen fuming as he takes in his tranquil surroundings.

"Welcome to your new place of residence." You saunter over to him, pretending that rage isn't painted on his features. Normally you'd be intimidated as fuck but you're still too half asleep to care right now.

"You've gone too far, L/N. I'm officially done with this bullshit. You're fired." He seethes through gritted teeth.

"Nope. Matt hired me." You counter with sly smile.

"Oh he's fired too." Jensen shoots back before laying his eyes on his manger.

"You're fired!" He loudly shouts at Matt before turning his gaze to his driver.  

"And you're fired!" Jensen points at Clif then starts to furiously pace back and forth.

“Jensen...”

"Everyone's fired!" He barks practically stomping the hard ground with his work boot.

"And here I thought you were gonna overreact.” You smirk knowingly. “Thanks for proving me wrong, Ackles." 

~

#stripped series #rockstar!jensen #jensen ackles x reader #supernatural #jensen ackles #jensen ackles au #matt cohen #matt cohen au #spn reader insert #stripped #clif kosterman #dean winchester

[recentanimenews]

Anime in America Podcast: Full Episode 6 Transcript

  We may not be able to go to the movies right now, but at least we can live vicariously through anime history in the latest episode of Crunchyroll's Anime in America podcast. Read on for the full episode 6 transcript! 

  The Anime in America series is available on crunchyroll.com, animeinamerica.com, and wherever you listen to podcasts. 

  EPISODE 6: AT THE MOVIES: EVENTUALLY

Guest: Jerry Beck

  Disclaimer: The following program contains language not suitable for all ages. Discretion advised.

  [Lofi music]

  There is one name you HAVE to talk about when it comes to anime. A foundational influence on the entire medium and an enervating force in the animation market. A man without whom we may not even have the anime we know and love today.

  It’s not Tezuka, but good guess.

  When it comes to the world of animation, and honestly most media, all roads lead back to Walt Disney. The man who all the animators in Japan’s growing post-war industry were trying to emulate. Most prominent among them, the legendary manga author and Japanese national treasure Osamu Tezuka who truly lived up to Walt’s legacy both by popularizing the medium of animation and establishing many regrettable business practices still felt in the modern industry. 

  Disney’s beloved animated features were the envy of every studio on both sides of the Pacific and the pursuit of that special magic Walt brought to the silver screen was what kicked off the race to bring Japanese animation to America. So, I guess…we can start there.

  [Lofi music]

  In the ‘50s Toei Animation was basically the only major animation studio in Japan and had the stated intent of becoming “The Disney of the East.” Toei’s first 3 films, Hakujaden, Shonen Sautobi Sasuke, and Saiyuki were all released near the end of that decade and all stuck very closely to the Disney formula, retelling traditional folktales with colorful animation, plenty of cute animals, and, in the case of Saiyuki, musical interludes.

  Back home in the U.S., Disney was deep in a run of blockbuster releases with titles like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and, umm [cough] Song of the South. Just about every major studio was trying to figure out how to steal some of that thunder. Metro-Goldwyn Mayer was one such studio who considered Disney their rivals at the box office. If you wanna know how that turned out for MGM, uh, Disney acquired their parent company Fox in March 2019.

  It was never much of a rivalry to begin with. MGM put out a behind the scenes docu series called The MGM Parade aping Disney’s “The Magical World of Disney” series in 1955 and decided to close their animation department in 1957, the heads of which, a Mr. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, would depart along with most of the staff to form the very successful Hanna-Barbera Productions. 

  So, what do you do when you want to compete with a company like Disney in animated features but don’t want to go to the trouble of producing any animated features? MGM became the first company to license and release a Japanese anime in the United States, premiering Toei’s Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke, retitled Magic Boy, in theaters in July 8th, 1961, winning a close race against Global Pictures and American International by only two months ahead their releases of Toei’s two other films, Hakujaden, retitled Panda and the Magic Serpent, and Saiyuki, retitled Alakhazam the Great.

  They didn’t do too great, which probably explains why between those three movies released in 1961 and Hayao Miyazaki’s debut in American cinemas in 1986, only 3 other anime made it to theaters in the U.S. 

  Not even Tezuka’s magic could break open the box office for anime in the ‘70s. His production company, Mushi Production, had two films, A Thousand and One Nights and Cleopatra: Queen of Sex that were both released early in the decade and flopped. In the case of the latter, Xanadu Productions’s attempt to sell the erotic historical drama as a porno probably didn’t help.

  The rest of the following two decades saw plenty of anime films being released in the West but only for direct to video releases with major Japanese studios leaning hard into this new market. Many U.S. distributors were now exploiting Japanese studios to animate their own cartoons, so many of the same era took on a sort of Western bend. Toei Animation in particular released a number of films during that period that seem pretty focused on replicating that Disney formula even more closely, using Western history and folktales as source material. Some of my favorite examples are The World of Hans Christian Andersen (originally Anderson Monogatari), Les Miserables (originally Jean Valjean Monogatari), 30,000 Miles Under the Sea (yes, miles), Animal Treasure Island, and even Puss n’ Boots (who became Toei’s logo) during the ‘70s.

