Tumgik
#I mean the cat not my mother in law
undeadhousewife · 4 months
Text
My mother in law bought a small pop up tent for her cat and I am dying
Tumblr media Tumblr media
3 notes · View notes
running-in-the-dark · 6 months
Text
the apartment we looked at today was really bad - like, one room was missing half the flooring and they (the landlord) just put carpet over it. luckily it was only the current tenant there, though - she told us about the landlord and that she's... not great. so even if the apartment had been decent we wouldn't have been interested after that.
3 notes · View notes
fingertipsmp3 · 1 year
Text
I approach spiritualism the same way I approach driving. Everyone who’s less spiritual than me is a stick in the mud skeptic, everyone who’s more spiritual than me is delusional
0 notes
adoregojo · 3 months
Text
secret admirer.
Tumblr media
hihihihihihihihi, i cannot believe i actually slept for two days in a row? wth? and also that i never did this kind of posts? im such a lazy bum mb yall, I promise I'll write a real fic soon. summary: bllk characters as your secret admirers: isagi, bachira, chigiri, reo. how they fell, what do they do, how did they confess.
Tumblr media
isagi.y
him. just him.
you once held his shirt collar to stop him from planting flatly on the floor.
and when you walked away, you walked with his heart in your palms.
yea, just like that
but honestly, isagi himself didn't knew he was such a big sap inside
and the moment he realised you two shared a few classes was the second he almost kneeled and thanked the sky itself for this.
an absolute swoon from looking at your side profile.
he once was long gone within the abyss of daydreaming about you, he genuinely just couldn't look away.
then got called out by the teacher for being too distracted.
definitely prayed that you didn't see that.
writes your name unintentionally in his notebook.
gets so embarrassed about it later and rips the paper.
still dose it again the next day and almost ripped the whole book apart form cringing at himself.
he once was musing over you too much to the point that your name slipped out unwittingly on the dinner table.
his parents couldn't stop teasing him about it, wondering when they would see you walking down their house door.
leaves love notes in your locker almost everyday.
it's something short and simple like: "you look pretty today."
then when he goes home he'll realize how dumb that was because you literally look the prettiest everyday.
dumb, dumby.
takes time to make the first move though.
he just feels like you're way, farther away from his reach.
it's okay, he still considers himself lucky to be one of those who got admire you.
he just hoped you saw him behind all of them, even if it was a glance.
chigiri.h
omgg pretty boyyy
despite chigiri being a confident and self-reliant, the trigger words of his old injury was like a pulling a pin of a grenade to his still-raw sorrowness. something that'll always haunt him.
and what dose he dare to say when they were nothing but truthful? like a salt to his wounds, he tends to just take it and suck it up, or at least try to ignore it for his sake.
but everything flipped when you stood up for him.
from that moment on. chigiri knew that he was far a goner.
out of everyone here he's definitely the most romantic one.
reads all your favourite books and analysis it.
probably named a cat after you.
like isagi he writes love letters for you.
just a little too poetic..
it it's short then it's something like: "loving you is like breathing." or "i hope your days are filled with the same joy you give me with your existence only."
but mostly is: "my definition of love, i see the true meaning of living behind your hue of life. you shall lighten my soul with your existence alone, i was born to see you shin each day, witnessing you is a blessing from heaven itself. the day that i stop seeing you as the owner of the stars is the day my body shall vanish, yet my soul will know it way back to you. from your only and one your admirer."
what a lovesick clown.
he might be a smooth talker on the outside, but trust me the butterflies of sentimental keeps on swirling in his stomach on the sight of you.
told his mother and sister about you.
it was his biggest regrets.
because the next day his sister shouted your name in a demand for you to spend the night for the 'meeting of the future in law'.
he had to physically drag her back to the car, freaking embarrassing.
couldn't meet your eyes for a while after that.
wants to hold your hand.
like, really badly.
it's just that feeling your skin against his cold, pristine hands must've feel like the loveliest, cosiest thing.
the thoughts alone are making him go crazy.
he confessed first, just couldn't help himself.
he just hoped if you would go to the end of the world alongside with him.
bachira.m
the sunshine boy himself.
the definition of fell first AND fell harder.
it all started when the class was ordered to work as duo for a project, something he always despised.
you may say that because bachira was definitely not having the word 'smart' in his book, you'd be right actually.
but mainly since no one really wanted to group up with him.
it was embarrassing, to just sit there and wait to be picked was putting him under the lights that pointed him out as the most pitiful creature in the room.
then you pocked him on the shoulder, and asked him if he wanted to be your partner.
and when he didn't see the sarcasm reeking from you, he knew he tripped hard, and couldn't find it anywhere in his feet to back him up.
it was strange, bachira never had a company, let alone a crush.
but the signs were there, and were painfully vulnerable.
painted you in art class multiple times; you with a smile, you reading a book, you sniffing a sunflower.
maybe also you and him... holding hands or hugging...
stares at your face a way, way too long.
he tells himself it's to crave your features better and detailed.
even he doesn't believe that however.
he draws your eyes a lot.
his second favourite colour is your eyes hue.
he was never the best at writing romantic poems, and his hand writing is just........
so he insisted gets you a gift!
which is a rock.
yes you heard me, rock.
he would even paint a little face with a smile on it and leave it on your desk by the end of the day.
almost went bald from joy when you had it hanging as a small march on your bag.
and when you had a bad day, that goes unnoticed by him.
so imagine your surprise when you would find two pairs of rocks, one kissing the other who had a sad expression on it face.
that somehow that foster a blissful smile on your face. like that little action extinct any remains of the past negative you carried.
and bachira was more than happy to be the reason for your happiness.
definitely rambles about you to his mom.
and his monster.
he once ha a dream about you two smooching.
cried when he woke up because he wanted it to be real more than anything.
you two confessed first, at the same time.
and boy was he dancing on cloud nine at it.
he almost smooch you that moment and then.
reo.m
it's mister perfect everyone, cheer.
you fell first, he fell harder.
no, literally. you fell. tripped flat on the floor.
and somehow, that made the reo mikage heart move.
?????????
love at first (fall??) sight.
he definitely leaves a trail of gifts for you everywhere.
your chair, desk, locker, bag.
he switches between chocolate and flowers to letters and perfumes, necklaces, etc..
you say how he picked them?
easy, see something that reminds him of you, he buys.
and it's pretty foolish since he sees you in almost everything.
reo is convinced that you're within everything that shins beautifully.
he actually paid the teachers to let him be in the same classroom as you.
paid even more to get a seat next to you.
rip to whoever was sitting next to you.
he once heard that a guy was bothering you.
the next day the guy was the talking of school because he suddenly moved out of town due to his dad losing his job.
hm, must be karma then.
has a shrine of you.
but you didn't hear that from me.
talks about you none stop to nagi and ba-ya.
genuinely sobbed when he imagined you with someone else.
has a flight under your name.
made a makeshift doll of you so he can practice his confessions on.
had a mental breakdown of the idea of you rejecting him.
reo can the most horrible, miserable day to a human kind to live.
then he sees you smiling
BOOM
he's all happy and smiling again, also a little giddy.
you once greeted him good morning, the next day he was planing what ring would suit you the most.
had two planes to write on the sky: 'will you go out with me?' and your name next to it in a shade of a heart.
now, you definitely cannot reject that. (Please don't)
Tumblr media
have a nice day everyone.
942 notes · View notes
xzaddyzanakinx · 4 months
Text
My Best Girl
Stepdad!Anakin Skywalker x Femme Reader Oneshot
18+ MDNI
Warnings: domestic violence/abuse, non-con/dub-con, oral sex, emotional abuse, manipulation, gaslighting
Info: this is a graphic and accurate depiction of an instance of domestic abuse/non-con. Read at your own risk.
🕊dead dove do not eat🕊
Tumblr media
“Don't lie to me," he snarled, his hands gripping your wrists tightly. "I saw you."
He leaned in closer, his ice blue eyes boring into yours, filled with pure undiluted jealousy.
"Tell me the truth." Anakin’s fingers dug into your wrists just like your knees dug into the tile of the kitchen floor.
Tumblr media
You were sitting at the kitchen counter, having a wonderful little moment to yourself. A big tall glass of blue koolaid, your favorite snack and your comfort cartoon playing quietly on your phone for background noise while you worked diligently on repairing your younger brother Luke’s loth-cat stuffie.
The poor thing had been through the wringer this week; left all alone in the cold dark cubby overnight in his preschool classroom, ran over by Leia’s tricycle, and his undoing was being left unattended in the living room under the watchful eye of your family dog. The horrible shriek that pierced your ears was enough to burst your eardrums, you went rushing, hoping that you didn’t walk into a bloody mess.
Though the tantrum that ensued after his initial shock was more than enough to wish maybe just alittle bit that Leia had just wacked him upside the head with her toy doctor’s kit again.
You’d sworn on your life that his ‘only best friend’ would have his leg reattached and in it’s rightful place under his arm when he woke up tomorrow morning.
So there you sat, sewing his leg back on when your stepfather Anakin returned home from work. Covered in oil and grease from his day at the garage, he walked past the kitchen and gave you a wave and crooked smile. You gladly returned the gesture, your relationship with your stepdad had begun rocky, arguments and mean words exchanged on a daily basis. But now, months later, you’d finally begun to get along.
He was a good man, a good dad; it wasn’t his fault that he had a bit of an anger issue. He worked hard to keep it in check, attending therapy, taking CBD gummies, he even tried meditating.
You’d quickly come to realize that his anger was a front to hide his vulnerabilities. He was a horribly cocky and arrogant person outwardly. But inside, tucked away in a beat up box, was a messily stored collection of vulnerabilities and insecurities.
Anakin thrived on praise and affection, he was happiest when he was eight inches deep in your poor little fucked-out pussy. Bathing in the sounds of your babbled compliments, the sweet lilt of your whiny voice when you begged him for more. His favorite thing? The best compliment? The quickest way to reassure him of his worth? That was the devastatingly wet *shlck* of his cock sliding home between your thighs.
It never failed to astound him. The way your body responded to him, the way you were tucked under his thumb. When he was pounding into you night after night while your mother worked the late shift; that’s when he truly came to life.
You made him feel needed. Wanted. Valued. But most importantly? Worshipped.
There was nothing else like the rush of warm adoration he felt from every little noise your pretty mouth made. It flowed over his tired, work-worn body and soothed all his stress away. He needed it. He craved it. He had to have it.
You.
You were the only thing that mattered.
It would be an understatement to say that he regretted marrying your mother. Every second of every day he hated her more. She wasn’t you. She could never be you.
Divorce, the hours of research on annulments, laws and stipulations, the legality of things. He’d searched through it all. He had the best lawyer in the state on speed-dial. Set on retainer for the moment he saw his opportunity to snatch up his brand new trophy wife.
But it’s not exactly acceptable to divorce your wife of six months to run off with her freshly 18 year old daughter is it? No. But was he going to do it? Absolutely.
You were his good girl.
You were his good girl, til now.
Tumblr media
Anakin crouched down in front of you, getting on your level somehow made you feel even smaller. Any other time you would’ve taken the time to admire his freshly washed hair that stuck to his forehead in little swoops, the scent of his cedar soap, his bare chest and that delicious V carved into his lower abdomen.
But instead all you could see was the hard line of his lips, his knitted eyebrows… he was trying so hard to be angry. But you could tell he was just in pain, those big beautiful blue eyes were holding back tears, and you so badly wanted to comfort him, to make him understand.
“Anakin. Please listen.” You pleaded with him, desperate to get him to hear you out.
“Oh? I’ve been listening.” He stood back up and grabbed your hair roughly, tilting your head back to force you into eye contact. “I just don’t believe what I heard.”
“Just look!” You said gesturing at your phone laying on the counter near him, the screen cracked. “Please just look at you’ll see.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. Seeing what I already know is there.” He scowled.
“Am I not good enough for you?” He hissed, shaking your head by your hair. “Is that it?”
Before you could even answer him he grabbed your jaw and pried your mouth open and shoved two fingers down your throat.
“That’s alright. You don’t deserve me anyway.”
Collecting your saliva on his digits, he removed his fingers and flicked the spit on your face, making you flinch.
“Not even gonna waste my spit on you.” His voice tinged with hurt under the grit of his anger.
Your eyes welled up with tears, never had he spoken to you this way. You never imagined that he was capable of being so mean. Of course he had his issues, you’d argued plenty before you both finally allowed the hands of fate to shove you into each other’s arms. But never like this.
“I come home from work, see you sitting all pretty and patient for me.” He starts, his voice low and dark.
“Then I come back from the shower, ready to hold and love and spoil you just like I do every night. I leaned in to give you a sweet little kiss and what do I see?” You weren’t sure if he wanted an answer, so you stayed silent and waited. Apparently that was the wrong thing to do.
“I asked you a fucking question.” He grumbled. “You were so eager to talk earlier, so fucking talk.”
“You saw me decline a phone call.” You said quietly, trying hard to keep eye contact with him through the blurriness in your vision.
“A phone call from who?” He prodded.
“My friend Tyler.” You answered meekly.
“Exactly.” He released your hair by pushing you backwards, causing you to catch yourself with your elbow right on the granite tile flooring.
Pain shot up your upper arm and wracked your body with a momentary spasm of tension as your brain tried to sort out this new pain. Extended your arm gently you breathed in relief that it wasn’t actually damaged, but you would definitely have a gnarly bruise.
Anakin had turned around, his back to you. One hand on the kitchen counter and the other ruffling his wet hair, shaking off water droplets as he did so.
“Why?” He asked, his tone quieter but no less menacing. “Why would you hang up like that if there wasn’t anything to hide?”
“B-because Ani, I was talking to you!” You tried to explain as you stood up and hesitantly stepped closer to him.
“Don’t.” He barked over his shoulder. “Don’t you fucking touch me.”
“I was- okay.” You said, backing away.
“Anakin I was just trying to focus on you that’s all. You’d just gotten home, I didn’t want to be bothered while I was spending time with you.” Your whisper sounded cracked, broken.
“Why is a boy calling you at 8:00 on a Friday huh?” He spun around quickly and grabbed your arm.
“They’re not a-“ You tried to speak, to explain yourself but he didn’t give you a second breath.
He stole the air from your lungs and the words from your mouth with a resounding *smack* to your cheek. The impact was so forceful that your head felt like it was on swivel and you stumbled back. Too shocked to even cry, too hurt to look at him.
“Were you planning to cheat? Is that what this is?” He scoffed.
“N-no!” You squeaked. “No I wouldn’t! Never!”
He laughed, not in amusement or cynicism, but in a strangled bout of hysteria.
“And I’m supposed to believe that?” His teeth clenched and bared.
