#i feel like this art style works well with the noir-y setting
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Just read Bloodstain Fool by @naffeclipse and I caught the BH!Eclipse brainrot. Help.
[ID: A inkbrush style digital painting of BH!Eclipse, he is reclining against a chaise, looking up at his blood covered hand. There is blood down the front of his shirt and he holds a lit cigar in his other hand. His jacked is draped over the chaise. The colours are deep saturated reds and oranges. /End ID]
#Im stuck in the brainrot hole and I can't get out#send help#naff I love your fic so much I need more of this AU so bad#qwilledraws#i feel like this art style works well with the noir-y setting#dca fandom#fnaf dca#fnaf daycare attendant#fnaf eclipse#eclipse fnaf
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The Tutor - Part Three
a/n: alright, I think I have these two out of my system now. hope you enjoy! feedback is always appreciated, as well as reblogs!
Part One Part Two
Warnings: fluff, SMUT, slight angst, slight spitting, partying, alcohol consumption.
Words: 18.6K
After spending like what felt a week in bed together, the spring semester officially began. Y/N was in a stage of just feeling giddy from how good Harry made her feel. Now that they had been together for a few months, she felt totally comfortable with him. She would often sleep naked, or lounge around in just her underwear she knew they would be alone for a while. Harry didn’t mind one bit. He liked how cute and sweet Y/N was, and he loved being loved on by her.
When she walks into their Art of Film class she scoffs when she sees him sitting in the second row. She walks right up to him and rolls her eyes.
“We are not sitting this close up.” She shakes her head.
“I like sitting closer, Y/N.”
“But if we’re going to be watching movies, then we should sit in the back.”
“This isn’t even a stadium style classroom, so that doesn’t make any sense. If you wanna sit in the back then be my guest, but this is where I like to sit.”
Y/N sighs heavily and sits down next to him. She didn’t like sitting up front in class, it just meant she would be called on more and she didn’t much feel like participating to the extreme in just a gen ed. She liked to save her energy for her major courses.
“You’re a little too studious sometimes, you know that?”
“Y/N.” He hums warningly and side eyes her. “Are you going to be able to handle sitting next to me? Or is this going to be an issue?”
“Golly gee, professor, I don’t know, maybe I should come to your office hours later to discuss it.” She smirks at him and he rolls his eyes.
“Don’t be mean.” He pouts. “I have a tough time concentrating in the back sometimes, so sitting up front is better for me. We’re in the second row at least.”
“I suppose that’s true.” She sighs.
Other students fill in. Billy from senate is in the class as well, and sits behind Harry. Y/N gives him a smile as well. The professor walks in, and sets his bag down on the desk. He gets his computer hooked up to the tech station so he can use the projector.
“God, please don’t tell me we’re going to watch Fight Club and Pulp Fiction.” Y/N groans.
“I didn’t see those on the syllabus.” Harry says, taking a few papers out. “Actually, a lot of the films we’re going to watch were directed by women, or have strong female casts.”
“You…already printed the syllabus?”
“Yeah, it’s what I did after I sent you home last night. I did it for all of my classes.”
“Good morning everyone, I’m Professor Robinson, feel free to call me Eric.” He smiles. “I’m really excited about this course, it’s one of my favorites to teach. We’re going to watch some great films, and learn about what goes into making them. I hope you all will get the book needed for class. It’s a little dense, but I promise I’ll be able to explain it in ways for you to understand.” He starts to go over the syllabus a bit. “One of the first films we’re going to be watching is Baby Face, it came out in 1933, and is considered a drama and a noir. This came out right at the beginning of when the Hays Code was being introduced, so we’ll be comparing this to Double Indemnity, which came out in 1944, another Barbara Stanwyck film. You’ll be able to see how differently the films were made, and even the difference in how female characters were treated. We’ll go over the Hays Code as well, but these two films will be great starting points. Now, you may have noticed that Wednesday evenings were put on your schedules from 7-9PM. These are optional meeting times. I will be showing the films here during this time, or you can watch them on your own. Whatever’s easier.” He smiles and continues on.
Y/N was captivated. She wasn’t sure what to expect from the course, and even though they would be watching a few black and white films in the beginning, the subject matter actually interested her.
“Alright, now, I hate doing the normal ice breakers where we all state our names, our majors, and a fun fact, and I know you all have made claim to your seats, so, turn to the person next to you, introduce yourself and talk about what you look for in a film when you go to the theater.”
Harry and Y/N look at each other and smile. Harry extends his hand out to her and she giggles as he shakes it.
“You’re so silly! Okay, when I go to the movies, like, if I’m going to pay to see a movie, I want to know that I’m going to laugh and not be bored. Like, I know it’s a good movie if I don’t check my phone the entire time. I like when the beginning is easy to follow along so I’m not confused.”
“Same here. I sort of like being sucked into another world, like, escape for a little bit. I feel like when I go to the movies, it’s one of the few times I don’t need to think too much about anything. It’s when I feel my least anxious.”
“Okay!” Eric says. “Glad you all could get to know each other a bit. I think we can end class a little early. Please make sure to check out the moodle page, there is a forum post do before Wednesday, and make sure you have Baby Face watched by next Monday. Thanks everyone!”
“This is going to be a fun class.” Y/N says to Harry as they walk out together.
“I think so too.” He kisses her cheek. “Where are you headed next? I have stats.”
“I’m heading to my Macroeconomics class, and then I have Organizational Communication, then I’m done for the day.”
“Alright, and then I’ll assume you have lifting?”
“Mhm.” She grins at him and pulls him aside.
“What?”
“Your birthday is this Friday.”
“Is it?” He pretends. “Had no idea.”
“Well, I hope you know I have a lot planned.”
“Is that so?”
“Yup, you’re going to be spoiled rotten, babe.” She gets on her tip toes to kiss him. “I gotta go, I’ll see you later.”
“Bye.” He chuckles as he heads upstairs to his stats class.
//
Y/N and Harry decide to be good sports Wednesday night and go to the formal viewing of Baby Face for their class. Most of the class actually showed up, so it made it more fun to watch. There was a scene where a man put his hand on Barbara’s knee, and she poured hot coffee on him without skipping a beat. Y/N loved her. She climbed her way up to the top by manipulating men, just as the men her life when she was younger had tried to manipulate her.
“I loved that movie!” Y/N exclaims as they leave the academic building. “She was so badass, taking no one’s shit.”
“Yeah, I really liked it too.” He yawns. “Christ, I’m tired.” He leads her in the direction of her apartment.
“Did I tell you me, Gina, Amanda, and Becca all signed a lease for an off campus place next year? We’re really excited.”
“That’s great! We’re all staying in the same apartment, which I’m happy about. It’s the perfect spot.” Harry walks Y/N up to her door and she looks confused when he stays outside. “M’gonna go back to my place, it’s late and I have an 8AM tomorrow…”
“Oh…alright.” She wraps her arms around his neck, and his go around her waist. “Thanks for walking me home.”
“Anytime, baby.”
They stand outside kissing for a while before he detaches himself from her. They both giggle and say goodnight before she goes inside. Louis and Niall were in the living room when Harry gets back, and he flops down onto the couch with them.
“Hey, mate, how was the movie?” Louis asks.
“Not too bad, actually. We both enjoyed it. I don’t think I’ll have the energy to go every Wednesday night, though. I’m pooped.”
“Did you go to the gym this morning?” Niall asks.
“Yeah, went for my usual run. Forgot how tiring going to classes all day were. Sort of miss just working in the law office.”
“I’m surprised Y/N isn’t with you.” Louis says.
“Nah, I walked her home and told her I wanted to come back here. I can’t get into the habit of having a lot of sleepovers during the week.” He hoists himself to his feet. “Well, I’m off to bed, goodnight.”
“Night, mate.” Niall and Louis say.
Harry gets cozy in bed, and then groans to himself when his boxers become uncomfortably tight. He rolls his eyes at himself. Did he have to press up against Y/N while they were making out earlier? Of course he was fucking did, and now he was too riled up to fall asleep. He wondered if the same thing ever happened to her.
Harry: can’t sleep
Y/N: thought you were exhausted
Harry: I was, but now I can’t stop thinking about you
Y/N: me or my parts, lmao
Harry: YOU
Y/N: not much I can do to help you from all the way over here…
Harry: picture???
Y/N: Harry!
Harry: you sent a ton over break!
Y/N: that was different
Harry: please??
Y/N: fine, I’ll send you a snap, gimme a minute
Y/N rips her blankets off her body, unsure of what sort of picture he was hoping for. She gets up and strips herself of her bed-shirt, and takes a mirror selfie, careful to hide most of her face, just in case, and sends it to him on snapchat. Harry was already stroking himself in anticipation. He grins ear to ear when he sees the notification pop up on his phone, and opens it immediately.
“Oh, fuck me.” He groans when he sees her naked body on display for him. She had squeezed one of her breasts, and he could just make out her biting her bottom lip. He knew she didn’t really like receiving nudes, even if it was from him, so he sends her back a pouty selfie telling her how fucking beautiful she was.
Y/N: you did this to yourself, you could have come up
Harry: I was trying to be good
Y/N: look at you now, giving yourself a hand job
Harry: don’t be mean…would you send another?
Y/N: yeah, hold on
She sends him a snap of her breasts pushed together, and that does it for him. He bites down on his knuckle while come gets on his other fist and lower belly. He gives himself a minute before cleaning himself up and laying back in bed.
Harry: thank you baby
Y/N: you realize you owe me
Harry: I’ll give you anything you want, you know that
Y/N: love you, goodnight
Harry: love you too, sweet dreams
He sighs happily as his eyes flutter closed. Y/N rolls her eyes and smirks to herself. Sometimes these moments were gentle reminders that even though Harry was a little more “woke” than most guys, he was still your average college guy. He wanted nudes from his girlfriend, and he wanted to sext even though he easily could have just come inside. She wasn’t annoyed her anything, and she didn’t want to be with his birthday so close. However, now she was left there, aroused at the idea of him simply getting off to a couple of pictures of her. She figures if he could do that, then she could do the same. She told him about most of her winter break, but what she hadn’t told him was about her new little friend. The girls had all gone to a sex shop, and she bought a little bullet vibrator. Y/N gets up and goes into her closet to use it. If he didn’t want to come in to satisfy her, she had other ways of getting around it.
//
Thursdays were days Y/N could meet up with Harry for lunch, so she happily goes to see him at the dining hall. She smiles and sits down with her food. He had his laptop out, typing away at something.
“How could you possibly already have something so important to do?” She sighs.
“Student senate stuff.” He says and then closes his laptop. “Thanks for your help last night.” He smirks and then kisses her cheek.
“You’re welcome.” She sips on his drink.
“Are you excited for your game tonight?”
“Mhm.”
“Are you upset with me?”
“No, why would I be?”
“You seem a little annoyed with me…”
“Not at all, Har.” She shrugs. “I just think that if you wanted to fuck me, you could have come inside.”
“I didn’t feel like spending the night.”
“I’ve told you before that you don’t need to.”
“You say that, but then you give me this look, and then I feel guilty…so I just don’t come in at all. It’s easier.”
“Mm, and then you get to conveniently rub one out.”
“Are you upset that I asked you to send me pictures?”
“No, I suppose it’s flattering. I just think I make things a little too easy for you sometimes. It’s not exactly easy for me to get off on my own, you know?”
“Aw, did I leave you hanging?” He genuinely felt bad.
“Nope, took care of it myself. Don’t exactly need you, do I?” She grins. “Made my back arch off the bed all by myself, no help from you whatsoever.” She bites into her sandwich, and looks innocently as his grimacing face. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re being mean. What are you saying, I don’t make you feel good anymore?”
“No, you make me feel plenty good. But I know a thing or two now, so don’t you worry about not wanting to come up and fuck me because I can handle it all on my own. In fact, let’s be like an old married couple who have sex nights and just do it once a week. That could be fun.”
“You are annoyed with me.”
“I’m not.” She leans closer to him so no one around can hear. “I just don’t want to be your personal porn star when you can’t fall asleep at night.”
“That’s not what I…” He sucks his teeth. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, you’re right. It was a little selfish, I’m sorry.” He pouts at her and hides his face in her neck. “Love you so much.” He kisses on her neck slowly, and she sighs.
“It’s okay.” She rubs his back. She really couldn’t stay upset with him when he was like this. He was just too cute. “I love you too.”
He sits up straight and pecks her lips before eating more of his food.
“I can hang out tonight if you want, no Friday classes this semester.”
“Me neither! Although, I’ll still have practice tomorrow morning. I’ll think about it. Maybe you could come to dinner after the game?”
“I’d love to.”
The girls ended up losing, so there was no community dinner down town, and Y/N was in too sour of a mood to have alone time with Harry, which he understood. Tomorrow was his birthday, so she’d rather start fresh with him when she was in a better mood.
//
“Shh.”
Harry’s eyes flutter open around nine. He usually never sleeps this “late”, but his alarm didn’t go off for some reason. His eyes snap open when he sees, Y/N, Niall, and Louis all creeping into his room. They were holding balloons and streamers and confetti.
“Happy birthday!” They all scream and dog pile on Harry. He laughs hysterically.
“Okay, okay!” He yelps. “Can’t breathe!”
The boys both get off the bed, but Y/N stays straddling him.
“Right, well, we’ll be whipping up some brekkie downstairs.” Louis says with a wink as he and Niall leave the room.
Y/N gets up quickly to lock the door and then she gets right back on top of Harry. His hands grip her hips tightly.
“What a nice surprise.” He smiles up at her. “Do you mind if I go brush my teeth and all that? Just woke up, you know.”
“You know what’s funny? With all of the excitement this morning, I forgot to take a shower.” Harry’s eyes grow wide at her. “What do you say, Har?” She says lowly.
“They’re home…”
“They’ll be busy making what I asked them to, and they’ve been told not to come upstairs. They just want you to have a good birthday, and so do I.”
“Do you even have anything with you?”
“Yeah, my bag’s right over there.” She points to it. “So…”
“Alright, yeah, let’s go take a shower.” He says excitedly.
Harry brushes his teeth while Y/N gets her hair up in a bun so it won’t get wet.
“Did you shower after practice?”
“I rinsed very quickly, not the same thing.” She takes her clothes off and presses her body against Harry’s. “This is much better.”
“I agree.”
He pulls the curtain back and helps her in. They both giggle as the water hits his back, and she wraps her arms around his neck. His hands slide down to her ass and he squeezes her. He licks into her mouth, and she happily glides her tongue along his. She bites his bottom lip and steps back, grabbing at his body wash.
“Which scrubbie is yours?”
“Oh, I just use these.” He holds up two gloves that are made from exfoliating rags. “They work much better and they’re more sanitary.”
“Learn something new about you every day, Har.” She grabs the gloves and puts them on, and squeezes the body wash onto them. “Turn around, gonna getcha all clean.”
“Wow, I’m really being spoiled today.”
He turns around and nearly purrs at the feeling of her scrubbing his back. She turns him around so she can do the same to his front and arms. She peels the gloves off and rinses them out.
“Thanks, baby.” He smiles as the soap rinses off him.
“Want me to wash your hair too?” She asks shyly. “Grew my nails out for you.” She holds them up to show him and he his mouth forms in an “O”.
“Yes, please.”
She giggles and get his shampoo lathered into her hands, and he bends down a bit so she can properly scrub at his head. He moans softly as her nails scratch at his head. She massages his scalp a bit as well before helping him rinse it out. Once he’s all clean, she gets on her knees in front of him, and starts stroking him up and down.
“Is this what you wanted the other night?”
“Yes.” He grunts. “Are you sure you feel like doing this right now?”
“Mhm.” She hums before swirling her tongue around his tip.
Harry mindlessly grips at the tile on the wall while she bobs her head up and down on him. She swallows around him and plays with his balls, doing everything she knows he really likes.
“Baby, please, let me touch you.”
She looks up at him and he nearly loses it. He helps her stand up and he pushes her up against the wall, and she gasps with surprise at his abrupt forcefulness. His lips sponge at her neck and across her chest. One of his hands slides between her legs and her head rolls back against the tile.
“We’re wasting water.” She groans. “Let’s get out, and then we can play a little more.”
“You’re not just teasing?”
“No, babe.”
“Okay.”
They both get out, and get wrapped in towels. Harry smells the food from downstairs, and his stomach growls, but he soon forgets he’s hungry when he sees Y/N drop her towel and shake out her hair.
“Come and get me, birthday boy.”
He drops his towel and nearly tackles her onto his bed. He nips at her lips and works his way down her body, biting and sucking where he pleases. He just wanted his head between her legs. He spreads her apart, and licks a flat stripe up her center.
“Jesus.” She shivers from that alone, and slots her fingers through his hair.
He sucks harshly on her clit, and swirls his tongue around it, nibbling a little before sucking on it again. She moans out a little too loudly and she covers her mouth with her hand. She didn’t exactly want to put on a show for the boys downstairs. That all goes to hell when he licks into her. She props herself up on her elbows to watch him. He looks up at her while he fucks her with his tongue, and the eye contact is too much for the both of them, but they continue through any embarrassment they may feel.
“Oh my god.” She pants as her head rolls back. His mouth moves back to her clit, and two of his fingers slide inside her, twisting around as he pumps them in and out. “Harry, fuck, oh my god.”
He curls his fingers up as he gets in knuckle deep, and rubs them against her g-spot, as he continues to suck on her clit. He groans against her when he feels her tighten around him.
“Gonna come?”
“Yes, oh my fucking god, shit!” She cries out as she pulses and vibrates around him. He takes his fingers out and laps away at her as she comes down from her high.
“Ready for my cock?”
“Please.” She breathes and nods.
He gets up and grabs a condom to roll on. He gets back on the bed, but she pins him down, pinning his hands on either side of his head.
“Let me take care of it, baby, just want you to feel good and relax.”
She lines herself up and sinks down on him. He moans out at the tight feeling. She brings her hands back down to his and intertwines their fingers as she keeps them pinned on his pillow. She rocks back and forth on him slowly, just getting adjusted, and then she starts to get a good pace going, moving up and down on him.
“Fuck, Y/N.” He grits his teeth and squeezes her hands. “You feel so good.” He was panting, watching her above him like this was really doing something to him, and he sort of speaks before he thinks. “Would you spit in my mouth?”
Y/N kept moving on him, but she looked down at him deeply concerned.
“You want me to what?!”
“Never mind!”
“No, I’ll do it!”
“Forget I said anything! I don’t even know why I-“
“Harry, you want me to spit? I’ll spit!”
“It’s weird, it’s too weird, I went too far!”
“Open your mouth!”
Harry’s mouth falls open, his tongue peeking out. Y/N wells up some spit in her mouth and leans down so her mouth was close to Harry’s. She didn’t want to spit harshly. She sort of just wanted her saliva to drip from her tongue to his. Maybe that could be sensual? So she does just that. She opens her mouth and lets the spit in her mouth roll from her tongue to his. She was moving on him in slow circles as she did this. He swallows it and looks up at her. He uses the power from his legs to thrust up into her since his hands were busy squeezing hers.
“Do it again.” He breathes.
She happily obliges and does it again for him. It was his birthday, she’d do anything he wanted…within reason of course. She supposed it wasn’t the weirdest thing he could have asked for. His tongue had been so far up her cunt, swapping spit was probably the least odd bodily fluid they could have shared.
She stays close to him, sucking on his tongue while they move in sync with each other. She starts squeezing and tightening around him. She was rubbing up against him in the perfect way, and he was about ready to lose it himself.
“M’gonna come, Y/N.” He groans.
“Me too, fuck, me too.”
She sits up straight and her back arches as she comes, and his release wasn’t too far behind. He feels like he explodes inside of the condom. She lets go of his hands slowly and he helps her off of him. He runs a hand through his hair as he watches her wobble around to get some pants and a t-shirt on.
“Just gonna go pee.” She kisses his cheek and slips out of his room.
He disposes of the condom, and puts his boxers and sweatpants on, not much feeling like a shirt at the moment. He was sitting on his bed, twiddling his thumbs, when she came back into the room. She sits down next to him and smiles.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah…I just, um, was that weird?”
“What?”
“When I asked you to spit in my mouth?”
“Um…” She blushes. “It took me a little off guard, but it’s really not that weird.”
“I don’t even know why I wanted you to do that, it just sort of slipped out.”
“It’s really not that different from kissing, I mean, we technically spit on each other all the time.”
“Guess that’s true.” He smirks and grabs his glasses. “It’s been quite the morning.”
“It’s not over yet.” She stands up and reached for his hand. “Come on.”
They both come downstairs, and Harry gasps.
“Yorkshire pudding?!”
“Got the recipe of Delia Smith’s website.” Louis laughs. “Hope it tasted good. We made eggs, beans, and bacon too.”
“Thanks guys.”
It was a nice breakfast for the four of them. Y/N hangs out with Harry all day. They paint each other’s nails, watch a movie, cuddle, and just enjoy each other’s company. He had gotten a little sleepy, so he was peacefully napping with his head resting in her chest. Y/N noticed that Harry was a stomach sleeper, but he liked having something to hold on to. It was really cute. She was playing with his hair while reading on her phone. It was a really nice lazy day, and a perfect way to make sure everything was getting set up for his surprise party at Ashley’s. She hears his phone start to buzz and sees it a FaceTime request from Gemma.
“Babe, it’s your sister.”
“Okay.” He mumbles and sits up. “Hello!”
“Happy birthday!” Gemma and Anne say together.