  [Music from “Toei Logo History” plays]

  In 1986, Hayao Miyazaki finally appeared in the American scene. If you haven’t heard of him… how the fuck not? How is that possible? I don’t, I don’t understand. Often referred to as the Walt Disney of Japan, Miyazaki is the primary creative force of what would become the internationally renowned Studio Ghibli which we’ll get into a bit later. Their first film Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was created before the studio even had a name, wowing American audiences with its beautiful art and epic story involving environmentalist themes... kind of. Well not really, actually. Manson International and Showmen Inc. got their hands on the movie and cut it up so bad you couldn’t really call it a Miyazaki work anymore. I mean, they didn’t, they changed everything. They changed the title to Warriors of the Wind, [Clip from 1985 commercial for Warriors of the Wind] renaming Nausicaa to “Princess Zandra” and doing their best to make it an action movie while cutting out any of the environmental themes at the core of the narrative by cutting out a whole 22 minutes of the film. Then they drew up a He-Man ass poster with a whole squad of dudes and a pegasus that were not even in the movie.

  [Lofi music]

  Enter Streamline Pictures.

  Co-founded by Jerry Beck and Carl Macek. Each already working to spread the good word of anime, the two were disappointed in early dubs and brought a new philosophy to the localization game with Streamline. 

  Do. Not. Mess. With. It. Don’t do that. For your own good. 

  Beck: We were quite proud of them, because we had a theory on how to do this, which was to use the original music and effects tracks, not cut anything, uh and to do the dubs as accurately and as correctly as we possibly could, with the best actors we could get. Our model was the Warriors of the Wind, meaning we were going to be everything that movie wasn’t. We were going to be the opposite of Warriors of the Wind. 

  That was the man, Jerry Beck himself. The formula was simple, arguably a lot less work than completely changing a movie to shoe-horn it into some western film archetype, the two-man company began visiting Japanese studios… or rather their Los Angeles offices since every major Japanese studio had one of those in the 1980’s, and asking for dubbing and distribution rights.

  Both passionate anime fans, the two had a ton of knowledge of emerging anime titles and an interest in bringing many of them over which larger studios would have passed up for dumb reasons like “profitability.”

  Beck: We literally made a checklist that we got all the films. We wanted Fist of the Northstar, we wanted Wicked City, we wanted Vampire Hunter D, we wanted Castle of Cagliostro, we wanted- you know, we wanted Lensmen, but I’m not sure why, I actually know why at the time, but that’s such an odd film. So, but we ended up getting them all.

  After handling the theatrical screenings of the Mangum Dub of Castle in the Sky, Macek secured a deal with Japanese publisher Tokuma Shoten to dub future titles, including My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service. After that they went on a tear, where they were basically the only company in the game theatrically releasing anime from 1985 to 1995, averaging almost 2 movies a year in a period where non-Streamline anime films could be counted on one hand with room to spare. 

  I cannot emphasize enough how much Streamline did for anime in America. They even helped the medium properly break into American television in the early ‘90s alongside Central Park Media by contributing to Syfy’s anime block which aired Dominion Tank Police, Robot Carnival, Project A-Ko, Vampire Hunter D, and another film brought to the U.S. by Streamline which could be considered their greatest achievement.

  Akira. Or AH-ki-ra [first syllable stress], if you’re a purist.

  Beck: Marvel Comics was printing an adaptation of Akira and we knew about the film [Requiem from Akira plays]. And at that point, that was like, of course like ‘88 or so, you know there were already bootleg VHS copies for sale at comic book conventions and stuff. But we looked at it and went “oh my God, this is like state of the art, you know? This is really a big deal for film.” And I don’t even think we had seen it on the big screen or anything, we just knew we wanted it, if it was gettable. And the good news was that the Akira Committee was kinda desperately wanted it to be shown in America, and they had gone to Paramount, Universal, Fox, everywhere, trying to get somebody to pick up Akira, and nobody would because it was too violent. The idea of that kind of thing being shown in America was, you know, unthinkable. So we were like “we’ll do it!” 

  Akira was a cultural and technological achievement in animation. It set a new record number of colors used in an animated feature at 327, 50 of which were unique colors created specifically for the movie. You could fill a mega size box of Crayons with colors that only exist thanks to Akira, which is insane. The film consisted of 160,000 frames, clocking in at almost 3 times the average for an animated feature of that same length. It was also the most expensive anime film ever produced at the time with a budget of 1.1 billion Japanese Yen. As Jerry said, it was also intensely violent, considered graphic in Japan and especially in America which still considered animation almost wholly a realm of children’s entertainment. The Akira Committee was desperate to get it in American theaters. And obviously, there were difficulties. 

  After being collectively shot down by Hollywood, the Akira Committee was approached by the small and unproven Streamline with a unique offer: if the Akira Committee could put up the cost to dub and distribute, Streamline would give them 100% of the profits up to a cap before beginning to collect their own percentage.

  And it was not easy. Jerry had to negotiate for months with an agent from the committee who basically watched their operation at work to make sure they knew what they were doing. Then Streamline was given an opportunity to prove themselves by hosting a screening of the film in the Spreckles theater at ComicCon. Only once they pulled that off did the committee ink the deal, but with one demand. They were adamant about getting a quality dub and wanted someone who had, at the very least, been nominated for an Academy Award to manage it. At the very least. Carl Macek had one of his associates search around and eventually they landed on Sheldon Renan, who had previously received recognition from the Motion Pictures Association of America for a documentary short just to fit the bill. 