“You think someone else would treat you as well as I do? That they’d be able to put up with your attitude?” He laughed again, pointing his finger in your face.
“You’re a fucking brat you know that? There’s not another man in this galaxy who could love you like I do. You’re a spoiled bitch. But you’re my spoiled bitch.”
You flinched at his choice of words. He’d called you a brat plenty of times, sometimes even as a term of endearment. Bitch though? The thought of him calling you that was previously inconceivable.
“You want me to show you how someone else would treat you? How this stupid fucker Tyler would handle you?” He growled, putting a hand on the back of your neck and forcing you to your knees.
“Anakin wait! Just let-“ He shoved your face into the soft flannel of his pajama pants, fisting your hair to hold you in place while he ground his cock across your tear stained cheeks.
“No sweetheart I’m not Anakin right now remember? I’m anyone but me.” He corrected you.
“Take your fucking shirt off. I want to see those pretty tits.” He smirked as he watched you quickly comply. “There. Not so difficult Hmm?”
You shook your head no in agreement with him, hoping to appease him. You had no idea where this was going, but you knew for damn sure that you weren’t gonna like it.
“That’s right.” He said as he gripped your jaw once more, chuckling when you instinctively dropped your mouth open. “That was the last easy thing you’ll be doing tonight.”
“Pull out my cock.” He demanded, the look on his face giving no indication that this was negotiable.
You hesitated, then steeled yourself to comply with his order. His pretty cock, the beautiful thing that made you feel like you were floating amongst the clouds… was standing tall and proud. This was the only time you’d ever been unhappy to see it and you hoped it was the last time too.
“Oh don’t look at me like that.” He grumbled. “This is what you wanted isn’t it? To be a whore? To cheat on me?”
“No! Anakin Tyler isn’t-“ He scoffed and took advantage of your open mouth and forced your head down around his length.
“Fuck.” He mumbled his stomach muscles tightened momentarily before relaxing again.
“Finally some fucking peace and quiet. I’m sick of your whining. I don’t ever want to hear that fuckboy’s name again do you understand me?” He growled, his eyes filled with jealousy painted red with rage.
Anakin started to thrust quick and shallow into your mouth panting while he glared down at you like you were his mortal enemy.
“You like this?” He asked, watching you shake your head no vigorously. “No? Didn’t think you would.”
“Can’t fucking believe this shit.” He moaned, tipping his head back toward the ceiling before letting his chin fall to his chest.
He growled, seeing you drool down the column of your throat. A fire lit behind his eyes and burst into an inferno after only seconds of this brutal punishment.
“Move your tongue.” He commanded, jerking your head to the side when you didn’t do it immediately. “Fuck, that’s better.”
Your tongue lay flat against the under side of his shaft as his cockhead started to bully its way down your throat, in and out in deep ruthless strokes. Tears pricked your eyes and began to fall, this time from discomfort instead of the horrible emotional pain he’d dealt to you.
“What?” He laughed again, looking down at you with a menacing grin that didn’t meet his glassy eyes. “Don’t wanna be a whore anymore do you?”
You shook your head no to the best of your ability and Anakin nodded in agreement, his breath caught in his throat just like his cock was stuck in yours.
“This is how men treat whores.” He said matter of factly. “Like a stupid little fuck toy. Do you want to be a stupid fuck toy?”
“No of course you don’t.” He tsk’d. “You want to be my good girl, my sweet princess.”
You nodded vigorously, choking on his length accidentally from the quick movement.
Your gag reflex kicked in violently, caused by your choking fit as you tried to cough, your body begging for some control to be returned to you. You struggled to breathe as he continued his brutal assault on your throat. But despite the pain, there was an odd thrill running through you, a sick satisfaction knowing you were pleasing him in this way. You should hate him for what he’s doing right now, but it would be a lie if you said you didn’t find it alittle bit hot.
He was unraveling quickly, his hips snapping fast and deep. You heard the familiar change in breathing that happen just moments before he would cum, the cute little high-pitched whimpers that left his beautiful plump lips.
You tapped his thigh, looking up at him with furrowed brows and pleading eyes. Begging him to relent for just moment so you could breathe.
“No, I’m close. You can wait." he growled back, his pace unrelenting, but his voice becoming shaky.
“I don’t understand.” He panted, looking down at you with a pained expression. “Why would you want to be treated this way when I give you all the love in the world? When I love you so much?
“Seeing you hurt like this baby… it hurts me.” He sniffled, on the verge of tears.
“Just think, imagine it sweetheart; what if you went out there tonight and that horrible guy did this to you?” His eyebrows turned up in a deep swoop.
“You know I’m only doing this to help you right baby?” He let out a choked sob as his cock twitched in your mouth.
“I don’t want you to get hurt! I love you!” He cried out, his own tears freely flowing, salty drips hitting your face as he stared down at you with the face of a broken man.
“Promise me you won’t ever make me do this again.” He whispered, lovingly wiping the tears from your eyes. “I can’t stand it.”
“Promise? You won’t ever do it again? Please baby.” He cried, his chest heaving with a sob as his face scrunched up.
“Can’t do that to me, you can’t! I’d die.” He was practically hysterical, seeing him like this was tearing you apart in ways his rough treatment couldn’t. The pain and torture in his voice was a worse punishment.
“I wouldn’t wanna live without you. I wouldn’t.” He sobbed, his thumbs softly caress your cheekbones made you forget all about the way he was brutalizing you. It made you forget the hurtful things he’d said. You weren’t even sure your throat would be sore after this; how could it be worse than having your heart bruised the way Anakin’s must be?
“My sweet girl.” He sniffled. “My poor baby, I’m sorry. So sorry I had to do this. You understood don’t you doll?
You nodded, crying for an entirely different reason now. If you could, you’d be wailing. Pleading with him as you comforted him with kisses and gentle touches, holding him as he cried over your actions. How could you have done this? How could you be so cruel!?
“Good girl baby.” He hiccuped. “Good girl. I love you. Love you so much babydoll, g-gonna hold you n’ make love to you like you deserve.”
His hips stuttered against your mouth, his stomach tense and his hand tightened around your hair.
“My best girl.” He whined. “Do you want my cum? Those horrible bad men wouldn’t give it to you. They wouldn’t know how much you love it.”
You nodded, eyes rolling back in your head. He’s right. They wouldn’t know, how could they know? No one knew you like Anakin did.
“Mmm… yeah? G-goddamn.” He whimpered, pushing your face deep into his groin, your nose pressed firmly into the curly hairs at the base of his cock.
He sobbed, a full loud heart-wrenching sob as he came violently down your throat. You gratefully drank it down, thankful he’d let you have it after all you’d put him through.
Gently he pulled himself from your mouth, wiping his eyes dry as he sniffled. Tucking himself back into his pants before scooping you up into his arms and rocking you against his chest. Then he walked over to the recliner in the living room and sat down with you.
He let you cry it out while showering you with love and affection and beautiful sweet words in his warm honeyed voice. Finally once you’d calmed down he tilted your chin up to face him. Giving you a slow sensual kiss. The kind of kiss that was almost sticky, your lips wanting to stay connected for as long as possible.
“Are you okay sweetheart? Do you need anything?” He whispered against your lips in a pleading tone.
“No.” You shook your head, still taking shaky short gasping breaths. “M’so sorry Ani.”
“Oh baby. No, it’s okay.” He cooed. “You didn’t know. That’s why I had to teach you huh?”
“Uh huh.” You sniffled.
“You understand now don’t you doll? No body could ever love you like I do.” He squeezed you tightly as you agreed.
“That was horrible wasn’t it?” He sighed. “Those other boys… oh princess it would be so much worse you know that?”
“I couldn’t be as mean to you as they could, not even half as bad.” He said softly as if the information were scary to even say outloud.
“R-really?” You squeaked, not even half as bad? You shivered at the thought that if could ever be worse than he’d shown you.
“Yes baby.” He nodded, a sad and solemn expression on his tear streaked face.
“Th-thank you Ani.” You sniffled. Feeling grateful that he wasn’t even capable of what must be such horrendous brutality.
“Oh sweetheart. Don’t thank me,” he whispered, petting your head. “Just hold me and I’ll hold you okay? We both need alittle extra snuggles tonight after that don’t we?”
Tumblr media
Tag-List:
@wickedtactics @tsugumiholic @kingdomhate
@burnthecheshirewitch@cherrylooney@star611
@tahliac11 @exquisit3corpse @jeldog @arzua10
@bby-imasociopath @depressed-kay
@aliciaasky @naty-1001 @mrsmikaelsxn
@illiethefairy @bunnylovesani @offthethirlwall
@slutforhayden @ausskywalker @angelsadmired
@slut4starwarssmut @chocolatepalacecloudhoagie
@starkiller419 @hearts4mitski4 @no1klet @lethargic
@allhailbuckybarnes @shadowhuntyi
@bobtheturmpetman29 @mortalheartache
@fallinlovewithevil @sythethecarrot
@joshfutturmansrighthand @chaoticantihero
@vadersslut @luvvfromme @anakinsbaee
@sweetcheesecakesblog@rga11 @luvskywxlker
@angelsadmired @kaminokatie @anakin-pilled
404 notes · View notes
devilfic · 5 months
Note
omg we need more of the honeymoon shot bruce and reader,, maybe a one bed trope if it’s not too much to ask no pressure obv!!<3
❝honeymoon❞
II. marriage bed.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
parts: previously / next plot: the in-laws are in town. pairing: battinson!bruce wayne x gn!reader. cw: arranged marriage, friends to enemies to (fake) lovers, implied history between reader and bruce, only one bed trope. words: 1.6k.
"I'm sorry" feels numb to say at this point. You still say it, standing at the foot of what should have been your marriage bed. It's been a long night and you'd wrung your hands of dish soap until your family practically barked at you to get to bed, to get back to your husband.
You can still hear them, cackling downstairs in the living room while your nieces and nephews tumble through the hallway. It must feel alien to have your childhood home, long devoid of familial joy, be suddenly bursting full of it. And have none of it mean anything to you.
Bruce stands shoulder to shoulder with you for a few more beats. Then he walks to the door, and you watch him twist the lock with a firm click. Your heart picks up a bit.
His steps are muted on the carpet and you take in his shoulders, the rolling hills of muscles in his back, and the pants that cling to the divots of his hip bones. The black cashmere is a gift from your mother, something preferable to his "ratty" sweats. He didn't like these very much.
Since you'd started living here, you caught glimpses of him like this. A heavy shadow of a man skulking in the darkness, waiting for you to leave for work before revealing himself. Rarely would you find yourselves crossing paths in the kitchen or catching eyes in the living room. And with each fleeting glance, he would escape elsewhere, receding into the tower the way a frightened cat might hide from strangers. Intruders. Funnily enough, you found avoiding eye contact helped that.
But now there was nowhere to run. Your family was here for the holidays and they were in every room. Eyes everywhere.
"Do you need to work tonight?" You'd started calling it that: "work". It made sense around the family (not so much your mother), and it didn't put him on edge when you skirted around the "B" word. "I can help you get downstairs."
He's half-turned to you, waiting on his side of the bed, so you can see the way his face scrunches up at a thought, "Gordon... told me to take time off. For family."
You snort, "You told him the in-laws were in town?"
"Yes."
You blink, "Oh."
Bruce had told you that between you and Alfred, no one else knew who Batman was. The lieutenant, trusted friend and ally as he were, had yet to join the ranks of your prestigious little club. It felt wrong to be in it when he wasn't; you'd forced yourself into it, and Bruce didn't even trust you.
You round the bed opposite to Bruce, and staring across it at him felt like staring across an ocean—he was so far away. You wondered how many people had shared this bed with him. How many he trusted as little as you.
You understand that the Bruce you remember was still a boy, grieving much differently than he is now, and had liked you just a little bit more.
You're the first to draw back the covers.
Bruce watches you settle in before following suit, reluctant, as if he were still wondering about the cons of sleeping in his car tonight. The weight of the bed dramatically shifts and you glide against the silk to his side when he lays down, your hand going for his upper arm to steady yourself. He jolts at the contact, staring you down like a deer in headlights.
Your second sorry of the night spills from your lips, and you squirm away from the warmth of his side and back to the edge of the bed.
You both lay like that for a while, side by side, neither of you particularly comfortable.
"Why didn't you say no?"
His question rocks the stillness in the air. You almost jolt. You turn your head and ask, as casually as you are able, "Say no to what?"
"The marriage."
Ah. "You've met my mother. It's hard to say no to her. Isn't that why you're in this situation in the first place?"
He remains looking up at the ceiling, but you see his jaw constrict, "The you I knew had a backbone."
He means it to hurt. Reminders of your youth together had not softened with time, it seemed, even if he treated you like a distant memory. You don't muster up the courage to bite back at him. Instead, you tuck your tail and keep the mist from gathering in your eyes, "...Yeah."
He doesn't seem to have expected that response. He finally turns his head to look at you, visibly confused. For a few moments, the two of you just stare at each other. Him, analyzing. You... mourning. "Is this what you wanted?"
It's becoming harder to hold back tears, "Not this. Not with her pulling all the strings. Regardless of what you think about me, or my mother, or my family, I didn't want any of this. I don't... want to be your enemy, Bruce."
You want so badly for him to believe you. You've never wanted anything more than for him to see you honestly, transparently, except perhaps to see him the same. To not have to fight.
He's about to say something when the doorknob wriggles, followed by a tentative knock. The two of you sit up and listen for who could be at the door, until a small voice calls your name through the wood, "My niece." You say, rigid. "She must be lost." You go to stand but to your surprise, Bruce is already at the door letting her in.
She stands at just about his knee, blanket clutched in her chubby arms and mouth hidden by the purple fleece. She has to turn her head all the way up to look him in the eyes, "Uncle Bruce," she says through a lisp, "where's the bathroom?"
You can't fully see Bruce's reaction from the bed. From the side, you watch his shoulders sag and his cheek rise in what you think is... a smile.
Very slowly, he comes to a crouch in front of her, "The bathroom?" He asks. She nods an affirmative. "Why didn't you ask Grandpa Alfred? He knows where everything is."
Her eyes dart to the side, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, "...Grandpa Alfred is scary."
Bruce laughs, actually laughs. He hasn't laughed around you. Hasn't managed more than a smile today, and only to placate your mother. He's warmer too, more open. You watch him. Mesmerized. "He is a little scary, isn't he? But I promise, he's really nice if you get to know him." Your niece doesn't seem so convinced. A moment passes as Bruce thinks of what to say, "How about I come with you to go ask him?"
Her eyes light up, "Really?"
"Really."