“Harry, are you still in bed?” Anne asks.
“Was taking a nap, Mum. It’s my birthday, I’m allowed to catch up on some sleep.”
“Are you doing anything fun?”
“Y/N and the guys made me breakfast, and then we watched a movie, and I think we’re going out tonight.”
“Is she with you now?” Gemma asks.
“Yeah.” He flips the camera.
“Hi, Y/N!” Gemma says.
“Hello.” She says shyly and waves. Harry flips the camera back to himself.
“I love you both, but m’all groggy.”
“Alright, honey, I sent you a nice package so hopefully you’ll get it soon. We love you!”
“Thanks!” He tosses his phone elsewhere, and pushes Y/N back down so he can put his head back on her chest. “So comfy.”
“We should probably get up soon…”
“Why? What else you got planned?”
“Just dinner with friends. We should be there around seven.”
“S’only four now, plenty of time to keep chilling out. I never get to do this, it’s nice.”
“Okay, babe.” She goes back to playing with his hair and reading on her phone.
//
When it was time to get ready, Y/N put on some black tights that had a pattern on them, her black mini pencil skirt, and a long sleeve red crop top. Harry had a long sleeve blue button up on paired with his black jeans. He was putting his boots one when he watched Y/N zip up her own boots.
“You look so fucking sexy.” He says as he gets up and wraps his arms around her. “Are you sure we have somewhere to be, and I can’t just take this all off you?”
“Sorry.” Y/N giggles. “But dinner’s waiting.”
“But I’m only hungry for one thing.” He pecks at her lips.
“Didn’t you have enough of that earlier?”
“Never enough, babe.”
“Oh, Harry.” She swats a hand at his chest. “Come on.”
They both get their coats on and head out. She loops her arm around his, and leads the way. He realizes they’re headed towards Ashley’s apartment, but he doesn’t question it. She opens the door and everyone yells surprise. Harry laughs and walks in. They put their coats away and he’s amazed at the spread of appetizers there was.
“Thank you all so much, this is great.” He smiles.
All of his friends from senate were there, Louis, Niall, some other people from the soccer team, and other friends. And of course the entire women’s hockey team, but that was a given. A cake is brought out and everyone sings happy birthday to him. After settling down from the food, all of the drinks come out. Everyone takes shots of tequila, and then Y/N makes Harry a vodka cranberry, his favorite. That’s what he stuck with all night. He didn’t want to throw up from mixing drinks.
Y/N was off talking to her friends, but when the music starts to get good, Harry finds her, and yanks her towards him. She wraps her arms around his neck as they start to slow grind.
“Can’t believe you put all of this together for me.”
“Well, it wasn’t all me, the guys helped.”
“Doesn’t matter.” He presses his forehead to hers. “Love you so much.”
“Love you too.”
Harry was really drunk, like, more drunk than Y/N had ever seen him, so she was taking it easy on her own drinks. He stayed attached to her while they danced for the rest of the night. She indulged in making out with him, but there was no way they were having sex again when they got back to his place. Louis and Niall had to help walk him back because there was no way she could carry him. They help him up the stairs in and into his room.
“I’ve got it from here, boys, thanks.”
“Night, Y/N.” Niall says as he and Louis leave.
“Okay, let’s…Harry…” She giggles as he sloppily kisses her neck. “Come on, I wanna get you into bed.”
“Mm, me too. Let’s get you into bed.”
“No, baby, for sleep. Gotta get you out of these clothes for sleep.” He bites down on her neck and squeezes her ass and she groans for a moment before pushing him off. She puts her hands on her hips and looks at him. “We can do that in the morning, you’re really drunk.”
She steps forward and unbuttons his shirt, and gets his pants off. She sits him down on the bed while she gets her own clothes off. She throws on one of his t-shirts and flips the lights off. She climbs into bed with him, and he spoons her, pressing his bulge against her ass.
“M’so hard.” He whines.
“I know, but there’s nothing I can do about that right now.”
“You gave me such a nice birthday.” He holds her closer and nestles into her hair.
“I’m glad you had a nice day, babe.” She chuckles.
“It was the best.” He yawns, and not too long after…he’s out.
Y/N was grateful he didn’t get sick. She didn’t do well with throw up. She drifts off slowly after him. She wakes up a couple of hours later to the sound of his door opening and closing. She sits up immediately, hoping he wasn’t getting up because he was sick. He comes back moment later chugging water from his water bottle.
“Oh, thank god.” She breathes.
“Need some?”
“Yeah.” She smiles and takes the bottle from him.
“Sorry I woke you. I was fucking parched.” He crawls back into bed and takes the bottle from her. “Think I’m still a little drunk.”
“Wouldn’t be surprised, I let you drink too much.” She runs a hand through his hair.
“Oh, but I had so much fun. I’ll just sleep it off.” He gives her a few pecks before settling back down. She rests her head on his chest and he holds her close. This was the life.
//
The team made it to the first round of playoffs, but nothing further, so their season ended at the end of February. It was sad for the seniors on the team, but mostly everyone was happy for their break. No more early morning practices. They just needed to keep up with lifts in the late afternoons. This also meant that Y/N could stay out later most nights. Ashley and Megan had people over almost every night to drink. They weren’t raging, but Y/N was loving not having to worry about getting up at the crack of dawn. Harry didn’t always go with her, which was fine. He had 8AM’s on Tuesdays and Thursdays, after all.
There was one Tuesday night Harry was already asleep in bed when his phone started ringing. He saw Y/N’s name, and swiped to take the call.
“Baby?” He says groggily.
“Hey sunshine!”
“Amanda?” He sits up. “Why do you have Y/N’s phone?”
“Well, her head’s in the toilet at the moment. She really wants to go home, but it would look bad if one of us carried her. UPD would question us for sure.”
“She’s sick?” He sighs, already pulling some sweats on.
“Yeah, so is Gina. It’s no Bueno.”
“What the hell happened? Where are you?”
“At Ashley’s…we did shots, and then played slap the bag. Not a great mix.”
“Okay, I’ll be there soon.”
He rubs his eyes, grabs his glasses and heads out. He walks right into Ashley’s. Her apartment was filled with smoke and people. Harry partied like anyone else, but not so much on a Tuesday night. He walks to where he knows the bathroom is and doesn’t see anyone.
“Harry!” Amanda says. “She’s over here.” She tugs him over to the living room where Y/N was basically passed out on the couch.
“Christ, where’s Gina?”
“She’s crashing in Megan’s room. Come on, Y/N, Harry’s here.” She nudges her.
“Hm?” Her eyes open slightly and then they grow wide. “No! I don’t want him to see me like this!” She hides her face in her hands.
“It’s okay, babe, let’s get you home.” Harry says, lifting her up bridal styles. “I can’t carry her likes across campus, we’ll get stopped. Help me get her on my back, that’s less weird looking.”
Amanda nods and helps Y/N get situated so Harry could give her a piggy back ride. She was complete dead weight.
“She’s gonna kill me for calling you, but she didn’t want to stay…I’m sorry, I know you were sleeping.”
“It’s alright, Amanda. I’d rather her be safe. You guys have been going a little nuts lately, yeah?”
“We can’t help it. We’re not allowed to get crazy during the week during the season. Things will settle down soon. Spring break is coming up, you know? Last year we all went home and detoxed essentially.”
Amanda gets the apartment door open, and lets Harry take Y/N upstairs.
“Are you gonna spew again?”
“No.” She mumbles.
“Alright, well, I’m gonna put this bucket here.” He brings her barrel over. “Let’s get you out of these clothes, yeah?”
“Go home, you need to sleep.”
“I’m gonna take care of you.”
“No, you’re gonna be mad at me in the morning.”
“I won’t be.”
“Yes you will.” She pouts and her eyes start to tear up.
“Nope, none of that, come on.”
“I can take my own clothes off.”
“Okay, I’ll get your pj’s then.” He goes into her dresses and she lunges towards him, tackling him down. “Y/N! What the fuck?!”
“Don’t go in there! I have things in there you can’t see!”
“You could have just said that! You’re not on the fucking ice!” He gets them both up. “What’s in there that I can’t see?”
“Personal things.”
“Babe.” He pinches the bridge of her nose. “Get your clothes off, now, and I will get your pj’s.”
He goes back into where he knows she keeps her larger t-shirts.
“Harry!” His eyes grow wide after grabbing a shirt off the top. There were two different vibrators and a dildo. “I’ve only ever used the little one…”
“Put this on.” He hands her the t-shirt and closes the drawer.
She strips out of her clothes and he looks the other way to give her some privacy. She gets stuck when she tries to get her shirt on and he helps her.
“Fuck, I have to pee so bad.” She says, sprinting out of the room. He sits down on her bed and waits for her. She brushes her teeth while she’s in the bathroom too. “You’re still here?” She asks, shocked.
“Where the fuck am I going? I’m not leaving you like this.”
“But…you saw the things.”
“We can talk about it tomorrow, or never, I don’t really care.” She sits on his thighs, straddling his lap. “Y/N.” He sighs.
“I just…I don’t want you to think…I mean…I got them over winter break, and-“
“I don’t care, you don’t need to tell me, okay? Can we go to sleep?”
“You’re gonna stay?”
“I just said I was going to! Come on.”
“You’re angry.”
“I’m a little cranky, yeah. Your friend called me drunk to tell me your head was in a toilet while I was sleeping. At least tomorrow we don’t have class until 10:30, so I’ll have to get back and grab my shit beforehand. Now, lay down on the edge so you’re closer to the bucket.” He rids himself of his sweats, leaving himself in his boxers, and gets in with her. She turns to face him while he’s facing her. “You need to turn over.”
“But you’re so pretty.” She whispers and it makes him crack a smile as she pokes his dimple. “I’m sorry she called you.”
“I’m not, I’d come get you any time. I’ll carry you home whenever you need.” He strokes the side of her face. “You’ve done the same for me, it’s fine. Just lay on your stomach for me, okay? I’ll rub your back how you like.”
“Okay.” She smiles and does as he says. She falls asleep with him softly petting on her and it feels amazing.
His alarm goes off at 8AM and she groans.
“Up, let’s go.” He says, rummaging through her closet for her spare towels. “We’re showering quickly and then going to my place, and then we’re getting greasy breakfast sandwiches so you’re not hungover for class.”
“Eric won’t care, he likes me.” Y/N mumbles.
“A little too much if you ask me.”
“Oh stop. I could say the same about that freshman you’re tutoring.”
“How about neither of us play the jealous game?”
“Deal.” She stands and nearly vomits. “Ugh, I feel like shit.”
“You’ll feel better soon.”
“You came to my rescue last night?”
“Yup, that’s me, prince charming.” He rolls his eyes and tugs her out of her room.
She puts her hair up and they both get into the shower. Harry gets them both clean, and dressed. He makes sure she has everything for class, and then they head to his place. Once he has all of his things, and has new sweats on, they head to the coffee shop on campus for breakfast sandwiches.
“Harry…you’re wearing sweatpants to class.”
“I’m aware.”
“But you never wear sweatpants to class.”
“I’m a little fucking tired, Y/N, is that alright?”
“Please don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m not…” He sighs and looks at her. “I just…I’m feeling anxious from things happening so abruptly. My entire routine got messed up and-“ He could feel his breathing quickening so he takes a deep breath. “It’s fine, I’m fine, we’re fine, let’s just go eat.”
They both get coffees and breakfast sandwiches and grab a table to sit. They had about thirty minutes before class, so they could take their time eating.
“Fuck, this was a good idea.” She moans as she eats.
“Yeah.” He agrees as he bites into his own. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Maybe go a little less hard at the parties during the week?”
“You got it. I hate throwing up, I’m not dealing with that again, nor am I going to do that to you again.”
“I wouldn’t care…it’s just…it was a school night is all.”
Y/N nods her head and continues eating her breakfast sandwich. Once they’re done, they head to class and sit down. Eric was there a little earlier than usual.
“Ah, Y/N, I’m glad you’re here. I wanna talk to you about your paper on your Bond comparative essay.”
“Oh…okay.” Y/N walks up to him and he takes her paper out. Harry can’t help but watch the conversation as other students come into class. “I know I’m not a very good writer…”
“No! You’re brilliant, actually. This is one of the better papers I’ve seen. You made a lot of incredible points. You got an A, see?” He shows her and her eyes grow wide. “I was wondering if I could if I could hang onto this and scan it to save as a copy. Students are always asking me for example papers, and I think this is a great paper to use.”
“Are you serious? Yeah, that’s fine with me.”
“Great, thanks.” He smiles. “Well done.”
“Thank you…” She blinks and sits back down. She looks at Harry in shock. “He wants to keep my paper to use as an example.”
“That’s great! You worked really hard on that one, Y/N, you deserve a little praise.”
Eric passes out the rest of the papers, and gives Y/N hers so she could look at any notes he may have made. Harry also got an A, not that Y/N was surprised, but she was happy for him nonetheless.
“H, what did you get?” Billy whispers from behind him. Harry turns to look at him.
“An A, what about you?”
“B+, not too bad.”
“Alright everyone, today, as a treat, we’re going to watch Austin Powers since we’ve just finished our Bond unit. Since we’ve watched a few films, you’ll see that this movie takes a lot from Gold Finger and Golden Eye.” He says as he starts the movie and turns the lights.
“Ugh, thank god. If there was ever a day to just chill in class, it’s today.” Y/N whispers to Harry.
“Agreed.” He whispers.
Eric clears his throat to get their attention, and they both sit back in their seats. There were plenty of laughs throughout class as the movie continued. Y/N stretches as she stands once class ends, revealing a little bit of her stomach. Harry catches Eric looking briefly, and puts his arm around her shoulders.
“Have a good stats class.” She puckers lips and kisses him.
“Thanks, have a good rest of your day. I won’t be able to meet up tonight, I’m doing a group tutoring session, and then I have an 8AM tomorrow…”
“Okay, well…thanks again for last night. I really owe you.”
“No you don’t.” He smiles and gives her a lingering kiss before they part ways.
//
Spring break was definitely the detox Y/N needed from all of the drinking she had been doing with the hockey team, although, she really didn’t want to go home. Harry would be staying on campus with any other students who couldn’t go home. He had projects he needed to work on, but he also thought it would be a nice time break to spend with Y/N. She couldn’t stay on campus, though, because she needed to work at the bar. She also needed to bring up going to Italy this summer to her mom.
“Great work tonight, honey.” Angie says to her as they wipe down the tables.
“Thanks…um…can I talk to you about something?”
“Of course!” She stops what she’s doing to look at her daughter. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine, I just…well, I’ve been invited somewhere this summer, and I’d really like to go.”
“Alright, where have you been invited to?”
“Italy.” She mumbles.
“Come again?”
“Italy.” She says a little louder. “See, Harry-“
“Oh, here we go.” Angie rolls her eyes.
“Mum, please, let me just explain.”
“Okay.” She crosses her arms and sits down.
“He and his friends spend three weeks in Italy every summer, one of their dad’s has a house by the water or something. They go end of July through early August, so it’s not like I’d be missing the holiday rush…I’d like to go the whole time, but I’d be willing to compromise, and I’ll pay my own way.”
“You expect me to let you take an international flight alone? What if you get abducted?”
“Mum.”
“Three weeks alone with your boyfriend is a long time…”
“Well, we won’t be alone, his friends will be there.”
“You know what I mean.” She sighs. “I really hate this whole you being an adult thing. I can’t really say no, you’re almost twenty years old, and it will be summer so you should take advantage and travel…” She takes a moment and looks at Y/N. “Could you go for two weeks instead of three? I think that’s plenty of time to spend together.”
“Yeah! I can definitely do that.” She smiles.
“And I’ll pay for half the ticket, that’ll be your birthday present. Your passport should still be good from high school.”
“Mum!” She squeals and hugs Angie. “Thank you so much, Harry’s going to be so excited!” She kisses her cheek. “I’m excited too, of course.”
“Well, I should hope so.” She chuckles, and they continue to close down the bar.
//
Y/N convinced Angie to drive her back to campus on Friday instead of Sunday. She dropped off all her things, and walked to Harry’s. She knocks on the door, and he opens it confused, but happy to see her.
“Hey!” He wraps his arms around her. “You’re back early.”
“Wanted to surprise you, can I come in?”
“Of course! Yeah, come on in.”
“Are you busy?”
“I was just working on a paper, but I can definitely take a break.” Hey both go up to his room, and he moves his things away from the bed so they can both sit. “Got a lot done this week, I’m feeling good.”
“That’s great! Okay, so, I have really good news that I’ve been keeping to myself because I wanted to tell you in person.”
“Oh? Please, do tell.” He grins.
“My mom said I could come to Italy this summer! Only for two weeks instead of three, but still.”
“That’s great!” He cups her jaw and pulls her in for a kiss. “We’re gonna have so much fun. I can show you what website to go on for the plane ticket, there’s this site that sells them for really cheap. I use it when I go home and stuff.”
“Sounds good, thanks. I think two weeks will be plenty, don’t you?”
“I mean, sure.” He shrugs.
“I wouldn’t want us getting on each other’s nerves being together 24/7.”
“We’ll be too busy to get on each other’s nerves, trust me. I can’t wait to tell my friends you’re coming, they’re dying to meet you.”
“Aw, that’s sweet. What are their names?”
“Well, Lou and Niall will be there, they came last year and are coming again. They go right from there to here for soccer. Then there’s my friend Adam, his dad is the one who owns the house, and Mike, Ben, and Clark.”
“Are any of them seeing someone?”
“Um, Adam brought a guy with him last summer, but they’re not dating anymore, so he may be going stag.” He shrugs. “When we were in high school we used to bring a lot of girls with us because we thought we were cool.” He laughs. “But Ben might bring someone, I’m not sure exactly. Sometimes we would just meet people in Italy to hang out with.”
“Hang out with.” She rolls her eyes. “Any Italian chicks I need to worry about.”
“Not that I can think of.” He taps his chin playfully. “You know me, I’m a real sexual deviant.” He says sarcastically and she nudges him. “Come here.”
He pulls her down to lay with him, and they both sigh. He rubs her back and she lays her leg over both of his, pressing into the bulge that’s growing in his pants. He tilts her chin up to look at him and she removes his glasses. He presses his lips to hers and she moves the rest of the way on top of him. He licks at her bottom lip, and she opens up for him. He has one arm wrapped around her back, and the other one around her ass, keeping her nice and close. Her fingers slot through his soft hair and she moans softly when she rolls hips her hips slowly on his.
“Missed you.” He says against her lips, taking her bottom lip between his teeth.
“Missed you too.” She whimpers as he presses his hips harder up towards hers.
Things started to get a little more heated from there, Y/N could feel her lips getting swollen from how hard her and Harry were kissing each other, and she was about ready to lose it in her pants from the way they were grinding on each other.
“Harry.” She groans. “Please.”
“Please what?” He moves her hair away from her neck and starts sucking on her soft skin.
“Can we please fuck?”
“Yes.”
He flips them over so she’s on her back, and he yanks her leggings and panties off in one swoop. She gets her shirt and bra off while he gets naked himself. He climbs back onto the bed and he wraps her legs around his waist. She slides her hands up and down his torso and chest.
“Have I ever told you how much I love your tattoos? Because I do, they’re so cool.” Her hands trace over the ferns on his hips.
“Thanks baby.” His hands knead her breasts.
Harry slides his hard dick over her folds and against her clit, causing her hips to buck up. He dips his head down to kiss on her neck and her hand wrap around his back, nails digging in.
“Do you wanna…put it in?”
She feels him nod his head yes, and before she knows it he’s pushing inside her. Her gasp turns into a moan. She bites down on his shoulder as he rocks in and out of her. He sucks on one of her nipples as he thrusts in and out.
“Feels so fucking good.” Her head rolls back into the pillows.
He pulls out and grins at her. She raises an eyebrow at him, and then he flips her over, pulls her up to her knees. She looks back at him as he slides in again. He gets an even pace going, and then he tugs her back to him, his chest flush with her back. He’s got one arm snaked around her, and the other rubbing slow circles on her clit.
“Fuck, oh my god.” Her head rolls back to his shoulder and she looks up at him. He slots his mouth over hers, and the both moan into each other.
“This why you wanted to come back early? Just really needed my cock?” He says into her ear and it has her pushing her ass against him.
“Thought about you every night.” She groans.
“Yeah? Did you bring home your little toys to help you out?”
“H-Harry, don’t-“
“Maybe I should use one on you sometime, would you like that?”
She was dripping all around his cock, she loved when he would just say whatever he wanted into her ear.
“Only wanna feel you.” She admits. It was true, she didn’t like having to use her vibrator, as good as it felt. She really just preferred Harry’s hands on her.
She feels him smile into her neck, knowing that was exactly what he wanted to hear. He picks up the pace on the way he’s rubbing her clit and he feels her squeeze around him. She hooks an arm up around his head to tug at his hair.
“Shit, Harry!” She cries out as she comes to her release.
He gently lets go of her so she can press her front to the mattress. He keeps his hands on her hips as he drives into her hard and fast. He had her panting, and he was panting too. He pulls out and comes on her ass and back before collapsing next to her.
“Fuck.” He breathes and then looks at her. “You have the most perfect ass I’ve ever fucking seen.”
“Shut up.” She giggles.
“Let me clean you up.” He kisses her forehead and then gets up to grab a rag to wipe her clean.
“Thank you.”
He gets back onto the bed and pulls her close to him. They lay there naked for a bit, just enjoying the time skin to skin.
