#where i have to say in writing i will not sue for the emotional damages the university will inflict upon me

[ominouspositivity-or-else]

my professor: *has the canvas page up* me: sick!!! i wonder what books i need canvas: the syllabus is locked until January 10th at *time the class starts* me: me: i guess this class is top secret then, huh?

#there are many benefits to attending a catholic college #im genuinely wondering if we will be sworn to secrecy about the contents of this class #it's part of my senior project #like okay but im catholic i cant take oaths in secret societies you know this professor #i wonder if there's a non disclosure agreement #where i have to say in writing i will not sue for the emotional damages the university will inflict upon me

[silentglassbreak]

Fragmented

Noah Sebastian x OFC

I had far too much fun writing this chapter.

Warnings: Threats of violence.

+It goes without saying. This is a work of fiction. My words are mine. Plagiarism is a crime.

Taglist: @flowery-mess @lma1986 @myownthoughts12 @poisongirl616 @missduffsblog @reidsblessing @malerieee @jilliemiw86 @thisbicc @xx-like-a-villian-xx @diabolicdiatonics

Part 10 - Take Me Under

“She’s actually fucking suing us?!”

“Mr. Sebastian, I understand you’re upset, but I’m going to have to ask that you lower your voice.”

I tightened my jaw, and squeezed my eyes shut. Elizabeth was sat across the table, her eyes stern on all of us.

After I got the paperwork last night, I called Jolly, who immediately called Alec. The rest of the guys were all served the same lawsuit this morning, and we were told to meet down at Rourke, Mansfield, and Jones, Elizabeth’s office.

I was breathing heavily, massaging my temple with one hand.

“Ms. Hollis has filed for wrongful termination, emotional distress, and sexual harassment.” Her eyes looked up at us, Alec’s mouth hanging open wide. “She’s seeking two million in damages.”

I felt the air leave my lungs.

Two million dollars?

“We have thirty days to respond to the suit, so we need to discuss if we want to counter sue.”

“Wait…what does that mean?” Folio looked absolutely puzzled.

“It means that we can sue her back, for damages.” Jolly chimed in, leaning back in his chair and tapping his fingers on the table.

“How the fuck can she even do this?” I was working overtime to keep my voice even, tugging at my turtleneck.

“She can do whatever she wants. Whether she wins or not is the real question.” Elizabeth and her co-counsel were sitting, flipping through the complaint paperwork. The man sat next to her, who was introduced as Richard Rourke, head of the firm, had his eyes scanning the paperwork at lightning speed.

“Her case is fairly weak, but it’s hard to tell how much ground she can get until we take depositions.” His voice was impossibly deep, serious as a heart attack.

“Depositions?” Nick spoke up.

“Statements. About all of the events.” Elizabeth clarified.

Alec, who had a copy of the complaint in front of him, was reading through it. My eyes glanced over.

“This references the night at the club and the hotel, and then an incident in San Diego where you intimidated her?”

He looked at me sideways, and I rolled my eyes.

“I didn’t fucking intimidate her. I went to her room to give her a piece of my fucking mind.”

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “In what way?”

“I banged on her God damn door, and yelled at her. She had manipulated me!”

She closed her eyes and set her pen down. “Noah, she says in the suit you lunged at her, and she had to hide behind the door. And that you had to be restrained by Mr. Ruffilo and Mr. Karlsson. That’s not true, right?”

I sat back and scoffed, eyes falling to the table. “This is insane.”

“Mr. Sebastian? Is it true?” Richard asked, baritone voice vibrating through me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed hard. “It may be.”

The two lawyers exchanged glances, eyes solemn.

“Alright, look,” Elizabeth took her glasses off and set them on the table, her demeanor relaxing for a moment. “I’m going to level with you. I don’t know that we get out of this without some kind of offer.”

I clenched my teeth, staring intently at her.

“I’ve spoken to the insurance, and they’ve assured that if we can get the sexual harassment piece dropped, they will cover this. But if we can’t? This would be out of pocket.”

“To who?” Jolly asked. “To Sumerian?”

Elizabeth shrugged, eyes softening. “It would be joint liability between Sumerian, and Bad Omens, which means all of you may be liable.”

My mouth fell open. “It’ll bankrupt us! We’re successful, but not two million dollars successful!”

“Okay, let’s just take a step back.” Richard placed his palm on the table. “We’re not there yet. For now, let’s just decide if we intend to counter sue, or attempt to settle.” He raised an eyebrow at us. “Either we fight, or we fold. Ultimately it’s up to the insurance, but if they don’t cover it, you guys need to be all in.”

“We’ll give you all a few minutes to discuss it.” Elizabeth stated before she stood from the table with Richard, them both making way toward the door.

Once they left, we all turned toward each other, eyes on Alec.

“What do we do?” Nick asked, Alec looking stressed.

“My gut tells me to take a stand. Who knows what kind of message we’re sending this girl if we just offer to settle?”

I shrugged. “Dude, what is this going to do to our reputations?”

Jolly voiced his opinion. “Well, if it goes our way, it could show a lot of integrity on our end. Not allowing someone to take advantage?”

“Fuck man, I don’t know about you guys, but I ain’t got a million fucking dollars to pay this chick.” Folio was rubbing his face.

“None of us do. But do we really want to let her win?” Nick shrugged.

“Okay, but does that mean we go as far as counter suing her?” I asked.

“I think we should. Emotional distress? Defamation?” Jolly’s voice was concerned.

Folio chuckled. “Realistically, Noah could sue for sexual harassment.”

I eyed him in disbelief. “You think?”

“Fuck yeah, man.” Nick piped up. “She threw herself at you, told people she was going to fuck you, made passes at you. Followed you to your hotel room in the middle of the night? Sounds like harassment to me.”

My chest rose and fell, trying to maintain a sense of calm. “Okay. So let’s do it.”

“That means the insurance won’t back us. It’s a big gamble. Are you sure?” Alec looked directly at me.

“Will Sumerian support us?”

With a sincere grin, Alec clapped my shoulder. “One hundred percent. You guys are family.”

Jolly snorted. “We’ve made the label a lot of money, is what he means.”

Alec pointed at Jolly. “That too.”

This made us all start laughing, like a band of fucking hyenas.

At that moment, Elizabeth and Richard re-entered the room.

“Sounds like we’ve made a decision?” Richard stood with his hands in the pockets of his perfectly ironed slacks.

I pushed my chest out, giving everyone at the table one last look for assurance.

“We’re all in.”

-

The next month was a whirlwind. The album release was on hold until the lawsuit was dealt with, which was entirely up in the air. Rachel’s lawyers were surprised at our decision to file a counter to their suit, and we received the official denial from the insurance company.

Sumerian hired separate lawyers for each of us upon Elizabeth’s request, to forego any conflicts of interest. I got to stick with Elizabeth specifically, as we filed as separate plaintiffs for the sexual harassment suit. It was all so official, so litigate, that I barely understood any of it.

I had several different meetings with Elizabeth, who insisted I refer to her as Liz, in preparation for my deposition. She told me essentially what I could and couldn’t say, and what would build our case better.

She had me email her the texts threads between Rachel and I, and had gone over each event in disgusting detail so many times. Down to the color of Rachel’s fucking panties. It was grotesque, but I had hoped it was a means to an end. I was exhausted by it all.

Aside from that, I had barely spoken to Mileena since Knott’s, not feeling the same level of affection I did previously. Something about her attitude toward our situation, and the fact that she had reacted the way she did, sat heavy on my heart, keeping the feelings of want and missing her at a good distance, being replaced with resentment and frustration.

When I saw her each week to exchange Addison and Angel, I kept our contact brief, most times not even letting her in. I knew she was hurt by it, now clearly over our argument, but I didn’t feel bad. In fact, I felt satisfied. Some part of me, a sick, enraged part, wanted her to hurt. Maybe then she’d feel how I had been over the last four and a half fucking months.

I was paying a price for all of this that I didn’t fucking deserve, and after a lot of careful consideration, I finally recognized that. Maybe it wasn’t her who deserved better. Maybe it was me.

Most times when she called, I let it go to voicemail. Most texts were left unanswered. I spoke to her as much as I had to, and not a breath more.

Today, she was due to drop Addison off, but she was late. That was becoming more and more of a trend. Had I not been such a tolerant human, I may be annoyed with her. But given all of my other circumstances, I elected not to be, and just enjoy the small bits of extra time I had to be alone.

When my doorbell chimed, I jogged down the stairs, shirtless, having been folding laundry upstairs.

I answered the door and was surprised to find Laura on the other side, Addison standing at her side and holding her hand.

As always, I greeted my daughter first, then Angel, bringing them in, and then swung the door open to let Laura inside, but she politely declined.

“Sorry, I can’t stay. I need to get home.”

I just raised an eyebrow. “Everything okay?”

She shrugged, an impatient look behind her smile. “Do you care?”

This struck me, making me double take before responding. “What?”

“Noah, you’ve avoided her for weeks. And then you don’t even ask why she’s not here? Do you care if everything is okay?”

I smiled, now annoyed but trying not to show it. “Uhm, I wasn’t asking about Leena specifically, but alright.”

She huffed. “I’m sorry. It’s just been a rough day.”

“You’re good. Just making sure you guys are alright.”

Laura nodded. “I am. Just tired. Leena’s…” She sighed. “She’s dealing.”

“With?”

“Everything? Her and Justin broke up, which wasn’t pretty. You’re not talking to her. She didn’t get the job she wanted. And the lawsuit.”

I raised a hand to stop her. “The lawsuit? That has nothing to do with her.”

She raised her brows, eyes popping open. “No one told you?”

I just shook my head.

“Leena was subpoenaed by Rachel’s lawyer to give a statement. We both were.”

I deadpanned, my brain not processing the information.

“What?!”

“Yeah. We don’t know why, but we can’t get out of it, apparently.”

My hand clenched the doorknob, threatening to break it off. “What the fuck do they want your statements for?”

She shook her head. “No clue.”

I groaned. “Let me call my lawyer. I’ll see what I can find out.”

Laura smiled. “Thanks. I know she’ll appreciate that.”

My jaw clicked. “Not doing it for her.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “Noah, she’s really struggling. I caught her trying to buy vodka.”

“Oh,” I crossed my arms over my chest, glancing back in the house to see Addison sat in front of the TV, toys in hand. “so she’s about where I was four months ago? Sounds about right.”

Her eyes narrowed at me. “You have no empathy for her? She’s supposed to be your soulmate, isn’t she?”

I laughed at that. What a joke. “Yeah, I fucking thought so. But instead she toyed with my emotions so she could fuck me whenever she felt like it.” I leaned back on the doorframe, crossing one leg over the other. “So pardon me if I don’t feel bad. Her being butthurt over her and her boyfriend breaking up sounds like a her problem.”

Laura was staring at me, clearly taken back by my attitude. “You’ve changed, Noah.”

Nodding, I smiled with no joy. “You’re right. I have. It happens when someone is pushed to their breaking point.”

She began to take a step back toward her car. “She loves you.”

Considering this, I resolved to just stating what I considered the obvious. “She doesn’t love me, Laura. She loves the idea. She loves that I love her. That she can do whatever she wants, and I would be here waiting. Too bad that’s over.”

And with that, I shut the door.

I waited an hour until Addison was settled down for her nap before I dialed Elizabeth.

She answered on the second ring. “Hey Noah, how you doing?”

“I’m alright, I just needed to ask you something.”

“What up?”

“Did you know Mileena Richards and Laura Perry were subpoenaed to be deposed?”

The line went silent for a few beats.

“By who?”

“Rachel’s attorney.”

I could hear her breathe on the other end. “Why? Do you know?”

“No. I saw Laura today and she told me. They don’t know why either.”

“Mm,” I could hear a pen clicking on the other end. “Isn’t Mileena your daughter’s mother?”

“She is.”

“And you two aren’t together, correct?”

“Right.”

She sighed. “I’ll call the other attorney. Realistically, this could work out for us.”

I furrowed my brow. “How is that?”

“Well, what's the likelihood that the mother of your child is going to badmouth you?”

I chewed my thumbnail. “Erm,”

I hesitated, and I could hear her voice become apprehensive.

“What?”

“We’re not exactly on good terms.”

“How bad?”

“I mean, it could be worse, I guess? We’re not exactly speaking?”

“Well,” She had a light laugh in her words. “who does she hate more? You, or Rachel?”

I snorted. “Valid point.”

“Exactly. I wouldn’t worry. But probably best you smooth things over a little bit with her.”

Groaning, I sat back on the couch. “It’s complicated.”

“So un-complicate it. Be nice.” She chuckled. “I get that’s hard for you.” I rolled my eyes.

“I can try.”

“Just don’t discuss the case.”

I affirmed, and ended the call.

Staring at my screen, I pulled up our text thread, eyes scanning over the ignored texts from the last few weeks. They came less frequently as time had gone on.

Leena: Noah, we should talk about this.

The night of the fight.

Leena: So, we’re not talking now? Can you answer the phone?

Leena: I don’t want to fight, Noah. I just want to talk.

The next day.

Leena: Well, for what it’s worth, I broke up with Justin. Hope you’re happy.

Three days later.

Leena: Could use a friend. Can I call you, please?

Two weeks later.

Leena: I’ll drop Addie off about 11 today. I’ve got to get her bathed first.

Three weeks.

Leena: I miss you.

Yesterday.

I sighed hard, nearly regretting my decision, but typing the message anyway.

Me: Got a few?

The message was read, but the typing bubble didn’t pop up for four minutes.

Leena: For?

Rolling my eyes, I fired back a message.

Me: To talk.

Leena: Is Addie okay?

Me: Napping.

Leena: So what’s there to talk about?

Frustrated, I set my phone down. She wasn’t going to make this easy.

Me: Just…talk?

Leena: We haven’t talked in weeks. You haven’t wanted to.

Me: Now I do.

The message was read, but no type bubble appeared. I sat, staring at the screen, surprised when I saw her name flashing, a call coming through.

I swiped it open.

“Hey.” I kept my voice calm, trying to sound casual.

“What’s up?” Her voice sounded so tired, despondent. A pang of guilt hit me, but I swallowed it.

“How are you?”

She was quiet, which made me fidget in anticipation.

“You want to know how I am? Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

A hard sigh came through the receiver, and I stood up, needing to pace to keep my nerves in place.

“You’re kidding, right?” She should sound annoyed, exasperated. Instead, she sounded depressed.

“Nope.”

“Noah, what’s going on? What do you want to talk about?”

I stopped pacing, scrubbing a hand over my face and hair. “I just…” Lying to her was harder than I remember. “Laura mentioned you were going through it.”

“So?”

“I wanted to check in.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I do still care about you.”

A weak, tired laugh came through. “Sure you do.” I didn’t respond, not knowing what to even say. “This has nothing to do with the lawsuit, right?”

I sat back down on the couch, leaning my elbows on my knees.

“No. We’re not even supposed to talk about it.”

She scoffed. “So it is about the lawsuit. You talked to your lawyer, and she’s afraid I’m going to shit talk you?”

Was she fucking psychic?

“It’s not about that, Leena.”

“So what’s it about then?” There was a little more fire now, and it made my own spark ever so slightly.

“It’s about wanting to know if you’re okay.”

“Define ‘okay’.” The seriousness in her tone was unmistakable.

“Well, why don’t you tell me how you are, and I’ll tell you if that’s okay?”

This made her laugh, a dark, angry sound. “Let’s see. I’m breathing. I’ve eaten some in the last couple days. I showered today, I guess that’s good. How’s that?”

Sarcasm dripping from her words, I cringed.

“Sounds okay, I suppose.”

“So glad you think so.”

“Leena,” I closed my eyes, trying not to give in to the argument building inside of me. “can you blame me for distancing myself?”

She didn’t answer, so I continued.

“You got so mad at me, and I kept being made out to be this villain. The fucking bad guy. Every time. I can only take so much.”

Still no answer, so I checked the phone to make sure the call was still connected. I heard a breath on the other end, but I kept talking.

“The way you feel now? That’s how I felt for months. Just sitting. Waiting. Hurting. Maybe it’s fair that you feel it for a little while, too.”

Her voice was strained. “You don’t think I was hurting?”

Biting my lip, I answered carefully. “Didn’t seem like it.”

“Noah, breaking up with you was so painful, I thought it may fucking kill me.”

“That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

The sound that came through was something like a gasp.

“Did you call me just to mock me? Tell me I deserve this?”

“No.”

“So why did you call?”

“I don’t know.” I let my head fall forward. “Just wanted to.”

“Yeah? Well maybe you should just leave me to fucking wallow, then.”

“Mileena, Jesus fucking Christ, stop!” I finally snapped.

Going silent again, I took my chance.

“Despite the fact that I’m angry at you, and am not entirely sure what I want anymore from you, I still fucking care! I still love you.”

“Do you?”

Letting my breath go, I squeezed the phone. “Yes. Don’t ever fucking doubt that.”

There was a moment, a fleeting second, where I felt the pain. Where her hurt was pouring out. It came out as a choked sob.

“Noah?” Her voice was thick with tears.

“Hmm?” Was all I could muster.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” I pushed back my own tears, not willing to let them fall.

“For what I did to you. I shouldn’t have done it.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Done what?”

“Left you.” Her voice was cracked clean in half, now becoming hysterical. “I fucked up. I fucked everything up and now I’ve lost you. I should have just fought harder. Talked to you. I never should’ve done any of this.”

It was too much. It was too hard, threatening to rip my heartstrings right out and worm its way back in past my walls.

“I’ve got to go.”

She stopped her words short, hearing me.

“Oh.” She sniffled. “Okay, I’m sorry.”

“I’ll call you later.”

I hung up the phone, tossing it onto the couch. Letting my face fall into my hands, I allowed myself only a moment of weakness, where I cried, with no restraint, alone in my living room.

-

The room we sat in was so fucking cold. Who manages the fucking temperatures in these legal buildings?! It was at least sixty degrees, making a chill run up my spine, beneath my black blazer. Liz sat next to me, typing on her cell.

“How long is it supposed to be?”

She didn’t look up at me to respond. “Should be anytime now. I know they can’t start without us.”

“Leena’s late.”

She sighed. “They can wait. They want her statement? They can wait for her.”

I nodded, hearing the doors to the lobby open, and seeing two bodies walk in.

I hadn’t seen Mileena in two weeks since we spoke on the phone. Laura had done all hand-offs since then. We hadn’t spoken, and I nearly regretted it.

I’m not sure what I expected. Leena to walk in, hair a mess? Makeup running? Wearing sweats?

Instead, she tapped in her favorite black short heels, pencil skirt that hugged her hips, white button-up blouse tucked in, top button undone. Her black hair was pin-straight, lips painted a deep crimson, and black eyeliner sharpening around her brown irises, she looked…unbelievable.

I should be bummed, but instead, I was delighted. I could be angry with her, and still appreciate how stunning she was.

Her and Laura approached Liz and I, stopping in front of us. My lawyer and I stood, her taking their hands one at a time and shaking them. “Nice to meet you both. I’m Elizabeth Jones, Mr. Sebastian’s attorney.”

Mileena smiled at her, but I noticed her eyes remained cold, not looking at me.

“Good to meet you. Are they ready?”

Before Liz could respond, the door opened, a young woman beckoning us in the room.

We all sat around a long table, Rachel at one end, and I at the other. The tension in the room was so gelatinous, it could be cut with a plastic spork. My stomach made an uncomfortable turn when Rachel’s lawyer took Laura’s statement first, Liz objecting to, what felt like, random questions, and told her very brief knowledge of the events.

“Do we need a recess before we proceed with Ms. Richards?”

All eyes turned to Mileena, who had sat still as a statue the entire time, three seats away from me.

She shook her head. “I’m good if you are. I’d like to be done. I have my daughter with a sitter.”

Rachel’s audacity was showing as she rolled her eyes to Mileena’s statement. I bit down hard on my tongue.

“Alright, Ms. Richards. Let’s get started.” The tall, skinny man who represented Rachel walked Mileena through her oath, and began asking questions right away.

“How long have you known Ms. Hollis?”

“Since about September 2023, when Noah was on tour.”

“And what was your relationship with Ms. Hollis?”

“Friendly. We were acquaintances. She worked for the band, who I spend a lot of time with, so we saw each other often.”

“Had you and Mr. Sebastian ever discussed Ms. Hollis, or her employment, prior to the incidents in question?”