  [Akira versus Kaneda, english dub clip]

  And it was a hit. Screenings pulled in profits on par with or even exceeding critically acclaimed live action foreign films. Streamline established their reputation in the industry on the success of Akira, and the next step was home video, which turned into another battle for Streamline as one of the principles of the committee, Kodansha, was intent on selling out the rights to a large distributor based on Akira’s success in theaters. Still they were turned down and once again, despite not even being a home video distributor, Streamline made an offer.

  Beck: We said to them, you know, we’re gonna get you the reviews, you’re going to get reviews in every town. We got Siskel and Ebert, they reviewed it; we got it on Entertainment Tonight, we got it everywhere. And so we were doing all this stuff, the idea though, the goal, was to get all this coverage and then they would go, they would instead of going to movie studios they would go to the home video people and try to convince them to put it out on home video. No home video distributor wanted it. Nobody. Because there was nowhere, we found out later, there was no place in a video store, then, for them to put it. They couldn’t put it in the kids’ cartoon section, the idea of putting it in science fiction, I don’t know why that didn’t work, that should’ve worked, but they probably had Heavy Metal there, but they for some reason that was not a thing that- they didn’t, there was nowhere to put what we call “anime” in a video store at that time. They did say to us “you gotta have a bunch of them. Five, six, seven, and we’ll create a shelf, we’ll put a shelf in our stores.” This is what Blockbuster said, this is what Suncoast said. So we ended up, we ended up, what we did was we got the vid- they couldn’t sell the video rights, so WE got the video rights, even though we weren’t a video company! And so we ended up putting out Akira on VHS. We couldn’t sell it in video stores. So we ended up- and there was no Ebay or Amazon, that didn’t exist, so we actually went to comic book stores and obviously it was the perfect thing to do, because Akira was a comic book, it was manga, and Marvel was printing it. And we ended up selling them to comic book stores and we- it worked. It was exclusive to comic book stores, it was the only place you could get it. Oh my God, we sold… thousands. 

  Streamline hung up its hat with the release of Space Adventure Cobra in 1995 but many of their partners who handled the theatrical distribution like Tara Releasing and Fathom Events continued without them. Just as TV anime was headed toward its own watershed moment, the field for anime movies broadened in the second half of the ‘90s. Manga Entertainment brought over Ghost in the Shell with Palm Pictures in 1996. VIZ Media broke into films by capitalizing on Ranma ½’s growing popularity with the release of Ranma ½ the Movie: Big Trouble in Nekonron China alongside CBS theatrical in 1998. 

  And then the big one came. 4Kids partnered with Kids WB and dropped Pokemon: The First Movie in 1999. And to call it a smash hit for anime movies would be an understatement. [Pokemon: The First Movie, trailer 1 plays] I saw it. Because my dad bought the VHS from one of those dudes that sold bootlegs in the Kroger parking lot. The one he hand recorded himself. You remember those? We had ‘em. 

  The movie hit $10.1 million in the box office on its opening day, which was a Wednesday, by the way. Over its opening weekend it would climb to $31 million and eventually cap out at $85 million at the box office which has remained the record anime movie in the United States for 20 years. For a moment in time it even claimed the best opening weekend for an animated feature full stop until Toy Story 2 dropped two weeks later. [Pokemon Bumper - 2000] Plastic-faced newscasters began referring to its opening weekend as “Pokeflu,” since so many kids mysteriously called in sick from school the same day.

  “Pokemania Comes to America - 1999, ABC News”: Pokemon is now in full mania! And others may follow suit, when a new Pokemon movie hit theaters this fall, spurring even more… Pokemania.

  "’Pokémania’: 1999 MSNBC Pokémon News Report”: School officials are finding that Pokemon cards are responsible for fist fights and the constant trading is not only distracting kids from classwork, but turning the playground into a black market. 

  And ya know what? Given recent events, Pokeflu sounds very racist. But that’s what they called it. 

  Anime was still a few years off from its Oscar grab and even today hasn’t fully reached acceptance as a respected form of media, but the Pokemon movie proved there was lots and lots of money to be made from anime if you played your cards right. Although it’s difficult to tell if that's what 4Kids and Warner Bros did. Each subsequent Pokemon movie pulled in roughly half what the previous managed. Pokemon: The Movie 2000 scored a total box office of $43 million and Pokemon 3: The Movie grabbed $17 million before the whole thing fell off a cliff. Pokemon 4Ever pulled in only $1.7 million and Pokemon Heroes didn’t even crack $1 million. Mind you, this still gives Pokemon the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 19th highest box offices of anime films in the U.S., so, you know, what do I know?

  Pokemon’s explosive success at the box office inspired other attempts to grab some of that Disney demographic. Fox was the first to jump after the 1999 success of the first Pokemon movie with Digimon: The Movie which I’m definitely gonna talk about in a little bit. 4Kids itself also tried to recapture that Pokemon magic as the franchise was showing diminishing returns with Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light.

  Unfortunately the Pokemon movies were also a return to form for crazed American producers with scissors. 4Kids onigiri erasure in Pokemon TV series is notorious on its own, but its former president Norman Grossfeld also feared the Pokemon: The Movie movie would do poorly as written. Casting Mewtwo as a sympathetic antagonist confused and angered the profit-minded execs who produced content for children despite probably never having children of their own. They cut out the prologue describing Mewtwo’s past as the victim of genetic experiments and made edits to portray him as a generic villain and Mew as… like some kinda savior, messiah-type thing?