Bruce holds out his arms to her, and though she's reluctant, you watch her tumble into them with arms thrown around his neck. He hops back to his feet with her perched on his hip like she weighs nothing—and she probably does, to him—and asks her in a hushed voice if she's holding on tight.
Her little head turns to look at you over his shoulder and he follows, his smile weakening some.
You almost ask if she'd like you to come with, but think better of it. In the time it would take Bruce to complete this task, you could try to fall asleep. Maybe then it'd be easier on him to share the bed with you, "Go with Uncle Bruce. Maybe Grandpa Alfred will show you the fancy swords if you're brave enough to ask."
Your niece beams, urging Bruce to take her to him this instant, and they disappear out of sight.
Tumblr media
You're half conscious when Bruce returns and shuts the door, but there is no click of the lock to follow after.
With your back turned, all you have to tell you where he is in the room are his small sighs. He's on his side, closer than you expected him to be so quickly, and you curse the carpet that hides his footfalls. You keep your breaths measured, pretending you're fully asleep, and wait for him to climb in.
One knee presses into the mattress, then the other, and you quickly remember the problem with this bed.
He's just laid on his side when you go sliding backwards, feeling your body collide with his chest. You force your eyes to stay closed but you are chilled with mortification. Should you move? Give up the facade of sleep and scramble for the other side of the bed? Would he shove you away?
You wait for his heavy hand to fall on your back, but... nothing. Seconds crawl forward at a snail's pace. You can feel the heat of his hand hovering over your hip where your night shirt had ridden up, but he never touches you. You take slow, deep breaths. You wait for him to wake you, then, if he won't shove you.
But that also never comes. The tips of his fingers lightly brush the skin of your hip, and then disappear. You feel his arm wiggle between the both of you, feel him shift a bit on the mattress, but nothing more. He doesn't push you away. Doesn't call your name. Doesn't shake you until you're forced to crawl to the other side.
He gets comfortable. Stiff, but comfortable, and he doesn't move you. You wonder, as the heat of his chest makes you conscious of your heart beating quicker, if it's too late to crawl back on your own.
You wait for what feels like hours contemplating it. So long, it feels like he might've fallen asleep behind you. So long, that you melt into his side of the mattress. So long, that sleep comes and morning soon after before you could even make up your mind.
Tumblr media
taglist: @yikes-buddy @alexxavicry @theclassicvinyldragon @marina-and-the-memes @angxlictexrs @moonlightreader649 @geekyfer @thescarletfang @navs-bhat @yehet-moi-ohorat @bluestuesday
423 notes · View notes
lowtaperfeyd · 2 months
Note
Hi 🥰 can i request scenario where reader is paul’s sister and feyd’s wife who is all about honor and one day after feyd’s fight she tells him that he’s not all that because he doesn’t fight fare and is coward 😏
Rats Vs. Mice
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen x Atreides!reader
author's note: Feyd is so fine. That's all.
warnings: death, blood, house harkonnen, knives.
wc: 940
Tumblr media
(Y/N) Atreides’ father, the Duke Leto Atreides, had a saying, “Respect for truth is the basis for all morality. Something cannot emerge from nothing.” This has always been something both him and his daughter lived by. Because there is no honor in a man who isn’t truthful. Most of the time she didn’t think of this saying often, since she had been surrounded by truthful men. But when she married Na-Baron Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen she realized just how much the Harkonnens lie. She realized the truth did also die with her father. 
“Does he always fight this way?’ She interrogated her uncle-in-law as they were watching Feyd fight in the black and white light of the Harkonnen homeworld’s sun. 
“Yes of course he does!” He quickly responded, feeling a little offended because of the criticism of his heir from his own wife, “What other way is he supposed to?!”  
“I didn't mean to offend, my Baron,” she replied, realizing it was a bad idea to bad mouth Feyd in front of his uncle, “I’m sorry.”  
“Silly girl,” the only thing that came out of the baron’s mouth after that was, “That boy killed his own mother.” (Y/N) continued to watch Feyd fight. 
The way his arm moved through the air in a teasing motion. Like a cat drawing out the death of a mouse. It was complete cowardice disguised by an overconfident nature from many fights against drugged opponents. Drugged opponents who may just stand a chance against Feyd-Rautha. Of course, she did not think he was a bad fighter, just that he was a big baby. 
The fight, of course, ended with all of Feyd’s opponents on the ground lying still and Feyd’s knife rising to the air to show the blood of his kills. Pathetic from a man who won’t even fight a sober man, (Y/N) thought.
As Feyd went back through the tunnel he came out of, (Y/N) turned toward the baron and asked him,
“Would Feyd ever fight against a man who wasn’t drugged?” 
“Why do you ask this?” The baron asked suspiciously. 
“I mean, isn't his birthday coming up? A good present for him would be fighting someone of equal machinery in a sense. You also need to test whether or not he would be good for Arrakis. I know you aren’t happy with Rabban.” 
The baron just mumbled incoherently. 
“Anyway, I must leave,” She said as she got up, “I have to see my husband.” 
(Y/N) began walking through the tall halls of the fortress. Passing grotesque portraits and seeing the black and white fireworks coming from outside of the castle. The fireworks in celebration of Feyd’s victory. Even though it was dark inside the castle the fireworks did light it just enough to where you did not need a glow globe to transverse through the corridors. The air got more frigid as she continued to walk deeper and deeper to her husband’s room. Like walking into the belly of the beast. She got to her husband’s bedroom door and saw two guards outside of it. 
“You can leave” (Y/N) said to the guards. 
The guards just looked at her and nodded. Afraid of what she would or her husband would do if they didn’t listen. 
(Y/N) opened the huge door to see her husband sitting hunched over on his bed. His feet firmly planted on the ground. His knife, still bloody, in his hands. 
“I watched you fight today.” She said cooly to him. 
“I know,” He said equally, “I saw you from the ground” 
“Well congratulations-” She tried to get out before being interrupted by Feyd, 
“What were you talking about with my uncle?” He bit out in a mix of anger and annoyance.
“I don’t know what youre talking about.” (Y/N) deflected. 
“Don’t play coy!” He shouted and moved to stand menacingly in front of his wife, “I saw you two talking and then looking back at me. What was it!”   
“You would be right, Feyd,” She responded, standing her ground, “We were talking about you.” 
(Y/N) declared, “How much of a coward you are,” After saying this she could see the anger lighting up in the cold, black eyes of Feyd-Rautha, “How his youngest nephew only fought people who weren’t able to beat him. And how pathetic it is.” She spat at him.  
“And would you know something, he actually agreed with me.” (Y/N) lied through her teeth, hoping that Feyd would not go and ask his uncle about it later, 
“He agreed that it would be more entertaining if you actually fought people who stab you as easily as you stab them. Have a form of equal bloodshed.” 
Even though his wife was still berating him, Feyd continued to look at his wife, the woman who was not afraid to question him or go against when it came down to speaking, and thought about how pretty she would be with her head on a spike. Red lipstick smeared on her lips and hair all messed up from the blade going across her throat. 
“And do you want to know the worst thing about you Feyd,” (Y/N) continued to push his buttons, “any honor you have earned is false. The only animal one could compare you to is a lazy, house cat; who can only find entertainment in tiny mice, and can’t defeat the rats which actually pose a threat.” 
“You lost all your honor the day you killed your mother.”
"What makes you think you know anything about honor? " Feyd retorted, "Your family is dead and mine is thriving."
247 notes · View notes
drmaddict · 11 months
Text
Patchwork
Summary: Henry becomes a father... Just not how he thought it would happen.
Word count: 2.160
Warnings: mentions of domestic violence, lots of fluff
Tumblr media
"Six?"
"Six."
"Six children?"
"Well not biologically, but.... yes."
(Y/n) looked uncertainly at Henry. The blue eyes stared at her in disbelief.
"You have six children living in your house?"
She sighed. That was always the point at which every guy ran away.
"I understand if that's too much for you," she began. 
Henry shook his head still in disbelief, but grinned. "Do you ever sleep, or do you just get used to  sleep deprivation?"
She smiled cautiously. Didn't trust the peace yet, though. "To be honest there are two kids one 9 and one 12 and four pubescent teenagers."
He regarded her quietly across the restaurant table. "Are you okay?" he asked, "Did I say something wrong? I know my reaction may have been a little surprised, but I didn't mean to cut you in."
She relaxed a little. "It's just... Most guys run away as soon as they hear that, and that would really be .... a shame."
Henry smiled and shook his head. "I don't run away. I hate cardio."
That made her smile.
"But you'll still have to tell me how you get to adopt six children and teenagers.... And that as a single woman in her mid-twenties."
"It's like cats. Somehow I guess it doesn't stay with just one." She tipped her wine glass. "The first one was Jason. He was the son of my neighbors at the time and would come by my apartment every so often in the afternoon until his mother got home. One night he showed up at my door bleeding. His father caught him with make up and beat him black and blue. It took a while, but then he could move in with me. He's graduating from high school this summer. He has even been accepted to a make up school. He wants to go into film as a makeup artist." She smiled softly. "He's come a long way."
Henry curtsied in shock at the story. "Fatima is 16 and has been disowned by her family for not being a virgin. She has ambitions to study law. I don't think anyone will stop her from going to Oxford. Mike is almost 16 - next week - and grew up without a father and even though his mother tried everything, she has high level schizophrenia. She has been institutionalized and now lives in care. We visit her whenever her condition allows it. Mini - Emilia ran away at some point. We don't really know what happened. She is 14. Kamon is 12 and comes from a refugee family. His parents have been sent back to Thailand. We are trying to get a visa for them. Until then, I'm kind of his foster family. He and Mike are not officially adopted. Both love their family and do everything for them, even if they can't always be there. And Lilly. She is 9. Her family died in a car accident. No family member has been found."
She was silent for a moment and continued to contemplate her wine before looking up and looking at Henry.
"Henry... I understand if this is too much, but.... they've all been through enough in their lives and every single one of them has their reasons for making it hard for new people in our family. So if, against all odds, you say yes to this circus, know that it's not so easy to get out of it either." Her gaze became insistent. "If you leave me, that's one thing, but I won't do that to the kids."
Henry, who hadn't said anything all this time, took one deep breath and reached for her hand lying on the table. He smiled. "If they're willing to meet me, so am I."
Tumblr media
Henry stood in front of a gigantic house. His house was already big, but this one surpassed it. Despite its size, however, it didn't seem ostentatious. It looked cozy and inviting. The word 'home' popped into his head.
Shouts and frantic footsteps sounded from inside. 
He pressed his thumb on the doorbell. Immediately, everything went silent.
The door opened with a jerk. A dark-skinned boy stood before him, beaming at him. From the colored eyeliner, he concluded that it must be Jason.
"Hello Mr. Cavill." he said in a noticeably loud voice.
Immediately, frantic footsteps sounded and he saw scattered bodies running through the background.
"Hi. Henry will do." he smiled.
"Come on in. I'm Jason. Ehhm... (Y/n) isn't here yet.... Mike had... They had to go to the hospital."
"Is he okay?"
Jason shrugged. "Normally, he is. Boxer you know... Tea?"
"Gladly."
He stepped into the house. It was swept as if empty, yet the traces of life could be seen in it. Self-painted pictures. Photographs. Various equipment for hobbies. Shoes in different sizes. And that was just the hallway. Henry let himself be led into the kitchen and sat down on one of the chairs. None matched the other.
"Mike had a match this morning. (Y/n) said he's already patched up. They're already on their way here."
Henry smiled. "With something like this, you should take your time."
Jason set the steaming cup down for him and sat with him.
Henry accepted it gratefully. "It's very quiet."
"Be glad." was all he said, sipping his tea. "I don't want to chase you away, but it's like human history here. The periods of absolute peace are relatively negligible." He ran his index finger over the rim of his cup and grinned. "And I'm one of the worst divas here. Just a warning."
The front door opened and a rumble sounded, followed by an amused giggle. "Sorry about that." a boy's slurred voice rang out.
"That's okay big guy. Come on off to bed." he heard (y/n).
"I'm fine!"
"That's because they drugged your ass off so you can't feel your face."
"Where's Ammy?"
"Mike you need to rest now. You can call Amber when you're in bed."
"Who are you?" A blond boy in a gray sweatshirt and swollen face looked at him from the doorway, aghast. "Who's that?" he turned to (Y/n).
"A friend Mike. That's a friend. Jason stop filming him!"
Still grinning, Jason put the phone away and turned to Henry. "Welcome."
Tumblr media
"What's the dog's name?", Kamon asked him.
"That's Kal...like Superman." he smiled at the shy boy.
"I like Batman."
Henry rolled his eyes playfully. "Oh yeah, why?"
"Batman watches out for kids nobody else wants. Like (y/n)."
Henry smiled.
Tumblr media
"I told you not to rummage through my things!" yelled Emilia down the hall.
Henry and (Y/n) sat in the garden each holding a book.
"I wasn't rummaging. I was getting MY eyeshadow, that you stole from MY room!" shouted back Jason. "It's not my fault you leave your lovey-dovey fanfictions lying around in the open like that!"
"You have no business in my room!"
"That being said - Tom Holland? Really?"
A splintering sound rang out.
"I guess that was the vase, then," (Y/n) sighed.
"I would have thought she was more of a Sebastian Stan type," Henry reflected loudly.
Tumblr media
"How long has she been sitting there?" whispered Henry to (Y/n).
"Since this morning. She hasn't looked up from that book in five hours."
Fatima sat at the large parlor table surrounded by books, writing notes and index cards.
"That's impressive. Scary, but impressive."
Kal walked over to the table and nudged her.
"I have to study! Sit!" Kal obeyed immediately and sat next to her chair.
"She'd make a good drill sergeant," Henry grinned.
(Y/n) sipped her coffee. "You've never seen her in exam stress."
"This isn't exam stress?"
"This is relaxed studying."
Henry looked in shock at the girl with noise cancelling headphones. (Y/n) grinned into her cup.
Tumblr media
 "They need more glitter!" determined Lilly.
Henry reached for the can of edible glitter and sprinkled more of it on the unicorn cookies.
"Like this?"
The little girl looked thoughtfully at the tin. "Like this."
Henry bowed theatrically and slid the tin into the oven. "All for your majesty." The girl giggled.
(Y/n) just watched with a smile.
Tumblr media
Jason and Mike sat on the sofa grinning together at a tablet, each with headphones in their ears.
This wasn't normal. Even Henry knew that by now. He wondered if they were both watching porn. He'd been that age once, too. He knew what that was like.
(Y/n) came into the living room and looked over there shoulders at the two of them. She laughed uncontrollably grunting, but immediately suppressed it and came over to him.
No porn, he concluded.
