#in all fairness he's not really that different to me
Note
27 w trent :)
date night [ T.A.A ]
I like the way you stare into my eyes [soren– beabadoobee]
pairing: trent alexander arnold x fem!reader
summary: date night? but on a baking show? and he's flirting with you?
genre(s): flufffffff
[wc: 1.9k]
notes: my little take on lando's chicken shop date a few months ago xxx
baking up chemisty: date night. that was this evening's episode and you were all too excited because of the guest that the director was able to reach out to. you'd had your fair share of football players on the show and it was so much fun.
it was a fan favourite to have you bring out a different side to the usual personal football players put up on camera, so it was highly requested. just last week you baked a horrible excuse for a lava cake with marcus rashford which was all too fun.
not too long after the episode aired, twitter was blowing up over the interaction and thanking you for having him as a guest wherein fact it should be the other way around. viewers loved that you didn't shy away from any of your guests and praised you for the chemistry you tended to have with them instead of keeping it formal.
so when the guest of this week's episode was announced, you bet that the show had a trending hashtag again.
you stood in front of the camera, behind the counter of the kitchen-styled set that felt so close to home. you accounted for all the ingredients on the counter one last time before it was quiet on set, everyone's eyes on the director.
"action."
"good evening everyone." a smile set on your lips, "and welcome back to 'date night'!"
from the corner of your eye, you caught a glimpse of this evening's guest who had you feeling a little more nervous than usual. "tonight, we have a very special guest joining us, a football star known for his skills on the field and his charm off it."
a hearty chuckle came from him off-camera that sent your heart leaping but your eyes remained on the camera. "and before anyone asks–" you sighed in mock disappointment. "no, it isn't mason mount. trust me, I tried."
behind the camera once again, there were a few laughs that lightened the mood of the studio. that's what you loved most about it– the atmosphere and how there wasn't a set script. when you were hired, your director, lewis shaw, gave you one clear instruction– "go with the flow."
and that's exactly what you found yourself doing for every shoot. having genuine conversations with your guests and keeping the atmosphere lighthearted and entertaining. it helped a great deal in making it less suffocating, and more rewarding.
which is why you loved your job so much, being a presenter was one thing. but being given the freedom to do as pleased as long as you do it well was a privilege.
"please welcome trent alexander-arnold!"
the studio was filled with cheer as they greeted the right back as he made his way beside you, adorning a bashful smile and the two of you exchanged a friendly hug that you tried to keep as professional as possible.
after the formalities were set aside it was time to properly start with the segment, and to do so you quickly grabbed something from one of the cabinets and handed it to trent who was more than familiar with what was in the box.
he mocked a gasp and delicately held up the black apron. it wasn't just plain, however, on the right pocket side there was your name and his embroidered beneath it with a heart.
"I've never felt so special my entire life," he said teasingly. "I can't believe I have matching aprons with everyone who was on this show."
you couldn't help but roll your eyes at his comment. it was customary that everyone got an apron with a similar design, only with their name on it. you shook your head to the side and bit back your smile as you looked at him. "yours is different though."
trent cocked his head to the side amused. "oh really?"
you gestured to the apron, "there's a heart on yours, and–" you fished something else from the cabinet and held it up proudly, "we're matching. you're the only guest I have matching aprons with."
a chuckle left his lips once again and you felt something tug at your heart. he was standing beside you so casually, amused by an apron and your quips and you couldn't help but wonder what it looked like from the viewers' perspective.
soon after you were done putting your aprons on, you began with the interview part. eager questions and playful answers leaving your mouths as if it were just the two of you in the studio. " I have to ask. have you any experience in the kitchen? this is a safe space, don't worry."
he looked down at the rolling pin in his hands and gave a lopsided smile. " I'm afraid not. I'm more comfortable on the pitch than I am with a rolling pin."
it was your turn to laugh, your hands absentmindedly adding the dry ingredients into the bowl while trent passed them on. "I mean we're only baking chocolate chip cookies. I'm sure you'll be fine."
he leant in a bit closer, watching carefully as you measured the amount of baking powder to add in. "chocolate chip cookies are actually a favourite in my family. a close friend of mine once baked a batch for a family movie night and ever since then my mum and brothers see it as an essential when she comes over."
a flush of pink rose to your cheeks instantly but you tried to play it off and cleared your throat. "wow she must be really good then."
trent shrugged his shoulders with a flick of mischief in his eyes. "she's okay I guess."
you glared at him from the corner of your eye and handed the bowl to trent so that he could put it in the mixer with the slow adding of the wet ingredients. "well then, what's your idea of the perfect date?"
you listened as he hummed in thought, adding to the whir of the mixer until it was done.
"I think just spending your time with someone special you know? it doesn't have to be anything fancy. just good company and good conversation."
his answer prompted you to nod in agreement. "I'm heavy on the good company part."
the space between the two of you decreased immensely, as you were now standing flush against his side while gathering the batter and putting it onto the cooking tray.
"oh really?" he questioned suddenly which caught you off guard. "what do you look for in a partner?"
your head quipped to look at him with your eyebrows raised but he innocently continued with putting the batter down. a scoff left your lips. "I'm supposed to be interviewing you right now."
"interview?" he asked and spared you a quick glance. "I thought this was a date, love."
you froze in your spot, unable to fully comprehend what was happening because all you wanted to do was wipe that smile off his face. but you had to carry on. once again you found yourself clearing your throat, watching as trent took the initiative to put the tray in the oven.
"well then?" he asked.
"I'm not picky." you walked over to the sink and put some soap on your hands while he did the same. "just someone genuine and passionate. I need to feel loved, not just be in love. and how about you?"
a low hum echoed from beside you and he put on the tap and rinsed the soap from them. he locked eyes with you and grinned, "someone who can keep up with me, both on and off the pitch. and maybe someone who can bake a decent batch of cookies."
you playfully rolled your eyes. "well I think most people can manage that. so, what do you value most?"
unlike yours at the moment, trent's expression softened and before you knew it your hands were in his beneath the running tap, lukewarm water having no match for the feeling of his hands on yours.
"honesty and trust," he looked up at you with his nose scrunched. "and a sense of humour never hurts."
you looked up at him with your eyes slightly squinted, sharing a moment of silent communication, but I know something that will.
not too long after, the episode wrapped up and you bid your goodbye to the viewers until next week, while also thanking trent for joining you for the evening.
he was more than delighted to be as modest as he could and waved it off with a, "the pleasures all mine. we should really do this again sometime."
it took a lot for you not to roll your eyes at him but you remained professional until you heard the director yell, "and cut! that's a wrap, well done, everyone!"
at that. your shoulders relaxed with a heavy sigh. this was by far the most stressful episode that you'd ever filmed, which completely went against your original statement.
you watched as the rest of the camera crew flooded to the break room, leaving you and trent alone on set. when it was all clear you turned to look at him with your lips pursed.
"one job. you had one job," you said blatantly but he couldn't suppress his smile, his hand instinctively finding yours on the kitchen counter and putting it in his.
your eyes bored into his, the sound of a familiar laugh leaving his lips before ge placed a gentle kiss on your hand. "you wanted chemistry and I gave you chemistry. I think I did my job very well actually."
"oh really?" you quipped sarcastically but that wasn't enough to get at him, in fact it only amused him even more.
the space between you lessened in a matter of seconds, his hands were now draped around your waist and slowly reaching for the back of your apron that was still on. he nodded in agreement and continued to gently untie your apron.
"but what did you expect?" he asked again and placed it on the counter. "how was I supposed to act natural around you? you're literally my girlfriend, so this is natural for me."
you couldn't bite back your smile anymore, not with the excited gleam in his eyes. "but you could've toned it down a bit, trent."
his eyes widened slightly and a quick peck was placed on your cheek. "tone it down?" he shook his head at your response, saying that he was being way too obvious but he didn't care. you'd been together for nearly 3 years, so he'd be more than delighted to have people finally find out.
"and miss the opportunity to tease you like this? baby you were an absolute blushing mess and I enjoyed every single moment."
no way you were blushing that much. you refused to believe it, and said that it was just his way of trying to embarrass you right now. you pulled away from his grasp and began to pack up your things, your boyfriends loving gaze watching you as you complained about his behavior.
he wasn't really paying attention, but he loved seeing how riled up you were and considered this as payback for every single day that you've been together that you've had him blushing like an idiot. it was only fair that he got you back eventually.
"I really wished that we had mason mount on today," you muttered and his smile immediately dropped.
"woah there," he interjected in disapproval and you turned to look at him with your arms crossed. "but we had fun today!"
"yeah but I would've had fun with mason too."
"incorrect."
your eyebrows raised at trent's sudden quip, "you can't just say--"
"wrong," he interrupted again with a smile, watching you from the other side of the counter."
you shook your head to the side as he made his way to your side, the same cheeky smile plastered on his face. "you're such a child I swear."
he hummed contently and took your bag, using his free hand to hold yours as he usually did. you felt another jolt in your stomach, the swarm of butterflies only worsening when trent pressed a light kiss to your temple. "it takes one to know one, love."
#cherrei writes#liverpool fc#footballer imagine#fanfic#footballer x reader#trent alexander arnold fluff#trent alexander arnold x reader#trent alexander arnold fanfic#trent alexander arnold#liverpoolfc x reader#football imagine#footballer x you
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Experimental thought for my MotA gurlies: So I'm rewatching MotA to get a better handle on Gale and what's hitting me on the second time around is how human John feels versus how mythologized and illusive Gale feels?
Exhibit A: You're Bucky and he's Buck?
We as an audience are introduced to Gale in episode 1 via the recitation of the Buck(ies) lore by Marge. And yeah, sure, John and Gale jump in to add color around the edges but tonally it’s a far cry from how anyone else in the show is introduced and, while John is intro’d the same lore, we come to know John with an intimacy that unravels any notions of manicured or whitewashed anything. We never really get this for Gale.
Exhibit B: No Engine Cleven.
So before the fight between Curt and the RAF guy in episode 2 Curt’s regaling (pun intended) the homies with the story of Walla Walla wherein Gale buzzes the control tower with 3 of his 4 engines feathered. Now it's pretty clear from the dialogue that Gale's still got a functional engine, but Curt's telling the story and he insists on changing the details so that Gale's got no engines.
The boys drink to ‘No Engine Cleven’--the myth.
Flashcut to the end of episode 3 and Gale's fort has taken a gnarly beating. By the time he gets in view of the runway in Algeria he has to feather all 4 engines. And he fucking does it: he manages to land sans engine power! He glides the crew to a safe landing, as if foretold. The No Engine Cleven prophesy made real.
So much of Gale feels like mythology, it's all stories and tidbits other characters seem to know on faith: Gale’s not a sports guy, Gale's an excellent pilot, Gale is Buck. And to be fair on each of these points we do get a little bit of bonus content. (Gale tells John about his dad which we come to understand is the crux of his sports dislike. We see Gale fly and know from his continued survival and other characters' reactions that he's good. See exhibit 1 visa vis ‘Buck’.)
Exhibit C: the deference.
