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theobxhummingbird · 4 years

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I loved you from the start. -Luke Patterson x Reader.

Summary: Connecting through music or touch? A moment that keeps confusing Y/N and Luke on why they’re the only ones that are able to touch each other.

A/N: Here’s my first JATP imagine and I could say it’s an okay one for my first time writing about a JATP character. I’m making a whole series (because I love the show jeez, Luke especially). Enjoy it, what can I say? 🥺🤭🤘🏻👻🎸👅🍀

Like Reggie always said, Julie and Luke ooze chemistry. And everyone seemed to accept it, because they were always in front of their eyes, singing their songs, like it's only the two of them in the world. Apart from Julie, who could see the three cute ghosts, her childhood best friend, was somehow able to as well. Flynn, Julie's best friend and the person who helped her throughout her hardest times, was still trying to acknowledge, why Julie's childhood best friend who also moved in next door, could see them without the music, but not her. Y/N on the other hand, was not like Julie and Flynn. She was introverted and shy, but brought light to every place she went to. Reggie enjoyed her company the most, thinking she's the most awesome person he'd met in his life. To Alex, she also seemed awesome and smart and he talked to her whenever he got the chance, but Luke---he was a bit too busy with writing music and playing it for the band, when he got an idea. He never really talked to her, only in situations when they ran into each other at the studio.

Julie, Flynn and Y/N were sat in the studio, talking about Julie getting taken down from her program, when the three boys appeared. -Are those cookies? -Reggie excitedly said. -Yes, Y/N made them, take some. -said Julie, but then remembered they can't eat, -Oh--- -Thanks Jules. -said Alex, sitting down behind his drum set. -I'll have one. -said Flynn and took one, but accidentally knocking one off the plate. Y/N sat up to take it, Luke kneeling at the same time, to tie his shoes. -Ouch. -they bumped their heads. -Careful there. -he rubbed his head. Y/N normally took the cookie and Luke went to his guitar. Julie, Flynn, Alex and Reggie, were all looking at them in shock, but the both didn't realize why. -How did that happen? -said Julie. -What? -You bumped into each other. Normally, you Y/N was supposed go through him like a sword. -said Flynn. -Maybe it was in the moment. -said Luke, -Sometimes we can pick up things, but then drop them. Julie took a hold of Y/N's arm and brought her to Luke. She lifted her hand and gestured Luke to put his up. When Y/N's hand landed on Luke's and it didn't go through it, they all gasped. -That is awesome! -said Reggie. -Everything for you is awesome. -Flynn spited. -You guys are meant to be! -Julie said and they immediately pulled their hands next to their bodies. -No Julie, stop. -Y/N muttered and she took her bag, leaving the studio. -Wait, Y/N! -said Reggie, but she was out of the studio.

- Weeks passed after the little surprise for everyone in the studio. Julie and the Phantoms continued writing music and singing their songs, while Y/N caught Julie and Flynn alone, managing to miss out on the three boys' presence. She was going to school, avoiding any contact with them whenever she saw them with Julie, knowing she can't fake that she can't see them, because all of them knew she can see them without music and for now, can touch Luke. It haunted her for weeks, the fact that she can touch Luke; the one boy that she could never imagine herself, holding his hand, nor loving because he was basically not existing. Julie told her, she can come to the studio whenever she needs to be alone and whenever she needs a secret place where she can cry, so Y/N wanted to try the opportunity and took her diary with her to the studio. She sat down, on what Luke said was, his couch and started writing the things she could only tell to paper:

" From what I still feel in my heart and on my hand, after being able to touch a person even my friend, who's more meant to be with him, I can't stop thinking through what it could mean? My mind's blocked and can't process what's this thing roaming in my heart? It started way before, when I was able to see the three of them. In that moment, my eyes got stuck to the one guy that I could never be close to like Julie was and is. I was always sat on the side, watching them lovingly sing to each other. And no, I never wished I was Julie, but I did want to be Y/N that stood in front of Luke. Singing was a big part of my life; it saved me from my hardest times, and no one knew I sang and sometimes wrote music. It was all the secretive part of me, and it still is. And now, seeing Julie and Luke sing---I don't know---maybe I want to sometimes start singing at the top of my lungs, which I do when I get home after seeing them sing together; all of them, the entire band. And Luke, he's an amazing person and now that I know that I can touch him, all I want is to run and give him the biggest hug...but I can't, because even though he's connected through touching with me, he's connected through music and heart with Julie...also, there's something I want to confess-"

When she was about to finish her sentence, the three appeared in the studio, as well as Julie and Flynn who came through the door. Y/N got confused and she only managed to shove the pen in her bag and unnoticeably knocked over her diary; it closing under the coffee table. -Y/N! -Reggie said, going in for a hug, but Y/N passing through him. -Oh. It only works for Luke. He frowned and got back to his guitar. Luke didn't say anything; he just played dumb and continued to be his own self; crazy and happy to see Julie with some new lyrics. -You can rehearse, I'm leaving. Bye guys, see you. -she said and rushed out of the studio, leaving no time for the others to react to her sudden leaving. Her feet walked fast to her house and, when she opened her door, her grandma was sleeping in the living room. Y/N slowly and quietly walked to her room, trying not to wake her up, and sat down on her bed. She was sad, too sad to even see from her tears. The dusty guitar was placed in the corner and she didn't want to pick it up that night, rather pulling the covers over herself and falling asleep.

- The boys rehearsed with Julie, and Flynn and her promised each other a sleepover, so the preparations started outside the studio. Reggie and Alex were doing whatever entertained them, and Luke was still stuck on his new lyrics, trying to put words together that made sense to him the most. He rubbed his forehead, with the hand that held his pen, while having the guitar pick, peeking at the corner of his mouth. His gaze fell on a notebook corner that had fallen under the table. He picked it up, thinking it's Julie's lyrics notebook. Luke tossed it on the table, it flipping some pages open, to the same writing from earlier. He took it in his hands again, with his well-known curiosity, as his eyes moved fast from one sentence to another. The last part of it caught his attention the most. What was she going to confess? His feet hit the ground and he was headed for Y/N's house, remembering she can see him, so he needs to sneak in but not be seen by her. From what he could hear, there was no sound coming from her house. He slowly walked in on sleeping Y/N, immediately spotting the guitar in her corner. She had created herself a writing corner, that was filled with papers. He couldn't uncrumple the ones she threw away around the small desk, because she was going to wake up and see him. Luke took some of the lyrics, and what seemed to be her lyrics notebook and was out of her house.

- -Hello, Y/N. -he said, when she flew in on him alone at the studio. -Take a seat. She followed, taking a seat a bit far away from him, -You left this yesterday. I found it under the coffee table. -Thank you. -she took it from his hands and placed it safely in her bag, hoping he didn't read any of her writing, unnoticeably crumbling that page in her bag. She cleared her throat before speaking again, -I'll leave. -Okay...-was all he said, refusing to talk to her. She met Reggie at the door, and walked through him, leaving the place. -What's wrong with Y/N lately? -he said to Luke. -I don't know. -said Luke, and went to try some music for Y/N's lyrics. When Julie came to the studio, and Luke had alone time with her, he tried asking her about why Y/N's singing is such a secret in her life. -Does Y/N sing? -he blurted out. Julie furrowed her eyebrows and turned around to answer him. -I don't know. Probably. Like every normal teenager. -No, I mean sing, sing. -I've heard her sing a few times when we were little, but now I've never even seen her touch a guitar. Why are you asking? -Just curious. -Her mum, used to talk to my mum that whenever Y/N was sad, she would go to her grandma and play her songs. No one knew why she did it, until--- -Hey guys! -Alex walked in, -Let's rock this rehearsal. -Never mind. -sighed Julie, and she went to the piano.

It stayed with him the whole time; two unfinished sentences, both leading to the girl he didn't know why felt so special to him? He played the guitar, making mistakes and messing up, which worried the others. It confused them even more, after he said he'll go on a walk. But they shrugged it off, thinking he's upset about his mum and dad. But this time, he didn't go to them; the house he went to the other day was standing in front of him. And, apart from yesterday, where no sound was coming from it, the house was now filled with a guitar sound and a soothing voice. He came in, unnoticed by Y/N, as he obsereved the scene, Julie was talking about. Her singing to her grandma, who was laid in bed, with pill boxes next to her. -That was beautiful, firefly. -her old hands were now placed on hers. Luke took a peek at the papers in his hands. Firefly; a song title written boldly above. Y/N's voice filled the entire room, as she started singing lyrics from Luke's papers. The words amazed him and he couldn't believe that, the shy and introverted Y/N, Julie's best friend, has a magical voice and songwriting talent. He wished for his guitar, and it dropped in his hands. When he started to play, both Y/N's and her grandma's eyes snapped at him. Y/N's mouth dropped to the floor, but she played along, so her grandma doesn't get suspicious. She stood up and approached Luke, so they could sing together for her sick grandma.

After their little performance, Luke magically didn't disappear, because he quickly took a grip of Y/N's hand; that kept him still. Her grandma applauded them both, thinking her granddaughter wanted to bring along a friend to make a small performance for her, and Luke and Y/N assured her, as if it was really like that. -What are you doing here? -she brought him outside. -I wanted to see why singing is such a secret for you. -You read my diary didn't you? -I open Julie's dream box; I open your diary. Same outcome every time. Two beautiful voices. Is there something bad in that? -Boundaries! -she raised her voice. -Boundaries. -Yeah yeah, I get that a lot. -he said, -Also...what were you going to confess at the end? -Nothing. It doesn't interest you. Go now Luke, please. -You are holding my hand, Y/N. -he said and she let go, shaking them off together. -Tell me. -No Luke. I'll see you tomorrow at the studio. -she said, and swung open the door.

- It was the most important show for the Julie and the Phantoms. The four of them were so nervous that they constantly rehearsed the lyrics backstage. Flynn and Y/N took over their places in the crowded room, both of them present for support of their best friend's band with her crazy ghosts. Luke peek around the curtain, just to make sure she's there, and in the crowd. -Did you spot her? -said Reggie from behind him. -Is it that hard to spot her? A person with the brightest and most innocent smile in this world. I hope I don't confuse her tonight. -I think it'll be cute dude. -he tapped his shoulder and went to Julie and Alex.

When their last song finished, but the band kept playing, Luke settled himself with the guitar and took the microphone to speak. -While you got to see the Julie and the Phantoms, here's something very personal to me; a song I wrote along my journey with this band, just by looking at one person in the room. She's here tonight, between you all, supporting us with just her presence. Firefly, this song 'I loved you from the start', is for you my muse. Y/N's entire system stopped processing his words and her mouth stayed open in shock, as Luke started to play and sing the song he wrote for her. Tears formed in her eyes, as she took the scene of the emotional, but moving song he was telling in front of a whole crowd for...her? The words contained how much she meant to him and how he loved her from the moment he laid his eyes on her beautiful face. The crowd whistled and applauded when he finished, and calmed when Luke took the mic again to speak, -It's been a long way of just observing her from afar. I never felt so much inspiration for music in my life. Somehow she was keeping me from giving up on my dreams. Y/N, you're the most amazing and talented person I've ever met in my life, so I would be very honored if you accompany me on this stage and sing your song 'Firefly' with me? The crowd, as well as Flynn was encouraging her to get up on the stage and sing with him. And while she resisted, they persuaded her into doing it, and she found herself next to Luke. Reggie handing her a guitar, she stood next to Luke, and they started singing together. It was like her dreams came true at once, by just writing them in her diary, that he so happened to read. He could see her eyes flickering with excitement and happiness, and when they finished the song, Luke cupped her face, and placed a deep kiss to her lips in front of the entire audience. Julie and the band couldn't be more happy about the two of them, finally putting out their feelings for each other. When they split apart, he rested his forehead on hers. -Maybe Julie and I connect through music yes, but there's nothing better than being able to feel the person you love the most. I love you Y/N, and I loved you from the start. -I-I love you so much that everything that happened so quickly, felt like a dream I'm too scared waking up from. -You shouldn't be scared, because you'll live that dream as long as I can take a hold of these amazing hands, -he kissed them both,-that make words come to life. God, the things you make me feel by just existing. -You're the most perfect ghost I've seen in my life. -she joked, and placed kisses to his cheeks, finally meeting his lips again for a final kiss before they go back to the studio.

-- Julie and the Phantoms wrote music, which was normal, but Luke always enjoyed writing music with Y/N's head on his shoulder. He was overwhelmed to finally feel the person he loves, because his biggest pain, is never being able to touch the girl he loved the most...his Unsaid Emily.

#luke patterson jatp #luke x reader jatp #luke patterson x reader #luke from julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms #alex #reggie #luke x y/n #tell your friends #julie and the phantoms imagines #jatp imagines

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nicknellie · 3 years

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Anonymous requested: “tricked into 7 minutes in heaven at a party” AU with willex, where theyre close friends and apart of the same friend group, and their friends know they both like each other and are tired of watching them dance around each other so they devise a plan to have a party and play seven minutes in heaven, and get them to be alone together in a closet or room or something. so a sort of getting together/modern AU with some kissing cause the boys deserve it?

I had to Google what 7 Minutes In Heaven is. Anyway!! I love this prompt so much, it’s so so sweet. We love some getting together fluff. Thank you so much for suggesting it!

Title from Alone by Heart.

The Secret Is Still My Own

Alex could have kicked himself for not realising what this was much earlier. It was probably Luke’s idea. Maybe Julie’s – she could be sneaky when she wanted to be. It didn’t really matter who had devised the plan, all that Alex was worried about now was the fact that he was about to spend seven minutes locked in a small room with Willie and the likelihood was that it was going to be utterly dreadful.

A few months ago when Alex and Willie had first met, it wouldn’t have been so awful. Their friendship had been fresh and exciting and there had been an easy banter flowing between the two of them that made Alex feel light and giddy. He had been glad to spend time with Willie then, looking for every excuse to hang out with him because who wouldn’t? Willie was funny, kind, intelligent, and everything good in the world. Alex would have been mad to not want to spend time with him. It didn’t take long for Alex to realise he was falling for Willie, quickly and with no signs of stopping.

And he made the grave mistake of telling that to Luke.

“Dude,” Luke had said, grabbing Alex’s shoulders. “You gotta ask him out!”

“What? No!” Alex had protested. He tried to wriggle free but Luke’s grip was like iron and he gave up after a moment or two. “I don’t want to. I like being friends with him.”

“Yeah, but imagine if you were more than friends,” Luke pressed, grinning wildly. “It’s not like he’d say no – he’s head over heels for you, man.”

“He is?”

“I think so.”

“That’s not proof,” Alex deadpanned. “You also thought that if you ate watermelon seeds one would grow inside you. Then you cried when Reggie ate them.”

“That was ages ago!” Luke whined.

“It was last week, but alright.”

“Alright, fine, I’m a bad example,” Luke admitted. “But what if I told you that Julie thinks Willie likes you?”

Alex considered it for a moment. Julie was definitely more reliable than Luke, and where Luke was almost definitely guessing about whether or not Willie had feelings for Alex, Julie had probably spoken to Willie herself to find out. So he shrugged and gave Luke a short nod.

“Does she think so?” he asked, trying to keep the hope out of his voice.

“Dude,” Luke scoffed. “She was the one to point it out to me. You and Willie are made for each other, bro! Ask him out or I’ll have to do it for you.”

Alex hadn’t asked Willie out. It hadn’t been because he didn’t want to or because he didn’t think Luke and Julie were right – it was because he simply didn’t know how. How was he supposed to go up to Willie, a literal angel, and ask him on a date without spontaneously combusting? He didn’t want to make a fool of himself, not in front of Willie.

He had thought that Luke was joking about getting Alex and Willie together himself. That had, of course, been an incredibly naïve thing to believe. When Luke said he’d do something, he meant it – Alex should have learnt that from the time Luke had said he would lick an electric fence and then followed through immediately and without hesitation. So really he shouldn’t have been surprised when Luke made it his mission to get Alex and Willie together.

The first time it had happened was when Alex and Willie were hanging out alone in the studio. They had been talking, just catching up with each other, and it had been nice. Willie had been halfway through a story about one of the kids at the nursery he worked part-time at when all of a sudden the lights in the studio had dimmed and slow, romantic music had begun drifting from the stereo in the corner.

Willie had looked utterly bemused, a quiet half-smile gracing his features. “What’s all this?”

“I don’t know,” Alex told him, standing up and flicking the lights back on, then going to the stereo and turning the music down all the way. “Sorry about that. It’s never happened before.”

“You mean you didn’t set it up?” Willie asked.

“No,” Alex replied, looking around the studio. Unsurprisingly, he had spotted Luke in the attic, hidden amongst the beanbags, the stereo’s remote in his hands. He didn’t even have the good grace to look guilty, instead giving Alex a cheery wave.

“Oh,” Willie had said. His tone made Alex turn to face him – there was something in it he couldn’t quite put a name to. “Okay. Anyway, so, as I was saying…”

Luke’s plans had not improved from then on. He had pulled the classic “invite both of them to hang out but don’t show up so they’re just spending time together one-on-one”, he had dedicated an entire setlist to Willie at their most recent gig and told the entire crowd that it had been Alex’s idea, and every time Alex and Willie had a conversation he would find a way to muscle in and very unsubtly suggest they go on a date.

It was making Alex’s life a misery.

Because now every time he saw Willie felt painstakingly awkward. The both of them were just waiting for Luke to show up and do whatever he’d planned, after which they’d be steeped in brittle, tense silence until one of them found an excuse to back out of the situation. The ease and light-heartedness their friendship had once been built on was pretty much shot to pieces. Alex knew that Luke meant well, but he was almost certain that he had ruined everything.

It didn’t help that Luke had got Julie, Reggie, and Flynn in on it too, though they were much less heavy-handed than he was when it came to getting them together. Reggie’s main tactic was ask if they’d been on a date yet every time he saw them but leave it alone once they said no, while Julie and Flynn tended to talk to Alex away from Willie and try and convince him that they were, in Flynn’s words, a match made in heaven.

“He totally wants you to ask him out,” Flynn gushed on one of these occasions. “Did you see the way he was looking at you earlier? He’s in love.”

“Things are awkward enough between us as it is,” Alex had explained. “I’m not going to make it worse by asking him out.”

“Well, maybe you don’t need to ask him on a date,” Julie suggested, ever the voice of reason. Alex inwardly thanked her – at least somebody was on his side. “But I do think you need to at least talk about what’s going on between you.”

He revoked his inward thank-you.

“We don’t need to talk,” Alex insisted. “If we just leave it alone then the problem will eventually go away.”

“That’s always your solution,” Julie said.

“And it never works,” Flynn added.

“If you just face your feelings head-on and actually try communicating with him you might get somewhere,” Julie said. Alex looked at her and knew she was telling the truth – her eyes were wide and kind, her mouth set into a gentle smile, and she looked as if she wanted nothing more than to help Alex. “You’ve been dancing around each other for so long, all you need to do is figure out where you both are. Trust me.”

He had shrugged inelegantly and let Flynn change the direction of the conversation, grateful to be talking about something else.

But he hadn’t taken Julie’s advice. Talking to Willie was difficult. Their banter was all but gone and their conversations lasted no more than a few minutes at most. It was a lot easier when they were with all their friends, in a big group where they could talk to others, which had been exactly the reason that Alex wasn’t worried about the impromptu party Julie had invited everyone to that night.

And look where it had got him.

It had been Luke who suggested it during a lull in conversation.

“Why don’t we play Seven Minutes in Heaven?”

The suggestion had been met with excited ‘ooooh’s from most of the group sat around the studio, all except Alex. The last time he’d played Seven Minutes in Heaven had been in middle school – he had been locked in a closet with a girl in his class, she had kissed him incredibly awkwardly, he had blurted “I’m too gay for this” and fallen ungracefully out of the closet with six minutes still left on the clock. While that had been years and years ago, the memory still burned with embarrassment.

“Count me out,” he said. “That game is cursed.”

“I think you’re thinking of Bloody Mary in the Mirror,” Reggie supplied. “That game is cursed. This one’s just a bit of fun.”

“Absolutely not,” Alex said, shaking his head. “You guys can play, I’m staying out of it.”

“Oh, come on, Alex,” whined Luke, “everyone has to play! Otherwise it’s no fun.”

“You might not even get picked,” Julie said helpfully.

“But also you might,” Luke added.

Alex looked around the room at his friends – Reggie was smiling encouragingly, Luke looked put-out that Alex had even thought about refusing, Julie and Flynn were looking at him with hope and excitement in their eyes that he really didn’t want to crush, and Willie… Willie was avoiding eye contact altogether.

He didn’t know what it was that did it, but finally he relented. “I’ll play.”

Luke punched the air triumphantly and began entering everyone’s names into a generator he’d brought up on his phone. Alex watched with bated breath as the little wheel spun, slowing down until it landed on a name. The screen lit up with an over-the-top fireworks animation and the name ‘WILLIE’ in garish bubble writing.

Alex didn’t look at Willie, but he did feel his own insides squirm. What if he was picked next? He wasn’t sure he could last seven minutes alone with Willie. What was he supposed to talk about? What was he supposed to do? How was he meant to act like it wasn’t the most awkward thing he’d ever done especially after everything that had happened in the past few months?

Luke set the spinner off again and Alex watched nervously as it ticked through all the names. The firework animation lit up the screen again and when it was cleared the name ‘ALEX’ was left behind, glowing in all its bubble writing glory.

He tried not to sigh in defeat and he stayed put, no matter how much he wanted to leg it from the room and never come back.

“Alright then!” Julie said, clapping her hands and beaming. “Alex and Willie! You guys feeling up for this?”

Alex didn’t have an answer, but it appeared that Willie did. He stood up and offered a hand to pull Alex to his feet too, smiling gently.

“I’m ready,” he said, though Alex didn’t miss the waver in his voice. “How about you, hotdog?”

He could feel his friends’ eyes boring into him like lasers, but kept his own eyes trained on Willie, searching his expression with no idea what he was actually searching for. Eventually though, he gave a resolute nod and said, “Yeah. Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

“You can go into the bathroom,�� Julie said, pointing towards the little room at the back of the studio. “You’ll have to lock the door yourselves.”

Alex nodded and mutely followed Willie into the bathroom. He shut and locked the door behind them, then flicked the light-switch on. Immediately, Willie flicked it back off.

“Why can’t we have the lights on?” he asked. “I can’t see you.”

“Those are the rules, hotdog,” Willie returned. His voice sounded like it was coming from the opposite side of the room, but Alex couldn’t be sure. After all, he couldn’t see anything.

He could feel his heart hammering in his chest and sweat starting to bead on his forehead as he slid himself down the wall to sit on the floor. He had no reason to feel so nervous right then; he’d been alone with Willie a thousand times, this didn’t have to be any different just because it was in a small dark room and they had a time limit ticking over their heads. Admittedly, he hadn’t been alone with Willie all that often recently, but he shouldn’t have been too out of practise.

“So,” he ventured, rubbing his hands along his legs, hoping the repetitive movements would dull his nerves. “What do you want to talk about?”

Willie was silent for a moment and Alex was sure that he’d somehow already put a foot wrong. Briefly, he considered unlocking the door and trying to leave very quietly so that Willie wouldn’t notice, but he realised quickly that plan wouldn’t work because he would never get past his friends in the studio. All he could do was stick it out for six and a half more minutes.

But mercifully, Willie finally spoke.

“Things have been weird recently, huh, hotdog?”

It teased a laugh from Alex, if only a small one. Because yes. Yes, things had been incredibly weird and he hated it.

“Yeah,” he agreed, “it’s been weird. I’m sorry about Luke and the others.”

“You don’t need to apologise,” Willie said. Alex could hear the smile in his voice and found himself relaxing. “It doesn’t really bother me. But… I mean, it seemed like it was bothering you. I’ve been trying to give you a little space but I don’t know if that’s what you want.”