"What about these two?" asked Henry, pulling her to him on the sofa and onto his lap.
"Just a movie," she grinned.
"What movie?"
She continued to shake her head with a grin and waved it off. Henry was very reluctant to be shut out. So he sat (y/n) down next to him on the sofa and stood behind the two teenagers. When he saw his younger self in a black hoodie grinning and holding up a tarot card, he groaned in annoyance.
The boys snorted indignantly. Henry looked defiantly at the display.
"Oh come on Sweet Cheeks! What's wrong?" asked (Y/n) with a laugh.
He looked at her with an intensity that promised she would pay for this yet. She could hardly wait.
"What's with the hair?" laughed Jason.
"It was in back then!"
Tumblr media
Henry stood in the kitchen making coffee while there was the familiar bustle around him. Kamon couldn't find his second shoe, Lilly needed a certain T-shirt, Jason occupied the bathroom, Mike shoveled eggs into his mouth, Fatima just drank the coffee straight out of the pot, and Emilia hid behind a book.
He could hardly believe that over a year should have passed already.
They had grown close to his heart. He didn't want to miss the chaos at all. The last time he left for a job, it seemed almost eerie how quiet it was that night. He had told (y/n) about it over Skype. She'd just grinned and said those feelings liked to sneak up on one.
"Do you think they want me in their life?" he had asked her uncertainly.
She had only smiled. "Wait a minute." She disappeared and came back a moment later with a piece of paper. She held it up to the camera. "Lilly drew this for you today." It showed eight roughly drawn people. Under each one, in capital letters, was the name.... except for (y/n) and him. It just said Mum and Paps. Henry stared wide-eyed at the screen. "Please act surprised when you come back. It's supposed to be a gift.", she put the paper back down. "Are you crying?"
Henry had remained silent. He had only nodded.
He smiled at the memory. The picture hung framed in the hallway. It had become Henry's favorite picture.
"Car one go!", (y/n) called down the stairs.
The three mismatched teens got up from the table and walked to (y/n)s car.
Henry packed the last of the snacks into Lilly and Kamon's lunchboxes before he, too, packed them into his cat and drove them to school. Jason had a little break from make up school and stayed at home.
Henry came back earlier than (y/n). He waited patiently for her in the kitchen. Looked at the mismatched chairs and the photos on the wall. Photos that now included him. (Y/n) came shortly after him and dropped into her usual seat next to him. She reached for the waiting cup of coffee and dropped her head on his shoulder. "How did I do this alone before?"
Henry laughed.
"I mean it. Don't you dare leave! I can't take it anymore!"
Henry just smiled at her. He got up from his chair and knelt down in front of her. He pulled a small box out of his pocket and held it in front of him. "I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life anywhere but with you and the kids. (Y/n) will you marry me?"
She looked at him with shocked eyes. "Are you sure?"
He nodded with a smile. "I want to take Lilly to her dance lessons. I want to be there when Jason gets his first jobs. I want to see Fatima come top of her year at Oxford - in law AND medicine." They both laughed. "I want to cheer Mike on in his competitions. I want to watch Emilia find the romance she secretly wants. I even want my heart to break when Kamon is reunited with his parents. I want to be with you. I want to be with the children. I don't want to run away. I want to be part of this family."
"You already are," she smiled, crying. She pulled him close and kissed him.
"Does that mean yes?" he grinned.
"Yes you idiot." she laughed.
896 notes · View notes
Text
Surprise
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Hi guys ♥
Sorry to be a little slower to post those days, I have some change in my personnal life and I need time to adjust, I think.
I still have some request for McFoord, like here, here, and here. And the prompt come from here .
Thank you!
TW : Homesickness I guess, past Ruesha-Katie mentionned
Despite the international break, Caitlin finds herself stuck in London due to a very slight thigh muscle injury. Since these are only friendly matches, the Australian staff decided not to take any risks with the player and leave her at home in London. Caitlin genuinely hesitated to accompany her teammates to Australia to have time with her mother, her sister and her sister-in-law for a few days. But the break falling during Katie’s birthday, the Australian finally decided to stay in London to at least make a FaceTime in the rules of the art with her girlfriend.
Despite the distance, Caitlin has arranged things with a restaurant near the hotel where the Ireland team is, to be able to have a dinner face to face with FaceTime. And she also gave the gift she plans to offer to Katie to Grace, whom she has come to know well since dating Katie. And that Caitlin appreciates a lot.
It’s been three days since Katie and most of their friends left London. And Caitlin’s already a little bored, taking care of Katie’s cat to pass the time. Coopurr had time to get used to the presence of the Australian at her side before, but Caitlin sometimes feels that he misses the presence of the Irish woman too.
The typical September London rain waters London when Caitlin goes home to Katie's after going shopping for her and the cat.
"Bloody hell" Caitlin yells, getting rid of her wet jacket.
Sometimes she really misses Australia.
Taking off her shoes and socks, also wet, the young woman puts on Katie’s slippers to go drop her things in the kitchen. When she puts the last package in the cupboards, her phone starts ringing. Taking a brief glance in the direction of the clock, a smile appears on her face, knowing that it's most certainly Katie.
But her smile turns into a worried look when she sees Grace’s name appear on her phone screen. Why would her girlfriend’s best friend call her? Already imagining the worst, Caitlin hurries to answer.
"Hello?"
"Hi mate. It’s Grace"
"Is Katie okay?" Caitlin asks, forgetting any manners.
"Yeah, yeah, she’s fine, don’t worry" Grace quickly replies, suspecting Caitlin’s worry.
"What’s going on?"
"I mean, when I say she’s okay, I’m talking about physical well-being. But I’m not hiding from you that since she came here she seems… I don’t know, sad? I even thought at one point that you had an argument or that you had broken up"
Despite her, Caitlin feels her stomach twist. Everything was fine between them when Katie left and during the various exchanges of messages or calls they had.
"What? No, we’re fine. And she didn’t tell me that something was up when we talked."
And they were talking at least once with FaceTime everyday, in addition of messaging through the day. Frowning, Caitlin sits on the first chair near her. She tries to understand what can bother Katie so much, not really finding answers. What intrigues her is that her girlfriend doesn't seem to have wanted to share her moods with her, whereas normally they talk about everything.
"I tried to talk to her, but you know her. She doesn’t want to say anything." Grace continues
"Does Ruesha give her a hard time?"
There is a few seconds of silence before Grace's answer and Caitiln imagines her perfectly shruging her shoulders after having thought a little while.
"No more than usual. Katie avoids being with her as much as possible but they can’t avoid each other all the time. Rue is Rue but it could be worse tho"
Caitlin gives up a grunt for any answer. Letting Katie go with her ex wasn’t something easy for Caitlin and not just out of jealousy. We can’t say that Ruesha was nice to them.
Persuaded that Katie has cheat with Caitlin even before their breakup, Rue seems to take a malignant pleasure in taking revenge on something that never happened. Despite the multiple explanations from Katie, who finally gave up.
"I think spending her birthday away from you and most of her friends weighs more than usual, because of all that." Grace says.
"Oh…"
Of course, Caitlin would have preferred to spend that day with Katie. She could also have followed Katie to Ireland to spend a few hours with her that day, but the two women made the decision not to do so to avoid any drama with Ruesha precisely.
"Look, I know you both agreed it was better that way, but I really think Katie would like you to come. She needs you. But I don’t mean to put pressure on you, obviously."
"I’ll get someone who can take care of Coopurr and I’ll be there as soon as possible."
It was easier for Caitlin to find a plane ticket to Dublin than to find someone to take care of her girlfriend’s precious cat. It's finally Laura who has custody of it for a few days, after receiving a long list of recommendations from Caitlin who finally became almost as fond of the feline that Katie is.
Caitlin came to Ireland twice, but it was always with Katie and to meet her girlfriend’s family. Learning that Caitlin was coming, Ella and Lauryn, some of Katie's sisters, offered to pick her up at the airport and then take her to Katie’s hotel. Grace is supposed to help Caitlin sneak into Katie’s room while another teammate keeps Katie busy.
"Oh wow" Caitlin says when entering the room she rented.
The decoration she requested for the occasion is already installed and it's even better than what she had imagined. She takes the time to open her suitcase to install the last elements to the decoration, some pictures of them in particular.
Then Caitlin takes a quick shower to cool off after the trip and changes clothes, before heading to the suite lounge to wait for Katie. She voluntarily didn't respond to Katie’s messages as quickly and as long as usual, wishing that the surprise effect for Katie was to the maximum. But she transferred the photos of the cat that Laura sent her in the last few hours, giving her the impression that she is still in London. In her humble opinion, Caitlin will be able to embark on a second career in events when she has to retire from sport.
But these thoughts are quickly pushed back when Caitlin distinctly hears the voice of her girlfriend ringing in the corridor leading to the room. She is grumbling, something based on "I hope it’s worth it Gracie, I just wanted to put my ass in front of Netflix" which amuses the Australian a lot.
Thanks to the double magnetic card that Grace has, she opens the door of the suite on Grumpy Katie.
Her face changes instantly when she sees Caitlin patiently standing in the center of the room.
"What the fuck?!" almost shout the Irish.
Caitlin’s laughter mingles with Grace's in front of Katie’s stupor, who doesn't seem to dare sketch the slightest gesture. The fact that it's two days before her birthday probably plays a little too.
But Katie ends up getting out of her stupor and suddenly rushes inside the room to hug her girlfriend. Grace takes the opportunity to make a discreet exit, delicately closing the door behind her after depositing the card on the cabinet of the entrance.
"What the hell are you doing here?" asks Katie, taking Caitlin’s face in both hands, as if to make sure she’s not dreaming.
"I heard my girlfriend was having a hard time. And I missed her very much too"
"Wait where is Coop?" frowns Katie
"Really? Your damn cat before kissing me?" Caitlin laughs.
A guilty smile on her lips, Katie hurries to put her lips on Caitlin's to properly celebrate their reunion. A tender and delicate kiss and Caitlin would swear she feels Katie’s muscles relax one by one in her arms.
"Hi" smiles Katie after kissing
"Hi" replies Caitlin smiling back, dropping a new kiss on her lips. "Coop is with Laura"
Katie hums simply, sticking herself in the arms of her girlfriend. Grace was right in calling Caitlin, the captain of Ireland has had better times than now. But she obviously wasn’t going to complain to anyone. Understanding the message, Caitlin tightens her arms around her, affectionately stroking her hair by gently rocking her, giving her the confort quietly asked.
"What’s all this?" Katie asks several minutes later, looking at the decoration.
"The second part of the surprise. The first being me, of course"
A smile appears on Katie's face, who becomes aware of the whole decoration, her gaze lingering on each of the photos that Caitlin has installed. Some are recent, some are from last year and some are even older.
"This is the first photo we took together" informs Caitlin pointing to a photo
A smile appears on Katie’s face when she looks more closely.
"We look like babies" Katie smirks
"You do. I still look the same actually"
"You’re right. You’ve always been beautiful"
"You're such a simp"
Caitlin rolls her eyes, unable to retain an amused smile. This is probably not the right time to talk about all her adolescent and young adult complexes. The Australian prefers to focus on the present and her girlfriend. Although they were quickly interrupted by knocks on the door, announcing the arrival of their dinner.
********
"Thanks for coming" whispers Katie, a few hours later.
They enjoyed their meal accompanied by champagne (without alcohol of course), talked and laughed. Katie has honestly not felt as relaxed as she is since arriving at the camps. When Caitlin offered to take a bath, Katie didn't hesitate a single second before accepting. Before, she was not a fan of baths, considering that it was a great waste of time. But if she has the opportunity to add Caitlin naked with her in the hot water, she's suddenly a very big fan.
Sitting in front of her in the bathtub that is about to overflow with foam, Caitlin leaves the foam with which she was playing, to report her eyes on Katie.
"Sure. But next time I’d rather you tell me directly if something’s wrong. You don’t have to pretend with me."
Katie looks thoughtfully at Caitlin for a few seconds, a slight guilt creating in the pit of her stomach.
"I- I just…"
"It’s not dramatic, Puddin" Caitlin says, smiling, taking her hand in hers.
"I just didn’t want to worry you and complicate things"
"It's ok, I’m not angry. You want to talk about it?"
Katie sighs, her hand slowly playing with the foam. When she thinks about it, she feels like she's overreacting or something. That's partly why she didn't talk to Caitlin about it.
"It's nothing really. It's just that everything seems harder here. Without you" she adds, without looking at her. "Rue is an ass and the team's dynamic isn't really the same. It's like every single one of them has to choose their side between me and her, but I never wanted this. It's really weird."
"I'm sorry" mumble Caitlin.
"It's not your fault" frowns Katie, looking at her this time. "It will get better"
Caitlin shrugs and sighs too. If she has the choice, she would pack her bags, put Katie in it and go back to London. But she can't, for obvious reasons.
"I know how much you loved the Irish camps, I just want you to be happy"
"I will kill you if you say other people and they see how much you make me sappy, but I am happy, thanks to you. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy in my life as I have been since we are together. I know I like to play the big guy, but you make me feel cared, safe and loved. There is no stupid competition between us to know which of the two is better. I’ve always looked for someone to push me to be better every day, but you do it and in a much healthier way than I’ve known so far."
Caitlin’s tormented face transforms into tender and Katie barely has time to finish her sentence as the Australian moves to find herself as close to her as possible, sending some hot water and foam on the ground.
"I hope to continue to feel this for a very long time" adds Katie on a whisper, Caitlin’s face a few inches from hers.
"I intend to love you for the rest of my life. And you will have no choice" Caitlin replies with an amused smile.
"Sounds good to me" Katie smirks, before grabbing her girlfriend’s face to kiss her.
103 notes · View notes
running-in-the-dark · 3 months
Text
went to bed early and woke up before 8am today! pretty cool. except I woke up with a bad headache and eventually had a very long nap.
I'm just so damn tired! like, no matter how much or how well or when I sleep, I'm still tired all day. so it's just pointless trying to fix my sleep schedule (when I'll just be asleep most of the day anyway).