“Objection, hearsay.” Liz eyed the lawyer.

“Mr. Sebastian is here to corroborate, is he not?” His attitude was sharp.

“He’s not testifying right now, is he?”

The lawyer rolled his eyes, moving on to the next question.

“Had you ever had any indication that Mr. Sebastian and Ms. Hollis were involved, prior to the incident?”

“No.”

It was firm, and something in me smiled.

“So, he was a good liar?”

“Objection, argumentative. Come on, Drew.” Liz lectured the attorney.

He held up a hand.

“Okay. Let me move on.” He narrowed his eyes. “When were you first made aware of the night of the incident in Manhattan?”

Mileena kept her poker face even. “In San Diego.”

“That would’ve been May 26th, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And did Mr. Sebastian make you aware of that event?”

“Clarify?” She was so calm. With no preparation, even.

“Did he tell you he was with Ms. Hollis that night?”

“Objection.” Liz smirked. “Hearsay.”

Her and Mileena exchanged glances. She was baiting the attorney, and Liz knew it.

I was so turned on.

“How did you come to find out about the night in question?”

“I knew Noah was going to the club. I encouraged him to.”

“Were you aware Ms. Hollis would be there?”

“I assumed. She was a member of their staff.”

“And you had no problem with it?”

“No. As I mentioned, I had no reason to have a problem with it. Noah wasn’t interested.”

“You were sure of that?”

“Yes.”

My chest swelled with pride, but I hid my smile.

“Can you please, in your own words, walk me through the events in San Diego?”

“Which parts? The entire day?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I woke up. I usually pee first thing, but that day, I may have brushed my teeth first. It was about 7:30-“

“Ms. Richards, I’m asking about the events including Ms. Hollis and Mr. Sebastian.”

“Oh. You said the entire day.”

Liz and I both turned our heads, hiding our laughs. Rachel narrowed her eyes.

“Ms. Perry and I arrived at the hotel in San Diego about noon. We met with the group and greeted them. I hugged Ms. Hollis, even. Then. Mr. Sebastian and I went up to his room, where we engaged in about forty-five minutes of rigorous sex.”

I bit down on my fingers, stifling my laughter. Rachel glared at me.

“He then left for the venue to do sound check. I went to the venue for the concert at about 4:30PM with Laura, didn’t see Ms. Hollis at all. Then, after the show, Noah and I went back to his hotel room.”

She paused, her eyes glazing over slightly.

“And?” The attorney edged on.

“I took a shower, and Noah left to get snacks from the lobby. When I got out of the shower, I heard screaming from the hallway. I checked the peephole and saw Noah and Ms. Hollis engaged in some form of argument.”

“And what did that entail?”

“I can’t tell you that verbatim.” She sighed. “All I know is Ms. Hollis was upset with Noah, and I heard her claim that she had feelings for him. She left, and he came back in the room.”

“I see.” He was taking notes on his notepad. “And then you and Mr. Sebastian argued?”

Leena’s face fell, her eyes turning on the attorney, shooting daggers.

“With all due respect, Mr. Riley, but that’s not pertinent to this case.”

He pursed his lips. “No? You didn’t leave that night due to the argument between Mr. Sebastian and Ms. Hollis?”

I watched her intently, seeing the wave of emotions wash over her face. Sadness, pain, anger, and, eventually, exhaustion. She closed her eyes for a moment, but shot him, and then Rachel a warning glance.

“That, sir, is none of yours,” Her index finger pointed down the table to Rachel. “or her business.”

Mileena took a breath, and then stood from the table.

“Now, that is all I witnessed. I have nothing else to add.”

“We’re not done, Ms. Richards.” He motioned to Liz. “She still gets to cross-examine.”

Liz had a triumphant smile on her face, leaned back in her office chair.

“I’m good. I’ve got all I need.”

Mileena just nodded curtly, hooking her bag on her shoulder.

“I guess, then, thank you for your time Ms. Richards.” Mr. Riley stood from the table, an uneasy expression on his face, and held his hand out for Mileena. She shook it uncomfortably.

"I think that's all for the day, gentlemen." Liz stood with the rest of the group, gathering her notes. "Mr. Sebastian and Ms. Hollis' depositions are set for the 2nd of September. Are we still on board?"

Rachel's attorney stole a glance toward his client and his co-counsel, faces stern, before looking back at Liz. "I believe so, but we'll reach out if anything changes."

Liz bid them goodbye, and I noticed Mileena had already made her exit.

I slipped out of the room, noticing her and Laura already halfway out of the door to the building. I jogged after them, opening the door and the sun nearly blinding me.

"Wait up!" I called after them before they climbed into Laura's Altima.

Leena turned around, exchanging a look with Laura, who sat down into the driver's seat, and closed the door.

I was only about ten feet away, and Leena stepped forward, closing the gap until we were face to face.

"What's up?" I could still see the hurt on her features, and I felt all of my insides turn to marshmallow fluff, nearly bursting from my chest.

"That was," I took a long breath. "incredible."

Her lips upturned slightly as she tucked a stray piece of hair out of her face behind her ear.

"It was the truth."

"It was hilarious. You made that jackass earn his paycheck today."

She gave me a full smile now. "Thanks, Noah."

"Listen, I'm sorry I didn't call you back."

She shook her head, waving me off. "No, I get it. You need space, I respect that."

My eyes searched her face, but she was looking at her shoes, kicking at the asphalt. "I want to talk. Maybe we can make some time?"

Mileena peered up at me, and opened her mouth to speak, but we were interrupted.

"Hey!"

Both of our heads snapped to the right, seeing the red-blonde hair and bright green blouse stalking toward us, a look of fury on her face.

"What the fuck was that?!" Her question was targeted at me, which made me straighten and my face harden.

"What do you mean?"

She held her hand up, motioning between Leena and I. "You practiced that, right? Her testimony? That's acting in fucking concert. We can get her entire statement thrown out."

I scoffed, turning toward her. "You fucking asked for it, Rachel. Now you're mad it didn't go your way? Shocking."

I had my body in front of Mileena, shielding her.

"She can't fucking protect you, Noah. I don't know why she fucking would anyway." She smirked at us. "You two aren't even together anymore, I've heard."

I felt my throat tighten, the horrific things I wanted to say balling up in my windpipe.

Something was going to spill out, but before it could, Leena took a step in front of me, the scariest, most threatening smile painted on her face.

"Rachel?" The other woman glared at her, eyes full of fire. "We haven't had a chance to talk since all of this happened."

Rachel crossed her arms, looking amused. "No, we haven't."

"In fact, we haven't talked since before I knew how much of a psychotic bitch you were, so I should probably make a few things clear."

The redhead looked like she may explode, her face turning an unhealthy shade of maroon.

Leena's voice was crisp, each word falling off of her tongue so vividly clear.

"You don't know much about me, but you may already know that, like Noah, I'm a recovering alcoholic."

Rachel snorted. "So?"

"So, you clearly aren't aware of what I'm capable of."

"Capable of what? Drinking me under the table?" Rachel chuckled at her own joke, and I clenched my jaw.

But Mileena laughed with her, a sickening sweet sound.

"No, no, probably not anymore." She took a fraction of a step closer, and I imagined Rachel could feel her cool breath on her face. "But, I do, however have a bit of experience I bet you don't have."

Quirking an eyebrow, Rachel put all of her weight on one hip. "Like?"

"Like, I've been in bar fights, jail fights, hell, I even socked a girl in rehab once." She let her smile fall, her eyes becoming a new shade of black. "And that was over some drinks and a pack of smokes. Imagine what I would do to someone who threatens my family."

Mileena then stepped nose to nose with Rachel, who now had her eyes blown wide.

"Whether you like it or not, babydoll, that guy is my family. Together or not, he's mine. So, I sincerely recommend that you head back inside, and leave him alone." Leena stepped back, replacing her smile. "Before I knock your teeth down your fucking throat."

I could see the bravado fading on Rachel, but she was still stood, trying to remain confident.

"Is that a threat?"

Mileena turned back toward me, moving to walk to the car. She threw a glance over her shoulder.

"It's a guarantee."

#fanfic #noah sebastian #bad omens #bad omens fanfiction #noah sebastian fic

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

✨✨✨✨✨ANGEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! ✨✨✨✨✨

Okay hiii ~~ I’m dumping all these thoughts on you so be prepared 🤭

So like I said in my last message, I’ve been a very dark place recently where everything seems like it’s constantly hitting, but after asking for your advice, I took it to heart and really followed if, finding it really did help taking it one tiny step at a time with the simplest things. Life is still throwing every little shit it can find at me, but I’m dealing with it much much better, and I feel like I owe you some thanks to that, so again, I don’t think I can ever tell you how much I appreciate you and enjoy your presence!! I never got to respond to it, but I read your post recently and felt like this was more important to respond first.

Two, I’m so saddened to hear you’re feeling a bit lost about the writing and fandom. I haven’t been on much trying to focus on my self so I don’t know much, but when I do check in every now and then, it does seem… quiet? I hope and think it’ll liven up the closer it comes to June. But regardless of that—

I ADORE YOUR WRITING. Your writing is some of the most thought-provoking, emotional pieces I’ve read, and it truly shows and reflects just how much heart and soul you put into it. I’ll be honest, there’s some times when I can’t read certain fics of yours because I’m not mentally in the right headspace for some, but— to me— it just reflects on how great and impactful your writing is!!! Idk if u remember, and this was when I newly started following you so I was like extra super nervous and shy lol, but the person that requested the jealous Ettore was me. I think I remember sending an anon back and thanking you bc I was impressed and thankful you accepted it, but also I was so shy my hands were shaking the entire time so it was a bit blurry lol. I remember literally fangirling and gushing to my two friends (one who doesn’t even care about Ewan lmao) about how I was so impressed and blown away by it!! Your Ettore series had me hooked (AND IM STILL NOT OVER HOW IT ENDED— I WILL NEVER RECOVER. I will sue you for my emotional damages 🥺)! The Aemond one where after a toxic relationship, the reader tries to escape and he doesn’t let her literally made me want to wallow in the despair. And the Michael Gavey one where I basically wrote an essay of how much I loved it is still one I think about way too much for it to be healthy— plus it’s given me some really crazy dreams 🤭 Those are just my top three! Much to say, I adore your writing. I adore the commitment and dedication you give and feed us. And most importantly, I adore you. Although selfishly I hope you continue, I hope you know no matter what you ever decide to do, I’ll always support and follow. I am a la loyal after all 🤭😂

In all seriousness, I hope life is treating you well, and i hope you’re being kind to yourself. I’m sending all my love and support!! Please stay safe and healthy. Much much much love to you, Ange 🩶🩶🩶

-Hannah Montana anon.

Post Scriptum:: this was insanely long and completely manic-produced, I am so so sorry !! ✨

I am so glad that my advice has helped a little and things are starting to improve for you. I hope they continue to get better!

I had no idea your were my jealous Ettore anon! I had so much fun writing that, thank you for sending it! And thank you for the kind words, they truly mean a lot. You have never been anything but kind and supportive to me, and I hope you realise how appreciated it is!

I've no plans to deactivate this blog. I enjoy reading other people's fics, and looking at all the pretty gifs. I just need to do something for myself that makes me feel better about my own creative output. I've no idea what that is yet, but I will figure it out!

Thank you for taking the time to check in. I hope the rest of your week is a good one. Sending so much love to you! xoxo

#asked and answered #hannah montana anon

[chasesvillainera]

The Great Sebchase Rewrite: Under Seige

Will I actually finish this who knows? But this idea has consumed me

Also there’s no way I’m writing these in order, but lmk if there’s a specific episode you’re hoping to see

Sebastian was honestly impressed with himself, for how quickly he had ruined his own life. If that was a bionic ability, he’d be top of the class.

A few flashes of memories, and he turned on his new life for some “creator” he couldn’t even remember? He couldn’t explain it himself.

Chase had saved him. Again. Showed him what Krane really was, why they had to take him out.

But not before he blew up the Hydroloop tunnel, and loudly declared to the academy that he was rebelling. Davenport and the others gave him another chance, but the damage was done. He went from the top student, dating one of the original bionics, and beloved by the mentors, to the traitor. People whispered when he walked by, no one trusted him to be alone in secured areas anymore, and worst of all, Chase was disappointed in him.

After the attempted rebellion, once they saved Davenport and Perry from the Hydroloop, all he wanted to do was thank Chase for stopping him before he went too far. For saving his life again.

But Chase just looked at him, face stony and hard with disdain that surpassed even their first weeks at the Academy, when they had “hated each other”. (Sebastian preferred to think of it as unique flirting, but the point stood).

“I don’t want to see you right now.” Chase had said, before storming back to the mentor’s quarters.

Sebastian was left alone with Adam, Bree, and Leo, all glaring at him like he was the dirt from their shoes. He shuffled back to the dorms to await Mr. Davenport’s punishment.

It wasn’t so bad, considering the attempted murder, but he was miserable.

He stayed in the dorms for a week, too embarrassed to face the world. Hoping every sound was Chase finally coming to see him, if only to tell him off and dump him officially.

Eventually, he came.

“Hi,” Sebastian jumped up from where he’d been sitting, “you came! Thank you!”

Chase raised his hand to stop him. “Don’t be nervous. I just want to talk.”

“Right. Of course.” Sebastian’s heart sank. He was expecting this, but it didn’t mean he was looking forward to it. “I should start with apologizing, again. I…can’t explain how I reacted to what you told me. I panicked, and I did something unforgivable.”

“I do understand, you know. I’ve done my fair share of stupid things in emotional situations. Remind me to tell you about the Avalanche. But I have to protect my family, first.”

“I get that. It’s…what I thought I was doing, avenging my father. Probably shouldn’t have relied on Triton app memories to make that decision.”

And then, a miracle happened. Chase actually laughed. He’d missed that laugh so much.

“Do the others know you’re here?” Sebastian asked.

“Yes. Adam said something about second chances, Leo just sighed, and Bree went on a rant about my horrible taste in men. I don’t think I’ve heard Douglas say ‘that’s a bad idea’ so many times in a row since Adam got into the lab.”

“Ah,” Seb sighed. That was fair. He was hoping Chase would get on with it, break up with him already instead of dragging it out.

But then…he didn’t. He fucking forgave him, because Sebastian had fallen in love with the most perfect man ever.

Everyone else distrusting him didn’t matter as much, when he had Chase.

—-

It had been about a month since then, and things had returned to…a state of normal.

Adam no longer looked at him like he wanted to kill him, at least.

All Sebastian could do now was work hard, keep his head down, and try to atone.

And it wasn’t like there was no good in his life.

“Hey,” he swung an arm around Chase after training had ended, “what’s up?”

He didn’t think he’d stop hanging on Chase like a koala any time soon. Sue him.

“Someone broke into our room last night. Smashed up Leo’s tablet.”

“Was it Perry’s niece? Did you catch her?”

“No,” Chase sighed, “we thought that too, but then the criminal disabled the security cameras and attacked Perry. I’m thinking someone’s looking for classified information.”

Sebastian frowned, trying to think of any of the students had been acting oddly. His usual suspect would be Perry, but she had been targeted.

“Guys,” Leo called, “can you break up the lovefest and get over here? Something happened with the Hydroloop.”

It turned out someone had fried the control panels, trapping them on the island.

“Wait,” Chase stepped forward, “these burn marks are from bionics.”

Shit.

If someone bionic had done this, Seb knew there would be only one suspect. The glances he was getting from the assembled mentors confirmed it.

He wasn’t sure what to say. “I didn’t do it” felt so hollow and untrustworthy.

“There’s still a rebel living among us.” Chase declared.

“How could there still be a rebel here?” Bree asked, shocked.

Leo did an exaggerated gesture in Sebastian’s direction.

“Maybe because we let Chase convince us to let the rebel stay here?”

“Leo!” Chase jumped in. “We can’t start placing blame. For now, everyone’s a suspect.”

“But shouldn’t more of the suspicion fall on the person who rebelled before? Like just a month ago?” Bree sighed.

Sebastian hated that he couldn’t argue with her logic.

——

“I didn’t do it.” he said to Chase when they were alone, Chase laying against him on the couch.

“I believe you.”

He could tell by the ease with which he said it that Chase was telling the truth, and he was filled with happiness that this time, the trust wasn’t misplaced.

“Thank you.”

“I’m just not sure the others will. We’re going on a stakeout tonight, even though they think it’s pointless when a suspect is right under our noses. I don’t know how to convince them.”

“I don’t think you can,” Seb said, resigned. “Wouldn’t you have the same reaction, in their position? The only thing that would help is catching the guy. What about I stay here, until we find him, so I always have an alibi?”

Sometimes that super intelligence came in handy. Or maybe it was those cheesy crime shows he and Chase liked to watch and make fun of.

“Actually, I was thinking the opposite. Join me on stakeout tonight. If you’re with us the whole time, there’s no way they can suspect you.”

————————

Bree and Douglas both made their displeasure with Chase bringing Sebastian along very clear.

Seb tried to give a look that conveyed “I didn’t think this was a good idea either, I promise!”

“There’s no way I’m leaving him alone with Chase,” Bree decided, “If you’re staying, go patrol the weapons room with Adam.”

Sebastian acquiesced easily. Someone to vouch for him who wasn’t his boyfriend might not be the worst thing.

Adam looking at him like he wanted to kill him while surrounded by weapons…was less fun. Sebastian didn’t see Adam’s penetrating gaze leave him for hours. He did everything but say “I don’t trust you.”

Until of course, being Adam, he did say it.

“I know,” Sebastian said, “you have every reason not to. But I promise the whole…rebellion thing isn’t going to happen again. I love your brother.” He hadn’t gotten to say that to Chase himself yet, but anything to convince Adam.

Adam didn’t have a chance to respond before Chase came over the comm-set.

“How’s the weapons room, Adam?”

“All clear in the boom-boom room.”

“What about the training area, Leo?” Chase asked, receiving no response. “Leo? LEO? Guys, he’s not responding, come quick!”

Adam shot another glare at Sebastian, as if he could have attacked Leo from right there, and the two took off running.

Leo wasn’t in the training area, and just as they were fearing the worst, the island rocked with a massive explosion.

Someone had tried to blow up the whole academy by setting the weapons on fire. If Adam hadn’t put them out, they would have.

Sebastian knew the explosion happening in the area he was patrolling didn’t deflect suspicion from him like he would have wanted.

Once Douglas was taken out, Chase declared the academy under attack. Like he’d done once before.

Sebastian didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t Leo Dooley stumbling out of the training area, laser spheres shooting from his hands.

It wasn’t even a rebellion. Just a glitch.

—————

Douglas set Leo up with a capsule so it wouldn’t happen again, and all seemed to be solved.

Chase bounced up to him the next morning, trademark “I was right” smirk on his face, and kissed him in front of everyone present.

“Thanks for believing in me.”

“Thanks for not making me regret it. I got to make Adam apologize to me today, it was awesome.”

#chase davenport #lab rats #sebchase

[bananakarenina]

Deep fic writer asks: 1, 4, 17, 19

answering this one during breakfast...i'm supposed to be heading to work but i'm hungry and want to engage with something, dammit

1. what's the fic youre most proud of?

honestly i'm super proud of all of them but i think i'm going to have to say for love's sake only because like. i wrote 47k words. that's a novella. i wrote a freaking book. and it's good?? people like it??? i like it?? it's still mind-blowing to me.

4. what fic of your own do you read for comfort?

lollll i don't know what this says about me but i've been rereading leave the light on lately. make of that what you will

in less depressing news i reread a star sweetly gleaming (aka the jane/missy christmas fic) yesterday and it turns out i wrote something extremely adorable? total mood lift.