“No,” Alex said, far too quickly. He tried to rein himself in a little, not wanting things to descend back into that dangerous awkward territory. “No, I don’t want you to give me space. I really like hanging out with you, Willie. I don’t want to stop that. I just wish they’d stop teasing.”

There was another pause, smaller this time, barely perceptible.

“Why?” Willie asked quietly.

“Because,” Alex began, but he quickly found himself lost for words.

How was he supposed to explain it to Willie when he found it hard to explain it to himself? He didn’t like their teasing because he was scared. He didn’t like their teasing because he didn’t want to make Willie uncomfortable. He didn’t like their teasing because this thing, whatever it was, between him and Willie was theirs and only theirs and he wanted to keep it between that way. Because he wanted to make these decisions on his terms, not when his friends decided he should.

“Because?” Willie prompted.

Alex swallowed his pride and his nerves and made himself speak.

“Because I really like you, Willie. And when our friends try and find ways to get us together it just feels awful because I want to do it myself. I don’t want them to intervene or mess this up. I want to do it my way. They keep saying that you like me too – is that true?”

Silence again. Alex could hardly stand it.

“Yeah,” Willie said finally. With that single word Alex felt like he could breathe more easily than ever before. “I do. Like you, I mean. And I get it. I’m sorry this whole thing has been such a mess.”

Alex huffed a laugh. “Blame Luke.”

“Oh, I will,” Willie replied through a chuckle.

Alex heard him shuffle across the bathroom floor and felt their sides press together as Willie came to sit next to him. Without thinking he laid his head down on Willie’s shoulder, then felt Willie rest his head on his in return.

“So,” Alex said again. “What does this mean for us?”

“What do you want it to mean?” Willie asked teasingly, the smile on his face evident in his voice.

“Are we dating?” he asked. He could feel his own smile tugging at his lips as Willie slipped an arm around his shoulders.

He felt Willie press a gentle kiss to the top of his head. “Yes, Alex. We’re dating.”

Maybe it was the late hour, maybe it was the dark room, maybe it was the rush of adrenaline he got from hearing Willie day the words “we’re dating”, but something gave him a warm and welcome rush of courage and he said, before he could think better of it, “Can I kiss you?”

“Well,” Willie said, “I think that’s what usually happens in this game.”

“I don’t want to kiss you because of the game,” Alex told him. He knew Willie was probably joking, but he wanted to be certain. He wanted to make it clear that none of this was because of the game (mainly because Luke had probably rigged it somehow and Alex still wanted to do this his own way). He needed to show that this was for Willie and for himself, nothing else.

“I know,” Willie said gently. “I don’t either. I just want to kiss you.”

Alex slid a hand up to cup Willie’s jaw and they slowly came together. Willie’s lips were softer than Alex thought should be allowed, the kiss gentle and slow. It felt perfect, like fireworks had been lit in Alex’s soul (though much better fireworks than the terrible animation on Luke’s random selector wheel). He felt Willie’s fingers knot through his hair and pull them closer together.

It hadn’t gone the way Alex would have really liked. He didn’t get to ask Willie out on his terms. But from now on, with Willie as his boyfriend, they could do everything else on their terms. They could go at their own speed, hand-in-hand, with no ticking time limit set by their friends. They could move at their own pace with nobody but each other.

And Alex could breathe easy.

Taglist (if you want to be added or removed just let me know): @ace-bookworm @williexmercer @willex-owns-my-heart @itstiger720 @the-reckless-and-the-brave @that-one-newsie @bluedarkness @lookingthroughmirrors @teammightypen @salty-star @julieandthequeers @lmaohuh @sunnysbright

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parkerslatte · 3 years

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Tension [Part One]

MASTERLIST

Alive!Luke Patterson x Fem!Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.3k

Summary: (Y/N) and Luke have always hated each other. In band rehearsal, they are left alone, the two of them share some feelings about each other...

A/N: I'm gonna do a part 2 to this but I may make it a small mini series (maybe around 3-4 parts). Let me know if I should do that :)

PART ONE // PART TWO

*****

(Y/N) loved all of her friends dearly - all except one, Luke Patterson. He was the cause of most of her stress. The two of them never got along, even if they were in the same friendship group, the two teenagers always butted heads. It sometimes caused tension within the group and made it awkward between them all - Julie, Alex, Reggie and Flynn not wanting to pick a side since the four were friends with both (Y/N) and Luke. If the group were to hang out, they normally only had either (Y/N) or Luke, they rarely had both of them at the same time.

(Y/N) was staying around Julie’s for the weekend while her parents were out of town. Julie invited Flynn as well so they could have a girls night. The three girls were all squashed on the couch watching a random film they had found - none of the girls were really paying attention as they were talking all the way through it.

“(Y/N), please don’t hate me.” Julie suddenly blurted out.

(Y/N) narrowed her eyes at her friend, “Why? What did you do?”

“The band is coming here tomorrow so we can rehearse for our gig next week.” Julie confessed.

“What!” (Y/N) exclaimed, “You’ve gotta be kidding me. My two week streak of not seeing Patterson will be over.”

“I’m sorry. I already planned this before I knew you were staying.” Julie said.

(Y/N) let her head flop back onto the couch, “You tell Patterson not to annoy me. I’m not sure how much stupidity I can take from that boy.”

“Why do you two hate each other so much?” Flynn questioned.

“Well, he’s just an arrogant, cocky, little-”

“Okay,” Flynn interrupted, “We get it. But are you sure that’s hate, it could be something else.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” (Y/N) asked.

“Oh, I don’t know, like the fact that the two of you definitely like each other.”

(Y/N) began laughing, thinking that Flynn was joking - she couldn’t be serious. However, (Y/N)’s laughter faded out once she noticed that neither Flynn nor Julie were laughing along with her.

“You’ve got to be kidding me? Me and Luke? Liking each other? You know Flynn, I thought you were smart but apparently not.” (Y/N) said.

“Well you did just call him Luke and not Patterson.” Julie smirked.

(Y/N) sent a glare Julie’s way, “Well Patterson and I have no attraction towards each other.”

“Come on, (Y/N). You two have this desire for each other deep down. Even Alex and Reggie agree with us.” Flynn stated.

“We do not. End of story.” (Y/N) replied before turning her attention to the television and watched the film. She had no clue what was going on since she was talking all the way through it, but anything was better than the conversation that just took place.

***

The next day, after Flynn left, Julie dragged (Y/N) down to the studio. (Y/N) was happy with just staying in Julie’s room until the boys went, well until Luke- Patterson - left. Of course Julie was having none of it so here (Y/N) was, sitting on the couch in the studio while the band rehearsed. (Y/N) just scrolled through her phone, trying to pass the time. She enjoyed listening to the band, even if Luke was in it, but she hated sitting in their rehearsals because that meant that there was more of a chance in interacting with Luke - and (Y/N) didn’t need that.

(Y/N) hadn’t even been sitting down ten minutes before she began to feel small, balled up pieces of paper hitting her face. She looked up to meet the eyes of Luke Patterson, who was smirking and also the cause of the small paper balls.

“What do you want, Patterson?” (Y/N) grumbled.

Luke shrugged, leaning his elbows on the top of the piano, “Just entertaining myself while the others went to go and get some food for us.”

“Find something else to entertain yourself.” (Y/N) said before tearing her attention away Luke and looked down at her phone again.

Luke wasn’t done yet though. He slouched down on the other end of the couch causing (Y/N) to roll her eyes. Luke didn’t do anything except sit there, but he knew that it would aggravate (Y/N) so he stayed there. She didn’t want to react to him at first, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing that only his presence was annoying her. It wasn’t until he started whistling that made (Y/N) snap.

“Can you honestly shut up!” (Y/N) snapped, turning her head to face Luke.

Luke held his hands up in surrender, “I’m not doing anything!”

“You know exactly what you’re doing.” (Y/N) replied.

“And what am I doing?” Luke challenged.

“You’re annoying me!” (Y/N) exclaimed, “You know the exact things that annoy me and you are constantly doing them.

“It’s not my fault that you get annoyed by the stupidest things,” Luke replied, “Why the hell are you even here anyway? You’re not even a part of this band.”

“Well I’m here because Julie, Alex and Reggie are my friends.”

“I don’t see why.” Luke mumbled.

“What was that?” (Y/N) glared.

“I said I don’t see why.” Luke said clearly.

(Y/N) scoffed, “Grow up, Luke. I’m their friend too, get over it. Honestly, I’m surprised you have any friends at all. You’re just a selfish, arrogant, ignorant-”

“Like you’re any better!” Luke snapped, “All you do is complain about the stupidest things. You walk around thinking everyone adores you and worships the ground you walk on.”

“I do not!”

“Oh yes you do! Honestly (Y/N), you need to grow up and actually see that no one actually likes you and they only tolerate you because they feel sorry for you.”

“No they don’t,” (Y/N) said, venomously, “I have friends, close friends who I would do anything for and they would do anything for me. Now I don’t have to sit here and listen to your bullshit insults because they do not affect me Luke Patterson,” By now, (Y/N)’s face was only centimeters from his, “Tell Julie that I left and if she asks why, you better tell the truth.”

(Y/N) got up from the couch and just as she went to walk away, she felt an arm pulling her back. Before she knew it, Luke’s lips were on hers. (Y/N) didn’t know why, but she didn’t push him away - she kissed him back. She wanted to push him away and slap him, but somehow she couldn’t. It was like she was in some sort of trance.

“That was not what I was expecting to see.” Reggie’s voice spoke up.

(Y/N) and Luke quickly jumped away from each other. (Y/N) looked to the entrance to the studio to see Julie, Alex and Reggie stood there, all looking slightly shocked. When she had finally realised what had happened. (Y/N) whipped around and slapped Luke across the face. She didn’t know why she did it - but right now, (Y/N) was conflicted with her emotions. She didn’t want to pull away from the kiss because she enjoyed it.

“(Y/N)-” Luke stepped forward but (Y/N) turned and marched out of the studio, Luke watching her leave with an unreadable expression. Much like (Y/N), he was conflicted with his emotions. He had no idea why he had kissed her - but there was one thing in common, he had enjoyed it as well.

#julie and the phantoms #luke patterson #luke patterson x reader #luke x reader #julie and the phantoms imagine #luke jatp

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join-the-joywrite · 4 years

Text

and I don't want to (but I love you)

@jatp-week Day 6: favourite trope

Not me doing a self-indulgent and stupidly long enemies to lovers au :>

Julie Molina didn't have enemies in her life. She had competitors, sure. Everyone did. But Sunset Curve took the whole cake. She didn't have enemies but Luke Patterson came dangerously close.

Luke Patterson, on the other hand, fully considered Julie Molina his number one enemy. He had zero qualms about saying that to her face and behind her back. He knew his band was the best but Julie had a real knack for knocking his ego down a bit and he hated her for it. Maybe he wouldn't get so riled up if she was nice about it or if not nice, she was less nasty and more stern. Honestly, it seemed like she took pleasure in criticizing Sunset Curve.

The rivalry between them extended to their bands and friend circles. Well, for the most part, anyway. Julie and Luke let Willie and Alex get away with their little forbidden lovers thing because they both thought the pair was cute together. It was pretty much the only thing they agreed on. Ever.

Willie only ever talked about Alex, not the band and Alex made sure to steer clear of mentioning Julie whenever he talked about Willie. The arrangement worked for all sides.

Julie and Luke's rivalry extended far beyond their music. It crept into their classes and had them fighting for the top spot. The teachers were thrilled. It meant Luke put in as much effort as he possibly could into every assignment or test. Even if it was out of pure spite, it was working.

And then, oh dear, and then there was a group project. Obviously, they split to opposite ends of the room with their friends to choose pairs (except Willie and Alex, who were shoved together and assured it was perfect) but apparently, it was important to learn how to work with people you dislike because in the workplace you might be forced to work with people you dislike -- or something like that.

Julie and Luke had never let their rivalry coerce them into doing stupid things -- except the one time where Carrie was convinced Luke could hold his breath longer and Julie almost drowned in the school pool to prove Carrie wrong -- but the moment they were paired up, Julie and Luke both wanted nothing more than to break several school rules, vandalism being the top one and starting violent fights being the second. It was unclear if they wanted to fight each other or their teacher.

Matters were made worse when their friends got to pair off together on their own terms while they were stuck with each other. The only thing keeping them from completely refusing to do any work was that they both were still competing for the highest scores.

Their friends had never been more entertained and the two opposing groups bonded over watching the two most stubborn people they knew suffer out a school project together. The clear awkwardness between them was hilarious and it was a pleasant thing to see them sitting at the same table and not trying to verbally murder each other. Bobby turned out to be the funniest person in the whole group. He had a meme-y caption for every moment they caught of Julie and Luke sitting near enough to have a normal conversation and the others loved it. He also seemed to be able to relate all the memes to the pair and was strangely good at photoshop, which earned him the Groupchat King title. (Julie and Luke were completely unaware of this groupchat excluding only them -- which, for the others' safety, was for the best.) Flynn's favourite was a photo of Julie with a feral look on her face, miming strangling a smug Luke. Me & 2020 was Bobby's winning caption. She wasn't sure which was which and that made it even better, in her opinion.

As the weeks passed, Julie and Luke's rivalry mellowed. As far as they said, it was still going strong but their actions told another story. There were playful nudges in the hallway, now. Teasing death glares across a classroom. Locked gazes and stifled giggles at inside jokes -- the fact that they even had those was surprising enough. They willingly shared a lunch table for the sole purpose of interrupting a mini date between Willie and Alex but most of it was spent in their own world anyway. Their mockery of each other had become gentler and more harmless teasing than anything.

And then one Tuesday, Luke didn't show up at school.

Of course, Luke's band knew exactly what was up, but they -- with support from Julie's friends -- decided it would be fun to play dumb and send Julie to Luke's house, just to check up on him, you know, despite the fact that the group project was long over and she really had no need to meddle further into Luke's life. The mere fact that Julie forgot she still had class and was seriously ready to leave immediately said a lot.

"I can promise you that it's really not as bad as it looks," Luke said from under several pillows, a puffy duvet and maybe three stuffed animals, "but there's no band practice today and I'm not coming to school tomorrow either so can one of you flick Julie's forehead for me? It's tradition."

"Band practice, huh?" Julie said, dropping her bag on the floor with a soft thud. "And here I thought you just had nothing more interesting going on in your life than disrupting mine."

Luke sat up fast enough that his head spun, his vision swam and two pillows fell off the bed. "Who told you where I live?"

"You did, dork. Here, I brought your homework and my dad's trying something out in the kitchen. He misread balf the recipe so it's the blandest thing I've ever tasted but if you're sick, it'll be good for you."

Luke responded to the bit that made sense. "I don't want bland food," he said, scrunching up his nose as Julie set a small stack of papers on the desk in the corner and walked up to him with a covered bowl.

"As if you'd know the difference. Your mom said you can't taste anything anyway."

"You talked to my mom?" Luke asked, looking mortified.

"Yeah, duh. What, did you think I climbed through your bedroom window? I don't care that much for you."

"Aww, I knew you cared for me."

Julie didn't respond to it. "So this is supposed to be a vegetable stew," she said, tapping the plastic wrap over the bowl, "but like I said, mistakes were made."

"Well, what is it then?" Luke asked, leaning over to peer at the bowl.

"I'd call it . . . semi-flavoured water with surprise veggies."

"Joy."

"I know, right? Anyway, I'll leave you to your . . . pillow fort? Cute stuffies. I have the same penguin."

Luke glanced at the penguin that was still secured in his arm. "Don't you dare tell your friends. Especially not Flynn. She's ruthless."

"She is not. But fine, only because you're sick. I'll be back for my bowl tomorrow and it better be empty."

Luke watched Julie leave with a look of amazement. As soon as he heard his front door close, footsteps pattered through the hallway, leading up to his mother sticking her head in his room. "I like her."

"I'm going back to sleep," Luke said, diving back into the safety of all his pillows, wondering if it was the fever or Julie that set his cheeks blazing.

Probably the fever.

"Good afternoon, dork. Reggie says you said you liked the semi-flavoured water and my dad felt very appreciated by that so he's made some actual stew for you to try. It's beef stew this time so please don't get surprised. Did you do yesterday's homework? You should, because I brought today's. How do you feel?"

Luke, who had been staring at Julie with his mouth slightly open in a perfect picture of surprise, blinked when he realised she'd stopped speaking. "Don't you knock?!"

"Your mom said you were asleep and I could just leave everything here for you but you were awake so. . ." Julie trailed off, shrugging.

"You . . . you are so strange."

Julie shrugged as she set the homework down on the desk and walked up to the nightstand to put the covered bowl down in Luke's reach. "You need to come back to school. I feel bad bullying your friends."

"I'm sure they'll be glad to hear that," Luke said sarcastically. He paused for a second. "Yeah, I did the homework. Most of it. My mom said it'll help to get out of bed and do something. I tried to play the guitar but she was adamant I didn't do that something."

Julie nodded and walked back to Luke's desk. She rifled through the mess and picked up all the homework. "I'll finish this essay for you," she said almost absently, searching among the pages. "Please tell me you did your science homework. I got a lot of that wrong and no one wants to give me the answers because apparently, I should learn my work."

"Uh . . . yeah. Um, yeah, I did the science. Wh-- what do you mean 'do the essay' for me?"

Julie looked up as she gathered everything into a pile of messy and uneven papers. "It's on the African American civil rights movement. It's factual and ninety percent of the class will have the same essay anyway so--"

"No. No, I mean . . . why?"

"Oh. Uh . . . why not?"

Luke didn't have a response, so he fell silent.

"Well, that's all of yesterday's homework. Get some rest and then make sure you eat. I can't have my favourite punching bag get too weak to take a hit."

As Julie turned and left his room, Luke felt the sudden urge to scream, so instead, he slammed his burning face into his favourite penguin. Yes, she had called him a punching bag, but she'd also called him her favourite.

"Music class just isn't the same without booing you. Also, Alex said you managed to keep the beef stew down yesterday so my dad thought you could try something a little heavier. This is an experimental chicken and fried rice . . . thing. I do not reccomend eating unless you're sure you're okay enough for a full meal. That said, I brought more beef stew in case you're not up for the chicken and rice."

"You can't just walk in unannounced!" Luke cried as Julie set down the two bowls on the nightstand.

"I can, actually," Julie said, flashing a set of keys at Luke.

Luke's jaw dropped when he recognized the keychains. "Hey, those are mine!"

"Wow, so observant. Your mom gave it to me before I left yesterday because your dad is at work and she needed to go out today and with you holed up in here, there wouldn't be anyone to open for me."

Luke frowned. "Oh, yeah, she said something like that but I was half-asleep."

Julie was pleasantly surprised to find Luke's homework neatly gathered at the corner of the desk. It didn't escape her how Luke seemed to glow with pride when she commented on it. She had to fight a smile as she dropped Luke's homework into her bag.

"Get some rest, dork. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call someone from Sunset Swerve. I'll be busy."

"It's Sunset CURVE and you know it."

"Really? I never noticed."

Luke pouted. "Tuxedo Sam says you're being very mean right now. I'm sick and I deserve care."

"Well, you can tell your stupid penguin that Skipper will beat his ass."

"You named your penguin after the penguins from Madagascar?"

"You call yours Tuxedo Sam."

"Yeah, okay, that's fair."

Julie rolled her eyes and turned to leave. "Take a nap, Moody McSleeveless."

Luke glanced at the penguin laying nearby as he heard Julie lock up the house again. "Don't look at me like that, she's mean all the time."

"I BROUGHT CAKE!"

Luke scrambled up, launching Tuxedo Sam off the bed. "Who died?"

"No one died," Julie said, picking up the penguin as she walked up to Luke's bed. "It's Friday and since you're doing a little better, I thought you could do with a small treat. Tuxedo Sam agrees."

"Give me back my penguin," Luke said, reaching both arms out to Julie.

"Did you do yesterday's homework?"

"Yes."

"Did you really eat both bowls of food yesterday?"

"Yes."

"And keep it down?"

"Yes, ma'am, now can I please have my penguin back?"

Julie passed Luke the stuffed animal. "You're adorable," she blurted, turning away immediately to hide her own stunned look. She cleared her throat as she headed to the desk to grab Luke's homework. "So, that group project? We got a ninety-five."

That distracted Luke easily enough. "What happened to the other five?!"

"We're very bad at teamwork," Julie said, glancing back at Luke over her shoulder to see him relax against the pillows.

"Ah. That . . . makes sense."

Julie nodded. "Mhm."

The silence that blanketed the room wasn't as awkward as it should have been.

"I have to go. Most of the teachers said it would be okay to get your homework on Monday, but Mr Hughes is on my tail about your chemistry paper. My dad is making cupcakes tonight for some reason and I told Willie he could have some, so I'll send extra with him to give to Alex to give to you, but enjoy that crappy store cake for now. I left proper lunch with your mom for when you feel like it."

It didn't register that the only reason Mr Hughes would be harassing Julie about Luke's homework was if Julie herself had taken responsibility for Luke. Well, it did register, but by then, Julie was long gone and the only response Luke could muster was a muffled scream into poor Tuxedo Sam.

"Oh, ew, gross. Luke, it smells like the middle school locker room in here. What were you doing?"

Luke had never looked more sheepish in his life as he pointed to the canister on his nightstand -- right next to his alarm clock. "My phone went off about an hour ago and I thought it was the alarm so I did the smart thing and slammed it down but I missed. Obviously."

Holding her nose, Julie dropped everything she was carrying on Luke's table and tore the curtains open, pushing the windows as far as they could go. She stood there for a moment, relishing in the fresh air. "I'll come back inside when I can breathe," Julie said, halfway out the window.

Luke wanted to melt into his pillows. A week later and he was only feeling slightly better. The pros of it was that Julie visited every day with something tasty and a level of snark that only amused him. The cons of it was that Julie visited every day and left him flustered and red in the face.

He firmly believed that Julie only came by every day because she had homework to drop off, but today was Saturday. There was no more homework to drop off.

And she could have just backtracked right out the door again but instead, she headed for the windows on the other side of his room. Why?

Because she's taking care of you, dork.

Luke couldn't help but think that the logical voice in his head sounded suspiciously like Julie.

"Hey, my parents have some stupid couple's yoga thing on Saturdays. Did you break in?"

Julie pulled the windows halfway closed and stepped back into the room. "No, I still have your keys. Your dad tried to give me the spare key to the front door but your mom said it'll be fine if I kept yours until you're back on your feet."

"Wow. She really trusts you, huh?"

Julie shrugged. "I'm a very trustworthy person."

"No, you're not. I saw you lose a pen that you stuck behind your ear and then you proceeded to lose three more by tucking them behind your other ear and in your pockets. You then tried to steal mine."

"I was fourteen," Julie said defensively.

"It happened last week!"

"I felt fourteen."

Luke gave Julie a deadpan look.

"Cute pyjamas."

"I know, right? Bobby got us matching ones when we were like fifteen for band bonding. I mean, I grew out of the pants but the shirt still fits."

Julie scoffed as she stared at the dark haired cartoon smiling at her from the pink shirt. "Looks really good on you, Skip."

"Hey, I like being Skipper. She's Barbie's most intelligent sister."

"Oh, yeah?" Luke didn't even notice that Julie had made herself comfortable at the foot of his bed. "And if you're Skipper, who are the others?"

"Bobby is Chelsea, 'cause he's the youngest of us, Alex is Barbie, 'cause his summer jobs have been everywhere, and Reg is Stacie, 'cause she's Bobby's favourite and Bobby's favourite bandmate is Reg."

Julie's head tilted slightly. "You sound drunk."

"The bottle said one teaspoon of cough syrup but I didn't read and I took two tablespoons. It's okay, though. Mom panicked and called the doctor and he says the cough syrup he gave me is for kids and I'm just really, really, really intolerant. Which you should remember for me because I plan to be super famous with the band and there are gonna be a lot of after parties and I don't wanna get drunk five minutes in. I think the cough syrup is kicking in."