Ok so bonk me with the rubber mallet if this is a reach but like the deference that characters (other than John) show Gale also makes it feel like Gale's something special/held apart. Like yes, I do get he's both hierarchically above a lot of the other characters and simultaneously one of the more central characters. We don't see a whole lot of interactions between characters and like Jack Kidd or Chick Harding to really compare how folks are acting towards Gale vs someone else higher up the ladder. But listen
Let’s take Croz as our test example as Croz interacts with Jack and Gale. When Croz interacts with Jack he's definitely in a subordinate role. There's a scene wherein he recommends Bubbles for desk work and a later scene wherein Croz has inherited said desk work and is nervous about whether he's a good fit. Both times he approaches Jack with respect and the deference of a subordinate but there's nothing more to it. Jack’s a guy and Croz is a guy and so Croz feels like he can talk to Jack.
Take that in comparison to the first time Croz and Bubbles meet John and Gale. Croz and Bubbles want to pin a US map with the locations of the various crew members’ hometowns. There's a shyness in Croz’s behavior here that I think goes beyond ‘you guys are Majors’ and more toward ‘omg the popular kids. The dudes that set the tone for everyone else' there's a sort of starstruckedness to the interaction. (Help I can't think of another time he talks to Gale.)
My point is, the other boys talk to Gale and John like they're the big dogs. The Buckies occupy a space that’s nearer the men than command (Jack, Chick, etc) but higher than say a different crew member, or even other pilots (say Brady or Dye). But whereas we get some real interiority on John we never get to really dig in on Gale and it leaves Gale feeling like a marble statue. (Dare I say like a John Waynian archetype of masculine stoicism and competency and controlled violence? Is that too far?) Like a mythical hero at least.
#mota meta#Master of the air#mota#I have Gale brain worms so bad#someone please come get me#gale cleven#buck cleven#gale cleven meta
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I think Lucien could turn out to be an excellent foil for Rhysand.
There are so many parallels between them (I know i'm not the first to point this out):
"The things I love have a tendency to be taken from me" this is a quote from Rhys but definitely applies to Lucien too.
Power hungry/abusive HL father
Loyalty to chosen family
Their love stories start with their mates in love with other people
But despite their similarities, they are very different people. I think they could have a really interesting dynamic of light/dark, warm/cold, day/night balancing each other. And Lucien has traits that highlight some of Rhys's flaws:
He is more open than Rhys who keeps his loyalty and trust only within his inner circle while Lucien likes to travel and make friends and allies wherever he goes.
Lucien tends to see things more objectively, acting in the interest of what is best for everyone rather than just himself or his close family.
They both saw their fathers as HL abuse their power and decided they wanted to be different -- Lucien by renouncing his titles and Rhys by deciding to be a different kind of ruler (this isn't actually a flaw for Rhys, but it's an interesting contrast)
Lucien actually apologizes and makes amends when he realizes he has done something wrong. Whereas Rhys (who has done actual horrible things) justifies all his wrongdoings by saying that it was all part of the act to keep Velaris/Feyre/the IC safe.
Lucien has always faced Rhys without fear. Never backed down or balked at his power. I think it says something about Lucien’s character and maybe his own power. That they might be equals one day.
I don't think Prythian needs a High King but I think Lucien would be a better one than Rhys. Even though Rhys says he doesn't want to be High King I think it is safe to say he/the IC probably think he's the only one qualified. But I'd love to see Lucien step up and be a fair and objective ruler (not to mention Elain as the compassionate and all-seeing High Queen[when she's ready])
#LuLu for high king#Rhys for court jester#Night Triumphant? how about Light Triumphant.#Lucien#Rhysand#lucien vanserra#pro lucien#rhysand critical#rhysand acotar#lucien acotar#elucien#elain archeron#pro lucien vanserra#ic critical#anti rhysand#anti inner circle
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| June 8th | Prompt: Illuminate | Word count: 749 | @rosekillermicrofic |
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Barty had had a bad day.
Evan knew he would from the moment the letter arrived at breakfast, marked with his father’s seal. Evan didn’t know what Barty Crouch Sr wanted, but he knew that his words were never kind. So he had made his prediction, and it had turned out to be right. Barty had spent the first half of the day sulking, quieter than normal. And as usual, the second half was the complete opposite. Barty had acted out, heightening his personality in an attempt to distract himself from whatever his father had said.
But Barty had clearly found his own performance lacking, which was why, Evan assumed, they were now at a party, the green lighting casting everything in an ominous glow. Barty danced next to him, tipsy already, trying his best to forget his troubles. And if this was what he needed in order to do it, then Evan was more than happy to help—so long as Barty didn’t get too drunk, of course. But Evan had been watching him carefully all night. By his calculations, he should still be fine.
“Evannn,” Barty crooned, throwing an arm around his shoulders, “You’re too tense! Loosen up a little.”
Then he laughed, and despite his crazy antics, Evan couldn’t help but think he was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
As Evan smiled at him, trying not to let his emotions show themselves completely on his face, Barty’s laughter trailed off and he lazily looked back at Evan. His smile dropped.
“Why aren’t you dancing with me, Evs?” he pouted, then pulled Evan in closer. Barty’s breath ghosted over his cheek as he whispered in his ear, “You look good tonight.”
The words, the tone, the proximity—it was too much.
“You’re drunk, Bee,” Evan tried to laugh. It came out more forced than he would’ve liked.
“Just tipsy, actually. And even if I was drunk, my eyes would still work just fine.”
Evan shook his head at Barty’s insistence.
“You just want a distraction,” he said.
And it was true. Barty had been looking for one all night—all day, really, ever since receiving that letter from his father—and Evan could tell. Barty always had a certain look about him when he was hunting for someone to occupy his time, and Evan had, of course, become extremely adept at recognizing it. Which is why he had clocked in on it tonight, Barty’s eyes roaming around the scene, taking in different people and weighing them in his head. The one thing Evan couldn’t figure out, though, is why Barty had landed on him instead of just about anyone else.
“You’re being mean,” whined Barty, moving even closer.
Barty was going to kill him, this Evan was sure of.
“I’m being responsible.”
He felt Barty’s petulance before he saw it in his face, the arm around his shoulder pulling him in more as Barty’s expression became downcast.
“Can’t you just kiss me?” Barty pleaded, the green lighting illuminating the planes of his face, and really, Evan thought, this wasn’t fair. How could he say no when Barty was looking at him like that, eyelashes framing his beautiful eyes, which were burning with the desire for a kiss.
Desire for a kiss, yes, but not for Evan specifically. Not Evan.
Never Evan.
But he might be able to deal with it. He could carry this weight on his back for the rest of his life, if only he got this one chance to kiss Barty.
He could deal with the weight of it, and he would, if it weren’t for the fact that Barty was upset and drunk, and not entirely aware of his own actions. And Evan was supposed to be the one taking care of him, so Barty’s best interests came before his own desires.
Nothing different from usual, of course.
And so, there on the dance floor, surrounded by people who would never value Barty as much as he deserved, Evan turned his best friend away. He turned him away despite knowing Barty would just move on to the next person in order to distract himself. And Evan would watch from afar the entire night as he hopped from person to person, flirting and kissing and laughing with anyone other than Evan, who would stay busy making sure that Barty didn’t end up hurting himself.
It was all so painfully typical that it was almost funny, but somehow, Evan couldn’t find it within himself to laugh.
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Book Club - Part 10
pairing: do you even need to know anymore 😂
summary: Checo needs a night out, which means you are babysitting
a/n: thanks for the request 🫶, sorry it took so long, I truly have been slammed with work.
masterlist
———————
“Thanks again,” Checo says when he stands at your Monaco apartment door with his four kids.
“No problem, we weren’t planning on going out anyway. Partying gets tiring,” you smile, stepping aside so the four can run in and find Lance.
Despite his retirement, Checo decided to take a family vacation to the Monaco GP, and when he was invited out with the drivers, you stepped in to babysit. How hard could it be?
“They’ve had their dinner, you just need to entertain them before bedtime, we will pick them up after breakfast. Good luck,” Checo says and starts walking towards the elevator.
“Good luck? What do you mean ‘good luck’? Checo? Checo!” you call after the Mexican as he smirks, watching you panic as the elevator doors close. You close and lock the front door, sighing in defeat. Lance is sitting on the floor with the four kids surrounding him, looking more than content.
“So, uh, do you like jazz?” you awkwardly ask, sitting on the couch. Lance stifles a laugh, looking at you with amused eyes.
“Jazz? I thought you would be better with kids that aren’t your siblings,” Lance says, amused at how uncomfortable you seem. To be fair, you were really looking forward to cuddling up in bed and watching a 2000s romcom with your husband after the race, it was all you had talked about last week.
“Lancie,” you frown, he reaches out to you and squeezes your hand, silently telling you he will take the lead. You slide onto the ground with them, trying your best to keep up with their games.
Lance is a natural. You’d probably be envious if it wasn’t giving you baby fever.
“Do you guys want to watch a movie?” Lance asks the four kids who are currently playing with you.
“Si!” Checo Junior says. They pile onto the loveseat beside your couch as Lance pulls out some blankets and pillows.
“I’ll get some snacks,” you say softly, padding out to the kitchen where you fill a bowl with premade popcorn. You would microwave some but you ate it as a midnight snack the other day. By the time you get back, Lance has them all cozy on the loveseat, a movie cued, and is waiting for you on the couch with a fuzzy blanket. You swear your heart explodes.
You can’t say that you pay too much attention to the movie, seeing as how you are asleep on Lance’s chest halfway through the movie. He looks at the similar scene beside the two of you, the only difference being that all four kids are asleep. Lance gently slides out from under you and carries the kids one by one to the bedroom you had excitedly put together when Checo called.
“Come on, baby, time for bed,” Lance gently wakes you up as he turns off the tv.
“Shoot, did you put them to bed by yourself, I would’ve helped. You go to bed, I’ll clean up,” you panic, looking around the living room. Lance already cleaned up.
“It’s okay, I know the race took more out of you than it did me. Let’s just go to bed,” Lance presses a kiss to your forehead.
“Okay,” you murmur, standing up, feeling everything stretch out. Lance turns the last few lights off before picking you up and carrying you to bed. You look like a koala as you hold him, chest to chest, your head on his shoulder. After getting ready for bed, it doesn’t take you long to fall asleep.
Your alarm wakes you and Lance up early. Normally this would be for your morning run, but there are four kids who are currently relying on you.
“Come hop in the shower with me,” Lance grabs your hand as you stand in front of your closet.
“Lance, there are kids in the next room over,” you blush looking at the door.
“You won’t be saying that when we have kids of our own, plus, it’s just a quick shower. Get your mind out of the gutter,” he teases you and you shake your head.
“I’m going to train after Checo comes and picks them up, you go shower,” you tell him, finding the hoodie of his that you like to steal.
While Lance showers, you make a pot of coffee and sit out on your balcony, overlooking the ocean. As you sip your coffee, you don’t realize Lance is in the kitchen starting breakfast.
You freeze in the doorway, staring at your shirtless husband, whose sweatpants rest low on his hips.
“Hungry?” Lance asks, waving at the food already done.