17. What’s the best engagement/interaction/feedback you’ve received from someone who’s read your work?

in terms of individual comments, @daintyduck99 left a novel of a comment on leave the light on that included the line IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE ENDING AND THE LAWS OF THIS LAND I WOULD SUE YOU FOR EMOTIONAL DAMAGE and i will treasure that in my heart always. also @merihn commented on the last chapter of for love's sake only and just said YOU. YOU BITCH. I HATE YOU which i will also treasure always

in terms of comments in general--my bf mainlined all of the for love's sake only series a few weeks ago, and left his very first fic comment after i directed him how haha, and he texted me afterward to be like (direct quote) "is gushing about the piece kind of part of the fandom? it's like the most loving and supportive comment section in the history of comment sections"

and i said no, i just have the best readers, some of whom are also the most lovely friends i have met ever?? (he was trying to figure out which ones were ash @daintyduck99 bethany @invisibleraven and jay @where-you-go because i talk about you all the time hahahahaha)

19. If you could write an ideal fic, what would it include?

my ideal fic would be finished and posteddddd aghhhhhh

but really, that's such a good question? i feel like every fic i write i try and write my ideal fic for that moment, if that makes sense? everything i write is me trying to find the ideal, hahahahaha

right now i am feeling one of my WIPs--the rulie christmas romcom au in which julie is a super famous popstar and reggie is her new limo driver for december in new york city

i would love for it to be the ideal love letter to romcoms and also a letter of fondness to the city too, we'll see if my brain lets it come to fruition before christmas LOL

ask me things about fic writing!

#thank you my love #these were so fun to think about #also seriously i have the best readers and the best friends anyone could ask for #thank you for choosing the question that lets me talk about how wonderful my friends are hahaha #ask games #leave the light on #for love's sake only #writing

[sourstiless]

Everytime I read another post having the same theory about why they're setting up Nancy and Steve this season for his death a little piece of my soul shrivels and dies hahaha there are so many people who are reading between the lines and seeing it too because the whole thing is so out of left field fuck my life I will sue you for emotional damage duffers the punitive damages will be in the 100s of millions you better get ready to pay and with that money I'm making a Steve spinoff where he's not dead

i really feel like they’re trying to get closure on all of steve’s relationships so that they can either write him off or kill him off, no matter what they do i will never be ready to say goodbye to him. they better get their checkbooks ready for the amount of therapy sessions i’m going to need if/when steve kicks the bucket. the amount of fix it fanfics i’m going to need….

like there’s a small chance i could be completely overreacting and reading too far into things, but i’d rather be pessimistic and pleasantly surprised, than optimistic and disappointed.

#guys this is all speculation okay don’t shoot the messenger #i am simply a terrified observer #steve harrington

[mossgh0st]

In my head the end of Criminal Minds went more like an apartment opening up across the hallway in the complex where Spencer lives, that Penelope promptly moves into with Luke, because, you know they need the space for Roxy, and also how could Garcia ever go a day without hugging Reid? I mean she waited with bated breath for the mouth of that steel prison to spit him out so she could be there to catch him before he stumbled, with Luke by his side because of course the love of her life is also going to bat for Spencer alongside of her. Even though she is leaving the BAU, she is not leaving him for the rest of their lives. And with JJ as the new unit chief, Matt, Tara, and Luke know they’ll be in the best hands possible. They’re not scared of what’s next because they have each other.

With Prentiss as the FBI’s director, they never have to worry about another Barnes-gate. Reid splits his time between teaching at Georgetown and providing consultation on cases. He teaches advanced criminology for folks who are serious about the subject (no audits here) and some fun electives in the natural sciences/biology departments on fungi and whatever else makes him happy. Spencer audits some art classes and thinks about getting another degree in poetry. He doesn’t step foot in the field again, and while he has a license to carry, the worn Smith & Wesson sits in the bottom drawer of his bedside table. It makes him feel safe. He meets many good people, mentors many shy students, and for the first time, he is not afraid of the future. Derek is proud of his little brother.

Tara and Emily slowly come together over time. Prentiss has seen what life is like alone, and she never wants to live without love again. Tara learned a lot from her divorce, and more than anything she wants someone who will fight as hard as she will. After learning the full truth behind Emily’s death, return, departure, and final return, Tara is sure she’s made the right choice. Sergio is happiest squished between them at night. They buy a restored townhouse and think about having a child. Emily’s wedding ring sits on a thin gold chain around her neck, Tara wears hers proudly on her finger and never once considers taking it off. Every year the team celebrates Pride together at the Prentiss-Lewis’.

Matt and Kristy pop out their sixth kid, realize they need an even bigger house, and move right next door to the Morgan’s. Savannah and Kristy are fast friends, Derek is both impressed and terrified by the Simmons kids, and Hank grows up surrounded by kids who’ll be his friends for life. Luke and Penelope are frequent visitors and while the duo have thought about a family, they’re happy with each other and Roxy for the time being, but plan to try adoption a few years down the road. JJ, Kristy, and Savannah are close friends and parent each other’s kids flawlessly. Will, Matt, and Derek bond over basketball and Will shows them how to relax Louisiana style.

Scratch is sentenced to death. While the team have decided to spend time at Rossi’s instead of attending the execution, there is one attendee. Hotch makes the decision to come out of witsec. Scratch realizes that Aaron, sitting front and center, ever the picture of justice and authority, has won. He smiles at Scratch, knowing his own time in law enforcement is over. He sues the FBI for emotional damages, and the higher ups who believed Scratch and arrested him in front of his son are fired. Aaron wins and puts the money away for Jack. Emily gives Aaron his retirement. Aaron buys a house across the street from JJ and Will. He wants to make sure Jack grows up with his LaMontagne brothers, and that he himself never leaves his found family again. He writes a letter for Gideon, leaves it at his gravesite, and in it promises to never leave Reid the way he did. Spencer finds it and forgives Aaron for not saying goodbye.

For orchestrating crimes while in prison, Catherine Adams is also sentenced to death. Reid attends her execution, his partner with him. She teaches in the MFA program at Georgetown, taught Spencer how to paint, and reads to Diana on the weekends. She is everything, and Cat realizes she is nothing when she sees them for the last time. Spencer’s eyes pierce her confident veil, and for the first time she shows fear in her expression. The Reid’s leave to pick up Diana for a trip to the Smithsonian, hand in hand, Spencer feels no weight on his shoulders.

Everyone is happy and healthy and loved. They all realize that the BAU brought them together, but it is not what will keep them together. The love they share will.

#criminal minds #cm #criminal minds au #aaron hotchner #Spencer Reid #Jennifer Jareau #Derek Morgan #Penelope Garcia #Luke Alvez #Emily Prentiss #Temily #Tara Lewis #Matt Simmons #Garvez

[veliseraptor]

Thoughts, opinions or emotions on peggy sue Xue Yang or Xue Yang and the successfully brings back everyone he wants but back wrong?

you had me squinting a bit at "peggy sue" where I had to go and look that one up to see what it meant because I was not sure I was familiar with it. it's certainly been a while since I heard it!

but now that I've established that I have to say that (a) time traveling Xue Yang is one of my favorite fic premises, tbh, it has so much goddamn potential and I'm fascinated by all of it, and (b) "Xue Yang brings everyone back but Wrong" is a thing I've been dancing around writing and just have to get up the nerve to go for, because I haven't been in the right mood for the kind of dark it would get, but I certainly hope I get in the right mood cause. sounds like fun.

but to start with the first one - I love time traveling Xue Yang first and foremost because...okay, first and foremost because I love time travel fics, it’s like getting to experience all the suffering and pain of canon and having the chance to fix it while also suffering it again, and possibly making it worse differently or better sort of rather than, you know, unilaterally better.

but with Xue Yang specifically it’s like...okay, the typical trope of a time traveling character in a canon like this one, right, is someone who goes back and tries to fix what went wrong, yeah? I’ve seen it done in this fandom with Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, there’s one out there with Nie Huaisang I believe...all of whom are characters who have a lot of things they’d like to fix.

the thing with doing this with Xue Yang is that there is only one very very very specific thing he wants to fix and he could not care less about everything else that is going on around him. like, still fuck all those guys, whatever, but he has a Daozhang to keep alive. and it is that single-minded slightly manic determination trained almost blinker-like on a goal that I think creates a lot of opportunity for absolute chaos. because there’s no interest in preserving anything else, no sense for collateral damage, no sense of ripple effects that impact other events...

like, say, Xue Yang being like ‘okay well in case I can’t keep Xiao Xingchen alive better have Yiling Laozu around right there to help bring him back’ and just deciding that, okay, Wei Wuxian can’t die then! easy! he can make sure Wei Wuxian won’t die. :) :) :)

(you know. just. fuck everyone else.)

I can’t decide which is funnier to me: a universe in which Xue Yang manages to make a lot of things better by sheer fucking accident, in spite of himself, without noticing (or caring), or a universe in which Xue Yang manages to keep Xiao Xingchen living but everything else is on fire. I find them both kind of delightful as concepts.

and when it comes to (b)...in some ways it’s a very natural continuation of the whole aspect of Yi City that is...Xue Yang playing house. and he just. will continue to do that! and yes everyone is dead except him and yes this isn’t exactly, you know, “normal” but what of it.

and again it’s the sort of...I’ve talked about how one thing I enjoy about AUs where Xue Yang either saves Xiao Xingchen or manages to bring him back imminently is the manic energy Xue Yang has of “so it’s fine now! everything is fine! everything is great and fixed and better and we can go back to the way things were with zero changes yes? yes”

(setting the dinner table for two, for chrissakes. he’s so ready to just. pick right back up where they left off.)

and in this AU you have that in all its fucked up glory with the extra bonus of a universe where Xiao Xingchen and - if I was writing this - a-Qing are there but...not right, in one way or another. maybe in multiple ways. they’re not quite the same. not, like, obviously wrong (I wouldn’t want...full on mindless fierce corpse wrong), but....not the same. but it’s fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE.

look, he even brought Song Lan. you’re happy now, Daozhang, right? right???

wow I went on. sorry and you’re welcome

#anonymous #conversating #xuexiao #xue yang #xiao xingchen #aggressively headcanons #the sad queer cultivators show #it's almost 11. why am i awake NOW

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Sole Crusher

Well... It's finally here... the episode introducing the new bee hero. And what do you know? It looks like I was right about how the new character would be portrayed.

It's kind of funny how I made predictions exaggerating what could happen, and they were surprisingly accurate. Isn't that funny?

Let's just get into the seventh (chronologically the seventh and the seventh episode in the season to air after “Mr. Pigeon 72”) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Sole Crusher. Damn, I hate that a pun this clever was used for the title.

We get to the point pretty quickly with the first scene being Zoe arriving in Paris and getting a tour of the city. She asks to stop at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, where she meets Marinette through some brief Unfunny Marinette Slapstick. The two quickly strike up a conversation.

I mean, it's not like Zoe is the sister of the absolute worst human being in existence, right?

Marinette compliments Zoe's shoes, and she points out that she designed them herself, and wrote every good thing anyone has ever said to her on them. But because she only has one friend, there's only a standard “I <3 U” on the left shoe.

So Zoe leaves the bakery and heads to Le Grand Paris where she meets her mother, Audrey. Unlike how she talked with Marinette, Zoe pretends to be just as snobby as Audrey in order to fit in. She then meets up with Chloe, who criticizes her for having poor person things like a phone without any diamonds embedded in it. And then she sees Zoe's shoes.

Look, that meme was already dated when it was referenced in Black Panther three years ago. Please don't try to reference memes in 2021, Miraculous Ladybug.

Chloe offers some golden heels while saying that those kind of shoes are for winners to wear and crush the losers underneath. This is the only episode to mention this kind of ideology, and believe me, it gets worse when Chloe decides to teach Zoe how to be like her.

Get used to this. This episode is all about demolishing any semblance of likability in Chloe's character. Now that Astruc doesn't have to bother with writing Chloe with decency since she's not Queen Bee, watch as he turns her into an absolute caricature of her former self.

Yes, Chloe has ordered her father to give her a lot of frivolous things in the past, but she has been shown to care about him, like immediately rushing to hug him after she was safe in “Origins” and showing concern for when he was akumatized into Malediktator while apologizing for causing it. For the love of God, one of the first things she did when she allied with Hawkmoth at the end of Season 3 was to have him unto her parents' akumatization. I guess she only cared about her rich parents for their status and not because she actually loved them right?

Next up on the list of Chloe's positive qualities to ruin is her friendship with Sabrina.

🎶It's seven o'clock in the morning🎶 🎶I can't believe they made this scene🎶 🎶With the writing Astruc's enforcing🎶 🎶It's like he's trying to piss off me🎶

Yep, Chloe doesn't view Sabrina in a twisted view of friendship anymore. Now she's a slave. I'm not exaggerating by the way, he actually said that in a tweet.

THIS IS WHAT THOMAS ASTRUC ACTUALLY BELIEVES

Okay, so I guess all those times we saw Chloe playing superheroes with Sabrina in “Antibug” and “Miraculer” were just a slave driver playing with their property. Actually apologizing to Sabrina for getting her akumatized in those episodes? Protecting her from the Scarlet Akumas in “Ladybug”? She was just interested in keeping her slave around. I think Astruc may have slept through the slavery unit in his history class. Yes, Sabrina was mostly used as a joke to show how controlling Chloe could be, but there were still semblances of an actual friendship between the two.

Chloe arrives at school and introduces Zoe as her half-sister, despite being the same age and having the same mother. Because I guess we can add basic biology to the list of things the writers don't understand. Now that we're at school, Chloe's friendship with Adrien is next up on the chopping block.

Yep, despite being Adrien's only friend and making a big deal about valuing his friendship to the point where she threw a big party just to make sure he wouldn't leave her and risked cooperating with an Akuma to save him, now Chloe just sees Adrien as a rich meal ticket. Two of the earliest episodes to show Chloe had a more compassionate side to her, and they just undid them. Even as much as I hated the episode, “Felix” showed Chloe was willing to cooperate with Marinette and her friends just to find a way to cheer Adrien up on the anniversary of his mother's not-death.

For the love of God, Astruc, 1984 was supposed to warn people about what could happen if they rewrote the past, not encourage people to rewrite the past. He probably finished Animal Farm thinking Snowball really did work alongside the humans, didn't he?

Marinette comes up and Zoe pretends to hate her, leading Marinette to wonder why she did that. She texts Zoe (she gave her number to her earlier) and invites her to a concert on the Liberty, but Chloe finds out. Zoe thinks fast and pretends it's just so she can torment her more. Chloe then takes out a book listing all the ways she can torture Marinette. I wonder if this is a metaphor for the writing process behind most of the episodes last season.

Zoe decides to go outside for some fresh air, and Andre comforts her. Funny how Andre bends over backwards to give Chloe whatever she wants, yet he's willing to actually talk to Zoe like an actual parent. Andre tries to cheer Zoe up, but she talks about her past where she had to put on an act so she would be liked, but (bet you've never heard this before) she just wants to be accepted for who she truly is. The surge of emotions is enough for Shadowmoth to akumatize her into Sole Crusher.

In addition to having one of the most clever puns for an Akuma name, I actually like Sole Crusher's design. Not only is it a good excuse to reuse Chloe's character design, it makes sense thematically, as Chloe was trying to mold Zoe into a copy of herself. The gold and diamonds also make sense given Chloe's love for shiny things. Her powers tie into the bizarre belief Chloe has about stepping on the winners. Whenever Sole Crusher kicks or steps on someone, she absorbs them and gets progressively bigger, making it easier to do so. While it's not cracking my top ten anytime soon, it's still an interesting character design.

Sole Crusher heads to the hotel to get Chloe, and she manages to get away pretty quickly. Maybe in an alternate universe, she's a track star? For some reason, she runs to the Dupain-Cheng bakery and then... Oh my God... pushes Marinette's parents so they get absorbed by Sole Crusher, before trying to do the same with Marinette.

When has Chloe ever done something like that? Whenever she endangered someone during an Akuma attack, it was unintentional or a result of her naivety. She was only trapped in Pixelator's dimension because Adrien tried diving to save her, she only alerted Rogercop to Ladybug's presence because she eagerly called out for her, and during “Zombizou” she only tried to throw Sabrina towards the horde of kissing zombies once, and that was meant to highlight her growth. The only person to actually do stuff like this consistently is Lila, but I guess she got vaporized by Big Brother offscreen.

This episode is determined to make the audience hate Chloe by retconning everything about her character while portraying her as a complete monster. As bad as Chloe could get, she was never selfish enough to use anyone as a human shield. This kind of behavior honestly could be explained by saying Chloe was lashing out as a result of losing the Bee Miraculous permanently, but the events of the Season 3 finale aren't mentioned ONCE, not even in the next episode that introduces Queen Bee's replacement! How the hell can you set up the next Bee hero without explaining why the original needs to be replaced in the first place?! And trust me, I'm going to talk about Zoe replacing Chloe later.

Sole Crusher grabs Marinette in her hand, so the Horse Kwami, Kaalki, uses her power to teleport over to Adrien's house and inform him Ladybug needs help, meaning once again Adrien did nothing in this episode before becoming Cat Noir.

At the Liberty, Chloe offers more victims to Sole Crusher in the form of the band Kitty Section (consisting of Luka, Juleka, Rose, Ivan, and Mylene) and theatens the giant golden supervillain she can send her back to Paris, even though she's really not in a position to bargain right now. And she STILL continues to insult her. Do you hate Chloe yet? Come on, do you? The writers won't stop until you do.

After we see Sole Crusher's conflicted emotions, Marinette is set free by Cat Noir and transforms into Ladybug, immediately summoning her Lucky Charm, a shoehorn. They only learn Zoe's sneakers were where she were akumatized thanks to Chloe's ranting, so the episode unintentionally made Chloe save the day. Ladybug breaks into Le Grand Paris and breaks the sneakers where Zoe hid them, using the shoehorn to open a door. So Sole Crusher is de-evilized, Ladybug fixes the damage, and gives yet another charm to Zoe.

Afterwards, Zoe goes to the Liberty, apologizes for the act she put on, all while divulging to the audience her “tragic backstory”.

Of course, everyone welcomes her with open arms.

And right here is where the biggest problem I have with Zoe as a character. I normally hesitate to use this term given how often it gets thrown around when criticizing characters these days, but I really can't say anything else.

Zoe... is a Mary Sue.

For those who don't know, the term Mary Sue originated in a Star Trek fanfiction from 1973 satirizing several self-insert stories at the time. Most of these stories showed a beautiful young woman joining the crew of the Enterprise and immediately gaining the attention of the crew. Mary Sue parodied this character archetype by showing how much she was appreciated by Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, the latter being driven to tears at her funeral despite his species being emotionless normally.

What does this have to do with Zoe? She has the exact same storyline as Mary Sue in the parody fanfiction. Her mere presence is enough to make Chloe act extremely out of character in an attempt to make her look better, and as soon as she apologizes while giving a frankly vague backstory, everyone just accepts her as their friend, and I mean everyone in the entire class. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't feel earned. Why was she bullied at her old school? What did her bullies have against her? What caused her to stop going along with her peers, and why did everyone turn against her? How the hell did the bullies who put cockroaches in another student's locker get no punishment while the victim was forced to transfer schools? It's an intentionally unclear backstory designed to make the audience feel sympathetic towards Zoe without actually doing anything else.

I want to ask anyone reading this who watched the episode a question: Outside of her backstory, what do we actually know about Zoe?

What is her personality like? She's nice? Socially awkward? We've never had a character like that in Miraculous Ladybug before! Sorry Marinette, Adrien, Juleka, Nathaniel, Mylene, and Marc, there's a new character with more personality than all of you combined!

What are her goals? She wants to be an actress? Great, but why? Even though there's no clear answer for why Marinette loves fashion, or why Alya loves journalism, or why Nino loves DJing, you can still see the passion in their lives when they do something related to their goals. Zoe only says she wants to be an actress, connecting it to her people pleaser backstory (and given how it ended, she must be a terrible actress), and in the next episode, she immediately gets the lead role in a student film.

When Mylene got the starring role in the movie in “Horrificator”, we at least got snippets of her acting skills in the same episode that established her desire to be an actress, which is also implied to be because she was inspired by her father in “The Mime”. She didn't just say she wanted to be an actress and got the leading role. She still had problems to overcome like her cowardice, which threw her own self-confidence into doubt. Here, Zoe just says she wants to be an actress, and is rewarded for no reason the very next episode.

Zoe basically exists only to be a foil to Chloe, and the writers had no idea what to do in terms of a personality, so they just dumped a bunch of extremely likable character traits onto her without thinking of how her character could come off. And like I said, she's a Mary Sue.

I'm not the only one who thinks this. I've seen a handful of posts on this very site calling Zoe a Mary Sue. In fact, I even asked another Tumblr user @anxresi​ to quote their take on Zoe being a Mary Sue, which I couldn't even top in terms of accuracy. They basically listed off five things that made Zoe a Mary Sue.

She has to have a ‘tragic backstory’ so all the other characters will fall in love with her. Usually within minutes, in the very first episode they’re introduced.