"Luke Patterson, you are unbelievable."

"I know, right?" He attempted a winning smile, but it came off as plain childlike.

Julie chastised herself for finding him adorable. They were mortal enemies and she had to remember that. Then what are you doing in his room on a Saturday, after explicitly telling the rest of his band to stay away?

Julie found it unnerving how much the voice in her head sounded like a teasing Luke.

"You're like, really annoying."

Julie frowned. "I -- I'm sorry?"

"You should be." Luke was sitting cross-legged now, fiddling with the ears of a stuffed bunny. "It's really messing with my head."

Julie decided she liked tipsy Luke -- even if it was just cough syrup. "How so?"

"No, it's nothing."

"You can tell me, Luke. I promised not to tell anyone about your stuffed animals and I kept it, right?"

"Yeah, but this time the secret about you. You're not allowed to know."

Curiosity more than anything made Julie lean forward slightly. "It'll be our secret."

"Okay, but you have to promise not to talk about it."

Julie nodded quickly. Luke tugged at the bunny's ears for a moment.

"You're like . . . really pretty."

Julie couldn't help the soft laugh that bubbled out of her. Adorable, she thought.

"Like, a lot of pretty. You're pretty on the inside, too."

"On the inside?"

"Yeah. On the inside. You know, your heart."

"M-my heart?"

Luke nodded at his stuffed rabbit. "Yeah. You have a really pretty heart. It beats like a drum. Making music. Like you."

Julie's mouth hung open, surprise silencing her.

"You have the prettiest music in you. I can hear it like -- like a song that gets stuck in my head all day. It's really annoying but it's so pretty. It smells like flowers and it looks like butterflies."

At this point, Julie didn't think she'd be able to speak, even if she knew what to say. Luke was talking to the stuffed animal, frowning as he struggled to voice his thoughts understandably.

"Sometimes it's just so loud and I wanna cover my ears and run away but it just gets louder and louder and then you come over and you're saying something mean but the music is there and it's not so loud anymore but I still can't hear anything else. Your heart sounds like a ballad."

Julie was frozen to her seat at the edge of the bed. Part of her wondered if it was Luke talking or the fever. Part of her desperately hoped it was Luke.

"Julie, you are music."

It was a simple sentence. Anyone could have said it. It could mean a lot or it could mean nothing at all. If anyone else had said it to her, she would have taken it as the highest form of a compliment. But that wasn't what Luke was saying.

Everyone knew that Luke spoke best through lyrics and chords. His books and desks were covered in etched notes and scribbled words. Luke lived and breathed music. It was everything to him. Without it, Luke didn't know who he was.

And he compared it to Julie.

Julie stared at the text on her phone. She bit her lower lip, unsure of what to say in response.

Mom said you visited yesterday. I was dazed for most of it. I didn't say anything stupid or incriminating, right? Not that anything could be more incriminating than the three stuffed animals on my bed.

Ten minutes after that, another had come through. Jules, are you ignoring me? Did I do something?

Then another five minutes later. This is still Julie Molina's number, right?

Julie quickly typed out something before she chickened out again and tossed her phone to the foot of her bed once it was sent.

Hey. Got busy in the kitchen with dad. No, you're good. See you at school tomorrow?

Julie scrambled for her phone to send one last word.

A few streets away, Luke stared at the word 'dork'. He was sure he had said something. He vaguely remembered yapping on about music to Julie -- duh, what else did they share? -- and then suddenly, she wasn't there anymore. He wondered if he'd fallen asleep talking and Julie had left then or if he really had said something to make her leave.

Yeah, he wrote back, see you at school.

Luke cornered Julie as soon as he caught sight of her in the school hallway. "You've been ignoring me and I don't like that."

Julie squeaked. "I most definitely am not ignoring you."

"Julie, you're pretty much the only person in this school that doesn't keep their phone on mute or vibrate. I know you heard my texts yesterday."

"So what if I am?" Julie asked, folding her arms. "We're not friends, so why should you care if I reply to your texts or not? In fact, why were you even messaging me in the first place?"

While Luke fumbled for a response, Julie slipped past him and continued on her way to class.

"Oh, that is just rude!" Luke yelled after Julie.

She ignored him all through any classes they shared and when lunch rolled around, she made sure to sit with Carrie and Flynn at a small table. Luke had never looked more offended in his life as he joined Reggie in sitting with Alex and Willie.

"What did you do on Saturday?" Alex asked, leaning forward to whisper. "Julie was fine when she told us we don't need to come by at all."

"Julie told you not to come over?" Luke asked, ripping his gaze from Julie to Alex and then Reggie, who shook his head.

"Bro, she actually called Alex and told him that we don't need to come see you because she was going to."

"Yeah, I remember her being there but I was drugged up on cough syrup."

"Weak," Alex whispered loudly, grinning when he made Willie laugh.

"Maybe you said something?" Willie suggested.

"Yeah, probably! But she's not talking to me. She's not even insulting me, which I would very much prefer over this apathy."

"You know where she lives," Reggie said dismissively. "Maybe you should pay her a visit."

Luke glanced across the cafeteria to see Julie quickly whip her head down to stare at her fold. "Yeah. Maybe."

Julie was tired and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. Her plans were thrown way off the rails when she walked into her room and found Luke petering around the shelves beside her bed.

"What are you doing here?"

Luke drew his hand back sharply. "Cute box. What's in it?"

"None of your business," Julie snapped, hurriedly closing her bedroom door. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you but you were ignoring me and--"

"You could've just yelled at me from outside," Julie hissed. "I would have come down to shut you up! You can't be in here. Get out of my room."

"No. Not until you tell me why you've been avoiding me since Saturday. Jules, what--"

"Fine! Go and wait for me in the garage. I'll come talk to you in there."

Luke hesitated, unsure if Julie was serious.

When she heard footsteps getting closer, Julie grabbed Luke by the neckline of his shirt and dragged him to the window. "Get out," she whispered hurriedly, "I'll come down to the garage, I promise."

Thankfully, by the time her father arrived, Luke was gone.

"Who were you talking to, mija?"

"Luke," Julie said with a smile. She pointed at the phone. "He liked the cupcakes I sent with Willie."

"Oh, that's great. You didn't take something yesterday and today? Is he feeling better?"

"Much," Julie said, nodding, "in fact, we have some talking to do, so I'm gonna meet him in the garage in a few minutes."

"So late?"

Julie absolutely could not lie to her dad. But she could do half truths. "It's a long overdue discussion."

"School work?"

Julie shrugged. "Music."

"Ah. The garage makes sense. Well, do you wanna take some food down? Midnight snack?"

"Thanks, dad," Julie said with a smile, "you're the best."

"Oh, your dad is the best!" Luke cried as soon as he saw Julie walk in with a plate of cookies.

"These are experimental, too. They're some kind of oatmeal and choc mint blend. They taste good, in my opinion."

"Everything your dad makes tastes good," Luke said, grabbing three cookies. "My mom's starting to get jealous of how much I love your dad's cooking."

Juli smiled and set the plate down on the coffee table. Was there any point beating around the bush? Sugarcoating things?

"You told me I was music."

Luke paused, one and a half cookies gone. "What?"

Julie kept her gaze trained on the tassels of the carpet. "You told me I'm annoying . . . because I'm pretty. Because I have a pretty heart. You said it beats like a drum and I have the prettiest music in me that gets stuck in your head. It --"

"Smells like spring and looks like butterflies. . ." Luke looked positively mortified.

Julie, refusing to look up, did not notice. "You said . . . you said my heart sounds like a ballad and then -- and then you told me I am music."

Had he really said all that aloud? Well, no wonder Julie was avoiding him like the plague.

Julie tensed up when she could see Luke's feet step in front of her. Almost every part of her screamed that this was wrong. They shouldn't be so close without bickering and fighting. But deeper within, beyond the confines of logic and sense, Luke's voice told her that this was the furthest thing from wrong.

"I said all that? Aloud?"

Julie nodded.

"You know what music is to me."

Julie nodded again.

"Jules," Luke said gently. "Julie, look at me."

Julie refused to, so Luke gingerly tucked his finger under her chin and lifted her head, waiting until her gaze fell on him before speaking.

"You know what music is to me," he said again, prompting another nod from Julie. "Then you know what you mean to me."

Julie blinked a few times and shook her head. "No. No, that's just the fever talking. You -- you didn't really mean all of that."

"If you really believe that, why are you avoiding me?"

"I . . . I don't know."

Luke dropped his hand to take hold of Julie's. He glanced at her, waiting for her to pull away. When she didn't, he interlocked his fingers with hers. "I meant every word. Okay, maybe not literally, but you know what I mean."

Julie shook her head. "We're not even friends, Luke."

"Hm, well, who said I wanted to be your friend?"

Julie wanted to hate Luke. She wanted to loathe the sight of him. She didn't want to like him, let alone love him.

And yet, she did.

So before the overthinker in her could stop her, Julie leaned up on tiptoes and brushed her lips against his. Luke beamed at her like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Not the response I was expecting, but definitely one I'm enjoying."

"Don't make me regret it."

"Yes, ma'am. Now, what are my chances of getting two more? And one for the road? Within the next five seconds becaus my mom doesn't know I snuck out and she think I'm still sick."

"Dork," Julie said fondly, shaking her head.

"I'm serious!"

"You can have two."

"Three."

"Two."

"Four."

"One."

"Two will do," Luke said, letting go of Julie's hands to wrap his arms around her. He gave her a small squeeze. "Plus a hug."

"Dork," Julie said again. But he was her dork and he was her favourite.

Before anyone comes for me about the cough syrup thing, I'm drawing from experience. I mean I never confessed my undying love for anyone but I did blurt out some weird shit. Also, THAT WAS LONG AND IF YOU SURVIVED THE ENTIRE THING, CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU

Mara's masterlist

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the fat ones #julie and the himbos #jatp #juke #julie x luke #julie molina #luke patterson #sunset curve #jatpweek

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mouse-fantoms · 3 years

Text

Improvise

Thinking she has a moment to herself Julie plays a paino piece that’s been in her head for ages, Luke wants to hear more, a confession, cannot keep their eyes off the other’s lips

Julie was disappointed when she got into the studio and saw it empty. Usually at least one of the boys would be there. Luke wasn’t even on the couch, his eyes glued to his journal. Maybe they were hanging out together doing ghost things... whatever that meant. She didn’t really know what to do with herself. She’d grown used to coming home and seeing them. It had become part of her routine. She could find something to do, they would probably be back anytime now anyway.

She found herself going to the piano. Perhaps the memories of her mom and her tugged her towards the instrument. Or maybe it was the influence of the boys in her life as they helped spark her passion in music again.

Spark.

Her fingers hovered over the keys, trying to remember the notes to her mom’s song, Wake Up. Her fingers remembered some of the melody, considering the notes were so close together to one another. She recalled when Alex had revealed that they heard her that day. How long had they listened? Why didn’t they say anything initially? Maybe they didn’t want to interrupt or maybe Luke was too amazed to do anything. That was also an option.

After Wake Up she found herself playing another melody. A gentle, flowing one. A smile appeared on her face remembering when it originally came to her.

She was dancing with Nick one second then Luke the next minute. She hadn’t meant to. It wasn’t her intention to accidentally daydream about dancing with her new crush instead of actually dancing with her old one. Her mind was foggy. The memory of how well Nick had danced was hard to recall. Luke however, he could dance. As to the actual dancing capibilties of real Luke she didn’t know. But dream Luke, Prince Luke rather with that hair and outfit choice, he could.

The way she remembered him giving her an approving nod to grab his hands, the way her body felt electrified once she did. They were able to physically touch, hold hands, be close to one another, hold each other. Being able to feel the warmth of each other (was normal Luke that warm too?), feeling the air from his mouth as he sang the rest of his part in her ear. After he had spun her away from him she was pulled back into reality realizing she was in Nick’s arms.

Right.

Actual Luke was a ghost and the passed minute they spend together didn’t happened. Of course he hadn’t held her close, embraced her, held her hands.

It wasn’t just the dance, it was the song they had sang together too. Their song.

The truth is finally breaking through

Two worlds collide when I’m with you

Our voices rise and soar so high

We come to life when we’re in

Perfect harmony, woah, woah

The image of him picking her up as she opened her arms to the sky played in her head. He lowered her down gently as they looked into each other’s eyes. Luke’s ‘did that really just happen?’ look of amazement and her smile of agreement. The little bounce on his heels that turned into him swaying their held hands together left and right.

When she let her hands off the keys that’s when she noticed the three ghosts in front of the piano, mouth’s a gap.

“Seriously?” She let out a laugh, not minding the company, “I can never get a moment to myself in here?”

“That was...” Alex tried to think of the words to say.

“Perfect.” The word fell out as Luke’s smile of amazement took hold.

She blinked. “Wait? Did you guys-”

“Every word.” Luke answered mesmerized.

“We didn’t want to interrupt.” Reggie simply put.

“You seemed... into the song.” Luke was still in astonishment.

Well this was not awkward at all.

“Yeah! You know how it is,” she gave a nervous laugh standing up from the bench, “getting lost in the music.”

His eyes suddenly shifted to above the keys. “You... there’s no sheet music.” He noticed. “You did that from memory?”

“That’s all I could remember.”

“There’s more?”

Oh no, he wanted to hear more. “I was just inspired one day, it’s nothing. Just leave it.”

“Nothing!?” He was offended by her words.

“Okay, you cannot just leave a song like that.” Alex had to interrupt.

“Yeah, it seems too special.” Reggie added.

“It was just a one time thing, like I said, leave it.” She went away from the bench and passed them heading to the door. Suddenly hanging with them didn’t seem like the priority since they had just heard that, especially Luke.

“But-”

“Luke,” she turned on her heels to face the boy who had began to walk towards her to catch her before she left, “leave it.” She finally said and out the door she went.

Luke looked longingly at the closed door.

“Let me guess,” Alex didn’t need to see his face to know, “you’re not going to leave it alone?”

“You try leaving alone a song like that.” Reggie could understand where Luke was coming from.

Without a look to the boys behind him or any word, he poofed out of the garage.

~~~

“Gah!” She exclaimed in response to seeing Luke sitting criss-cross on her bed.

“Julie...” he begged.

“I said to leave it.” She closed her bedroom door behind her.

“I know, I know but-”

She folded her arms frustrated he wasn’t letting it go.

“You said you had part of it.”

“Yeah.”

“...Do you have the rest?”

“...It’s not really your speed.”

“I know but-” she could tell he was trying to ask without directly asking, “Do you have the rest of the song?”

“...I do.” He saw her hesitant and look passed him. He turned his head and saw what she was looking at.

“I thought you didn’t write music anymore.” He knew the only time she would, would be with him or if they were finishing one of her mom’s songs.

“I used to.” She found herself actually going to her dream box, taking in off the shelf and opening it. It was the first peice of folded paper on top. “Guess that changed when you guys fell into my life.”

She knew Luke was being Luke and whenever he had a thought he couldn’t let it go. He wouldn’t stop pestering her until he got an answer. That was the reasoning she told herself at least for showing him the song. When he took the paper from her he unfolded it to read it. She put the box back on the shelf and sat next him on the edge of her bed as he was transfixed by the paper.

“There are two parts?” He asked for confirmation once she sat next to him.

“Yeah... a duet. Sorry if it’s a little messy.”

Reading the chrous over again he didn’t think before saying, “Why would you want to get this out of your head?” Assuming she wanted to not think about a song like this anymore.

She noted how he remembered a fact he had learned about her during the first day they had met. “It’s just a silly little-”

“Silly? ‘We’re heaven on earth, melody and words’ If by silly you mean genius than sure.”

She smiled at the compliment he gave. Finding herself looking at his profile as he read the song. She noticed his eyebrows knit once his eyes stopped reading.

“What’s the L mean?”

She scooted closer to him to look over his shoulder at the paper.

“Before the, ‘Step into my world, better sweet love story about a girl’” He clarified.

Before the start of those lyrics, on the line above there was a ‘L:’ written. Then a few lines below was a ‘J:’ written and then below the start of the next lyrics.

“L for...” she wasn’t good with coming up with things off the top of her head, “lyrics.”

He tilted his head at her, picking up on her hesitant answer.

“I was writing fast.” She excused. “I was in a haze. Wanted to just make it clear where the lyrics were by marking them.”

She could tell he wasn’t fully buying it but his head went back to the paper.

“You said it was a duet...” he trailed off as the gears in his head were turning. “There’s an L marked but also a J...” he looked to her to see if he was on the right track. “What’s the J mean then?”

She bit her lips, finding her bedsheets a better sight than him.

“Julie...” He was looking for an answer from her even though he caught her lie.

“Lyrics do start with an L!”

“Then what does the J mean?”

She sighed. “You know what it means.”

She pulled her head back up to the ceiling. Her eyes did eventually land back on him. “When I wrote it down I didn’t actually think anyone would see it, especially you of all people. I had to get the thought of the dance and the-”

“Dance?” He became even more interested.

She shook her head, shaking his question away. “And then it got worse when we performed Great and you wanted me to come over to you but I was taking Flynn’s advice on ignoring the beautiful dead eyes and I was doing really well until you did that guitar riff and I couldn’t resist.”

“That was the point.” He thought he sounded smooth then realized that probably wasn’t the best move as Julie was going through her ‘saying-whenever-comes-to-mind, doesn’t-think-about-it’ little quirk spiel to him.

“And then! You had the audacity to come over and sit at the piano with me! We did not practice that in rehearsal!”

“I was improvising!” He put his palms up in defense.

“Would you have ‘improvised’ the rest if you hadn’t poofed away?!”

“That was the plan!”

The two stopped their shouts of frustrations after his answer. He corrected himself realizing what he said.

“Unless,” his voice dropped, getting shy, “you would have wanted to... of course...”

She looked to the side, her voice dropping to match his. “...You would have just phased through anyway.”

His eyebrows raised, a stutter from nerves. “Would-would you have wanted me to improvise?”

She took the paper he held in his hand, dangling it in front of his eyes. “Does this answer your question?” She set it beside her.

He had a thought. “Maybe now things are different.”

“Hm?”

“We were able to hug you.”

“That...” she shoke her head, “maybe that was just a one time thing that night.”

He looked at her hand that was on the paper of lyrics then back at her. She knew where he was going.

“Luke...”

She knew beginning to scold wouldn’t do anything. When that boy had a thought, he acted on it. She didn’t find herself moving her hand away when he went for it. Perhaps, they were both curious. She felt the warmth that was present when they had hugged. The warmth she had felt when she cupped his face to really look at him. The tears of fear had turned to happiness in an instant when he had cupped her face as well, proving it was actually real life. Real life that he wasn’t gone. The only difference being this time he didn’t appear to be glowing, although he probably felt like he was.

She slipped her hand out from under his, hesitating a response, wanting to change the topic though, finding it hard to ignore what just happen. “Yeah I wrote a duet between you and I.” She noticed his hazel eyes looking into her’s after she looked away from the paper that his hand was still on. “So... what...?” She trailed off as her eyes flicked between his lips and eyes matching what he did.

They became conscious of how close they were to one another, inches from each other, how they could close the gap. They each waited for the other, waiting to know if it was okay, evident by how they couldn’t keep their eyes off each other.

“...Do you want me to improvise?” He asked, lowering his voice, not wanting to ruin the moment.

She leaned closer to show her approval, closing her eyes as she did. He had done the same as she. They waited for the feeling of warmth on their lips. How magically it must be. How gradifying it would be. They had an instant connection from the start. It was like they were at the piano together during Edge of Great expect this time he wouldn’t poof away. He would stay to close the space between them this time. He would-

“Julie?” A knock came at her door the same time as the question.

Their eyes shot open, seeing how they were just centimeters from each other. Luke had quickly gotten up at the same time she had looked away. Trying to distance themselves from the awkwardness.

Her bedroom door opened.

“Dad!” She looked over surprised.

“Were you...” His eyes looked around the room. “Talking just now?”

“Nope!” She let out. “You probably heard my laptop.”

He looked at the closed laptop. “...uh huh. Hey! While I have you, do you mind helping me chose some pictures to send to a client? You know your brother, his eyes aren’t as keen as your’s are with my photos.”

“Umm...” she looked to left, expecting to see Luke standing there but saw nothing. Of course he had poofed away. Why would he stay after they were just interrupted by her dad of all people? “Yeah sure.” She answered.

~~~

“Ok what was that?” Alex’s question came after Julie had exited the studio after a rehearsal.

Reggie and him immediately picked up on the obvious tension that was in the air between the two. After they had gotten done what they needed to, which was rather quick, as Julie went for the door the drummer and bassist shared a look to each other. It was great they didn’t even need to talk out loud, both instantly understood. Reggie poofed out once Julie exited. Good. He got the message.

“Ugh!” Luke groaned, ignoring Alex’s question. “I needed to ask him something.” He said in response to seeing Reggie poof out as he took his guitar off himself, setting it on it’s stand.

“What was that?” Alex repeated standing on his feet, holding his sticks in his hand.

“What was what?”

“That!” He gestured to the door that the ‘what’ of the question had just walked out of. “We can never get you two to stop making eyes at each other. And today you two were... normal.”

“Normal?”

“We just did a basic run through. You two didn’t do your Luke and Julie thing.”

“We have a thing?”

He was starting to get annoyed that he was acting like nothing was different. Maybe Reggie was having better luck.

“Gah!” Julie held up her hands as a reflex. “You guys have to seriously stop doing that!” She said in response to see the ghost in the red flannel at the top of the stairs when she turned to go up them.

“Sorry!” He immediately apologized. “I would’ve been in there,” he pointed to the door, her door, on his left, “but you have the ‘Stay out of my room’ rule.”

“At least two out of three of you understand that.” When she was halfway up the steps and made a gesture with her hand to her right, telling him it was ok to go into her room. If they were going to have a conversation it was probably best to do it in her room. The staircase probably wasn’t a good place to be having a conversation with a ghost that no one else could see.

“Speaking of all of us,” Reggie began once she closed the door behind her, “what happened at rehearsal today?”

She sighed. “You could tell?”

“It was hard not to.” He took a seat at the edge of her bed. “You two are always close together, sharing the mic all the time. But you weren’t this time.”

“Right, we weren’t.” He saw her look to the side at her floor, a look of hurt. She started to play with her thumbs. “It’s just...” She trailed off, he noticed her hesitation.

“You don’t have to tell,” he gave her the option, “it’s your guy’s business. Alex and I just don’t want to see our best friends... off. The way you two come up with these killer songs, the joy and passion both of you have when you perform.”

She gave a little smile.

“We just want to-”

“I know. Your hearts are in the right place like always. Or... well...?”

“We’re still figuring out the ghost thing. The teleportation is cool though, doesn’t tingle as much now.”

“Must have been a weird adjustment.”

He shrugged. “We’ve always had each other. Not much changed aside from being ghosts and having you now. Which now you and Luke have each other which again begs the question,” she let out a little laugh, finding it amusing he found a way to bring it up in again, “what happened?”