“No, well yes, but I’m happy with my girl breakfast,” your eyes rake his body. Lance blushes and pulls a t-shirt on, you drool as his muscles flex. “Why’d you do that?” you pout as your girl breakfast was covered up.
“There will be plenty of time to stare once our charges are fed and taken back by their parents, why don’t you go wake them up?” Lance chuckles, amused at your irritation. He’s just glad he still does it for you all these years later. A few minutes later you rejoin him in the kitchen, four sets of little feet following you.
“Up you go,” you lift each kid into their seat at the table. As you set out place settings, Lance brings over the food. He notices how careful you are around them, and for a moment he let’s himself imagine that it is you with your future kids. Maybe he will have a copycat son that has your personality, or a daughter that takes the best from both of you and is a perfect blend, or maybe the kid will look exactly like you but will be a little awkward like he is.
Breakfast goes smoothly, and Checo arrives earlier than expected.
“They weren’t too much trouble, were they?” He asks Lance as you help the kids with their little bags.
“Not at all, perfect angels,” Lance tells Checo, his eyes not leaving you.
“I’ll see you, or I guess hear you, at the next meeting,” you hug the Mexican ex-driver goodbye.
“So, wanna start practicing?” Lance wiggles his eyebrows, picking you up and throwing you over his shoulder as he makes his way to the bedroom.
“Lance!”
#f1 imagines#f1 x reader#f1 imagine#f1 grid#f1 grid x reader#lance stroll x reader#lance stroll#checo perez#sergio perez#sergio checo perez#book club#baby fever
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Your portrayal is 100% accurate to what we know of Carol so far, THANK YOU
So few people acknowledge how even with how little we know of her, we DO know that she's emotionally abusive, and like. I get this crap is unfortunately normalized but still. People ignoring that fact makes me very mad.
I'm personally of the opinion that Toriel is also lowkey abusive (or at least neglectful) but I guess I'm "biased" bc I actually was a victim of child abuse (in multiple forms) so whatever
Anyway I just want you to know I like ur portrayal of Carol v much
Well, that IS a big "so far" in there, to be fair! It's possible (and quite likely) that more canon will completely change our perceptions on Carol in the future.
Buuuut yeah, at least so far, it doesn't seem like she's being a good parent at all to Noelle. Rudy definitely sounds like he usually acts as a mediator, and it's not really normal or good that Noelle is afraid enough of her mother to feel like she can't go and ask her for the gate key. At the very least, it sounds like she's both physically and emotionally distant and cold, and places a huge weight of expectations on Noelle.
That said, I will argue against Toriel being abusive in canon, because I definitely don't think she is. Her hugging Kris and checking out the book on how to care for humans and all of that means that she is at least trying her best! I think Toriel in DR may have the same problem that she has in UT...she thinks that if she is just the Best Mother Possible, then her children won't have any problems. The problem is, even being the Best Mother Possible can't fix what's gone wrong with Chara, and now Kris...they have their own psychological issues that require very different care, made all the stronger by them being adopted humans in a monster household. And Toriel doesn't really have any ideas on how to deal with those issues besides just trying even harder at being the Best Mother Possible. It creates a strain between them, because the human kids can't articulate what's wrong with them, and all Toriel can think is "well...I just have to keep trying, even harder."
All that said, I'm terribly sorry to hear that you went through that as a child, anon, and I hope that you're in a much better place right now. Thank you very much again for your kind words!
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johnny & randall analysis / manifesto
in taking a little break from other things and deciding to rewatch monsters, inc., only to then find out about monsters at work on my way there, i've ended up thinking about these guys a lot lately — and since there's not a lot of stuff really digging into these characters, i wanted to share all the thoughts i've had over the past few weeks as an exercise.
as such, this'll be an analysis of johnny and randall's characters in relation to each other and their position as antagonists in the series, as well as how i'd personally go about extrapolating from their dynamic as a fun thing to explore if there was more time to expand upon and rewrite what we got! (as well as just having a little dubiously-healthy relationship fun along the way, you know how it is... give me and inch and i'll take a mile)
to me, the fun of filling in the blanks of them together is about how they've changed so much, and yet so little, falling back into old habits, feelings, and dynamics with an older and modern touch to them.
confused about the line of randall saying him and johnny were "besties"? not to worry, my friends. i got you.
“It’s easy to think that these characters can’t possibly have any depth or feelings because they’re monsters, but they do,” says Crystal. “They’re young men figuring out who they are and what they want in life—and then what life actually has in store for them."
general character / story analysis
all the way back at the beginning, we have the events of monsters university — in my opinion, the movie with the most to chew on in an emotional sense, and the one that really sets the stage for everything that comes after (probably a recommended thing to have as a prequel, to be fair). i want to start off with a few quotes from the art book and production notes about the story's themes...
If Monsters, Inc. was about what happens when a new and strange door opens, Monsters University is about what happens when the door you’ve been headed towards unexpectedly slams shut. It’s a question every one of us has had to deal with at one time or another: What do you do when your dreams run into the roadblocks of real life? (art book)
Producer Kori Rae recalls that when Dan Scanlon decided that the film was really going to be about Mike Wazowski and his story, "he was really attracted to the idea of how we deal with failure. What happens when what we thought we were going to do or who we were going to be changes, and we end up in a totally different place? When you ask someone 'How did you get where you are today?' very seldom do you hear 'I went to school, studied what I planned on studying, and then went immediately into that field of work.' This film delves into that in a really powerful way.” As Scanlon explains, "Mike basically realizes he needs to let go of what he thinks he has to be in order to be great, so that he can make room for what truly makes him great. That is the real story of the film. His friendship with Sulley comes out of that, and Sulley changes and becomes a better person because of that." As it so happens, this arc is not so different from the arc of the story process itself. "You fall in love with these things that you think the story is about, and then you realize the story is about something else," says Scanlon. "Then you have to let go of those things, and it's painful a lot of the time. But, it's always for the best." (art book)
According to the filmmakers, Mike’s story—and the fact that he doesn’t accomplish what he sets out to do—not only makes the story more interesting, it makes it more relatable. “A big part of this film is facing reality,” says story supervisor Kelsey Mann. “Sometimes it’s harsh and unfair, but that’s okay. It just means you were meant to do something else, something that ultimately might be more rewarding." (production notes)
"It’s during these years, whether in college or not, that we tend to learn who we are. And it’s not necessarily who we thought we were." ... "We don’t always get what we want, including life-long dreams. It’s perhaps the hardest lesson for any of us to face, but it’s the benchmark of maturity." (production notes)
"To me, this movie is for anyone who has dealt with failure. We all come face-to-face with it at some point in our lives." ... "I think it’s these missteps and misdirections that make us stronger and make our life’s story more interesting. I love movies that inspire us to believe that if we try hard enough, we can be anything we want. The truth is, sometimes as hard as we try, as much as we believe, things just don’t work out; it happens to all of us. But in hindsight, these 'failures' often turn out to be nothing more than detours leading to wonderful discoveries of a life, a career, a love we never would have thought possible." —Dan Scanlon (art book)
a lot of my thoughts had sparked when reading passages like this, connecting it back to their own character arcs, as we start to pick up on a few questions: how do we deal with failure? what happens when things don't work out, and what we thought we were going to do or who we were going to be changes, and we end up in a totally different place? when the door you’ve been headed towards unexpectedly slams shut? and how do the character's reactions to these things set them apart from each other?
"This is a story about a guy who loves something desperately but can’t have it. So what do you do when that happens, when you can’t have what you want?" —James Robertson, story artist (art book)
“College is the time when we all have so much optimism and confidence that we can change the world. We have dreams and goals. We’re unstoppable. And then reality sets in and we start hitting closed doors. It’s what you do when you hit a closed door—it’s what you do when your dream is shattered that really formulates who you are." —John Lasseter (production notes)
in doing a lot of analysis of the story's themes for me, this is the start of how these characters — mike and randall, sulley and johnny — are foils to each other.
james p. sullivan is a casual, laid-back guy who's just barely skirting by academically, as he believes his natural talent and family name are all he needs to succeed in life. johnny worthington III is already a popular and successful top dog with a legacy of his own to live up to, so he works to maintain his status and fraternity's image no matter the cost. mike wazowski is full of ambition, eager to make his dream of becoming a scarer at monsters, inc. a reality, with the assets at his side being hard work, wit, and determination. and despite his nervous and insecure personality, randall "randy" boggs wants to get in with the popular crowd to get a taste of recognition even if that means going down a different path completely.
breaking them down to the very basics, johnny and sulley are both Cool Guys/Nepo Babies who come from a long line of revered scarers, and who keep their fears, insecurities, and true feelings buried underneath of their outwardly shallow demeanor, while mike and randall are both Nerdy Guys without a lot of friends, making it out alone/together in the world, but with untapped potential and a very personal sense of mission for their years at university. they're each put in very similar positions, where sulley and johnny want to maintain what they have and use that to their advantage, and randall and mike want to surpass what they are into something bigger than themselves. sulley is everything mike wants to be as a natural-born scarer, and johnny is everything randall wishes he could be as the cool, popular guy. at the beginning of the movie, sulley gets paired with johnny, and mike with randall, but they end up swapping by the midpoint — sulley teams up with mike, and randall teams up with johnny. mike and sulley stay together by the end, but johnny and randall are ultimately split up. you get the sense that these duos are meant to be together with how they're divided, and, eventually, the results of everything, and how the characters deal with the prospect of failure color their positions as protagonists and antagonists, respectively.