  [Lofi music]

  Fox, in its desperation to compete with the success of Warner Brothers’s Pokemon looked to Digimon, spawning the creation of the cinematic chimera Digimon: The Movie. You see, there wasn’t actually a movie called Digimon: The Movie in Japan, but several short Digimon films titled Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure:... um… Children’s War Game?, and Digimon Adventure 02: Digimon Hurricane Landing!!.

  The first two had been directed by the acclaimed Mamoru Hosoda and the last by Shigeyasu Yamauchi. I really want to emphasize these were three different movies utilizing different art styles and creative processes with the last one even focusing on an almost entirely different cast of characters. So, like Harmony Gold before them, they took a knife to all three features, leaving more than 40 minutes on the cutting room floor to create a bizarrely paced, three-arc, Digimon feature before slapping on a mostly ska soundtrack and Angela Anaconda short in the beginning [Angela Anaconda part of the Digimon Movie]. The movie premiered in 2000 and was panned by critics but walked away with a $9.6 million box office, making it the 9th most successful anime film in the States, so I’m sure the producers cried all the way to the bank while the rest uh… learned that evil pays.

  Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light came later in 2004 and might be an even more bizarre feature than Digimon, since 4Kids produced the movie rather than just chopping it up after the fact. In fact, it might be the first anime film to be screened in the United States before Japan, releasing in August while Japan didn’t get the theatrical release until November. Somehow the Japanese version was still a full 14 minutes longer than the U.S. release. It’s not really clear whether Studio Gallop made the film whole cloth and 4Kids cut it down, as was their usual practice, or if they added some extra content after the fact that 4Kids didn’t want for the American audience. I guess we’ll never know.

  Since it was produced for the U.S., we did get the bonus of having all the cards appear like the actual game complete with english text, even if it sometimes appeared upside-down. Pyramid of Light also had ska music unfortunately. Umm… the 2000s was a, it was a big time for ska. Once again the movie was panned, finding a place in Rotten Tomatoes’s 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s, but became the 4th most successful anime film in the U.S. ever, with a $19.8 million box office.

  But that is enough about box office for now. Now we can talk about home video releases.

  [Lofi music]

  If you’ve ever tried to catch an anime film in theaters, you’ve probably noticed that even today they usually have extremely limited showings. At Streamline’s peak, they weren’t the only company localizing anime films, they were just the only ones making a push to put them in theaters. Other publishers were going for the straight to video route, but there was one serious hang-up. Blockbuster just didn’t give a shit. 

  Streamline’s own Akira release had limited theatrical showings, meaning they were leaning heavily into home video and the movie really beat the odds, finding success in the two markets mom and pop video stores and comic shops. Bootleg fansubs of Akira had been in circulation for months before the film’s official release, so Streamline sweetened the deal by including actual original animation cels with the VHS which seems less an intelligent marketing gimmick and more of a giveaway of cultural artifacts in retrospect. Those people are probably very wealthy, now. It was probably also unnecessary. Akira’s home video success was a moment in anime history in many ways, but it was also an exception. 

  The direct to video market would never find the same success in comic shops that Akira had. You could find anime in privately owned video stories but even then they were being crowded out by mainstream outlets like Blockbuster who were much less interested in putting anime on their shelves, especially of the famously violent variety like Akira. For anime to get its foot in the door, it would need a new face that was not only child friendly but also insanely popular. I know I just talked about Pokemon’s breakout success, but its home video wouldn’t hit the shelves until 2000. Instead, the man who would help open Blockbusters’s blue and gold doors for other anime in the late ‘90s was one of its creators who most famously hates home video. Hayao Miyazaki.

  Miyazaki was already making the rounds in the U.S. via World Pictures and Streamline dubs of a few of his films which was probably fine by him, as he seems to resent the idea of people  watching his movies in any setting other than a theater, but Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki had his sights set on dominating the animation industry and Disney just happened to be in the market for international films. Former Head of Disney Home Video International Division and current CEO of Herbalife Nutrition Michael O Johnson inked a deal with Ghibli in 1996 granting global distribution rights to their entire library of films. 

  This was thanks in large part to the effort of Disney’s Steve Alpert who went so far as to film a mini-documentary in Disney studios to basically show Eisner and his fellow suits that every single person they employed to draw moving pictures was already a diehard fan of Miyazaki’s work. Alpert himself would jump ship to Ghibli to work alongside Suzuki battling his former employer at every turn to make sure they kept their promise about not cutting Ghibli films.

  Probably expecting Ghibli’s next film to be another Totoro or Kiki, Disney was shocked to see limbs flying off people's bodies in Princess Mononoke and pushed the distribution under their Miramax label to distance themselves from its morally objectionable content, which I can only assume came from a place of deep ignorance of both their own company’s history and the work of their HR department. Also the notion that um… just producing the same thing under a different wing of your company makes you any less morally objectionable… is also morally objectionable. 

  Unfortunately the Harvey Weinstein-lead Miramax was dead set on changing everything about Mononoke that it possibly could. And with Ghibli holding onto an iron-clad contract giving them final say, this transformed into all-out warfare with Miramax trying to weasel in every change they could and Alpert flying over the Pacific to nip that shit in the bud, only ending after Weinstein himself was twice humiliated in public. And to that I say: Good. First in a now iconic story wherein Suzuki presents him with a unsharpened prop sword at a meeting full of Disney and Miramax suits while shouting “Mononoke-hime NO CUT,” and then when Miyazaki and crew left in the middle of their own post-premiere party to carefully consider the suggestion Weinstein had been shouting at Alpert to chop 40 minutes off the movies runtime or they’d “never work in this town again.” And then several years later, the entire entertainment industry said “no, YOU’LL never work in this town again!” 