She continued to fidget with her fingers but went over to sit on the bed next to him.

~~~

Alex was ready to be done with Luke. That was until Reggie decided to poof in next to the blond.

“Find anything out?” He asked.

Reggie looked expectantly to Luke. “...yes.”

Luke flung his head to side. “How much did she tell you?”

From him staying quiet and looking down, he got the assumption that he knew most of the story.

“It just kind of happened.” He summed up recalling earlier. “I asked to see the song and we got caught up in the moment.” A smile came on his face.

“Ray interrupted...” Reggie continued, knowing majority of the rest of the story.

Alex looked between the light smiled Luke and Reggie, trying to read their expressions. Trying to add the pieces to the puzzle he didn’t have but the other two did.

“Oh.” he looked to Luke. “You mean you guys almost... you mean haven’t already?”

“Alex!” Luke protested.

He put his hands up in defense. “You two spend a lot of time in those song writing sessions.”

“That’s never happened.”

“Yet.” Reggie added.

He shook off his friend’s comment remembering the question he wanted to ask earlier. “You know paino...”

“Yes...” He was wondering where the question was going.

“Can you...” he saw Luke reach into his back pocket and pull out a piece of folded paper, “Can you read this?”

He took the paper from him, he read the paino chords, with the addition of Alex looking over his shoulder wanting to read the paper too.

“Yeah.”

He noticed him looking down, licking his lips before the question came. “Can you... teach me?”

He couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “You didn’t even have to ask.”

~~~

Out of all the things to come home to, hearing the piano being played was probably at the bottom of the list. She dropped her bag off inside then went out the back door to the garage. When she was further away, the music was faint, barely able to hear it. As she got closer, she recognized the tune. She carefully, parishly, opened the door to peek inside.

By the window, near the greenery, she saw Luke and Reggie behind the piano. A peice of paper was on top of the grand instrument, Luke’s fingers at the keys and Reggie supervising. Reggie was watching his fingers press on the keys and cause the beautiful sound. His wrist became relaxed switching from note to note, feeling the music. Until a nasty off-key note was in the equation from Luke slipping up and hitting the wrong key. From he frustrated sigh and Reggie’s sympathic look, this hadn’t been a first mess up.

“Maybe you should take a-”

“No,” he protested, “I can... I want to learn it.” He corrected looking to his right at Reggie.

“You will.” He was trying to be encouraging even though he didn’t like seeing him frustrated with himself. He saw him stare at the keys, as his fingers hovered over them, hesitatant to start again not wanting to mess up Julie’s beautiful notes she wrote. “Do you want me to leave?”

“What?!” He asked more upset than he intended, warming Reggie’s heart. “Why?!”

“You make a lot of progress on music when you’re alone.”

“I do?”

“The amount of bangers you’d come up with when we’d leave you alone.”

He didn’t realize it before but there was truth to his statement. When he had his nose in his journal with a pen in hand, he was in the zone.

“And,” he added raising an eyebrow, “the bangers you and Julie come up with when we leave you two alone together.”

Luke’s unenthused expression was his reaction to knowing what his friend was trying to allude to.

He asked after a moment, “...You two really haven’t yet?”

“Reggie! You’re just as bad as Alex.”

He put his palms up in defense. “You two just give off those vibes.”

“...Vibes?” His eyebrow raised in confusion.

“...I’m around Flynn and Julie too much.”

He gave a little smile thinking of Reggie hanging with the two girls.

“Maybe you’ll make some progress.” He said as a goodbye to his friend for the time being and poofed away.

Julie saw as he smiled to his right where Reggie was moments ago and his eyes went back to the keys. He tried to play the notes quick and messed up when he did so, he repeated trying to quicken the tempo, getting the same result every time. Until he took a breath, looked at the sheet of paper in front of him, and played. His wrists became loose again and his shoulders dropped. Perhaps it was the atmosphere in the room because she found herself coming out from behind the door and going inside in the studio, closing the door quietly, not wanting to interrupt. She could hear the part he played in her head when she closed her eyes:

You set me free

You and me together is more than chemistry

Love me as I am

I'll hold your music here inside my hands

We say we're friends, we play pretend

You're more to me, we're everything

Our voices rise and soar so high

We come to life when we're

“In Perfect Harmony.” She found herself sing. Luke shot up from the piano bench, being startled and looked in the direction of the angelic voice he heard. “Sorry! I just got caught up in-”

“How long were you there for?” His eyes darted to look down then back up to her at the door.

“Long enough to know that Reggie was helping you.” She walked closer so they wouldn’t be having a conversation on the opposite ends of the room from one another.

“Yeah I,” the back of his neck suddenly itched, “asked if he could teach me.”

“You could have asked me too... you know.” She came around the right side of the piano, getting closer to him.

“I know.” He seemed to immediately say. “I just kind of wanted his help to learn this song and you weren’t supposed to know about me wanting to learn it but... well...”

She let out a laugh. “I’m sorry but it just sounded really nice. I had to investigate.”

“Nice?”

“Yeah!”

“...I wouldn’t really... call it...” He looked at the sheet of paper. “Would you... want to... maybe help me with one-”

“Yeah, of course.” She came around to sit on the bench as he sat back down again.

He pointed to a verse asking for her assistance on. She nodded and said that she noticed his main limitation was that he wanted to quicken the tempo. She played the first set of notes and paused, wanting him to replicate it.

“Don’t just play notes.” She responded when he played the correct note pattern. “Keep the tempo I give.”

She redid what she played, paused once more to wait for his reply with the instrument in front of them.

“I know you want to go fast but this isn’t that kind of song.”

“...What kind of song is it?” He asked knowing full well the answer.

He saw her hesitantation. “It will... it’ll ruin the moment if the tempo is changed.” When she looked at him, the piano lesson seemed to be forgotten.

There was a sense of déjà vu. The two looking at one other once again not being able to keep their eyes off the other. They were having a moment. A moment at the piano as he was trying to learn their song. Waiting, once again for the other to do something.

Luke spoke after some seconds, “Do you want me to improvise again?”

A smile came across her lips, finding his question amusing.

“Speaking of ruining the moment, is your dad around this time?”

She shook her head, smile still on. “No, he’s not.”

Her excitement reflected onto him as the same smile appeared on him.

It felt like they were feet away, but when they leaned into each other, meeting in the middle, they were just a mere centimeters away. The feeling was electric. They could feel the other’s smile through their lips. It wasn’t everyday this got to happen. It wasn’t everyday a moment like this was shared between the two people who had mutual crushes on each other. It wasn’t everyday time stopped when you were kissing the person you were melody and words for senseless. Time continued when the two came up to only touch foreheads with one another, eyes closed basking in the moment that was just shared.

“At least you can inform the guys that it’s happened now.” She opened her eyes to look to his.

He chuckled, realizing she had overheard him and Reggie earlier. He opened his eyes to meet hers, “Yeah, I guess I can.”

Time seemed to stop more the longer they were at that bench. Forehead’s touching, smiling giddy at one another. They should improvise more often. This was nice.

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tessxblxckthorn · 3 years

Text

you’re more to me

@juulies and again: happy holidays love!! (2/2)

a short juke soulmate au cause meg wrote that she likes the trope so i thought why not... english isn’t my first language and I haven’t written in quite some time so please have mercy and enjoy!

It took her an entire day to realise. Julie could see colors. Actual, vibrant colors. Not the dull, grey-ish colors she had seen her entire life but the bright red of the painted dahlias on her bedroom walls, the vivid blue of the Los Angeles sky, the deep violet of the string that was still braided into her hair from yesterday's performance in the Orpheum.

It had all been so chaotic that Julie hadn't had a minute to breath and, well, realise that she had met her soulmate.

Her soulmate.

Of course she knew about soulmates and that, after finding yours and having direct skin contact with them, you could see every beautiful color that exists. But she also knew that many people never, ever found theirs. Sure, her parents had been soulmates, but they were lucky. Flynn's parents weren't soulmates, Carries definitely hadn't been.

While there were a lot of soulmate-couples, people just didn't want to get their hopes up just to never find theirs. So that's why, at the young age of 10, Flynn and Julie had stopped believing that they would eventually find their perfect match, simply because this wasn’t a perfect world.

And now, at age 16, Julie was laying in her bedroom on her bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering how on earth she could’ve missed meeting her soulmate. Because that was what had happened, right? She must have bumped into them at the show or while running out on the street when she thought the guys had died...or stopped existing or whatever...or when she went home with her dad and Carlos or-

There was a loud bang coming from her closed door followed by a groan and a curse.

“Come in!”, Julie called out, sitting up and pushing her messy hair out of her face.

“Damn it”, Alex groaned and closed the door behind him. “Still haven't adjusted completely to being alive again, thought I could just materialize through the door.”

Julie laughed softly. “Yeah, I heard that.”

“Pretty sure your dad thinks we’re absolute weirdos now, Reggie just said good-bye in the kitchen and then jumped up before realising he couldn't poof out.”

Jup, that sounded like Reggie.

“Anyway, the boys and I wanted to drive back to the Orpheum, you wanna come?”

“Weren't you at the Orpheum this morning?”, Julie asked confused, while starting to fold her costume from yesterday's performance.

“True, but...Lukethinkshemethissoulmatethere”, Alex muttered under his breath, looking at the, suddenly so interesting, blanket that was thrown over Julie's bed.

Said girl froze up. Had she heard correctly? “Uhm Luke- he- what?”

Alex sighed and pushed his blond hair back, a habit he did a lot when he was anxious. “Ok, so- I mean- Luke- He- he can see colors now, like the kind of colors you can only see after you met your soulmate? And he can see the colors since this morning so he thinks he met them while we were back at the Orpheum to meet with Willie.”

“Oh…”, Julie said, dropping her hands that were still folding into her lap. No, it was stupid. Of course she hadn't thought or hoped her soulmate would be Luke. He was dead. Well, now he was alive again, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Luke Patterson couldn't be her soulmate. Eventhough, for some dumb, idiotic reason, her heart apparently had wished he was.

“Yeah…”, Alex agreed, awkwardly fingering at the blanket. He wasn’t dumb, in fact, he was probably the most observant of the three boys and it wasn’t difficult to identify the way Luke looked at Julie. Not only at the performances but all the time.

“Uhm- I- Flynn’s coming over so…”, Julie trailed off. “We’re having a girls night.” More like a “freaking-out-about-who-could-be-Julie’s-soulmate”-night or a “crying-over-the-fact-that-Luke’s-not-her-soulmate”- night. She hadn’t decided yet, but judging by the lump in her throat it seemed that the latter was more possible.

“Oh ok. Yeah, sure.”

Julie nodded slowly.

“Okayyyyy”, Alex scratched his neck. “Then I'm going to go now. With the boys. To the Orpheum.” She nodded again.

By the time he had closed her bedroom door again, after softly smiling at her with his annoyingly nice “I-know-what’s-going-on-and-you-can-always-talk-to-me-but-I-don’t-want-to-push-you”-look, Julie was fighting the tears.

The last two hours, after she realized that she could see colors, she had spent thinking about every person that could or couldn't be her soulmate. It couldn't be anyone she actually knew, because she had had direct skin contact with all of them at some point before yesterday. All of them except Luke, Reggie and Alex. Not Alex, because he’s gay and terribly in love with this Willie she had yet to meet. Not Reggie, because he was like a brother to her and he still couldn't see colors.

And not Luke, because he had met his soulmate this morning. And not last night like she apparently had, simply because she hadn’t left the house since then.

So it had to be some stranger, right? And still, everytime she thought about her soulmate, she thought about Luke’s piercing hazel eyes, his perfect smile and his soft brown hair and-

“Oh my god”, Flynn shouted, slamming the door shut behind her. “You can’t just text me that you met your soulmate without any details!”

Julie flinched and instantly shushed her. “Flynn! No one else knows! Shut up!”

“Oh Julie, I’m not stupid. Ray and Carlos went grocery shopping and the boys just passed me, saying they want to go to the Orpheum or something? Whatever, I need the details!”, Julie's best friend threw her bag beside Julie’s desk and jumped onto her bed.

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know.”

Flynn laughed loudly and then looked back to Julie. She went quiet. “No”, she said. “No, no, cause I thought I just heard that you said you didn’t know who your soulmate is but I must have misunderstood.”

Julie sighed and layed back down next to Flynn. “You don't know? How can you not know? You met your soulmate, are able to see colors now and tell me you don't know who it was? How can you not know?”

“I don’t know.”

“Julie…”

“Seriously, Flynn. I don't know, okay? And it's horrible! I didn’t even realize I’m able to see colors now till this morning. I don’t remember suddenly being able to see colors after touching someone, okay? It was all so chaotic yesterday. The performance. The boys missing. Then I thought the boys were gone. Then they weren’t. Then they nearly died of those jolts in the garage. Then they were suddenly alive again. Then I had to explain to my dad why the hologram band from Sweden is in the garage. It was all messy and chaotic and I must have missed it.”

“Breathe, Julie.”

“I am breathing!”, Julie cried out, hiding her face in one of her pillows.

She felt Flynn soothingly patting her shoulder.

“So it isn't Luke?”, the girl said softly after a while. Julie choked and pushed down her tears. She shook her head, still buried in the pillow.

“But you thought he would be.” Julie went still and then shook her head again. “I guess I hoped it would be him.”

“Oh…”, Flynn mumbled and went back to rubbing her best friend's shoulder. While she had been against bonding with Luke and more one Team Nick, she knew that Julie had fallen for the ghost-boy. And, well, she’d mostly been against Luke because he was a ghost...which he wasn’t anymore.

“So did you tell the boys?”, Flynn asked hesitantly when Julie showed her face again and sat back against the headboard.

“Nope”, she croaked and cleared her throat. “I wanted to think and then tell the boys. But then they were busy trying to find Luke’s soulmate.”

Flynn opened her mouth and closed it again. “Wait so Luke met his soulmate too? When?”

“This morning at the Orpheum apparently”, Julie answered bitterly.

“This morning? Is he sure?”, Julie shrugged. “I don’t know, that’s what Alex said.”

“Ok, so you haven’t talked to him or, you know, touched him? I mean, what if he only realized this morning he could see colors? Touching him-”

“would either dull or brighten the colors.”, Julie finished, looking at Flynn wearily. “I forgot about that part to be honest.” Flynn was beaming. “But, Flynn, I really don’t want to get my hopes up just to be disappointed again, okay? And who knows, maybe Luke found his soulmate already.”

“Nuh-uh, you gotta be optimistic, okay? Everyone can see the way you two look at each other!” Julie frowned slightly. God, how she wanted to believe Luke could be her soulmate...she just didn't want her heart to be crushed when reality set in.

“Anyway, we gotta change that topic because we can’t do anything about it right now. But before we start the Netflix marathon we gotta go to the kitchen or I’ll starve.”

Julie laughed and rolled her eyes but followed her friend.

The two girls were in the middle of topping off their tortilla chips platter with cheese when the front door was opened.

“So, let me sup it up”, they heard Alex's confused voice. “You don't actually know you met your soulmate this morning, you just didn't realize before then that you could see colors? So you meeting and touching them also could’ve been yesterday. Which actually seems more plausible, if you think about-”, the blond boy stopped abruptly, Luke next to him, when he saw the girls sitting at the counter frozen up and...listening.

“But the only person you touched yesterday, other than us, is Julie so- ohhhh”, Reggie bumped into Luke and shut up when he saw their faces.

There was silence for about five seconds in which everyone in the room realized what Reggies statement meant before Flynn hopped from her chair. “Reggie, Alex, you have to help me pick out a movie upstairs. Now.”

And Julie and Luke, still frozen up, were alone.

“So-”

“I-”, they started at the same time. Julie blushed. “You go first.”

Luke nodded awkwardly and walked towards her, sitting down on the chair opposite to her.

“I didn't realize it till today. I don’t know why i thought it might’ve been someone at the meeting with Willie today but I thought you couldn’t see colors and I didn’t want to get my hopes up, and-”, he was cute when he rambled, Julie thought, but stopped him from any more talking by reaching out and taking his hand that was on the counter in front of her. Every color in the room seemed to get even brighter momentarily and Julie gaped. Luke did too.

“So, that was fool-proof.” Luke laughed lightly and slowly took her hand in his. Julie couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

“I didn’t realize it till this morning either. And i wanted to think first but then Alex told me you had met your soulmate this morning but i had to have met my soulmate yesterday so I thought- wait, did you just say you didn’t want to get your hopes up?”

Luke grinned but blushed. “I kinda thought it was obvious, you know, that you mean a lot to me.”

Julie’s heart seemed to beat faster and she squeezed his hand. “Well, apparently everyone but me realized it but...it’s mutual, Luke.”

The boy smiled widely and pressed a shy kiss to their joined hands. “Good to know.”

Julie swore she never smiled that hard ever before.

#netflix #jatp #jatpdaily #secret santa #julie and the phantoms #Julie and Luke #jatp julie #juke imagine #luke patterson #luke jatp #julie molina

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rachelbethhines · 4 years

Text

Tangled Salt Marathon - Beyond the Corona Walls Part 2

Part two is here, so let’s get on with the rest of the stupid shall we...

You can find part 1 here - https://rachelbethhines.tumblr.com/post/624977559380213760/tangled-salt-marathon-beyond-the-corona-walls

Summary: Rapunzel and the group return to Vardaros to find Eugene, only to learn about his engagement to Stalyan, leaving Rapunzel heartbroken and regretting her decision on rejecting Eugene's marriage proposal. However, after being encouraged by Cassandra, Rapunzel returns to Vardaros and stops the wedding between Eugene and Stalyan. Meanwhile, Adria gives Raps another piece of the scroll and an ominous hint to her future.

So Why is the Baron Still Operating If Both Raps and Eugene Know Who He Is?

Keep in mind this guy still has a house in Corona that they know about, he’s still a crime boss who’s criminal actions still affect their kingdom, and they both have the ear of the man who is in charge of running things and who has had a vested interest in cracking down on crime for the past 19 years. So why hasn’t Frederic gone after this dude? You can’t say it’s because he’s hiding out here, when he has a base of operations and living quarters in the kingdom itself. And if it’s because he has money, then that’s just further proof that Frederic is corrupt.

The Writers Undermine Themselves When They Try to Make Conflicts Lopsided

So the writers are trying to have their cake and eat it too in this episode. They want to make Stalyan just unlikeable enough so that the audience won’t hold Eugene accountable for his past actions, but not so unlikable that she’s irremediable later. Hence the excuse that the blackmail is her dad’s idea and that she still believes that Eugene is really in love with her and is just playing hard to get.

The problem is, by having Stalyan still aware of the situation and complacent in this plan instead of fighting against it, the audience isn’t inclined to see things her way and less inclined to give her a second chance when they try to pull her redemption later.

Moreover, this also undermines Eugene’s character arc as well, because him learning to be more responsible has to include acknowledgement of his past wrongs. Instead all he does is make excuses or look vaguely guilty over shit that’s only implied not stated. There’s no outright admittance of wrong nor apology for the way he treated her.

Staylan can’t be sympathetic later on if don't show things from her perspective in the now and Eugene can’t grow as a character if he doesn’t realize what he’s done wrong specifically.

Context Is Key

Yeah, that’s a lot of screenshots, I know, but you need to hear/read the line in full. Because there’s not enough context within the episode to make this line work.

What does ‘someone like you’ mean? What was his relationship with Stalyan like before the break up? When did the break up happen? Why did he leave her at the altar? Why is she still trying to be with him after such a thing? Why wouldn’t Stalyan believe him when he says he’s really in love with Raps? And why, oh why, are we going with this ‘marriage is a prison’ metaphor when the person saying it wants to get married herself? To the very person she’s saying ‘don't get married’ to, no less!

Now we get hints to answer some of those questions, but none of those hints are in the actual episode itself. Hence the main failing of the episode. That’s because the writers still don’t want to admit fault in their mains. Because, at the end of the day, for all of their talk about how ‘it’s not a kids show’, they can’t or won’t tackle actual mature topics like ‘relationships are hard and failed ones can be the fault of both parties or neither party’.

‘Contrived Misunderstanding’ Is Literally the Dumbest Plot Point Ever

Unless you are the Bard of Avon risen from the unholy grave himself, don’t fucking do this. Even then I still criticize Shakespeare heavily for bullcrap like this. It’s lazy and more over it’s not fun.

We already know what the ending outcome is going to be so there’s no tension to be had here. It’s just a cheap way to have conflict between the mains without having them actually address shit or grow as people. Instead of having believable conflicts where people have competing needs or desires, they just throw Stalyan in here to be a scapegoat; and then throw the Baron in here on top of that to be her scapegoat.

So Let’s Talk About Staylan’s Thought Process Here

Okay, if we’re to make any sense of Staylan’s actions here, we have to answer some of those above questions.

What does ‘someone like you’ mean? What was his relationship with Stalyan like before the break up?

We honestly don’t know what their relationship was like. We never see them before the break up, only afterwards, and that’s not a good indicator of anything really. All we know are five things;

Eugene wasn’t a very good person during his Flynn Rider days

He is hinted to be a former womanizer in both the movie and during certain points in season one (the threesome joke in TRoS comes most to mind)

He left Staylan at the altar instead of being the bigger person and breaking things off with her respectfully

He’s known Staylan since they were both teenagers (he’s had a crush on her since they were 15/16) and they’ve been in some sort of long term relationship for some undetermined amount of time

They use to pull jobs together, with Staylan sometimes goating him on, possibly taking charge most of the time.

That’s it. That’s all we got. You can’t really judge Stalyan based off that information alone. All we get from this is that she’s sometimes bossy and probably a little spoiled, but so is Rapunzel honestly, and neither of those things mean that they’re abusive on their own. If anything, knowing those things actually puts Eugene in more of a bad light, but he’s pulling the woobie card here; so you’re not meant to think about those things in the moment which is manipulative writing.

When did the break up happen? Why did he leave her at the altar?

Now here’s the million dollar question, because honestly the show doesn’t give us a consistent time frame of events and contradicts itself all the time. Some have argued that the break up happened eight years ago when the Baron screwed Eugene and Lance over during that robbery flashback in TRoS. Yet in Flynnpostor the Baron says that he had hired Eugene to steal the crown in the movie indicating that they were still working together all the way up until he met Rapunzel.

So which is it? Cause either answer drastically changes the context of his relationship with Staylan, their subsequent break up, and informs the motivation behind Stalyan’s words and actions.

Why is she still trying to be with him after such a thing? Why wouldn’t Stalyan believe him when he says he’s really in love with Raps?

Here’s what I think went down, and what I think the writers are trying to poorly imply here.

Eugene and Staylan had a tremulous on again/off again relationship for several years; where she’d be bratty and controlling and he’d cheat on her and/or leave, only, for whatever reason, to come crawling back and she’d ultimately ‘forgive’ him and they start at square one. The ‘leave her at the altar’ can’t be a one and done thing otherwise she wouldn’t be conditioned to take him back so readily, nor believe his relationship with Raps isn’t serious.

In fact, if we take ‘stealing the crown for the Baron’ thing at face value then it implies he stood Stalyan up just to be with Rapunzel. Which makes sense as no self respecting woman would wait around for 8 flipping years. One year is already pushing things as is, but if Eugene has a history of con artistry and cheating then, yeah, she could convince herself that Eugene is pulling a scam and still loves her instead.

To Staylan’s mind, she’s just trying to convince Eugene to give up his cushy life of royalty to live with her in a less comfortable but ultimately ‘truer’ way of life. She doesn’t see it as asking him to choose between her and Rapunzel cause she doesn’t see that what he has with Rapunzel as love. She thinks he’s faking it, like always. She thinks that ‘Eugene’ is his latest con and that Flynn Rider is his true identity.

And why, oh why, are we going with this ‘marriage is a prison’ metaphor when the person saying it wants to get married herself? To the very person she’s saying ‘don't get married’ to, no less!

Well the real reason is cause the writers have really messed up ideas about marriage, but the in universe reason is that Staylan sees ‘love’ as ‘unconditional acceptance’. Eugene, or ‘Flynn’, doesn’t have to pretend with her. She knows every awful thing about him, been hurt by him, and she still takes him back, and vise versa. Their on again/off again relationship has convinced her that putting up with mistreatment means that you must really love that person. She doesn’t understand that people can change and grow and that being in a healthy relationship requires both of those things.