“Do you feel like having a little date night tonight since you’re here? We could go downtown for dinner and then come back to watch a movie in the living room.”
“I’d like that. I’d just wanna go home and change first.”
“Oh cute, then I can come pick you up.”
“Always the romantic.” She kisses his cheek and gets up to grab her clothes. “Give me, like, an hour to get ready, yeah?”
“Sounds good to me, see you soon.” He smiles and kisses her as she leaves his room.
Harry was really happy that Y/N came back a couple of days early. He was trying to play it a little more cool, but she was such a source of comfort for him. He had incorporated her into his routine, so when she wasn’t around he would get a little anxious, which he knew wasn’t healthy, but there wasn’t much he could do about it right now.
He puts on a green sweater with the black jeans he knows she likes, and puts his contacts in. He runs his hand through his hair a few times, getting his curls to sit just right. He knew he needed a haircut, but he also liked when Y/N would really tug on his hair. His logic was the longer his hair the better the grip she could get on him. He left the bit of scruff he had grown out and put on some cologne. He heads down the stairs to put his boots on and goes into the living room.
“Going on a date with my girl, mind if we have the living room when we get back? We’re gonna watch a movie. You can join if you want-“
“And watch the two of you make out?” Louis scoffs. “I’ll pass, mate.”
“Same here.” Niall chuckles. “But we can definitely clear out of here.”
“Thanks, I just get sick of watching stuff on my little laptop screen. Are you guys doing anything tonight?”
“Might go see some of the girls from the other international house. I don’t see myself staying out too late, I went a little too hard last night.” Louis says.
“Yeah, I spewed in the bushes, so I won’t be drinking tonight.” Niall says.
“Alright.” Harry chuckles. “Well, see you later.”
Harry makes the walk to Y/N’s apartment, and he knocks on the door when he gets there. His cheeks immediately blush when he sees her. She had a dark blue thing sweater dress on, showing off all her curves. She paired with some black boots and black tights, looking cuter than ever.
“You look so pretty.” He pouts at her and takes her hand.
“Thanks, thought I’d dress up a little It’s rare that we get to go on a real date.”
“I know! I’m really glad you came back a couple days early. Meant it when I said I missed you.”
“I meant it too.” She loops her arm through his so she can cling to him a little tighter.
The end up at the local bistro, even though Y/N told Harry it would be too expensive, but he assured her it was fine. She talks about her week working at the bar, and he talks about what he might do for work this summer.
“I could always go back to the bakery, but I really want to take the rest of the semester to figure out what I actually want to do. I might go see my advisor next week. I literally have zero idea what I want to do with my life.” He sighs and pops a fry into his mouth.
“Does anyone?” She laughs.
“Well, you sort of do. You’ve got a job lined up right away after graduation.”
“Yeah, working for my mom until she decides to retire really sounds great.” She rolls her eyes. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I wanna take over the bar, but I wanna do it more in a way where like I could open up multiple locations, you know? I could oversee multiple businesses across the country.”
“Wow…that would be really cool.”
“It’s just an idea, I don’t know if it’ll ever happen. People like small town bars with good food, and that’s what my mom has, I think opening up multiple locations could work, it would just take a lot of marketing and PR. I may pick up a PR minor, the classes double count in my major and I think that may be what I’m a little more interested in these days.”
Harry loved listening to Y/N talk about her aspirations. She really was smart, and he didn’t think she gave herself enough credit.
“Are you not interested in the law stuff anymore?”
“I don’t know…” He sighs. “It’s just such a big commitment, you know? It’s more school, and then you basically have to study and pass the bar where you want to live, and I have no idea where I want to live. I don’t know if I wanna stay in the U.K. forever. I’ve barely been able to explore America while I’ve been here, and there are parts of Europe I’d like to go to. I don’t know, maybe I’ll become a travel blogger or something.” He jokes.
“You laugh, but you’d hit it big.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well…” She blushes. “You’re insanely hot, Harry, so you have that going for you. People would follow you on a superficial level, and then there’s the fact that you’re smart and nice. You could talk about the country or town you’re in and say what you really liked and what you discovered.”
“Not a very sustainable job though.”
“Have you ever thought about becoming a teacher? You’re really good at explaining things. You never once made me feel stupid last semester.”
“I think I’m better one on one. I feel like whenever I have to give a presentation I just word vomit. I’m also not on an education track, so again, more school. I ‘d need my master’s, and you need to take whatever tests there are in the state you want to work in, and that’s if I wanna stay in America. I don’t even know what I’d want to teach…”
“You could find a job like in a tutoring office like we have here. It takes someone really important to run those types of offices and-“
“Y/N?”
“Yeah?”
“Um…do you mind if we change the subject a little?” His leg wouldn’t stop bouncing. “I know this stuff is important to talk through and figure out, but it’s making me anxious.”
“Oh!” She reaches across the table and puts her hand over his. “I’m so sorry, of course we can talk about something else, anything else.” She smiles. “What movie do you feel like watching later?”
They settled on The Devil Wears Prada. It was something they had both seen, so it didn’t matter if they paid attention or not. His arm was around her and they were lounging comfortably.
“I really like this dress you’re wearing.”
“Yeah? Thought you preferred me in sweats.” She raises an eyebrow at him.
“You could wear a paper sack and I’d like it on you.” This makes her burst out laughing and he smiles down at her.
They both adjust so they can lay down, and he pulls her body on top of his. She sucks on his bottom lip, and his hands slide down to her ass. His tongue drags of hers and she moans into his mouth.
“You’ll stay tonight?” He whispers. “Missed having you to hold onto at night.”
“Of course I’ll stay.” She stays. “No one else I’d rather have cuddles with.” She kisses on his jaw and moves to his neck.
“Leave a good one on me babe, mark me up.”
Y/N bites down decently hard on Harry’s neck and it makes him grit his teeth and squeeze at her harder, but god did it feel good. Truth be told one of his regular tutees flirted with him a lot, and even though he had mentioned Y/N over and over, she would still flirt with him. A nice new hickey may help her get the picture. Also, Harry just really liked getting them. He liked giving them too, but they just felt so fucking good.
//
“Did you have a nice break, Harry?”
“Yeah, Bri, thanks, did you?”
“Mhm, I got caught up on some things, but I’m definitely still struggling with Intro to Gen Psych…”
“Alright, well, let’s look at your notes from class.”
She reaches into her bag, and when she gets everything out, she notices Harry taking his jacket and scarf off. Her eyes bug out when she sees the giant welt on Harry’s neck. Now, normally he would want to be more professional, but at the end of the day, he was twenty and didn’t give a fuck.
“Everything alright?”
“Um…y-yeah, everything’s fine? Did you, um, go out over the weekend?”
“I did, yeah. Went to a party with some friends Saturday night. My girlfriend came back a couple days early too, that was nice.” He smiles and grabs her notes. “See, I think if you highlighted within your notes, like we’ve talked about, you would have an easier time finding things.”
“Right, um, sorry, Harry.”
“Don’t apologize to me.” He furrows his brows at her. “I already passed this class, it’s you who still needs to finish it. Tutoring can help a lot, but if you don’t take what we do here and apply it elsewhere, you’re not going to see any improvements.”
He was close to her, showing her what she should highlight, and it made her nervous, but in the best possible way. All of a sudden they hear some giggling, and it was a giggle Harry knew all too well. They both look up and see a good chunk of the hockey team. Many of the girls still got together to study like they would during the season.
“Oh, shit, is that Harry?!” Megan says. “Ow ow! Look at him on the clock.” She teases.
“Leave him alone.” Y/N swats a hand at her, and looks over to Harry, mouthing I’m sorry. He waves at them and gives them a half smile.
“Damn, Y//N, I would have tried to fuck my tutor too if it were him.” Another girl teases her and they all start laughing.
“Hey, uh,” Harry turns around in his chair and smirks, “we’re in a library, ladies.”
“Is that so?” Y/N struts over to him and looks at Bri. “Careful with him, he’s a little too good at his job.” She kisses Harry’s cheek and then goes off with the girls to the back of the library.
“Sorry about that, Bri.” Harry chuckles.
“So…that was your girlfriend?”
“Mhm.” He smiles proudly. “Now then,” he clears his throat, “let’s talk more about your note taking, shall we?”
//
It was hard enough saying goodbye to Ashley, Megan, and some of the other seniors on the team, but it was just about move out day, and Y/N cried every time she thought about not being able to just walk down a couple of streets to see Harry.
“We’ll see each other before you know it, and when we do we’ll have two weeks of perfect weather in Italy together.” He says as he holds her close to him in bed.
“I know, I’m just really sad.” She cries into his chest and he tries his best to soothe her.
“Please don’t cry, Y/N, you’re killing me.”
“I’m sorry.” She sniffles. “I don’t mean to be like this. The time difference just sucks, Harry.”
“I know.” He sighs.
“And you won’t even get to see me for my birthday.” It was in a couple of weeks.
“But we already sort of celebrated, remember the big party we had here last weekend?”
“How could I forget? You made me margaritas all night, and then fucked my brains out.” She chuckles and so does he. “Couldn’t walk right for two days.”
“Cause I know you like it like that.” He kisses the top of her head. “Look, I’m gonna miss you too. It’s not easy being away from your favorite person, but we’ll make it work. It’ll just make things better when we see each other again. I do have one favor, though?”
“What?” She looks up at him.
“You’ll have to leave lots of marks on me, really good ones, so that they’ll just barely have faded by the time I see you. The only thing is, my mum will be pissed if she sees my neck like that, you’ll have to be creative about where you put them.”
“Challenge accepted.” She gives him a devious smile and sinks down under his covers. Thank god Harry had an a/c in his room.
“What are you…oh!” He starts laughing when he feels her suck on his inner thigh, like he would normally do to her. “Why did you tell me this tickled so much?!” He rips the blanket away to look down at her.
“It doesn’t tickle when you do it to me.” She pouts up at him. She moves to kiss on his hip and then things feel less funny.
“Yeah, I like it when you do it there.”
She kisses up his chest and sucks a nice, dark mark on one of his pecs and then smiles up at him. Her eyes start to water again and she hides her face in his neck.
“What happened?”
“We’re not going to be able to do this whenever we want soon, and it just…” She cries into him again.
“Baby.” He coos. “Let’s just enjoy right now, yeah?” He rubs her back. “Want me to make love to you? Be all sweet and slow?”
“Mhm.” She says, muffled from the way she’s pressing further into him.
“Alright.” He rolls them both over and runs his fingers over her folds. Yes, they were both already naked.
He slides his middle finger inside her slowly, working his way in and out, sucking on her nipple as he does so. This helps her to calm down just like he was hoping. He sucks his finger into his mouth when he’s done and then rubs his hard dick against her clit. She groans and then he slips inside. He hides his face in her neck so he can kiss on her while he rocks in and out. They both just wanted to be as close as possible right now.
“Harry?”
“Yeah?” He moves to look at her and she puts her hands on his shoulders.
“When you get close, will you please come inside me?” She looks so innocent right now.
“If I say yes will you promise to tell me when you get your period?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, baby, I’ll come inside you when the time comes.”
She pulls his face down to hers to kiss him. Things are slow and sloppy and just perfect. He rubs her clit to help her along and she cries out as she comes. She nearly comes again when she feels him fill her up. It was the first time he had ever come inside her without a condom, and it felt so fucking good.
“I love you so much.” He says to her as he pulls out.
“I love you too.” She clamps her legs together to try not to make a mess on his bed, and she stands up. She throws on one of his shirts before heading to the bathroom.
They snuggle all night, and most of the morning. Harry helps her pack up her apartment, and he waits with her for Angie to come pick her up. It was a really difficult goodbye, but Harry tried to stay strong for the both of them. Of course the second the car pulled away he started crying. He calmed himself down, though. They would call, text, and FaceTime. Thank god she was coming to Italy.
//
“Shit.” Y/N says to herself.
“What?” Julie asks coming into her room.
“According to my pills, I’m going to have my period when I’m in Italy.” She groans.
“So?”
“So?! I’m gonna be swimming and stuff.”
“Just use a tampon.”
“I’m going to be with mostly boys, and I have zero idea if it’s a fancy boat with a bathroom on it. I’ll only have it a few days, but still. Fuck, and I’ll probably have it right when I first see Harry.”
“Do you guys not…do it when you have your period?”
“Don’t be gross.”
“It’s a valid question!”
“We did, like, once in the shower, but it sort of hurts, so it I didn’t like it and we didn’t do it again.” She sighs. “I miss him so much, I don’t think I’ll care when I finally see him.”
“Show me the new bathing suits you got.”
“Hey.” Cooper comes into the room as well and just stands there, munching on some chips.
“What?” Y/N asks.
“M’bored.”
“Wanna look at my new bathing suits?”
“Alright, yeah.”
//
“You have WhatsApp?”
“Already downloaded.”
“And you’ll text me updates, and you will take a picture of you and Harry together so I know you’re really with him?”
“Yes, mum! Please, I need to go get through security. I love you, and I’ll see you in a couple of weeks.”
“I love you too, have a great time.”
Y/N gets through security, and texts Harry and her mom updates. She had the window seat so she was able to get comfortable for her long flight. She wanted to look cute and refreshed, so she gets up to change in the bathroom of the plane. She puts on a pair of high-waist jean shorts, and a black crop top. Her hair is down, but she ties a bandana he had given to her in it, and touched up her makeup. She was feeling really good, despite being in the middle of her period. At least it would end in a day or so.
The flight lands on time, and Y/N texts Harry and her mom that she’s landed. She gets her backpack on, and manages to follow the signs to baggage. Luckily there were a lot of signs in English. Harry had “tutored” her a bit in Italian this summer, so she wasn’t totally lost. As she approaches baggage she squints when she sees three guys who look very familiar.
“Oi! There she is!” Louis says and Harry turns around, beaming at Y/N.
She runs towards him and jumps into his arms, wrapping all of her limbs around him. He looked so fucking good in his little shorts and t-shirt and tanned skin. Their lips collide and they almost forget their in the airport.
“I hate to break this up, but which bags are yours, pet?” Niall asks.
“Oh! The floral ones!” She points to them as they come off the belt. Harry sets her down and he grabs her bags. She gives Niall and Louis a hug as well. “Now, if we let you two sit in the back of the car together, do you promise to hold off on the groping?” He teases them as they walk out to the parked cars.
“Think I can behave myself for a bit, yeah, Y/N?”
“I’ll do my best.” She giggles. “How far away are we form the house?”
“Bout an hour, not too far.” Harry says. “We’re having dinner on the boat tonight, you’ll love it. Fresh steamers, you like those, right?”
“Love ‘em.” She smiles.
He puts his arm around her and keeps her close as Louis drives back to the house. She switches her gaze from Harry to out the window, unsure of what she preferred to soak up in the moment. Harry had a lovely tan, his hair was a tad shorter, but not by much, and he had definitely been trying to grow out his scruff. He was handsome as ever.
“You look really cute.” He whispers in her ear and it sends a shiver up her spine. “Is that the bandana I gave you?”
“Mhm.” She smiles up at him. “I wear it all the time at work.”
“Good, it suits you.”
They pull up to the house in what feels like no time at all, and Y/N’s jaw drops as she gets out of the car. It was beautiful, and private. There was a path to a private dock where the boat was, and there were a couple of other guys outside.
“I’m just gonna show Y/N to our room, and then we’ll come down for dinner.” Harry tells Niall and Louis as they make their way to the boat.
“Our room, huh?” Y/N smirks up at Harry as he carries her bags in. He stops short and looks at her.
“Shit, uh, did…fuck, did you not want to stay with me? I think we can-“
“Harry!” She laughs. “Jesus, I was kidding, why would I come all this way and not sleep in a bed with you?”
“I…don’t do that.” He side eyes her as they both go inside. She shakes her head at.
“Wow…even more beautiful on the inside.” She looks around.
He hums his response and gestures to follow him upstairs. There were a lot of bedrooms, both on the main level and second level of the home. Harry was the only one to bring a date this summer, so his friends granted him the privilege of the bedroom with the en suite bath.
“Here we are, love.” He puts her bags down and closes the door behind them. He lets her look around for a moment. She peeps her head into the bathroom and then she smiles at him.
“This is amazing. I can’t believe I’m really here.
“Me neither.” He cups her jaw and kisses her. She wraps her arms around his waist as he licks into her mouth. “Missed you, baby.”
“Missed you too.” He bites down on her bottom lip, and his hands start to slide farther south, but she stops him. “We can’t.”
“Dinner can wait.”
“No, I mean…I need two more days.”
“What?”
“I have my period, but it should be done soon. I’m sorry…”
“It’s alright.” He sighs. “Better to have it now than later when we’re camping, right?”
“Mhm.” She smiles and kisses him again.
“Besides, we’ve got that nice big shower.” He winks at her, and then leads her out of the bedroom.
He keeps his hand on the small of her back as they walk down the dock to the boat. She could already smell the seafood.
“Shit!” She stops short. “We have to take a selfie to send to my mom, she wanted proof I wasn’t kidnapped.”
“Alright.” He chuckles. She takes her phone out to snap the quick photo, and then they continue onto the boat. “Oi! Can I get everyone’s attention, thank you.” All of the boys look at Harry and Y/N. “Clark, Adam, Ben, this is my girlfriend, Y/N.”
“Hi.” She says shyly.
“Don’t look like a hockey player to me.” Ben says, jokingly. “Nice to meet you, finally.” He extends his hand and she shakes it.
“Don’t be fooled, she can really pack a punch.” Harry says, sitting down.
“It’s great to meet you, Y/N.” Adam says, giving her a hug. “Hope you don’t mind being with a bunch of guys for the next couple of weeks.”
“It’s not a problem.” She smiles.
“Harry’s told us a lot about you.” Clark says, shaking her hand. “Nice to actually see you in person. Harry’s always sending us pictures of you.”
Y/N turns to look at Harry, giving him a face.
“All tasteful, I promise. Come here.” He pulls her to sit on his lap. “How’s dinner coming along?”
“The steamers have just about popped.” Adam says. “We’ve also got crab legs. Do you like all that, Y/N?”
“Yeah, I love seafood, thank you.”
“Alright, now that we don’t need to drive anywhere else,” Niall starts. “can we get to drinking?”
“Read my mind.” Ben says, getting up to pull the cooler of beer over. “Do you like beer, Y/N? We have other drinks if you don’t.”
“Beer’s great, thanks.” She smiles and leans forward to grab one for her and Harry. “I guess this is my first legal drink, that’s sorta cool.”
“That’s right! You don’t have to second guess a thing here.” Harry says, cracking his beer open. They all clink their cans together and take a sip.
Adam brings the pig pot of steamers up from below deck, and Clark brings out the crab legs and butter. Louis helps with the cocktail sauce and plates. Everyone takes what they want and dig in.
“Mm, these are delicious.” Y/N says. “Thanks so much for making all this.”
“We thought your arrival would be the perfect night to do this, so thank you.” Adam says.
“So, you three have known Harry since high school?”
“Well, we call it secondary school.” Ben says. “But yeah, think you and Adam have known each other the longest though.” Harry nods his head. “We became pretty good mates after a school camping trip.”
“I think we started coming here when we were sixteen?” Clark looks at Adam.
“I’d say so, yeah. My dad’s had this house a while. I think sixteen is when he trusted us enough to come here a lone. Lotta good summers here.”
“How did you two meet again? You had a class together?” Ben asks.
“Nope, she needed a tutor.” Harry says.
“Mhm, and lucky me, I got paired up with the most studious one of them all.”
“H really is a bit serious, isn’t he?” Clark teases.
“Gotta be serious to get good grades.”
“So, how did Harry get all these tattoos, I’m not seeing many on you.” She says to three of them.
“That would be me, love.” Louis says. “You didn’t get them all with me, but I feel like freshman year we were constantly driving out to the tattoo shop.”
“Once I got one I couldn’t stop.” Harry says. “I went with these guys to get a few more, the ones on my arms. My mum was pissed.”
“Didn’t you say she nearly fainted when she saw the butterfly?” Clark asks with a laugh.
“Yeah, that’s why I got so many on my stomach in the first place so she wouldn’t see, but it was inevitable.” He shrugs. “Think I’m due for a new one while we’re here, I’d say.” He looks at his right arm. “Not sure where though.” He laughs.
“You should get a mate for your mermaid.” Niall jokes.
“She’s an independent woman, she’s all set.”
Everyone laughs and continues to enjoy their food. They all help clean up and enjoy more drinks by the fire pit after the sun goes down fully. Y/N was having difficulty staying awake. She was up early, had that long flight, and she really just wanted to shower and go to bed.
“Would you care if I went in?” She says to him. “Think I’m ready to for a shower, and I wanna unpack a bit.”
“Sure! Yeah, I’ll head in with you in a minute.”
“Okay.” She stands up. “Night everyone, thanks for a great first say.” She smiles and then heads inside.
“She’s really nice, H.” Adam says. “I like her a lot already.”
“Thanks.” Harry smiles. “I like her a lot too.” He stands up and heads up to their shared bedroom.
“You could have stayed outside if you wanted, I’m just getting my things settled.”
“I know…I thought you might need help with the shower.” He rubs the back of his neck.
“I probably could have figure it out.” She smirks at him.
“Well, maybe I need a shower too. Been outside all day, after all.” He steps closer to her and she can feel her cheeks heating up.
“Harry…I…I want to, but…” She bites her bottom lip. “Last time we tried to do it on my period it really hurt, and I didn’t like it as much as I may have led on.”