  Although Streamline had been following our modern era’s best practice of not messing with the source material for about a decade, Ghibli’s “no cuts” policy was one of the first pushes in that direction to come from Japan and doubtless helped to normalize the practice… eventually. As I said before, 4Kids and Fox raked in millions spinning out heavily edited films but Buena Vista bending the knee to Ghibli’s demands, the lasting cultural impact of Ghibli movies, and an increasingly saturated market of TV anime untouched by an editor’s razor eventually pushed the industry in the right direction. After all, no edited anime movies ever have been nominated for Oscars, but more on that later.

  Despite being a global hit, Princess Mononoke didn’t really take off in the way Disney had hoped, only pulling in $2.3 million in its first eight weeks. But it recovered in… that’s right, home video releases! Boom. Got ‘em. They also started churning out actual VHS releases for other Ghibli titles like Kiki’s Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro and then, when Streamline’s rights expired, Disney produced their own lavish dubs for DVD re-releases featuring a star-studded cast with voices like Dakota Fanning, Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Stewart, and uh, Shia LeBeouf. What?! Blockbuster was finally persuaded to start moving in anime content when Disney’s Buena Vista came knocking and the doors were officially open for more anime content.

  Ghibli was way ahead of its time in many ways and rights management was no exception. Or at least Miyazaki’s insistence on the purity of a theater-only movie-viewing experience had some unintended benefits. A mere two years before 4Kids would pull off the heist of the century screwing Shogakukan and Nintendo out of millions in profits in their deal of the explosively popular Pokemon franchise, Ghibli would deny Disney digital rights to their works in their contract. Disney was fine with that, the prevailing belief among executives being that those rights were basically useless. Ha-ha! Imagine that.

  Disney wasn’t interested in digital and if Disney, the most powerful media rights holder in the world, wasn’t going to push into that new sphere of distribution, then it was doomed to failure. Which, looking at the titanic size of Netflix who recently acquired streaming rights to the Ghibli Films worldwide minus Japan and the U.S. and is now staring down the barrel of Disney’s own competing streaming service Disney+ and Warner’s HBO Max, is kinda funny in retrospect.

  [Lofi music]

  Buena Vista might’ve helped Ghibli in another way though. Let's talk about when anime won an Oscar. No one’s quite sure how it happened, really. Not that Spirited Away didn’t deserve it. It definitely did. It’s a good movie. It’s just, uh, this was the first and only of Miyazaki’s works to have even been nominated. Ever. In fact, no anime films before Spirited Away in 2003 received a nomination for best animated film in the Academy Awards, and only The Tale of Princess Kaguya has been nominated since. Maybe the stars aligned, maybe it’s because Spirited Away’s stiffest competition in the 75th Academy Awards was Lilo & Stitch and Ice Age [Spirited Away Wins Animated Feature: 2003 Oscars], maybe it's because Spirited Away carried extra credibility by being released in the U.S. under the auspices of Disney. Whatever the cause, anime, via Ghibli, had grabbed a piece of critical acclaim in the American entertainment industry that seemed otherwise determined to ignore it.

  Not that Hollywood hadn’t noticed anime long ago. Two of America’s most celebrated directors, Christopher Nolan and Darren Aronofsky, have both committed what can charitably be described as borrowing from a certain Japanese director by the name of Satoshi Kon to build their respective, uh repertoires. Aranofsky heavily borrowed story, themes, and imagery from Kon’s Perfect Blue in his film Black Swan and even recreated the bath scene from Perfect Blue in his Requiem for a Dream. Guess which two of those three movies were nominated for Oscars? Nolan’s Inception collected four Oscars in 2010 which contained several scenes that anime fans got a sneak preview of 3 years before in the limited screening of Kon’s 2007 Paprika. And also in that one uh, Donald Duck comic strip. 

  Uh, look, I’m not trying to roast anybody or anything like that. Maybe Aronofsky. But you just can’t talk about Spirited Away grabbing an Oscar without giving mention to not just anime films, but foreign films in general which Hollywood seems to find value in but only when filtered through one of its own creators. So what does this get us? It gets us Scarlett Johansenn playing a woman named Motoko Kusanagi and an Oldboy remake that completely misses the point. 

  Trust me when I say the only good adaptations by Hollywood are Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow and the Wachowski sisters’s Speed Racer. You heard it here. If you want a new Ghost in the Shell movie just open your wallet, call Mamoru Oshii, and ask him to make another one. Stop with this weird shit. 

  Although many films were in uncertain licensing situations until GKIDs started recollecting them, the works of visionary directors like Mamoru Hosoda, Satoshi Kon, and Isao Takahata have managed to find their way to American theaters over the years without edits and a minimal delay that recently has been reduced down to less than a year. Not quite simulcasting, but given none of them have had a real breakout hit, it’s long strides to think that fans have had consistent opportunities to watch their movies in theaters over the years and purchase them in home video.

  [Lofi music.]

  Since Miyazaki’s most recent retirement, Ghibli underwent a sort of identity crisis on what to make of their studio or even if they would continue making films at all. During this period many of their creators left to join other studios, some of them even forming their own Studio Ponoc itself dedicated to continuing Ghibli’s traditions of movie making. Ghibli itself was just kinda there until very recently, when the aforementioned GKIDs secured the rights to Ghibli within the U.S. and entered into a deal to stream the entire Ghibli library on HBO Max. Ghibli also recently announced that it's nearing the release of TWO new films, Miyazaki’s own How Do You Live? and the studio’s first entirely CG feature film Earwig and the Witch, by Miyazaki’s son, Goro. 