"When it all goes south, it’s not pretty,” says Rae. “They get kicked out of the Scare Program by the Dean herself and their dreams are crushed. But as fate would have it, they’re forced to work together to make things right. The unlikely bonds they form with a group of misfits, and how they grow—individually and as friends—results in a very funny, very touching story that at its heart is completely relatable to people of almost every age." (production notes)
when mike and sulley get kicked out of the scare program, they're not about to give up just yet. after a lot of hardships, but also unexpected success along the way, they land themselves at the very last event of the scare games, and sulley goes the extra mile to secure a false win through cheating for mike, only for it to be a breaking point for the both of them — it drives mike into doubling down on his ambition, and then into disillusionment at his own inability to achieve what he's been so desperate to reach the entire story, as well as sulley into finally letting down his unaffected façade and admitting he has no idea what he's doing either. he knew how someone like mike would take the loss, after he's worked so hard for everything, but in the end... the measures taken to prevent that from happening only ended up making things worse. at the end of the day, the true victory they get to have is in a personal sense, since they do get kicked out of university and have to continue working hard to get what they want... and they're also to be able to prove something to themselves in an honest accumulation of their efforts, through what they've learned and gone through together despite them not coming out on top. by the end of the movie, they accept their fate in stride — even (especially) mike, who sulley helps to realize that he has other avenues to explore, not just that one defined path he set out so desperately to chase. after they come to terms with the failure they went through together, they're able to grow and become better friends and people because of it, and it doesn't stop them from working as hard and honestly as they can... and eventually, they end up where they are today!
on the other hand... the way johnny and randall take their shortcomings end up being the exact opposite!
getting into it ✨️
JOHNNY WORTHINGTON has reason to be supremely confident—he’s the top Scare student at Monsters University and president of the best fraternity on campus, Roar Omega Roar (RΩR). Voiced by Nathan Fillion, Johnny comes from a long line of MU Scarers and respects the school’s legacy, traditions and most of all, the system by which Scaring excellence is judged. He may have been born with a silver spoon in his jaws, but this monster’s no softie. (production notes)
"Johnny runs RΩR, so if the look of the house is designed around any one character, it's him. The RΩR interior gives you this feeling of tradition and entitlement, sort of 'Don't touch anything.' [There are] walls of trophies, walls of history, and pictures of past classes. It should give you the feeling that Johnny has something to lose, too. It's not just Mike and Sulley who have things at stake. Johnny has a tradition to live up to, and he's afraid of failing." (art book)
"[He] was probably raised by a dad who was a real jerk to him, who 'didn't raise a loser', where winning's the most important thing..." —Nathan Fillion (interview)
it's that idea of success, of staying on top and maintaining that image, position, and legacy that came before him that has shaped his worldview and that johnny's character is all about. for johnny, to not live up to tradition is failure.
johnny worthington already had it made by the time he was born, clearly growing up wealthy and with connections in life lined up for him in advance, where even in school he's popular and well-liked for his highly-ranked natural talents and "charming" personality, despite still being a shallow, manipulative asshole at heart... and all he has to do is to hold on to that silver spoon, which is at the same time, is a lot of pressure on his shoulders...
and with so much importance put on appearances, it's his tendency to read books by their cover that leads him to completely underestimate what mike and sulley are capable of together in monsters university. an emphasis is put on how big of a deal it'll be if RΩR loses the scare games to a team of underdogs like OK, since, as mike puts it... no one will ever let him forget it. not only does he care a lot about maintaining that status as top dog, but he wants to ensure nothing gets caught up in the process, as he takes precautions earlier in the story by putting sulley's place in RΩR on hold until he can live up to what he says he is... and when it comes to OK's unexpected success throughout the scare games, there's a sense of him starting to feel threatened, which leads to pulling stunts like the "cute-ma kappa" prank. johnny goes out of his way to try and take them down a peg through methods like "cutting remarks, taking shots at [their] confidence, and humiliation," as nathan fillion puts it in regards to johnny's more "insidious" bullying techniques. we don't get a lot of time to linger on how he takes the "loss" in the end (other than it very clearly shaking his entire world) before he later goes to offer sulley his position back, and then is rejected even further. what i enjoy very much about the situation is how RΩR didn't actually lose to OK, on account of sulley's cheating — it's just enough for it to appear as if they do for a while and to make an impact on johnny at first, and it kind of leads to a perfect uncertainty of how he really takes things in the end... even if he's no sore loser on the surface.
and i think it makes a lot of sense in how exactly johnny's changed over the years when we see him again in monsters at work. on the outside, it absolutely looks as if he's now humbled, as if maybe that sliver of defeat put enough of a number on him... and yet on the inside is someone still clinging to the importance of the legacy he has to maintain. i don't think johnny is heartless by any means — it's not like he's been nefariously plotting over the last 20 years or anything, as he's already set and successful as a CEO as well as a husband, a father, a family man and a charitable force of his community... and in a lot of ways, he has changed, softened around the edges, and is living life as everyone else is... right?
after knowing him first in monsters inc., we can easily see through sulley's character in monsters university where the façade ends and james p. sullivan begins, as he's long grown past the need for something like that, paving the way for him as the kind-hearted and humble guy he is today... and johnny, on the other hand...? over the years, it seems to have become a little hard to tell where exactly that point is, of what part of the act is really "johnny" under all of that flourish, benevolence, and self-restraint. with how he would play it up in university, it was quite obvious for him too that he was putting on a show... and yet now the moments in and out of it are few and far between, where it almost feels as if the mask is glued on until he gets pushed to his furthest point, only showing cracks of a different face... and in all that time, johnny clearly has been honing his skills — a constant performance with anyone and everyone, polished to perfection even with whom he lets in on his little scheme. as a businessman, i think it makes sense that his manipulative tendancies never really went away, as that's something that would benefit him a ton. he's come to veer out of "smarmy" and back around again into "charming", with less of that outward swagger and leaning even more into the extra subtle approach — he's a lot more down to earth even when he's still got that glint in his eye. a picture of performative altruism, yet is still doing good nonetheless... and it sort of puts him in a strange position of everything he does being simultaneously fake and real and the same time, superficial in an all-new way. how much is what he said to tylor is true, especially when he does have genuine reason to see himself in him, to respect the scaring legacy and see how tylor's potential is being wasted? what would johnny with no filter on a regular day even look like? how much does randall see, or even claire, or his kids? who even is johnny worthington, really...?
and i have to wonder if there's a fundamental issue in how johnny approaches the world, of someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth — really honing in on that nepotism of someone very privledged, and how his background in an environment like that might've shaped him in ways like this. and when his prize jewel is threatened — the precious legacy of what came before — that's when he starts to act again, all under the cover of the rock solid image he's created...
with laugh power on the rise, johnny has to think about what it would mean to adjust to a changing world, of something so far off the path you're on, to start from the ground up in a completely different way for the greater good in terms of both efficiency and in a moral sense... and of what it would mean for his company, of the kind of light it would paint him in within the world he's grown up in (a lot of very relevant political views we get a peek of in the whole laugh power vs scream power debate!) and what we know of the looming figures of those that came before him — monsters who are very clearly not made for being jokesters. considering what we know about him, and the lessons we never actually get to see him learn and grow from... the choice he'll make is clear. for a guy like johnny, there's no easy surrender to something like that. all of this is a lot bigger than little competitions in university. laugh power may as well be the future (and boy, does he know it!) but it's scare power that made his family business what it is. and there's a resurgence of image first and foremost when it comes to the underhanded way he goes about it, where whatever's going on behind the scenes (such as outright stealing laugh power sources from monsters, inc. and with a total disregard for the moral side of it all) may as well not be relevant as long as that outside picture is kept clean and the appearance of tradition is being maintained, which makes it very clear where exactly his priorities lie.
(even someone like waternoose almost had a more benevolent goal at the end of the day — everything he did may have been something he was doing for the sake of his company, but it was also for his people, to quite literally "keep the lights on" all while he really did care about monsters like sulley! i'm willing to bet that if laugh power had been effectively realized in his time, he wouldn't have even needed to do all that, as it all seems like a "desperate measures call for desperate solutions" thing... while johnny is a lot more concerned with holding onto what's already his, for his own sake, rather than everyone else's — at the end of the day, he doesn't actually care about the city's power situation at all... he really plays into the weight of the "family business" side of it all.)
"One of the themes in [Monsters University] is seeing a person’s hidden value—a skill Johnny certainly lacks. He takes people at face value, and he’ll never know them. That’s a hurdle Mike and Sully have to overcome with one another." —Nathan Fillion (production notes)
a core of him remains the same, still concerned with image and legacy, and possibly still... "unable to see people for what they're really worth", as what's described as his fatal flaw in the monsters university days. i've been trying to wrap my head around what it means to say that exactly, as clearly, he can see through people well enough to manipulate anyone well enough, to even pick at their spceific weak spots and see why they may be useful to him, all to exploit that as he pleases... maybe tylor and randall are just particularly easy marks for him, or maybe that is the point of it all. i have to wonder if it's because he sees most people — not just tylor as part of the plan — in terms of what they can do for him, and how they and the relationships he forms can be used to help further his own goals and agenda, since... he's sort of been doing that for a long time now. business as usual, you could say. a very transactional measurement of worth, always looking out for the best of the best, but it leading to still missing key features in people's MO as he's still biased in his own certain ways. and to be fair... that is sort of how relationships work in general. we're both here because we get something out of it, even if it's for something as simple as companionship... yet i can imagine it as being a lot more mechanical, calculated, and in focus for someone like johnny, when he's never not playing 5D chess. he may act friendly with everyone, but i bet there's a degree of distance between the relationships johnny has with his employees and the ones sulley and mike do.
over the course of monsters university, the trait as johnny's fatal flaw — maybe improved upon over the years, maybe not — plays into his downfall, as another theme of the movie (as well as carried on into monsters at work) is about seeing people's hidden strengths beyond what they appear — and so he completely underestimates mike and his team. in monsters at work, i get the feeling they're playing with that again on purpose, a testament to how he hasn't really changed, by still falling victim to the same motivations as before.
as self serving as it seems... throughout the season, we do get to see through his company and characters like rosie how it's not just him grappling with these changing times, but a lot of people — and that's why a very similar thing is reflected in tylor, who is dealing with the same situation! tylor has graduated college, expecting to go down the path of scaring, only for the rug to be torn out from underneath of him. ("what happens when things don't work out, and what we thought we were going to do or who we were going to be changes, and we end up in a totally different place?") tylor is face to face with changing times, threatening to completely upheave what he knows, forcing him into and to consider situations he isn't sure he's meant for, and he's struggling to adjust to the path and new world around him... and when johnny is already on his way to push back against that narrative, that's why his story gets intertwined with tylor's — they're in a similar predicament, and that's also why he reminds him of himself, playing into the "you can't escape who you are, so embrace it" angle (something i bet he really does believe when it's his father who told it to him) all while narratively, everything in the season plays with the motifs that both movies have explored. ("what happens when the door you're heading towards unexpectedly slams shut?" and "what happens when a new door opens?") and yet... we know tylor's here to be manipulated, and has been picked out from the start. tylor's worth to him in all of that is (primarily) measured by that role, where in the heat of the moment, he even says himself the only thing he can see tylor being good for is a pawn on his chessboard... and i think it's (part of) why it looks like johnny is written a little "stupid" in the finale episodes, in that they're trying to play with this weakness of his. johnny overestimates everything he's done to tylor, through severing all those ties, appealing to his own ego, giving him a reason to come crawling back to him and him only... he thinks he's got tylor fully hooked and already reeled in, and maybe for anyone else, that plan would've worked out flawlessly, but... tylor is our ProtagonistTM. he doesn't understand what tylor would even have left to his name, how his moral code may be shaken awake in scaring a kid he knows, how his friendships could prevail despite it all... all of these things that make tylor ultimately still sympathetic and able to turn things back around, even when he's fallen so hard for johnny's bait and in such an awful situation. johnny may be good at this game, but he's not an expert, and he still doesn't fully see tylor, only what he picks out in him, what's useful to him... and how much does that extend to everything else in his life?
as the head of fearco., of course johnny is still stuck in that old mindset and fear of failure when he's got even more at stake — he's always trying to stay one step ahead, using his position to keep control of what he's afraid of and manipulating the people around him and their circumstances. in a lot of ways, johnny is a bit different now, but we know that he never really went down a path of acceptance, to start to let go of the fear he has, so he's the same old johnny at heart, even if under a slightly different cover... and what better to lead him down the path he's on?
(compare all of this to sulley, who, in contrast, feels like he's moreso capitalizing off of his family name, rather than it really being what's at stake for him... and in his situation, who is able to move past the crushing idea of having to live up to what came before him, to be more true to himself, and to help embrace the new path forward, not only in terms of efficiency for his own people, but for everyone, as he embraces the laugh power and monsters, inc.'s new CEO...!)