She has to have a supercute design so that the audience at home will fall in love with her. And if they don’t, they’re automatically dismissed as ‘haterz’ even if their objections are purely from a writing POV.

Her only flaw will be thinking too little of herself. “What, lil ol’ me as the Bee Miraculous holder? With my shyness, colorful shoes, chic beret and personalized pink strip in my hair? Gosh, who’d have thought it?”

The contrast to her half-sister will be a constant plot point, with Chloe always getting dumped on. “You see, kids? Bad things happen to bad people. But you see this super-sweet girl over here? She gets a free DAD. Instant FRIENDS. To star in her own MOVIE. The chance to be a SUPERHERO, even though she only arrived last week. Who cares if she has no depth, no personality and barely any reason for being in the show, apart from being a massive ‘Up Yours’ to all the Chloe fans out there?”

What about character development, Mr Generic Zag Guy? “Development? What’s that?! Zoe is already perfect as she is. The only ‘development’ she’ll receive is having her hair done in the first episode she’s introduced. Besides, That‘d’ word is banned here at Zag studios. Why do you think we abandoned Chloe’s stillborn arc so quickly? This is a KIDS show, why bother trying to create a complex character with more than one dimension?”

This is essentially who Zoe is. She's perfect, has no character flaws, has a cute design so the audience will love her already, and was designed only to replace Chloe as Queen Bee. That's all she is.

So the episode ends with Zoe feeling happy at all the new friends she made while we get one of the most blatant attempts of symbolism in the ending card I've ever seen.

See, look. While Marinette is happily talking with Zoe with the image of Ladybug next to them, Chloe is to the far left with an EVIL purple aura, showing how bad she is compared to how great Zoe is. Only a braindead moron would actually like Chloe over the super awesome and pretty Zoe!

I'll give my final thoughts on the episode in the next part where I analyze this plotline as a whole.

LINK TO “QUEEN BANANA” REVIEW

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #thomas astruc #thomas astruc salt #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #adrien agreste #cat noir #chat noir #chloe bourgeois #queen bee #queen b #zoe lee #vesperia #sabrina raincomprix #andre bourgeois

[gayri-chmac]

if i could rewrite glee, i'd specifically pay attention to santana's coming out story and the absolute destruction of finn's character.

i would still have finn out santana but it be framed as an emotional outburst, as santana had literally been berating and bullying him two seconds before. anyway, he would out her in a moment of blind rage but immediately apologize after realizing what he did, but the damage had already been done. the niece of reggie "the sauce" salazar had overheard and reported back to her uncle about everything.

(i would word finn's rant better to make it make more sense for this. kinda like "hey santana, we both have things we're ashamed of. you call me fat and disgusting and i feel horrible about myself because of it. you pick on other people's insecurities and pray we don't find out about yours. so just own up to being in love with brittany. we all know you are.")

(i'm sorry i cant write dialogue 😭)

i think the way that RIB wrote finn in these two episodes was absolutely awful, and i don't wanna take away from santana's story, but i feel very passionate about this.

it was very, very, VERY out of character for finn to out santana with no remorse whatsoever until she's been publicly humiliated. i feel he's grown a lot since burt chewed him out in the basement of the hudmel house for literally calling kurt a slur. after seeing what happened to kurt, who i think has forgiven finn after he apologized many, many, many times, he understands how absolutely horrible it is to be bullied and targeted for your sexuality. he wants to be better and help but he still has a short temper. i mean, santana had been bodyshaming and bullying him since season 1. outing someone is a disgusting thing to do if intentional but as i said, in this rewrite finn didn't intentionally do it and i think he would feel horrible about it.

off of that very long tangent, the ad about santana would be made and everything would relatively go the same. sue, burt, and mr schue would talk to her and she would be rightfully upset and terrified, the trouble tones would still knock it out of the park with rumor has it/someone like you, santana would still slap finn (and i do believe that finn was actually complementing the trouble tones when he whispered to rachel).

(i would also re-word the slap scene to be:

santana: what did you just say to her!

finn: i said i thought you were great

santana: no you're lying

rachel: no he literally just said that

santana: you tell her too? everyone's gonna know now, because of you!

finn: everyone already knows, and you know what? we don't care. we still love you.

santana: not just the glee club, you idiot, everyone!

finn: what are you talking ab-*SLAP*)

finn would defend santana against the teachers and then would give her a proper apology in the hallway instead of the bs he spewed. instead of having an assignment in glee, mr schue and shelby would choose to have the tt's and nd's be together for the week after sensing there was still some animosity. kurt and blaine would still sing perfect to santana bc i thought it was actually kinda sweet. there would also be a scene where kurt would chew out finn bc i feel kurt would have STRONG words about this.

finn being concerned that santana would become suicidal due to the outing is, in my opinion, kinda out of the blue in the episode. but in this rewrite, i think it would be becuase he felt guilty about outing her and couldn't stand the thought of santana hating herself because of something he caused.

finn would in now way sing "girls just wanna have fun" for santana. first of all, it was cringy and weird, and second, it was SO not the right song. instead, i think that when they're talking in the hallway right before the song, santana would be touched by finn caring so much about her mental health and she would forgive him. she would also apologize for all the times she bullied him and they would hug it out.

i kissed a girl would be a brittana duet in the choir room. why it was a group with all the girls, i will never understand. i imagine it to kinda be like i wanna dance with somebody in episode 17. obviously, they would knock it out of the park

sadly, i would keep the scene with santana and her abuela but have the fallout be a scene with britt at school the next day.

(sort of like she told britt that she was going to tell her aubela and britt comes up to her at school the next day and says like "how did it go?" and santana completely breaks down with britt comforting her)

constant craving is good ending to the episode and in a perfect world it would be a kurtana duet with no shelby in sight.

this was very long but i hope it made sense with my discombobulated thoughts.

#glee #gleek #santana lopez #brittany s pierce #brittana #finn hudson #i kissed a girl #mash-off #glee season 3

[orbitariums]

𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 | 𝐠𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐩 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 | 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝟏𝟔)

pt. 15

note: missed u baddies~~~!!! this chapter was so hard to write but i love how it turned out, hope y’all loved it tooooo ♡ 

playlist *new additions!*

word count: 7.6k

warnings: age gap, smut 

Absentmindedly, you picked up your phone on the end table beside you. It was positively buzzing with notifications, and you were a bit thrown off by the sheer amount of them. You furrowed your eyebrows as you skimmed through the notifications from the bottom to the top— you had a bunch of missed calls from your parents, more Snapchat notifications on your regular snap than ever, and a plethora of texts. 

You wondered if something had happened, chewing slightly on your bottom lip. Was everything okay at home? Did you post something meant for your cam site on your Instagram? A hundred various circumstances fled through your mind, but none of the situations you had made up could’ve prepared you for when you opened a text from Aaliyah with a picture attached. It read:

    - Attachment: 1 image

    - BITCH, THIS IS LITERALLY YOU!!!

     You sat up immediately, your stomach twisting nauseatingly as you looked at the image on your phone screen. You blinked a few times, rubbing furiously at your eyes like this was all a bad dream and you’d wake up in a few seconds. Because this couldn’t be happening. There was no way that you were looking at a picture of you and Steve that neither of you had taken, walking out of a restaurant you couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of right now. A sense of urgency flooding your veins, you nudged Steve harshly. He shifted in his sleep and put his arms around your waist, unaware of what was going on. 

     “Steve!” you hissed, your face burning. 

     He woke up relatively quickly, hearing the seriousness in your tone, sitting up against the pillow and facing you, his brows knitted together, muscles flexing as he supported himself on his arms. 

     “What’s wrong, babe?” he asked, leaning forward to see what you were showing him on your phone. 

You watched his expression change from one of confusion to one of concern as he began to grasp what had happened. But, instead of talking it out with you as you expected, he cursed under his breath and ripped the bed sheets off of him, getting up out of bed. You leaned forward, your naked bottom half getting exposed to the air while he pulled on some clothes and made his way out the door. 

     “Where’re you going?” you called out after him, and he didn’t even bother to take a look back at you as he marched out of the apartment, muttering,

     “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

You tried to catch up to him, but it was too late. He was gone, and now you were alone in this apartment which felt eerily empty without him now, your phone pinging with a new notification every few seconds. 

| | | 

     As expected, the headquarters were abuzz when Steve entered them. He had arrived in a haste, driving stoically on the busy New York streets, his mind racing just like the cars that zoomed past him. The first person to face him once he got inside was Bucky, who just gave Steve a sympathetic look and held the door open for him— Bucky already knew everything, he had figured it out a few weeks ago on his own. You and Steve had already dealt with that hiccup, and you had hoped (perhaps naively) that the situation with Bucky was just a fluke, and that nothing more like that would happen again. But you had been sorely mistaken. 

     Steve gave Bucky a nod, and they both made their way to the meeting room, where Steve already knew everyone would be waiting for him. Quite immaturely, he rolled his eyes at the fact that everyone was there. This matter was something personal, it had nothing to do with the rest of the Avengers, though technically it did, because Steve’s actions affected the rest of the team and  he knew that. But to his own credit, he had just woken up and he was already being bombarded with messages from PR and the rest of the team about this mishap. He had to compose himself before walking in, taking a deep breath and relaxing his clenched jaw. 

     “Are you insane?” was the first thing Steve heard when he walked in, no doubt coming from Tony.

Steve sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets, glaring at Tony,

     “Save the berating for later.”

     “Were you not thinking? Is this what you were doing during your time off?” Tony continued, his hands up in the air in a questioning motion.

     “Listen, Tony. I’m not here to hear what I did wrong. I’m here to solve this issue right now, whatever that means.”

     “You’re gonna wanna see this,” Sam said reluctantly, sliding a magazine across the table for Steve to see. 

     It was one of those ridiculous celebrity gossip magazines, and multiple pictures of Steve and you were highlighted on the front page. Steve prepared for the worst as he read the headlines: “Captain America with Mystery Girl?” and “Who is Captain America’s New Boo?” He opened the magazine to more unsavory headlines, and to his extreme dismay, pictures of you from your personal Instagram highlighted. 

     He raised his eyebrows as he read: “More on Captain America’s New Girl.” They had found your name, your age, and worst of all, your profession. Steve was seeing red as he forced himself to keep reading the salacious article which made you out to be a deviant with ulterior motives, abusing inaccurate phrases like, “an unemployed college girl turned porn star” and, “the face of Captain America’s midlife crisis!” 

Steve’s face burned white hot as he scanned the article, barely even registering the content and instead finding himself growing more and more angered by the inflammatory statements that were being made. 

     “That’s enough,” Nat finally spoke up, watching the expressions on Steve’s face grow more and more catastrophic.

She snatched the magazine away from Steve and shoved it across the table, folding her arms and glaring down the table at Tony. 

     “You okay?” Bucky asked, reaching a hand out to Steve’s shoulder. He could feel Tony’s angry glare focused on him, while everyone else gazed at him pitifully. 

Steve sighed, jerking his shoulder away from Bucky’s touch. He couldn’t even pinpoint his emotions, all he was feeling right now was rage. He was angry at himself, feeling like he somehow let this happen, even though deep down he could hear your voice telling him that he was doing everything right and that it wasn’t his fault. He was angry that now, your privacy and safety were on the line, and people who didn’t know a thing about you were making absurd assumptions about you. 

     He felt like yelling, punching something, doing anything to let out this anger so he could at least have some sort of vessel for this fury he was feeling. But he stood painstakingly still, trying to hear your voice over all the noise, your voice telling him everything was okay even though right now all signs were saying that everything was not okay. 

     “You have to deny everything,” Tony sighed after moments of awkward silence. “She’s your assistant and you were undercover acting as boyfriend and girlfriend, something convincing but not as exposing as that. And you’re getting your legal team to sue all these publications for false claims and defamation.”

Steve furrowed his brows, staring at Tony,

     “They aren’t false claims.”

Tony shrugged flippantly,

      “If you want everyone to think Captain America is sleeping with a porn star, then so be it. But it’s going to cost you if you think for a second I’m gonna let that slide on our team-”

Steve cut him off, losing the calming hum of your voice in his mind in a new wave of anger, 

     “She’s not a porn star, she’s a college graduate and the owner of an online brand and a sex worker, and that’s more than a lot of people her age can say, so don’t get brave because of these god damn articles, Stark.”

     “Listen, Cap,” Tony spat sarcastically. “I don’t give a shit who she is. The point is that in this case, your opinion on her doesn’t matter because everyone else is going to say whatever the fuck they want to say. And that’s bad for you, it’s bad for us, and it’s bad for her, if you care as much as you claim to.”

     “Don’t act like I didn’t think about this,” Steve lurched forward, slamming his hands on the table. “She’s more than just some girl to me. Don’t act like every waking second I didn’t worry that something like this would happen. Like, like I didn’t take every precaution I could, look over my shoulder every five seconds. I’m not as stupid as you want me to be, Stark.”

Of course Steve cared about his team and how this would affect the Avengers, but the last straw was the media coming for you, putting your privacy and your safety at stake. Your job and the details of your job were extremely sensitive, and you were just beginning to make a name for yourself in the real world. Steve honestly felt like this was worse for you than it was for him. He knew he had to take care of this first, for logistical reasons, but when he was done, he’d get right to you as soon as possible.

     Tony sighed, softening just a bit.

     “Listen. You know what you have to do. After the Accords, this… this isn’t the kind of attention that we need. Regardless of that, we can’t have this. You’re making a statement today, and you know what you have to say. PR’s already contacting the publishers of these bullshit articles. As for your little girlfriend, if we’re not careful, she could be in huge danger. You know the kind of people we deal with, and how fast they would swing at a chance to grab her when they think she’s unprotected. That’s exactly why you need to deny everything, and we’ll do all the damage control possible. Not that there’s even much we can fix at this point.”

      Steve glared all around the table, only to see faces of the rest of the members of the team looking up at him expectantly. He needed to explain himself. How’d he even get into this mess, what was he thinking, the usual. And Steve knew that that was his responsibility— as Captain America. As the leader. As a part of the team. Right now, he was just himself. Steve Rogers. And all that Steve Rogers was worried about was you. Regardless of what you said, the fact that you could be in danger scared the shit out of him, and also put him into this almost primitive, dominant mode. He needed to protect you. He didn’t care about reactions and rumors, he needed to make sure you were safe.

     “Talk later,” was all Steve said, turning out of the room and ignoring Tony calling his name. When he got into the car he slammed the door shut and began the drive home. 

      His mind was swarming with thoughts, about what this meant for his team, for his job, all the things he’d left unaddressed in the meeting room. He knew this wasn’t his fault, he knew that’s what you would say, but Steve wasn’t going to let himself off this easily. He was livid about the fact that the magazines and web articles had found you out so quickly and had posted pictures of you, giving away personal information about you and jeopardizing you as if you deserved it at all. So he drove home in a silent, fuming rage.

      By the time Steve came home, you, too were beside yourself with anger. You’d seen the posts your friends and family were sending you, and your social media was getting flooded with spam and comments from people who didn’t know the first thing about you. Some were downright cruel, others were oddly interested in this situation that was meant to be private all along. You hadn’t even called your parents yet or explained yourself to anyone, all you did was text them and tell them you’d get back to them later when you figured this all out. The only person you wanted to talk to at this point was Steve, and he wasn’t even there, nor was he answering his phone and you knew he had it on him. 

     The fact that he had seen the news and just left immediately, not giving you any sort of comfort or advice, not even beginning to work through this together, had you fuming. You knew that just like you, Steve had people to explain himself to and others to reach out to. But as far as you were concerned, you should’ve been the first person he talked to about this— he should’ve worked with you to at least talk about how to fix this before he just marched out the way he did. 

      You thought you had both worked past his eternal faithfulness to his job and the pressure to be dominant that he felt all the time, felt you had reached the core of the superhuman. But him leaving as promptly as he did only proved you wrong. You didn’t want to go through this alone, you wanted to go through this with him, as it was about the both of you in the first place.

     He came in and you looked up from your phone, where you were scrolling worriedly through the trending Twitter hashtag about you and Steve. Everyone was giving their unwarranted opinions, and you honestly worried how this would impact you— tons of information about you had been revealed without your consent, and it did not at all make you look good to the typical eye. 

     “Where did you go?” you asked him quietly, glaring up at him. 

He seemed to sense your anger and sighed, shrugging his shoulders in a resigned manner,

     “Headquarters. Had to sort some things out.”

     “Do you know how long I’ve been sitting here scrolling through pictures of me that are from my fucking cam site? Strangers exchanging information about me on the internet, seeing all this shit about us? And you just— just left? You didn’t even try to talk to me, Steve, honestly, what the fuck?” you snapped, your upper lip curling up angrily.

     Steve glided over to you, sitting beside you on the side of the bed and trying to get close to you. He truly felt sorrowful for leaving you alone, he wished you had known how much he wanted to talk to you while he was being berated by Tony. He only wished you had known how little he cared about the logistics because you were on his mind the whole time. 

     But he knew you were right, he had left without even trying to sort things out with you, left you to handle things on your own without even giving you an inch of support or telling you where he was going and what he planned for when he got back. 

     “You’re right, I’m sorry,” Steve apologized, his tone genuine, trying to catch your eye. He finally did, and even though you still glared angrily at him, he grinned at the fact that you were at least looking at him. “I should’ve been here for you, and dealt with all the other logistics later. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, honestly, angel. I didn’t… I didn’t know-”

He didn’t know that your image was being plastered around everywhere, that you were being unpacked by attention-seeking publications. Your safety and your privacy came before the reputation of his team, before all the logistics. That was all he had wanted to protect this entire time. You. Looking into Steve’s eyes, you could see that they were almost glassy, and you shifted from anger to concern quickly. 

     “Baby,” you cradled your arms around his head, frowning. “No, no, I’m… I’m being stupid, of course you have to handle shit with your job first, I should know that. I just wish we could’ve processed this emotionally first. Instead of separating from each other first thing.”

     “No,” Steve said firmly, pulling away from your touch and placing strong, grounding hands on your shoulders. “No, you are completely valid, and you’re right to be angry with me, doll. I should’ve taken a moment. That’s- that’s what we’ve been working on this entire time and you’ve been trying to teach me to step outside of my anxieties and all my duties. And I should’ve been here for you. I didn’t even take the time to comfort you. I’m sorry.”

      “Thank you,” you smiled softly, and he pulled you in for a hug, nuzzling his face in your neck. 

     This was the warmest you’d ever felt with him, just sitting there with him calmly in the midst of all the chaos, finding peace and stillness in each other’s arms. Anywhere else but in each other’s arms felt dangerous and uncertain, and now that you were here together, you were starting to look up. Everything was still shitty, but maybe together, things would feel less shitty. 

     “Listen, you’ll be okay. I’m sorry for all of this, I know what you’re going to say, but I know that I’m partially responsible. I just wanted to keep you safe, and, fuck.”

You chuckled quietly to yourself, your faces only inches apart when you brought your hands up to cup and graze Steve’s cheeks lovingly,

      “You still blame yourself for everything. You can’t control what these fucking publications do. You know that. And selfishly, the risk of getting caught is worth taking, if it means I get to be with you.”

Steve melted into your touch, but still there was that stiff part of him that wanted to blame himself for this mess,

     “We’re gonna have to agree to disagree on this one, doll,” he laughed wistfully. “But, you didn’t teach me for naught. Instead of pitying ourselves, we’re gonna work on this, right?”

You nodded with a smile, 

     “Yes, yes, exactly.”

Steve sighed before continuing, frowning as he remembered the hostile air in the office.

     “They told me to deny everything and get my legal team involved, but I…” Steve paused, feeling his anger and defiance resurge. 

     If they were going to expose you two, then so be it, it was true. If he didn’t tell the truth, if he denied all the “allegations,” he was just letting them win. He was letting them silence him, letting him think he was doing something wrong because he had found you, his happiness. And sure, your relationship was easy to publicize and critique because it was controversial for many obvious reasons— the age difference, the sensitive nature of your jobs. 

     But Steve didn’t care what they had to say. All he cared was that this didn’t push you apart. And if it meant telling the truth, he’d do that. The bombardment of rumors and questions would pass eventually. Nothing could soil the Avengers for long. If he handled this the way the public expected him to handle it— with some spineless apology or some weak minded statement, it wouldn’t be fair to you. Not when you and Steve were together. 