  And I know what you’re thinking. I thought the same thing until I saw the images and I will just say I’m definitely gonna go see it.

  And y’know what? That’s great for Disney, but Ghibli’s downtime created an existential dread within the anime industry and fandom, because there wasn’t any other big name director to replace Miyazaki in the collective consciousness of America as “THE anime director,” or as Mother’s Basement on YouTube would say “the new Miyazaki,” until only recently...

  Makoto Shinkai has been directing anime movies, arguably the SAME anime movie, since 1998 and has been a well known quantity in the fandom since his 2002 film Voices of a Distant Star. But something changed in 2016. His movies are almost always about young people in love separated by time, space, circumstance, or supernatural circumstance, but each iteration has refined his technique until one finally reached critical mass. Your Name became the most successful Japanese film of any kind in multiple countries, including China, and Japan’s second most successful anime film domestically behind Spirited Away. Didn’t even crack the top 10 in the U.S., though.

  And no Oscar.

  That said, Your Name was a resounding success in the United States, now surpassed by Shinkai’s newest film Weathering with You last year. Each pulling in $5 million in the box office is no small feat for anime films. Appearing more frequently in mainstream outlets may be slowly growing Shinkai into a household name which, matched with his own formula for successful films, could be the beginning of another single director legacy that will pull the industry up with it.

  Now although we’ve seen less explosive releases since the children-focused anime movies around the turn of the millenia, it’s hard to describe our past decade of the 2010s as anything but a stateside renaissance for anime film. While the collective box office brought in by anime in the U.S. during the 2000s completely dwarfs that of the ‘90s, there weren’t all that many more films making it over. The real difference in the marketing and theater availability after Pokemon provided a proof of concept. Although there’s been roughly 50% more anime films coming out per year in Japan in the 2010s than the 2000s, the yearly average with theatrical releases in the states more than doubled between the decades.

  And while TV anime are slowly being consolidated into a few select streaming services, more distribution companies have entered the industry to put anime films in theaters. Nowadays GKIDs, Fathom Events, and Eleven Arts have an almost monthly churn of screenings that actually top the daily box offices… on their Wednesday showings. Wednesday. Still, given the movies are airing in limited theaters and showings, the numbers are very good. Just last year Dragon Ball Super: Broly had the 3rd most successful box office for an anime film in the U.S. at $30 million.

  Sounds like we’re in a pretty good place. Well, it’s all- I mean, it’s all relative. We have doubled the number of movies we license every year since last decade, but American theater-goers still only get the opportunity to watch maybe half of the anime films that come out every year in Japan. Meanwhile, there are an average of over 200 TV anime produced every year and, with rare exceptions, every single one is licensed and distributed in the United States across a number of streaming services. Next up, we’re going to talk about anime on TV and how it's grown into one of the largest, fastest, and most sophisticated localization industries in the world.

  Bye!

  [Lofi music]

  Thank you for listening to Anime in America, presented by Crunchyroll. If you enjoyed this, please go to Crunchyroll.com/animeinamerica to start your 14-day free trial or just log on for some free, ad-supported anime. 

  Special thanks to Jerry Beck. You can find more of Jerry’s work over on cartoonresearch.com along with the history of Streamline Pictures written by Fred Patten, one of the co-founders. 

  This episode is hosted by me, Yedoye Travis, and you can find me on Instagram at ProfessorDoye or Twitter @YedoyeOT. This episode is researched and written by Peter Fobian, edited by Chris Lightbody, and produced by me, Braith Miller, Peter Fobian and Jesse Gouldsbury. 

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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'The Bachelor' episode 3 recap: GLOW with the flow

Photo: Splash

Warning: This recap for episode 3 of The Bachelor contains spoilers. 

Happy week 3, rose lovers! We’ve reached the point in Arie’s “journey” where a previously invisible contestant suddenly gets thrust into the spotlight. Case in point:

Photo: ABC

Literally who is that, and what is she doing on a one-on-one with Arie?

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The episode begins with Harrison dropping off the date card, which Jane Doe (pictured above) promptly snatches. Maquel, Jacqueline, Lauren B., Tia, Marikh, Bekah M. Bibiana, and Krystal, you’re going on a group date — and clearly someone on The Bachelor’s Date Planning Committee binge-watched GLOW over the hiatus:

Photo: ABC

That’s right, “ladies” — you’re all about to audition for G.L.O.B., the “Gorgeous Ladies of the Bachelor” Wrestling League! (Side note: Please, Television Academy of Arts and Sciences, establish an “Outstanding Use of an Acronym in a Television Reality Show” category before next year’s Emmys.)

Angela and Ursula take the women through their paces, teaching them how to do forward rolls, how to bounce off the ropes, and how to “sell” the pain of getting (fake) kneed in the solar plexus by an opponent. Unfortunately, when it comes to the “selling” part, all of the women suck — and Angelina doesn’t hesitate to let them know it.

Photo: ABC

For the love of all that’s holy, Bibiana, why are you talking back to the former professional wrestler? Sure, she’s staying in character and just took a pot-shot at your mother, but you voluntarily signed up for a reality show that pits women against each other as they fight for a husband. If you have no righteous indignation about that, then you should probably just zip it.