#and also.#my mother in law just very sternly told us to fold our clothes after washing them#for some reason she just. started washing our clothes when we got here. no one asked her to. she didn't ask us. just did it#and then acts like it's such a burden. yes and no one asked you to do it 🤔#anyway no I will not be folding my damn clothes because they are going right back in an ikea bag because there is nowhere else to put them#we have one tiny wardrobe in 'our' room and there's lots of things that have to go in there so that the cats don't eat/destroy them#and. I am so fucking tired all the time no folding my clothes (to put them right back in a bag) is not a priority right now#guess what? our clothes usually stay in a laundry basket until we wear them (bc I don't have the energy and my husband just doesn't care 🤷)#it's not an issue. we are adults. we don't wear fancy shit that would look awful and wrinkly. our t-shirts will be fine.#I don't know man. it's only been a week and I already feel like peeling off my skin because of how she is#genuinely I cannot handle being treated like this. I couldn't handle it when I was an actual child and I sure as fuck can't handle it now#I don't know why I thought this would be fine. why did I let him convince me that she'd be different this time.#I know it's no big deal! she's just so judgmental and mean about everything. like the most inconsequential shit#like - last week on the day my husband worked from home he took a few breaks. as he normally does. obviously.#and she kept telling him to go back to work??? what the hell man he's a fully grown adult who has been working for years and at this#particular job for over a year. HE knows when he can take a fucking break.#like. she's never joking. she never says something casually. it's always serious and judgmental and negative.#I feel like I'm suffocating#anyway. only 49 days left. I can do it. I can get through this (knowing that I won't have to see her/them more than a few times a year afte#we move)#(I feel like an ungrateful piece of shit bc it IS very kind and generous that they are letting us live here for free for two months. and I#am grateful! but it's just not good for me mentally. that's all I'm saying. the problem is me.)#personal
1 note · View note
jq37 · 6 months
Note
Seeing you describe your opinion on Wish (the movie itself) as "def do have oh boy" just has me curious now. What is it?
OK, so I let this sit in my inbox for a while because I planned to see Wish and I figured that it would be more fair to wait until I had a full picture of what the movie was before I started talking about it and...yeahhhhhhh having seen it my opinion has not changed. It's just intensified. 
MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW (lol, this got past 7k words)
And, fair warning, it's pretty critical so if you don't want to read something critical about this movie then this is your exit.
tl;dr: I think the movie Wish fails at basically everything it sets out to do and it's an absolutely awful 100th Anniversary movie for Disney. 
When I say it fails at everything, I mean EVERYTHING*. I'm going to break this into sections for organizational purposes. 
*The one thing I'll give it a slight pass on is the art style which I don't love but also wasn't like make or break for me. I would have preferred true 2D or a better implementation of the blended 2D/3D style, but if the movie was otherwise of the quality of something like Spiderverse or Puss in Boots, the animation wouldn't have bothered me. Like, I watched S1 of The Dragon Prince with no problem. I can forgive janky animation--and it wasn't even super janky. Just odd. What I can't forgive is literally everything else about the movie. 
Characters
How is this movie so full of characters and yet devoid of characters that matter? There are a million characters in this movie and basically only two of them matter: The King and Asha. But neither of them are compelling in any meaningful way.
There's a lot of to do about the last batch of Disney protags being very same-y in a quirky, all fluff and no substance way and I don't really buy into that. I don't think that Raps, Anna, Moana, and Mirabel are palate swapped carbon copies of each other. They have unique backgrounds and struggles and motivations. I feel like they're all quirky, sure. But they all also have an identity BEYOND being quirky. 
I do NOT get that with Asha. I don't feel like I have a good idea of what makes her tick at all. Like, she's kind. She wants her grandpa to get his wish. She wants to be the King's apprentice so she can help people. The queen (we'll get to her) exposits to us that she cares about people. But being kind isn't in itself an entire personality. The way Mulan is kind (defying the law to spare her father the ravages of war in his old age) isn't the same way as the way Cinderella is kind (making clothes for her mouse friends and protecting them from the cat). Asha just has a generalized want to help people, which is an admirable trait, but doesn't give us much to latch onto. It's so telling to me that in a movie called "Wish" our main character's wish is just, "To have more than just this" And yes, Disney princesses wanting "more" is literally their whole thing, but it's always more specific than that. Mirabel wants to prove herself to her family. Rapunzel wants to experience life beyond her tower. Even Snow White--the Disney princess with the flimsiest story--wants to find her true love. That's a concrete motivation! Asha doesn't feel real to me as a character. It feels like the thing that drives her is that the plot needs to happen and that's it. 
The other important character in the movie is King Magnifico who was supposed to be a return to form for Disney in introducing another classic villain but he just fails at that so hard. The idea that he could stand toe to toe with any of the OGs like Lady Tremaine or Scar or even the latest villains like Dr. Facillier or Mother Gothel is laughable. He just doesn't have any gravitas. And his characterization is so odd. You can tell that they were trying to give him a "reasonable man doing unreasonable things for a good reason” backstory (both because of some images in the film and some stuff in interviews I read) but then they just...don't actually give the backstory? Like, they imply that the backstory exists but I don't remember them going into it at all. Which like, he doesn't NEED a tragic backstory. He can just be doing what he's doing because he's evil. Ursula didn't need a reason to want to rule the seas. She's just a boss bitch and she wants power. I don't need to dissect that any further. BUT if you tell me there’s a reason your villain is doing something, I need to see that reason. I don't understand why they would include that in the movie, just to do nothing with it. 
Beyond that, he's written in such a weird way. Like, despite the "maybe he has a point" angle they seem to want to go with, he's very obviously a self-absorbed ruler--like he'll say things like, "Yeah, I am super handsome" to his wife--which immediately dumps him into the camp villain category. But he's doing the controlling things he does in the movie of his own accord to get people to stick to the status quo he set up. Fine. That's a fine thing for a camp villain to be doing. But then, at a certain point in the movie, he just uses a forbidden magic evil book (which he has for some reason) that just fills him with evil, green magic and makes him 100% unhinged all of a sudden. And that's just...boring? Like, anything interesting you might have been able to do before that point about power and control and how sometimes you make a wrong choice with good intentions is just gone at that point. It sucks because there were a lot of right answers here. You could just make him evil because he's evil. That works. You could have him be seriously convinced that what he's doing is right and be willing to do whatever he needs to do to keep things that way. That works. You could say that he started out trying to be morally upright and then slid into enjoying the praise and control just a bit too much--and I think maybe that's what they were going for. But it does not come across that way. He just seems like a dick to the point where you're kinda questioning how he's pulling any of this off. Asha asks him one question and he flies off the handle. How does everyone not know he's an asshole if it takes so little to fluster him?
So I don't like our main hero or villain. But there are still SO MANY CHARACTERS in this movie. 
You've got Asha's SEVEN FRIENDS. Yes, SEVEN. they're based off of the seven dwarves, which is cute enough but do you know what happens when you give the hero seven sidekick characters? None of them get developed at all and you have to treat them like a unit. Only two of them matter at all--Dahlia (her best friend and the one who actually does more than just make dumb jokes or, worse, nothing at all) and Simon (the one who betrays them--more on that later). There is no story reason for them to have shoved in this many sidekicks. Especially since she also has…
Her animal sidekick, Valentino. Who is a very cute goat until he gets sprinkled with stardust and boom. He can talk. Which immediately made me like him less. Flounder he aint. The whole joke with him is that he's a baby goat with a rich, deep, baritone voice. That's it. Almost every joke he makes is either about that or his butt. Boo. 
Then, there's the Queen--Queen Amaya--who is such a NOTHING character. There's no effort made to build up her relationship with the king so that her flipping on him later has an emotional impact. I have no idea what she cares about or desires. When she shows up, she's basically acting like the king's secretary, which is weird. I don't think that's what a queen does. There's a moment during a later song when she joins the "revolution" and it just has zero impact because again, it's like, I don't know who you are in any significant way! She seems nice, and I would love to live somewhere ruled by someone boring and benign, but that makes for an awful movie character. 
I almost wrote "lastly, there's the star" because I totally forgot about Asha's mom and grandpa. They're in this movie too but even though Asha's whole motivation at the start of the movie is getting her grandpa's wish granted, we never get a good idea of what their relationship is. They have like, one quick scene at the top which tells us nothing, then they're in a crowd scene later, then Asha has dinner with them later the same day and that's it. And, again, we get nothing significant. Compared to something like Mulan where you have a good idea of what Mulan's relationship is with every member of her family by the time the military order comes in or Encanto where between the musical number at the top and the first group scene, you get an entire picture, this is really weak. Again, so weak that I completely forgot that they were even in this movie. 
And NOW lastly, there's the star. Who is like, cute enough but he really makes me annoyed because I've seen the original concepts and they would have been so much more interesting! That's the case for the queen too, so I'll talk about both of them together here. 
I am sorry to inform you if you didn't already know but the queen was originally supposed to be evil too.
Tumblr media
She was supposed to be a part of an evil power couple with Magnifico and how dope would that have been? We've never gotten that from Disney before. Imagine! Disney Villain Song Duet! A Hot couples costume for next Halloween! An actual relationship that's developed in this movie! But nope. They unflavor-blasted her into the paper thin, placeholder of a character we have in the movie. 
Tumblr media
And the Star went through a couple of concepts. One, was the spirit of her dead grandpa, taking a younger form, which isn't my fave one but it at least would give her a relationship with this person who is supposedly an important person in her life, something we don't have in the movie right now. My favorite alternate concept is that originally, the Star was supposed to be her celestial love interest. And listen, anyone who's followed me for long enough knows that I am a big advocate for platonic relationships and FRONTING platonic relationships. I don't think that a story needs a romantic relationship to be compelling and I think forcing one in almost always makes it worse. But there is NO central relationship in this movie to carry it. Asha has too many friends for any one of them to make a serious impact so it's not a friendship story. Her mom and grandpa are nothing characters, so it's not a family story. She interacts with the star a lot, but that's basically just her talking to herself because the start doesn’t talk. So nothing is really there to latch onto. If they'd decided to go with the romance angle, it would have forced them to focus on at least ONE relationship and it would have been a nice way to throwback to classic Disney movies from the past. Much better than just sticking her with SEVEN WHOLE USELESS FRIENDS. Literally, all they provide is backup vocals in the fight song. Special Dishonorable Mention to Gabo. Man I hate that dude. 
So, to recap this section, Asha's personality is only sketched out in the loosest possible way, King Magnifico is entirely half-baked, and there are so many side characters that no one can form meaningful relationships with each other. And it's really a shame because (1) they very easily could have pared down the cast and (2) very recently Disney put out Encanto which handles a large cast beautifully. There are a ton of Madrigals but I can tell you what the deal of each and every one is. This could have been done well and they fumbled so hard. 
Concept
OK, so next up is the general plot and concept. This story takes place in the city of Rosas which is ruled by King Magnifco. It is supposedly a paradise, but much like a YA dystopian novel, it has a twist: When you turn 18, Magnifico takes your wish away from you and puts in in his wish room with the promise that it might be granted at one of the monthly wish granting ceremonies. Once your wish is taken from you, you are "unburdened" and you're "free" from having to pursue it. You don't even remember what it was. 
There's a kernel of something interesting there. A ruler making his subjects docile, placid zombies that won't challenge him by taking away their ambition? That's interesting. People willingly giving away a part of their heart to dull the pain of trying and failing? Interesting. Someone doing this with no ill intent, but rather genuinely thinking that this half-existence is better than the heartbreak of the alternative? Interesting!
But the actual implementation of this idea? Ughhhhhh. 
So first off, just logistically, Magnifico grants one wish a month more or less (Asha says once a month and in his villain song, he said he granted 14 wishes "last year"). So like, realistically, most of these people have to know their wishes will never be granted, right? Because of like...how math works? Asha acts like it's a big shock when she learns that most wishes won't be granted but like girl...math. 
Secondly, there are two moments that are meant to imply that having your wish taken away turns you into a shell of yourself. Asha's friend (who betrays her) Simon is said to be all sleepy and more boring since he turned 18 and had his wish taken. And then, later in the movie, we see two new residents have their wishes taken, and they look a little disturbed after it happens. But, here's the thing. NO ONE ELSE IN THE MOVIE ACTS LIKE THAT. Asha's mom and grandpa act like normal people. So do all the other characters. It’s not consistent enough to establish that this is what’s on the line. Does taking your wish away make you a robot or not?
And does everyone just have one wish? I know I could fill a full sheet of paper, front and back, with things that matter very dearly to me. If you took away my wish to write for TV someday, that would still leave my wishes to travel the world and get a comic book adaptation of one of my novels and a whole lot of other things! Does taking your main wish away make you lose your ability to form new wishes? Logistically, how does any of this work? And you can't just say, "It's a metaphor. Don't think too hard about it," because there's a scene where the citizens start asking these questions. Like, "What happens if we have a new wish than from when we initially made it?" As if having unnamed side characters ask the questions first will alleviate the need to answer them. It's not lamp shading at that point. You're just being lazy. 
Also, this is more a me thinking about the implications too hard than an actual plot problem but if he's taking the wishes at 18 I feel like a lot of peoples' greatest desire at that stage in their life is, "I want a romantic partner." And if the central conceit of this premise is that once your wish is taken, you stop wanting to pursue it then the city of Rosas is gonna have a population Collapse problem very soon. 
The characters--especially Asha--get so emotional about wishes. It's like they're giving a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic speech every time they talk about it (except MLP has MUCH better writing). It's bizarre to see Asha's mom get her wish back and be like, "Oh my wish. My precious wish!" when she doesn't act any differently than a normal person before or after she has it back (Sidenote: She says this and she's holding the wish ball but we never see what that wish is and that's maddening. Why do I know what the dream of every patron in the Snuggly Duckling is, but they didn't show that? Ridic.) It almost is like, being in contact with a wish ball is a quasi-religious experience that drives the characters’ actions (Asha and the King are both totally enraptured while singing together in the Wish Room), but because we, the audience, are very much not in contact with the wish balls, we're not getting ANY of that. 
Anyway, to recap this section: the central premise of how wishes work and how taking them affects people is not treated consistently or explained well, which makes the stakes feel very undefined and sloppy. 
Pacing
This has to be its own section, because it's the thing that baffled me most when I watched this movie. So, here's the setup. Asha is going to interview for the internship with the king. She wants to help people and she has the secondary motive of wanting to try and get her 100-year-old grandpa's wish granted because he's not getting any younger. 
Here is the entire sequence: Asha is led into the interview by Queen Amaya. Asha is awkward but makes a good enough first impression that Magnifico is moved to show her the wish room (for some reason). They sing a duet about the wishes where they’re both dazzled by the Wish balls. During the song, Asha finds her Grandpa's wish and after the song, she asks him to grant it. He looks at the wish and says while she has good intentions, it's too dangerous to grant--as are most wishes. She asks why not give them back then and he immediately flies off the handle and starts ranting about how HE decides which wishes get granted and what everyone deserves! 
Their first meeting and him showing his true colors happens in the SAME SCENE. It's like 7-10 minutes and they just RUSH through all of that. And it's like, why? Did they really need to get to that dumbass star song (we'll get to that) faster? 