“You didn’t fake it did you?”
“No! I came, but…it just wasn’t super comfortable. I really wanna be close with you, I just need a couple more days, and then you can pound me into the mattress for all I care.” Harry chuckles at her statement and he nods.
“Well, can we still shower together without the funny business? I just really missed you.”
“Yeah, just give me a minute in there alone, you know the drill.”
He nods and watches her walk into the en suite with her toiletry bag. She gets the water going, and steps in, opting to get her hair wet to give it a good wash. She calls for him once she feels secure enough, and he comes in right away. They look at each other for a moment, and then he crashes his mouth to hers, pushing her against the wall. Her hands fly to his hair and she moans into his mouth at the feeling of his hard dick pressed against her hip. His tongue glides against her as he gropes her breast with one hand and her ass with the other. He detaches his lips from hers to get some air, and immediately starts sucking on her neck.
“Th-thought you said no funny business.” She manages to get out.
“I don’t find any of this funny, do you?” He says lowly into her ear.
“No.” She breathes and he continues his attack on her neck.
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna do anything you don’t wanna do.” He pulls away from her slightly. “I just couldn’t help myself when I walked in here, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She pulls him back, pressing their fronts together. “I really missed you too.”
After some more passionate kisses, they clean themselves up and get out of the shower. Harry leaves her so she has some privacy putting her underwear on. She runs the blow dryer through her quickly so it’s not sopping wet before coming to bed. She throws on a large t-shirt, and Harry can’t help but smile as he watches his cute girlfriend crawl into the large bed with him.
“So, are you not able to swim? We were hoping to take the boat out tomorrow.”
“Does the boat have a bathroom?”
“It does! It’s small, but functional.”
“Then I can definitely go swimming.” She smiles and cozies up to him. She sighs happily. “I really missed this.”
“Me too.” He looks down at her. “I think I sleep better when you’re next to me.”
She pouts up at him and slots her mouth over his. It felt so good to just be able to kiss and touch how they pleased. FaceTiming was great and all, but always left them with a sense of wanting and yearning. The physical touch was something they both craved from the other.
//
The morning sun creeps into the bedroom, causing Y/N’s eyes to flutter open. She feels like she’s in a dream, but things become real when she feels Harry’s arms around her and his pelvis pressing into her ass. She thinks to maybe take care of him, offer up a hand job or something, but before she can he’s peppering kisses to the back of her neck and then getting out of bed.
“Ready to start the day?” He yawns. “We gotta pack up everything we wanna eat for the day. There’s a mini kitchen below deck, which is nice. I stalked up on some things I know you like from the store.”
“Thank you.” She smiles as he walks into the bathroom. Y/N gets up and stretches a bit. She scowls when she feels a cramp roll through her lower body. She grabs her pills and swallows. She was on the first week of her new pack. “One more day and you’re gone.” She says to herself.
“Are you talking to your period?” Harry chuckles as he comes out of the bathroom.
“Maybe.” She raises an eyebrow at him. “Just started my new pack of pills, should definitely be over by tomorrow.”
“No worries.” He kisses her cheek and goes into the drawer for his swim trunks and a white t-shirt.
“Should I pack other clothes to change into?”
“Nah, we’ll come back here and get cleaned up. I think we’re gonnna go to a bar tonight, should be fun.”
Y/N nods and searches for one of her new bathing suits. She snatches and goes into the bathroom. She hated using tampons, especially this late in her period because things just felt uncomfortably dry, but it wasn’t like she could wear a pad with her bottoms, so this is what she needs to do. Once that’s all situated, she puts her hair up into a messy bun, and slides her bottoms on. They were navy blue, not super high waist, but not super low cut either, mid-rise. She grabs her top, and struggles with getting the back tied. It was a really cute floral string top that matched perfectly with the bottoms.
“Har?” She calls from the bathroom.
“Yeah?” He peeps his head in carefully.
“Could you tie the back of this for me please?”
“Um…sure.” He swallows as he steps closer to her and ties the back of the top. “Is that good?”
She looks in the mirror and adjusts her breasts.
“Yeah, should be alright, thank you.”
“That’s a really nice bathing suit.”
“Thanks.” She smiles. “I just got it, I wanted to have some cute ones for the trip.” Her breasts giggle as she lets them go, and he can’t help but watch.
“Thought you might wear a one piece or something.” He says as he follows her out of the bathroom.
“I can’t really wear those, my torso is long, and they make them way too high cut, it’s not cute on me.” She puts on a pair of jean shorts and a tank top over her bathing suit and smiles at him. “You’ve got sunscreen and all that?”
“Yeah.”
Harry knew he didn’t need to worry about Louis, Niall, or Adam really looking at Y/N. It was Ben and Clark. As good of friends as they were, and they were just as respectful as Harry was, he knew they would still look and gawk at her. He had zero control over it, and that’s the part he hated.
The kitchen smells like fresh coffee, and Harry can hear Y/N giggling as Ben pours her a cup and gives her some creamer. Here we go, Harry thinks to himself.
“Here, Harry.” Louis says, handing him a cup of black coffee.
“Thanks.” He smiles and takes it from him.
“Sleep well, Y/N?” Clark asks.
“Better than I have in weeks, yeah.” She looks at Harry and he looks at her.
“Alrighty then.” Adam says. “Well, I’ve got most of the coolers packed, got all the sunscreen we could need. I figure we could grill on the boat for lunch later. Sound good with everyone?” Everyone hums in agreement. “Perfect, let’s head out.”
Y/N puts her sunglasses on and goes outside with everyone. She sits down on the boat and watches all the boys while they work to get going. It was quite a sight to see Harry maneuvering the different ropes. Adam drives the boat out, and Harry plops down next to Y/N.
“He’s gonna take us out to this sand bar where other boats anchor. It’s a lot of fun, just swimming around, doing nothing. You can lay out on the other end too, work on your tan.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing?”
“Mhm.” He smiles. “I love sitting out in the sun.”
“Me too. It’s been great working at the bar because I can go to the beach during the day with my friends and stuff, and then just go in at night.”
“How’s the gang doing?”
“Oh, they’re great. Max has a girlfriend, and she’s really nice. She came to visit for a weekend to meet all of us.”
Harry felt slightly relieved knowing that Max was seeing someone. He never brought his uneasiness about him to Y/N, and right now he was especially glad he didn’t.
“That’s nice.” He kisses her cheek.
Once the boat is anchored at the sandbar, Y/N takes her cover up off along with the boys. Having basically grown up in a locker room, Y/N wasn’t really nervous to be so exposed around friends. If they hadn’t seen a boob or a butt cheek by now then that was on them. She takes a few photos on her phone. The view was incredible, and she felt so lucky to be there. Harry comes up from behind her and gives her a squeeze.
“Would you help me with the sunscreen?” He asks.
“Of course!” She sprays it all over him and rubs it in on his back and shoulders. “Do me?”
He nods and does the same for her, making sure to get under her straps so she wouldn’t be splotchy. They hear a few splashes. Louis, Niall, and Clark all jumping in.
“The water’s so warm!” Niall shouts to everyone still aboard.
“I’m not quite ready to go in yet.” Y/N whispers to Harry.
“You don’t have to…here.” He grabs a towel from a bag. “Lay out on this, I’m just gonna go in for a quick dip and then I’ll join you.” He smiles and kisses the tip of her nose.
“M’surprised she’s not right in here with you.” Louis says as Harry swims over to them.
“She…uh…well, she’s got her period.” He whispers. “So I think she’s trying to hold off on going in for a bit.”
“Ah, say no more.” Louis says.
“That’s gotta be so annoying.” Niall says. “Did it just start?”
“No, she said it should end tomorrow, so she just needs to tough it out today.”
“We should have gone to the shops then…” Louis says.
“It’s alright, she can still swim, she just doesn’t want to have to deal with, uh, changing yet I think.”
“Changing what?” Clark asks.
“Her…you know.” Harry says, blushing. “Ugh, can we not talk about this actually?”
“Talk about what?” Ben asks as he swims towards them.
“Nothing.” Harry, Niall, and Louis all say at the same time.
They all hear Y/N laughing from the boat. Adam is sitting next to her on the deck.
“Look, Adam has someone to have girl talk with, this’ll be perfect.” Ben says.
“Oi.” Harry splashes him. “Don’t say shit like that. Just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he’s girly. We all paint our nails and wear jewelry for Christ’s sake, we’re not all exactly following gender norms here.”
“Okay, okay, fuck.” Ben laughs and splashes Harry back.
After his quick dip, Harry joins Y/N on the deck to lay out. She looked perfect to him. Laying on her stomach, he could see the cute curve of her bum. He lays down on a towel next to her, and boops her nose as she turns to look at him.
“How was the water?”
“Nice and warm, ready whenever you are.”
“Sun feels good.” She yawns.
“Good.” He smiles at her. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
“Me too.”
Y/N ends up falling asleep for a bit, which Harry thinks is the cutest thing in the world. He nudges her awake, though, and hands her a bottle of water. She shits up and happily takes it.
“Think I’m ready to go in now, I’m hot.”
“Okay.”
He leads her down to where the latter is, and helps her in by giving her a piggy back ride. She warned him that she wasn’t the strongest swimmer before the trip. Luckily, she could easily stand about belly button deep.
“Y/N, catch!” Niall tosses her a tennis ball, and she catches it.
Adam was hanging out on a float nearby with Ben, and Clark was talking with Louis about some soccer player. Y/N, Harry, and Niall get into a game of catch with the tennis ball. Once noon hits, someone has the brilliant idea to start drinking. Y/N goes up on deck with Harry and she pulls him aside.
“Would you come to the bathroom with me?” She whispers as she grabs her beach bag.
“Yeah.”
He leads her below deck and shows her the bathroom. She asks him to just wait outside and guard the door while she’s in there. He hears her grunt painfully before hearing the sink. She comes out with sigh.
“Alright?”
“Yeah…it just…ugh, it’s just annoying. It’s fine.” She takes a moment to look around. “It’s like a little apartment down here, it’s nice.”
“Yeah, the couch turns into a pull out, it’s pretty cool. We’ve all slept out on the boat before. One summer when there was a lot of us someone just used it as a spare room.”
“Who wants vodka?” Adam asks.
“Me!” Y/N says as her and Harry come back up. “Any soda or anything to go with it?”
“Cranberry juice.” Harry says with a grin and Y/N smiles wider.
Ben fires up the grill while everyone starts to drink. It was a delicious lunch that Y/N was grateful for. Everyone was getting a little tipsy, which resulted in Harry (and others) doing a backflip off the deck and into the water. Y/N had no idea Harry would even do that. He must really be letting loose.
Once everyone sobered up a bit, Adam drives the boat back to the house. It was the perfect day in the sun, but Y/N couldn’t wait to shower off all the sunscreen.
“Do you guys wanna, like, chill for a little while? I could use a nap, honestly.” Clark says. “We won’t be heading to the club until midnight so I’d rather sleep and then have a late dinner.”
“Agreed.” Niall says. “I’m exhausted.”
“Midnight?” Y/N says to Harry as they go up to their room.
“Yeah, things are open later here so we go out later. We’ll pregame and stuff like normal, but it’s sort of lame to be the first ones at a club.”
“Right.” She chuckles. “Well, I am in desperate need of a shower.”
“Alright, I suppose I’ll be a gentleman and let you go first.” He rolls his eyes playfully.
“You can come in with me.”
“If I do that I’m gonna need to fuck you, Y/N.”
“Oh.”
“You’ve looked so sexy all day.” He plays with the strap on the top of her bathing suit. “Don’t have much self-control left.”
“I’ll just, um, go in alone then.” She swallows.
She really wanted to have sex with Harry, but it just wasn’t time yet. She takes a quick shower, and he follows in shortly after her. She didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore, but she put a pad on anyways and a large t-shirt. She sinks into the pillows on the bed and waits for Harry.
“Think I need a nap too.” He yawns. “Swimming and day drinking really tires you out.”
“Yeah.” She laughs and opens her arms for him. He rests his head on her chest and gets comfy.
“This is the best.”
“Absolutely.” She plays with his damp hair and he feels like he’s going to melt into her.
“Oh!” He sits up abruptly and looks at her. “I had an epiphany the other night with the guys.”
“About what?”
“What I might like to do after graduation. We were sitting smoking and it just came to me.”
“I’m sorry, did you just say you were smoking?” She sits up with a surprised look on her face.
“I don’t do it during the school year because sometimes I wig out, but I was fine the other night. Anyways, do you wanna hear what I wanna do?”
“Of course, lay it on me.”
“Human Resources.”
“What about it?”
“That’s what I want to do, Y/N! I all of these ethics classes would really prepare me for that field, and I could literally work anywhere. I’d probably have to start out doing some customer service work and then slowly work my way up, but I think I could be good at it.”
“You wanna deal with sexual harassment stuff?”
“That’s not the only thing that HR reps do, there’s payroll, workplace compliance with dress code and safety. I’d be like Toby from The Office, only cool.”
Y/N smiles and giggle for a moment.
“Well, you’re clearly excited about it, so I think it’s great. Course, I think you’d be good at anything you set your mind to.”
“Thanks, babe. I know it sounds like a boring job, but I don’t think it has to be. Plus, you can make a fuck ton of money.”
“Is that the most important thing to you?”
“No, I suppose being happy is, but a decent salary would be nice too.”
“You’d probably have to wear a suit every day.” She bites her bottom lip.
“Mhm, probably.”
“Sexiest HR rep in the history of HR reps.”
He smiles as he leans in to kiss her. She pulls him on top of her, but keeps her legs closed. After a quick make out session, they decide just to cuddle and snooze for a bit. Harry wakes up to a lack of warmth. He sits up when he doesn’t feel Y/N next to him. She comes out of the bathroom and looks at him.
“What time is it?” He knuckles at his eyes.
“A little after six. What do you think we’re doing for dinner?”
“Ben said he’d make fresh pasta.” Harry yawns and stretches. “It’s his turn to cook.” He gives her a kiss on the cheek before looking for some clothes.
“What should I wear tonight? I have this cute red dress…” She pulls it out of the closet and his eyes grow wide. He puts his glasses on so he can see better.
“That’s…wow, yeah, that’ll look great on you.”
“I really like the cut out on the front. I’ll just put some shorts and a t-shirt on for now. No use in getting ready yet.”
“Right.”
Harry just throws on a pair of shorts and looks at her.
“Must be nice to just walk around shirtless all the time. Wish I could do the same.”
“Well, you could, but I wouldn’t feel terribly comfortable with all of the guys ogling you.” He smirks and she nudges him out of the room.
“Something smells good!” She says as she sees Ben over the stove. “You really made fresh pasta?”
“Yup, and meatballs. Mum’s recipe.”
Y/N was amazed at seeing so many guys just being domestic. Her freshman year of college she had made friends with a few guys on the men’s hockey team and their apartment was always gross. They never did their laundry and always ordered takeout. This was one of the things Y/N really liked about Harry. He was clean and respectful, and it was nice to see he surrounded himself with similar people.
“Oh my fucking god.” She moans as she takes a bit of the food. “That’s delicious.”
“Thanks.” Ben beams. “Hear that, mate, she likes my cooking.”
“Don’t get too cocky, she likes mine plenty, right?” Harry says to her.
“Of course, babe.”
“Babe.” Adam and Clark say together lovingly.
“Enough teasing.” Harry points his knife at them. “Get enough of it from these two at school.”
“Please, we hardly tease you.” Louis scoffs.
“You did when we first started going out, it was so annoying.” Harry rolls his eyes.
“You teased him?” Y/N looks at Louis and Niall. “Not very nice boys.” She shakes her head as she takes another bite.
“It was all in good fun.” Niall says.
After cleaning up dinner, the drinks come back out and everyone does shots of tequila. This was what Y/N had been missing. Just hanging out with people her own age without any parents around.
“Wait, so I need to ask.” Clark starts. “Why hockey?”
“I was too aggressive for soccer and lacrosse. No padding.” She takes another shot and sucks on a lime.
“Jesus.” Adam says. “Why were you so aggressive?”
“I had a lot of, um, pent up anger from my parent’s split…we had to see, um, well it was suggested to me that I try hockey. I already knew how to skate, so it wasn’t difficult for me to pick up.”
“She’s brilliant on the ice.” Harry says, putting an arm around her. “I bet you’ll be captain senior year.”
“Do you have siblings, do they play sports?” Ben asks.
“My younger sister does theater, she’s going to this school…um…AMDA in New York this fall, I’m really excited for her, she’s very talented. My little brother plays hockey too…for the same reasons. At least the boys get to hit each other.” She scoffs. “If there had been a female football league I think I would have done that, but it didn’t exist so hockey it was. Besides, I really do just love it. My mom was able to send me to hockey camp a couple times, and I got to meet some nice people that I still stay in touch with. It’s just a great sport.”
Pregaming was good, but it was getting to be time to change. Y/N takes her hair out of its bun and shakes it out. She had some nice beach waves from earlier. She touches up her makeup, and slips into her dress. It was tight, red, and had a cutout just below her breasts. It wasn’t something she wore often, but she thought a club in Italy would be a perfect occasion. She slips her white tennis shoes on, ever the practical person. Harry feels the wind get knocked out of him when she steps out of the bathroom.
He didn’t look too shabby himself. A white, silk short-sleeve shirt with the first few buttons undone, and a pair of black shorts. He looks her up and down after putting his contacts in.
“Jesus.”
“Isn’t it cute?” She spins around for him.
“Very.” He puts his hands on her hips. “Do we need to leave?”
“Harry.” She giggles. “We can get frisky when we get back.”
“Does that mean-“
“Mhm.” She winks at him.
The boys were all dressed and ready, and a few paid some compliments to Y/N. Harry keeps his arm around her as they walk to the downtown area. They’re able to get into the club with ease, and they all go up to the bar. The bartender gives Y/N’s hers on the house and she smiles.
The music was good, they all dance as a group, but Harry dances behind Y/N with his hands on her hips, which she didn’t mind one bit. His friends had seen him dance with plenty of girls, it wasn’t awkward or anything. They all drank a fuck ton as the night went on. Y/N was loving having her dance partner back. Her head was rolled back onto Harry’s chest while they grind together. He turns her around and pulls her close so he can kiss her, tongue immediately going into her mouth. She wraps her arms around his neck and tugs him as close as they could possibly be. This kiss is hot and forceful. Her fingers lace through his hair.
“Fuck.” He breathes. “Need to get you out of here.” He nearly growls. Y/N nods her head, too frazzled to speak.
Harry finds Adam and lets him know they’re leaving. They both walk quickly, hand in hand, out of the club. The walk back to the house felt like any other time they left a party to go get busy. They giggle and stop to steal kisses until they get to where they need to be. He gets her inside and lifts her over his shoulder.
“Harry!” She squeals.
“Shh, some of the boys could have brought people back.” He gives her bum a little smack as he carries her up the stairs. She laughs, but does as he says to try to stay quiet.
He gets them both on the bed, and she straddles him immediately, her hair falling into her face as she sucks on his bottom lip. He helps move it out of the way, and this his hand slide down her body to grope and squeeze at her ass. She rocks her lips against his, and at this point it just feels torturous for them both. He grabs her hips and gets her on her back.
“You’re really all good?”
“Mhm.”
He lifts the hem of her dress and bunches it up by her hips. His mouth falls open when he sees the red thong she had paired with the dress.
“You’re the devil.” He says, kissing her lips as he pets over her. “You’re good, you’re okay with this?”
“Yes, so okay with it, please.” She nearly whines.
He moves the thin material to the side, and slides two of his fingers inside her. They swallow each other’s moans. He uses his other hand to yank her breasts out of the top of her dress, something she wasn’t expecting, and then he sucks on one of her nipples while he fingers her. Her back arches when his fingers curl up against her g-spot.
“There we are.” He smirks. “Like that, baby girl?”
“Yeah, just like that, Harry.” Her head rolls back into the pillow. “Oh my god, oh my fucking god.” She moans.
“That’s it, let it all out for me.”
He was knuckle deep, and she couldn’t control any of the noises leaving her mouth. She cries out when she comes to her release. He gives her moment before pulling his fingers out. She looks up at him.
“Get your clothes off, now.” She demands.
“Yes ma’am.” He says, saluting her and getting up.
She helps him get his shirt off, attaching her lips to his stomach and sucking on his special spots. His hips buck forward. He tugs her dress off, and his pants drop to the ground at the same time. She wiggles out of her thong, and Harry rids himself of his boxers.
“Really wanna feel you, can we do that?” She pouts at him.
“Yeah.”
She pins him down and straddles him, lining herself up with him and sinking down. They both let out throaty moans at the contact.
“You’re so fucking tight.” He groans as he rocks her back and forth on him.
“Been too long without you.” She starts bouncing up and down on him slowly, and he rubs her clit. “Fuck, Harry.” She squeezes around him.
“Come as many times as you want, don’t hold back.” He says, rubbing her faster.
Her body falls on his and she cries out into his neck. He helps her move back and forth on him as she comes to. She knew she was overly sensitive from having not been touched by him in two months. He looks at her and opens his mouth. Her eyebrows raise, but then she remembers what he wants her to do. She wells up some spit and lets it drip slowly from her tongue to his. He swallows it and smiles up at her. A hand goes to the back of her head, and he yanks her face down to his so he can kiss her. Their tongue move around each other as he thrusts up into her.
“Need it from behind.” He says against her mouth.