He continued,

     “I’m not going to. I’m not denying a thing. I’ll release a statement on my own… I’ll… I’ll tell the truth. I’ll get them to leave you alone and take down whatever they’ve posted about you. I don’t care what they have to say about us. Just… they can’t mess with you.”

     Steve’s fists balled up inadvertently in frustration and anger, but he was also feeling a surge of pride, courage. He didn’t have to deal with this the way everyone wanted him to. This was a personal matter, and even though it affected his job and his team, Steve had been through too much in the past few weeks to let the public play him the way they wanted to. There would be drama, and talk, but it would all subside as it always did. He’d always be Captain, and as long as he had a good heart and good intentions, and did his job right, he didn’t give a shit about what strangers had to say about who he was in love with. 

You blinked, shocked and puzzled by Steve’s words. This was like a full 180, you weren’t used to Steve rebelling like this. You figured maybe he was just worked up, and you didn’t want to be the reason he got in trouble. You knew he had his responsibilities, regardless of how you felt. You didn’t expect him to put you above everything, you knew he had to deal with matters like this in a specific way. You tried to calm him down,

     “Steve, you’re sweet. But you should go through with what your team wants. I mean, it’s what’s best, isn’t it?”

Steve cocked his head at you,

     “And keep doing this in secret? I mean, we can’t keep this up for long, doll, you know that. If I deny it now and the truth somehow comes out, that’d be even worse. I know my team is saying the opposite, but I think this is what’s best. The rumors, the gossip… it’ll come to a stop. What we have is stronger than that.”

You grinned, your eyes glossy,

     “I know, but I don’t wanna be the reason you get in trouble.”

Steve inched closer to you and cupped your face firmly with his hands, looking into your eyes,

     “You’re not. And you won’t be. Don’t blame yourself for a second. I’m taking care of this, alright? You’ve done so much for me and you don’t even know it. It would be a disservice to the both of us if I didn’t stand up for us. Don’t worry about me, don’t worry about my job. I was wrong to ever make you feel like that was your responsibility more than it was my own. We’ll be alright.”

     Steve was true to his word. As the day progressed and word spread even more, soon enough there was a statement to match the rumors. It wasn’t what the publicists or his fellow Avengers wanted to hear, but it was what he thought was right. And there was no reversing it. Later that day you sat on your laptop, scrolling through the recently updated articles on your situation. 

     Superhero Captain America, known to those in his personal life as Steve Rogers, admits that he has been in a private relationship for the past few months. Rogers and his team ask that their privacy be maintained and respected despite the shocking, unexpected news. At the time, Rogers and his fellow Avengers will not be taking any further inquiries about the matter, and they are taking this violation of privacy and security very seriously. 

     You breathed out a sigh of relief as you read the statement, mulling it over a few times in your head. All Steve wanted was to keep you safe and get as much information that had been revealed about you taken down. You weren’t quite sure what you were going to do from here on out— your sensitive profession had been exposed and this was something that would quite likely impact you for the rest of your life. 

     How could you be expected to be taken seriously to get a career when you had been trashed and defamed on the internet for your job? It seemed that still, no one quite understood sex work and that it was just as legitimate a profession as anything else, and you knew from the start that sex workers were looked down upon. You had done everything right— you used an alias, you didn’t give away personal information. And now, your face was plastered on gossip websites, with links to the very cam site you used. 

     Needless to say, you were stressed. But, you weren’t panicking. You were processing everything and it was all so overwhelming. In the grand scheme of things, you weren’t being nitpicky about the specifics. You had faith that you would figure this all out, that everything would be back to normal soon. Whatever that meant for your future, you weren’t sure. But you refused to lose hope. Not yet. You’d pick yourself back up from the ground and dust yourself off, just like you’d done so many times before. The difference was that Steve would be there for you every step of the way.

     Steve was out again handling important business. He’d talked to you before leaving and you understood that he’d have to be gone for a few hours trying to juggle this insane situation. In the meantime, you decided that since you had time, you’d call back everyone who had been bombarding you with messages and calls. Firstly, you’d call your parents. You dialed your dad’s number and he picked up almost immediately. 

You could hear him calling your mother’s name so she could talk to you too, and you heard her scramble up to the phone to talk. 

      “YN, what the hell is going on?” your mother asked, but she sounded more concerned than upset. 

     “We’ve been calling all day, we’ve been worried sick. Everyone’s been asking about you and we had no clue what was going on,” your father continued. 

You were surprised at their tone. Perhaps ever since your awkward dinner with them where you’d revealed what was likely your biggest secret, there had been a shift. You were surprised when they were so quick to accept you despite being so distant from you your whole life, being the root of your emotional issues. You sighed, rubbing your forehead,

     “Look, I know it’s a lot.”

     “Are you okay, sweetie? Be honest,” your mother pleaded, and you made a face,

     “I’m fine, it’s been a stressful day, but-”

      “No, I mean in general. We… we know we haven’t been talking much, but this… this whole thing, it’s-- we’re worried about you. You just go off to New York without saying a thing to anyone? You’re in some secret relationship with a man twice your age?” 

You understood their concern, but at the same time, you knew you weren’t being irrational by doing these things. Instead, you were doing what made you happy. This wasn’t a spontaneous, crazy decision. You and Steve were both extremely logical people, and you weren’t unstable just because you did this without anyone knowing. You had your reasons. 

     “Look, I… this is something I did on my own. I’m an adult and I’m doing what's best for me. And, obviously, there was a reason I didn’t tell anyone. I mean, he’s- he’s not just some random guy. And what we have is… you might not understand it, but that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me.”

     “I just wish you felt like you could talk to us.”

     “Yeah. Me too. Listen, I just wanted to call you to let you know that I’m fine. I don’t really know what’s next, but I’ll try to keep you updated, alright? Don’t worry about me, everything will be okay.”

      “What about all those posts about you? The things people are saying, it’s- and your safety! This is serious.”

     “Dad, I know. We are working it out, believe me. I’m just as worried as you are. I’m probably more worried. But you know what, I knew the risk in coming here, and I knew what I was doing. And I’m still glad I did it. Steve means so much to me, and I’m not gonna let this change that. But all that matters is that I’m okay. I just wanted to call you and tell you that.”

      “Well, we’re glad to hear that you’re okay. There’s just so much about you that we’re just now finding out, we have every reason to be worried.”

     “Yes, you do, and you’re right. If things were different… well. Anyways. I love you both, I’ll call you later,” you said, hanging up without waiting for them to reply.

At least that was off your plate. 

| | |

     The next morning, you woke up with Steve by your side, holding you in his arms. Needless to say, yesterday had been incredibly eventful, and by the time Steve got back home, there was nothing left to do except sleep the day off. It seemed as if your troubles were far in the past, considering how quickly everything had been handled. You had to hand it to Steve, he was the one who had to talk to so many people yesterday- legal teams, PR, his team members, just to clear the air. And of course, people were still talking about everything. But the initial shock and widespread reaction from yesterday was already beginning to calm down. It was still a bit dark in the bedroom, and Steve was still asleep, his arms wrapped around you.

     You stretched to reach your phone on the side table and started scrolling. There were still articles up and pictures of you up, but Steve was working to wipe those out to protect your privacy. You chewed on your bottom lip worriedly. Even after this was all over, you’d have to figure out what the hell you were going to do. Would you have to stop camming? Would you have to throw away all hopes of any other career as well? This was all on your mind.

     Suddenly, Steve’s hand was wrapped around your phone, pulling it out of your grasp. He sighed sleepily, his voice still groggy and deep, 

     “What’d I tell you about that?”

     “I know…” you pouted, turning to face him. His eyes were closed, but you knew he was listening. “Shouldn’t keep looking for updates.”

     “Mm,” Steve hummed. “You’ll be alright, YN. I’ll make sure of that.”

     “Promise?” you asked.

     “I promise.”

That was all the reassurance you needed for now.

     Eventually, you both woke up and got ready for the day. You weren’t doing much of anything, since you’d have to stay low for a few days. But it meant you got to be in each other’s company all day, so you weren’t exactly complaining. You were laying in between Steve’s legs on the couch, your head resting on his chest. 

     Today was supposed to be your last day, but due to recent events, there had been a change in plans. You would probably stay here until this all settled, then go back to Cali and deal with business back home. Luckily for you, your friends were supportive all the way. They were astonished and shocked of course, but incredibly happy for you. They’d be there for you just as much as Steve would. 

     “You okay, doll?” Steve asked, and you glanced up at him.

     “Good as I can be. Are you okay?” you asked.

     “Better than yesterday,” Steve chuckled, his blue eyes glimmering. “My team is still working on taking down any private information about you, by the end of this week, we should be all good-”

     “Steve,” you flopped over, straddling his legs now. Instinctively, he reached up to caress your arm and your thigh. 

     “Hmm?” he hummed, looking up at you. 

     “What happens after this? I mean, as far as I’m concerned, any hopes of getting a serious job are kind of fucked now.”

     “That’s not true,” Steve furrowed his brows, frowning. He didn’t want you to feel like this incident would mess up your whole future.

     “Steve, I majored in environmental policy. That’s like, government job type shit. I have to be someone who’s reputable. And I don’t know many people who are looking to hire a porn star sugar baby. I mean, that’s what everyone’s been calling me.”

     “But you’re not that. And once we clear up all this, I promise you, no one will think that about you. you’ Besides, Stark Industries is always looking for people like that, you could work for-”

You put your finger to his lips, shaking your head with a small smile,

     “Ah ah ah. You know I like to do things myself.”

You didn’t want to just beat around the bush and take the easy way out of all this. You liked knowing that you were accomplishing what you were accomplishing all on your own. If you worked for Steve or his team, it would just feel like giving up.

     “I know, and I love that about you. But why make things so hard on yourself?”

You shrugged,

     “I don’t see it like that. I see it like… like making my own way. You know? I’d probably be set for life if I worked for Tony Stark. But… I don’t know, it’s just a thing I have. I like to get it myself.”

Steve sighed slowly, shaking his head with a sly smile. His girl, such a go-getter. That aspect of you was honestly a turn-on for him. You didn’t want anyone to be able to say they did something major for you, and even though there were flaws within that ideology, he had to give you credit where credit was due. You were a hard worker. You liked to do things on your own and know that you were where you were because of your own discipline and hard work. Not because your boyfriend had recommended you.

     “You are something else,” Steve shook his head.

     “Mm hmm,” you grinned knowingly, stretching your hands along his chest. 

     “Listen, I can’t predict the future. But I will be there for you. And I know how much you like to hustle and do things on your own, but it’s good to accept help sometimes, doll. And I want to help you through this. Don’t think the worst of everything. You’ve always managed, even in the worst of times. This is no different. No job you apply for is going to try to judge you, I can guarantee you that. I’ll make sure of that, no matter how much you try to stop me.”

You scoffed, smirking,

      “You’re such a guy.”

      “I do it for you.”

Accepting help. Maybe Steve was right. Just because you accepted someone’s help didn’t mean you hadn’t done something on your own. And when it came to something like this, you needed all the help you could get, even if you didn’t want to admit that. It didn’t make you any less of an independent woman. 

| | |

      You woke up to thousands more follower requests the next day as you ate breakfast sitting at the kitchen counter. Steve was at the stove, finishing up his own plate, and you were chewing your eggs pensively as you scrolled through your Instagram. Ever since the day everything went down, you’d been getting a lot of attention. Most of it was honestly unwanted. Magazines you actually read were DMing you, asking to interview you, wanting the inside scoop on “the life of Captain America’s girlfriend.” You didn’t pay them any mind, because that was attention you didn’t want. You cringed to think of yourself being interviewed by a reporter about personal matters for fifteen minutes of fame. 

     But the attention wasn’t all bad, and now that you thought about it, maybe your future wouldn’t be so scary. Whether you liked it or not, you were almost like a celebrity now, and celebrities always had their scandals and their speculations, and they still got booked. Maybe this was meant to be, to steer your life in a different direction. 

     It didn’t seem ideal, and you didn’t even want fame. You certainly didn’t want to be known as “Steve Rogers’ girlfriend.” If you knew one thing, it was that you were going to make a name out of yourself before people tried to make one for you. Now that you were thinking about it, you could honestly seize this opportunity. 

     Even the sales for your clothing brand had hiked up since that day. People actually took an interest in what you had to offer, and you’d rather they take an interest in that than your personal life. You had no real interest in becoming some mystical figure or some it girl who was on Steve’s arm. You were just a regular, hardworking girl from California, and you wouldn’t lose sight of that. But if this was going to happen, you were going to take advantage of it. 

     “Steve,” you said his name, and he turned to face you, putting his plate together.

     “Yeah?”

     “Look at my Instagram,” you pointed your phone screen towards him and he squinted. “All these follower requests. And I keep getting orders, this is insane.”

Steve grinned, beaming. He was glad that something good was coming out of all this for you. He knew you didn’t want or like attention, but this went to show that all eyes on you wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He knew you knew how to flip it and turn it into something beneficial for you. You weren’t the kind of girl to bask in attention just because. You would make something out of this. 

     “I’m proud, YN, honestly. You know that’s all you, right?”

You chuckled, shaking your head,

      “Kinda crazy to wrap my head around. I don’t wanna be this sensationalized person or this public figure, but, fuck. This isn’t at all how I imagined my life going. I could make something out of this. It’s such a turn around, but maybe it was supposed to happen.”

     “I’m sorry about all this unwanted attention. But if I know you, you’ll make it work.”

It was interesting, this unwanted celebrity. You had to accept that people would start to know you. You could capitalize off this and highlight your brand, make people pay attention to that instead of your private life. You could even put your studies to work and create an environmental company. You wouldn’t just work for Stark Industries, you’d create an industry of your own. Of course, this was all in theory, and you had to gather yourself before you did those things. But the fact that this was possible just because of some unwanted attention reminded you that you could always flip a bad situation into something ten times better.

| | |

     “Fuck, Steve, I can’t,” you were panting heavily, sweat dripping down your forehead as you grasped onto his biceps. 

      Safe to say, since you were laying low and there wasn’t much to do, this was a very reliable option, every time. Now that the stress of the past few days was winding down, you were finally able to focus on what you had both been neglecting, which was each other’s bodies. Every time Steve was inside you, it was as good as the first time, if not better. You’d been going at it for hours now, partially because Steve didn’t have anything else to do and his endurance was ridiculous. You almost wanted to slap his pretty face for being able to go so long like this, drawing out your pain and your pleasure so effortlessly, only to kiss his cheek afterwards. 

     “Yes you can, doll, I know you can,” Steve said, not nearly as breathless as you were— it was safe to say sex with Steve was a workout. “Come for me just one more time.”

     “Mm,” you whined, lifting yourself up with the help of Steve’s hands clasped beneath your shaking thighs, feeling him shift inside you. You cursed, biting down on your lip and glancing down at where you two met with your brows wrung together. 

You were a mess. Both you and Steve had already came multiple times, but Steve wasn’t in a rush. He was honestly handcrafted by the devil. And since you were together, Steve had grown so much more confident. You switched in bed, sometimes you took the lead and sometimes Steve did, and sometimes it wasn’t about who was in the lead. But right now, Steve had you about to beg for mercy. 

     “Fuck, that looks so good, just watching me stretch you out like that,” Steve groaned, his eyes lowering to watch you slowly drop up and down on his cock, which was coated in your slick arousal. “You like this? Riding me for hours, coming over and over again on my cock?”

You shuddered with an almost humiliating moan, nodding your head because you weren’t able to speak. But Steve wasn’t letting you off that easy. He gripped your jaw with his hand, prying your mouth open.

      “Use your words,” he said, nodding slowly and mouthing ‘yes.’

      “Yes,” you stuttered out, feeling as Steve pulsed inside of you. You sounded ridiculous, pathetic, and you knew you looked absolutely filthy in the best way possible. You began to ramble. “Yes, yes, I love when you take me like this and— fuck— force me to come for you.”

     “Mmm,” Steve hummed like he was taking your words into consideration, mulling it over in his mind. “Yeah. You love this. You look so pretty like this.”

Pretty wasn’t the word you’d use to describe it. It was messy. You were practically drooling, and your body felt as exposed as it had ever been. Steve’s own cum from the previous times he came was pouring out of you each time you slid down onto him, and you were incredibly wet still. The sound your bodies made meeting was almost criminal. You were hot and sticky and sweaty and still somehow ridiculously gorgeous to Steve, and you looked even better when he was torturing you with pleasure. 

     You gasped raggedly when Steve had the audacity to bring his fingers down to your clit, those thick, unforgettable fingers that he used to stretch you out every time before you took his cock, rubbing harsh circles against your sensitive clit. Your whole body seemed to shudder, and Steve chuckled lowly, not even trying to hide the smirk that appeared on his face. Oh, you would so be getting him back for this. 

     “That feel good, doll?”

     “Fuck,” you whined, your hand flinging to his wrist to keep his fingers there doing the same motion. 

      Your body seemed to tighten and coil up, your eyes squeezing shut before you let go, and before you knew it, you were cumming on his cock. Or more like squirting, the way it seemed never ending and made your whole body convulse. Steve groaned as you soaked his torso and his legs, stilling yourself on his length and riding your orgasm out. He must have come inside you a few times while you were squirting. Wet tears, the good, hot kind, were forming down your cheeks as you come for what feels like the hundredth time in the span of a few slow, tantalizing hours. 

      “There you go, darling, I knew you could do it,” Steve finally pulled out of you, still hard against his stomach. He reached up and wiped the tears off your face. “Now do that again on my face.”

Fuck. You’d get him back another day.

| | |

      “Oh fuck, right there,” you sighed in ecstasy. 

     Steve’s hands were kneading into your back with expertise. He seemed to know just what he was doing, relieving all the tension from your spine and shoulders, and god knows you needed it. It had been about a week since the news came out, and everything seemed much less urgent now. 

     Reports about you two were dwindling, especially because you had stayed lowkey and didn’t flaunt your relationship about town. But it was almost freeing that you had the liberty to do so now, even if your relationship had been unfairly exposed. At least now, you could go out together without wondering if you’d get caught. 

     Steve chuckled and finished up, rolling off of you and facing you on the bed, his eyes glittering as he smiled at you. 

      “You know,” you started, reaching your hand out to stroke his cheek. “I’m kinda glad this all happened. Is that selfish?” 

      “No,” Steve grinned, shaking his head and reveling in the touch of your hand on his cheek. He grasped your wrist, gazing into your eyes. 

      These past few months had been such a whirlwind for the both of you. The both of you were doing things that surprised you, that made you endlessly happy. Steve had never felt more grateful for anything or anyone in his life. You helped him grow, and he did the same for you. He couldn’t see his future without you, and he didn’t even want to imagine it. He knew you were irreplaceable, he knew this was meant to be. Your odd circumstances and the unconventional way you met seemed to emphasize that truth. There was a reason why he had been so blue without you, and there was a reason why he had come back. Deep down, he knew all along that it was worth it, that you were worth it. Nothing else had ever been so clear to him, especially in that moment, gazing into your deep, warm eyes. 

His heart blossomed with that irrevocable feeling, and before he could stop himself, the words were bubbling out of his mouth, 

      “I love you.”

You didn’t have to think, didn’t have to second guess yourself before you replied. You knew it all along, it was just a matter of time before one of you actually said it. And now, after you’d been through so much together, after you’d taught each other so much, and healed from so much as a collective, there was no reluctance. You weren’t scared to admit that it was true.

      “I love you,” you said, with a soft grin and a dreamy look in your eyes.

You didn’t know how long you stayed there together, looking at each other and kissing and holding each other, but it was enough time to make you forget the world. 

ayeeee!!! as a bonus, i’m including this lil thing i made, it’s supposed to be what i imagine moonrose’s IG to look like! the pictures are not her faceclaims, they’re just black women that i imagine moonrose to look like LMAO but she’s free to look like whatever u want her to ♡ this is her aesthetic!!

ENJOY! new chapter soon hopefully!!!!

tags added later ♡ 

#the l bomb #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers fic #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers smut #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x yn #marvel #marvel imagine #marvel fic #smut #captain america #captain america fic #captain america smut #captain america x reader

[keanureevesisbae]

The alluring charm of Henry Cavill - Chapter 10

Summary: After the livestream, Henry is trying to move on from this. However, that is harder than it seems. 