I know that he isn't a twist villain so we don't need to keep the fact that he’s the bad guy under wraps. And, the way the story is structured, she needs to learn what he's doing before she can rebel against him. But it's not gonna be a big, impactful moment if you're rushing from beat to beat like this is an essay that's due in twenty minutes and you started five minutes ago. 
And it really makes you wonder, if Asha can blow the whole lid off this conspiracy within ten minutes of meeting this guy, why is this not happening more often? Between how obviously smarmy the King is, how paltry the wish granting system is, and how easily Asha was able to start asking questions and get him to blow his top (something that happens again later when the citizens start asking question–it literally drives him into his villain song) I don't believe that this wouldn't have happened earlier (Sidenote: Finding out that it HAD happened earlier and that Asha is the latest in a line of failed apprentices who questioned him? More interesting premise). 
So to recap: I have no idea why this movie is paced like this but it's not doing it any favors. 
Humor
Humor is very subjective so you can take this with a huge grain of salt but I think this is a deeply unfunny movie. 
The jokes fall into about three main categories:
(1) Quirky Humor: This is like Asha babbling and tripping over her words. The scene in the trailer where she's like, "Is my face drooping?" is a good example. It's not really a joke but it's clearly an attempt at humor that I don't think meets the mark. It's also in the songs with, for instance, the animals or the King saying slang that doesn't match how they talk or you'd expect them to talk at all and it just feels deeply incongruent, not funny. 
(2) Referential Humor: This is probably what bothered me the most because it was just so so very eye-roll inducing. And listen, I love a good reference. Enchanted is my favorite movie of all time. I don’t begrudge them for putting a few references in their 100th Anniversary movie. But ugh. There is a scene after the king's gone crazy where he's destroying wish bubbles for power and he's like, looking at the wishes and making a quip before he crushes them. And for the second one he goes, "Oh you want a nanny for your kids? Definitely  POPPING this one!" And he might as well have looked at the camera and said, "Get it? Get it?" and it took 6 months off my lifespan. (Sidenote: He he does a direct ref with the first two wish bubbles--Peter Pan and Mary Poppins–and then he just makes a general ref to the concept of true love with the last one and it's like, come on at least rule of threes this if you're gonna do it. Commit to your awful bit!)
(3) Kiddie Humor: This is where things get especially subjective because maybe a little kid would find this stuff really funny and they are a part of the target audience so that's valid. But it doesn't add much substance to the movie. This is like the goat being like, "I found a secret passage with my butt" or leading a chicken choir or singing the line, "So that's where all the balls of gas come from" while sticking his butt in the air--a lot of these have to do with the goat and his butt now that I think about it. 
I think I only laughed at one thing in the movie that was meant to be at least partially funny--when the Queen interrupts the fight song and everyone is like "Oh shit, we're busted!" before she starts singing along. 
So to recap: Sometimes a movie has a weak story but it's super funny and that makes up for it. This is not one of those movies.
Music
This is the one thing I already knew before I watched this movie: The music in this movie is bad. 
Like, fullstop, no qualifications bad. Not bad for a Disney movie. Not bad for this story. Just bad.
I was a little confused by the choice to pick a pop artist instead of someone who specializes in musical theater style music for this project, but a more pop-y musical doesn't automatically mean a worse musical. Sure, maybe it's a weird choice to pay homage to the past 100 years of Disney movies, but it could be good. I love Six the Musical.
But that's the problem. The songs aren't just unfitting. They're not just un-Disney. They're fully BAD. They feel so half-baked and God, I've never been so assaulted by slant rhymes in my life. Like, this bothers me to the point where I have to go through the entire tracklist. I can't just make a blanket statement, I have to show you what I mean:
1) Welcome to Rosas: This whole song sounds like someone listened to “Where you Are” from Moana (the "consider the coconut" song), “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast, and “The Family Madrigal” from Encanto and was like, "I could do that". And then they couldn't. It's not really catchy and it's pretty repetitive. Super forgettable. 
Worst Line: Honestly, this song is too boring to have a worst line. 
2) At All Costs: This is the duet that Asha and Magnifico sing. Before I saw the movie, I thought it was going to be Asha singing about a wish and Magnifico singing to his wife to set up the eventual rift between them but that was before I realized that this movie doesn't believe in relationship building. Some of the movie's worst musical sins are on display here. Turns of phrases that seem like they were written by AI and bizarre syntax. 
Like what does, "You pull me in, like some kind of wind" mean? That's not what wind does. Why would anyone ever say, "Felt this? No, I haven't" instead of "I haven't felt this?" That's so awkward. 
Worst Line: "Leave you here, I don't wanna. I wanna [promise as one does]." My feelings about this line could be a whole other essay, but I've been writing this for 2 hours already so I have to move on. 
3) This Wish: This is the big "I Want" song and it fails on several levels. It fails in comparison to all the songs it’s standing in the shadow of--like the last “I Want” song we got is, I believe, “Waiting on a Miracle” and man! How can you not feel for Mirabel after watching her go through everything she goes through at the start of the movie and it getting topped with her being excluded from the family portrait? You see all the build up (including the implied build up from before the movie started) and you see why it's all bubbled up to the point where she has no choice but to sing about it! With Asha, there isn't a whole lifetime of angst that's bubbling up to make her sing this song. Everything that's happened to her has happened over the hour of like eight hours tops. She meets the king, finds out about the king, realizes the whole system is bad, and then gets into an argument with her family who's drunk the Kool-Aid and doesn't wanna hear what she has to say (which makes no impact on us because we have no idea what their relationship is). That's it. It doesn't feel like the movie has earned the song.
And then with “Waiting for a Miracle” the music itself is plaintive and soaring. Like, I just paused writing to listen to it and I couldn't help but sing along and pour a little of my actual IRL "I Want" energy into it. It's a song that feels very real. “This Wish” isn't any of that. And it's not the actresses' fault! She's pouring her whole heart into it and she consistently does all movie. But the song is just, bland. Like I said, "I want to have more than this" is too weak a hook to hang your whole song on–especially when it’s the song that’s supposed to be the thesis of your whole movie.  
Worst Line: "So I look up at the stars to guide me/And throw caution to every warning sign." That's not a thing people say and also it doesn't mean anything. If anything, it sounds like she's saying that she's being extra cautious at the warning signs! You can't just throw words together haphazardly and expect them to retain their meaning!
4) I'm a Star: This is, imo, the worst song on the whole track. A friend of mine described it as sounding like a song from a preschool science show and that's exactly it, but there's more to it than that. 
First of all, a big part of the reason this song exists is to set up the fact that humans are made of stardust because that's a plot point in the climax. But there didn't need to be a song about that. That would be like if Frozen 2 had a song about how water has memory. But like, OK. If the song was a bop, it wouldn't matter that it was superfluous. Haus of Holbein in Six does NOT need to be there, but I enjoy it! I do NOT enjoy this song however. 
This is something I alluded to earlier, but this soundtrack in general and this song specifically sounds like it's trying to do LMM's schtick but poorly. And I know some people don't like his whole style of music (I personally like it) but love him or hate him, his style without his skill? Awful. The presentation of fun facts in the middle of a fun song makes me think of his "Look it Up" in “Shiny” or "That's true" in “A Winter's Ball”. And there's a part where a turtle (we'll get to the talking animals) sings "See we're all just little nebulae in a nursery/From supernovas now we've grown into our history/We're taking whys right out of mystery, closure/Now we're taking in all the star exposure" And it really sounds like someone doing their best to emulate Lin's flow in things like Mirabel's aside to Mariano in “The Family Madrigal” or any number of songs I could name from Hamilton. But it just falls so flat here. It sounds so preschool and cheesy. And not preschool in a fun way. Backyardigans would never. 
Also, this song is sung by a bunch of talking animals (the Star gives them the ability to talk) and I find them so obnoxious. They say stuff like, "Did we just blow your mind?" with the "boom" sound effect and I hate it. Maybe kids will like them, I dunno. I refuse to get into it further. 
Worst Line: This song completely misuses the word allegory, which I hate, and it rhymes it with "excitatory" which I hate more (and I am saying this as someone who has made peace with the fact that Schwartz rhymes "nasty" with "flabbergasty" in Disenchanted) but there is only one line in this song that can be considered the true worst line because it's my least favorite line in the whole movie. A dumbass, stoner-sounding deer named Bambi (boo) sings, "Ooh, I'm a star! Watch out world, here I are"
They rhyme the word star--not a hard word to rhyme at all--with HERE I ARE. 
I firmly believe someone should go to jail for that. 
5) This is The Thanks I Get?!: This is the much anticipated and extremely disappointing villain song. There's just no gravitas and it's not clever enough to be very fun. It's just kinda bopping along which is eh, kind of fun at best, but like everything else in this movie, doesn't leave an impact. A musical number doesn't have to be obviously sinister like “Be Prepared” or, the holy (unholy?) grail, “Hellfire”, to be impactful. “Mother Knows Best” is bright and filled with false cheer but it still works because we can see the manipulation that Gothel is doing and she spins Raps around in mental circles to keep her docile. This is just an egotistical rant--and not even in a fun, Gaston kind of way! (Sidenote: Gaston is a good example of a villain who is preening and pompous and kind fo campy, but who you see why he’s beloved AND he can be menacing when the scene calls for it). 
Also, it's so full of weird slang that Magnifico doesn't use at any other point in the movie. "Peep the name", "Ungrateful much", "Mmm, are you sure you're not the prob?" It's like he suddenly got possessed by Urban Dictionary. It's bizarre. 
It also comes weirdly late in the movie, which isn't a complaint, just an observation. 
Worst Line: I think "peep the name" is my least fave but, because I already said that, the opening lines of this song are, "I can't help it if mirrors love my face. It's genetics! Yeah, I got these genes from outer space" and that's such a weird thing to say. I got these genes from outer space? He wasn't even there for the star song so what the hell does he mean by that?
6) Knowing What I Know Now: I feel like this is the song that had the most potential. But for all its build, it never builds to anything. It starts and ends so abruptly (which is the case for multiple songs on this list). We don't really get to know any of the characters well except for Asha so them joining the revolution has no impact. The Queen turning on Magnifico really doesn't have much impact. 
(There's a line in this song where a character sings, "I was sweet but now I'm something else" which is so funny because we literally know nothing about her except that she surprises people when she's in a room which, lmao, me too. Fully forgot you were in this movie, girl). 
Worst Line: "The good in him, I've watched it melt". There's technically nothing wrong with this line but I hate it because melting with regard to emotion is never, "Oh, his goodness is melting". It just hits the ear so wrong. You can watch the good in him disappear or fade or vanish. Not melt. Hearts melt. 
There's also a reprise and a credits song but I have talked about the music for too long as is so to sum up, there is not a single song on this list that I will ever purposefully listen to for enjoyment ever again and there are a few lines that I feel calls for someone being forced to go to whatever the musical version of the Hague is to explain themselves. 
MISC
This is just a section for things that annoyed me that didn't fit anywhere else. 
There's a moment where Asha sees Star which is a star that has fallen to earth and is shaped like a star and she's not able to put together than he's a star until she looks up at a ball of yarn that's tangled in the trees and sees that the yarn is shaped like a star...which again, Star is ALSO shaped like a star! Baffling. 
Gabo at one point makes a comment to the effect of, "Wishing on a Star? Grow up Asha, this isn't a fairy tale." And it's like, dude shut up. Your king is a sorcerer. This movie isn't funny enough to pull off that kind of wink to the audience. 
The actual funniest part of the movie is when a talking mouse (not a thing that usually exists in this world) runs onto the Queen's shoulder during a big speech in front of a crowd and not only does no one notice, but she has no stronger reaction than if a messenger was telling her that her dinner was ready. And not in an underreaction for the purposes of a joke way. Like, in a they forgot to write in a reaction for her way. It's so unintentionally hilarious. 
They specifically set this in the real world–off the coast of the Iberan Peninsula–but I didn’t get any of that influence in any significant way here. It could have been any generic island town. Rosas sounds like a Spanish name and “Welcome to Rosas” there is some dancing that looks like traditional Spanish dancing. But on a whole, it feels pretty bland. When I think about studying abroad in Spain, one of the big things I think about are all the moments with food–patatas con bravas, pan con tomatae, paella, and so so much coffee. The only food I remember from this movie are the novelty cookies Dahlia is always baking. Which is wild to me because their last big musical was Encanto and you could feel the cultural influences in every scene and it was seamless. This wouldn’t even bother me if that hadn’t made a point to set it in a specific part of the real world and call it out. 
A lot of the dialogue is super expository in a way that both makes me think the writers think we’re stupid and that they realized at certain points that they forgot to establish things but instead of fixing the script they just shoved in a line. Like, to the first point, there’s a part where Magnifico crushes a wish and it’s very clear that he’s getting a high from it. But instead of letting the moment stand he’s like, “Oh yes. Who knew crushing wishes would feel so good? I must continue to crush wishes so I keep feeling this good feeling,” and it’s like…why did you need to say all of that? Old Power Rangers episodes have their villains monologue less than that!
This movie opens on a storybook–just like Snow White–and it has a voice over of Asha narrating the history of Rosas as the pages flip. Not a bad idea–until you push into the scene and realize she’s telling all of this to…her grandpa? Who is 100 years old and lived through all of this? What? Why not have that scene be a kid flashback and the story is being told to her? Or have her be doing the little kid thing of telling a story to an adult? Either way, that would help establish their relationship which is ostensibly very important to this movie. Or, wild thought, just have her be telling this story to kids! Like Mirabel explaining all the Madrigal gifts in Encanto! Like, if you’re gonna take cues from that movie, at least go all the way so your movie makes sense. 
It’s very unclear how Star’s magic works. It seems like he mostly just gives wildlife the ability to talk. I thought he was just granting wishes but he never does that to any of the humans. And I find it hard to believe that the wish of every animal (and mushroom)  in this movie is just to be able to talk.
Easy Fixes
And all of this is compounded by the fact that this isn’t just any random movie or even any random Disney movie. It’s the *100th ANNIVERSARY*. You only get one of those and this is what they wasted it on. My hopes were really high here! I was expecting a lot of love and care to be put into this one, but it just fell absolutely flat. It feels so rote, so by the numbers, so lacking in care. It feels like the shell of an outline of a movie that relies on the fact that we know what a movie of this sort should be and can fill in the blanks. 
And the worst part? The absolute worst part?
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A REALLY EASY MOVIE TO FIX. 
Like, I’m serious. If you watch this movie, you will be able to, off the cuff, name tons of things that would have solved problems without breaking a sweat. 
For instance, just cutting her friend group down from seven to two would have helped immensely. If she, Dahlia, and Simon have a Three Musketeers relationship, then when he betrays her to the king, it actually means something now! 