That’s the only interpretation of their relationship that actually makes sense of Stalyan’s actions to my mind. Feel free to interpret it another way if you’d like, because we really have no clue. Just don’t try to pass off you’re interpretation as fact. And if you still see Staylan as the only person in the wrong here; I have to ask you to ask yourself why? Is it the manipulative writing, is it cause she’s not conventionally ‘nice’ like Rapunzel, or is just cause you see her as a threat to New Dream? Because holding her actually accountable for her actions is one thing, calling her ‘a child abuser’ (fandom’s words not mine) just cause she’s a bitchy and bitter ex is another thing entirely. (also they’re the same freaking age what the hell tumblr)

This Song Would Hold More Weight If They Gave Us an Actual Real Interpersonal Conflict

I’m just going to split ball a few ideas here, just to show what we potentially missed out on..

Stalyan is blissfuly unaware of the Baron’s plot, meaning Eugene now has to wrestle with admitting the truth of his past actions to her, along with keeping Lance safe, and trying to figure out a way to save his relationship with Rapunzel

There’s is no Baron involvement, Stalyan is his ex, but he comes to realize that they have more in common than he and Raps does. Meaning that the narrative has to actually address his and Rapunzel’s relationship issues; like their lack of communication and their seemingly conflicting life goals

Once again, no Baron involvement and Stalyan is his ex, but she’s just a victim Eugene screwed over when he was still Flynn Rider. She warns Rapunzel of what he use to be like and she has to confront the fact that she rushed into a relationship with someone she barely knows while he has to confront the fact that simply giving up his ways isn’t always enough and other people are still hurt by his actions

Dump the ‘ex’ plot altogether and have Rapunzel meet someone new instead. Have her question if a committed relationship is what she wants, and if Eugene really is the person for her. Address the fact that she has no experiences to in which to judge their relationship by.

What makes these options stronger is that there’s no clean cut bad guy (except for the Baron). There’s no right or wrong answer to the problem; no easy solution. The less sure an outcome the more tension you can add to the conflict, and these conflicts can go any number of ways; from a temporary break up to a reaffirmation of love.

That’s mature. That’s complex. That’s not reaching for the easy low hanging fruit. The creators seem to think thing dark, edgy, and shocking is ’deep’ but it’s actually quite shallow, especially when you constantly present one sided conflicts like today’s episode.

Your Name Literally Means ‘Lettuce’, Rapunzel

Unlike some fans, I don’t mind Rapunzel being jealous and hypocritical. As I said before, I like my heroines to have actual flaws. The problem is that the show goes out of its way to justify her bitchiness instead of calling it for what it is.

I Don’t Usually Bring Shipping Into These Reviews But,

Eugene and Lance have the healthiest relationship in the show. Like there is zero competition, here. Outside of a few ‘not-so-serious’ crack pairings, like Pete/Stan/Willow or Caine/Trevor, I don't really have any other ‘canon’ ships. I’m like 90% of the time shipping crossover pairings and 90% of those are Varian ships.

But this is still a flaw because it’s not intentional. The writers genuinely think that New Dream is a healthy romantic pairing and that Cass and Raps are a genuinely good friendship/sibling relationship, but they aren’t. And before you say anything, Casspunzel, isn’t the intent of the creators; regardless if you or some of the non-writing staff ship them. Like, it’s okay to ship them, but they aren’t intentionally written to be romantic any more than Lance and Eugene.

My point in bringing up all this up is this: A bunch of male writers only knew how to portray a male friendship well; not a female friendship, not a sister relationship, not a mother and child relationship, not a father and child relationship, not a gay romance, not even a het romance. That tells me that the creators on this show have an extremely limited world view. Which you need to expand upon if you have any inspirations as a creative writer.

You’ll Have an Ice Sculpture of Shorty at Your Wedding, Raps.

You don’t get to judge, woman.

I Usually Love the Art Direction on the Show, but, Not Gonna Lie, I’m Disappointed We Didn’t Get an Actual Wedding Dress for Stalyan

This is animated in what? Toonboom? Flash? Would it really have been that time consuming just to make a palette swap of her regular dress here? I mean you made a bunch of new character designs and gave Raps a new outfit just for this episode so clicking a few new swatches on an already existing model doesn’t sound that hard.

But yes, I’m nitpicking here. That’s cause I hate where all this is going, and I’m trying to put off the inevitable.

Deactivating the Rocks Was a Mistake

Like I said, making the rocks no longer a threat means that our heroine no longer has a reason for her quest. You’ve just ended your main conflict and now we’re going to have to sit through a whole season of watching the creators spin their wheels trying to find a new one. While also invalidating both the previous and future conflicts cause all she had to do was touch a rock and that’s it. That’s what this whole story amounts to.

Also you’re telling me that the main hero was just now willing to risk the life of a bunch of innocent bystanders just cause she be jelly?

Lack of Remorse Undermines Stalyan’s Future Appearances

If you want to pawn off the blackmail stuff onto her dad then you need to have her stand up to her dad on screen. Because we get no indication that she learns anything from these events in this episode, we have no reason to root for her redemption later. I mean she’s literally declaring revenge here.

Say it with me; It’s a lack of setup and resolve.

Nothing Is Resolved

Rapunzel tries to hold an honest conversation for once and Eugene just shuts her down. Yet, this is presented as a form of positive growth for him? The whole point of their relationship problems is their lack of communication and Rapunzel not being assertive about what she wants. But sure, let's have them still not communicate and have Eugene actively talk over her in order to drag out this plot point that doesn’t need to be dragged out.

Stop Treating Marriage as a Trap

Okay, first off, she was about to ask you to marry her, you dolt, so stop assuming. Second off, this a really bad lesson and the fact that Rapunzel now feels pressured to lie through her teeth about what she really wants contradicts this whole ‘Rapunzel needs to choose for herself thing’ the story’s got going on.

I want to make it clear that the writers threw in this ‘forced marriage’ plot not teach Eugene responsibility, you know the thing he actually needs to learn, but to teach him that ‘marriage is bad’. Even though respectfully asking the person you're already in a committed relationship with to marry you is not in any way, shape, or form the same as a bitchy ex blackmailing you into doing something you don’t wanna do.

Marriage is Not a Trap; Stop Treating It As Such.

Oh Look, Now It’s Eugene’s Turn To Have His Feeling Ignored

Yes, how dare Eugene have an opinion that different from Raps.

Remind me again which relationship was the toxic one?

‘Destiny’ Is Not a Reason

Like ‘destiny’ in a narrative sense means that there’s either an unavoidable consequence for not fulfilling it, a fate that can’t be avoid no matter how hard you try, or a prophecy to help show the characters what needs to be done. It’s a tool to create tension and foreshadowing. It’s not a goal in of itself. But the series never expands upon this ‘destiny’ stuff. It’s treated like an end all and be all for the characters actions, but that’s not how its supposed to work.

So, What Was the Point?

You’ll hear me ask this question a lot during season two. But for this episode specifically there’s barely anything worthwhile to the ongoing narrative here.

None of the mains learn anything, none of the side characters learn anything, the Baron and Stalyan wind up not adding anything to the overall narrative, and Vardaros and its inhabitants never come back into play after this season. So what was the point?

The only reason why I don’t recommend skipping the episode altogether is because of Adria’s introduction, the DK flashback, and the scroll pecice. But all of that is so divorced from the episode’s A plot that it might as well not have been here.You could have taken nearly all of Adria’s scenes and fitted them into another episode. Meaning, you could have easily cut all of Vardaros, the Baron, and Stalyan out of the show and it wouldn’t have made a difference to the story arc.

Conclusion

I’ll give the opening this much. It lets you know what your in for for the rest of season; lots of filler, a disconnected arc, and no Varian (or other main threat) to be seen. Ugh!

#tangled #anti-tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #stalyan #eugene #rapunzel

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

Note

remember when devin grayson wrote about green arrow flirting with teenager dick grayson and then bruce and dick have an incestuous relationship............................

Listen, I have no idea what this ask says, I just see a string of random letters followed by dot dot dot.

In completely unrelated matters, the only dynamic between Dick and Ollie I abide by is one where the nicest thing Dick’s ever said to Ollie is something like “hey why does your face look like you killed a squirrel and glued it to your chin, is that what you were going for or do people just not like you and so nobody ever told you til now that that’s what it looks like.”

And even there, that’s still just the best Dick could manage (or was willing to even aim for) after Bruce gave Dick a totally and one hundred percent genuine and sincere Talking To about how he needed to be more polite to Ollie. Cuz the way I envision it, all that’s after Dick initially opened with something like, idk, “hey wanna hear a funny joke, it goes “what do you call a known Errol Flynn fanboy who thinks putting on a domino mask when he fights crime with a bow and arrow like, magically makes his goatee invisible? A dumbass who doesn’t get how secret identities work, that’s what. Get it, its you, you’re the joke.”

LOL for the record, I don’t actually hate Ollie and have no really strong opinions on him one way or another, it usually just depends on how he’s being written in whatever story or issue I’m reading with him. Its just canon that Ollie is like, one of the few people that Dick just openly can not stand, pretty much, with this stretching back far enough that personally, I like to headcanon it goes all the way back to even before Ollie took Roy in and has absolutely nothing to do with Roy whatsoever.

Idk, its just really fucking funny to me to picture that like, for whatever reason, ten year old Dick Grayson decided upon meeting the Justice League that they were all awesome except for Oliver Queen. Dick doesn’t know why, he doesn’t care why, he just knows that like, “I do not care for that Oliver Queen guy, not one bit, and no, I am not open to constructive criticism on this matter, UGH BRUCE STOP TELLING ME I SHOULD AT LEAST TRY AND BE NICER TO HIM, I SAID HE WAS A BUTTFACE AND I MEANT IT, WHERE’S THE CONFUSION.”

Because see, while Ollie is not Actually The Worst, he IS one of the League heroes who is prideful and petty enough to like, absolutely take offense to someone hating his guts for no discernible reason, while considering this more than reason enough to hate their guts right back. Even if that particular someone happens to have both miles and years left to go before they hit either puberty or the top side of five feet tall, and thus in the meanwhile, Ollie must literally lower himself in every sense of the word in order to return fire at his pint-sized and prepubescent critic.

Like, if Dick for whatever reason decided he just doesn’t like Superman or the Flash and he’s not gonna and you can’t make him, then I mean, Clark or Barry or someone else along those lines would just be like, oh, okay, that’s fair I guess. No, its totally fine Bruce, the adorable little human incarnation of glitter, cotton candy and all things Cute and Precious and Wee that you just took in is allowed to hate me if he wants to, its absolutely *wheezing sob* not a big deal. I’m a big boy, I don’t need you to intercede on my behalf with him. Now if anyone needs me, I’ll be wallowing in my room for the next 84 years, trying to figure out if I was some kind of monstrous puppy-kicker in a previous lifetime and that’s why my fate here in this one is to be despised by a ten year old with the superpower of Absolute Preciousness. Its my punishment, clearly, for being just the worst kind of monster to ever exist, the only kind that could actually be hated by someone like your adorable little Fun-Sized sidekick of joy and sunshine and l-l-laughter......no, don’t look at me, I’m hideous! *bursts into tears and scurries away to hide from the light*

But see now, Ollie, on the other hand, like.....he’s not a monster but he’s not about to let even some paragon of preciousness go around painting him as one. Why the fuck does he spend so much money on publicists if he’s just gonna roll over belly-side up the first time one of the people bad-mouthing him just happens to be like, a toddler instead of the usual TMZ?

So Ollie’s not about to admit that he’s actually miffed and even a little bit wounded that this cherub who seems to like even most supervillains more than he likes Ollie, just like, can not seem to be in his presence longer than sixty seconds before drawing his weapons and stabbing Ollie with words that hurt, dammit, because he has feelings too, y’know, he spent a lot of money on pricey therapists figuring out that yes, those are feelings he’s feeling and he can even name some of them.....

Like, he’s not quite on board with actually ACKNOWLEDGING that hey this stings, and that he really just wants to know what the hell this kid’s deal is and why don’t you like me, tiny human, what did I ever even do to you??? But all of that is like......Advanced Level Therapy stuff that he hasn’t quite gotten around to finishing yet at this point in time. Like yeah he’s already dropped a mint on the A-list of the head-shrinking world by now, but apparently he was supposed to keep coming back or something like that, they all keep making a really big deal about that for some reason, and look, he’s been busy. So he really just hasn’t had the time to finish up the course on How To Make Peace With the Fact That Sometimes Tiny Humans Don’t Like Me Even Though I’m A Fucking Delight, Dammit.

But even if the why of this kid getting under his skin so much eludes him for the nonce, Ollie is perfectly clear on one thing: he doesn’t typically go around making enemies of the twelve and under set, but if you prick him, he doth in fact bleed, you little prick. So if this knee-high nightmare is gonna keep coming at me and trying to start shit, then I am more than willing to throw down, is basically Ollie’s take here.

“He wants to dance? Then c’mon, let’s do this thing. We can dance if he wants to. I’ve got the time,” Ollie says to himself and any other nearby Justice Leaguer who might be looking at him with that swiftly-becoming-familiar expression of mingled judgment, pity, exasperation and something a bit more ambiguous but which probably lands somewhere in the ballpark of “We honestly don’t know what to make of all of this but we’re all a little concerned This Is Not A Good Look, Bro. And also, we would like to formally request by way of this petition with all 200+ signatures of Leaguers and auxiliary members and support staff: please don’t escalate this into something where Batman might actually kill you, because that’s definitely not gonna make any of this less awkward for the rest of us, and uh....not to be indelicate here, but all those times we’ve all said things like no Ollie, we don’t think Bruce is a better fighter than you and we absolutely agree with you, you could totally maybe take him in a fair fight if you had your bow and arrows on you and he had the flu probably.....like. Umm. How to put this....Okay, soooooo....here’s the thing. There may, perhaps, ever so slightly be a possibility slash definite hardcore certainty that there were fib-like qualities to those conversations. A little bit. Oh hey, look at the time, we gotta run, there’s a fire somewhere, hopefully. Lol wait whoops did we say hopefully, that’s so weird like where did that even come from. We definitely meant to say probably. There’s a fire somewhere, probably."

But look, at the end of the day, the thing is, Headcanon Ollie is not like, proud of any of this, but he’s not unproud of it either. He is hashtag justified and he wouold appreciate some validation of that Ugly Truth, even if it might go against the grain and not ever exactly be a POPULAR opinion with the “please don’t tell the ten year old that nuh uh, his face looks like a hairy butthole, nobody wins there, that is not the victory you are looking for” crowd.

Honestly though, at this point Ollie’s list of Big Asks is quite small. Miniscule, even. All he wants, all he really really wants, is for someone, anyone, to join him in grasping the one essential corn kernel at the heart of this whole clusterfuck. The thing that nobody but Ollie seems to get and that Ollie’s pretty sure would be enough to allow him to die happily, if he could just manage to find one other person to sign on to the one single extremely obvious observation he keeps trying to point out to everyone, with a whole lot of nada to show for it:

Because see, the one thing about all of this that drives Ollie just absolutely up a wall, is that for some reason he can’t seem to get anyone to understand that like.....this whoooooole ridiculous mess, just like, even in terms of its very existence in the first place?

None of it is Ollie’s fault.

Dick started it!

Mere moments after frustratedly trying to convey this to Dinah for the umpteenth million bajillionth time:

“Okay, could you at least say something?” Ollie asked exasperatedly. “Anything? Seriously, I would take you counting to ten in Cantonese as an acceptable response at this point.”

“I’m just trying to decide which concerns me more,” Dinah said at last. Several epochs and the equivalent of the entire Jurassic Period later. But whatever, its not like Ollie was holding his breath at this point or anything. “The fact that you are genuinely trying to find and occupy the moral high ground in your feud with....a ten year old. Or that you actually think you’ve found it. That this is it, this is what that looks like. ‘The ten year old started it.’”

That was apparently all Dinah had to say. She fell silent again, and said silence lingered through a recreation of now the entire Cretaceous Period, before continuing into a revival of the whole Paleozoic Era from start to torturous finish.

“Well?” Ollie said with a patience that belied the urgency of the many pressing matters he had to attend to. Like the vanquishing of a ten year old archnemesis most foul.

Dinah just continued to frown pensively.

“Hang on, I’m still deciding.”

68 notes · View notes

440mxs-wife · 4 years

Text

Book Club

You walked into the library to find a new book. You had just finished a murder-mystery that was well-written, but now you wanted something different. Maybe one of the classics, like Pride and Prejudice, or The Great Gatsby. Perhaps a spy-thriller like Vince Flynn was known for, or something by Stephen King. You also had a soft spot for those sappy romance novels every once in a while, but you knew you wouldn't find that in this library.

As you had found in your past exploration of the library, all of the fiction books were kept on the uppermost shelves. That meant using the ladder, and you were a little afraid of heights. You were craving an introduction of new fictional characters, so up the ladder you went.

Your eyes settled on a book called Out of Time, by Monique Martin. It followed a college professor and his female research assistant. By manipulating a magical pocket watch, they are able to move through time, having various adventures. There were nine other books in the series, so you figured you should have plenty to read for a while.

You were reading the inside cover of the book as you descended the ladder. Near the bottom, your foot slipped on one of the rungs. Fortunately, Sam was passing through the library and saw you start to fall, arriving in the nick of time to catch you.

"Thank you, Sam! Guess I should've paid better attention to the ladder instead of this book," you mused. You slung one arm around his neck, batted your eyes and said, "My hero!"

Sam threw his head back and laughed at your silliness. "At your service, milady," he quipped.

Looking into his warm, hazel eyes, your face started to feel a little flushed. "Um, Sam? Can you please put me down? I think I'm okay to walk now. I can't wait to start this book!" Sam gently returned your feet to solid ground and you flashed him a grateful smile and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you!" you threw over your shoulder as you ran to your room for your favorite blanket to snuggle with in your reading chair.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sam was on his way to the kitchen by way of the library when he saw you perusing the fiction books on the top shelves. He loved to read, not just for research, and he was glad that you loved to do both almost as much as he did.

There were so many times that he stopped plunking away on his laptop to watch you as you thumbed through a lore book. How your hazel eyes darted back and forth, scanning for any useful information for their latest case. Your furrowed eyebrows when you were trying to make sense of some ancient language. The way you would sometimes fall asleep while reading, your long and delicate eyelashes gently brushing your face.

When he entered the library, you were standing near the top of the ladder, hands on your hips as you looked through the books. You finally settled on one, and began reading the inside jacket while you went down the ladder. Sam started towards you, knowing that your distraction may cause you to fall off and get hurt. Sure enough, your foot slipped on one of the last rungs, and he was there to catch you.

It felt good to hold you in his arms, something he'd had dreams about, though not all of those dreams were as chaste as this encounter. As Sam gently lowered you back onto your feet, you smiled in gratitude and kissed his cheek. He felt a spark where your soft lips made contact with his skin, and he found that he wouldn't mind if you did that again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

You brought out your favorite blanket from your room, and went back to the library. You found your favorite chair and settled into it sideways. Your back was against one arm, your legs were dangling over the other and your blanket was covering your lower half.

After you had been reading for about an hour, you started to think about some sort of refreshment. As if on cue, Sam brought you a cup of orange cinnamon tea, your favorite. He smiled as he carefully set the teacup on the small table next to you. "That was very thoughtful of you, Sam, thank you. I hope it wasn't too much trouble," you said.

"No trouble at all, I was already making some hot chocolate for myself, so I had the hot water from the teakettle left over for your tea," Sam replied. "Enjoy", he said with a smile as he moved over to one of the tables with his laptop.

The rhythmic clacking of the laptop keys and the warmth from the tea eventually caused your eyelids to droop a little. Soon, you gave in to the need for sleep and closed your eyes, your book still open to the page you were reading.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sam paused in his research to steal a glance at you reading in your chair. He chuckled softly at your sleeping form, your chest gracefully rising and falling with each breath. You had forgotten to close your book before dozing off, so Sam found your bookmark to keep your place. He gently tugged the book out of your delicate but capable hands, placed the bookmark and closed the book.

First the book, now the reader. He tried to nudge you awake so that you could go back to your room and fall back to sleep in the comfort of your own bed, but you refused. He shook his head and decided to scoop you up and take you there himself.

Once in your room, he pulled back the covers enough to get you under them, then he removed your slippers. Sam pulled the blankets up around you and before he left, he kissed your forehead, which put a smile on your face. Just before he closed the door, he thought he heard you say, "Good night, Sam. I love you." He froze, not sure if you were dreaming or if you were conscious of what you were saying. Either way, he found that he didn't really care. Sam grinned and blew you a kiss, then closed your door.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning, you woke up in your bed, but couldn't remember how you got there. Last thing you remember is Sam bringing you a cup of your favorite tea. Then, he got to work on his laptop, looking for the next case. Could Sam have helped you in here and then put you to bed? You decided to ask him at breakfast to help you fill in the gaps in your memory of last night.

After your shower, you picked out your favorite pair of faded blue jeans, your black scoop neck T-shirt and red flannel overshirt. Converse sneakers completed the outfit and soon you were on your way to the kitchen to make breakfast.

You were feeling kind of ambitious today, so you decided to make French toast with sausages. In your largest mixing bowl, you combined eggs, some milk, cinnamon and a smidge of vanilla. You counted out the number of slices of bread you would need and started soaking them in the egg-and-milk batter.

Sam strolled into the kitchen, lured by the smell of the cinnamon. "Something smells really great in here," he remarked. "Whatcha up to?" he asked.

"Making French toast, and there are some microwaveable sausage links in the freezer. Would you mind putting them on a plate and getting them ready to be cooked, please?" you asked.

"Sure," said Sam, who seemed genuinely eager to help. "Let me make some coffee first, then I’ll move on to the sausages," he suggested.

"Fine by me, it's all part of the finished product. Thank you for your help, Sam," you replied.

Sam flashed you a shy smile as he arranged the sausage links on a plate. While he was in the cupboard, he also took out three plates for you, him and Dean. On his way to the microwave, he put a hand on your shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "This French toast already smells amazing. Can't wait to have some," he said close to your ear, giving you goosebumps.

You found it difficult to regain your focus on making breakfast, but eventually your heart rate resumed a normal level. You watched as Sam's lean frame moved effortlessly around the kitchen. He brought out the mugs for coffee, including your favorite one of Marvin the Martian from Looney Tunes. He made sure your favorite creamer was on the table.

After the table was set, Sam waited for the microwave to finish cooking the sausages. You were so captivated by his movements that you didn't notice how close your hand was to the hot griddle. When your fingers touched the hot surface, you yanked them back and yelped in pain. Sam was by your side in an instant, surveying the injury. He took your hand and ran your fingers under cold water to soothe the burn.

"I don't know what caused me to burn myself like that. I'm usually very careful," you muttered.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I think you'll survive, since it's not a fatal wound," Sam teased.

"Ha, ha, very funny," you stuck out your tongue at him, then grinned. You gathered two of the three plates of French toast and put some aluminum foil over the plate for Dean. After setting a plate in front of Sam, you looked for the syrup, but didn't see it. Sam must have read your mind, because he jumped up to get it for you. While he did that, you poured coffee for the two of you.

Finally, everything was on the table. After drizzling the syrup, you grinned at each other, then dug into the steamy stacks of French toast. You closed your eyes and savored the taste combination of bread, egg, milk, cinnamon and vanilla.

"This is fantastic, the best French toast I've ever had," Sam gushed.

"I'm glad you like it, I'll have to make it more often, then," you promised. "Thank you for the tea last night, it was really relaxing. In fact, I think I fell asleep reading, but I don't remember how I got to my room. Did I sleepwalk back to my room?" you asked.

"Um, no, you didn't sleepwalk, but I made sure you got back to your room all right," Sam replied.

At that moment, Dean walked into the kitchen, having smelled the cinnamon from the French toast. He found his plate on the counter and joined you at the table. He then put several sausage links next to the stack of French toast and started eating.

As you took your dirty dishes to the sink, you brought Dean his coffee mug and poured some coffee. "Ah, thank you sweetheart," he said as you offered Sam a refill on his coffee.