She gets off him and gets in position for him. He gives her a gentle smack before sliding back in. His hands grip at her hips as he thrusts in and out.
“Gonna fuck you every day for the next two weeks, as many times as you want. You just say the word, and it’ll be just like this.”
“Fuck, Harry.” His words alone were going to make her lose it again.
“Don’t care where we are, if you want my cock, my mouth, my fingers, you’ve got it.”
She moans out as she comes again, and he loves the way she tightens around him, but he’s trying to hold on a little longer. He hadn’t fucked her in so long, and even though he knew they could do it again, he just wanted to enjoy the initial moment a little longer. He pulls out of her and gets her on her back, and in he goes once against. He takes her hands and pins them on either side of her head. He kisses her as he rocks in and out.
“H-Harry?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“Oh, baby, I love you too.” He kisses her.
Things had turned from rushed and frantic to loving and sweet. She rocks her hips along with his, and it feels amazing. He slows down the pace to really just take her all in.
“Love you so much.” He whispers in her ear. He picks up the pace a little, and he can feel himself getting closer.
“Please, come inside me, Harry.” She whimpers. “Wanna feel all of you.”
He bites down on her neck while he comes and she moans out at the feeling of him filling her up. He kisses her cheeks and nips at her lips before slowly pulling out. She gasps at the loss of him at first. She gets up to use the bathroom quickly, and then gets into bed with him. He tugs her to lay fully on top of him. She nuzzles into his chest, leaving kisses every few moments. He rubs her back and moves some hair away from her face so she’ll look up at him. He opens his mouth to say something, but he feels good about the comfortable silence. He opts to just kiss her forehead instead. They both sigh with happiness.
As they fell asleep in each other’s arms, neither had a care in the world. They both knew this was the only time in their lives that they could be so carefree, and they weren’t going to waste it or worry. They wanted to be with each other right now, and that was good enough for the both of them.
#harry styles#harry styles one shot#harry styles series#harry styles imagine#harry styles fic#harry styles fanfic#harry styles x reader#harry styles x y/n#harry styles fluff#harry styles smut#harry styles angst#college!harry#the tutor#tutor!harry#tutorry#hockeyplayer!y/n#college au#harry styles au
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More Inevitable Hot Takes- MTG Announcement Day edition
I only have myself to blame for this one. I forgot this was upcoming, and I went and blathered about dumb preview cards from most of a month ago anyway. Well, now I’ve got to spend two posts in one week talking about Magic cards. Woe is me?
Once a year, WoTC has a big day where they announce, like, everything for the next year’s releases. And with the picking up speed of set releases, there’s a lot there, and thereby I have a lot to talk about.
To be clear, I’ve deliberately avoided Magic Twitter and Magic Reddit for these announcements. Tis a silly pair of places.
Standard Sets 2022
In order:
Kamigawa Neon Dynasty is very concerning, as one of the people who’s a genuine big fan of the original Kamigawa block. The thing is, I like Kamigawa, with it’s spirits and artwork and samurai and the like. I like cyberpunk, with the aesthetic and the themes and the music. I’m not sure I’m going to like the two combined. We better see some fucking weird-ass spirits, and I’ll only be slightly annoyed if they’re cyber-ghosts or whatnot as long as they maintain that bomb-ass art design.
We have a new plane and a set to go with it, which is cool and nice. Urban Fantasy is a thing Ravnica already did, to be honest, but if I had to guess, Streets of New Capenna is going to be a much more low-fantasy, noir-y take on the genre. I think I saw something about Azra returning, which is cool. That one on the key art looks…very Ob Nixilis-y, though.
And then we’re going back to Dominaria and actually doing The Brother’s War, again? I think Urza block was about that arc, though the Dominaria United set might be like, before all that nonsense. They might have given details, I wouldn’t have seen them, I’m going based on someone’s TL;DR. I’m excited to finally have a Mishra card that isn’t the Time Spiral one, though I’m concerned about how they’re going to make an Urza and a Mishra that are both powerful enough for the iconic characters but not so powerful as to be dominant in the Standard they’ll be legal in.
So, so much Universes Beyond
I think the four Warhammer 40k precon decks is kind of exactly what I was hoping we were going to get for that particular crossover. Just enough to get fans happy and make some fun new cards, not enough that there’s a ridiculous influx of Tyranids into Magic’s annals. I’d be interested to see what regular Magic cards translate well into these decks, seeing as they’ll have to be 40k-ified.
I feel similarly about the Baldur’s gate Commander draft set. I remember fans of that particular D&D spinoff were frustrated with the lack of representation in AFR (I think Minsk was like the only thing they got), so now they have a whole set to work with. Ultimately, D&D is now already, and interminably a part of Magic’s multiverse, and more from those particular realms isn’t going to make anything super fucky. Also, Commander Legends was cool as hell, and this is going to be another one of those, so that’s a plus.
And…a Lord of the Rings set? Like, a full set? I’m assuming whatever got them 40K also got them rights to tabletop LOTR, seeing as Games Workshop has run the LOTR tabletop game for a while. Like with D&D, the medium-high fantasy of LOTR crosses over pretty well into Magic, so I’m not worried about that kind of cockup making things Feel Weird. I’m a little confused about the legality of the set, though, seeing as it’s in Arena, but not Standard legal, but it is Modern legal? What and why and what about Pioneer or Historic?
Secret Lairs
Few hits, few misses, though I remember seeing spoilers from a few that aren’t on this list. Presumably, the Art Series: Johannes Voss, Thomas M. Baxa, and Purrfection and Math is for Blockers were announced separately? Anyway.
Hits: The Kamigawa Ink cards look drop-dead gorgeous, holy shit. Add in the fact that I already play two of those cards and that the others are all cards I like? Might have to get that one. Math is for Blockers is a fun lineup though I don’t…really get the theme? Both Artist Series look incredible, though I’m not huge on the card lineups.
Misses: PURRFECTION would be great if it wasn’t apparently a convention exclusive and also if the art of cats were on cat cards. It’s cute as fuck, but eh. The old-format walkers are frustrating, but I’m not as against them as a lot of people are- like they’re ugly, but not worth throwing a fucking fit over. I weep for any new player staring one of these down, especially if they barely understand planeswalkers in the first place and/or haven’t seen one of these particular ones before. Also, the art is kinda just ugly.
And then there’s the Universes Beyond ones. Fortnite and Street Fighter, both with new cards that will eventually have regular versions (which leads me to wonder if TWD will do the same). There’s a clear attempt here to hit the zoomers and the boomers in the community, though the former probably won’t have the money to afford the Secret Lair if they’re burning all their cash on V-Bucks. It’s…not a great look? Like I’m not opposed to cartoony art styles (the Goblins Kaboom SL looked great!) but Fortnite’s in particular looks like dogshit in my eyes and I’m not looking forward to seeing it in a Magic frame. Street Fighter I’m more excited for, because I like Street Fighter, and because they confirmed Chun-Li is going to have multikicker which is kind of perfect. Obviously we’re going to have to see the cards, but in one case I’m dreading that, and in the other I’m welcoming it.
Other Cards
We have more Challenger Decks, for Pioneer this time. The decklists are already out, and they look pretty solid! The Challenger Decks have been pretty cool previously, a really solid set of lists that only needed a bit of tweaking to be FNM-viable, but they were held back by the fact that they were often released not long before rotation. With Pioneer being a non-rotating format, this is going to be great for getting people into the format.
Another Double Masters set is…egh. It’s another thing that’s not for me, I can’t afford to whale on that shit. With shipping and conversion those packs end up ludicrously expensive in Perth, and I’m pretty sure I only got to play with one the first time. Also, this one is going to have all the collectable nonsense of 2020/21 Magic, which is going to be A Lot.
And another Jumpstart. Eh. Don’t cock the shipping on this one up and it’ll probably be okay.
Commander Collection Black is here, and the list is already out. The Green one ended up way overpriced, but at least in this case the cards are all super playable. Actually, they were for Green too, I think, but hey there’s a Deluge reprint and a flip Lilli, so. I kinda miss the Signature Spellbook series already, though.
Finally, Unfinity. Another Un-Set. Unstable was a fucking incredible set, both on a comedic level and as one of the sickest draft formats in a long time, so I’m excited to see that one followed up. On the other hand, Unsanctioned kind of landed with a dull thud. Apparently though, they got some of the folks from LRR (among others) to help write names and flavour text for this set, and I love those guys to death, so I can at least guarantee the comedy element will be present for this one.
Other stuff?
Well we have a date for the Netflix series. I have a hard time believing it’s actually happening. When I first started playing was around when rumours and announcements were still happening regarding a full-on movie, and that basically didn’t go anywhere. So it’s a little surprising to have a solid, actual time frame for Magic Story Content in Video Form. I haven’t kept with the story for a fair bit at this point (since Dominaria, tbh), so I’ve got no idea if it’s been any good, and as to whether this will be any good. Considering apparently Gideon’s in the lead, my hopes aren’t huge.
The only other thing is Pins. I like Pins. I have a bunch of them on my bag. I would like to get more Magic pins. So this is good.
And that, I think, is the sum total of it. These announcements always end up with a combination of excitement, trepidation, and dread, but I think this is leading more on the positive end of that spectrum. There’s still way too many fucking sets, but I think that is largely at Hasbro’s feet. The money machine must keep churning, after all. Maybe someday Magic and WoTC as a whole will be able to unshackle themselves from that particular constraint, but I am not holding my breath.
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TerraMythos’ 2020 Reading Challenge In Review - 9/10s!
See Master Post
Here's the 9/10 books of this year -- books I really liked but not to the point of perfection.
1. This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Full Review Here)
This is a beautifully-written novella about two women from enemy time travel societies. They start as rivals who pass taunting letters to one another and gradually fall in love with each other through their writing. There’s some really beautiful and interesting locations, and I love the longing and emotion in the letter sequences. I think using a science fiction setting for a love story is super cool; especially with time travel, there’s a sense of predestination not found in other genres. I also like the idea of each author writing one of the two leads, so the style is slightly different between them.
2. The City We Became (Great Cities #1) by N. K. Jemisin (Full Review Here)
Jemisin is a fantastic author and created my favorite series ever (The Broken Earth), so I was stoked to read book one of a new series by her. The concept here is that cities become sentient beings over time given enough people and cultural influence. New York City is about to be born into a human avatar, but something goes wrong. An eldritch foe known simply as The Enemy seeks to sabotage the nascent city and almost succeeds. Proto-avatars of the city’s boroughs have to find their inner power and band together to rescue him and save the city.
I really dig the ensemble cast, especially Manny (Manhattan), Bronca (The Bronx), and New York City himself. The book is also a great middle finger to Lovecraft, as the cosmic horror element is steeped in structural racism and oppression, with the Eldritch Aesthetic being a creepy pale white. Super excited for the next book.
3. Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)
I’ve already said plenty about the Murderbot books on my 10/10 list. I really like this one in particular because it introduces ART, one of the best supporting characters in the series. It’s super interesting to see how Murderbot interacts with a non-human person (or... spaceship. But ART is also a person for sure) similar to itself and I really like the banter and friendship between the two. Like the rest of the novellas, it’s short, but it packs in a lot of story and heart.
4. Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries #3) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)
My other 9/10 selection for this series! There is a heavy focus on Murderbot’s past and how far it’s come ever since it freed itself from the company’s mental slavery. This probably has the strongest character development in the series outside of Network Effect, with a genuinely sad and sobering ending.
5. Finch (Ambergris #3) by Jeff VanderMeer (Full Review Here)
I think this book is where I really “got” the Ambergris series; it’s a pseudo-trilogy with a lot of postmodern elements, but this one is the most straightforward. Finch is a fascinating mix of noir, dystopia, and cosmic horror. I even called this “nontraditional cyberpunk”; there’s elements of a surveillance state, underground resistance/revolution, artificial implants/bodily enhancements-- but all related to fungi and eldritch horror.
Anyway, this book stars Finch, a detective working in the city of Ambergris, who is tasked with solving an impossible double-murder case. In his investigations, he soon stumbles upon a web of conspiracy related to the downfall and takeover of the city by the gray caps, the humanoid mushrooms who enslave and oppress the human population. It’s just as weird as it sounds, but if you made it to book three, you'll be plenty familiar with how bizarre the series is. Technically, this book is a standalone, but I recommend reading the other two first as they are integral to understanding the plot.
6. The Last Sun (The Tarot Sequence #1) by K. D. Edwards (Full Review Here)
This is a really impressive debut novel with an interesting world concept and great characters. The idea is that Atlantis was a real thing and got destroyed. The surviving inhabitants decided to build a new city by magically stealing a bunch of buildings throughout the world and transporting them to Nantucket. The result is a cool patchwork urban fantasy setting. There’s a huge tarot motif, hence the series name. It’s also gay!
I fell in love with the excellent character banter, especially between Rune and his soul-bonded bodyguard Brand. While I had some criticisms on the plot structure and a reliance on same-y action scenes, everything else was so good I gave Edwards the benefit of the doubt. And it really paid off in the sequel, which improves on basically everything.
7. The Princess Bride by William Goldman (Full Review Here)
I mean, the movie’s a beloved classic. If you haven’t seen it... go do so? It’s a great adventure story with lots of memorable characters, lines, and moments. Honestly I’m more surprised I hadn’t read the book before, and I’m glad I did. It often felt like an extended cut of the movie, with a few key differences in the frame story and some locations. While I think I like the film just a little more, I appreciate the novel for giving me a broader perspective on the story and characters.
8. A Choir of Lies (A Conspiracy of Truths #2) by Alexandra Rowland (Full Review Here)
A Choir of Lies is a standalone sequel to the book A Conspiracy of Truths and can be read on its own if desired. It stars Ylfing, a fan-favorite character in the previous book. He’s processing grief and depression in the wake of his mentor (the last book’s protag) suddenly abandoning him. A (sort of--it’s complicated) professional storyteller called a Chant, Ylfing tries to make it in the Netherlands-inspired fantasy city Heyrland, and writes a diary about his experiences. However, another Chant has found his manuscript and writes scathing commentary on his decisions in the footnotes.
I had a difficult time getting into this one, as Ylfing is both relatable and infuriating, and a depressed protagonist can be hard to get behind. However, it's well worth sticking through, as the sheer catharsis of Ylfing realizing his horrible mistakes and doing everything he can to fix them is... well, pretty inspiring. Multiple characters own up to their failures, often at great personal cost, for the wellbeing of others. I think it’s a great message, especially reading it in 2020 when the future feels hopeless. A Choir of Lies also has two of the things I liked most about A Conspiracy of Truths-- lots of meta commentary on storytelling, and surprisingly interesting economics.
9. The Harbors of the Sun (The Books of the Raksura #5) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)
I thought this was a nice finale to the series. It has some satisfying thematic bookends regarding the Fell and Moon’s character development. It’s also probably the most “epic” fantasy of the series, with super high stakes and a broad cast of perspective characters. I have to wonder if there are plans for further books or a different series in this universe, since the setting has a lot of depth and potential. Either way, I really enjoyed it!
10. A Killing Frost (October Daye #14) by Seanan McGuire (Full Review Here)
Another year, another October Daye book! Obviously I like this series if I’m fourteen books in and still reading it. A Killing Frost has some slow-ish pacing, but ramps up a lot in the second half of the story. It’s the conclusion to my favorite storyline in the series -- the redemption arc of Simon Torquill. He’s a really interesting morally gray character, and I think serves as the poster child on how the series plays with the idea of heroes and villains. Also, this book casually drops probably one of the craziest twists in the series at the end, and I am super interested to see the fallout of that.
11. The Edge of Worlds (The Books of the Raksura #4) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)
This is basically part one of Harbors of the Sun and involves the main cast going on a long journey to an ancient ruin. The first half of the book is pretty slow and probably could have been pared down -- lots of travel sequences. However the second half is super tense and action packed. I found the ancient ruin itself really interesting and creepy, and the book sets up a lot of things that pay off in The Harbors of the Sun.
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Dance with me - Spider Noir x Reader
A/N: thanks so much for the request @halfshadows6 ! I honestly wanted to originally add this into my first one but I’m glad it’s getting a fic of it’s own! I don’t think I’ll make it all that linked to my first fic so anyone can read it without having to read the other one :)
Warnings: fluff? Swearing. Sexual jokes. Generally pg-13 language with a really fluffy story line.
It had to be at least 11 pm by now. Miles and Gwen were at their school all week, Peter B was visiting MJ, and Penni and Peter Porker always seemed to pass out by 9:00.
That left you and Peter Noir. You were working on a draft of an art project you and Miles planned on spray painting over the weekend, and he was observing. He seemed to be absolutely fascinated by your colored pencils and markers that you used.
At one point, you decided you might as well make conversation with him. You looked over your shoulder so your noses were almost touching, which he seemed to jump a little at. You smiled softly, trying to communicate to him that he could calm down now.
“Hey.” You said pleasantly, keeping your face close to his and keeping eye contact, but making sure to do it gently, not in an aggressive way that could startle him.
He gave you a silent smile and a wave, knowing that if he opened his mouth, he’d sputter out some word vomit. Your smile widened a little and you turned back around to your drawing.
It seemed out of nowhere to him when you asked. “Could you pass me my phone? I want to play some music.” But he complied, grabbing the phone on Aunt May’s wall and holding it out to you. You still had your back turned to him before he coughed to get your attention, then you turned around to see him intently holding the old telephone, waving it to you, dead serious.
You tried to hold in your laughter, which only resulted in a loud snort noise to come out of your nose before you were almost rolling on the floor laughing. You didn’t know why it was so funny to you, but the fact that you needed sleep desperately and the clock was almost at midnight now probably contributed to it.
“What?” He said, sounding genuinely confused, with a little bit of hurt in his voice. You quickly collected yourself and looked up at him again.
“No no no no no” you said, frantically waving your hands. “You’re fine. I’m just so tired that even Peter B’s dumb jokes would be comedy gold to me right now.”
His expression softened as he watched you snatch your phone off the counter.
“that’s a PHONE?” He exclaimed, causing you to giggle a little more.
“Yep. And I’m gonna play some music for us on it.” You grinned. “I’m thinking the Beatles, only about 30 years after you, you’d like them.”
That earned you a smile from him. He looked down for a second to clean his glasses, and he smiled at you again as he pushed them up his nose, though it was so subtle you hadn’t noticed.
You scrolled through YouTube before landing in twist and shout and grinned widely pressing play.
“Come on Mr. Monochrome! Dance with me!” You said as you twirled to the iconic song playing. He rolled his eyes playfully before grabbing your hand mid spin and pulling you towards him gently, spinning you under his arm. You giggled and glanced up at him, feeling yourself flush when you noticed the grin on his face.
That’s how your guys’ tradition started.
Every month you’d choose a new decade of music in no exact order, and you’d find different times during the month to dance to the music like idiots. Sure, Miles liked to tease you about it, but you’d remind him that he wasn’t exactly one to talk, considering a girl had to shave half her head because of his powers.
Fast forward to today. It was a Friday night, and it had to be past 12:00 by now, and you had chosen the 70s, one of your favorite musical decades. You sang bohemian rhapsody to yourself quietly while you scrolled through YouTube looking for a song, which caught Noirs attention.
“If I’m not back again this time tomorrow, carry on, carry on.” Your voice sang in a way that sounded absolutely angelic to him, causing him to basically melt on the spot.
“You uh- you have a really pretty voice Y/N” he stuttered awkwardly, which caught you off guard, since you hadn’t noticed him listening.
You grinned at him. “Thanks dude, I used to play at open mic nights, but I haven’t really gone since my spider woman duties took over my life. Not that I’m complaining or anything, I mean I love you guys.”
He cut you off. “Well you sound beautiful. What’s that song?” He looked like he’d heard an angel sing to him, and he felt like he had too.
You quickly clicked bohemian rhapsody on YouTube, since you were already searching for queen songs. You held your hand out to him, but it felt different than other times you guys danced together. You were almost like a middle school boy asking a girl to a school dance for the first time, shy and innocent. He placed his hand in yours, holding it for a few seconds before the song started.
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
You swing your arms around his neck when the slow piano started to play and swayed slowly, looking down and singing quietly. You were just wearing an old Spider-Man tee shirt and gray sweatpants, but to him you were a goddess.
As the guitar solo began, he broke the silence between you two by yawning softly. You made eye contact with him and gave him a cheesy smile. “Hey” You said, trying not to laugh as you did your best impression of Miles. He chuckled and smiled at you. You heard a couple piano keys before realizing where the song.
“Oh I fucking love this part!” You whisper shouted.
I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch Scaramouch will you do the fandango?
Thunder, bolts of lightning, very very frightening me
“Galileo!” You sung happily, in a high pitcher voice, which surprised Noir. He wore and expression that screamed I have no idea what the hell is going on but I’m far too tired to question it.
Before you knew it the song came to an end. You basically went through a quote unquote emotional roller coaster with Peter Noir, switching between totally platonic slow dancing, rocking out, or mumbling ‘nonsense’ as he’d call it.
You let out a long yawn and leaned into Noirs side, feeling his arm wrap around you and sinking into his touch.
“I’m gonna sleep on the couch, care to join me?” You muttered only half sarcastically. To your surprise he nodded before picking you up bridal style to walk you over there, making you burst into a fit of giggles while he just smiled tiredly. He set you down next to the couch and lie down on the couch, patting the bit of space next to him. You smiled weakly and grabbed a random blanket from the floor, practically throwing yourself on the couch, you felt Noir press a soft kiss to your forehead, and before you could realize what he’d done, he seemed to be knocked out.