For a bigger but still obvious change, why not have Asha have an existing relationship with Magnifico? So then this story can be about her losing faith in this relationship she’s had for a long time after she’s seen behind the curtain and become jaded over time and not a 7 minute “Don’t Meet Your Heroes” speedrun.
And making it clear what taking a Wish from a person means–and following through with that portrayal all movie–would all be a game changer. Show that Magnifico’s magical wish granting still leaves the people hollow. Show that Asha is a vibrant, bright person amongst a sea of robotic adults. Show me some worldbuilding! 
Also, just hire a musical theater person to do the music. Seriously I can’t believe I have to say this? How is there not a single good song in this movie? There are DCOMs with more bangers than this. Almost every song in High School Musical is a bop. How are you getting outshone by High School Musical?
And these are just changes that preserve the bulk of the story as is. This movie could have been even better if they’d change the direction to go with some of their scrapped ideas!
This is just a movie that absolutely baffles me. I wouldn’t think it would be possible for a movie with this high of a profile to be this bad. You would think that even accidentally they’d have to get SOMETHING right. But they really don’t. I can’t recommend this movie, even for a fun-bad watch. It’s like eating unsalted saltines while you have dry mouth. Just watch a better movie. And here are three movies I think are more in the spirit of Disney’s 100th anniversary than Wish:
(1) The Princess and the Frog does literally everything that this movie is trying to do but better. You’ve got a movie that used a 2D style in the 3D era. You have integration of cultural elements–in this case New Orleans in the 20s. You have a classic princess story with the classic trappings: romance, villain, fairy godmother. You have a rocking villain song. Hell, you even have a wishing star motif! 
(2) Encanto is the latest Disney movie of the modern era to have that classic Disney magic, imo. It sidesteps a lot of the classic Disney tropes–no princess, no serious romance (Delores and Mariano end up together but it’s very much a side thing), no villain beyond generational trauma–but it still feels musical and magical and full of character and life. It shows that you can keep the big emotions that we expect from Disney even with more modern sensibilities. 
(3) Enchanted is my favorite movie of all time so I’m biased, but I still firmly believe that it stands as a better movie in general and tribute to Disney specifically than Wish. THIS is how you do an homage. The whole plot is a loving roast of all the quirks of classic Disney movies, but it’s also a sincere story that stands on its own. It has references to old movies, but they’re integrated very naturally. And it’s funny enough to get away with things like a character mid-musical number being like, “What the hell is happening? Why is everybody singing?” without it feeling like lazy, “Well that just happened” humor. And the music is so good! 
(A quick note on the music btw: Most of the songs in Enchanted are musical theater style songs but there’s one song near the end called “So Close” which is like a pop ballad. And it totally makes sense why they’d depart from the musical theater style in that moment in context but, even if it was jarring and totally unfitting for the movie, it’s still objectively a strong song. Out of context, it would be a great, sad, romantic song. And if the music in Wish was all like that–good but unfitting–this would confuse me less than it does.)
Anyway, I would shell out a LOT of money for a making of documentary for this movie in the style of the Frozen 2 one because as writer and a fan of a lot of Disney’s past stuff, it is completely beyond my comprehension who a team of accomplished people get together to create the 100th Anniversary project with their vast resources and produce this. It just doesn't feel like a movie with any serious care put into it. Which is separate from quality, btw. I don’t like the movie Raya very much but I think it’s obvious a lot of care went into it and I respect this. Wish feels like a movie that was made to fill some kind of contractual obligation and it makes me sad because I really wanted to like it. 
102 notes · View notes
abbatoirablaze · 6 months
Text
Sealed, Steve Rogers
Word Count: 2.2k
Warnings:  sexual tension, slight angst, mentions of fighting, underage drinking, dubcon/noncon relationship.
Part 2 of 3.
Part 1, Signed
Part 3, Delivered
Tumblr media
“My god, you’ve grown so much, (Y/N),” your future mother-in-law cooed as she pulled you into a hug.  You gave Mrs. Rogers a small, albeit forced smile as you pulled away and she got another look at you.  She reached out and stroked your cheek, “my god, I remember when you were just a little girl.  Barely knee high and going at it with Stevie like cats and dogs.  Now look at you!  You look like a refined young woman…”
“Yeah…it has been a while…”
“Been a while,” she giggled, pulling away from you, “been a while might have been a holiday or two…I haven’t seen you since your mother squirreled you and your sisters away from sight when you hit the end of fourth grade.”
You gave another forced smile, “yeah…I’m sorry.  I-I would have called…or written, but I-I didn’t have anyone’s numbers memorized.  A-and, well…mum thought it was best that I focus on school.  She always said a good education helps all.”
“It’s okay sweetie,” she smiled softly, “we understand…Steve’s sister just got married to that Parker boy…sweetest little couple you’ve ever seen…you’ll see them at the reception at the end of the week.  They’re still finishing their honeymoon.”
Your eyes widened, “oh no…I-I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to interr-“
“Oh, you’re not interrupting anything,” she laughed, “we insisted on Peter taking her on a nice little honeymoon to one of our villas in Milan.  They get back from there in about a day or so, so they’ll have plenty of time to unwind before your nuptials…”
“Yeah…”
“Sarah…maybe we let (Y/N) get reacquainted with everyone…I don’t believe she’s gotten to say hello to her father yet…have you dear?”
“Oh…uhm no,” you admitted sadly, the smallest of frowns crossing your lips, “I-I haven’t seen daddy yet.”
“He’s in his office,” she smiled as she looped her arm through Mrs. Rogers, “go say hello to him and pull him from whatever he’s doing in there.  He should be out here…enjoying the party.  It is your homecoming after all…and soon you’ll be a Rogers and not a Barnes.  All of you should be mingling…it’s your graduation and engagement party after all…”
“I still don’t see why we couldn’t do two separate parties,” Mrs. Rogers sighed as she gave you a soft look, “the girl should be celebrating all of her accomplishments…a party for graduating high school, and a party for becoming officially engaged to my Stevie.  I keep telling you Winnifred this all feels too cluttered…you should have let me plan at least one of the parties…allow me to showcase our home...”
“You’re too kind, Mrs. Rogers,” you offered, giving your mom an out as you put a hand on her arm, “I’m perfectly fine with just the one party.  Two parties so close to the wedding would have made it seem forced, wouldn’t it?”
She gave you a firm smile, “perhaps you’re right, sweetheart…you know, you always were a wise one, well before your time.  And how many times do I have to remind you, it’s mom…you’re practically our daughter as it is, (Y/N).  Lord knows Stevie’s been in love with you since the two of you were little…call me mom, sweetie…”
“Okay…mom…”
She chirped excitedly to your mother, cooing at how you calling her mom as well felt ‘all too right.’
Meanwhile, you rolled your eyes as you started back to the house, promising both mob wives that you would go to find your father, while ignoring the rest of the party goers and well-wishers. 
You barely had an idea on who many of them were, only knowing that they were associated with one of the five families, and here to ‘strengthen ties.’ 
It sickened you to your stomach. 
Everything was done to ‘strengthen ties,’ while they bickered behind closed doors and made stomach-turning deals.  All of them wearing faux masks of happiness to see one another, when they would all too quickly stab one another in the back for a chance on a higher rung.  But that was the nature of the beast.  One that you’d become all too accustomed to. 
You were glad when your parents sent you off to finishing school back in London.  You didn’t have to deal with anyone and could just blend in without having to be a Barnes, or the future Mrs. Rogers.
“Champagne, miss?”
You smiled politely, holding a glass in each hand.  When he gave you a look, you shrugged, “going to take one to my fiancé…or father.  Whomever I can find first I suppose.”
He gave a nod, one that said that he didn’t believe you, but he didn’t question it as he turned on his heel and went back to the main part of the party.  When he was out of sight, you downed the first.  Feeling the crisp, dry bite of the champagne, you rounded the corner and took the other, as though it was a shot yet again. 
A shiver ran down your spine as the warmth from the alcohol filled your belly.  You placed the two empty glasses along a desk sitting in the entryway. 
Sighing, you noticed that your father’s study door was closed.
It was always business with him. 
But stepping forward you could hear voices behind the heavy wooden door.  You frowned when you couldn’t recognize the one that was speaking, nor make out any words that he’d been saying.  But a roar of laughter made you pause from knocking. 
You recognized the melodic laugh of your brother, despite not seeing him since you were ten. 
“You gotta stop getting into fights, punk,” the thirteen-year-old chuckled as he ruffled the sandy blonde hair of his best friend, “you’re twelve and nearly losing to a eight year old.”
“He was nine,” Steve grumbled, shooing his friend’s hand away, “and anyways…I didn’t need your help, Buck.  I’m Steve Rogers.  The heir to the Itali-“
“You’re the heir of every ass-kicking from here to the Bronx with how you go picking fights…” Bucky replied sternly, his laughter fading away, “come on man…I shouldn’t have to rescue you from a little kid…all I wanted to do was enjoy my book and-”
“He was annoying (Y/N).”
Bucky gave you a small frown and you rolled your eyes, crossing your arms over your eight-year-old chest, “he wasn’t annoying me nearly as much as you were, Rogers…”
Steve’s nostrils flared, “you know…I did it to help you, (Y/N)!  I did it because I was standing up for my wif-“
“Don’t you dare say it, Steven Grant Rogers!” You growled, cutting the older boy off as you wagged your finger in his face, “don’t you dare!  I am not your wife!”
“But (Y/N), you are going to be it one day!” he said quickly, “you’re going to be my wife!  And I’m going to burn down the world for you…or at least anyone that gets in your way.”
“You’re in my way,” you growled, “you’re always in my  way.  News flash, Steve…I don’t need you lurking around every corner waiting to be chivalrous.  I don’t want it!”
“But (Y/N) I’m doing it because I love you,” he simpered, attempting to take your hand in his own, “I-
You sneered, your face scrunching up at the words as you ripped your hand from his, “stop it, Steve!  I will never be your wife…because you won’t make it to adulthood.  You won’t ever be anything other than a scrawny little twerp who can’t fight his own battles let alone the ones you pick over me…and you’re gonna get Bucky hurt…just like the last time.”
Steve frowned as he turned to look at his best friend.  Bucky nervously pulled the sleeve down so that his cybernetic arm was covered by the sweater, “(Y/N)…”
You looked at your older brother, still angry over the accident that Steve caused years ago when he and Bucky first became friends.
“I-It was an accident, my lo-“
“I’m not your anything, Steve!” you spat, glaring at the young man, “now go away!”
Bucky took a step forward, “(Y/N), that’s enough.  Steve was being a good fiancé and looking out for you.  And right now, you’re being a spoiled brat and pushing people’s buttons.”
“You had to come save his butt!”
“Yeah…and he saved yours…it’s what family does for one another…” Bucky growled, defending his friend, “family makes sure that they’re safe and sound.  That they-“
“Then why did he let you lose your arm, huh Bucky?”
“(Y/N)!”
“(Y/N)!”
You were snapped from your thoughts, and you noticed that the door to your father’s study was open, and man just inside the door, holding it open was none other than your big brother.  You felt a bit of pride in your stomach as you launched yourself at him, “BUCKY!”
“Pipsqueak!” Bucky exclaimed happily as he easily lifted you from the ground, “What are you doing in here?  You’re supposed to be out there enjoying your party!”
“Ughh, gag me with a spoon!” you groaned, “last thing I want is another snotty person from one of the families telling me congrats.  I wanted to see you, robo-boy!”
“(Y/N)” your father scolded as he stood from his desk.  Your heart melted as you peeled yourself away from your older brother and started towards your father. 
In the years since you’d last seen him, he’d definitely aged. 
He was only about fifty years old, but time had not been kind to him. 
He kept his hair short and tight on the sides, as was normal from his military days, but the salt and pepper look that had graced the longer hair on top was all but silver on the sides. 
He looked like an aged version of your older brother.  A little bit smaller, and definitely less muscle-mass, as well as the obvious differences in the fact that your father had both of his arms, while one of your brothers was a robotic one, but they were very much the same otherwise. 
“Daddy!”
He smiled as you wrapped your arms around him, becoming wrapped in the scent of the posh cologne that he wore that reminded you of smokey bourbon and fresh leather. His scolding of you had quickly faded and he allowed himself to melt under your touch. 
“Oh, sweetheart…I’ve missed you…it’s nice to have all of my children so close to home again…”
“How’ve you been.  Wha-“
“Good…good!” he smiled, pulling away from you, “but I don’t want to talk about me.  Tonight is about you, honey.  You and Steve!”
You groaned, hearing your fiancé’s name, “Daddy….can we just not talk about Steve Rogers for a second…you know that I don’t want to marry him.”
“Don’t worry…I think you’ve made that abundantly clear since we were children.”
You paled as you turned around and noticed a man that you didn’t recognize, standing off to the side of the room.  He was watching you interacting with his father while he kept his hands in his pockets.
You felt a blush rising to your cheeks as you stared back at the attractive man. He was tall and muscular…well built.  His sandy blonde hair was styled elegantly, and he was dressed to the nines.  You felt your heart fluttering as he looked at you with his cerulean stare and pouty lips. 
Was he someone new to your father’s crew?
But then the words snapped in your mind.
‘Don’t worry…I think you’ve made that abundantly clear since we were children.’
And you paled once more.
NO!
It couldn’t be.
Your stomach turned. 
Had you just been guilty of finding yourself attracted to him?  To Steve Rogers. 
You took a few steps away from your father and started to back out of the study.  “Sweetheart, where are you going?”
“Anywhere but here,” you muttered softly as you backed through the door.  You were nearly there until you stumbled when you took another step back.  You thought you’d hit the edge of the door frame, but when you heard the crashing of a silver platter behind you and the crunching of glass, you spun, “oh fuck…”
You had knocked over a waiter carrying a tray of champagne from the catering space in the kitchen to the party outside. 
“And here I was thinking it was bad luck to see the bride just on the night before the wedding,” the charming blonde smiled as he leaned against the bookcase.  You shot him a glare, trying to focus your rage into him, instead of staring at his chiseled jawline and the way that his clothes clung to his muscular frame and slim waist.  He pushed himself away from it and pulled his hands from his pockets.  In three quick steps he was nearly on top of you, his arm already looping around your waist and pulling you close.  Your lips parted as you stared into his cerulean eyes, unsure of what to do or say.  A smirk tugged at his lips, “why did no one tell me that it’s also two days before?”
“S-steve…”
He chuckled, and the action sent a pulse straight to your core as he watched you, “have you been drinking, (Y/N?)”
You felt a whimper escaping the back of your throat as you lost all resolve.  You weakly nodded, unable to form the words. 