Monsters University freshman RANDY BOGGS has big aspirations for college life. The peculiar lizard-like monster with his host of gangly arms and legs plans to major in Scaring and lead an active social life filled with fun, friends and fraternity parties. “He’s not the Randall that we know from ‘Monsters, Inc.,’” says Steve Buscemi, who once again provides the voice of the iconic character. “He’s a little insecure and he wants to fit in, so he works toward pledging the coolest fraternity.” Story supervisor Kelsey Mann says he thinks audiences will be surprised to see Randall’s humble beginnings. “He’s super happy and positive. And, just like Mike, he’s always dreamed of becoming a Scarer.” He certainly seeks inspiration. One of Randall’s most memorable lines from “Monsters, Inc.” finds its way into the prequel. Hanging above Randy’s bed is an inspirational poster that reads “Winds of Change.” Audiences will get the inside scoop on just what sparks Randy’s competitive spirit—but the future top Scarer at Monsters, Inc. will first need to get his embarrassing disappearing habit under control, because Randy’s not sure how he’ll ever be a great Scarer if nobody can see him. (production notes)
"In Monsters, Inc. Randall has a real problem with Sulley and being second-best to him. So we thought, let’s see that happen for the first time in this movie, in a big public event. That’s why we have Sulley and Randy go head-to-head in the final competition." (art book)
as of now, randall doesn't actually have as much screentime as johnny does to talk about — although, his time may very well be coming soon! even with the amount he does have, i think randall also shines especially well in his response to failure.
in the midst of humble beginnings, randall "randy" boggs is a sweet guy, although a bit naïve on top of being timid and insecure as someone who hasn't really figured out his place in life. at the bottom of the food chain, he wants to fit in and get in with the cool, popular crowd, the people who have already had it made.
by the last half of monsters university, randy's finally gotten what he's wanted — he's in with the "cool kids", he's getting attention and recognition as they push through ahead with his dream team in the scare games... until his match-up with sulley, where he accidentally messes up randy's camouflage and therefore his scare attempt, which ultimately ends up getting him kicked out of RΩR. we see earlier in the movie how embarrassment is something he wants to avoid ("if i do that in scaring class, i'll be a joke!" and "whoops! that could've been embarrassing...") so to top it all off, it's also in an utterly humiliating, public moment. not only is this is randy's big taste of failure, but he also gets something very important taken from him, severing that chance, those connections, everything he was aiming for by no fault of his own... and what he's left with is a grudge, where in his own inability to accept and move on from the event, it digs its claws in deep. he may say that'll be the last time he'll ever lose to sulley, but we know randall goes on to lose to him over and over and over again — and it ruins him!
by the time of in monsters, inc. randy has continued down the path he was already on the way to, molding himself into a completely petty, spiteful and arrogant jerk. as randall, he's a loner who runs hot and cold, where he's got that sleazy underhanded smugness, but is also incredibly tempermental and becomes hot-headed and irritated on a dime, especially when he lets his ego get the best of him... he's got a no-nonsense tolerance for stupidity, but still finds time to be snarky and play it up every once in a while. he's grown the confidence he wished he could've had before, and now he's the one bossing the nerds (fungus) around. with an unrelenting and ambitious ruthlessness to him, randall is one lizard who never learned his lesson. he's still trying to climb to the top, not only to beat sulley, but to have him beneath him... all over something that happened so long ago!
when it comes to randall's motivations, and between him and sulley, there's a bit of a "chicken or the egg" situation in monsters, inc. where you wonder if the personal aspect of despising what sulley has done (and in his eyes is continuing to) to him and wanting to put him in his place once and for all or the desire to be #1 is more important, but they're pretty much intertwined... with a lean in the personal direction, in my opinion.
at the end of the scare games, it's only sulley who messes everything up for him, and he decides that he'll never lose to him ever again — not just in general, but specifically to sulley, and that's something he keeps with him for a very, very long time. throughout monsters, inc., there's definitely a very personal way he goes about his competitiveness and interacting with him, where he won't so much as offer him a friendly handshake. when he talks to mike about revolutionizing the scaring industry, he even singles out how it'll finally make sullivan beneath him, and when he gets banished — kicked out, you could say! — he states that's what he deserves, anyway... for what, exactly? when waternoose tells him how sulley, the guy he treats like a son, is twice the scarer he'll ever be, you can tell that really gets to him. even the way he talks about him is very off-topic ("you stupid, pathetic waste!"), and after all... "you still think this is about that stupid scare record?"
to be fair, though, the goal of his from the beginning was to cruise with the popular crowd, so clearly that's a big factor in everything, but what we see just makes you think that he wouldn't be nearly as crazy about everything if it wasn't james p. sullivan on top, always being second best to him, the guy who ruined everything for him in the first place. he's clearly a man of grudges and petty revenge... and yet, if it's just attention or achievement he wants, he's already crazy high on the scoreboards which isn't a bad spot to be in at all! he's still excelling in his field (i do wonder if his awful personality gets in the way of attention) and yet that isn't enough, he's never satisfied even when he would be getting the very thing he wants, because it's sulley he has to take down once and for all in order to prove he's the best... and he loses, and he loses, and he loses.
especially with everything that happens in monsters, inc., it's no surprise to anyone that randall is back in the way he is for monsters at work, even more hellbent on getting revenge against mike and sulley, except this time with the connection that had been lost to him before... and who knows how everything will turn out next time?
(mike is an ambitious over-achiever from the start, and yet, even as stubborn as he is, he eventually realizes the worth in his true callings and is able to start a new journey. on the other hand, randall's persistance paints him as someone who never learned when to quit... even for his own good.)
for both of these characters, the message is clear: "It’s what you do when you hit a closed door—it’s what you do when your dream is shattered that really formulates who you are." to not face the reality of everything... look at where it's left them.
as we can see, it's in mike and sulley's ability to humble themselves after everything and to eventually accept, learn from, and move on from the failure they go through even when it changes the trajectory of the journey they're on, that they find their strengths by the end of monsters university, leaving the doors open for new paths ahead of them... and when we see them again, johnny and randall are still caught up in long unresolved hang-ups and shortcomings and stuck with old problems/habits that never really went away in the first place. as long as they persistently hold onto the past (in randall's case) and in maintaining control over what they fear losing the most, unable to move on in a different way (in johnny's case), it's these kinds of things that prevent them from growing and from facing the reality of everything, as they only go on to become the bad people they are today... all that is what drives them as antagonists — their reaction is anti-thetical to the story's themes and messages.
and now that we know the characters and their deal, what about how their stories intertwine with one another's...?
dynamic in university
before we get into my thoughts about johnny and randall in the present, let's go back to the start again, to the time spent together at university. (with the days between the scare game events that we see, under the assumption that most of them were spaced at least a bit evenly, i like to think randy was in RΩR for about a month... give or a take a week or so.)
"stay outta trouble, wild man."
we never get to see how johnny became how he is, but it's not too hard to figure out how it happened. on the other hand, we get to know firsthand how randy transforms, and the moment we first meet him actually says a lot! when randy accidentally uses his camouflage ability in front of mike, we can see that he's uncertain and self conscious about it until mike tells him what he thinks, commenting on how he could pull it off if only he didn't have the glasses to give it away. and even with something as small as that interaction, the guy just... stops wearing his glasses altogether, even though he (clearly) needs them to see! of course, this is a fun retcon explanation of why randall is always squinting as he does (along with all the other ways the dialouge here is ironic considering what later becomes of him) but it's also something that almost immediately gives off the sense of him as a young, impressionable guy who's easily influenced by other people... it's just kind of funny to think about how he'd willingly make life harder on himself on the evaluation of someone he just met, if it means he can pull off a neat trick of all things, isn't it? and it makes sense as we learn about how he wants to get in with the popular crowd, the "cool" kids, in the chance of finally being accepted and recognized, to get the attention and power he's never really had, and to get a sense of being seen in an active and fun social life.
we see randy go from someone who always faded into the background, a bit nervous about being invisible, and after a shift of perspective... now he's adapting to and changing himself to blend in to what's around him, and in order to cover up what he once was in the process, randy sheds his former skin. (he's not beating the lizard boy allegations, i'll tell you that.)
everything leads to him falling in with the wrong crowd, and as he's welcomed into RΩR, he begins to pick up on the sort of attitude and behavior he feels he needs to "fit in" — he turns on his friend mike, he joins in on the cruel pranks they pull, and his mindset starts to change...!
The ROAR OMEGA ROAR fraternity is made up of the best of the best. They’re the smartest, most skilled, scariest monsters at Monsters University, and come from families with a long, proud history of Scaring. While the RΩRs may be preppy in dress, they are ferocious in action and downright ruthless if necessary. Self-declared as the most elite house on campus, the RΩRs are lead by Johnny Worthington who presides over the house like an all-powerful monarch. Eager to continue their Scare Games winning streak, the RΩRs will do whatever it takes
to stay on top. (production notes)
the fact that johnny let him into RΩR at all is fascinating/a little wild, cus he's still got that nervous, nerdy disposition at the start, and it feels as if he absolutely doesn't have the attitude to fit in with them especially when johnny is all about appearances... so i have to wonder what happened to land him in this position in the first place! (and i'll be honest — what we actually see of them in the movie and in general isn't really all that interesting, since a lot of it is either off-screen or the plot is busy covering other, more important stuff in its runtime rather than giving them much of a chance to shine... but that's why we're here right now, to speculate on that dynamic. and because i'm insane!) (it's also not something we're even supposed to think about too hard, but when do i let THAT stop me?)
the question here is definitely about what he can get out of having someone like randy on the team, in what he can use him for, and in a way, it sort of has the same energy as getting asked out as a joke... i can imagine the rest of the RΩRs were pretty skeptical at first, so for johnny to reassure them he knows what he's doing is fun to think about, although... i'd also expect some backhanded comments comparing him to sulley in his time there — a little salt in the wound for later. given how it's randy's ability to "camouflage" that got him into all of these situations, good and bad, i like to think he accidentally managed to scare johnny with it at some point, and while randy's response was to panic because he just bumped into Johnny Worthington III... it's still something that does catch his attention and he thinks it's a cute enough trick. outside of being a little one-trick wonder for them, i could also imagine he noticed randy's association with mike and purposefully had an eye on him for that reason, in a similar fashion to how johnny plays with tylor's relationships in monsters at work, where he picks tylor specifically to turn him against val in the softball game and put another bad mark on their relationship status ("y'know, i sorta had trouble figuring out which team you were REALLY playing for...") and all that... even the fact that randy is willing to switch sides on a dime at the offer (something that tylor certainly takes a while on) is all johnny needs to hear. with the scare games coming up, and having just lost sulley on the team, i can also imagine he might be a little desperate...
after all, randy is a pretty rounded guy — he's still doing well academically, while he also isn't as much of a stick in the mud as mike is, yet we see he's already got the potential to be scary in utilizing his camouflage, and... he's also easy to manipulate, eager and even desperate to do anything if it means he gains the approval of someone like johnny...!