You couldn't be sure, but you thought you saw a flicker of jealousy on Sam's face when Dean called you "sweetheart". Before exiting the kitchen, you put your hand on Sam's shoulder and rubbed it back and forth. When he turned to look in your eyes, you thanked him for his help this morning and last night. Then you gave him a smile and a wink as you walked towards the library.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As you left the kitchen, Sam's gaze followed you. Afterwards, he noticed a knowing smirk on Dean's face. "What, Dean?"

"Sammy, look at you, being so helpful," Dean teased. "What did you two do last night?" he asked.

"Shut up, Dean. Nothing, we didn't do anything," Sam retorted.

"Then what was she thanking you for, brother?" Dean persisted.

"All right, last night, she was looking for something to read on one of the top shelves. She was coming down the ladder and her foot slipped, so I caught her before she fell. Then I brought her some tea while she was reading, so she didn't have to get it herself. And this morning, she accidentally burned her fingers making breakfast, so I ran them under cold water for her. Are you done interrogating me now?" Sam fumed.

"Sounds like someone has a crush on someone else," Dean smirked. "I mean, she's pretty and all, I guess, but she's kind of a book-nerd if you ask me."

"She may be a 'book-nerd' to you, but to me, she's more than that," Sam murmured. So much more, he thought to himself.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Later that afternoon, Dean announced that he had found a case. One of you figured out that it was a vengeful spirit that drew its power from some ancient symbols. You and Sam got to work researching, trying to figure out how to kill it.

You pulled several books from the shelf, while Sam stuck to his laptop. As the day wore on, you could feel yourself getting closer to the answer, but you weren't quite there. You took a quick break for dinner, then returned to your research materials.

A couple of hours later, you stumbled upon some pictures that matched the ancient symbols from which the vengeful spirit was drawing his power. "Aha!" you exclaimed in triumph.

"Find something?" Sam asked. You frantically gestured for him to look over your shoulder at what you had found. When he came over, he took the chair next to you and draped one arm over the back of your chair as you explained what the symbols meant. More importantly, you told him how to reduce their power so you could defeat the vengeful spirit.

"So, this is all we need to do? That doesn't sound too difficult. Nice work finding that info!" Sam congratulated you, squeezing your shoulder.

"Thank you, Sam!" you replied, turning your head to look at Sam. Only problem is, your lips ran right into his. They were as wonderful as you had imagined, firm, yet also yielding, moving slowly against yours. Sam's eyes snapped open as he realized what just happened. "Um...." he started. "Wow," you responded.

"Yeah, about that....I just remembered something. Keep reading and I'll let Dean know what you found," Sam sputtered as he rushed out of the library towards his room.

You touched your tingling lips where Sam's had been only moments before. Then you thought about his hasty retreat and wondered if he had now changed his mind. It was an accident, kissing him like that, but you couldn't deny that it felt so right, perfect even.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Oh Chuck. What have I done? Sam asked himself. Now she knows how I feel about her, and our friendship is probably ruined. Or, at the very least, it'll be awkward from here on out. I need to talk to Dean.

Sam caught his brother's eye across the library and motioned for him to come over and talk.

"What's going on, Sam? Why aren't you over there researching?" Dean asked.

"Something happened earlier when we were researching for the new case. She was showing me something in the book about the power symbols. She turned to look at me and our mouths ran into each other. As lame as that sounds, that's what happened," Sam explained.

Dean looked at his brother for a few seconds then busted out laughing. Sam started getting annoyed, not exactly seeing the humor in the situation. "It's not funny, Dean! Now she knows how I feel about her, which is going to make things awkward. I think I'd better leave the research to you. I can't trust myself to be alone with her," Sam finished, stepping back into his room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After solving the vengeful spirit case, you couldn't help but notice that Sam was doing everything he could to avoid you. If you came into the room, he made some excuse to be elsewhere. He hardly said two words at a time to you, and that was only if you said something first. The only time he could seem to tolerate your presence was when you were researching a case. Finally you'd had enough. You were going to get him to talk about what was bothering him, no matter what or how long it took.

One night, Sam was sitting on the couch, reading one of his favorite books. You brought your newest book selection from your room, along with your blanket. Instead of curling up in your usual chair, you picked a spot on the couch next to Sam. You opened your book, took out the bookmark and started reading, paying no attention to Sam whatsoever. He looked at you and asked, "Why are you sitting so close to me? There's all this space on the couch, and you're practically in my lap!"

Without looking up from your book, you replied, "The lighting's better right here where you're sitting. I'm just trying not to ruin my eyes, Sam."

"Whatever," he grumbled as he rolled his eyes.

You slammed your book closed. "All right, Sam. Out with it. What have I done to make you so angry with me? Do you hate me for some reason?"

Sam slammed his book closed as well. "Hate you?!? How in the world could you ever think that??" he exclaimed.

"Because lately you can't stand to be in the same room with me for longer than five minutes, and you don't talk to me unless I talk to you first. The only time you tolerate being around me is when we're working on a case. So, what's going on?" you asked.

Sam looked like he wanted to tell you something, but for some reason he kept silent.

"Please tell me what it is," you pleaded, putting a hand on his arm. "You can tell me anything, you know," you replied softly. "Maybe I should start by telling you something. That night I picked out that new book and fell asleep in my chair while reading it? I remember how I got back to my room, Sam. I know you tried to wake me up but you couldn't, so you carried me into my room. I also remember what I said, do you?" you asked.

Sam nodded. "You said goodnight as I walked out the door," he answered.

"I also said, 'I love you, Sam'. And I meant it," you admitted as you looked up to meet his gaze. You reached up and placed your hand on Sam's cheek, stroking it with your thumb. He leaned into your touch and closed his eyes.

Sam covered your hand with his and brought it down to rest between the two of you. "I could never hate you. I'm sorry I've been so distant lately. Remember what happened that night when we were researching for that vengeful spirit?" You nodded. "I ran off because I thought that by kissing you, I had somehow ruined our friendship. I value that above all, it's very important to me.

"At the time, I didn't know how you felt. All I could think of was how awkward it could become between us, if we weren't on the same page," Sam explained.

"I understand. But Sam, you don't have anything to worry about. Our friendship is also very important to me. I hope we're on the same page now, when I say I'd like us to be more than friends," you replied.

Sam cupped his hand behind your head and brought you closer so that your lips met again. Softly at first, then the kiss turned a little deeper. Your mouths moved against each other in perfect harmony, tongues battling for control.

"Does this answer your question, baby?" Sam whispered, breaking the kiss. You nodded slowly before pulling him closer for another kiss.

"Whoo, Sammy! Get some!" Dean called as he passed through the library.

You tossed a pillow at Dean, then turned your attention back to Sam. You picked up his book to see what he was reading. "You're reading Where the Red Fern Grows"? He nodded. "I loved that book growing up, it was one of my favorites. Will you please read it to me?" you asked.

"Anything for you, my love," Sam grinned, touching your forehead to his. You curled up on the couch, resting your head on Sam's left thigh. He held the book in his right hand, draped his left arm along your side and held your hand, intertwining your fingers. You closed your eyes and smiled at the deep, rich sound of Sam's voice. This is perfect, you thought to yourself.

#sam winchester #sam winchester x reader #sam x reader #spn imagine #spn fluff #supernatural

8 notes · View notes

franklyshipping · 4 years

Text

Day 2 ~ Christmas 2019 Ego Fanfics

Day 2 people let's keep this festive train going! Now it's time for one of the most festive tasks of all time...decorating the main Christmas tree sO LET'S DO IT!

TAGGING: @bim-trimler @bimlee-trimmer and @shawn-flynn-the-switch

What makes a festive home, really feel like a festive home? What is it that makes us really sigh and feel the warmth and love and spirit of the holidays more than anything else? Well, I have an answer for you. There is always a centrepiece to Christmas, besides the food and the gift giving and the thrill of hot water bottles….it’s the tree. That giant, obnoxiously beautiful beacon of glamorous pine and spangles that makes you wish your house could smell of tree all year round. The task of decorating such a beacon was an important one, which meant it had been dedicated to a pair who would be able to emulate both vibrancy and rationale to the task. Namely Bim Trimmer and Shawn Flynn.

With Bim’s flamboyancy and Shawn’s more measured artistic approach, they were the perfect couple to undertake this fabulous duty. Also, since they were a couple absolutely smitten with one another, they were very eager to be able to do something so important and festive together. Bim couldn’t go a few seconds without squealing with joy from it all, and Shawn was similarly happy….but he kept it a little more under wraps, keeping to his techniques of hand squeezing and private whispers to make sure his Bim knew that he was happy beyond measure.

‘This is already the best Christmas EVER!’

Bim squealed as he hung another glittering bauble on one of the tree’s branches, making Shawn smile a subtle, fond smile as he mumbled playfully.

‘It’s barely the second of December….’

Bim rolled his eyes, turning to Shawn with his hands on his hips as he came over to him. The presenter stood on his tip-toes so he could peck his endearing grouch of a boyfriend on the lips, before he replied.

‘And it’s already better than any Christmas I’ve ever had….because this year I’ve got you.’

Bim smiled adoringly up at Shawn as he developed a bashful smile; Shawn glanced around the room, making sure they were alone, before diving in to kiss Bim properly. Shawn wasn’t one for massive PDA, but when he and Bim were alone all he wanted to do was give him all the love in the world, especially when he said such sweet things like that. Bim relished in it, mewling into the kiss as he mumbled.

‘I love you so much.’

Shawn let out a soft, happy laugh through his nose as he kissed Bim more…and as the loving seconds passed, Shawn found that his eagerness to decorate the tree was fading fast. He took Bim’s hand as he whispered.

‘And I love ya too…wanna head back to bed?’

Bim flushed a bright pink, spluttering cutely as he smiled up at Shawn.

‘Wehe have to finish this fihirst!’

Shawn frowned and let out a half-growl half-whine sound, tugging on Bim’s hand as he nuzzled Bim’s jaw.

‘Do we have to?’

Bim giggled, loving that Shawn was going into one of his needy moods, it meant he got to give him love and affection for hours. Now though, Bim cupped Shawn’s face and kissed his nose softly as he replied.

‘Unfortunately yes….but, all we have to do is decide what we put on the top, then the rest of the day is ours.’

Bim grinned when Shawn perked up softly at that, blushing a tad under his beard as he conceded with a cute grumble.

‘Fiiine….’

Bim giggled happily, before bringing Shawn back to the tree with him. Bim looked up at their beautifully decorated masterpiece, and nibbled his bottom lip as he tried to figure out what should be its crowning glory. Many of the egos had given their own suggestions of course, like stars, angels, a silver snowflake, and some cuter (but impractical) suggestions like Oliver or Eric. Bim grinned as he thought about the cutest suggestion though. A few hours ago when he and Shawn had been in their mid-decorative stride, before they knew it Wilford had come flying through the air, deposited a happily gurgling Gooper on the top of the tree, and swiftly left again.

‘Gooper did look cute up there earlier….’

Bim mumbled with a giggle as he looked to Shawn, whose eyes had widened at the memory of taking half an hour to get the gurgling little tyke down from his piny perch.

‘Are ya kiddin’? I’ve still got back ache from getting him down!’

Bim covered his mouth with his hand as he giggled harder, before a gurgle spurred him and Shawn to look to the floor. Gooper was settled on a spare bauble, and before Bim could speak Shawn was pointing his finger at the little creature.

‘Yeah we’re talkin’ about you ya little shit, ya might act innocent but I know you’re a worse troublemaker than Warfstache!’

Shawn was glaring down at the little glob, playfully though, since he obviously loved the little guy to pieces. However, Shawn knew how much of a cheeky mischief maker Gooper could be, and Gooper knew that Shawn knew….and so responded by making a raspberry noise at him. Of course, being the mature guy he was, Shawn responded by blowing a raspberry back at the little creature, which spurred a giggly Bim to step in before anything got to out of hand.

‘Ahalright boys alright no fighting in front of the Christmas tree! You’ve been cheeky enough in here today mister!’

Bim raised an eyebrow down at Gooper, who let out a giggly gurgle before happily rolling out of the room on his bauble. Bim shook his head fondly, before holding Shawn’s hand and linking their fingers as he looked back up to the tree.

‘Right, back to the tree topper…’

As Bim pondered to himself, Shawn gazed at him. Shawn had never known you could feel so much for one person, until he’d met Bim, and his heart had ached every day until he’d confessed his feelings….and then everything was beautiful. Especially Bim though, who was so smart and handsome and talented and funny and loving. Bim inspired Shawn too, and he’d actually inspired Shawn to make a little something for the tree, a potential topper in fact, but Shawn felt far too self-conscious when it came to his creations so he’d decided to just keep quiet about it-

‘Love? Love are you okay?’

Shawn blinked out of his thoughts and looked at Bim, but before he could reply he saw Bim’s expression change into one of excited realisation.

‘That’s your idea face, you’ve had an idea! What is it what is it?!’

Shawn spluttered and blushed, he always forgot that Bim could read even the smallest of his micro-expressions…but he was way too embarrassed to reveal what he’d created, he hoped he’d be able to just say he’d made something but wasn’t happy with it and they could move on.

‘O-Oh uh…w-well I might’ve made a little somethin’ but, I-I don’t think it’ll work with the décor so it doesn’t matte-‘

‘Doesn’t matter?! Babe everything you make is perfect, I wanna see!’

Bim’s eyes were wide and excited as he held Shawn’s hands lovingly, he adored anything Shawn created. He was so talented and skilled at crafting, and one of Bim’s hobbies was to just sit in an armchair and watch Shawn create something and love it and be proud of it. Shawn however, was reluctant to share on this occasion.

‘Love I can’t….can we just forget it? It was a stupid idea anyway….’

Shawn bowed his head, and Bim’s expression softened. This sometimes happened. Shawn would create something that was maybe meaningful or from the heart, and because it meant so much to him it meant he was terrified of scrutiny or of it not being good enough; as a result, he’d try to hide it away. Of course, all his creations were perfect, but sometimes Bim just needed to give Shawn that little extra hint of convincing…and that’s exactly what Bim was going to do now.

‘Are you quite sure you don’t want to tell me voluntarily?’

Shawn’s eyes snapped up to Bim’s face….he knew that tone of voice, and he knew that look. Shit. Shawn immediately tried to back up away from Bim, spluttering and stammering prematurely as a nervous smile threatened to creep up onto his face.

‘L-Love wait, y-you don’t have t-‘

‘I’ll take that as a no. In that case, you’re really leaving me no choice…’

Shawn’s eyes widened as he suddenly found himself being pinned down onto the couch, and even though he struggled, Bim overpowered him pretty easily; Shawn had found out during their relationship that Bim was A LOT stronger than people might think. Bim grinned when Shawn weakly batted at his chest.

‘You knew this was going to happen, you know what happens when you hide your beautiful creations from meee!’

Shawn blushed at Bim’s coos, and gasped when Bim pinned his flailing hands beneath his knees. Shawn was trapped, powerless, and had a smirking Bim Trimmer cheekily leaning down towards his rather sensitive neck.

‘This i-isn’t fucking f-fair y-you know I can’t take-EE! Nohoho nohohoho nahahat thehere! Fuhuhuck!’

Bim giggled evilly as he kissed and nipped up and down the sides of Shawn’s neck. He remembered the first time he’d kissed Shawn’s neck, it was the first time he’d heard Shawn squeal….so he made him squeal again and again and again. Bim smirked happily.

‘All you have to do is show me what you made and I’ll stooop.’

Shawn shook his head, his embarrassment over what he’d made still outweighed the intensity of the tickles.

‘Nohohoho! Ihihihi cahan’t!’

Bim sighed softly into Shawn’s neck, smiling fondly at his fit of low, handsome giggles as he replied airily.

‘Welp, I guess I should make myself comfy then.’

Shawn squealed and whined with flusteredness as a) Bim wiggled on top of him so he was properly lying on him, and b) made his nibbles and kisses infinitely sloppier. Shawn was knawing his bottom lip and clenching his fists in an attempt to keep his mirth under control…but it was a fruitless endeavour.

‘N-Nohoho ihihit’s nahat fahair dahammit ihihit’s nahahat fahair!’

Bim giggled fondly, gosh he was so cute. Bim’s heart utterly melted whenever he got his stoic love to laugh or smile or snicker, or anything really, but nothing was more precious that seeing him so flustered when he was being tickled. Bim nuzzled noses with Shawn as he crooned.

‘You knew this was gonna happen baby, you’ve only brought the ticklies on yourself!’

Shawn spluttered and tried to hide in his shoulder. Dammit why did Bim have to frickin call them ‘’ticklies’’ I mean that was just not fair, Bim KNEW how much silly tickle words like that made him blush more! Sure enough, Shawn’s cheeks were a very dark pink now, and his giggles were getting louder.

‘Shuhuhut i-ihit! Y-Y-Yohohou’re soho mehean!’

His words only made Bim giggle with delight, and he nuzzled behind Shawn’s ear teasingly as he purred.

‘Oh you and I both know I’m only just getting started….’

Shawn gulped, then shivered and wriggled from side to side when he felt Bim’s fingertips inching and crawling up his torso, with one particular goal in mind.

‘Nohoho noho nohohot thehere yohohou know Ihi cahan’t stand thahat!’

Bim snickered, letting his fingers sloowly glide up Shawn’s ribcage, before pausing. Shawn held his breath, still biting his bottom lip as he tensed with anticipation, which Bim drew out for a good few seconds…before he giggled and teased.

‘And that’s just why I simply must go there!’

Shawn’s eyes widened as he burst into wild guffaws, because his evil shit of a boyfriend had rammed his fingers into his half-closed armpits and was wriggling them incessantly.

‘AHAHA NONONOHO YOHOHOU FUHUCKER!’

Bim cackled evilly along with him, adoring watching Shawn arch his back and throw his head back with his sweet, stunning laughter. Bim grinned toothily at his mirthful boyfriend as he teasingly chastised him.

‘Ah, ah! Language, it’s Christmas!’

Bim giggled when an indignant growl came from Shawn’s throat amidst his laughter, and he would have absolutely sent Bim a fiery glare too….if he hadn’t been smiling so bloody much. Feeling Bim’s fingers vibrate inside his pits was almost torture, Shawn for some reason always found underarm tickles worse when the fingers were trapped there and just digging in. It was evil, which meant that the last thing on Shawn’s mind was self-censorship.

‘IHIHIT’S THE SEHECOND OF FUHUCKING DEHECEMBER!’

Bim rolled his eyes playfully as he kept up the tickling.

‘Oh details, details!’

Shawn wailed as Bim massaged his hollows with his thumbs, and his torso started to thrash as he yelled.

‘GEHEHET OHOUT OHOHOF MY PIHIHITS!’

Shawn was gritting his teeth and tossing his head back and forth, the non-stop tickling was really getting to him, poor guy. Bim wiggled all of his fingers deviously, cocking his head down at Shawn with mock innocence as he purred.

‘But love, you’re the one trapping them ther-‘

‘DOHON’T YOHOU DAHARE UHUSE THAT BUHULLSHIHIT WITH MEHE IHI SWEHEAR TO GAHAHAD!!’

Bim snorted and burst into giggles, his tongue poking out through his teeth with gleeful cheekiness at hearing Shawn’s mirthful growls. To be fair, Bim had used that little line a few times in the past, but dammit it was a good line he couldn’t help it!

‘Awwww but you always get so flustered when I say it!’

Shawn was absolutely beet red by this point, damn his boyfriend was a meanie.

‘BIHIHIIIIM!’

At this particular wail, Bim decided to slip his fingers out of Shawn’s hollows, he did love him after all and he didn’t want to drive him completely insane. Bim grinned as Shawn panted, and he set about smoothing down his hair and stroking one of his cheeks tenderly.

‘I’ve got you love, my sweet little carpenter, I’ve got you….’

Shawn’s eyes fluttered shut as he melted into the affection, nuzzling Bim’s hand lovingly because despite the evil tickle torture he still adored Bim to frickin pieces. Shawn looked up at him, and ended up grinning bashfully when he saw Bim’s fond smirk and gleaming eyes.

‘Shut up…’

Bim raised a teasing eyebrow.

‘I just said lovely things!’

‘Y-Yeah but y-you were teasin’ me w-with your eyes!’

Bim giggled, cocking his head down at Shawn as he stroked along his jaw.

‘Mmm that may be true….had any more thoughts on showing me your creation yet?’

Shawn whined. On one hand the tickling was diabolically evil, but on the other hand he was so nervous about Bim not liking what he’d made. So, Shawn pursed his lips and replied in a mere murmur.

‘….I-Ic-can’t….’

Bim raised an eyebrow, deciding to slowly push up Shawn’s shirt as he purred.

‘Can’t or won’t?’

Shawn averted his gaze, trembling as his torso got goose-bumps.

‘I-It’s s-stupid….’

Bim’s eyebrow went higher as he lowered his head, and started blowing cool air around Shawn’s deep innie bellybutton.

‘I rather think I’d like to judge for myself…because I have a feeling it’s better than you think it is….’

Shawn was already smiling once more, and he’d squeezed his eyes shut when he felt Bim’s lips ghosting around the rim of his trembling bellybutton. Shawn found he was holding his breath too, so he could only shake his head at Bim as a reply; Bim chuckled.

‘No? Oh dear…looks like I’m really going to have to bring out the big guns….’

Bim then went silent, and Shawn’s entire face was screwed up with flusteredness at the evil anticipation….and then he did it. A big, wet, rippling, ten second raspberry right into Shawn’s exposed belly button. Shawn screamed, and his poor weakened resolve shattered on the living room floor.

‘AAAAHHHAHAHA NAHAHAAAHHH OKAYOKAYOKAYOKAYAAAAH!!!’

Bim came up and away from Shawn’s torso, releasing his hands with a satisfied grin and a giggle.

‘God I love your bellybutton-‘

‘Fuhuck yohohooou….’

Shawn whined as he curled up, rubbing his tummy as he hid his face in one of his hands. Bim giggled, leaning down to envelop him in a warm cuddle as he whispered.

‘I love you so much…and even though I haven’t seen it, I know I’m going to love whatever you’ve made. I know how much work and love you put into everything Shawn, and that’s why all I can ever feel for your creations is love.’

Shawn’s smile became a wobbly one as he tenderly hugged his Bim back….what he did to deserve a boyfriend filled with so much love and happiness he would never know. Now that he’d managed to catch his breath and somewhat recover, Shawn kissed Bim’s cheek and bashfully mumbled.

‘I-I l-love you too…it uh, it’s in my coat….’

Bim happily sat up, releasing Shawn from the couch so he could stand and go to his coat which had been draped over a nearby armchair. Shawn paused for a moment, but then Bim’s words came back into his mind, and he smiled. He reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled some kind of carved figurine. He brought it back over to the couch and handed it to Bim, who was sat cross-legged like an excited child. Bim straightened his glasses as he held it so he could really see it….but then things blurred anyway, because tears started to build in his eyes.

‘Shawn is….i-…i-is this….m-me?’

Shawn bowed his head bashfully after he nodded. It was indeed Bim. The male figure was made out of wood and had been varnished gorgeously, the face and spectacles and hair were done perfectly, as well as the details on the figure’s pinstriped suit. Then though…Shawn had added a halo upon his head and angel’s wings coming out of Bim’s back. Bim was just blown away.

‘This…I-I….i-i-it’s so beautiful….’

Shawn’s heart just….soared, and now any nerves or shame he had just fell away. He sat closer to Bim, so close that their legs and shoulders touched as he spoke.

‘I-I figured….when it’s up there, e-everyone will think it’s just an angel….but I’ll know that it’s my angel.’