Henry Cavill x Adelaide Park (ofc)

Wordcount: 4.4k

Warnings: None

A/N: The formatting of this chapter is a bit different than usual, but I felt this would be the best way to describe Henry’s feelings. 

Masterlist // Previous chapter // Next chapter

1 hour after the livestream

Henry fucked up. Henry truly fucked up. After he watched Adelaide step into that cab, the tears so evident in her eyes, he pushed all the cameramen out of his sight and didn’t want the other contestants to ask him any questions about this.

And because Henry obviously has a mature and adult way of dealing with his emotions, he locks himself up in the bedroom. The same bedroom where he made all those memories with Adelaide. He remembers her sleeping as soon as she would hit the mattress. Her fingers grazing over his arm. Her sleeping body securely in his arms, her head on his chest and the soft good morning kisses when they slept in the tent during their last challenge.

He takes ahold of the pillow Adelaide slept on and as he sits on the bed, he brings it to his face. He pushes his nose into the fabric, as he can still smell the hints of her perfume, her skincare products and her shampoo.

Tears of frustration burn in his eyes, as he continues to remember the hurt in Adelaide’s eyes just now. All because of him.

He fucking hates himself.

Yes, he cannot and will not deny the fact he did talk poorly about her, however he regrets every syllable of it. He knows better now, so much better. Adelaide Park is amazing and has so much to offer. They were planing on getting to know each other even better after this stupid program had ended.

But that is all over now and it’s all is fault.

He hates this show, every single producer and editor who works here and his agency. Especially his agency. He wants to sue every single one of them who were involved in making that heinous compilation, the one blew everything out of proportion, but he needs to think this over, before he makes any rash decisions. Decisions that might only do more damage than any good.

Henry stands up from the bed, to grab his suitcase and starts packing. He needs to leave this place, go back to England, to his own place and think about this.

Adelaide specifically asked not to mention her or talk to her and he should honor her wishes. That is the least he can do after everything that happened.

However, he should release a statement of his own. He should leave his agency. He should reach out to her in another way than directly contacting her. He needs to know whether or not she is okay.

Well, she might not be okay, but he needs to know how she feels. That she knows he is sorry, because he is sorry.

Very sorry.

Fuck, he is such a loser for letting her go like this. Adelaide was totally right. He should’ve been honest with her. Told her about his earlier thoughts regarding her and why he participated in the first place, but also specifically tell her how he changed his mind.

About her, about them, about him playing James Bond.

Henry grabs his phone, so he can check when the first flight back to England is, but he stops mid unlocking his phone and stares at his background. A few days ago, he changed his wallpaper in a picture of the both of them, sitting on the couch. Adelaide’s arms wrapped around his neck, her cheek pressed against his and her eyes shine with happiness.

Henry growls out of frustration. ‘Fuck,’ he hisses between clenched jaws. He already misses her, only sixty minutes after the live stream. He needs to think about this, because he will do anything to clear her reputation, to make it up to her.

Simply because he cares about her and only her.

His Adelaide Park.

◎ ◎ ◎

1 day after the livestream

‘Pick up, pick up, pick up,’ Henry mutters impatiently when he has his phone pressed against his ear. He is back home, as he wanders through his house. He really needs her to pick up. He needs to talk to her.

‘Henry,’ he hears Angela say in a flat tone when she finally picks up. Okay, she is mad and rightly so. ‘How are you?’

‘Not good,’ he answers in all honesty, because lying to Angela Bassett is only asking for trouble really. ‘Please, don’t spare me. I know you saw the livestream, I know you think I fucked up.’

She scoffs. ‘Well, in that case: you truly messed this up. I can’t believe you did this, Henry.  Adelaide Park has been nothing but an angel to you and I honestly thought you liked her.’

‘I do like her,’ he says in a defensive and louder tone.

She is not impressed with his tone. ‘And yet you still broke her heart. What a way to show her you care.’

He doesn’t need to get defensive. This is all his own fault and he deserves this. ‘I know. I’m a fucking idiot.’

‘That’s an understatement,’ she mumbles. ‘Tell me, what do you want from me?’

Henry lets out a deep sigh. ‘I don’t want to call her, because she told me not to talk to her. I want to respect that and I need to respect that, but I have to let her know at least one more time how sorry I am. I regret the words, I regret not being honest to her. I’ll accept whatever answer I get, but I need her to know how sorry I am.’

Angela doesn’t say anything and Henry fears he overstepped. Overstepped a lot.

‘Okay,’ she says, ‘I’ can do that. However, after this, you really need to reflect on this situation. You have broken her heart and ruined it for yourself. Get away from that abysmal agency you’re under contract with and share a statement on every social media platform you have.’

‘I’m already drafting something and I really want to leave that agency, I can tell you that.’

‘Good, because you need to clear your name. I don’t know if that is going to work, but you need to at least try.’

‘I know. Thanks Angela. I owe you.’

‘You sure do,’ she says and hangs up shortly afterwards.

Henry takes a seat on the stool at the bar and looks at the piece of paper on the counter, filled with scribbles and notes. He should make a neutral statement, where his sorry and remorse clearly comes through. He has seen the reactions on her pictures. Fans constantly tag him underneath her pictures and her underneath his and he sincerely hopes they stop doing that.

She doesn’t deserve this at all. She doesn’t need to be reminded of his actions on every social media platform she’s on.

He continues to scribble down words and eventual sentences he can use in his statement. Angela is right: he should do this.

He doesn’t know how long he is bend over the notebook, as he continues to write down a statement that actually satisfies him, but he gets pulled out of his thoughts when he sees the screenshot Angela has send to him.

And it’s what he expected. Adelaide doesn’t accept his apology (which he understands) and she tells Angela she doesn’t want to talk to him ever again, let alone see him. He opens up her Instagram, stares at her beautiful face. He misses her, but this is all his fault.

And Henry should live with that.

◎ ◎ ◎

2 weeks after the livestream

Henry stares at the screen on his laptop, as he checks out the announcement for the newest movie starring Adelaide and David Castañeda. He keeps wondering what would’ve happened if he actually had auditioned for it.

Wondering is all he does nowadays. Wondering how his life would look like now if he has just been honest with Adelaide. Wondering about them together, if the livestream went well, instead of exploded in the way it did.

He “broke up” with his agency and is currently looking at others, hoping to find himself a new and suitable one. One that wouldn’t do something like this. He always had a little bit of issues with the previous agency, but they offered him pretty decent jobs and he figured that was the most important thing. He never realized how much they interfered in his own personal life.

Henry closes his laptop. He barely left the house after he got back from Italy, except to do some groceries, so he wouldn’t starve to death. He is barely on his phone, just to let Angela, his family and friends know he is sort of doing okay. However he does turn down every invitation to hang out, simply because he can’t face anyone right now. He can barely face himself.

While he continues to attend his own pity party, he has checked what Adelaide has been doing and from the looks of it, she is doing great. She is absolutely glowing and obviously dealing much better with this than he is. She has been putting on a brave face for years now, so dealing with this seems like a piece of cake to her.

At least, that’s what it looks like to the public. During Tommy Hilfiger collaboration, she had this calm glow over her and the reactions underneath the pictures told her so as well.

Later the newest movie announcement with her, David, Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd was made. After that announcement, she has been pretty active on Instagram again and he has seen the pictures pop up at his explore page. He resists the urge to check her stories, but decides it would be for the best he doesn’t do that, simply because he feels like he shouldn’t intrude like that.

Fuck, he wishes he would feel better, but he doesn’t. Deep down he feels like he should forgive himself and at least try and move on, but he can’t seem to find the strength to forgive himself for his actions.

His fans reacted well to his statement and lots of people said reality tv can make everything look worse than it actually is. While it was definitely made worse than it actually was, he still feels bad and realizes he shouldn’t be as easily forgiven as he is now.

Henry is still thinking about suing the program, but he decided to just drop it. He doesn’t even have the energy to think about a lawsuit, let alone actually do it.

There is one thing to be happy and grateful about: Adelaide seems to do okay and for now, that is all that actually matters to him.

◎ ◎ ◎

1 month after the livestream

The 8seconds event Adelaide attended for her collaboration with them, might’ve been the worst things that happened to either of them since the livestream. Henry did look up the event, because he just wants to continue to see how she is doing. He saw the moment the journalists could ask questions and especially the second one journalist asked if Adelaide had spoken to Henry after the statement and what she thought of it. Her face never showed any emotions and she simply thanked everyone for their time and walked off.

Almost as if it was a diversion planned beforehand, David Castañeda posted a picture on his Instagram of her and the attention was immediately shifted away of the awkward matter. People are now speculating whether or not the two of them are dating and while Henry thinks that is not the case, you simply never know. The public at least is already shipping them and Henry would lie if he didn’t think the two of them would be a great match.

Henry finally managed to drag himself out of his own house and he is now at his parents. He did ask them if they couldn’t ask about Adelaide, since he would like to forget about the situation and so far, they thankfully honored his wishes.

She continues to feed him with extra little cupcakes and cookies and normally he would politely decline, but now he eats like he hasn’t eaten for days. He goes to the gym a whole lot nowadays, to get his mind of the whole Adelaide situation, so he doesn’t really care.

‘Okay, dear, I know you are still sad, but it has been four weeks,’ his mom says, as she places her hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. So much for not mentioning Adelaide. ‘You released the statement, you let go of your old management and you are keeping your side of the bargain. You are not texting her, you are not mentioning her. Yes, you hurt her, but you have learned from this.’

‘I know, I know.’ He rubs his face and looks up at his mom. ‘I just can’t believe I did this.’

‘Me neither,’ his dad mumbles. ‘I thought we taught you better than that.’

This hurts, but Henry deserves this. ‘You did.’

His dad sits up straight on the couch and stares at him, without even saying anything to him. No matter how old Henry is, that still makes him nervous. ‘You better have learned from this, Henry, because I’m rather disappointed in you.’

◎ ◎ ◎

2 months after the livestream

◎ ◎ ◎

5 months after the livestream

Henry managed to get his life kinda back to how it was pre-Adelaide. He has found himself a new agency and a wonderful agent, Julia, who managed to get him a great new role in a sci-fi movie. The filming process went great and he loved to be on set again.

Right now he is on his first press tour for the movie he did before the Celebrity Project ‘The Royal Heist’ with Anne Hathaway as his co-star.

Of course he still thinks about Adelaide, he thinks about her quite often as a matter of fact. He watches her interviews, he sometimes sees a picture of her on his Instagram explore page. Sometimes it’s a picture she posted herself, sometimes it’s a picture posted by David or someone else from the crew or a fan account.

It’s hard sometimes, not to think about her. Occasionally he wakes up un the middle of the night, thinking about her and seeing her laugh flash in front of his eyes. He realizes that of course he misses her, but it’s for the best they both move on without one another. From the looks of it, she is absolutely glowing and for that he is forever grateful. He feared she would blame herself, maybe completely hide herself, but she doesn’t. She has flourished and is not afraid to show it to the entire world. During her interviews she seems relaxed and makes a joke every now and then.

Henry sits next to Anne, as they are about to answer some questions about the new movie. The two of them joke around a bit, as Anne just recently discovered the wonders of Snapchat filters. It’s nice to have fun and not feel guilty as he did before. When he witnessed Adelaide having fun and being happy again, he felt it was okay for him to do so as well.

The questions about the movie are pretty basic, but after a while the interviewer seems less nervous than when he started. However, him feeling more confident, might have given him the impression he can actually ask questions he really shouldn’t be asking.

‘After the Celebrity Project, have you and Adelaide Park cleared the air with one another?’

Henry clenches his jaw. He wants to say a lot to this man. How he should mind his own fucking business, how Henry is going to rearrange his face for asking such thing, but then he remembers what Adelaide wanted from him.

He managed to do so for five months and he will not quit. Not now. ‘I thought my agent told you before hand I will not answer any Celebrity Project related questions.’

The interviewer doesn’t seem to care and continues to ask questions about how Adelaide was in real life, what they did when the camera’s were off and what he would do to make it up to the actress.

While he is nearly exploding with rage and anger, Anne manages to divert the conversation and when the end is near, Henry doesn’t thank the interviewer. He simply gets up to go outside for a fresh breath of air. The second he is outside, he takes a deep breath. Turned out he maybe wasn’t over Adelaide as much as he thought he was.

Henry grabs his phone and does something he hasn’t done for a while now. He goes to her account and checks the pictures. He sees the amount of David Castañeda related posts, so he goes to the actor’s page, where he sees excess of Adelaide pictures. She looks radiant and beautiful.

‘You okay?’ Anne asks, as she walks out of the building to stand next to him.

‘Yeah, I’m okay,’ he says, closing off Instagram and pushing his phone back into his pocket. ‘I made a promise and I wanted to keep that one.’

‘You did,’ she says with a smile. ‘Really, don’t let that idiot get to you. Weirdly enough, this is his job and you did well. As a thank you for diffusing the situation, you can buy me a coffee later today. Now, let’s go back inside. I’m wearing a flimsy bra and I don’t want the entire world to know I’m freezing.’

◎ ◎ ◎

8 months after the livestream

It has been eight whole months after the livestream and Henry finally thinks he is actually over the entire situation. The Royal Heist is nominated for an award, just like he was for his role in the movie. The rude interviewer three months ago was the last one to bring up Adelaide and thankfully he was, because Henry might’ve thrown some punches if someone asked about it.

He runs his hand over his black velvet jacket, before Anne stands next to him and says: ‘Maybe you should frown a little less.’

‘I’m not frowning,’ he says with a smile. ‘Just concentrated.’

‘Thus frowning.’

The two of them are guided by some very nervous assistants, who are managing the photo opts. And while he is slightly distracted by Anne and her embarrassing stories about other red carpets events, the commands of the paparazzi are becoming louder and louder and it gains his attention.

‘Adelaide, look over here! You look beautiful!’ Henry stretches out his neck and sees Adelaide Park, looking beautiful as ever.

The white dress she wears hugs her figure nicely and the matching heels create the illusion her legs are endless. Her long blonde hair, probably lengthened by extensions, is pulled together in a fancy ponytail.

Henry thought he was doing pretty well over the past months, thinking he was over her, but seeing her in real life… It makes him realize him being over her was all pretend. He can’t forget her.

Adelaide Park is the love of his life.

Fuck, what a moment to come to that realization.

He watches closely as David Castañeda stands next to her as he joins her. He plays her love interest in the movie, the man that has been all over her Instagram and the same man who she has done multiple interviews with. David looks like a nice guy, who seems a great friend to Adelaide.

David places his hand on her waist and together they pose for the camera. It’s weird seeing her like this. This at ease with someone else. When Henry met her, she was tense with stress, but that all disappeared. Of course he kept track of her, mostly to see how she was doing.

And she was blossoming and still is.

Henry watched their new movie, ‘Warm Up Period’ and it was an amazing romantic comedy, one of the best he has ever seen. Adelaide sure has a way of acting in these types of movies. It was all part of the job of course, he knows that, but he couldn’t push away those jealous thoughts he experienced when he watched their more intimate scenes. It’s all pretend—he knows that—but he could feel their connection through the screen. The way David touched her bare back, how the camera zoomed in on the goosebumps on her skin, the kisses they shared.

It was enough to make him green with jealousy.

‘You haven’t heard one single bit of what I was telling,’ Anne Hathaway concludes and he quickly looks at her. ‘You’re still not over her, aren’t you?’

He doesn’t know what to say. ‘I’m just happy to see she’s doing good,’ he eventually says, while still looking at her. Maybe she senses that someone is gawking at her, because she looks to the side, but he quickly looks away.

That’s what she wanted from him. If he saw her before she saw him, he should walk away.

◎ ◎ ◎

Afterparties aren’t really Henry’s thing, but he feels obligated to stay, especially after he won ‘Best Actor’. Other actors congratulate him as he makes his way through the hall and he puts on a brave face, but in all honesty: he is feeling miserable.

From a distance, he sees Adelaide standing all by herself. He could simply do it, he thinks to himself. He could walk up to her and talk to her. If she doesn’t want him there, he’ll understand and walk away.

Reluctantly, he walks up to her and when he is close enough for her to hear him, he takes a deep breath. He really is going to do this… ‘Hi Adelaide,’ he gently says to her.

She looks up, her eyes enlarging when she realizes it’s him. From up close she is even more beautiful. She looks breathtakingly gorgeous with blonde hair, but he misses the way her light brown hair made her look. It reminds him of a time where things were simpler and better.

Adelaide blinks a few times and says: ‘Hi,’ in a soft tone.

He missed hearing her voice. ‘If you don’t want to talk to me, just say so. I was just wondering how you’ve been.’

She clears her throat, as she studies his face. ‘I’m good,’ she answers and he lets out a sigh of relief. ‘How are you?’

‘I’m okay,’ he says, but his voice is telling otherwise. He is not okay, he is an utter mess. He just became a bit better at hiding it over the past couple of month.

She must sense that too, because she frowns for a split second. ‘Congratulations,’ she tells him and it sounds sincere. Of course it sounds sincere, the words come from Adelaide herself, the embodiment of sincerity. ‘The movie was really good and you deserved to win best actor. You were great.’

‘Thank you,’ he says. Henry can’t believe he used to be so comfortable around her and now he’s getting heart palpitations simply by looking at her. ‘You look amazing, Adelaide.’

She nods. ‘Thank you.’ She takes a sip of her champagne and purses her lips for a brief moment, probably thinking about what she can say. ‘I heard you turned down James Bond.’

Henry nods. ‘Yes, I did. I didn’t want to be part of that franchise.’

‘Was it because of me?’ she asks.

He sighs. ‘Well, I think you were part of my decision. I think I should thank you.’

Adelaide simply nods. ‘Right.’

Henry knows he shouldn’t do it, but he can’t stop himself. ‘Adelaide, I’m so terribly sorry for everything I did. I know I hurt you and it pains me every single day to know I betrayed your trust. Trust I didn’t even deserve in the first place.’

She simply shakes her head. ‘Please don’t do this, Henry. It’s all okay.’

‘No, it’s not okay,’ he tells her, taking a step closer to her, while still maintaining an appropriate distance from her. She doesn’t step back and from the looks of it, she actually is open to what he has to say to her, so he better make it worth while. ‘You had every right to be as mad as you were and I totally understand. I was just hoping that maybe we can talk about it, clear the air, so we can be in the same room together.’

Adelaide blinks her eyes a few times. ‘Really?’

‘Really,’ he confirms. ‘And if you don’t want to, I respect that. Just wanted to at least have suggested the idea to you.’

She nods. ‘Okay, just not here.’

‘Of course not,’ he quickly says. ‘How about we do coffee tomorrow? I know a nice place around here. They have nice cappuccino’s. If you want to of course. Maybe you want to meet up somewhere else, that’s fine with me.’

She shakes her head. ‘Coffee tomorrow is good,’ she says. Her eyes are brighter than the first few moments he started to talk to her. That’s a good sign, right?

Henry nods, as he counts his blessings, thankful that she actually agrees to this idea. ‘Good, good.’

Her co-star David walks over to the two of them and stands next to Adelaide. ‘Hi,’ he says when his eyes fall on Henry, holding out his hand. ‘Congratulations, man. I loved the movie and you were great. Very well deserved.’

‘Oh, thank you,’ he says with a smile, because David’s friendliness is contagious.

David places his hand on Adelaide waist. ‘Ready to go? Our limo is ready.’

Adelaide tears her gaze away from Henry and meets David’s eyes. She smiles at her co-star, in a way only she can do. This shouldn’t make him jealous, not after all these months they spend apart.

But seeing her this close to someone other than him, confirms what he thought earlier that night.

He missed her more than he originally figured.

‘I am,’ she tells David. ‘Henry, I’ll see you tomorrow then. You still have my number?’

As if he would erase her number. Ever. ‘I do.’

‘Text me a time and address and I’ll be there.’ She sends him a soft smile, before turning around. She walks off to the exit with David, his hand still in the dip her waist.

Henry stares after the pair, as his blood boils with rage and jealousy.

But he shouldn’t be. He can’t be.

Besides, the most important thing is: he is going to talk with Adelaide Park, face to face. He quickly looks over the crowd, to see if he can find Anne, so he can say his goodbye and go to his hotelroom to prepare, because this might be his only chance to make things right between him and Adelaide.