The next morning, you woke up to whispers nearby you, but refused to open your eyes.
“Do you think they...you know?”
“Miles that’s disgusting! Plus they’re both fully clothed.”
“Yeah well they’re practically one person right now so excuse me if it’s a little surprising when those two are the first thing we see when we walk through the door!”
“Shhh she’s waking up dumbass!”
You instantly recognized the voices of Miles and Gwen and began to push yourself up from the couch. Except, it wasn’t the couch. You looked up to see Peter Noir, his glasses hanging from his hand slung over the side of the couch, the other hand around your waist, holding you close. His lips brushed your forehead when you looked up and he was snoring lightly.
“Hey Gweeeeen, hi Milessssss” You said as causually as you could, considering you were dropping Noir’s arm off of you and pushing yourself off his thick sweater.
You heard Miles mutter something to Gwen along the lines of “you owe me five bucks” that was responded to by an annoyed grunt while they both walked out.
A few minutes later, you watched Peter Noirs eyes flutter open. He looked so...peaceful. It felt so natural, spending the night in his arms. He pressed a quick kiss to your cheek, which you doubt he’d realized, because if he had it probably wouldn’t have felt so calm.
“So.” You said, feeling so comfortable that it was almost not awkward when he kissed your cheek. “Do you wanna listen to bohemian rhapsody again?”
#spider noir x reader#spider noir#spiderman imagine#spider noir imagine#spider man noir#sm:itsv#spiderman into the spiderverse
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Artists I’d Like to see Draw for Particular Seasons of Power Rangers
With Beyond the Grid coming to a close very soon, I started to ponder what seasons of Power Rangers I liked to see get focused on in comic form, even if it was just a miniseries. Below are the five I’d enjoy to see the most, along with the artist I best think would capture the crux of the respective season.
1. SPD - Daniel Acuña
I, personally, feel that Acuña’s art is a modern-day Roy Lichtenstein and I think that would fit perfectly within the SPD aesthetic because in many ways SPD was the progressive, integrated fully realized version of where In Space was going (even down to the fact that the season used retooled the In Space helmets for the A-Squad).
Keeping in mind the neon noir ambiance that Soul of the Dragon displayed within its pages, I fully believe that Acuña could accent that feel within the SPD universe while also keeping the immersion of the intergalactic, futuristic, and alien atmosphere that defined the series.
2. Mystic Force - Russell Dauterman
Out of all of these suggestions, this feels like the PERFECT fit and honestly, I might have to go to a Comic Con and commission him to just draw this for me, personally.
Just the way Dauterman utilizes colors in such vibrancy and vividness compels me to say that he is Neo-Kirbian in his style. This style is picturesque for Mystic Force based on all the mythical creatures and magic-based aspects the series of Rangers has to work with. Just thinking about a Dauterman version of Nick in his Red Dragon Fire Ranger battlizer suit is enough for this book to take my money. I would also like to see how Dark Wish would look under a Dauterman illustration as the pivotal attribute of that episode was the fact that most of the scenes were in black and white.
3. Samurai - Giuseppe Camuncoli
I genuinely love Power Rangers Samurai and while there are more than enough valid criticisms about the overall structure of the show and the mishandling of certain characters, I still love it to death.
I feel like it’s maximalist Power Rangers in a good way and has some genuinely good tools at its disposal in terms of the symbol power and power disks; when the suits are on and the action is flowing, it’s great entertainment. That’s why I think Camuncoli’s art would complement the series very well in comic form because he’s able to convey action and movement very well and truly capture that Super Sentai feel. I also think his panel work would do wonders for the mano y mano sword duels that happen all across the series.
4. In Space - Sara Pichelli
I feel that Pichelli can encapsulate the feeling of space that In Space was able to project within the series (for its time), particularly when it comes to the aliens that the Rangers would come across and especially in terms of the Psycho Rangers.
Her use of hue and luster would also meld well with the livelier visuals In Space projected throughout its episodes (in comparison to other space-based Ranger series like Lost Galaxy and SPD).
5. RPM - Greg Smallwood
This choice might seem a bit strange at first but, hear me out. RPM was known for being, arguably, the dourest setting for a Power Rangers series based on its Post-Apocalyptic situation. That being said, it was also praised because of it’s self-awareness and being able to work within and employ the meta in clever and creative ways.
I feel that Smallwood’s art – explicitly, when it comes the rather grainy aspect of it – would serve as a great visual cue and reminder of the fact that even with every success and victory the Rangers are able to scrape onto their side, they are still victims and prisoners of a harsh environment. What better way to convey that than with the gritty, sand-like visuals of Smallwood’s illustrative touch? He’s good with color as well so the more toy-like aspects of the show – like the suits and Zords (specifically the googly, anime eyes) would be no problem when he’s drawing it.
Plus, he can draw sand very well and this world is basically surrounded by sand for the most part when the team exits the domed city of Corinth.
#mmpr comic#Power Rangers#power rangers spd#power rangers mystic force#power rangers samurai#power rangers in space#power rangers rpm#daniel acuna#russell dauterman#giuseppe camucoli#sara pichelli#greg smallwood
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Impromptu media thoughts of the day, two for the price of one: graphic novels by Alan Moore, Watchmen and V for Vendetta. Major spoilers ahead, if people need spoiler alerts for graphic novels from the 80s.
People have written really deep and long essays about both, but here’s my discombobulated twenty cents (in bullet point format because I fucking love bullet point infodumping):
Read Watchmen first, for a variety of reasons included but not limited to:
First heard about it ages ago as if not an influence then for major parallels to The Incredibles, which is one of my favorite movies. I think I was aware of Watchmen's presence at my local library for a good while, but flipping open to a random page and seeing a technicolor old-style comic kinda lost me right off the bat. (I’m still not super partial to the art style in either graphic novel, actually, but they’ve grown on me.)
More recently I watched the 2000 X-Men movie, and not gonna lie, it was actually pretty good. Not stellar enough to warrant a post-movie thoughtdump like this, and granted I don’t go into superhero films with high expectations on the rare occasions I watch at all, but y’know. If I remember correctly this was also an influence on The Incredibles and it sure as hell shows. Also, Rogue deserved better.
You’d think that this means I picked up Watchmen because of an Incredibles kick, right? (Saw that too recently, was good but not as much as the original & with post-movie hype having died down it miiight not stand up to rewatch, I’ll see.) That... might’ve been a factor, sure.
Mostly I just noticed it in the recent return pile along with a note on the back about it being a MUST-READ for graphic novel fans, and since I’m interested in the comic medium and all, why not. Also, work was slow. Funny how stuff works out.
ANYWAY point is I read that one comic with the bloody smiley face on the cover, and you know what? It took about two days and three reading sessions (short one at work, shorter one at home, then a long dedicated few hours within the week) and I was fucking wrecked. You know, the “just read a damn good book/watched a damn good movie/consumed some good fucking media, what do you mean I gotta continue with life as normal” buzz? That, but with a graphic novel.
I’ve mentioned before that I have a weird habit of spoiling myself before I even get into something, whether it means reading the Wikipedia plot summary or reading a sentence in the middle of a book, even skipping to the end of a book and skimming the last paragraph if the middle sentence hooked me. For Watchmen this translated to knowing right off the bat that some big weird scifi thing was involved, and there was a Moment between two characters right before then that packed a punch even without context. It took the longest time for either of these to become clear as I read proper, and once I realized who those two characters were... oh. O u c h.
Somehow I managed to not do this with V for Vendetta. I kinda wish it’d been the other way around, in retrospect, but oh well. Both were solid reads, though I liked Watchmen more.
okay personal anecdotes/context aside NOW for the actual review-y thoughts
Despite the Incredibles comparisons, I didn’t actually find Watchmen very similar, nor would I call Incredibles a retelling. In Watchmen, “superheroes” are outlawed and all, but there’s like... two characters with actual powers. One of them is just “I am really smart (and have remarkable reflexes, but then so does Vendetta guy and there’s no supernatural influence in that story).” Instead it’s an alternate history where something something Vietnam and Nixon and it’s the 80s, and jesus christ was the Cold War “we could literally blow up any day now” atmosphere palpable.
There were definitely a few moments where I’d read a scene and be like, “shit, was this really what the 80s were like?” both because A) hey, we almost DID blow up the goddamn planet, and B) general fraught “everything’s fucked, world is ending” atmosphere still rings too goddamn true today. The ending also leaves me with a distinct sense of dread, like that’s the shit that’ll need to happen for us to get our shit together, if only for a little while.
It’s not a happy story, no. Having read a few of the aforementioned scholarly articles on Watchmen, I guess this kicked off the current generation of gritty superhero comics--even though when Watchmen came out, it was revolutionary in NOT being a technicolor happy-go-lucky hero-always-wins moral romp. (Again, superhero comics ain’t my forte.) That said, Watchmen is clearly not being dismal and cynical just for the heck of it. It conveys this with the subtlety of a sledgehammer at times, but an overarching narrative judgment is thankfully absent, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions. Love me some moral ambiguity.
On that note, characters are well-drawn (both in terms of psychological profiles and actual illustration), and while I wasn’t inspired to get too deep into any of their motivations or the like, Rorschach was... something. His identity reveal was a little anticlimactic (as were... lots of the backstory exposition sections, in retrospect), but necessary. Twenty bucks says he’s autistic. I feel like there’s something to be said about Irish-American discrimination and Rorscach but that is by no means my area of expertise, so just throwin’ the thought out there.
Between this and V for Vendetta, Moore really likes social rejects turned masked vigilantes, huh? Vendetta frames V (Guy Fawkes mask dude) as more a symbol than a character; he has a backstory too, but not once is his face shown, and it works.
That said, I just found something kinda... lacking, about Vendetta. Maybe it’s the fact I couldn’t tell half the characters apart and spent most sections not focused on V and Evey wanting to get back to them. Like Watchmen, Vendetta is set in an alternate history (or, er, near-future given when the comic was actually written/published), but whereas Watchmen scatters historical details throughout the narrative via character development and intriguing tie-in snippets, Vendetta kinda just dumps them unceremoniously when needed. It’s... meh.
Well, at least I can say I know what the Guy Fawkes mask as a revolutionary/counterculture symbol originated from. And I did like the little identity twist at the end, much as I saw it coming. (By the way, is that “reports of my death were exaggerated” line from a different piece of media? I could’ve sworn I heard it before but heck if I know where; Google suggests Mark Twain but that doesn’t ring a bell.)
Also, while it could be total coincidence, I kinda wouldn’t be surprised if this influenced Naoki Urasawa’s Monster somehow. (Monster spoilers ahead.) For one thing my first impression of Evey was “fuck, that’s Nina Fortner in dystopian Britain,“ but both stories are set on a backdrop of genocide and feature a character who went through extensive... examination & later broke out in a plot that encompassed the deaths of nearly everyone involved. Said character also has a fucked up relationship with Nina/Evey that involves psychologically screwing with her in an attempt to make her see things his way. (Or, uh, I think that’s what Johann was up to? It’s been a while.) Fun stuff!
Watchmen ends with a very, VERY bittersweet reflection of humanity, and Vendetta draws the curtain on the spark of revolution. Both are impactful in their own rights but the first seems much more relevant today, at least to me as a contemporary American. Also, I can kinda see why Anonymous picked up the Guy Fawkes mask even though vigilante justice isn’t quite what V was going for.
Art-wise, though, Vendetta wins. Rather than cleanly outline everything it makes copious use of negative space and bold inks, foregoing outlines where color contrast will do, and I might mess around with a mimcry some time because got dang does it get that dramatic, noir-esque mood cross. (Watchmen does too at times, but not throughout the whole book. It’s also a matter of clean flats vs semi-blotchy watercolors.)
They are both firmly on my hypothetical list of stories to revisit a few years down the road, because why not, but even if I never get around to that I’m glad I read ‘em at least once.
I end this bulletpoint text wall by saying you should check both graphic novels out if you have a few hours to spare and are game for some challenging psychological thrillers; they earned notoriety for a reason.
Watchmen will take your faith in humanity and hold it over a pit of rabid dogs, but it’s up to you whether or not it drops. It has its gentler moments, but you’ll probably be reading for the themes and mystery above all else. Also, comic people take note--there are some great choices in the imagery and paneling. It probably is worth reading just for the visual storytelling.
V for Vendetta is almost more of a superhero story than Watchmen, hooking you on the identity of its central character but leaving on a universal political moral. Don’t let the smiley mask fool you--this one might not challenge your goodwill as much, but it will throw demoralizing events at you one after the other, for a payoff that holds greater meaning in the bigger picture than anywhere. Again, wasn’t my favorite, but you too can finally understand why Guy Fawkes masks seem to be a symbol of Chaotic Neutral (or Good or Evil, depending on political leaning).
Anyway, what do you think of my desktop?
#nothin like having tumblr open fullscreen to say I Am Procrastinating#as usual there's not a Thesis to this or anything just -dumps everything onto keyboard and publishes it without editing-#.rtf#also scratch what I said about readmores a while back#turns out scrolling through my own darn blog is a bit of a pain :V
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http://wwd.com/eye/people/joel-kinnaman-altered-carbon-netflix-11132725/
Joel Kinnaman on The Power of Transformation
The actor on Netflix's 10-part series "Altered Carbon" and future return to "Suicide Squad."
By Kristen Tauer on February 2, 2018
Photos by WESTON WELLS/WWD
Joel Kinnaman pulls up a photo on his phone of intricately wrapped gifts, one of the perks of a worldwide press tour. His bounty from Seoul — where he’d visited after Los Angeles and before Sweden, Paris, and now New York — included locket necklaces for himself and his wife, tattoo artist Cleo Wattenström. Kinnaman, who’s on the final leg of a press tour for Netflix’s big-budget sci-fi series “Altered Carbon,” was clearly charmed by the gesture.
“I’ve adjusted pretty well to each [time zone],” says the low-key, Sweden-born actor of the temporal bouncing around. “The key is to not to go out and get f–ked up, then it’s a wrap. So if you eat good and go train, then it’s easier.”
Training has been a large part of the 38-year-old Kinnaman’s regimen and significant backbone of his preparation for his film and television roles, which have often fallen within the action genre. For the futuristic “Altered Carbon,” he trained three to five hours a day over six months to get into the role of Takeshi Kovacs.
“Really grinding out different martial arts and strength and conditioning,” says Kinnaman, dressed in a look he coined “Swedo” in style (a riff on “Guido”). “I wanted to be prepared in a way where I could do my own stunts. It was the first time that I really stepped up to that level.”
The show, which has been described as “cyber punk noir,” was adapted from the 2002 novel by Richard Morgan and draws comparisons to “Blade Runner: 2049.” Kinnaman wasn’t initially interested in doing another TV show — “I’d just come off of ‘House of Cards,’ and I was also a little hesitant doing a sci-fi show on TV,” he recalls — but was won over by the massive scale of the project.
“There were more impressive sets on [the show] than I’ve ever seen in my whole career, way beyond ‘RoboCop’ and ‘Suicide Squad,'” Kinnaman says. “We had a set that was three football fields deep, with a whole living, breathing city — like three stories of bridges going back and forth, about 450 extras in the most odd clothes walking around and construction workers. You had noodle shops with people eating, tattoo parlors and street vendors, people digging a hole in the ground. Construction workers, police officers making an arrest. And they could shoot in any direction.”
The show carries an R-rating, reflecting its cinematic ambitions, which include plenty of stunt and CGI work packed into the murder-mystery storyline. “It’s central to the story that there is violence, because part of the violence is to show that the human body is now disposable. And now because of this new technology, we have a very different relationship to bodily damage and pain,” Kinnaman offers. In the flashy-tech world of “Altered Carbon,” the individual self exists separately from the body as “cortical stacks” — which store consciousness — and can be inserted into new bodies, called “sleeves,” when the previous body dies.
As an actor, it’s a familiar notion for Kinnaman.
“There is something that is really similar to what we do. You try to make your body into this different personality,” he says. “A real easy tool to do when you’re finding a role is to change how your body is because you operate a different way in the world. I notice when I’m skinnier.…I relate to other men in a different way, and I feel a little younger and a little more ‘squirrl-y.’ And then when I’m heavier, I have a different posture. Those little differences, those are the ones that ignite the idea of what the character can be, and then you start exaggerating them and shaping them.”
The actor will next appear in the crime-thriller “Three Seconds” along with Clive Owen and Rosamund Pike, and he’s gearing up to start shooting another miniseries in Budapest. The “Suicide Squad” sequel is also hovering on the horizon.
��They’re still working on the script on that, so they haven’t set a start date yet. But I know [director and writer] Gavin O’Connor and Warner Bros. are hammering away, and so that’s still pending,” he says.
While a big-budget franchise film carries many perks, Kinnaman seems genuinely amped to step back into the body of Rick Flag.
“It’s a really good feeling. At first if there’s something that you didn’t like with your performance, then you can sort of adjust it. You also get this deepening fleeing that sort of marinated in you,” he says. “So I’m really excited to go back to the Suicide Squad. Actually, I have a bone to pick. I feel like I have a lot of thoughts on how I want [Rick Flag] to evolve. I look forward to getting into him.”
While Kinnaman jokes about looking for a role outside of the action “muscle guy” genre to get back a little credibility, he follows up with quick — and genuine — gratitude.
“I’m not complaining in any way. Honestly, I’m so thrilled that this is my life. I could never have imagined when I dropped out of high school — I didn’t imagine my life going in this way,” he says. “Of course I’m incredibly happy, but at the same time you have to keep raising the bar. And I think it’s really important to never get too comfortable. I think it’s really important to live your life 10 percent out of your comfort zone, keep challenging yourself and keep giving yourself difficult things to solve. That’s the way that you don’t stagnate.”
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Read It For The Pictures 24: Dry Country by Rich Tomasso
NK: Welcome to Read It for the Pictures, the comic book Blog where we read it for the pictures! I’m Neil Kapit, and with me as always is the man who taught me how to properly eat a meat pie, Dave Clarke! How you doin’ Dave?
DC: Doing good Neil, enjoying a bright sunny early March day, riding my kangaroo around town, eating a vegemite sandwich, fosters, shrimp on the barbie, etc.
NK: So this week we're taking a break from DC's air quotes "new" hero line and doing something you picked, want to give some background on this?
DC: Yes, this time it was my pic and I wanted to get away from DC superheroes as much as possible so I picked Dry County #1 by Rich Tommaso. Initially just cos it was an image #1 but it seemed to be the perfect pic for what I was going for.
NK: And what you were going for was?
DC: The opposite of a DC superhero book. This is an autobiographical(??) slice of life story that seems to approach storytelling completely differently than Damage (tm) did. At least that was my read on it, how did you find the book?
NK: Let's hope we can discuss this book's merits on its own terms and not damn it with the faint praise of being a better story than the Terrifics, because I thought it was an exceptional piece of cartooning. It made me want to read other Rich Tommaso books like Spy Seal, which was described to me as "Tintin Noir".
DC: That is a very Tintin cover, but his art reminds me most of newspaper cartoons (which this protagonist of this story makes. That’s why I think it may be autobiographical not cos I did research or anything).
NK: The protagonist Lou Rossi lives in late 1980s miami, and while the time period isn't explicitly stated, the art leaves a lot of subtle cues to indicate the period. They include rotary phones, T-shirts for Nine Inch Nails and Social Distortion, and the fact that Lou is paying his bills as a newspaper cartoonist.
DC: A dip into the past where America was doing the bop and print wasn’t dead.
NK: Ahh the 1990s, a golden age when a little more than 1% of the population was contented and innocent, but I digress....
DC: One thing that’s going to limit our discussion is being unable to read this as a broad analogy of global politics. And also our limited experience with women. (Don’t act surprised folks were writing about comics on the internet).
NK: The plot is pretty simple, boy meets girl, boy wants to get with girl, girl is stuck in abusive relationship, boy keeps pursuing girl, and not sure where it goes next issue. The storytelling and page layouts really sell this as a unique work.
DC: Yeah, have you ever read ‘Understanding Comics’ by Scott McCloud?
NK: Well, duh. Everyone who hasn't should seriously read it, if only to understand the kind of image juxtaposition that is used so effectively here in Dry Country.
DC: Hehe, of course, well for our readers who haven’t in that book he outlines the different types of transitions that can exist between panels. Most superhero comics focus on action to action shots, which makes sense if you’re story is about super people punching each other. This book most does scene to scene transitions, which allow the writing to do most of the heavy lifting for conveying meaning
NK: I thought most superhero comics were now about gaudily dressed men having long maudlin talking heads sequences with the occasional two-page spread of violence. Anyway, Worth noting that Tomasso focuses on single objects a lot to reinforce the mood, like the fan in the foreground of the miserably hot apartment. Inanimate objects go a long way towards creating a sense of place and mood.
DC: Yeah, while simplified they are nicely composed panels. In a way the illustration style echos the storytelling style, there’s just enough there to convey the idea without getting bogged down in details. The same way you don’t need every sentence of his conversation with the woman (sorry I forgot her name I will try to be better) you also don’t need to get obsessive about the shadows cast from the bars in the above panel to get the feelings of the scene
NK: (Ironically, a book called Dry Country has a protagonist who's getting drunk most every time he has a moment free). Which gives everything in the book that's there in the panels a sense of deliberation and importance. And also serves to illustrate how effective those choices are, particularly with setting and character design. Within one panel of seeing, say, Lou's loudmouth friend, I got a great sense of who he was without feeling like he was a one-dimensional trope.