and johnny is playful in such an alluring way, and even if other characters like mike can very clearly see the fakeness in johnny's demeanor, he's outwardly "kind" enough for a naïve randy to truly mistake it as all genuine, and can't help but to be easily drawn in by johnny's charm. i can imagine him getting kind of teased in there without even realizing it but johnny a bit facetiously getting others to back off a bit, which leaves an impression on him... on the outside, it kinda looks like johnny's taking him under his wing, but for the most part... it's more like johnny playing with his prey. a test run on using people as he does nowadays. a little pet... of course, all of this to randy? to not only be noticed, but also picked out of everyone else by someone like johnny worthington...? what a sweet taste of validation. no one like johnny has ever recognized or noticed him, and to seriously give him a chance. maybe he wasn't as socially awkward or as much of a loser as he thought he was! randy genuinely wants to impress johnny, to hold the attention he gets from him, to feel like he's accepted and truly part of the crew, and even be... friends...?
i want him to be fascinated with johnny, to idolize him, of the symbol of what he stands for, of what he has to teach him and of what randy has to learn from everything. after all, johnny's always been everything randall wishes he could be, both past and present — johnny is confident (as he compliments mike on), suave, and talented, already set-up at home and in his future career paths, he's got power and endless attention/validation and all that through his popularity... truly, he's the "coolest" of the "cool" kids.
and if this is what he wants, with johnny included in the mix... i want to highlight that, to carry it on and see how it'll change in the present time. in this way, you kind of concentrate a dynamic and person into symbolizing a desire, and warp it into something else, which inherently makes it a little... dangerous to chase. and i feel like it's something that makes a lot of sense of what could exist off-screen, y'know?
(in designing my gijinkas for these guys, i give johnny a classic slick-backed hairstyle, only for randall's monsters, inc., design to mimic it along with a popped collar for himself — a carrying over of that inspiration in a subtle way, where you might not even notice unless you put them side by side. i see a lot of people design randall as a bit more formally-uptight, but in my opinion the vibe he gives off is definitely a "corporate sleazy wannabe cool-guy" rather than just "office worker")
even with as brief of a time as he's with the RΩRs, i love thinking of what he must've picked up from it all... in order to stick around, he's got to play johnny's game by johnny's rules, lest the idea of getting kicked off hovers over his head damocles-style. to start as a baseline for his personality shift, all then compounded with his growing cynical bitterness and with his grudge piling on itself over the years. he seems pretty straight-laced when we meet him, after all — the guy starts out trying to get in with the crowd by making them cupcakes of all things, which may be very cute, but it seems a little off of the target demographic he's aiming for... and it's fun thinking of them engaging in a lot more rowdy and mature of things than he's used to (congrats to randy on the first underage drinking experience) since he's also the freshman to a lot of their seniors. even when he is finally in with them, a lot of his body language throughout the movie is still very nervous/to himself, so it's fun to imagine him trying despite that to imitate their behavior and join in on the chaos... to give him a little bit of experience. (honestly, he's so susceptible to peer pressure at this point he might as well be on an ad campaign talking about it...)
i've also played around with the idea of randy being offered to rejoin RΩR after sulley turns down johnny at the end of the movie, because i absolutely would love for him to have more time in there, but i think the idea actually takes away from the impact of things a Lot... the point of things here is that randall feels personally victimized by having something taken away from him, as if he's truly LOST everything here, by no fault of his own... since, at this point in time, johnny is also a lot more shallow in his judgements, so i feel like randall's place in humiliating them and in being the "weak link" of the team means i find it hard to believe that johnny would ever let him back in, but, as i said... i've still played around with an avenue for it anyway. i can imagine he got teased for the incident for a long time, and bringing it up in present day would REALLY hit a nerve...
and by the end of things, he's under the impression that johnny genuinely thought he was on the same level as everyone else, and how it's sulley's fault — all from one little slip up — that his dreams were ripped from him... and maybe, that randy and johnny were even... friends...!
dynamic in monsters at work
i'll start off this part of the essay by saying i don't really enjoy how they've written randall in monsters at work so far. there's a certain balance of his character that feels off to me. and they do sort of accomplish the energy he has (the voice is also really throwing me off) but they also really play up his general snarky attitude/mischievousness in a way that's written really... lame. it's not good! i think he'll need to have more screentime to really say for sure how well they've done him overall, and as usual, the fault is more in the execution of the ideas rather than in the ideas themselves. the actual building blocks they've given me are very interesting, as we'll see, and i really hope the writers step up their game again and know what they're doing with him if they give us another season... on the other hand, i think how they've written johnny is nearly perfect, as i feel like it's a very logical continuation of his character, and the way they ramp up his subtle manipulation is excellent. there's so much to him that looks completely normal on the surface, and is enough to effortlessly fool the viewer if they're not paying attention, but is all apart of the long game and absolutely woven in there tightly if you're looking close enough. and when johnny's character has circled around so well into utilizing the original unresolved motivations he had in mind from the start — of wanting to maintain the legacy before him — personally, i feel like it's only fair for randall's character to do the same in a new, twisted way, as neither of them continue to learn their lessons... and if you're gonna pair them up again, how the past affects them now is an utterly unavoidable topic, so i'm going to LoseTM my mind if johnny's relationship and influence on him never comes up again in a future randall storyline.
even so, i think we can all agree that the way johnny and randall meet up was completely fumbled, and it's something i would adjust and change to be completely different if i could. sulley and mike were able to find their way out of banishment just fine, and randall could easily do the same by finding another door eventually. (i've heard someone suggest that johnny was just happening to be scaring at the time and randall is interpretating it as johnny outright coming to save him, and as much as i love that sort of thinking for randall, as we'll see, i still think that's a bit too unclear and coincidental...) i have no idea of a better alternative at the moment of writing this, though. EDIT: i do like this as a starting point!
all that aside, what is actually going on in their relationship here, anyway?!
we're going to have to wait and see, but i can imagine a world in which the writers take a route of randall having planned to backstab johnny in some way, and i feel like something like that is... predictable. maybe he's secretly wanting to get back at johnny for underestimating him. maybe his tendency to go so far he loses track of the whole point of it all has him lean even further into the desire to be #1 and eventually wants someone like johnny beneath him too, under his control. maybe there's an echo of competitiveness, where mike and sulley lift each other up, johnny and randall end up tearing each other down. i don't know! and yet, the way this all of this plays out, with johnny now in jail, doesn't really leave any room for anything like this to actually go and happen in front of us at least...
and really, it all depends on what randall's goal even is at this point — as i've talked about in the past sections, i get the feeling how in his case it may actually be more about the personal grudge and response to those who've wronged him, and the following desire to put them in their place once and for all. especially after monsters, inc., he's very much honing in on the revenge angle before anything else and will be especially going forward, which, at this point... could use some spice to it, y'know? (<- scared)
i also can't buy the idea that they would secretly hate each other, and especially not outwardly so. i think it's only natural for them to get on each other's nerves a bit as part of the dynamic, even if just through their natural clash of methods and attitudes — randall's got an awful temper, so he'll be complaining no matter who he's with, but johnny is also incredibly good at maintaining his cool as he wants to keep people wrapped around his finger... still, if sulley mike fight like an old married couple, they should too. i think part of the fun in them together is how randall is usually the straight man in a lot of his other dynamics, such as with mike or even fungus, but when paired up again with johnny he's got a great opportunity to be the one reeled back in, which we don't usually get to play with... and so they complement each other in a fun way. short fuse vs almost unshakable demeanor, openly hostile vs openly friendly, defensive, fragile ego vs genuine confidence...
we've also got a final question here in terms of "using" one another, and what they have right now is a mutually beneficial situation — an already established "you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours" deal. johnny's clearly looking for a good asset in randall, which is enough for him to consider a team up, and randall is looking for a good way to get revenge on monsters, inc., so working in johnny's overarching scheme is great on that. so in a way, of course they're "using" each other! (it's also fun to think about how they must really enable each other to not be able to really grow past their issues and into better people, very unlike what mike and sulley's friendship does for them, as the goal of everything is both of their hangups intertwined as they're stuck chasing the past... if the storyline goes on, it's only going to be more of randall refusing to let go)
okay, okay, okay — so if randall wasn't planning to backstab him for any reason, and they don't secretly hate each other, and they really did just happen to be working together in the awareness of a mutually beneficial relationship, then...
we have a guy who believes johnny went out of his way to save him (with the fact that he apparently cares enough to help him out at all being notable in itself) and now they've been working together since he "owes him one" (a doubtfully binding contract for mister randall boggs, I Know What You Are). randall is written as extra mischievous, even to the point of being kind of juvenile about it... and to top it all off, he thinks him and johnny were friends in college, actively referencing that period in their lives. joined at the hip. besties. when all of this is coming from a guy who's held a grudge for the past 20 years over the incident that severed the connection they had in the first place, and when we take the rest of the concepts i've been building up to for the entire post, doesn't it all just scream a regressive denial of the past?! if the whole "besties" thing isn't just a weird side-effect of bad writing (and really, i would like to trust the writers here...) i feel like there's a perfect avenue here???
i wouldn't be surprised if any of this was how they went about it, and we know what his main focus is at the end of the day, but it's the idea of randall genuinely still wanting johnny's praise and approval, companionship, and to be his little henchman again in this era that appeals to me the most to play around with.
think about how much value must be placed on what happened at the scare games for it to domino effect so hard into what he is now, after all this time! and its just so... wonderfully naïve of him. randall, who's a cynic, now jaded beyond recognition of what he once was and practically a different person these days, a loner and an asshole with no real connections anymore... who still can't resist the craving of a connection, and deep inside it all, still has a piece of what randy wanted in his heart... all through his boss, johnny — in part the starring idol symbolization of past aspirations, something he's lost but has now reclaimed, the only person who could ever hope to understand him, all wrapped up into someone deviously charming as he is... isn't that compelling? an opportunity like this, where he can work together with johnny worthington and also get his revenge on monsters, inc. at the same time... it's all coming up RANDALL! i want to take his character, put him in a container, shake him around, and tell him You Are Not Immune To Very Real Human Emotions regardless of how self aware he is about it. it kind of takes things back around in a satisfying way for me, where despite how much they've changed, they fall back into a similar, yet different dynamic, in which old habits die hard. i think it'd be so interesting to really play it up!
despite the mutual awareness of the relationship, there's still a very recurring imbalance here as there was before, where johnny's his boss, and randall is the henchman... and if randy really does still think they're friends above all else, and the part of him despising being second-best is still relevant in a general sense, that opens up a lot of fun perception-shattering paths...