#henry cavill #henry cavill x ofc #henry cavill x oc #henry cavill x asian ofc #henry cavill x adelaide park #adelaide park #asian ofc #the alluring charm of henry cavill #henry cavill fandom #Henry cavill fanfic

[love-geeky-fangirl]

Ranking every teen drama I've watched

I have gotten really into teen dramas lately, because it's quarantine I can't go out and have fun, but I can still watch other people my age going out and having fun and doing things I don't get to do. Anyway I haven't seen all teen dramas, I was never interested in supernatural ones, so you won't find Vampire Diaries and similar shows on this list.

From worst to best:

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

I will never understand how this show ran for five seasons. It will forever remain a mystery to me. This show is so bad it's good. The writing resembles a wattpad story, Amy's pregnancy is inconsistent (like how was she five months pregnant for like five or six episodes, aren't the episodes supposed to be set a week apart?), the acting is bad (that is not to say that Molly Ringwald or Shailene Woodley are bad actresses, obviously they're not, I'm talking about Amy's sister that has the same facial expression no matter what her mood is supposed to be), some of the views this show expresses are very old-fashioned and damaging (the madonna-whore binary, the fact that they can't even utter the word abortion) and every single male character on this show is a creep and a cheater. I can't believe I watched like thirteen episodes of this. I will never get that time back.

Weirdest moment: "I'm a whore!" "Well, you're my whore." (Was this supposed to be romantic??)

Best moment: none

Glee

This is going to be unpopular and don't get me wrong, I like Glee, but I feel like the writers put much more thought into the musical numbers than the storylines. Again, Quinn's pregnancy is inconsistent (but I'm starting to think TV shows are always inconsistent about pregnancies), the characters don't look like they're in high school at all, the cheerleaders wear their uniforms 24/7 for no reason (Quinn even wore it to her sonogram, like seriously?) the whole celibacy club thing is weird and Mr Schue is a terrible teacher. However, the visuals and the musical numbers are great, Sue Sylvester is iconic (albeit also a terrible teacher) and some of the scenes are really emotional (Kurt singing I Wanna Hold Your Hand made my sister cry) so overall, it's pretty good.

Weirdest moment: Finn praying to grilled cheese (what??)

Best moment: Quinn giving birth to Bohemian Rhapsody, Kurt singing I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Dawson's Creek

I LOVE their 90s' outfits and Joey and Pacey are really otp material, but I just can't stand Dawson! He got mad that Joey didn't tell him about his mother's affair, as if it was her place to get involved. She was 15! It's understandible she didn't want to get tangled into that mess. He also slut-shamed Jen in a really gross way. He literally stopped talking to her for a day when he found out she isn't a virgin. Why are both Joey and Jen into this guy?? This would've been a much better show if it was called Joey's Creek or Pacey's Creek.

Weirdest moment: the way Dawson's mom confessed her affair to her husband. I don't think any irl human would use this choice of words. Also that scene where Dawson's father was teaching him how to kiss while Joey was watching. Cringe.

Best moment: any time Joey and Pacey are bickering. My shipper heart!

Pretty Little Liars

I loved the book version of this, but the TV version seems way too dramatic. First of all, they romanticized Aria and Ezra's relationship (ewww) and made the whole thing seem much more overdramatic. I don't know how to explain it, I mean the books are also dramatic but the TV show somehow took it to a whole new level. None of the girls look like they're in high school, but I love the way they dress and do their makeup. It's almost as though the writers put more thought into their outfits than storylines. I still loved watching it until Netflix took it off, though.

Weirdest moment: Spencer somehow trying to block A's number from her laptop in the middle of a park and then being confused that it didn't work. Weren't you supposed to be the smart one, Spencer?

Best moment: Haleb in the shower, hiding from Hanna's mom.

Skins

This is a classic. Effy is iconic (I somehow heard about her even before watching Skins) and the musical number at the end of season 1 was out of nowhere but still somehow fit perfectly into the story. I also give this show point for being one of the few TV shows where teen characters are actually played by real life teens. They look their age, talk their age (no "I reject reality" or other cringy lines like that) and aren't unrealistically perfect like characters from American teen dramas tend to be. They look like people you might actually meet in high school. However the show loses points for all the continuity errors (are 8 episodes supposed to be the whole school year??) and the number of unneccessary death/tragic accidents. It seemed kind of over-the-top and unneccessarily dark and brutal at times.

Weirdest moment: Chris's graphic death

Best moment: Wild World

Euphoria

The Gen Z American version of Skins, but with better visuals. Much better. I loved the aesthetic, the colors, the lighting and glitter. Zendaya's a great actress and I give this show points for casting an actual trans actress in the role of Jules. However I find it weird that all guys on this show are complete irredeemable assholes (except of Jules's dad and Ethan that is). Are we supposed to just root for the girls and not the guys? Also I find it hard to believe that any of these characters are actually 16/17. They have sex all the time (yeah teenagers have sex sometimes but on this show they treated Kat as some kind of a chaste nun for being a virgin at 16) and have seemingly no rules and no curfew. It would've been much more believable if they were in college.

Weirdest moment: Nate breaking into Tyler's house, beating him up and then taking a shower. The audacity this guy has!

Best moment: "You did this to me!" and Rue having an anxiety attack on the stage in theater class

Gossip Girl

I know this is also an unpopular opinion, because many claim Gossip Girl is the best teen drama ever, but for me it just got way too soapy as the seasons went on. The first two seasons were believable, even though they didn't really look like they were in high school, but after that it was just more and more weird plot points. I will give this show points for the fashion (I mean Blair's headbands and school uniform inspired a fashion line), the acting ("I killed someone"- iconic) and the choice of background music (Nate and Serena kissing to Paparazzi, Thanksgiving with Watcha Say). Despite the wild twists and turns of events, I just had to keep watching because this show had me hooked.

Weirdest moment: Bart Bass somehow flying off the building for no reason (seriously, what he did there had no logical explanation and defied laws of physics), Dan being Gossip Girl, Bart faking his death and returning more evil than before, Serena becoming Gossip Girl, the affidavit, everyone randomly stopping going to college... there are so many but Bart takes the cake I guess

Best moment: the Thanksgiving flashbacks from season 1, Dan placing a plastic crown on Blair's head

Freaks and Geeks

This is one of the few shows where high school is depicted realistically. It's not all glitter and parties and not everyone has sex and does drugs. Okay, I admit, the bullying was over the top and it was weird how no adults cared but other than that, it was pretty spot-on. It was emotional without being too dramatic and far-fetched and also had funny moments. Yes some of the characters may have been stereotypes but at least the show seemed self-aware of that. It's truly a shame we only got 18 episodes of this show, while The Secret Life of the American Teenager somehow got five seasons??? I don't get it.

Weirdest moment: when Cindy suddenly got super mean once she started dating Sam

Best moment: Daniel showing up at Kim's doorstep, Sam breaking down in tears in the end of 'Garage Door'

Gilmore Girls

I'm not sure this one counts as a teen drama, maybe it's more of a dramedy but I'm still including it here. It's funny, the dialogue is witty and full of obscure pop-culture references and the relationships between generations complex. Same as with Freaks and Geeks, the portrayal of high school is pretty realistic. Characters are shown studying and taking tests and not just partying all the time. However the show loses points for getting weirdly soapy in the 7th season. The dialogue wasn't as good and the camera angles were soap opera like and the storylines weren't very good either. You could really tell the show changed show-runners. The earlier seasons are the best. It's hard to explain but something about them feels cozy like a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate on a rainy day.

Weirdest moment: Lorelai marrying Chris and then making the whole "you're the man I want to want" speech, Lorelai defending and loving Dean for no reason

Best moment: Rory's graduation speech, Rory yelling at Chris and calling him out for not having been there for her, Then She Appeared, "Yes Emily, you may go first"... there are so many!

#teen dramas #the secret life of the american teenager #glee #dawson's creek #pll #skins #euphoria #gossip girl #freaks and geeks #gilmore girls #i would've included the oc but i havent seen enough of it yet

[thequibblah]

directors cut for WTRF? 🥺👉👈 not biased at all obviously just objective third party asking for a directors cut hmmm hmmmmm

literally how could u do this every other word in that fic is an easter egg i can't shut up about..... bestie u are about to have regrets

one thing u should know is that 90% of things in this fic have real-world equivalents and its not even like....... hidden equivalents. serie primo = serie a, for instance. this trend is going to continue and i won't apologise <3

fun fact i named the bar the Bar and the drinks after shapes because i was too lazy to come up with something actually clever

this bit

I’m grinning to myself by the time she approaches my table.

was a very intentional fakeout and if you read this and thought "she" would be lily, feel free to sue me for emotional damages

the biggest conundrum of this AU was, how are jily not going to have met in school when magic exists? the solution was, of course, having multiple magic schools. but i couldn't let one of them have hogwarts, that didn't seem fair. i know i did sort of let lily have it..... but i felt more comfortable making hogwarts a university so there was a legit reason why james wasn't there and in gryffindor (if he'd gone he absolutely would have been)

once solved, i did the fun thing of naming them! ottaline gambol's was easy, i just scrolled through the list of ministers for magic and picked a progressive one. peverell hall was a whim, made all the funnier when lily's reaction is:

Much was made at Otty’s — one of the more progressive magical schools, named for one of the more progressive Ministers of Magic — of schools like Peverell Hall and St. George’s. The latter, I know, is chock-full of pureblooded elite. Peverell Hall is supposed to be slightly better, but still.

dang, it's gonna be funny if she ever finds out james is a descendant of the guy it's named after

fun fact, i included this because peter's question was a real thought i had when reading bond and free, your inspiring writing knows no limits:

The first thing you conjure in Walking Wombat is a yellow quill... “Why yellow?” Peter asked. Eddie gave him a strange look. “Why not?”

i realised i'd put jily in the same conundrum they had in tis the fucking season here:

It’s only then that I remember she’s just bought us drinks. I turn back to my triangle. “Oh, shit.” I suppose I can pawn it off on one of the others.

...but of course the resolution is rather different, and i do so enjoy a james with no filter (aka default james)

I briefly lose control of my brain and my tongue. “Is it too soon to say I’m in love with you?”

by the way, no-filter james will be a theme. wild things sure do run fast but not as fast as this boy runs his mouth!

also, another interesting challenge here was making sure james has a reason to be the way he is in AU. i love playing around with james's childhood/background and seeing how that affects his character while (hopefully!) staying true to who he is. i did that in ttfs by having him move around a lot and not meet the marauders until after the flashback timeline, which is why he's less of a git — he doesn't have the level of comfort in a social setting that canon james has with hogwarts, which is basically his playground from day 2 of first year lol

here, james was probably a fkn nightmare all through school, but of course he gets a big ego check when his quidditch career is derailed. i imagine his years in italy as a continuation of that humility lesson.

I will fully admit I used to be a cocky prick. This is what comes of being a kid who grew up with everything. But one useful thing that the whole fiasco four years ago taught me is humility. I’ve learned how to ask nicely for another chance.

and so much of writing him in wtrf is juggling that typical confidence with the insecurity/fear of losing something he's invested so much in (and has seen slip away before). it's really new to me, because typically i give lily uncertain life circumstances, but i suppose it's both of them in this AU.

the car thing was... i swear didn't start out as smutty, it was purely because i wanted a way to establish lily as muggleborn in a world where the connotations of not having magical parents is very different. more to come on that!

also, come to think of it, by this metric...

I’m now in dangerous territory, since that adds another impressive action to her running tally.

...i think james is already in love with her LOL

this bit:

The street is considered indecent and the downstairs hallway would have our landlady come running at once, so if it pleases Your Honour, we would recommend the sitting room sofa.

...was actually because in draft one lily was a lawyer, but then it was funny enough that i didn't want to take it out, but NOW i realise it makes it sound a little like she's addressing james as your honour, which.... hm. but anyway, we move on

Marc Bolan begs us to get it on through the stereo, vocalising my thoughts exactly.

the song here was initially "you shook me" (h/t @keepingupwithpotters) but i chickened out because zeppelin is SO horny dfjkhgkjs

also, it gave me so much joy to read everyone reacting to lily thinking about her ex (the general vibe was "who the fuck is this guy!!! ew!!!!") — rest assured (or, unassured??) that he has a part to play in all this. anyway, this is one of my fave lines:

He’s just a person, and there’s such a relief in sleeping with James and not the myth of a guy.

because as any come together reader knows....

Just James. Just James. It was never just James.

wtrf lily will learn!

literally the whole world knows i'm obsessed with needle drops that have no subtlety at all, but this one...

We just laugh, tangled together in a sweaty heap, as “Heaven Is in the Back Seat of My Cadillac” plays through the car’s speakers. “On the nose, isn’t it?” James says, sitting up.

...was pure luck, because i was looking up the top hits on the uk singles chart for the week(ish) this scene takes place in so that i could find a song that would realistically play on the radio, saw this, and was like omg the stars really do align

i feel like the thing i enjoy most about writing romance is the importance i get to place in noticing/looking/observing (and sometimes, not noticing!). it's just such a powerful but simple writerly tool, and god knows i am obsessed with pithy descriptions anyway, so this bit i am especially happy with:

James is already waiting, leaning against the car with his hands in his pockets. I feel as though I’m seeing him for the first time, the faint light of the flickering streetlamp catching him in profile: the strong slope of his nose, the hard line of his jaw, the curve of his smile. He studies the facade of our building with open curiosity, and I wonder what he’s looking for.

(one can only imagine james's train of thought in this moment. perhaps "ah. here lives the future love of my life"?)

“Thanks,” she tacks on at the end. I tip my head to one side in confusion. “For what?” “For, I don’t know. Being nice.” She laughs awkwardly. “I don’t do this very much.”

it wouldn't be a quibblah original tee em without some discourse to come about the nature of romantic/sexual relationships, would it? one thing i enjoy about this AU ("one thing" i say as if this isn't the billionth thing in a list) is that i get to write a romantic lily who's squaring that romanticism with what she perceives as the culture of the times. (this is a bit of a staple in all my characterisations of lily, but it is not often paired with casual sex, the complication of all complications!)

oh this bit literally wrote itself like i didn't even pause to think just vomited it out:

In the morning — and it must be early still — the sun streams through Lily’s sorry excuses for curtains with aggression that cannot be ignored. I crack open an eye to find myself sprawled out across her bed, quite literally spread-eagled. She’s attached to my side like a barnacle. Or a very pretty barnacle, anyway.

i'm especially proud of james's voice in this story. i don't often write first-person fic and i was worried how it'd turn out, but i think james as a character/narrator typically colours his own 3rd-person narration so strongly that it ended up a smoother transition than i'd feared!

also i just. i can't resist throwing in comic relief and i hope that this whole segment was a gentle enough preparation for the awkwardness that followed LOL

All of a sudden, the balcony door bursts open. I nearly drop the mug. “What the—” Mary pokes her head around the corner, sporting a righteous smile. “Morning, handsome.” Over her shoulder she shouts, “He’s on the balcony!” I blink. There’s a sound from inside the flat, as if something very large has just been dropped. Then a swear. “Oh, shit,” I say, realisation dawning, “you weren’t looking for me, were you? It’s so loud out here—” Mary cups a hand around her mouth and stage-whispers, “Lily was frantic.” She’s quite violently yanked back, and Lily herself appears in the doorway, slightly out of breath. “Should’ve checked the balcony first,” she says, and closes the door before Mary can insert herself into the space again. “Hi,” I say, which is agreed-upon best practice for greeting a woman you’ve just had fantastic sex with and ideally would like to have sex with again.

to this day i don't know what lily dropped. let's hope it wasn't expensive!

Captained the under-17 English squad at the World Cup some years back, Serie Primo’s lead goal-scorer of last year… Only an injury in what should’ve been his first season at Puddlemere mars his record. I wince reading about it and comparing it to a heap of press clippings. James Potter was hurt, and Puddlemere didn’t fancy paying for him not to play, so they shipped him off to Milan.

(you cannot imagine how much pointed interrogation of my brother it took to gather this intel.) i constantly worry that i've got dates or timelines wrong somehow — you might notice i tweaked under-17, which used to be under-19 until i realised that made no sense (even though in terms of its career importance i would much preferred it to have been u-19.... anyway). i also found out that u-17 football squads don't actually have captains but i said fuck it on that count.

but obviously i started writing this AU for the sports possibilities, only to discover i'm going to have to interfere a great deal with the Timeline (you shall see in future instalments).

god i really went through the whole fic. like i reread the whole thing to do this. here u go clare jfbghjfd

#this has no right to be this long #wtrf #clareee75 #ask me #director's cuts

[krreader]

BTS scenario → them cheating with your best friend.

pairing: bts x reader fandom: bts warnings: cheating ; language  genre: angst word count: 1.8k+

a/n: so, I contemplated a long time on how I wanted to do this. part of me wanted to go all in and re-write the entire idea so that your best friend wouldn’t cheat, but then I ended up settling for different scenarios with each member that revolve around the topic of cheating with your best friend, because I know, technically these things COULD happen. So I hope you like what it ended up turning into love!!!

kim seokjin

How could she have been so fake? How could she have told you all those things in the past that you’d surely marry Seokjin and that it was obvious that you two were destined to be together and yet do this to you?

And how could he, the one you trusted the most, how could he betray you like this, take out your heart and stomp on it like it was nothing? Like you were nothing?

There were so many thoughts rushing through your brain the moment you set foot in his bedroom and saw what was going on that it was hard to pinpoint one exact emotion.

Anger, sadness, confusion, betrayal..

..it all swirled around in your head.

At least until Jin’s hands touched your arms.

And then all of a sudden it was gone and you snapped out of it, immediately pushing him away from you.

“(Y/N)..-“

But you didn’t say a word.

You just turned around, walked out of the apartment and out of his life. All calls from him and her were left unanswered, all voice messages were deleted and all text messages ended up never going through because you blocked them.

It’s hard, seeing something like this. But what was even harder were the years that followed.

The years of you never trusting anyone again because of what they’ve done to you.

min yoongi

Yoongi had been acting weird for a while now, but whenever you’d ask him about it, he’d just brush it off.

You thought maybe he had a lot to deal with at work, but usually he told you about that. Same goes for when he was having an argument with another member, he always came to you to talk about it.

It was as if he reverted back to his old self when you first started dating and he wasn’t sure just how much of himself and his thoughts, fears and wishes he could share with you. It took years for him to fully open up to you.. which is what made this even more frustrating.

“Okay, that’s it,” you said one night when he just silently got into bed and pulled the blanket over his body to go to sleep, “Whatever your problem is, tell me now. I’m tired of this, Yoongi.”

But he couldn’t tell you, he was way too ashamed of himself to even say it out loud to himself.

His phone rang and you really didn’t mean to check who it was or what it was about, but you were so angry when he decided that checking his phone in the middle of this argument was more important than you that you picked it up.

And well.. you ended up reading the message.

“You’re the biggest fucking asshole on this planet, Min Yoongi. I would have given you the chance to tell me that you were drunk, but that’s it. If you truly thought that I’d just throw away my best friend like she’s trash to fuck you, you’re dead wrong.”

Yoongi tried to explain it, but it was as if you couldn’t hear anything anymore. Your eyes kept reading the words over and over again, being so heartbroken over them, while at the same time being so thankful for your best friend that she’d not betray you, but stick with and up for you.

It was an emotional rollercoaster that you truly couldn’t deal with in that moment.

So you just left..

..and never came back again.

jung hoseok

“What the hell is going on here?!” you walked into the kitchen with Jimin behind you, his eyebrows as furrowed as yours.

This was supposed to be a fun “house party”, but what you saw right now didn’t look like fun at all.

Hoseok was holding his cheek and your best friend was breathing heavily.

“Yes, Hoseok? Why don’t you tell her what the hell is going on, huh?”

“(Y/N), it’s not..-“

“He tried to kiss me, that’s what’s going on!”

You started to laugh, thinking this might have been a joke, but Hoseok looked.. guilty. So guilty that you knew she was telling the truth.

“What?” your voice was small, barely audible and tears were already forming in your eyes at the mere thought that Hoseok was trying to cheat on you while you were only a few feet away.. with none other than your friend. Your best friend!

But she instantly put an arm around you, pointing at Hoseok and looking him dead in the eye, “You’re an asshole, Jung Hoseok. You don’t deserve her, you understand? Stay away from her and stay away from me!”

You left with her that night and only returned a week later to talk to him.

One final conversation, that’s what it ended up being, because he admitted to what he had nearly done.