DC: Also there’s something to the heavy use of scene to scene transitions that makes it more personal, maybe with the sketch pad background to all the captions makes you feel the hand of the creator more. Kinda like an hourly comic. I wonder if the same technique could be used to, say, make Hal Jordan seem more like a real person or would that just be nakedly artificial.
NK: The yellow legal paper captions do help us get deeper and deeper into Lou's head, but they'd pierce right through Hal's skull because his broke-ass ring can't do shit against yellow. It’d be interesting to compare this with Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis’ Green Lantern: Secret Origin, based on that criteria. But this is a noir story, not a superhero one. A bright, mostly sunny noir story
DC: Is it a noir? Like, the packaging suggests that it’s going to have a crime thriller twist in future issues but this issue is just a slice of life story
NK: The creeping sense of fatalism, the hero's far-less-than-pure motives, and the extralegal confrontation with the abusive asshole boyfriend suggest that it's getting into that genre. Which works in its favor, because it looks no more like a crime story than an average Batman comic, except there are thousands of Batman stories and only a few Rich Tomasso stories.
DC: Yeah, this is more Harvey Pekar than Maltese Falcon, but it’s possible that the juxtaposition could work to make the comic more unique and memorable. (Please forgive my weird references, I need to make a certain number each week or my family will starve).
NK: Those are appropriate references. This is a simple, inviting art style that would fit a Harvey Pekar story, but will be extremely disarming and unsettling if it gets into Dashiell Hammet territory. The virgin Phillip Marlowe and the chad Lou Rossi, now that's an inappropriate reference.
DC: That being said, while there’s a lot of craft on display here it’s not my cup of tea. Can’t relate to people who don’t solve their problems with violence
NK: Don't you think violence will occur in future issues? Lou is sexually frustrated, borderline alcoholic, and has the perfect complete bastard to take out all his aggression on.
DC: Possibly, but it could just as easily happen off-panel and we could be treated to an, admittedly effective, few paragraphs of our protagonist talking about how it made him feel. If you’re interested in making comics this is worth seeking out cos it shows an approach to doing talk-y scenes interestingly that goes deeper than the wally woods 22 panels that always work.
NK: If you're turned off by us giving you some culture this week then you can tune back in on April 4 when we have Curse of the Brimstone by Phillip Tan and Justin Jordan from DC's New Age of Heroes.
DC: Neil thinks he can just announce this stuff in the chat without consulting me, and it works every time!
NK: Consider me Jigsaw and this your torture chamber.
#comic books#image#dry country#comics#graphic novel#read it for the pictures#neil kapit#dave clarke#spy seal#rich tommasso#art#cartooning#illustration#how to draw
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The Dream Before the Nightmare
Nervously he shifted in his chair continuously crossing and uncrossing his rather long skinny legs in an attempt to refrain from bouncing his knee. The room was unbearably silent, the only sound to disrupt it was that of a page turning which only made him more anxious each time he heard it because it meant the end was near. Across from him sat an older gentleman reading intently from a stack of papers in his hand giving off no expression that could help ease Jonathan's racing heart. What the man held in his hand was a script, a stage show that Jonathan had spent weeks pouring his heart and soul into; yet this man in the span of twenty-minutes was nearly done reading it.
With a long sigh the man dropped the script down on his desk, taking a long hard look at Jonathan causing him to freeze up in his seat, this was it, the moment of judgment. “Mr.Scully” he said in a stern tone causing Jonathan to straighten up in his seat “y..yes, Sir Greeves?” he replied. Greeves placed his hand on top of the script tapping his finger on the paper with an annoyed look.
“This script….”
“Yes?”
“It’s like the others you have brought to me, isn’t it?”
“Well I admit it is similar, but this time I-“
“Mr. Scully! How many times have you shown up at my office?”
“Well, I believe this makes thirteen times this year Sir.”
“Thirteen times…which means thirteen scripts you have brought into my office and thirteen times I have to tell you no.”
“No? But sir, if you would just give this a chan-“
“The answer is no! No one wants to be frightened! To be brought to horror and disgust! This may be fine in your own little twisted world, but not in the real world!”
With a frustrated sigh Greeves pushed the script over to Jonathan standing up “look boy, while I appreciate your love for the arts I don’t think you have a knack for creating it” he said as he walked over to the coat rack grabbing his coat and cane. When he bid him farewell and walked out the door Jonathan jumped out of his seat, grabbing his script before rushing out after Greeves. “Please, Sir Greeves reconsider” he pleaded, but Greeves merely held his hand up to silence him getting into his carriage “it’s time to accept reality and give up these silly dreams of yours” and with those final words his carriage took off.
Stunned he stood there for a moment, watching the carriage go down the road clutching the papers to his chest with a trembling hand. Once it disappeared from sight, he hung his head in shame sticking his script into his coat as he turned away to walk home. “And once again the prodigious world of Jonathan Scully has been laid to ruin by the mundane and austere masses of jolly old England, who refuse to understand it!” he cried. With a drawn out sigh he placed the back of his hand on his forehead and arched his back taking a dramatic pose of distress in the middle of the sidewalk moaning about his misfortune. It took the stares of those around him and low mutterings that questioned his sanity to pull him from his moment, then with a nervous laugh and clearing of his throat he continued his journey home.
On his way back he passed by a small medical clinic and in the window a figure appeared watching him intently before rushing out to meet him. “Jonathan!” a woman’s voice called, when he turned around he was met with a warm smile spread across a tanned face with white patches around the nose, mouth, and green eyes which brightened at the sight of his face. “Oh Miss Stein” he greeted her with a weak smile taking her hand and bowing his head to kiss it, much to her delight “ a pleasure as always to see you.” Her smile grew as she held the bottom of her dress doing a small curtsy “the pleasure is always mine and please do call me Sarah, you have no need to be so formal.” He released her hand and nodded with a small grunt, “today was the day wasn't it? Please don’t keep me in suspense any longer and tell me how it went.” Her words caused him to clutch his chest where the script rested inside his coat with a pained look chewing his lip as his meeting with Greeves replayed in his head.
“Jonathan?”
“Hm?
“I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”
“No, no, it’s alright. There’s nothing wrong with being curious.”
“So the meeting..”
“It was another rejection. Heh, guess I should be use to that by now huh?”
“Jonathan, I’m so sorry”
“Don’t be, the world just isn’t ready for me yet and that’s fine.”
He gave her a smile when he noticed her studying his face to reassure her, “I should go now” he bid her farewell and walked away to avoid speaking about the matter any further. She reached out wanting to comfort him ‘you don’t have to suffer alone’ she thought watching him disappear down the road retracting her hand when she was beckoned back inside by her father.
“Sarah? Sarah! Where are you-you indolent girl!?” her father yelled attempting to move one of the wheels on his wheelchair that had gotten stuck, “here I am” she spoke reluctantly coming to his aid. “Finally! I have been looking for you all day, what in blazes have you been doing?” he growled, she kept a calm composure wheeling him out to the dining room “I only went out to greet Mr. Scully.”
“Scully? The farmer’s boy? What a waste of time to pay that weird boy any mind” he muttered being brought to the table. She ignored him walking into the kitchen preparing a stew on the stove while he continued his rant “all you do is run off and fool around with that degenerate man, when you should be caring for your father, ungrateful girl”. With a sigh she apologized pouring the soup into a bowl and grabbing a drinking glass from the shelf wiping it clean Dr.Stein merely grunting in response.
This was normal for her, to be reminded what a burden she was and how grateful she would be to her father for tolerating her existence. What more could she expect? She was the child that killed her mother the moment she was born and had the nerve to be born looking the way she did. Her father never forgave her for the burden she placed on his life and the love took away. So he would spend their lives reminding her how lucky she was to be in care after all she has done to him.
She set the glass down pouring the wine and once he was distracted she set the bottle down retrieving a small vial hidden in the back of the covert. The vial was filled with a dark purple liquid, ‘just a few drops’ she reminded herself dripping the liquid into his wine quickly returning it to its hiding space when her father started tapping the table impatiently. She brought him his food and drink wiping her hands off on her dress after she set them down, “I will try to be more courteous” she smiled pushing the drink towards him “enjoy.”
“Back to the boring world of orange” Jonathan groaned walking through a large pumpkin patch “Cipher” he chimed patting his leg and giving a whistle. In the sea of orange popped up a curved white tail followed by a bark, “come here boy” he smiled as a small Jack Russell Terrier ran out from among the pumpkins circling him. He chuckled commanding Cipher to sit kneeling down to scratch his head “I wish I came with good news, but unfortunately that stuffy old loon told me no again.” He stood up dusting off the bottoms of his pants walking down the path Cipher following at his heels “this world has become so dull” he muttered picking up a stick and throwing it for Cipher to fetch.
“How is it fine to feel sadness watching a tragedy up on stage, but giving someone a small fright is just too much?!” He groaned in frustration running his fingers through his hair, he placed his other hand on his hip with a soft whine. “All I want is to create a new world on the stage, one full of suspense and excitement! Something that’ll make even the stuffy upper crust tremble in their boots.” He held out his arms spinning around “ how fun! How exciting! A fun world with witches and ghouls filling the audience to the brim with fright and spectacular tricks that’ll leave their jaws on the floor.” He walked with more flare maneuvering around vines as if it was a dance until suddenly stopping letting his arms drop to his sides “sadly, my dreams may never become a reality” he murmured hanging his head walking into his house. “I suppose that is enough dramatics for now” he told himself, “time to get ready for work.”
Later that night he walked up to the steps of a large lavished building shielding his eyes from the lit displays that welcomed people in, he bit his lip watching as high class patrons walked in laughing and smiling while they caressed their expensive clothes and jewelry. He sucked his teeth in distaste when suddenly he stumbled forward because someone slapped him on the back. “Well if it isn’t the king of the pumpkin patch”, behind him was a large and stout man in a green suit rolling a pair of dice in his hand. “Oh, hello Ogar” he muttered fixing his vest, with a snicker Ogar grinned “that’s Mr. Bernard to you pumpkin king.” Jonathan forced a smile onto his face the corners of his mouth twitching “my apologies...Mr. Bernard, I was heading in to begin my shift” he explained brushing past him to head inside.
The inside revealed the building to be a high end gambling house, their heels clicked against the polished marble floor passing walls adorned with commissioned artworks and marble columns with an old roman inspired style. Glass chandeliers shed light upon rows of roulette wheels and rouge et noir tables for dice and cards; the sounds of dice rolling, cards shuffling, and the hollers of the clientele echoed throughout the lavish decadence of the gambling hall.
Jonathan stopped at an empty table walking behind to the dealer’s area to set up, a few months back when his family was in need of funds Ogar had offered him a job as a dealer after witnessing the card tricks Jonathan practiced for his show. It wasn’t hard to tell that the two heavily disliked one another, but due to his hardship every night without fail he came into work and endured Ogar’s special and unwanted attention. “Shouldn’t you be some big playwright by now?” Ogar asked sitting at his table “in fact, you went to submit a script today didn’t you? Heh, aww what happened?” he teased. Jonathan remained silent shuffling the cards “rejected again? Ha!” Ogar burst out in laughter, “you wasted all that time for nothing, again!” He pulled out a cigar from his breast pocket” look at you, all that hiding away to write has you pale as a ghost with that skinny string bean body of yours and those racoon eyes; you’re a walking skeleton at this point” he muttered lighting his cigar. He took a long drag from the cigar blowing the smoke out in Jonathan’s face “you need to give up your stupid little fantasies already, because you’ll never be anything more than you are now.” Have grown bored he stood up putting his cigar out on the table “now get to work” he ordered walking away.
When his shift ended he returned home spotting a basket filled with baked goods and a bottle of wine near the front door, as he drew closer to the basket he spotted a note inside and grabbed it. “Sarah…” he said softly recognizing her handwriting, “I thought that you could use something to brighten up your night” he heard her voice turning around to find her coming around the corner of his house. She walked up to him “I know I shouldn’t be out here, but earlier you looked so hurt and I just couldn’t bare to see you in such a state” she spoke softly pushing back a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Just as he was about to speak she stopped him “I don’t want you to give up your dreams. I think the world you created in those pages is wonderful and I would give anything to see it become a reality one day.”
Her words warmed his heart and he smiled taking her hands into his looking into her eyes “thank you, to know that you feel this way is enough to encourage me to continue on”, her cheeks became a cardinal red as she moved away with a bashful smile. “I better get going” she told him backing away with a nervous laugh “goodbye” she bid him farewell running off. He watched her run off for a moment before taking the basket inside calling Cipher in the who rushed into the house finding his spot on the small bed that was placed near Jonathan’s. He sat down on his bed taking a small bite from one the pastries “I just have to keep trying” he told himself lying back on his bed staring up at the ceiling until he drifted off to sleep.
In the haze of slumber, he found himself back in his family’s pumpkin patch, but it wasn’t the same. “What’s this?” he asked looking around, the pumpkins had horrifying expressions carved into them glowing bright orange from the candles lit inside them with row after row of gruesome faces staring at him as he walked down the path. He couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched hearing low whispers and snickers from among the pumpkins until he tripped over a vine that felt like it reached out to grab him and everything went silent. The moment of silence was short lived when the snickering broke out into loud laughter as the vine wrapped around his leg slightering up and voices soon chanted his name. He began to panic and ripped the vine from his leg springing up to make a run for it, bats screeched in a nearby tree having been disturbed by his actions and swarmed circling around him before flying off into the night. He burst through a rusted black gate entering what looked like a town full of gothic architecture, thunder booming and lightning striking across a dark moonlit sky. The residents weren’t human but instead demons, witches, and corpses walking alongside vampires as they gathered to the town square to welcome a decaying horse carrying someone. His jaw dropped at the grisly scene; howls and cackles echoing through the night, the passenger on the horse was a scarecrow with a pumpkin head and sinister expression on its face. The Scarecrow sat still for a moment before suddenly jumping to its feet using one of the lanterns to light its arm on fire soon after bursting into flames cackling in delight. It stumbled back and forth on the saddle once its whole body was engulfed taking a step towards him threatening to fall.
Jonathan shrieked jumping back to avoid him. The flaming scarecrow managed to find its balance turning on a heel to stumble towards others in the crowd before leaping into a well. He panted softly as he drew closer to the well feeling his heart begin to thump in his chest. Hesitant, he looked inside only to be greeted by a bony hand that sprung up and grabbed his wrist. The hand pulled him forward finding himself face to face with the scarecrow once more as he rose from the water. The pumpkin's charred flesh fell away to reveal the face of a skeleton that snickered whispering into his ear“all hail to the Pumpkin King.”
He gasped springing out of bed waking to find that morning had come. It was all just a nightmare, even so, it felt real to him. He panted wiping cold sweat from his face looking down to find that his hands were trembling “that was...incredible!”
#october#halloween#write#writer#writing#writeblr#fiction#fiction writing#fan fiction#fan fiction story#nighmare before christmas fan fiction#the nightmare before christmas#fanfic#fantasy#fanfiction#fandom#fanfic writing#disney#disney fanfiction
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Mini Challenge #2 - No Need To Adjust Your TV Sets...
This mini had our girls twisting and turning with their makeups, designing their best optical illusion makeups! Let’s see how they did!
Analyse Thropic
For this illusion makeup mini, I did a low-poly makeup look made of graphic triangles and quadrilaterals. The shapes are arranged and colored to mimic the placement of a standard drag beat, but the non-blended nature of these shapes gives the look a sort of computer-generated feel.
Lila: When you said you were doing a low poly look, I was so excited because it’s such a fun aesthetic. Now, I do like how you’ve set it out, it’s really intriguing and the effort into even the most minute areas, like how the hair and ears are covered. It’s just that your white line spacing is really putting it off the perfect-o mark for me. If you used a really, *really* thin brush the finesse your white spacing, it would honestly have made it look more low poly, because it’s coming across as mosaic rather than low poly. Good job with this, however! I hope you come back to this look in the future since it’s such an original idea.
Gluttoni: Anal! This is a very cool optical illusion and I like your take on the facial anatomy. Can't say it's the most innovative of them all but I can tell you are listening and learning so I can really ask for more.
Letha: I quite like the idea here, Analyse, its very “Your internet connection ain’t shit, so here’s some 144p playback”. The placement of the shapes, as well as the colors, make sense when deconstructing a face. Where you lose me is the white lines. They make everything too stark and disjointed, instead of just low-poly. I think had the shapes been connected while still holding their crisp lines, it might have been more effective. But good job, nonetheless!
Toni:I think this is a really interesting concept and I like that you went outside you comfort zone! Clearly you know your base paint because this style of paint requires you to know where everything goes. I would have loved to see thinner lines between the shapes to really drive home that it was all one image that was in low poly, as well as adding a few more triangles to add a bit more of the feel to it, but over all this is well done!
Antonina: Hey darling! I like what you’ve done here, it’s a great base for a future look. It just doesn’t feel like something finished. I think using this and adding more drag details, like more eye makeup, lashes and a fuller upper lip is something you should explore in the future, because it really is a good start. I’m not getting a super strong illusion from this, but I love the colors you have used and even tho the lines on your face could be sharper, I think they look good right now as well. You keep surprising me, keep it up!
Avana Noir
Hello Judges and TDR community. For this Mini I was inspired by surrealism art. So i decided to paint myself with three faces. Since surrealism if very out of this world and very imaginative. I really wanted to push what i can create with a makeup brush. This was kind of challegning but I think I did a great job. I was also inspired by the makeup used by the Japanese Geisha, hence the white face and uses of pinks. I hope you enjoy this look! Thank you!
Lila: On paper, and in execution, this is a great optical illusion and I hope you indulge with it a little bit more since it sticks to your aesthetic really well. For what it is, however, I wish you could’ve blended the Ghost In The Shell-like real face a lot more to show that the face is beneath the illusion of a split. I’m getting a Kim Chi vibe from this and I really think you could use this makeup in your look again, just as a whole white face rather than the split, but if you were to do this again with the split, I would concentrate on detailing the looks to appear more consistent with your features, because its looking a little messy. Overall, I do enjoy this, good submission, Mom!
Gluttoni: I was actually really surprised with your submission in the best way possible. This was ambitious and quite a cool illusion. I think this is probably the cleanest I've seen your makeup so honestly keep on this track.
Letha: This is a really fun idea, Avana, and the creativity really shows through with this concept. The illusion works if I don’t look too closely at it, but the details up close sort of spoil it. It would be more effective if your lines were crisper, and had more highlights/contours on the faces you added, as well as the perimeter of the middle face, to make them really pop. But still, good job!
Toni:Oh she had to show me she wore her nails, okay i see you! I really like this! I think it was a smart optical and for your first time atempting it I think it’s really well done. I do wish the lines were cleaned up more so it was clear that it was a clear split of the two faces and so that there arent just these huge black lines going down your face. I so think that you could have used a bit on the fine tuning of the fake faces. But over all this is a really cool look and something I think you should redo to go out in!
Antonina: You were one of my personal favorites this week! I’m getting Picasso meets Studio Ghibli from this. I don’t have a problem with the messy lines in this, because it’s supposed to be artsy. I got dizzy looking at your submission, and that’s a good thing when it comes to optical illusions, right? The line’s could be darker though, and the wig looks a little to plastic-y. A really dark line around the white face, and maybe a black wig would take me all the way to Spirited Away, but I still love this as it is.
Daddie Dearest
Let me first apologize for the quality of this submission. I was on very constricted time this week, and I hope the judges know the quality of my work is better than this. Anyway, my favorite part of drag is the transformation, so I chose a look that displayed both sides of Daddie in an interesting way. The drag side was heavily inspired by my lovely boy-girlfriend, Ellie Dee. For the boy side, I wanted it to look like someone took a hammer, smashed my face, and removed the pieces. Thanks judges!
Lila: I think makeup is one of your strongest assets, and I love your beat a lot because it’s so creative already with the element of your beard. However, I know this mini challenge has thrown half of you off, but you could’ve taken the crack to the Nth degree here. It would’ve been fun to see some sort of skin peeling illusion or something like (this) where the paper would rip off. Although there is an illusion here, I wish it was a little bit more than it is. Nevertheless, good job!
Gluttoni: Yo Dad, I'm just going to be honest and say I was expecting just a tad more from you. You are clear one of the more advanced makeup artist in the competition so a take on something you've done the previous week disappoints me slightly. I'm going to hold that against you because I respect you as an artist and this evidently still good work.
Letha: Daddie! The makeup is BEAT as always, and I love the contrasting tones/colors. That being said, if I haven’t seen this exact look from you, I feel like I’ve seen similar, and while it’s good, it’s not really pushing the creative envelope. I don’t get a big sense of an optical illusion, but still, there’s no denying your skills, so good job!
Toni: I know this week was really rough on you because you had to scrap your first idea and then quickly make something new out of nothing so I want to give you points for that because I know you were in a panic. I like this a lot, is it the most exciting thing out there? no but Its solid. I think you could have gone all the way and maybe blacked out some chips where it looks like pieces of your face had fallen off kinda like a cracked doll. Over all I think this is a good submission for your situation.
Antonina: Hola papi! This is very pretty, it’s a cool submission, but it’s not the best match for the challenge. But you already know that. I think this was just another chance for you to keep practicing your makeup. You look great, but it was not one of my favorite looks I’ve seen from you so far. The gray part looks a little random and rushed. Maybe if the parts where your real skin tone was showing was white or at least a lot lighter it would give it more dimension. Keep on pushing papi, you got a lot of stuff to show us I can tell.