“I can smell it on your breath,” he chuckled softly, still holding you close, “You naughty girl…”
“Sweetheart…I’m sure you remember Steve…” your father reminded you, “perhaps…your brother should take you to the powder room though…or the kitchen and get you sobered up before we address the guests for coming to celebrate you and him…”
“Y-yeah…”
89 notes · View notes
thegreymoon · 2 months
Text
The Story of Minglan
Oh, Minglan.
Tumblr media
This is what happens when you take the attitude of "It's no big deal if my husband sleeps with morally questionable other women." 🙄
I am fully on his side on this issue but I feel like hasn't done a good enough job of expressing just how disgusting he personally finds these concubines that everyone keeps trying to force on him. Minglan has been brainwashed by the patriarchy and it will take her a while to find her ground and feel secure enough to put her foot down, but what is stopping him from advocating for himself?
My guy, just say NO.
***
LMAO, he's the ruthless and stupid one?
Tumblr media
Chang'er's death is his fault? I cannot with this evil narcissist.
***
Fuck you.
Tumblr media
Maybe if your garbage ass had not kidnapped him, he wouldn't have gotten sick. And if he had, they would have been able to afford a doctor.
***
I hope he really rips her limb from limb.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The more I see of her and of Lin Qinshuang, the more valid I find Mo Ran for deep-frying fucking Song Qiutong.
***
Unfortunately, Minglan talked him out of torturing her to death 😕
***
LOL, let's hope that at least the piece of shit maternal uncle gets tortured.
Tumblr media
***
Please tell me we will get to see a beheading 😭
Tumblr media
I am so sick and tired of these people. They have been trying to murder Gu Tingye for fifty episodes now. I am so done 😭😭
***
I love it when cats make guest appearances in dramas 💙
Tumblr media
***
Hell person.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
***
In general, I am not pleased with how this story has handled Manniang and her children. It all seems sanitised and on easy mode for Minglan because the true circumstances of him having this whole family before marrying her diminishes the romance as it is and making it any more realistic would probably have snapped a lot of people out of rooting for the main couple because they could no longer idealise it.
I mean, look at this:
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
If this show was realistic, the odds are that Rong-jie, with a vindictive, abusive, neglectful biological mother who abandoned her like this, would have taken all that trauma out on Minglan because this is how kids tend to react in such situations. She would have given her stepmother hell because she was there and a convenient target, while the narcissistic, toxic, neglectful bio mother was not.
Also, killing Chang-er is the writers taking the easy way out because now they have eliminated Gu Tingye's eldest son and possible heir from competing with Minglan's children for the title and the wealth. It's such a cop-out. With Chang-er in the picture, the only way Minglan's children could inherit would be if Gu Tingye refused to acknowledge him as a son, which would absolutely destroy his image and tank the character in the eyes of the viewers.
This way, Minlgan's children get all the benefits without her having to fight for them at the detriment of Tingye's older children and Tingye gets to preserve his image of a doting and responsible father, putting all the negative connotations of his irresponsible first common-law marriage onto the evil Manniang. Gu Tingye and Minglan maintain their noble images and Manniang is scapegoated to enable this. It just leaves me feeling a lot of ick.
It may be unfair of me, but I respect the writing on this show a whole lot less because of these decisions. The truth is, overall, this drama is better written than 99% of other dramas so I feel extremely weird getting hung up on this and letting it get so magnified in my head, but I feel like the fact that the rest of this drama is so realistic and well-written works against them here. There are standards here that were set and I am expecting the rest of the story to proceed on that level, but these standards are no longer being met because meeting them implies compromising the untarnished image of the main characters. It is so convenient and such an obvious cop-out, that I genuinely feel swindled and somewhat salty about it.
***
So selfish and so fucking evil.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
What did Rong-jie ever do to her?
She is the one who abandoned her, she's the one who took the boy out and caused his death. She will just blame anyone except herself for her shit selfish decisions.
***
WTF.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Rong-jie is going to need so much therapy, which is unfortunately not a thing in Song Dynasty China.
***
Fucking finally, some good decisions.
Tumblr media
***
Oh, yeah, Xiaotao and Shito are definitely a thing.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
***
So gorgeous 🧡
Tumblr media
Definitely a potential reference pic.
***
She is the poster child for an untreated personality disorder.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
I'm so glad I live in the XXI century where mental health care is available, not that it prevents a whole lot of people from still acting like this and blowing up entire lives.
***
Don't you worry, evildoer, your comeuppance is also coming!
Tumblr media
37 notes · View notes
zvdvdlvr · 1 year
Note
hey you should some dating johnny cade hc
Dating Johnny Cade HCs
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
➳ 𝐧𝐚𝐯𝐢.
-> warnings: foul language, pet names { baby, honey, sweetheart }
-> pairings: johnny cade x reader
{🤍}
sweet boy ong.
PLEASE he loves to cuddle with you !!
"c'mere cuddlebug" <3
M E L T S when you compliment or praise him
is really really really really really really really really shy before you both start dating
100 fucking percent asked dally for advice b4 asking you out
look, if you have a RBF, johnnycake is kimda scared of you (at first)
until dall strolls up to you and offers you a blunt, johnny might think youll jump up and bite his fingers off lmao
ok so but i
johnny loves watching you smoke????
like
watching the smoke seep from your lips?? hes purring.
but when you shOTGUN?!?!?!?!? he's feral.
if johnny ever gets hurt, expect to be one of the first person he looks for to clean him up and give him shelter
if he ends up in jail for participating in one of Dally's stunts, he doesn't want to call
bc you'll be worried and want to spend ur money on bail for him 🤕❤
but its ok in the end bc hes in love w you
PICNIC DATES QUESTION MARK
i feel like johnny would be so down for these
i also think johnny's lowkey (and i mean low key) a cat person
is that just me? ok ill go away now
AN ABSOLUTE SUCKER for sharing cigs with his partner <3
if you had a good home life, johnny would really want to spend time with your family
because he was robbed of an okay parent/child relationship, he yearns for his partner's parents to like him
would be absolutely distraught if they didn't like him, my poor boy ☹
please tell him he's loved
he needs that
would call you sweetheart, baby, honey or a nickname based off your name or an inside joke or smth
johnny boy likes that intimacy :p
wap so hes a sub switch at best
GO TO THE MOVIES WITH HIM!!!!
PLEASE
sharing a coke (the drink smh) and fries :')
making comments the whole time and loving his little laugh that follows
play a prank or two 😍
but you might need to take the fall just a warning
if you tend to get in trouble with the law, johnny would be chill with that shit because he's friends with dallas winston
but will always be a lil nervous for his bae
will take you out when you get out of the slammer
diner dinners, late night walks (with knives for safety), dirty jokes, random puns... this is all johnny.
you make him so happy
would have cash set aside for a lil smth for your birthday dont even TRY to argue
cheek kisses, neck kisses, forhead kisses
theyre so... simple
so simple but they make him so happy
dally also likes how happy you make johnny
is protective over johnny, don't get me wrong, but is calmer when he knows its you
i mean, everyone knows you
you have a reputation, of course
dally lowkey admires you, even if ur younger than him
anywayz
is kind of oblivious when it comes to relationships, tbh...
its sweet (for the most part)
loves holding your hand
please
please hold his hand
please hold his hand all the time
two-bit loves you bc johnnys in love with you and you help him (two-bit) with making fun of certain Socs
you also have a rep for dark/offensive humor so two and soda absolutely lose their shit when you make a joke im not even lying
wait but like soda really likes the dynamic you both have
i.e: you act like siblings and poke fun at pony sometimes
but its all good bc ur dating johnny
i mean, dude, its johnny
darry highkey really likes you
the gamg likes you, johnnh is in love with you, we're all cool
imagine: mother darry's reaction to you get into a fight
"hey y/n," darry greeted the teen. they were grabbing a piece of chocolate cake. the curtis household was notorious for its chocolate cakes.
y/n shut the ice box door and went for a fork, strategically avoiding letting darry see their face. "yo," they replied, turning to leave the room.
darry stuck his hand out before y/n could leave the kitchen. "look at me," he commanded, suspicious.
y/n tilted their face up to look at him. darry's eyes widened. they had teo black eyes, a deep lookinh scratch from their temple to their chin, a dried bloody nose, busted lip, and a toothy grin plastered all over their face. "it wasn't my fault, dare, promise," they say.
darry tuts. "the hell it wasnt. you see johnny yet with those battle scars o'yers?"
"nah. ain't wanna wake 'im up yet."
dear god then two bit lumbers in. "hey, y'all heard? shepherd's plannin' a rumble- damn!" he howls. he swiped his finger in the frosting of y/n's cake and got a good look at their face. "damn kid! you kick their asses?"
y/n smirks. "duh."
two bit laughs and gets his own slice of cake while darry leans against the counter wondering how why y/n was so carefree.
"you're such a mother, jeez," y/n commented to Darry.
two bit laughed again.
"missed you, baby"
AWOOOGA BARK BATK BARK PURR MEOW JEIEKJQODIS
the gang totally gags and pretends to vomit when you guys kiss or they walk in go you making out
pony is ur no. 1 supporter
respect, my g 😪✊
if anyone wants more lmk. ill edit this bad boy later
johnny cade taglist:
@paxdawg
586 notes · View notes
bobacupcake · 2 years
Note
Please help me. The Wizard Police are after me. I am a simple man, er wizard. I'm femme coded and delicious and thus break many wizard laws by existing. I have potions that have powers beyond your imagination. Your small small imagination. You should read and draw more so your brain will grow and you can understand my powers. This potion in my hand is purple and swirly. Its smells delicious, doesn't it? You want to drink it don't you? I know you do. Stop staring at my chest. My eyes are up here! *Points at the tip of my hat*. FOCUS! This potion is so important and you must STOP SNIFFING ME. Yes um drink the potion. Oh you don't want to? What if I put a silly straw in the bottle, will you drink it now? WHAT WAS THAT?? *Wizard Sirens in the distance* I have to go. You must hide me. What is your credit card number? Don't say the numbers out loud! You'll summon the interdimensional Identity theifs!!! Write it down! On my hand! Oh that tickles!! Stop it at once. Your hand writing is shit. Whatever youll have to just come with me. *covers you in the potion and you turn into a small creature*. Now I'm going to place you in this bag. Never mind why theres so much broken glass in there!! Stop eating it! Stop eating it! Stop it!! I hate you. *Shakes the bag really hard* stop enjoying this! *Sirens get closer* we have to go now!! *Does a little break dance and disappears into another plane* oh God we're 2d! Stop turning to the side and looking like a flat line! This isn't funny. Now, what is your mother's maiden name. What do you mean you don't have a mom. Everyone in the universe is assigned six mom's when they're created. What is a dad? A boy mom? I don't understand what you're saying. How are you able to make your teeth jiggle around like that? That is ungodly. Your teeth should be placed firmly in your gums! I don't care what Chinese deer can do. *coughs up blood in a gay sexy way* oh I forgot to mention I have tuberculosis. Yes it's serious. No Im not going to the doctor. We have to get out of this plane. Hmm I have one more spell I can cast that will allow one of us to get back into the 3d world. I will send you back and you must get help from my hot wizard girl husband. What do you mean wife? What is that? They're my girl husband! You don't say things that make sense. *Riffles through bag* I need to find My bang energy drink so I can power up before I do my teleportation beam. Why is the can empty. Why do you mean you drank it? Why would you drink someone else's energy drink! It gives me my wizard power! That's it, I've had enough. *pulls out revolver from the bag* this is goodbye to you. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG good gracious they were blanks! I hate you I hate you I hate you!! *Throws you on the ground and you make a loud thud* why do you sound like you're full of milk? Webkinz cat? What does that mean? Who is rainbow dash and why was she in a jar? THEY DID WHAT TO HER? I can't do this anymore. *Loud bang* WIZARD POLICE PUT YOUR ARMS UP!!
NEVER! *Throws you at the police*
*I'm shot four thousand times by a thousand different wizard beams* I die instantly
Tumblr media
1K notes · View notes
takusan-no-ai · 6 months
Text
Felidae
Tumblr media
PAIRING: Kitana x Male Reader (Romantic) (Fluff)
SUMMARY: Kitana’s boyfriend is a species from Outworld that she’s never seen before.
She first met you in your human form at one of her family’s celebrations. You were a handsome young man, sitting alone at a bar in the far corner. She was just walking by with her sister, Mileena, and their guard, Tanya, when an attacker jumped out from nowhere. He was infected by Tarkat and on a blind rage.
One second she was reaching for her fans, and in the next Katana and Mileena were pushed far back onto the ground by an invisible force. As for the man infected with Tarkat? He hung up nigh high, his guts splattered onto the ground and his corpse dropping down shortly after, a soft thud from the light force.
What stood before the two sisters and Tanya was a gigantic, fluffy feline. It stood on its hind legs and retracted its razor sharp claws. The cat transformed back into a human with the blink of an eye, showing himself to be the man who was just moments ago sitting at the bar. That was the start of an interesting relationship.
Sindel wanted to thank you in person with a celebration for protecting her daughters and stopping a potential Tarkat epidemic. She was shocked when you declined the offer and proceeded to keep an eye on you. Of course, Sindel wasn’t the only one who saw potential in you; Kitana did as well.
A game of cat and mouse, her chasing you to get a better understanding of your abilities and you running away, preferring a more independent and reclusive life. It’s not like you didn’t want to be near her, your nature as a male feline just tended to override your own feelings. Of course, nothing like that has ever nor will ever stop a woman like Kitana.
When she finally cornered you, it was like being in the crowd of reporters asking question after question. You answered her, often invasive, questions calmly but arguably not happily.
“I’m an ancient and far away race of Outworlder called the Felidae. I’ve ran away from my village since our leader went mad. Our population was growing too rapidly and so a law was enforced to neuter any males and spay any females who weren’t beneficial to society. I had gotten into a fight one night with my neighbor, a violent one, and was sent to be neutered. I escaped that very night to avoid such a fate.”
“Umm…okay. I was not expecting that backstory…,” Kitana didn’t mean to sound rude but it was all she could really reply with. She eventually convinced you to live within the empire and work alongside her mother, since they both saw you as a capable and dependable ally. Naturally, you spent most of your time with Kitana, and your relationship developed into something more intimate and personal.
You opened up to Kitana about your concerns with your species and hers: worries that your fathering skills will be nonexistent thanks to your nature as a male Felidae, worries that you might sleep around when in heat, worries that you may wonder farther than you ought to.
She comforts you throughout all of this, reminding you that the love you two share is a bond that not even the elder gods can break. She’d die for you, and she knows that you’d do the same.
- Fin
100 notes · View notes