my favorite tidbit about the two is how they address each other — johnny is on a first-name basis with nearly everyone, as it's apart of his own personal brand of manipulation in his openly friendly and casual demeanor to open up a sense of familiarity, in order to keep other people's guards down. on the other hand, randall calls people by their last names, usually dripping with scorn while he's at it (fungus, sullivan, wazowski...) and yet, with each other... it's the complete opposite. we only ever see johnny refer to him as "boggs", again, despite even his other employees being first-named, and randall calls him a more familiar and respectful "johnny" in return, despite him being his boss, which is... an absolutely insane detail that i hope stays intact, because what the fuck. when johnny is as calculated as he is about stuff like this, very purposefully insisting on that first-name basis, to call randall of all people "boggs"... i like to compare it to how one might withhold a kiss from someone nonverbally asking for it. a little ah ah ah. despite how close they may get otherwise, it's a tool of leverage, a way of keeping him at arms length all the same... he knows randall wants something like that, but he doesn't let him have it. (although, i'm thinking about the idea of him on a very special occasion calling him Randall, maybe even a Randy to butter him up/get something from him/keep him from doing something impulsive because it really gets at his attention...)
and i think that kind of sets the scene for how i imagine randall is more invested in this than he is, as he always has been... randall truly addresses him like a friend after the introduction, referencing the past in a pretty notable way, and yet johnny sticks to the formality...?
you still got it, boggs!
even so, i also want to avoid the bit of overlap with chet's situation, who still feels completely unacknowledged by johnny. i've always thought it was a bit weird that johnny's front isn't extended to chet, so i have to wonder if he's always been a bit of a subtle punching bag, an outlet for annoyance, since he knows — or rather, thinks — that after all of this time, chet won't stand up for himself or leave no matter what he does, even when he doesn't really care for him all that much. and i don't think that extends to randall at all... with how johnny responds to him going up to jumpscare tylor, where he shoves chet off of him and then immediately goes to play it up and throw a bit of praise in randall's way... i can imagine he gets a bit of special treatment! even the loyal chet wouldn't get to drink afterhours with johnny in his stupid mancave. (imagine the jealousy angle they could've played up here... maybe even with tylor and randall too? he'd fucking HATE tylor's ass...)
i have to admit, i am a little too obsessed with the idea i proposed earlier of randall as being like johnny's little "pet" and enjoying it as such. after all, they must've been working together for quite a while now, and randall would honestly be REALLY good at being the evil cat on the villain's lap... he should put that on his resume or something, because he's gonna do such a good job at being johnny's henchman, something both normal to want and possible to achieve. curling up to him for attention and praise, and johnny keeping him close as company on top of it as someone he can really let everything in on... like a confidante of sorts. a best friend. a... silly little lizard. (randall is this comic to me)
while i do keep getting a bit mad at the writing for him in the show, it's also kind of hilarious how petty and juvenile the stunts randall pulls are, even if i don't think he's nearly as sly as he should be. in monsters, inc., he absolutely is a little impish, as well as insanely petty... but is overall still trying to keep on the down-low and be cautious about everything, openly scolding fungus the whole movie. and yet, i do genuinely adore the idea of him being more excitable, unhinged, and mischievous when he's working with johnny, sort of bringing him back around to those glory days, chasing old highs... even getting kind of playful, which is another side of him we don't really get to use very often. maybe even... a bit happy for once in his life? C'mon, Johnny, it'll be just like we used to!
i can imagine him wanting johnny to see him in a new light and validate what he's become once and for all, as if to say, Look at me, Johnny — I've gotten rid of my ooey-gooey interior just like you wanted! You'll take me back now, right? he's not that same nervous young guy from before, still in the process of leaving his old pink-and-white polka-dotted hearts self behind... now he's a capable and underhanded perfect henchman for the job, now he's off the rails, and he's still got something to prove all over again, since... apparently, his ego's not as rock-solidly immovable as he thinks it is. in fact, in comparison to johnny, his ego is pretty fragile and he can get very sensitive and defensive at times... an echo of not truly having ditched that early insecurity. so when things like praise and bribery are tools in johnny's toolkit, i can imagine him being effective in sort of taming randall at times, calming him down... after all, wouldn't that make it all worth it? deep down, the idea of for real private attention and praise??? from johnny worthington????? now finally being able to appreciate his efforts again, to forgive him and accept him back? the college boy buried inside of him is very satisfied with this situation, to say the least. he finally feels more on johnny's level, less like an apprentice in training, he's got the experience of his own... and that leaves him wide open for johnny to have him wrapped around his finger all over again. (i love a villain who earnestly thinks they've gotten rid of feelings like that, casting aside vulnerability, but in reality there's still a part of them who really hasn't)
and johnny is, in fact, impressed in how he's changed, even if he thinks he could be a little more subtle in his methods. (i can imagine that's something they'd bicker over, of randall bringing back his spoils of victory but johnny wanting him to play it safe... even though, hey, he never gets caught, does he?!)
i really do think it's fun for him to be entertained/amused by having randall around, especially in a world where he's got to keep things a secret from most people in his life and keep things up on friendly terms first and foremost... randall gets to see a side of him that no one else gets to see — not even his family! sure, it was a lot easier back when randall was mild and eager to please, but, in a way, someone who could really bite back brings a bit of excitement to it all... who can tease him in return... y'know, i bet that's part of what makes johnny like claire, except with randall he can still always knock him down a peg if he needs to... and i'll get back to that in a second. the weird fondness that can arise from that shared company, that only they in this position can really have, the lines between being under his thumb and genuine compansionship blurring... is so good to me. even with how convoluted the plan was, they're a real power couple at the end of the day!
in a way, johnny needs randall more than randall needs johnny when it comes to accomplishing what they want... and outside of that is another story. if you think about it, johnny is a LOT more intertwined in randall's arc than randall is in johnny's, when during the recap of things, it was always a lot more about randall's side of it all. johnny could still easily move onto new endeavors, where everything that happened to randall involving RΩR has kind of changed the whole trajectory of his life. johnny could've not even met randall and probably would end up in a similar position as he is...
since, unfortunately... we do have all that about johnny's "fatal flaw". when johnny is the person he is, when randall is the person he is, there's always going to be something off here.
what johnny's looking for is a capable asset, and randall pulls through in that — he's a good henchman at the end of the day, as long as he's a good henchman at the end of the day. johnny's a star figure in randall's past, but randall's shoes could still be filled by anyone else who could do the job better. i do think there's something very transactional about how he goes about the given relationships we see, where he often places a value on people through what they can do for him and how he can use and manipulate them... and that very likely extends to randall, where he is definitely more invested in the personal aspects of it all than johnny is. i can imagine them both underestimating each other, where randall thinks he's capable of turning the tides at any right chance when all's said and done if he wants to (maybe even thinks he's gone a bit soft!) and johnny especially knows he calls the shots around here, with there still always being ways he sees him as the same young and impressionable guy as before...
after all, if randall were to get a redemption arc, he'd have to let go of his grudges, and let go of johnny and what he symbolizes for good... maybe even having tylor confront him and break it to randall that johnny doesn't — and never has — cared about him in the way he wants him to. there's a lot of ways they could still maybe play with that even without johnny actually in the picture, even though imagining otherwise is interesting, and i wish i got more time actually spent with them because if left to my own devices this is what starts happening to me...!
check out how johnny looks at randall when shows up though ⬇️
the claire affair
alright, just for fun and to close everything all off... you probably knew it was coming, but the idea of a sort of weird gay thing going on and/or affair situation between johnny and randall here is pretty funny. not as funny as tylor and johnny, and of course is not something that lasts, but what else do you think i was leading up to present here?
i do think that johnny loves claire, but you kind of have to speculate about them a little bit, y'know? in a narrative sense, i think he's married and has a family and all that in part to make him look better, as if to point at him and say, Look at this guy with his loving wife, maybe he really has changed if he's found someone he loves and she loves him back! Look! They've got a nice little family together! and yet, they do feel a bit thrown in there at random, and i hope claire has a presence at all next season, where we get to see how she reacts to and deals with everything, cus they're going to have to cover what happens to FearCo... or, i would hope so, anyway. (😳)
when it comes to johnny and claire, i like to think with johnny's way of interacting with the world, after everything, it's an attempt for him to be more in tune with these things and really, genuinely try (although maybe not even consciously) to be more Normal about it all... his vices slip through on occasion, but it is just enjoyment of companionship while he's navigating struggling with being genuine and letting walls down and all that, at least part of an attempt at being a better person in all those years of life going on as usual... and yet, when he's always keeping everyone at a distance, there's still just something kind of... intangibly missing in the end? even claire can't really place it, because in the end, everything really is normal enough to not think about it too hard at least. i can imagine he fell for her over the years, maybe after meeting again after college, they got hitched, and even though the honeymoon years were fun, in current times it's almost sort of going through the motions, in a way, for both of them, really. We don't need to think about it too hard, this is what we do, we are a Married Couple, we have a Normal life, i'm satisfied, aren't you satisfied, Claire? We get along, and we like each other, and its Good 👍 its Okay 👍 We are a Normal Family. (and if everything's a secret to them too, no doubt he still puts up a performance with them...)
and yet, she's got her kids at work and is always seen as a unit with them, and johnny's always busy, they're both always pretty busy, so who knows how much is delegated to her while he's also off scheming with randall in his little mancave or trying to win tylor over? i know i mentioned earlier that johnny is usually on a first name basis with people, and it seems to be a pretty intentional little detail that sticks out like a sore thumb with randall... and yet, we never actually see him call her by only her first name, either. the most we get out of him is "claire worthington", last name attached, and in public, it's always "mrs. worthington" even when he's just... chasing after her to go and talk to her like a normal person??? you would think his wife of all people would get a first name pass at least once, so it almost feels like an active reminder of how he's a Married Man under His Name...
and i think there's a very hilarious and potent concept in the fact that claire and randall are both snarky as hell, even having a very similar vocal inflection as their casual speaking voice, just a little drawn out... as well as her character being taken to utilize in monsters university led to her being described as "something of an achiever" herself. so considering what i said about someone who could bite back and tease him in return... i think the second you cross over into "reminds me of traits of my wife" territory with a new, exciting spin to take you away from it all, it's like... Over.
trying to figure out how something like that would spark and who initiated it is also interesting, and my bets are on randall. it was johnny who was sort of guiding him around in the college days, but randall, who's got reason to be a lot more invested in this, being the one to tempt him into that reflects in an interesting way with how they've changed... and i think it would be funny if it actually took a bit for randall to get him to crack, for him to even feel Guilty about it as a pinnacle of self control, but... all of this is already such a secret, and randall's already his little secret in more ways than one, so what's one more if no one finds out?
that's how he plays, isn't it...?
anyway they suck blowing them up forever and so on and so forth
#talk#movies#disney#monsters at work#randall boggs#monsters inc#SOMETHING CAME OVER ME OKAY#i'm probably gonna edit this later too for some alternative interpretations and like what else could be done with them in another world#i wanna do an analysis of how they write johnny's manipulation throughout the season because it's really well crafted and i love it#i gotta go and finish all my other shit though i've been slacking on having anything at all organized#back to the shuro essay...#actually i gotta like clean up everything around me first
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i think you needed me.