Raven 2 is next to spark Angelina’s wrath when she refuses to expend any effort during a “lock-up” demonstration.

GIF: ABC

Bish, please. Weren’t you listening when Arie told Team Bachelor that he’s “looking for somebody who can kinda have fun in any situation”? You and Bibiana can take your sour pusses and your eye rolls and go cry in the corner. Meanwhile, Maquel and Baby Bekah are totally rolling with the punches, as it were.

GIF: ABC

Next, it’s time for the “ladies” to get their assigned pro-wrestler persona, and man, are they are on brand.

Krystal:

Photo: ABC

Bekah:

Photo: ABC

Marikh:

Photo: ABC

Raven 2:

Photo: ABC

Bibiana:

Photo: ABC

And how could Team Bachelor throw a wrestling date without inviting back the fan favorite who apparently does this for a living, Mr. Kenny “The Pretty Boy Pitbull” King?

Photo: ABC

Hey, at least it’s not Rated-R. Basically, Arie’s “match” with Kenny consists of the Bachelor flopping around limply while the Pretty Boy Pitbull pounds him repeatedly into the mat. Naturally, though, Kenny is enough of a gentleman to let Arie win — after all, his harem is watching.

Bekah and Maquel (“The Lunch Lady”) are summoned to the ring first. Just as they did during rehearsal, both women do their best to put on a convincing show, and it isn’t half bad. The Cougar faces off against Jacqueline next, and The Prom Queen definitely gets her bell rung.

GIF: ABC

Not really sure what was supposed to be going on during Marikh and Lauren B.’s routine, but if they were going for a “sleepwalking porn stars” vibe, they definitely succeeded.

GIF: ABC

After moping and whining their way through rehearsal, Bibiana and Raven 2 actually demonstrate some enthusiasm during their bout, which features headlocks, arm twists, and some almost decent trash talking. It may have been a merely moderate effort, but the Bachelor LOVES it.

Photo: ABC

Quiz time! If I were to ask you, based on two weeks’ of evidence, who would try to steal Arie away first at the post-date cocktail party, which woman would you pick? Exactly: Krystal. So why are all the rest of the “ladies” shocked — shocked! — when she does it again tonight?

Photo: ABC

Close your mouth, honey, or your jaw might freeze that way.

The Bachelor certainly isn’t discouraging Krystal’s behavior. “You were damn sexy today,” he gushes. “You were driving me crazy… I had to check myself a little bit.” He goes even further, advising Krystal to “just come grab me and say, ‘Give me some attention’” if she’s feeling neglected. Not that Krystal needs to be reminded.

It’s right about now that Bibiana falls into the same trap that so many women before her have stumbled into as well: Thinking the Bachelor wants to hear anything negative about a woman he’s clearly into, in this case Krystal. “I feel like at this point I need to voice my concerns with Arie,” Bibiana declares. So she does.

Photo: ABC

Arie does his best to make Bibi feel heard, and then he heads off to make out with Raven 2 and Baby Bekah (separately) in the Airstream trailers. Krystal is “a little confused” when Arie hands over the date rose to Bekah, so she decides the best solution is to “be more aggressive.” (Not pictured: The producer nodding furiously in agreement from behind the camera.)

The next morning, Krystal sits on the couch and performs a monologue by the pool — about how women have always “hated on” her, how she’s had to “struggle” and be “so strong” and “work so many hours” doing plyometric squats on the beach, or whatever. She also confides to her audience of one — an impressively poker-faced Marikh — that she and Arie “know we want to end up together, and this is just a process that has to be done in order for us to be together.”

Ladies and gentlemen, it has not even been three weeks.

Onward, “process”! The only one-on-one date of the week goes to… one of the blonde Laurens.

Photo: ABC

Seriously, who? Not that it matters, I guess. Arie meets the Lauren at his favorite private airport, where their jet awaits to whisk them off to wine country. I will say, whoever this woman is, she looks closer to 21 than 31 — and the Bachelor does seem pleased that she’s “mature.”

Over merlot, Arie and Lauren chat about early bedtimes and his growing love of cardigans. But can this Lauren go deeper? Arie admits he doesn’t know much/anything about her, and Lauren admits that she might have some “guards up.” I think it’s too much to hope that we’ll see a woman sent home from a date this early in the season… or is it?

You see, Lauren can’t stop talking. Like, at all. Maybe she’s so worried about holding back that she’s forcing herself to go to the opposite extreme — but even she admits that during dinner she’s “all over the place.”

Photo: ABC

And then something terrible happens.

Photo: ABC

Yep. Arie’s so bored, he’s actually eating on the date. After word-vomiting for almost the entire meal, Lauren tries to rein it in and salvage the night. “I feel like I have not been myself this whole dinner,” she tells the Bachelor. “I like me, and I’m cool with me, but I feel like I’ve been a little all over the place.”

So does Arie. He holds up the date rose, and with a carefully assembled “sad face,” he gives Lauren the boot: “I really, really wanted this for us, but I’m sorry, I can’t give you this.” And with that, rose lovers, we are down to exactly one Lauren. Suitcase Ninja, do your thing.

Photo: ABC

The “ladies” are rocked to their core by this unexpected turn of events. Caroline bursts into tears; Bekah and Becca huddle together for emotional warmth; and Krystal — who, let’s face it, is pretty psyched — delivers a eulogy for her fallen sister, who she says is “an amazing, beautiful soul.” She concludes by telling the other women to live each cocktail party as though it’s their last, because time on this earth with Arie is simply not guaranteed.