Bim’s smile was shaky as he sniffled, taking off his glasses and setting them aside so he could wipe his teary eyes. He smiled at Shawn before leaning in for a kiss, Bim was just….honoured and enamoured. Soon, Shawn lifted Bim up by his hips so he could affix the topper in its rightful place, and then finally Shawn could take his life-sized angel to bed so they could engage in some of that pure stuff called love.

WHEW HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE THIS NEXT FIC LEMME KNOW IF YA DO WOOOO LUV YOUS XX

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fontasticcrablettes · 4 years

Text

Merry Christmas @whitnium! Here’s a Secret Santa gift for you, full of flystelle for your soul :)

Flynn felt like a wind-up toy worn down when he collapsed into a chair in the Aurnion inn. Just standing long enough to pry his armour off had been exhausting. It now lay in a heap at his feet as he slumped into the chair.

“You look beat.” Yuri lay on one of the beds, which he had fallen onto without even taking his boots off.

“You’re one to talk.”

Yuri folded his arms and closed his eyes. “Guess it’s been a busy day, huh?”

“A busy day….” The busy part was indisputable, but he had trouble believing it had only been one day since they set out for Tarqaron. In that one day, the world had changed so much. They’d faced Duke and the Adephagos only a few hours ago, and had arrived victorious at the gates of Aurnion less than twenty minutes ago. Tomorrow, Flynn would have a meeting with Ioder and Harry to discuss all that had happened and still needed to be done, but for now, he had blessed peace.

The door to the inn opened and Raven stepped in. Flynn instinctively straightened up in the presence of Captain Schwann.

“Hey, do either of ya know where Estelle wandered off ta? Rita was wonderin’.”

Flynn straightened up even more. “Lady Estellise is missing?”

“She went for a walk,” Yuri said without opening his eyes. “She told me just after we got back that she wanted to clear her head.”

“I think I could use a clear head myself,” Raven said. “I’ll let Rita know.”

When he was gone, Flynn said, “Do you know what direction she wandered off in?”

“Away from the gate. Toward the river, I think.” Yuri opened his eyes and turned his head. “Why? You worried about her?”

“No.” He tried to make himself comfortable again, but couldn’t relax. “I’m sure she’s fine. It’s just… well, she was worn out from how much healing she’d been doing. We’re all exhausted, and I know she’s been troubled about the Adephagos and her unfortunate role in it….”

Yuri closed his eyes again. “If you’re that worried, go find her. And maybe kiss her while you’re at it so I don’t have to deal with your emotional constipation anymore.”

The last traces of energy he hadn’t known he had flared to life in a spike of anxiety. “I – my what? I don’t – why would you – I don’t have a crush on Lady Estellise!”

“Uh-huh, that sounds exactly like what someone who doesn’t have a crush would say. Just go see her and let me sleep, will you?”

Flynn dragged himself out of the chair. “I’m going to go make sure she is alright. It has nothing to do with… with anything else you said.”

Flynn huffed out of the inn. It was almost midnight, and the clothes that had been under armour all day were sweaty, making him more cold than the light breeze ought to. At least, he liked to think it was the breeze giving him goosebumps and making him anxious.

Yuri was stupid. He was just pulling stuff out of his ass. There was absolutely no way that… that… that Yuri could know how Flynn felt when he’d pointedly never brought it up. Maybe Yuri had just noticed how amazing Estelle was and assumed that it was only natural that Flynn had feelings for her, because Flynn found it hard to believe that everyone else who had ever met Estelle didn’t also fall in love with her. In fact, Flynn had spent the past few months terrified of the prospect that Yuri had also developed feelings for her, and the way Yuri had carelessly sent him off reassured a lengthy fear.

Then Flynn reached the main gate of Aurnion, and his anxiety came crashing back. Estelle was not down by the river or even walking along the inside of the wall. She had decided to leave Aurnion all together, and was standing in the grass beyond the town with her gaze fixed on the sky.

Then she startled and drew her sword. A monster, low to the ground and covered in plated armour, crept through the grass toward her.

“Estellise!” Flynn found hidden reserved of energy accessible only by panic to sprint across the field toward her. He was too tired to think clearly. Any thoughts about her having fought hundreds of monsters before flew out of his mind and the fact that she had held her own in a fight against Duke only hours ago didn’t seem to matter. He just had the sudden terror of watching her get mauled to death just when he thought all was well, and it drove him to charge forward.

He slammed his sword into the Erdas’ side, taking it by surprise. It hissed and jerked around, slashing at him with a clawed arm. Flynn was so used to wearing armour that he didn’t even try to evade the slash in the half a second he had to react, and pain ripped through his left arm.

The monster was on its last legs though. Estelle had already injured it and his surprise attack had struck deep into his chest. It only took one more thrust of his sword to make it collapse to the ground.

Panting, Flynn held his hand over his bloody forearm and tried to summon the aer to cast First Aid. When nothing came, he felt like he’d missed the top step in a dark staircase. Of course – they’d gotten rid of blastia only hours ago.

“Flynn!” Estelle grabbed his arm and held her own hand over it. Light flashed and the familiar tingle of magical healing rushed through his arm. The wound closed, though he pulled it away from her to clutch the still-aching arm to his torso.

“Are you alright, Lady Estellise?”

She stared at him and then began to laugh. “Me? Of course I am! You’re ok though, right? I healed your arm ok? Did you get hurt anywhere else?”

“I’m perfectly fine. Please don’t worry about me; I came to help you. What are you doing out here, anyway? It’s dangerous to be outside the walls at night.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. I just… wanted to look at the sky.” She turned to resume gazing up at the black expanse and its thousands of twinkling stars. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Flynn watched the moonlight gleam in her dreamy eyes and couldn’t help smiling. “Yes. It is.”

“For a while, I’ve avoided looking at the sky. Every time I glanced up, the Adephagos was there, waiting. It’s finally gone now, though.”

Flynn finally stopped staring at her face to look up as well. She was right; the night sky really was beautiful. He realized that he’d been avoiding looking up, too, and was relieved to see the moon uninhibited again. “It’s such a relief that everything is over.”

She lowered her gaze. “That’s right… it’s over, isn’t it?”

“You sound sad.” He looked to her. “Aren’t you glad we don’t have to worry about the Adephagos anymore?”

“Of course I am! I am so thankful that we’ve taken care of it. It’s just... it’s… well, everything else is over too, isn’t? Travelling with everyone, I mean.”

“Do you plan to return to the castle?” Flynn struggled to keep his voice level.

“Well… I’m not sure. I feel like I have to, because I have a duty to help Ioder. It’s going to be so difficult for him with all the blastia gone. But, I also want to keep travelling with everyone. Going on adventures with Brave Vesperia has been the happiest time of my life, even with all the horrible things that have happened. What do you think, Flynn?” She looked to him expectantly.

Flynn fiddled with his sore arm to give himself more time to think. He desperately wanted Estelle to return to the castle so he could see her everyday, but that was selfish. More than anything else, he wanted her to be happy. If being happy meant leaving Zaphias, he would just have to deal with that. “I think you should do what you feel is best. I used to think that the best place for a princess was the castle, but you’ve become so much more than the flighty girl I knew back then.”

“Hm…. Do you want me to stay?”

More than anything. The thought of going back to live in the castle and not be able to look forward to her running down a hall to greet him with a smile and a laugh crushed him. But, this was her life and it shouldn’t be about him. “You’re an intelligent, brave, and resourceful woman, and I wouldn’t presume to tell you how you ought to live your life.”

“O-oh…. Thank you, Flynn. I’m so resourceful and brave that I couldn’t handle a single Erdas, though, hm?”

Flynn froze. No, damn, he hadn’t meant to offend her! He felt like crap and only the slight smile to indicate she was more amused than upset kept him from grovelling at her feet. As it was, he still gushed words with little forethought. “Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to insult you capability. Of course you’re able to defend yourself, Lady Estellise, I just… when I saw a monster going toward you I panicked. I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to you, not again, I couldn’t live with myself if I failed to save you again-”

Estelle’s slight smile had turned to surprise and upset at his last sentence, and then she cut him off with a finger pressed to his lips. “Flynn….” With her other hand, she took his gently. “I told you I don’t blame you for what happened with Alexei, didn’t I? It isn’t your fault. You didn’t know what Alexei was planning.”

When she lowered her finger, Flynn struggled not to visibly cringe. “But I should have.”

She squeezed his hand tighter. “There are things I regret not seeing sooner, too.”

“Like what?”

“Things like… like how much I care about certain people. How important some people are to my life. Maybe if I’d realized how I felt sooner, we’d both be in a different place by now.”

Flynn’s anxiety made him feel like he was breathing through a straw. “W-which people…?”

She took his other hand. “Flynn… if you have to save me today to make up for not saving me before, there’s one thing you can do that I would really appreciate.”

“What might that be?”

“Be the deciding factor in me staying in Zaphias or not. My choice is between being with my loved ones or staying to do my duty. But, maybe if Zaphias also had a loved one… if it had, um… a person I care deeply for who wanted me to stay… then I could make my decision. So, I’ll ask you again. Do you want me to stay in Zaphias?”

She met his eyes. Her hands were trembling. Her face was flushed with nerves. The question was so much more than where she should live and the thought of answering it truthfully terrified him. However, the thought of not answering truthfully, and the life-sans-Estelle he would have – physically and emotionally – the moment he told her to leave was even more dreadful. Faced with those two prospects, there was really only one choice.

“Yes,” he whispered. “Yes, I want you to stay… with me.”

Estelle’s nervous expression spread into a broad smile. “Really?”

Flynn hadn’t expected needing to confirm it twice and fumbled through a, “Um, yes?”

She pushed herself to her tip-toes and kissed his cheek. Warmth spread from her lips to his face, and then rushed down his spine in a wave of giddiness that threatened to take out his knees. His legs felt like collapsing, so he used that as an excuse to grab Estelle and pull her against him. From there, it was easy to reach her upturned face and kiss her lips.

Flynn had daydreamed about this for longer than he cared to admit. He’d always brushed those daydreams aside as silly, because there was no way it would ever be possible for him to kiss the princess. Even once he was appointed acting commandant, he still assumed it was a distant dream because it still relied on her wanting to kiss him back. Today, though, they had destroyed the Adephagos and rewritten the structure of the world. It was already such an impossibly weird day; this might as well happen.

So, he ran his fingers through her hair and clutched her to his chest until she finally backed away. Her arms still circled his neck, and she smiled at his expression. He could only imagine it was some combination of baffled, overjoyed, and exhausted.

“Ok,” Estelle said. “I’ll stay in Zaphias. Thank you for saving me from having to make that decision.”

“Of course.” He traced his fingers along her cheek. “I’ll save you however many times it takes, no matter how big or how small.”

“How many times it takes for what?”

“For me to forgive myself for failing to save you the one time it really mattered.”

Estelle smiled sadly and then leaned forward to rest her head on his shoulder. “Oh, Flynn. Now I’ll have to go throwing myself into danger over and over again to try to help you find that forgiveness.”

Flynn stroked the back of her head. “Please don’t, Estellise. I don’t think my heart could take the stress. And for now, I don’t think I can stay awake much longer. Will you accompany me back to town?”

“Yes. A bed sounds wonderful.” She slipped her hand into his to walk back to Aurnion.

Despite his exhaustion, Flynn had a spring in his step as he joined her on the walk to the inn.

#tales of vesperia #flystelle #flynn scifo #Estellise Sidos Heurassein #nightfoot writes things #talessecretsanta2019

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adapted-batteries · 5 years

Text

Out from the Facades

Fandom: The Librarians

Rating: General, sfw, some swearing

Relationship: Jazekiel

Word Count: 2236

Going off a previous post where I headcanoned Stone as a trans guy, this is a fic revolving around that, and the concept of found family for June 4th's prompt: Found Family.

Also posted on my Ao3.

-----

Jacob came home, hair cut short, with a button down shirt from the thrift store, trying to ignore the uncomfortableness of the too small sports bra he was using to bind. His father was usually home later, so he figured he’d have some time to think up what he was going to say, and where he could go if he ended up getting kicked out.

Unfortunately, Isaac Stone was standing at the kitchen counter, looking at some bill that had come in the mail that day. His father looked up, squinting at the open door from the bright Oklahoma afternoon. When Jacob unfroze and shut the door, Isaac sucked in a breath.

“So, you’re a boy now,” Isaac said, inspecting Jacob like he was a prize heifer at the county fair. While his feet could move, Jacob’s throat did not want to cooperate, so Isaac continued. “Since you couldn’t even be a decent girl, you better be a better man, you understand?”

Jacob nodded, mentally finishing the thought that came next: because I can’t have a queer for a kid.

So that’s what Jacob did. So long as he acted like a good ol’ boy, everyone went along with it. He was surprised how quickly people just decided that yeah, Rebecca Stone was actually Jacob Stone, star of the high school football team, more than capable of drinking with the actual linebackers, and making the same comments, though thankfully he never felt compelled to act on them like others did.

But the real shocker was how easily Isaac Stone swept the notion of Rebecca, the rough tomboy, under the rug like he had with his late wife's heritage. Surprising support wrapped in the ultimate thought that if things weren't right by themselves, he'd force it into a more acceptable image and move on. He’d drive Stone to Oklahoma City for hormone replacement therapy until he could drive himself, his father hid of all the pictures past baby stage that indicated a girl that wasn’t on board with being one, and somehow never misgendered him.

Of course, his father didn’t have to worry about misgendering if he wasn’t home, or was passed out drunk on the couch if he was.

By the time Jacob turned 18, no one made any mistakes. He’d been blessed by the transgender gods, spending most of his formative years on testosterone, and soon got top surgery in the city (thankfully paid for before his father completely ran the company into the dirt). To complete the perfect picture, he got himself a nice, manly job oil rigging. It was easy to forget he’d ever been Rebecca first.

But jacob couldn’t ignore how much of a fuckup he still was. No one knew that he’d went to college instead of “a stint up on the Keystone pipeline,” that he’d published dozens of scholarly essays on art and literature of all sorts while “apprenticing to be a surveyor,” that he still liked men even though he was a convincing fake womanizer. Despite briefly living more like who he really was, he was terrified of what would happen if the people back home found out. So, what better way to prevent that than to come back to Oklahoma and work long hours on a dead-end pipeline job, biding his time until Isaac decided he’d done enough to murder his company and let Jacob actually take over.

And then, when he was at the bar with some of his buddies, after dutifully hitting on the hot foreign chick with a Latin tattoo, ninjas showed up, and a NATO counter terrorism officer saved his ass.

The Library made it really hard to be Jacob Stone, manly oil rigger from Oklahoma, because he wasn’t any use to the Library for just that. No, Jacob Stone, brilliant scholar and expert in all things liberal arts, that was exactly who the Library needed to repeatedly save the world. And Jacob realized that, hey, it was pretty nice to actually be the real Jacob Stone, the one under all those facades.

The problem was old habits, ones that were decades in the making, were hard to break. It took him a few months to quit instinctively playing stupid before realizing, no, he didn’t have to do that. Only recently did he actually tell his colleagues what he was always busy working on in their off time, still publishing under Dr. Oliver Thompson, though the thought of abandoning the pseudonyms gave him the same fear that kept him hidden in Oklahoma.

At least the artificial interest in women was becoming not so artificial, but then there was Ezekiel Jones, doing his damn best to remind Jacob how not straight he was. And he still wasn’t totally truthful with the team; no one knew he was trans. Though he knew he didn’t owe them that bit of personal history, it felt like one more mask still hanging on his face.

And then the Library sent them to one of his father’s new sites in Wagner, and his past that he tried to shed came rearing its head all at once. Fortunately his father had hired local contractors who didn’t know Jacob, but he couldn’t do much about Isaac himself, or the fact they were dealing with some Choctaw mythology causing a ruckus, with protestors who seemingly could see through his white-passing visage and into his native blood.

It was as if the universe decided that he needed to actually confront the cultural past he’d carefully locked away years ago with his mother’s death, and the past he’d managed to lock away recently with becoming a Librarian. And maybe he actually would.

Isaac, of course, was off being useless in a bar, so naturally he got to introduce his colleagues to his father in his worst state.

“The hell you doin’ here?” Isaac was looking at him, just like he had that afternoon 25 years ago.

It took all of his willpower to not just turn around and leave. “...hey Pop.”

They managed to convince Isaac that he was just a surveyor assistant to Ezekiel, though part of him was on guard in case Cassandra decided to throw down with his father’s disgusting misogynistic behavior (he was convinced she gave Isaac a headache with all the jargon she threw around, so she got some revenge). It was easy knowing what to say to keep Isaac from suspecting anything, to get him to cooperate (especially considering he was oiled with alcohol), but after effectively being “out” intellectually for a year, it hurt to shove himself back into the good ol’ boy role, even if part of him was screaming it was the safe thing to do.

Being locked in the truth chamber was a thrilling experience, in that his anxiety about kept them from escaping. He thought he was going to have to come out right there to Ezekiel and Cassandra, but thankfully the door was happy enough with him talking about his father.

In the end, even after getting a practice run with Hokolonote, he realized it didn’t matter if Isaac had no clue who he really was. Isaac would never care, because Jacob still ended up being the family fuck up, just the “turnin’ your back on your family” one. He left Oklahoma with a different hurt, the low ache of realizing he never actually had genuine family to begin with.

And then he spent more time with the Librarians, and that ache began to fade. These people he worked with, saved, got saved by, knew him as he was, and loved him for it. And realized he felt the exact same way about them. He near spooked himself with how much he cared if Eve had died by Dulac’s sword, if Ezekiel got killed by anubis’s werewolves, if Cassandra didn’t make it through the surgery, if Flynn hadn’t been strong enough to take in evil while they scrambled for a solution to Apep, if Jenkins somehow died (thank god he was immortal). Family was only half of having people care about you; you had to care about them too.

He had family.

But he didn’t want any secrets with the family, and he still had one left tugging on his heart. And who better to tell than the other professional faker on the team.

He cornered Ezekiel in the main room while the others went about doing whatever they were doing. “Hey, Ezekiel, can we talk?”

Ezekiel looked at him, a mix of confusion and concern, since Jacob rarely pulled the first name card for him. “Sure, mate. Is something wrong?”

“No...uh, just, let’s go somewhere more private,” Jacob said, about-facing and walking deeper into the Library. Ezekiel followed him, and he knew the thief was suddenly hyper aware of everything because Jacob caught him off-guard.

The wandered for a bit, eventually far enough from the others and any main walkways where someone might come near. “Okay, what’s this about?” Ezekiel asked, folding his arms.

Jacob took a death breath. “I’ve not been completely truthful about my past-”

Ezekiel cut him off. “No one ever is, least of all me, so what of it?”

“No, just-” Jacob rubbed his face in frustration “-I know you and Cassandra found out I’d lied to my father about myself for decades, but that’s not the only thing about me you don’t know.”

“Okay?” Ezekiel just looked at him even more confused. “Are you like, coming out or something? Because that isn’t a big deal, I mean it is, but like, Cassandra has a girlfriend, mate, and you know I’m not the straightest bloke around.”

“You’re not?” Jacob shook his head, ignoring that bit of apparently obvious information for now. “I, uh, well, yeah, Jones, I’m coming out. I’m trans.”

There was an awkward silence as Ezekiel tried to figure out what Jacob meant by that. “Congrats?” He opened and closed his mouth a few times like he was trying out sentences in his head and deeming them not appropriate, and then a flood of words came out. “Um, so, do you have like prefered pronouns you want me to use? Are you thinking about a new name? Cuz that’s cool too. Are you still into women, or do you not want me to set you up anymore-”

Jacob felt like he’d been doing Atlas’s job for him, and Atlas had finally relieved him. “Ezekiel,” Jacob started to get the thief to quiet, “I’m a trans man.”

“Ooh, okay.” Ezekiel, despite his ability to don a quality poker face, had no control over the blush on his face right then.

Deciding he had nothing left to lose, Jacob decided to answer Ezekiel’s last question. “And you can stop with setting me up with women too...because I’m not straight either.” He let out a bark of a laugh at how surreal he felt, which made Ezekiel startle. Apparently Ezekiel realized how big this was for Jacob, because he was looking at him in amazement now. “I can’t believe I’ve not told anyone else that in two and a half decades.”

“You...it’s been that long?” Ezekiel blinked in disbelief. “How did you hide that?”

Jacob shrugged. “You’d be surprised how easily people will ignore things if you fit in somehow. And I wasn’t ever totally hidden...you met Slaten. He knew me, well, more than anyone else until the Library.” He knew what was coming next after he said that.

“Were you...together?”

A smile crept onto Jacob’s face, reminiscent. “It’s the worst when you fall for your straight best friend.”

“It really is,” Ezekiel replied, and then his expression changed to something more serious, his posture annoyingly more seductive with just a slight tilt of his head and angle of his hips. “Now I pride myself in reading people, a necessary skill for effective grifting, and, well, when I first met you, you gave off some repressed gay vibes for sure. Was there something more when you shoved me against that bookcase when ninjas were invading the Library for the crown?”

Jacob thought back to that moment. “Not exactly, I mean, I'm a fighter so my first thought was to immobilize you.” Ezekiel raised an eyebrow, but Jacob had more to say. He stepped closer to Ezekiel as he said, “then my second thought was you looked like you were enjoying it.” Now he was almost toe to toe with Ezekiel, and the thief had certainly picked up on where he was going. “And my third thought was that I enjoyed looking at you like that.”

Conveniently, they were near a bookcase, not the one from the memory, but close enough. With all other thoughts out the window, Jacob grabbed Ezekiel by the shirt and pushed him against the bookcase. Ezekiel let out a little gasp when his back hit the wood, making Jacob's heart flip in his chest. What he said was true; Jacob was enjoying pinning Ezekiel to the bookcase, and based on Ezekiel's turned on expression, he was too.

Ezekiel interrupted his observations. “Are you just going to look at me?”

“Hmm, I might with that attitude,” Jacob purred. Ezekiel scoffed, but he glanced down at Jacob's mouth, and then Jacob couldn't resist any longer. He relaxed his elbows and brought his face near inches away from Ezekiel's, but something making him hesitate.

Ezekiel read him like an open book. “You aren't second guessing, are you? There's nothing wrong with who you are, though your wardrobe could still use help-”

“Oh, shut it,” Jacob growled, but he didn't back away.

“Make me, cowboy,” Ezekiel retorted. That was enough to get Jacob to close the remaining distance and press his lips onto Ezekiel's.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration for him to say he felt fireworks when Ezekiel kissed back.

This was his family, this building, these people. Blood wasn't everything, despite what the folks back home thought. It only took him 40 years to find it, but he was very glad he did.

-----

Post Notes: So, this is some idyllic world where trans teens got HRT in the 80's, which as far as Google would tell me, wasn't a thing until more recently. Also, since I used “And What Lies Beneath the Stones” for reference on Jacob and Isaac interacting, I also noticed how the one protestor reacted when he looked at Stone, and my brain decided that was him recognizing Choctaw or another tribe in Stone because that's also a fun headcanon in my head from when people mentioned it way back.

I picture this happening after season four, so technically the LiTs don't remember the whole Jenkins dying bit (I feel like Flynn and Eve wouldn't say for time line stability, since Flynn does watch out for that already from “And the Final Curtain”).

#a. l. writes #the librarians fic #thelibrarianspromptmonth #the librarians prompt month #found family #jazekiel #jacob stone #ezekiel jones #trans character

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letmetellyouaboutmyfeels · 5 years

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Can we just talk about this for a second?

Dear God, I love this moment. I love it so, so much. Previously to this I had already headcanoned Mason as aromantic, and this sealed the deal for me. But whatever his romantic or sexual orientation, this is a hugely important moment in storytelling.

Because I cannot tell you how many times someone is a playboy. The guy who can have any person in his bed that he wants (if it’s a woman they tend to go for the ‘lonely bossy executive obsessed with work’ type which is… a whole other issue). But his life is empty. The endless parade of beautiful people means nothing to him. And then bam, he discovers The One. The One person who is special and different and it’s violins and roses and happily ever after and marriage.