Dotte Com
Behold the face of pixel perfection! It was difficult to mine my crafting skills when it came to this challenge, but that didn’t stop me one 8-bit! There’s more than just drawing squares, since your 3D shape has to appear 2D. It was one direction that I enjoyed playing with and I feel like I rose to this cyber-occasion.
Lila: I LOVE this, and I expect to see you continuing this type of experimentation. This was a huge risk and it is up there with one of the more creative choices of this mini challenge. Two things (because I’m nitpicky) that you could’ve enhanced our digital experience with, the pixels could be a lot smaller in some places, your nose contour is looking a lot wider than usual and it could’ve been shaped just to make it more narrow. And, instead of the wavy hair, you could’ve treat us to more of a squared off headpiece or wig, just to tie in that digital look you were trying to serve. This illusion was really exciting to wait for and you did such a great job with it, none the less!
Gluttoni: Dotte! I am so proud of you for this one! You really took the theme and ran the fuck away with this. Not only that you definitely tied it into your own persona to really seal the deal. It's a little rough around the edges but I think got good grasp on different hues and saturation that I wouldn't expect from you. Keep blazing a path like this for yourself and I think you may find yourself in the top way more often. Being tenacious will get you everywhere in life.
Letha: This is a really cool idea, Dotte, and totally fitting for your aesthetic. I’m not totally feeling the hair here, as something shorter or maybe with a blunt bang might have carried the whole “cybernetic technomatic” type vibe a little more. Overall, the pixels are in cool places and seem to mimic a face (as well as down the neck yas thank you for doing that), I would appreciate cleaner lines though, as it appears muddy in places. I love how you took this mini as an opportunity to both experiment with your makeup skills, as well as expressing who Dotte is, so Halleloo to that!
Toni: Dotte I was worried for you with this that it wasn’t going to be enough but I really love this. I think its fun and just enough of an illusion to really be interesting to look at. I love that you paid attention to the challenge and did everything from shoulders up because that was asked of you and not many of your sisters took that chance. I think if you were to do this again it would be nice to slow down and really make those lines hard and crisp, mostly around the eyes. I really loved that, good job this week!
Antonina: I think this is the best I’ve seen you look! The colors are perfect for your face! Of course you shouldn’t do pixel makeup every week,but I think you could really use parts of this in your “normal” makeup. The dedication alone of painting your chest is great. I know hair isn’t part of this challenge, but a small comment on that anyway. I love this hairdo, I just want some more volume on top of your head. Great work this week.
Ebony Boss
For week 2 I told myself I was gonna step it up majorly. I feel as if my cracked porcelain doll really did that. I wanted to do an illusion that is not the most well known for being an illusion. I think the look is one of my best and really does make me look like a cracked porcelain doll.
Lila: While I agree that this is the best you’ve looked in a while, this is a little safe for what we’ve received for the challenge. I do think you have stepped in terms of bringing us a stronger beat than you’ve done in the past, but I think it’d be much more impactful if you chiseled your contour to a fine point to try and create that porcelain perfection most dolls have. Try to bring in your contour on your nose a little bit more to make it seem more narrow. I wish the elements had a lot more, like adding really thin cracks in different shades, a brown perhaps, just to compliment the harsher cracks. Overall, this is a good submission this mini!
Gluttoni:
My dear Ebony, I am glad I got to see you start and finish this look because I can easily differentiate the growth for the before and after. You took my advice for cleaning up your line and might I say I think the overall illusion benefited from that greatly. You have a very stoic face which I think would be softened if you were a little more expressive. I want you to look as personable as you actually are. The concept of this look is good and extra points for making it a whole look but do you think this the most inventive idea you could achieve. Push yourself darling.
Letha: You really are improving with every mug you do, Ebony, and that is evident with this look. The cracks have believable shapes to them, especially on the forehead, and some shading/highlighting would sell them even more. The nose contour is a tad muddy and doesn’t really make your nose look thinner. The cheek contour could also be moved up a bit, as it is basically on your jaw. The contour color threw me for a second, but it does make sense with the story you’re telling, but it is a bit muddy/patchy in places (the forehead, for instance). I wish the lips had a more “dolly” shape to them, but the mouth lines are cute. I will say this for taking mug pics- find your lens and find an expression. A wide-eyed doll expression could have helped sell this look, but you look a tad over it, so keep that in mind for the future! Strong work!
Toni: I said this to you before but I’ll say it again, I think this is the best you’ve looked ever to me. I think that you should take what you did here and apply it to your normal makeup. I do wish the lines were a bit more clean and sharp, as well as maybe being a bit more, for lack of a better term, polished and flawless like most dolls are if that make sense. I think if you spent more times on your eyes as well to give us that doll eye shape would sell this more. Also girl, where is your lash going? what is she doing? over all I am really proud of you!
Antonina: Hey babe! Great step up, I don’t even recognize you besides that nose contour that still needs work! The look is very cute though. To really make it an illusion, I would have wanted you to make your skin look like porcelain. A lot of shimmering highlight might do the trick. I see doll, I just wanted MORE doll. Take it over the top, the concept is cute but needs more work to really fool us you’re a cracked doll. Keep on pushing doll face!
Judah Kiss
Hi judges! So we originally talked and this mini was going to be late due to personal circumstances around my new job, and I was very upset about it. Woke up this morning at 7am and couldn’t sleep; so I got right to work to submit something.
For this mini, i chose to attempt to recreate Bearonce Knowes’ negative face makeup, with the purpose of makeup turning my face into ‘camera negative’. With more time and more blending I think it would have come out better, but the idea is there, and I’m very happy to have submitted something on time.
Lila: I see a drive in you that is surrounded in a lot of passion for this competition, so I wouldn’t be so hard on myself! Now, Although there are elements that are slightly askew and rushed, I do like this. It’s a nice play on an optical illusion in the sense that it’s more of a inversion - bezold illusive where you’d have to manipulate the image to see it’s opposite contour-highlighting. I think you’ve said it best in your description that if you did have a little more time, you’d have been able to perfect this makeup job. Nevertheless, great job, I hope to see you come back to this idea and perfect it in the future because its a fun little makeup you’ve created!
Gluttoni: Judah, girl.... This is probably the opposite of what I expected from you. I know you have a keen eye for detail and this keep of makes me want to retract that idea I have of you. The idea itself it's definitely on par with the creative force that I know you to be but the execution leaves something to be desired. I think your proportions need to flesh out sometime during the competition.
Letha: This is such a cool look, Judah, and even though it is a replica of a look someone else did, it’s very creative. I do agree that some more time on blending would have served you well, as well as having more time to make crisper lines. More work around the eyes, and perhaps some white lashes would also have been a really neat addition. I do think the bare neck reads as stark against the grayscale face and the dark shirt, so either painting it black or some sort of gray would have helped. All in all, strong work, Judah!
Toni: I’m glad you were able to get on in time and I see the clear influence. I do like this and think for your first attempt at it that it was done well but due to rushing there are issues with it that really shatter the illusion. I think if you had more time to slow down and focus on blending and making sure it was one flawless transition from dark to light then it would be a really amazing look! Good job!
Antonina: I didn’t need to read your explanation to understand your concept. It’s very obvious, and I like that. It’s a good thing that you have references and tries new things. I know your lines and blending is normally much more clean than this, so I hope stress won’t be your downfall in this competition. I see creativity and passion, so I hope you will have time to really perfect your next submission.I know you’ve got what it takes.
Klinker
I'm the Russian Window. The ruined country post war represented by Windows with their flag's color.
Lila: I’m gonna be honest, I don’t see much of an optical illusion with this makeup. It’s more mondrian artsy fartsy than a head being taken off the body or an eye socket being pulled all the way down to the chin. With your makeup, try to set it so that it isn’t shiny with translucent powder, or even baby powder for that matter. I wish you gave this a little bit more dimension as well as the flat colours could’ve had that Phi Phi O’Hara look to them. Overall, its an alright submission.
Gluttoni: *Gluttoni’s Critiques will be edited in later, she apologises in advance!*
Letha: Heya, Klinker! This look makes for a cool photograph, but I’m not really getting “optical illusion”. Part of optical illusion is tricking the eye to seeing something that isnt really there, and the best way to sort of “cheat” new shapes is to have either a totally matte surface, or to have shine in very specific areas. With this paint, the colors aren’t “set”, so your skin sort of shines and the illusion is betrayed by the real shapes that are there. I would suggest powdering to make it more believable, but good job, nonetheless!
Toni: Well dear I can’t say im too excited about this submission because it seems instead of doing an optical illusion you decided to give us a bit more of an art movement, something very “some body that I use to know”. that aside im glad you went out of your comfort zone but for next time you do this make sure you set your makeup so you dont look so dewy and make sure to have very clean and very sharp lines like an actual mosaic would have.
Antonina: As art photographs, I think this is really cool. As submission for this challenge, not so much. I don’t know how to critique this really, because I like it for all the wrong reasons. The photos are strong and feels almost political for some reason? You are so unexpected, and I love that, but for the second time in a row I can’t really connect your submission to the challenge. Don’t waste this chance to grow, because I see a lot of good in you that I want to see more of.
Lexi Lamour
Well would you believe this shit?! I woke up from a well deserved nap after results were posted Monday and when I went to roll over and get comfortable my body moved....but my head didn't!!! When I went to reach for my head I found that it was detached from my body! In a PANIC I picked it up and ran to the mirror only to find out that my fear was true! I came to get my phone only to find a message from that witch bitch, Analyse! She was NOT happy about coming 2nd in the main for week one and while still in her witchy look cast a spell on me to sever my head! Only thing is there are 2 things that worked in my favor. 1) She got the spell wrong.....and 2) I don't have a soul....just a dark empty void of a shell. At first I was shocked, but then I decided I still looked good. I guess things could be worse! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯Hi, Judges! I knew what I wanted to do as soon as I saw what the mini challenge was. This was a fun bit of makeup that I've always wanted to try and see how it looked. I really enjoyed doing it and taking a multitude of different pics. I couldn't choose which ones to do, so I picked 2 that fit in with the first part of my description. Now....can you tell Analyse to fix me.....before I throw my head at her!!!!!!
Lila: I am honestly happy with this. No, it’s not a full face of makeup, but it’s definitely an optical illusion that I was expecting to see. It would’ve been fun to see you in some face makeup, even if it was just like a little beat on, it would’ve been funny to even have some sort of like Toni face mask realness, like you were in the spa chair getting your facial done. Take care with how you draw the hollow part of the neck, I would’ve love to have seen some reds or whatever your drag character oozes inside, even if you stuck Lisa Frank stickers all over the inside area I wouldn’t have been mad! Nevertheless, I’m happy that you went down this route, and I like this submission a lot!
Gluttoni: *Gluttoni’s Critiques will be edited in later, she apologises in advance!*
Letha: Now THIS is an optical illusion! Even if I hadn’t read your explanation it would have made sense, which is always a plus. I’m guessing the “curse” aspect is why it’s such a clean cut, but I still think adding some things like a trachea or some arteries (not gore, just a cross-section) might have helped sell the illusion a bit more, as right now it’s just sort of a patchy gray. I do wish there was a little more going on on the face, even like a sleeping mask because you “just woke up”. Still, this is a great job, and you really sold it!
Toni: This is an illusion! I really am shocked by this because this is so cool and at first i was like “what the fuck?”. I would have loved if you had done more thought, because it is a shoulders up it does seem a bit bare, even a light paint would have added something to this submission. It was smart to ahve a balck back ground that way it would make sense to have the black in your neck. Over all this is a really well done illusion.
Antonina: Hi Lexi! I’m gonna be honest....I don’t see it. Maybe I’m just stupid lol. The disconnected head is a good idea though. Without any face makeup, the neck is the only thing to look at, and then it looks a little weak. Maybe I’m just a little spoiled with your last main challenge submission. The top part of the neck makeup where it’s really black looks really cool though. The idea is good, it’s exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for. The end results just didn’t match my expectations because I know how fierce you are.
Marcella Fox
Hello judges! Let me introduce you to my great Aunt Hortense - she was a model back in the 1980s, known for her high cheekbones and striking gaze. She felt out of the public eye after a scandal involving a grapefruit, and since then has kept a low profile. The menopause has been rather unkind to her, resulting in a more-than-barely-noticeable moustache and, as you can see, she is still recovering from her recent rhinoplasty procedure. Still though, she never steps out of the house without a face full of make-up - I’m sure you can all agree she still looks glamorous!
I had a lot of fun with this mini challenge! I immediately thought of doing an upside-down illusion, and I was inspired by this cyclops I saw while googling ideas. I made an eye to put in my mouth, turned my actual eyes into giant nostrils, and hid my real nostrils with a plaster/bandaid. My eyebrows became a moustache, and I drew a giant pair of lips on my forehead. I wrapped a scarf around my head to look like, well, a scarf :p And held some hair underneath my chin to complete this fab 80’s look :]
Lila: SHOCKED. GAGGED. PULLED THE PAG. Marcella Fox, this is friggin’ CRAZY and I love it. The fact that some people won’t be able to establish you’re upside down and your eyeball is your mouth opened, I keep having to look back and do double takes because it’s SO interesting. I only noticed that you were upside down when I saw your hand holding the wig, and I’m just a sporadic mess because there’s no words to describe how you hit the nail on the head for me this challenge. One thing, and it’s a little nitpick, is if you had some sort of stand or piece of fabric tacked to your headwrap so that it looks like your character has a body, but like, honestly, the tiniest nitpick isn’t gonna take away how much I am impressed by this look. Great submission, Marcie!
Gluttoni: *Gluttoni’s Critiques will be edited in later, she apologises in advance!*
Letha: Up until this very moment, Toni had always been my favorite Cyclops from the 80′s. But NO LONGER, Marcella, it’s your Aunt Hortense! You managed to brilliantly combine camp/comedy with technique and the result is honestly so amazing. The lines are great and make sense, and the highlighting on the lips is so good. Your workarounds for hiding your natural features are also quite clever (though i would have suggested a bit more dramatic of a bandage for the rhinoplasty, as the beige of the current one gets a little lost in the shuffle of the face). These are honestly just nitpicks though, because I am still in AWE of this piece. Amazing job, Marcella!
Toni: YOU COME INTO MY HOUSE? AND MAKE ME LOOK AT THIS MONSTER?? I’m shocked, gagged, disgusted, horrified and I love every bit of it! This makes me so freaking uncomfortable to look at but in the best was possible. I think this holds truest to what a makeup illusion should be because this is so hard for my brain to process. If you wore this look out youd get tipped no question. Just make sure to have those really clean lines so that everything looks a bit more realistic, but over all im SHOOK BITCH.
Antonina: Wow! This is like a challenge: “How many faces can you find?”. I get so much backstory just by looking at your pictures, and to read your description was a joy. Keep taking every chance to be funny! The creature you created is so interesting and I can’t stop staring at it! I honestly don’t know what to say more than you did such a great job.
Paprika
My makeup for the mini was inspired by 80s Patrick Nagel, in the way that he drew the features of so many of the women in his prints and the color scheme he used, as well as (obviously) miss Kim Chi. I love drawing on my face and doing creative mugs so for the opitcal illusion challenge I wanted to play off of that and BECOME a drawing.
Lila: You are so pretty and no matter what you do, optical illusion or normal face, you’re always gonna make me jealous. I would consider this an optical illusion because I’ve seen a lot of people try this with the Marilyn Monroe tutorials and stuff, so I’m pleased to see you go down this route! You look like a CD cover for an indie music band which I enjoy. I wish the black was a little more black than grey. I’m guessing you used either a black face paint or eyeliner, so to get that pure black just set the area with some eyeshadow of the same colour. However, great submission this week, Paps!
Gluttoni: *Gluttoni’s Critiques will be edited in later, she apologises in advance!*
Letha: This is a very cool look, Paprika, and beautiful as well. The colors are simple but the effect is still striking. I would suggest better lighting (I’m guessing that’s a window to your right, try facing it so the tone is more even all over your face) as well as a better backdrop, even hanging up a black sheet could work. I like the shapes of the face a lot, but I would recommend setting the black with shadow to help make it as opaque as possible. The hair is brown instead of black, which is fair if that’s all you have, but having a more solid (less flyaway) hairstyle would match this look I think. Overall, great job, Pappy!
Toni: As someone who has Nagels art hanging all over her drag room i am so glad to see you do something like this! I really think this is striking and true to the art style. I don’t think this is what would be considered a standard illusion but the way you did it really sells it for me. I think if you really darkened thosse shadows and cleaned up your lines it would be so amazing. Good work this week babe!
Antonina: I really like this. I wanna see a video of you in this look reading poetry in french. It looks really good, there are some areas that could use some more work though. For example, the crease lines are very different from eachother. If you’re gonna do this again, make the dark parts darker and maybe some cool collar bone shadows? I think you’re on the right track, keep it up.
Phoebe St. Jefferson
For my mini I was really anxious about this, because make up is for sure one of my insecurities in drag. Despite this i chose to do something really ambitious and yolo my way through this. I decided to turn myself into a snake/reptile type creature, but also blend my hand into my face. For this I followed the example of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sekYblpNDAo But I also tried to make it a little more cartoony, something fun that will actually look like my kind of style. For the make up I primed, sketched out where the mouth was with clown white, then darkened the lines with a cheap eyeliner pencil. For the color of the snake I went in with clown white mixed in with a little black eyeshadow. The hardest part of this challenge was taking a picture where all the lines matched up. Anyways enough of me rambling. Hope u enjoy boos xoxoxoxo.
Lila: WHAT? Scared of makeup my ass! This is by far it’s one of the more creative submissions we received! I see an optical illusion in this, honestly. It must be a trend to have snakes on this cycle, so I cant wait to see who does a snake for the main challenge. One thing to watch is your positioning with this type of optical illusion. I can see a small shed of skin at the bow of your thumb and index finger, and you could’ve colour matched your hoodie and background to try and make it pop a lot more. Otherwise, great submission, Phoebs!
Gluttoni: *Gluttoni’s Critiques will be edited in later, she apologises in advance!*
Letha: This look is honestly incredible, Phoebe! It’s very creative, and you went outside the box by incorporating/camouflaging your hand into the illusion! Are the lines perfect and crisp? Not entirely, but the effect is still there. I would appreciate a bit more detail on the mouth itself, as it reads more of a flat pink, but it’s still really cool. One way I could see this look being elevated would be to have had the hand painted as a CLOSED mouth with maybe the tongue flicking out, then lowering your hand to reveal the open mouth, but I can understand the difficulty of trying to pull that off lol. You should be very proud of yourself, Phoebe, and I hope this mini helps you with your makeup insecurity, because from what I see, you can do great work!
Toni: Honestly for your level of makeup skills this is amazing and I’m so glad you went down this route and took my suggestions. I would make sure to pay attention to where you are taking your pictures and their position because they can alter how its viewed and I think if you had the opportunity to take it against a solid background it would have made this more striking but I really love this over all!
Antonina: Thanks for the nightmares Phoebs!! This creature is scary af lol. This is one of the most memorable submissions we got this weak! That paint must have taken you quite some time to do! If you want to do this look again, get some snake eye lenses to get the full fantasy, but for a week 2 mini challenge of TDR I think you’ve shown a lot of dedication already. All the blacks could be darker, but most imporantly around your eyes. It looks a little sloppy. But hey, whatever, this is a great sssssssssssubmission.
Sugar Monroe
For this “optical illusion” mini, I was inspired buy a lot of color blocking makeup I saw and also stained glass? Idk. This is what I came up with. Lol
Lila: When I opened up the submissions, I got a little bit of an Indiah Ferrah / Phoenix 1st Episode Workroom vibe when I saw some of the other girls doing a similar look to what you’ve done this mini. While the whole mondrian-mosaic fantasy is kind of the go-to illusion, it’s not really optical, or for that matter original. a spin on this could’ve been following the natural contours of your face with the shapes or even doing your contours with the black lines and a blending of all the colours. It just doesn’t scream illusive to me. With your colours, try to add a darker and a lighter hue too, just to make them seem 3-D. Overall, this was an alright submission.
Gluttoni: *Gluttoni’s Critiques will be edited in later, she apologises in advance!*
Letha: While I do think the colors are very refreshing and vibrant, a lot of the critiques I had for Klinker apply here, Sugar. The black lines are generally strong and not muddy, but setting the areas with a corresponding powder (or even a translucent color all over) would have sold an illusion more. You lose opacity in some place, the white/purple most noticeably, but most of the areas pop quite nicely. I feel like the illusion aspect of the challenge could have been executed better, but I do enjoy the look you made. Solid work.
Toni:I know you had some troubles with this mini but i do wish you had worked more with the judges to find something you were able to do ebcause this is much less of an illusion and more just kinda an art style makeup if thake makes sense. Be careful on that babe. But I do want to give you props for going out side of your normal paint, if you were to do this again I’d say think out those black lines so that you can have more color showing as well as adding more shapes. Good luck this week love!
Antonina: The red and the pink looks really bright and good, but what’s going on with the purple on your forehead? All the other colors looks good, but you should have filled in the purple a lot more. It’s not my favorite submission this week, but that doesn’t mean you look bad, it’s cute. I just wasn’t surprised by it. I think you did a good job for what it is, but I wanted more of a concept. Also, a little more color on the lips wouldn’t hurt. I believe in you Sugar, surprise us next time! This is alright, but give us more!
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