When Ashley, Becca K, Brittany, Jenna, Caroline, Chelsea, and Annaliese arrive at the park for group date number 2, Arie assures them that their outing will be not involve violent smashing of any kind, or a significant budget. Instead: Dogs! And not just any dogs, Dynamo Dogs!

GIF: ABC

For today’s date, Arie and the women will be putting on a live show with these adorable trained pups. Pretty fun, right? Well, unless you’re Annaliese — her collection of traumatic experiences also includes a run-in with her grandparents’ cranky dog Sunshine, who bit her when she was a kid. “I almost lost an eye,” she says gravely. Naturally, we’re treated to another gauzy reenactment.

Photo: ABC

Speaking of comedy, Chris Harrison’s co-commentator for the dog show is none other than Best in Show star Fred Willard. And there sure is a lot of color to commentate — as none of the dogs seem interested in listening to their temporary trainers, and the kids in the audience are either crying our outright heckling the performers.

Photo: ABC

Unlike on the wrestling date, no one pouts or cries when the dogs make them look silly, and Arie deems the outing a success. Things continue to go smoothly at the post-date cocktail party, as Arie has comfortable chats and kisses with everyone… except Annaliese. By the time she sits down with the Bachelor, she’s so wound up and tense that she can’t think of anything to say. “I feel like I’m going home,” she whines to the other women later. “His body language was so different.” Hmmm… let’s go to the videotape:

Photo: ABC

Yeah, it’s not looking great for Annaliese.

The date rose, by the way, goes to Chelsea.

When the final cocktail party of the week rolls around, pretty much every woman but the ones holding roses (Chelsea, Baby Bekah) is worried that she’ll go home. Side note: I like that Arie is starting to preempt any “she stole him right away” drama at these parties by choosing the first woman himself. (Watch and learn, future Bachelors.)

Bibiana can’t wait to get her alone time with Arie, because she’s arranged for the interns to set up a “private” (except for the cameras) cabana in the front driveway, where she and the Bachelor can relax and gaze at the stars.

Photo: ABC

Unfortunately for Bibiana, Arie and Lauren B. just happened to stumble upon this romantic star-gazing setup first. Even more humiliating is the fact that the Bachelor sends Bibi away when she comes to interrupt.

Photo: ABC

“Uhhh… the struggle is real,” sighs Bibiana in her confessional. “The devil is working OT, man.” Hey! Mike Fleiss may be an evil genius but I think calling him “the devil” is taking things a bit too far.

Having discovered the driveway daybed — aka the perfect make-out spot — Arie starts bringing other women there, including Crystal and Baby Bekah. Speaking of Miss Junior Varsity, she’s trying a little too hard to come across as the carefree, independent woman: “I think you know that I don’t need you,” she purrs to Arie. “You’ve been attracted consistently to people who need you more than you need them, and it’s scary to be with somebody who doesn’t need you to complete them.” It’s almost believable — but those of us who’ve experienced the hell that is being a woman in her early 20s can see that Bekah’s really a swirling mass of insecurities masked by a perky bod and a pixie cut. Still, Arie is just eating it up. “Gosh, you’re blowing my mind right now!” he marvels, before commencing yet another make-out session.

Our Bachelor also lavishes attention on Raven 2, who doesn’t seem to mind that the “special” set-up he had made for her is just a pair of redneck stereotypes: Hay bales and moonshine. But perhaps the most awkward moment of the night is Annaliese’s sad attempt to get a kiss from Arie. Maybe it’s because she always looks like she’s about to burst into tears, or maybe it’s simply because he’s just not that into her, but the encounter is not a success.

“I’ve really wanted you to kiss me,” Annaliese begins. “And I hear that girls have to go in for the kiss first — and I’m not really that type of girl.”

“So… are you asking me?” replies the Bachelor, clearly annoyed. And then he drops the bomb.

Photo: ABC

Man, could there be anything more disheartening than getting rejected by the kissing bandit? The man will lock lips with almost anything that moves! Anyhow, dear Annaliese, you should probably prepare to take a moment and say your goodbyes.

What’s that? You’re going to hunt Arie down and ask him point-blank if he’s into you instead? Sounds like a totally solid plan. “I literally can’t watch this,” groans Bekah, speaking for all of us. So, Annaliese asks —  and Arie answers.

Photo: ABC

“I’m sorry,” he says. “Can I walk you out?”

Who will join Annaliese in the Reject Limo? Let’s find out! Arie doles out roses to Caroline, Kendall, Ashley, the Last Remaining Lauren, Brittany, Becca K., Sienne, Krystal, Raven 2, Maquel, Jenna, Jacqueline, and Marikh — meaning we must also say goodbye to our favorite Miami firebrand, Bibiana.

“Someone needs to just give me a break,” sobs Bibi. Someone will, mami — as soon as it’s time to start casting for Bachelor in Paradise.

Welp, rose lovers, what say you? Did Arie send the right women home? Is Krystal right in assuming she’s his favorite? And what, exactly, is wrong with Jenna?

GIF: ABC

Post your thoughts now! And be sure to check out Chris Harrison’s exclusive behind-the-scenes blog right here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to pitch American Horror Story: Annaliese’s Childhood to Ryan Murphy and FX.

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

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