It’s one of the many examples of how much goddamn emphasis we put on romance. How romance completes you, heals you, how romance is the end all and be all form of love. But newsflash? It’s not. Romantic love is beautiful, but it can’t be the only love in your life. You need more than one person in your life. You need friends and family. It wasn’t romance that saved me when I was suicidal, it was my mother’s love. It was the love of my friends. If I die without finding a life partner, I won’t be dying ‘alone’. Because I have friends and family who love me. I might be single romantically, but I’m sure as hell not alone, and I’m far from loveless.

And here—here we get someone who explicitly talks about how he found love that saved him and gave him meaning… but it wasn’t romantic love. It was parental love, for Rufus.

Mason flew across the globe to come to Rufus when Rufus was breaking down at MIT. He saw himself in Rufus and he mentored him and came to love him as his family. He’s not always perfect in how he expresses that love—his behavior in season one is rather sketch—but season two especially does a good job of showing Mason and Rufus’s close mentor-protégé, father-son dynamic.

For once, for once, romantic love didn’t save the day or the person. Familial/platonic love did. And I think that’s fucking beautiful.

To circle back to the aromantic idea, I do think that this also tells us—not explicitly but as explicitly as we’ll ever get—that Mason is aro. Mason is the only person on the show who has never felt sexual or romantic attraction to anyone (we could debate about Emma and whether she was genuinely attracted to Nicholas or just playing him, I admit that is a gray area, so setting that aside) but we are given several comments that show he has had sex before and presumably enjoyed it—such as in this very scene where he talks about having any number of women in his bed.

But Mason states that he has never understood or felt real love. I’m praying this means in his adulthood and that he had a good family life growing up but we don’t know that. All we know is that he’s never once shown any romantic attraction to anyone on screen, and states to Denise here that he never has done so in his past, either. In fact he felt like something was missing, something was off about him, something was wrong—a way that many ace and aro people describe themselves as feeling.

And finding Rufus and coming to care for him, that was enough for Mason. He didn’t go looking for a life partner. He didn’t say, “I love Rufus as my son but I would also like a wife/husband person to go with that.” He said, “huh, this is love, this is what was missing, this is my family and it’s all I need.” In short, he found familial love and stopped looking for any other kind of love.

Now, I’m biromantic as well as bisexual. I don’t know if I’ll ever have a life partner and if I don’t ever get one, I think I’ll be okay. I know it’s not the end all be all of my life. But do I want a romantic relationship? Yes. I admit that I daydream about that, and have since I was a kid. I haven’t always actively sought one out—in fact, when I was a teenager I specifically didn’t want a romantic relationship until I was older, and have stated several times to matchmaking friends that I’m not going to look for a romantic relationship, if I’m meant to be with someone then the universe will give me a goddamn meet cute or make us coworkers or something. But the fact remains that whether I go out to bars or swipe right looking for The One, I do want a romantic life partner. I’ve found friends and family, but that hasn’t stopped me from wanting romantic love as well.

Mason, however, stopped. He in fact never once even talks about wanting a romantic partner, and he doesn’t talk about dating, or wanting to date. Mason is the only character with no romantic arc. Yes, even Carol has one—hers is just in the past, with Cahill and Henry. But Carol’s romantic choices have huge effects on the present day storyline. Emma and Nicholas use romance to manipulate each other. Denise’s romance with Michelle is then used to inspire her younger self to keep fighting for the life she wants. Jiya and Rufus’s romance is epic and fights against fate and death itself. And we all know the Jess-Wyatt-Lucy-Flynn mess that came to a head in season two.

But Mason doesn’t get anything. Not even a mention of an ex, or a passing flirtation. He’s the only non-romantically attached Time Traveler who doesn’t flirt with a historical character (Flynn is another exception but he’s a) a grieving widower and b) head over heels for Lucy, both of which count as ‘romantically attached’). Even Rufus, who is in love with Jiya and dating her, expresses moments of attraction to Josephine Baker and Hedy Lamarr—which being a good and loyal man he never even dreams of acting on, but he does acknowledge them. Mason, however, gets hero worship instead.

In a show rife with romantic tension and romantic storylines, this is telling. In fact a big criticism of season two is that it focuses too much on the love square of Jess-Wyatt-Lucy-Flynn and not enough on actual Rittenhouse. It also introduces the cringe-worthy romance between Nicholas and Emma (again I think they were both trying to play each other but that’s my personal interpretation). But Mason, and Mason alone, gets nothing.

That sounds like I’m saying Mason was left out in the rain and I’m not saying that at all. I’m pointing out that in a season filled with love declarations (I can count at least eight off the top of my head), Mason’s Big Damn Declaration is about the man that he states he views as a son.

I think that’s important, because it shows how we need platonic and familial love as well as romantic. I think that’s important, because it shows how non-romantic love can save us just as well as a ‘significant other’. I think that’s important, because not all of us are in a place where we can be in a romantic relationship, and it’s not wrong to hold off on that or to feel fine without one. Whatever your sexuality or romantic orientation, I think that’s important.

But for me, it also seals the deal that Connor Mason is a wonderful, nuanced, flawed, complicated, human, and aromantic person. And that’s how I will be headcanoning him until the end of time, thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

#timeless #timeless meta #connor mason #I was gonna post this like last week #but then took a break from tumblr #sorry not sorry #for spamming you all with Timeless meta

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spiftynifty · 5 years

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TeeVee Podcast’s Voltron s8 review

I’ve been waiting eagerly for TeeVee’s review of s8. If you recall, their s7 review was what gave us the man getting choked up about Shiro’s relationship.

The link to the podcast is here but if you’d prefer a sort of transcript, here are some of the highlights for me. I didn’t always catch who was speaking but I wrote down initials where I could. S=Shanon, A=Antony, M=Moises, C=Chip D=Dan. The panel is divided on their feelings on the season. 2 of them seem to have hated it, one liked it, one thought it was fine, and one feels mixed about it. Anyway here we go, some great quotes ahead.

Under the readmore cuz it’s long.

S: "After 7 seasons of a show that was going to be one of the animated series of the decade, they not only did not stick the landing, they fell on their butts, rolled off the mat, off the lines, into the judge's table and their leotard popped open"

"A lot of the plot was callbacks to things from seasons ago that we really probably didn't need to see again." "I wasn't entirely sure that they weren't gaslighting me."

Man Shannon is calling out some great points. She's calling out the dropped druid plot thread, and wondering what the point was of showing Lotor's past when he's dead, and nothing can change in his present and his redemption can't really happen.

A: "endings are hard. I was disappointed with this season [...] it was let down by poor plotting and that final battle made me throw my hands up in despair most of the time. But I have enormous sympathy for the EPs. Maintaining a longform episodic story is hard. And to pull off an ending that satisfies even MOST of the audience is harder yet. and let's not forget they were always upfront that vt always had 'editorial interference' from up top. Toys, the fact that it's aimed at children, corp resistance to some of the more modern social issues that they've tried to tackle. THAT SAID, we don't know what happened on this production, who had the final say, what they argued over. and I say this cuz a lot of the fandom drama over it assumes a LOT over how media and entertainment like this is made that simple ARE. NOT. TRUE. Some of the stuff I've read has been ABSURDLY offbase, like that there were different writers rather than just 1 the whole way through which ignores how TV is made. And if you think these writers just go off and write a script without talking to anyone first and then they come back with something that must be filmed without any changes, THAT'S NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS. [..]we don't know who made these decisions. The studio isn't always the bad guy. Sometimes they rescue things that would otherwise have been a horrible mess. And unless you were IN THE ROOM, you don't know, and neither do any of us. So let's all bear that in mind. [...]You can't lay the blame OR credit on any one person. For any of this."

They're laughing & making so much fun of the final 3 episodes and how baffling they were.

"Don't even get me started on Voltron merging with Atlas [and the crew disappearing] that was a bad, bad idea."

"But that was the ONE time Shiro was back with the team!"

a couple dudes are relatively ok with the Allura death because we've never seen a WOC heroically sacrifice herself for the universe and usually it's the Shiro hero character D: They also point out that technically she wasn't fridged so.. yay?

Antony and Shannon vehemently disagree.

A: "My problem with that ending was more just that it was... not. good." he makes a comparison to RotJ where Vader still dies and it's his SON, who lives, who 'redeems' him. "This was none of those things. It felt like a terrible lesson. You can be so evil that you kill literally billions of people for 10k yrs but if you say sorry just before you're about to be executed it's alright, dw about it, we'll put the universe back to rights. NO, that's a terrible lesson!!"

S:"They had the LIONS. That's my problem. Throughout this series we've had stakes going up but there has always been a trading of ideas, what can we do, what can we figure out, up to the point where they wind up sacrificing the castle, but they go through steps before that 'is there anything else we can do’. And here, there's not even... she didn't even get to say goodbye to Coran! This is the one character, WOC, and she has sacrificed throughout this entire series. She lost her planet. She lost the last connection she had to her father in the AI. She kept LOSING things over and over to the point where she sacrifices her crown to help Shiro. and the thanks she gets is that she has to turn around and say nope I've got to away and fix all of this and apparently never see you all again. It really, REALLY REALLY bothered me. All of my friends who have CHILDREN who watch this show, universally the kids were upset and angry and tearful and HATED that outcome. This did not feel like a triumph. Having to lose Allura like that robbed any kind of triumph in the success of saving all the universes. And I think that's one of the reasons that this last part of the season sits so poorly with me. I feel like it should have ended in a triumphant way. even if it meant losing a couple of the team members or the lions. Of course that takes away the toy aspect which is why that's not an option. We already had several tragedy arcs in this series. Zarkon, Honerva, and Lotor had tragedy arcs. Why does Allura have to have one too? We've had enough."

Antony & Shanon KILLIN IT on this podcast y'all.

C: "This series relies so much on 'oh wait, there's a new upgrade', 'oh wait, there's this new thing'" A: "Well that was the entire final battle." C: "So there's this handwavy Allura has to sacrifice herself. The heavy lifting wasn't done to make this an earned moment."

S: "I do think, whether it was at the direction of DW or WEP (Vld IP), without those little epilogue cards, there is the potential opening that Allura might be able to return.[..]It was open to interpretation."

One guy likes the Shiro ending for the surprising progress aspect, even though he's not thrilled about how it was put together. also he isn't convinced the epilogue wasn't planned. He likes a lot of s8 but all the stuff he likes is tied to stuff that he really didn't like.

S:"The shiro card is the other reason that I think those things were shoved in. For me, that turns Shiro's entire character into a token when he wasn't before. When they introduced his sexuality, it was done BEAUTIFULLY. There was this conversation with his significant other a mature relationship that ran into its problems and therefore couldn't happen anymore. Adam could've been Adele, and nothing would have changed about that conversation. It was not the defining characteristic of Shiro. It was just something else about him."

S: "And then s8 happens and Shiro is divided from everybody on the team. There are so few interactions of any kind that aren't just barking orders. or making plans. Keith is the prime example. Their friendship had been a backbone of this series and suddenly they can't even stand more than feet 5ft from each other.

A: “It’s barely evident, yeah.”

M:”And the same with the rest of the main cast. And if they had set that up at the end of s7, that he’s going to go into the background a bit, it wouldn’t have felt as weird.

S: “And they didn’t! S7 was miraculous in the fact that even though he’s no longer in a lion, he’s still got a vital part to play in the series. And s8 erased that. It pretty much neutered him! And the kind of message is once you've revealed this character to be gay, we've gotta keep him out of the way. And if they had not put those end cards in, again the fact that he's a gay man is just the fact that he's a gay man and it's not any bigger or smaller aspect of his character, but they did not EARN him marrying random bridge crew member #3."

A: "and RETIRING! A man who LEFT adam because he felt he had to go and fight."

A: "He left the guy he loved before because of his devotion to"

S:"To fighting to making things right"

A:”To being a soldier and doing the right thing.”

C:”Isn’t the whole point then that he achieves that?”

M:”The fighting’s over and he can leave that behind and he can actually be happy.”

S: “He wouldn’t’ve. I don’t see it.”

M: “I violently disagree.”

C: “I think it was a nice endcap for his character."

Moises also likes this because it’s not a BYG scenario and he gets retired. Shannon is extremely exasperated by these takes.

S:”For me, it’s like Tangled. You go through Rapunzel and Flynn, going through their adventures, getting closer, getting to know each other, they save each other, things like that. And then she’s reunited with her parents and then we get and endcap that says ‘for political reasons her parents decided they needed to marry her off to the prince in the next county, sorry’. That would’ve had people RIOTING. Thats not how you do a story with characters that people care about. And to shove shiro off onto this random character that we--his name is never spoken!”

A:”No he had like 3 lines in the entire season.”

S:”He had 3 line sin the season, you don’t know his name unless you watched the subtitles, and in the audio narration for the visually impaired, they called him Adam in the endcap. They called him Adam! They fixed that now. It feels like a hugely clumsy attempt to grab the woke points for a character that didn’t need them.”

Moises then talks a little about Shiro and Keith and how he and Shannon both thought there was something there, and still do, but they can’t know what happened behind the scenes and to theorize on the intent of that relationship is “conspiracy theory land” and trying to decide what the writers were prevented from doing is like “reading tea leaves and chicken bones”. He references people extracting things from his own writing.

M: “As much as I wanted to see that relationship flower and flourish, the fact that it didn’t, look, it’s one of a million times that’s happened for me, with fiction, where things didnt turn out the way I wanted to see them.”

S:”I’m talking about 2 different things, as far as Shiro’s character, vs shipping issues. I feel Shiro’s character was done a disservice that if they were going to end him in a relationship with another man, they didn’t earn it by throwing that little endcap on.”

M:”Yeah, they could have brought back one less robeast or something.”

S:”The other thing is, I think there is enough out there as far as interviews with JDS and LM to show that at the very least I think they meant to leave it openended. Again if you take out that endcap, the last shot includes a shot of just Shiro and Keith, together, same screen, looking up as the lions go away, without saying anything further. I know I pie in the sky hoped that they were gonna kiss this season when we did our s7 recap and yes that was the shipper in me talking. I truly did not expect that they would be able to go that far. What I did not expect was for them to tear it down. And I feel like that’s what they did. Between the complete absence of interactions in s8, and then throwing that epilogue in there.”

Dan doesn’t understand how that could be because he sees no reason for them to do that. Shannon patiently explains about DW’s history with LGBT characters but Dan insists that the creators told the story the way they wanted to and he’s fine with Shiro getting a marriage even if it’s a character they don’t know.

Overall the panelists love the show still, and in most cases prefer to consider it in the realm of s1-6 with a weak final double season (7&8) or that the show ends after s7. They would all love to know how long the NDAs last, a making of perhaps, to know what the heck happened and what changed along the way. Big mood my dudes. Big mood.

#voltron #vld #teevee #transcript

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blazerina · 6 years

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Together (VOS - Flynn x MC)

Together (VOS – Flynn x MC)

Summary: After messing up in court, MC Annie reflects on her relationship with Flynn. They get closer to each other as they think about Kate, and how much they want to help clear her name. Annie can’t help but wonder about her & Flynn, their status as a couple and if they will last. He surprises her with a gift and she continues to fall deeper and deeper in love with him as she learns not to worry too much about the future.

Shout-out to my Flynn-loving Queen @parkerattano -- love ya babe!

Word Count: 1942

The mood in Shipwreck Sally’s matched the way Annie was feeling. She sank into the barstool with a heavy sigh and blank stare. Less than a minute later, the bartender gently set a beer in front of her, explaining that the “gentleman in the corner” sent his regards. Looking over her shoulder, she recognized Nikolai, and gave him a somber nod of thanks.

The cold liquid felt good as she guzzled it down faster than she had originally intended. She wanted a distraction. She needed something to take her mind off the horrible scene in the courtroom only a little while ago. This was her chance; a chance to show Kate that she really was in her corner, supporting her, there for her no matter what…and she blew it. As soon as the prosecutor mentioned Flynn’s name, she stumbled, and soon Grant’s strategy to defend Kate unraveled.

“Give me my regular.” A rough, gravelly voice called to the bartender and pulled Annie from her reflections.

Flynn sidled up next to her. His suit jacket was in one hand and his hair looked windblown. He leaned his body against the bar as he loosened the tie around his neck and unfastened the top few buttons. Annie knew this was no time to be lusting over him. His sister and her best friend had just been denied bail. But she couldn’t help it. His rough and rugged exterior mixed with his surprisingly warm and sentimental character, made him all the more attractive to her.

She had never been with someone like him before; someone so cool, so smooth, so charming and so…unpredictable. He made her do and say things she never would have done or said before coming to Birchport. She was daring, bold and took more risks now that she had him in her life. Their first kiss and then their first time together on the deck of his boat, had been the most emotional, romantic and somewhat confusing, moments of her entire life. She didn’t regret it though. She didn’t know what they were or what the future would hold for them and their relationship (if she could call it that) but she was going to live in the moment and enjoy every minute of it while it lasted.

Instinctively, Annie reached out and smoothed down a piece of Flynn’s coarse and wiry hair. She smiled at him as he gently rested his cheek against the palm of her hand. He closed his eyes and inhaled her scent; the deep breath he released looked as though he had been holding it for quite some time.

“You didn’t wear your helmet, did you?” She chided him, biting her lip as she let her hand fall back to her side.

“What’s it to ya?” He countered.

“I don’t hear any complaints about not wearing it when you’re riding with me.”

“That’s because the helmet in question is on my head.” She gently teased.

Flynn’s drink arrived at the bar as he smirked and took a long sip. He let out a soft groan as the burning sensation filled his chest. Annie suspected it felt good. She noticed his fist tighten and his jaw clench as he looked at her with a new intensity in his eyes.

“So…” she began, “how was she?”

“About as good as you’d expect. I gotta tell you, Annie, I never expected to be walking into that place ever again, let alone to visit my own sister.”

The two of them were silent for a few beats before Flynn added, “We have to do something. This isn’t right. She doesn’t deserve to be there.”

“I agree – but what do we do? After my ridiculous scene today in court, I really don’t know how I can be much of any help moving forward.”

Annie asked for another beer and looked away from Flynn, over her shoulder in the opposite direction. She was embarrassed for more than one reason – everyone knowing about her and Flynn, and now they were now forced to address the fact that their relationship was out in the open. Annie didn’t think it was meant to necessarily be a secret, but knowing now that everyone in town knew about it, made it seem a little more real and a little more “dirty.”

“Annie.” Flynn spoke harshly, frustrated.

“Annie look at me.” He commanded as he grabbed her by the elbow and turned her around to face him.

“You did NOT mess up today.” His blue eyes were darkening with intensity.

She swore in that moment that if no one else had been around she would have taken him right then and there on top of the bar. His messed up hair, the scruffy stubble on his face, the loose tie around his neck and the fierce love and devotion for his family (and now her too), reflected in his eyes…she wanted him and she knew it. There was no doubt about that.

“Let’s get out of here.” Flynn reached for his wallet and put some money on the bar, taking Annie by the hand, leading her out.

The couple arrived back at Flynn’s houseboat a few minutes later. He again reached for Annie’s hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. She noticed he seemed to be holding onto her more tightly than before. She didn’t know exactly why, but also wasn’t going to complain.

“I hope it’s okay that I brought you here…again…” He whispered as they slipped inside the front door.

“It’s more than okay.” Annie reassured him. “I didn’t want to be alone tonight.”

Flynn walked throughout the small, but cozy space, and turned on some lights.

“Make yourself at home. I need to take a shower.” He called from the hallway as he walked to his bedroom.

Annie swallowed hard, trying to relax as she laid down on the couch. The power suit she had chosen to wear to court had not helped in the ways she expected. And it was uncomfortable now. She just wanted to snuggle up in some worn out leggings or a big, over-sized sweatshirt…but her mind kept wandering to Flynn.

He made her want to take risks; to step out of her comfort zone and experience life in a way she never had before. Sitting up slowly, Annie slipped out of her heels and walked to the bathroom, leaving a trail of clothes behind her. She timed it just right so that by the time she approached the shower door, she was wearing nothing at all.

In the shower, Flynn was washing his hair and had his eyes closed as he turned around. When he opened them, he acted like he always did – cool, calm and collected – almost as if he expected Annie to be standing there, naked, in front of him. He opened the shower door and pulled Annie in with him all in one smooth movement.

He had given her an old t-shirt and a pair of boxers that were way too big on her, but she loved wearing them. Feeling something that belonged to him so close to her body, while inhaling his masculine, smoky, fuel-infused scent, almost pushed her over the edge while she laid in his bed with him.

Flynn was curled up beside her, wide-awake, staring at the back of her head. One of his arms was underneath her and the other was across her waist, pulling her close as she spooned into him.

“Are you awake?’ She whispered, not wanting to disturb him if he was asleep.

“I am.” He responded, smiling at her question.

She rolled over, facing him now, their noses barely touching. He absentmindedly brushed a few strands of hair away from her face, running the soft pad of his thumb over her cheek, looking into her eyes.

“Annie…” he whispered, kissing her softly. “I have something for you.”

Without saying another word, he went to his closet, feeling along the top shelf, standing on his tiptoes. As he arm flailed back and forth, a look of concentration formed on his face and Annie stifled a laugh. She sat up in bed, watching him struggle before offering some advice.

“Flynn, you know you can turn a light on if you need to…”

“I got it.” He smirked. A long red jewelry box was now in his grasp.

“This…” He held up the box and sat down on the bed, “was Kate’s.”

Flynn opened the box to reveal a very delicate, dainty, gold necklace. It had one solitaire diamond pressed flatly into a setting matted along with the rest of the gold chain. The sparkle was faint, but it was classic and beautiful and understated – just like Kate.

“I think you should have it.” He explained, looking up into Annie’s eyes from beneath his thick, dark lashes. “She’d want you to.”

“It’s gorgeous.” She breathed.

“…but I could never…” Annie covered her mouth, feeling conflicted. “If it’s Kate’s, why doesn’t she have it now? And she needs it back – she has to have something she can hold onto and remem-“

Flynn cut her off.

“She can’t wear jewelry in jail.” He explained. “It belonged to my mom and she left it here for me to give to her…as a wedding gift…” Flynn sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“I just didn’t feel right giving it to her and now under the circumstances…” he paused.

“I know and I understand why you wouldn’t want to take it, but I really think she’d want you to have it. At least for now. You can hold onto it and give it to her once she gets out.”

Annie sighed as Flynn came around behind her, on the bed and positioned her in front of a mirror, in the dark. He put the necklace on around her neck and as the light from the docks outside filtered in through the windows and the boat gently rocked, Annie’s eyes stung, ever so slightly.

The necklace hit just along Annie’s collarbone and could be seen perfectly positioned against the black V-neck t-shirt she wore with the name “O’Malley” scrawled across the back.

“Flynn…” She whispered, making eye contact with him in the mirror. “Are you sure? I mean, I just…”

“You’re important to her, Annie. Right now, you’re basically her only friend in the world. I know she’d want you to have this, even if it’s only for a little while.”

She couldn’t tell if he was just talking about the necklace or maybe even more than that. Was he referring to their relationship? Would Kate be okay with Annie dating her brother? Is this something that might only last for a little while?

Annie turned around and held Flynn’s face in her hands as she kissed him with as much passion and emotion as she could find within herself. She could not have any idea what the future would hold for any of them – not Kate, not Flynn and not even herself – but she was determined to live in the present and take control of her life right now.

“You’re important to me too, Annie.” Flynn searched her eyes, hoping she understood him. “I want you to have this as a way to remember how much you mean to both of us.”

“Thank you.” She whispered, leaning in to kiss him again. “I love this and I’ll cherish it always.”

The two of them entangled themselves in each other as they fell back onto the bed and enjoyed each other’s company for the rest of the evening not thinking about anything other than each other and how good it felt to just be together.

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