And no matter who he was, no matter how much you loved him and how much that part of you wanted to forgive him, you wouldn’t be with someone that tried to kiss someone else.

You were better than that.

kim namjoon

“Sit,” Namjoon ordered, making you giggle, thinking that this might be something sexual. But his look was serious. So serious that that smile ended up vanishing from your face.

“Okay, now you’re scaring me.. what is it?”

“I didn’t know how I should tell, but it’s not fair of me to keep it a secret what I’m about to say,” he took a deep breath, then began, “Three months ago, (Y/B/F) sent me a nude out of the blue. I thought she might have been drunk or maybe had sent it to the wrong person, so I never replied to it and she didn’t say anything else either. After that, I was actually convinced that it had been a mistake. But two weeks ago I got another one and then an hour later another one. She said really sexual things that I’m not going to tell you because you don’t need to hear, but she’s been constantly sending me these things, despite me telling her to stop.”

Your jaw dropped more and more, then you started to snort, “Okay, ha ha. Very funny, good story. Is she here? Is this a prank? A video prank?”

“It’s not a prank and it’s not a joke, (Y/N),” Namjoon grabbed your hand and looked into your eyes, “I’m telling you this because this is not a best friend. I know she means the world to you, but this isn’t okay and you need to cut her as soon as possible. And if you don’t believe me..-“ Namjoon handed you the phone, “Then look for yourself.”

And then he left you to it, because he felt like whatever happened next, you would need a moment to breathe and think. If you truly decided to read the messages and would see the filthy stuff that your best had messaged him while probably simultaneously messaging you and pretending to be the friend that you were to her..

Namjoon just let out a sigh when he could hear you screaming at her on the phone five minutes later.

park jimin

Your best friend had always been the kind of girl to preach to you how wrong it was to take the man of your best friend (or the man of anyone, really).

But apparently, when your man was Park Jimin, there seemed to be an exception.

“You have five seconds to explain this to me, Jimin, or I swear to god I will leave this apartment and never come back.”

“Look at the messages! Read them!” Jimin yelled, tears already welling up in his eyes, “She always said these things, I never said anything like that back! I kept telling her that she shouldn’t say stuff like that because you’re her best friend and I’m with you, but she wouldn’t stop!”

A part of you wanted to believe him, but in your current state it just sounded like an excuse to you.

You still left that day, needing to gather your thoughts, but Jimin kept calling and showing up at your door to try and explain to you that this wasn’t what you thought it was.

Yes, he should have told you about what your ‘best friend’ was doing behind your back, but he was afraid.. afraid how it’d look.

However, it couldn’t have looked worse than it did now if he had just come clean.

Because now it looked like he had tried to hide it from you because he was a part of this.. affair.

kim taehyung

This was really unusual for Taehyung, there used to be days where he could barely go five hours without talking or seeing you.. but it’s been three weeks, almost four since he last called or showed up at your doorstep. True, the last months had been rocky in your relationship, stress and arguments clouded the happiness that you once cherished so much.. but even during bad times like this, he still at least.. called.

You still texted, but that was different..

So instead of waiting for him to make a move, you decided to simply surprise him at the dorms, with a bit of food and the biggest smile ever at the thought of finally seeing him again.

But it wasn’t at all how you imagined it.

“No,” was the first thing Namjoon said when he opened the door, then closed it behind him, “You don’t want to go inside there right now.”

“What?” you snorted, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I’m not letting him do any more damage. This has already gone too far and you are not going to see what’s inside there.”

“You’re scaring me, Namjoon,” you furrowed your eyebrows, “Is he okay?”

Namjoon knew there was no easy way to tell you that Taehyung had an affair and it was even harder to tell you who dared to show up at the apartment today.

Every single Bangtan member lost their shit over how casual he was about it, they yelled at him, then threw out your best friend and told her that if she said only one thing to anybody, they’d make sure they’d sue her.. for.. something.

And Namjoon hated how you broke down in his arms, but he’d rather hold you like this than you break apart in front of him.

jeon jeongguk

“What are you doing?” you asked as you wrapped your arms around Jeongguk from behind and kissed his cheek.

“I’m playing with (Y/B/F).”

“Oh.. you two play a lot with each other these days.. I’m glad you get along so well.”

It was kind of sad how naive you were, but at the same time.. shouldn’t you be? Shouldn’t you completely trust your boyfriend anyways, but even more so with your best friend involved? Why should you worry when it were the two people you trusted the most?

It was only a few weeks later when Jeongguk went into the kitchen to make something to eat but didn’t close his laptop that you walked closer when a message came in. You did so with a smile when you saw her name, thinking that you could maybe joke around and pretend like you were Jeongguk or be like: “Nope, not Jeongguk, just your best friend in the world.”

But that never happened.

“I don’t know, Kookie..” came the first message that made you furrow your eyebrows. Since when did she call him Kookie? “I don’t feel comfortable meeting behind her back.. and I appreciate all the sweet things you’ve been telling me, but I feel like this is very wrong..”

And after that it was game over.

Because you scrolled up, and up, and up and read all the things he’s been telling her. How pretty she was, how talented and how smart she was and that he couldn’t wait for you to bring her over soon so he could see her..

“So.. I didn’t know which ramen you wanted, so I just..-“ but when he entered his bedroom fifteen minutes later, the room was empty, the closet open and most of your clothes gone.. it looked like you had left in a hurry.

Jeongguk immediately started to panic and the first place he looked was his computer and he knew you had seen it.

And you didn’t have to say it.. but he knew it was over..

#bts imagine #bts x reader #bts scenario #bts reactions #bangtan x reader #bangtan scenario #bangtan reaction #kpop imagine #kpop reaction #kpop scenario #bts #bangtan boys x reader #bangtan #bangtan boys #bangtan sonyeondan #reader #requests

[effieduan]

Peskipiksi Pesternomi || Morgan & Effie (& Friends!)

TIMING: Present

LOCATION: Vulpine Voltage Repairs

PARTIES: @mor-beck-more-problems & @effieduan & pixies

SUMMARY: Morgan needs to get her phone fixed and stumbles upon an unsettling scene in Effie’s shop.

CONTENT: karen :///

“I’m just saying there’s grease on my screen.” The blonde said slowly, as if Effie couldn’t understand her. Truthfully, Effie didn’t understand her, but only because this woman was an idiot.

Effie let out a sigh, finally putting down the teeny tools she was using to replace some teenagers' cracked phone screen. She thought she was done with this particular customer -- she had even let herself hope she was done with this particularly customer. This woman’s laptop had a bad run in with a llama (apparently) and wanted it back in perfect condition. Effie obliged after she was screamed at for telling her that it would be cheaper to buy a new computer. Do I look poor? Perfect condition meant a deep cleaning of all the grime that was caked onto the poor machine.

“Ma’am,”Effie said flatly. “Your screen is just clean.”

“No! It feels slippery! Look!”

Effie watched, face blank as Karen dragged her finger across the smooth surface of the laptop screen, leaving behind a fingerprinted smudge.

“Yes,” Effie said. “Because it’s clean.” The door opened, her telltale jingling bells sounding through the small store front. Effie looked over Karen’s shoulder. “I’ll be right with you.”

“You most certainly will not!” The woman was outraged now, and Effie sucked in a deep breath, wishing that the other customer hadn’t walked in so she could just go lock herself in her workshop in the back. “You will take my laptop back and clean all this grease off it this instant! I didn’t pay all that money for you to be lazy - I wanted this in mint condition so i wouldn’t have to buy a new computer, and you’ve made it all...All… shiny! It’s slippery and I’ll drop it again and just have to come back - is this how you scam people? How dare you!”

Effie stared at the woman for a long moment, before stooping behind the counter and picking up a sign she only used on particularly irritating customers.

THE TECHNICIAN HAS THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE. THIS MEANS YOU! GOOD-BYE!!!

After all the terrible things over the last two weeks, especially the thing with Erin and Betty, Morgan tried to kill her newly freed up time with Sundew and the pixies. Sometimes this led to impromptu spelling quizzes about the names of flowers. Sometimes this led to Sundew and Willowbud dropping her phone in the pool after trying to use it as a palanquin. Today was Actions Speak Louder Than Words, so the two tiny culprits joined her on the trip to the repair shop for ‘emotional support’ and to determine what they could do to make things better once Morgan found out just how bad the situation was. The rice trick hadn’t helped, so her hopes weren’t all that high.

Inside the shop, however, someone was having a much worse day.

“Her face looks like a balloon,” Willowbud giggled, hiding on Morgan’s shoulder.

“We should make it pop!” Sundew said, peeking out next to her. “And then make her get stuck on the ceiling so she can’t come down. Then she really really will be a balloon.”

“That’s cruel,” Morgan chastised softly, looking at the complaining woman. “Also, very conspicuous. And it’s...” She winced. “...human, in a bad way, to hurt someone just because you feel like it.”

“Does not,” Sundew hissed.

But the woman was being pretty human-bad too, and Morgan found herself wishing she’d put off teaching Sundew manners for another week. She had worked too many shitty jobs to have compassion for people who took off the edge off their existential powerlessness by yelling at service workers. Maybe this woman would look better stuck to the ceiling.

When the girl at the counter came to her, Morgan made a point of smiling extra bright as she brought out the phone. “I just have a uh...phone problem. Swimming pool accident. You can let me know if it’s not worth bringing her back to life.” She side eyed the woman, who was rapidly taking personal offense to everything Morgan said by the look on her face. “I can also wait a while, if you need to take care of other stuff.”

The sunny smile of the other customer was oddly disconcerting, though Effie knew it was just because the other was being such a bitch. “Your phone?” Effie managed to ask. She even managed to register her saying swimming pool accident - which happened to be her least favorite repairs, but at that moment she’d take anything. At least this woman looked like she would even get a thank you. “I’ll take a --”

Effie didn’t get to finish her sentence when her bitch of a customer interjected. “You most certainly will wait!” she snarled at Morgan. If Effie believed in God, she would pray for the strength not to strangle this woman. Thankfully, she did believe in the law, and murder was currently illegal, despite picturing this woman’s head exploding. “And you don’t want to get your shitty phone repaired here anyway, she’ll just make it greasy -- honestly, I want my money back, and I want my computer back to the way it was!”

“Smashed and hardly usable because of a llama accident?” Effie asked. “I’ve already informed you that I’ll no longer be servicing you. You can leave now. Uh --” Effie glanced over at Morgan. “Ma’am, if you’d like you can go towards the counter. This will only take a --”

“I demand you --”

“And I demand you shut up!” Effie had never been great at customer service and was born with the shortest fuse of all her sisters. “I’m running a business here and if you’re going to act like a child without a brain you can stick your head and your laptop into a pot of boiling water. Leave so I can look at this woman’s phone.”

Sundew and Willowbud thought this was hilarious. Morgan had to pretend to scratch her shoulder in order to keep them quiet. “If we’re the h-word for only supposing to make her a balloon, how many is she? Do you think she ate them?” Sundew said.

“At least four,” Morgan muttered.

This made them laugh harder. Morgan coughed to cover up the noise. “Excuse me, sorry,” she said, clearing her throat for good measure. “See, that’s what you do when you interrupt someone trying to peacefully go about their day. And then, if you’re trying to get someone to do you a favor and be nice to you, you get a little more specific and acknowledge they’re actually a person and not a text bot in a bodysuit.” Her voice was gentle, but her smile cut sharp. “Like: you look really distressed, ma’am. I can only imagine what horrible things must be happening for you right now, or how badly you’ve been hurt, that you feel like you need to be like this. But you really don’t. And this young woman has made herself really clear just now. So maybe if this is that urgent, you should try calling tomorrow.”

“I don’t think that’s gonna wo-oork,” Willowbud sing-songed.

Effie coughed, at least having the sense to hide her building laughter at her customers words. Oh, Morgan was so her new favorite customer, she would be getting a discount on her phone if she could fix the water damage. And if she couldn’t, maybe she’d toss in a free pair of headphones along with the cellphone recommendation pamphlet she’d give her. What confused her, though, was the soft sing-songing voice coming from the woman’s… hair?

Facetime, maybe? Or - wait, her phone was why she was here. Unless she had two? Effie was far more interested in the voice than she was her bitchy customer.

“I don’t think you have any involvement in this!” Karen snapped at Morgan, and Effie raised her eyes to the ceiling. Was this punishment for being an atheist? She made a mental note to tell that one to Eva the next time they spoke, she’d laugh.

“Actually --” Effie said, cutting off her tirade, “You are. She’s here to get a service done and you -- a person that will no longer be served -- are getting in the way of that. I guarantee she could have been out of here faster than this whole ordeal.” Effie paused, looking back at Morgan apologetically. “Not that I’m trying to get rid of you, of course.”

Karen stamped her foot. “I just want what I’ve paid for!! This is highway robbery! I’ll sue you!”

Sundew and Willowbud were doing that thing where they whispered and giggled and cackled at each other at the same time, and their already shrill voices were literally in Morgan’s ear and it was all she could do not to swat them away or laugh from how their wings tickled her neck. As they started scuttling down her sweater, she finally barked with laughter. “Sorry, sorry, uh. You’re very scary, ma’am. Truly.” Sundew’s feet were tickling her side and Morgan covered her mouth, snorting. “And uh, you really don’t have to worry about me,” she said to the girl at the counter. “I worked retail in Texas.”

As she spoke, the two pixies were writing on one of her post its and shoved their creation into Morgan’s hand. Morgan took one look at what they’d written (for writing in the dark, the penmanship was kind of impressive) and nearly choked on her voice. Maybe being on her own was making her lose her grip on her principles. Maybe she should stop spending so much time with pixies. Maybe a lot of things. But fuck it.

“Uh, but you know what, since all three of us seem to not want you here, why don’t you give me your name and contact info right here. I have some lawyer friends, and I’ll put you in touch. Sound fair?” She flipped the post-it as she handed it to the woman, obscuring the writing on the front.

Retail in Texas? Effie raised an eyebrow. “I… don’t think I want to know what that means,” she said. Truthfully she couldn’t think of a place she wanted to go to less than Texas. Except maybe Arizona… Or, really, anywhere in the south. Effie watched as Morgan produced a sticky note from out of nowhere. Who carried sticky notes on them like that? Effie wondered if Morgan really intended on passing Karen’s information onto a lawyer -- though even if she did, she was certain that this blonde woman would be laughed right out of a lawyers office. Greasy computer her left butt cheek.

“Ma’am, I suggest you do as she says,” Effie said. “Before I decide to call someone to escort you off my property.”

The blonde woman looked at her in astonishment, “Excuse me?” she asked like she couldn’t believe the words that just left Effie’s mouth.

Effie just reached into her back pocket, pulling out her phone and waving it threateningly. Of course, Effie would do no such thing. She was particularly fond of the police, nor did she feel like having more people crowded in her store. Even two was starting to make her a little nervous, if only because one of them was overtly hostile.

The blonde huffed in annoyance. “Well fine, then.” And she snatched the sticky note out of Morgan’s hand, looking Effie up and down as she did so, eyes lingering on the pair of bright blue gloves. “And I hope you choose a better wardrobe when I see you in court!!”

As soon as the woman signed the note, Sundew and Willowbud flew out of Morgan’s bag, tiny hands drawn into finger-guns. “Stick 'em up!” Sundew cried. “This here is a robbery! And you owe us big time!”

“Yeah!” Willowbud piped. “Highway robbery, missy!”

Sundew cackled. “Pew, pew!” Two bullets the size of melons shot out from her tiny fingers and zoomed straight for the woman’s face. She screamed, shielding herself, but on supposed impact, the bullets made a farting noise and erupted into a spray of rainbow fireworks.

“Sundew!” Morgan squeaked. In retrospect, she should have seen this coming. They had written When u rob me I will give all my money $$. Of course they would want to do the hold up themselves, supernatural secrecy be damned. She looked over to the girl at the counter, smiling through her panic. Please don’t freak out, please don’t freak out, please don’t freak out.

The woman, meanwhile, was wriggling in place as her arms forced themselves into her own purse for her wallet. Out came the credit cards, debit cards, store cards, wadded up bills, loose change, even a checkbook. Morgan didn’t even know people still carried checkbooks. The more the woman fought, the more her face turned a little purple, and for a second Morgan worried that she might actually burst like a human gore balloon.

As Sundew and Willowbud fluttered to the counter to surf and dance on their spoils, Morgan’s look at the girl at the counter turned desperate. “Those...drone robots the kids are making sure….look realistic, huh? I can...uh...make them give those back, if you want. Because, you know, the drones. Probably have...microphone...things. To listen with.”

Effie stared in utter disbelief. The little things with wings were cackling and shooting finger guns while this woman was making it rain the contents of her purse on the ground. Suddenly, the singsongy voice coming out of this other woman’s hair was making sense. Effie looked at her panicked smile and looked back at Karen, who was… Well, now she wasn’t very happy.

“Drones,” Effie repeated, eyeing the dancing creatures doubtfully. Drones her ass. Still, the look on the bitch’s face was really something to look at, and Effie let out a low laugh, shaking her head. “Drones! Right. Drones!” Effie was not the best actor in the world, but she was trying her best. “Well, it seems like maybe we should give the lady back her checkbook and cards. And I’ll take this --” Effie slide a wadded up ten dollar bill towards the little creatures, “-- as a fee for disturbing the peace. For the … Children, of course.”

“Maybe we should make her give up the rest!” Sundew said. She flew up to the woman, flitting this way and that, closer to her eyes. “What do you think, human? Do you think anything? Do you? Do you? Do you? Do you? Do you? DO YOU?” Sundew flicked her on the forehead. “Should we keep playing robber? Or maybe we should play tie ‘em to the train tracks instead.”

The woman, still a little purple and now definitely terrified for her sanity, took out a roll of bills from her cleavage and threw it on the ground. Finally freed from the request, she stumbled back and left the shop, too horrified to scream.

Morgan deflated, bending down to pick up the most conspicuous items off the floor and push them over the counter. “You should definitely take the checkbook and plastic,” she mumbled. “They’ve learned to type, and I really don’t want to learn what their taste in online shopping is.” She put her head over her arms and stayed there, looking sidelong at the girl. Sundew and Willowbud were too pleased with themselves to care much. Like many fae, they assigned value by shininess and aesthetic more than anything else. For now, at least. “You’re taking all of this really well. Tiny ‘drones’ flying out of a woman’s purse the middle of your store, harassing your customer, playing--” she looked back at them and shook her head, despairing. “I don’t even want to know. But, I appreciate it, and if you can handle mailing that harpy of a woman her sensitive stuff back, I can compensate you extra for the...mess.”

The woman fled from the shop, forgetting all about her greasy laptop and all of her personal belongings now scattered about the store. Effie stared after her in somewhat impressed astonishment. She looked at the woman bending to pick up the checkbook and plastic, and nodded as she grabbed it and the computer, automatically going to the safe. “I can ship it out tonight,” she said simply with a shrug. “She left her address on file, and I think her license is somewhere in that mess too.”

“Uh --” Effie looked down at the two little creatures. “Well, uh…” Actually, it was probably a good idea to check in to see how she actually felt about the existence of … these things. Fae. Had to be. Her grandmother’s warnings echoed in her head along with the insistence that she eat more dinner. “I’ve been around,” was all she said. “And I don’t particularly… ask questions unless I need to know.” It was simpler that way, anyway, and it kept people at arm's length, which is what she liked.

She stooped under the counter and pulled out paperwork -- the ones to start a ticket. “Your phone’s been waterlogged, right? Just fill this stuff out for me and I’ll take a look to see if there’s anything I can do. And you two…” she looked down at the two creatures. She looked back at Morgan. “Uh. I have candy??”

Morgan’s tired face brightened with relief. Slowly, she smiled. “Wow. I think that might actually be a first. I’m guessing that’s how you and this place are still standing.” She grabbed the paperwork and filled it out, writing a little ‘no promises’ in the corner, punctuated with a smiley face as a warning.

At the mention of candy, Morgan checked back in on the two pixies, who paused in their frolicking to proclaim, “We accept your tribute!” before going back to making the dollar bills roll like a mini ocean. “You really do know what you’re doing. I had to ask an expert to figure that one out,” she marvelled, sliding the pad over. “I know these aren’t the most auspicious circumstances, but my name is Morgan Beck and you just became my new favorite person in town.”

#wickedswriting #para #para morgan #morgan