— pairing: billy hargrove x fem!reader
— type: ficlet (part of a series)
— summary: billy helps you with homework, you realize you have a crush, & yet another man enters the fold
— tags: billy trying to learn more about you, billy opening up about who he used to be
— tw: references to past sexual abuse/grooming of a minor, mentions of drugs, infidelity, implied abortion
— word count: 4,458
— a/n: going forward, this fic will be dealing in heavy material, like those referenced in the tw & more. sex scenes will be graphic & potentially triggering to some readers. putting it out there now, so some know to stop before following along any further with this post/series.
i hope this post seems okay. idk how i feel about writing billy this way. it feels ooc, bc he's so nice & mature, but he's supposed to be for this story, bc that's the kind of man reader desperately needs to lean on. idk. i think i just need to get more comfortable with characterizing him so differently than i did in my thoroughfare series.
When Billy enters the house, he finds you to his left in the living room. Or, what is now serving as a poor excuse for one. You’re on the floor, lying on your stomach atop a light blue blanket, legs in the air behind you, waving back and forth as you work on what he assumes is homework.
You glance up to him for a moment, a pencil balanced atop your upper lip which is in a pout to keep it in-place and he smirks at the sight.
He holds up a plastic bag from a hardware store. “Brought you a new doorknob.”
You drop the writing utensil. “Does that one have a lock, too?”
“It does.”
You turn back to the textbook in front of you. “Good. Now you can replace the other one that you broke.”
His lip twitches. “Yes, ma’am.”
You roll your eyes. “Don’t call me that.”
He repeats the statement yet again before heading up.
A handful of minutes later, he comes back downstairs, seating himself on the cushion-less couch. “Done.”
You look back at him over your shoulder.
He lays an arm across the back of the couch. “What? Do you want to inspect my handiwork?”
You go back to your homework. “Not really. And you’re not getting paid, either.”
He chuckles. “I’d say that’s only fair, since it needing to be replaced at all is my fault to begin with.”
Both of you grow silent then and he leans forward, squinting, trying to get a look at whatever you’re working on. “Number four is wrong.”
He leans back again.
You don’t initially respond, telling yourself that he’s just picking on you. Or that you don’t really care if your decimal is in the wrong place, but you keep glancing back to the question. You sigh loudly then and he smiles in response. “So what’s the right answer, then?”
He shrugs. “You tell me, sweetheart.”
You don’t like him calling you that yet again. Scott is the only one who gets to call you by that term of endearment. Joe had tried it once—twice, maybe—and even if he scared the shit out of you, you made it clear that he could call you by anything else but that. He’d agreed easily, since his cock had just been buried in your warm, wet mouth—close to finishing. His mind was occupied with other things at the time than arguing over meaningless nicknames. He’d given you what you wanted—agreement—and then you’d given him the same: an orgasm, which included swallowing, before his wife came home.
You look at him over your shoulder again. “Don’t ever call me that again. Got it?”
He blinks down at you for a moment, the air in the room shifting as he wonders whether you disliked that specific pet name, or pet names in general. And much more: why? “Sure.” He clears his throat. “It’s four point six seven, by the way. Your decimal is in the wrong place.”
You turn back to your paper, erasing and then correcting. You’d known you had screwed up, but had gotten so frustrated that you’d chosen to eventually move onto the next question.
“I hate math,” you mutter.
He props his other elbow up against the arm of the couch, resting his head against his fist. “It was my favorite subject, actually.”
“Can’t imagine why,” you say, filling in number five, hoping you’ve at least gotten it right. You’re sure Billy will tell you if you haven’t.
“What’s your favorite subject? You like to read, so I assume English?”
You bob your head from side-to-side for a moment. “It’s a tie between that and science.”
Ironic, he thinks. The daughter of a meth manufacturer who loves science.
Speaking of, you’d spent last night on-edge, wondering what the hell had gone through your head to think sharing such a secret with a complete stranger to be a good idea. If any of the men found out…‘being in trouble’ wouldn’t even begin to cover it.
You didn’t want to think what Joe would do to you if he found out you’d ran your mouth off to some random that wasn’t even from here, and clearly not a customer, either.
You weren’t sure that the prospect of him never getting to use you for his own personal sexual satisfaction again would be enough to save you.
Thankfully, however, the only cruiser that had shown up last night—which had still made your heart jump into your throat when you’d glanced out the screen door as your dad went out and you saw it—was Travis’. He’d just been bringing his weekly earnings by to be divvied up.
As your dad stood there counting; ensuring that everything was in-order, he’d stared at you, eyes trailing along your body.
You’d not reacted. You hardly did anymore. They all liked to look. But only a select few were allowed to touch. And he had. Twice now. Even if he was engaged. Not that being spoken-for seemed to matter much to any of them.
Joe had been married now for twenty-five years. Longer than you’d even been alive. But whenever his wife went off to visit her sister, or was to be gone majority of the day and the urge hit him…
Travis was different than him in bed, though.
Then again, they all had their own personal…styles.
Joe really liked blowjobs and demeaning dirty-talk, or taking you from behind—honestly, so long as he was fucking you in some form, he was pleased.
Travis, in the two times you’d now been together, had been more on the gentle side, almost like he was afraid of hurting you—it often made you wonder if that was how his fiancée liked it.
Rhett—in the one time you had been together a year ago—had been tender. You tried not to think about the way he had looked at you that night too much. Or the way he looked at you literally each time he was around you after. With longing, and something else you didn’t want to think about.
He knew what it had been going into it. It wasn’t your problem if he’d hoped for more. You’d been clear from the start.
Sometimes, though, you still felt guilty, knowing that it hurt him each time you slept with one of the other men, or they shared you between them, touching you right in front of him.
And then there was Scott. With him it was just…familiarity. Your bodies simply understanding one another. Wants, needs—they no longer even needed to be talked about. Once your naked skin was pressed against each other—in bed, against the wall, on the bench seat in his pickup, in his garage—it was almost like routine. A pleasant one. Like an old habit that both of you refused to kick. Not that you had any reason to.
Even if, when you fought, it left both of you fuming for days. But the making up was the good part. So, the thought of cutting things off never occurred to either of you. Not that it would last long if you even tried.
You were the only girl he’d bothered to continue carrying on with for so long.
And he was the only man you allowed to kiss you on the mouth.
That was your only rule with the rest of them: they could do, and have you do whatever they desired, but no kissing on the lips. Period.
And then you think of you breaking that rule just yesterday for someone else. But he’d been asleep, so that instance had been different. Or, that’s what you’d told yourself, at least.
You don’t even know why you had done it. Maybe to have a secret of your very own. A new one, that is. Because this house had been that, until he’d showed up.
And now you were back to pretending to be someone else for yet one more man in your life. No more letting your walls down for a few hours and just being a teenage girl with hopes and dreams—playing pretend—even if they dwindled little-by-little as time went on, and you warmed yet one more man’s bed.
He’d ripped that away from you.
You’re broken from your thoughts by Billy speaking again. “I can check your answers once you’re done. If you want.”
“Okay.”
You glance back to him over your shoulder and he meets your gaze with a raised brow. “Need help?”
You study him for a moment, then, “No.”
You turn back around. You’d just been curious as to where his eyes were currently trained at at-present. Because this moment reminds you of a similar one from three years ago, when you’d been fourteen, lying on your stomach on the living room floor, watching TV—you couldn’t even remember what had been on now.
The thing you could recall, however, was Joe sitting on the couch behind you, watching you with hooded lids. When you had turned back to him—feeling suddenly uneasy—you’d watched as he’d adjusted himself over his jeans, making sure you’d seen.
You’d felt sickly after, and hadn’t understood why.
Out of all of them, he’d always been your least-favorite. You had many reasons for that. Perhaps because he was the worst, even if he thought he was the best.
Once you’ve finished, you stand, coming to sit beside Billy, resting back on your calves as you watch him look over your paper.
You study him for a moment, noticing a bit of oil near his brow, and you lick your thumb, then reach toward him to wipe it away.
He pulls back, staring at you. “What’re you doing?”
You don’t reply. You simply clean him up, resting your palm back against your thigh. You wonder if he likes you touching him.
They usually do.
He stares at you for just a moment longer—you can swear that he blushes—before looking back to your paper. “Nine is wrong. Like, way off, kiddo.”
He hands it back to you.
You snort at the nickname, taking it from him. “What is it, then?”
He crosses his arms. “You tell me.”
This again.
You shrug, standing, bending over to put it back in your backpack—you can feel his eyes on your rear. “I can live with one wrong answer.”
He lays his head back against the couch, rolling his eyes. “The correct answer was B, not D.”
You smirk then, pulling the paper back out, quickly correcting it, then putting it away again.
“Never going to learn if I just keep telling you all the right answers.”
You turn back to him then, shrugging. “I’m used to getting what I want.”
He shakes his head lightly.
You sit down again, back pressed against the couch’s other arm, knees bent, feet pressed together in front of you. You break the silence this time.
“So, you went to Hawkins High, too?”
He nods. “Mhm.”
“What were you like? The way you are now?” It seemed to you that most men never grew out of being boys.
He smirks. “No. I was a completely different person.” He rolls his head to the side, looking at you. “Honestly, and this is just going off of a hunch, but I think you would’ve fuckin’ hated me.”
That surprises you. “Really? Why?”
He shrugs, looking up to the ceiling. “I was King Bad-Boy-Asshole. Smoking, drinking, partying, fighting, getting laid and driving a cool car. Generally acting like I didn’t give a shit about anything. Maybe a bit too concerned with my good looks. I had one hell of an ego, too; easily bruised.”
You try to picture this version of him, and for some reason, find it quite difficult to do. You’re not entirely sure that you believe him. But he seems the honest type.
“You’re right. I would’ve.”
And you would. All the guys could get cocky at times. You were used to such behavior. But when it came down to it, especially in regards to business—in whatever capacity—they all pulled their weight; did what was needed—necessary. They looked out for one another.
He smirks again. “You would’ve definitely been my type, though.”
This statement interests you. You lean in toward him. “How so?”
“Attractive, quiet, mysterious. You don’t seem to care much about what other people think. All around hard-to-get. I loved a good chase. As long as I got to break her in like a wild horse in bed at the end of it all.”
He looks at you then.
He’s only half-right about not caring for others’ opinions. Unless they were in your immediate circle, you didn’t. But if they were? You had no choice but to. They expected that from you—you caring about what they do, say, and think. Men like to feel good about themselves, and a supportive young woman is one way to get that validation that they all seem to crave, even if they’d never admit it.
You’d learned long ago to never emasculate them. Any of them. In any form.
“You’re not breaking anything.” You only half mean it. You still think him quite attractive, if nothing else.
It pleases you to hear that he thinks the same of you. Even if you’re not surprised by it.
“Didn’t say I was,” he replies, crossing his arms.
You cock your head to the side. “So, why change?”
“Once my dad kicked me out, real-life hit, and I knew it was time to grow the hell up; the time for games was over. The attitude I had was never going to get me very far.”
There’s a beat of silence, and then he speaks again. “What do you think of me as I am now?”
You shrug. “You’re okay so far. Definitely still a pretty boy, though.”
He scoffs. “Would a pretty boy have hands like these?” He asks, holding his palms up briefly, before settling them against his thighs.
“I was referring to your face, not your hands.”
He chews the inside of his cheek. “Yeah, well, I’m not that.”
Seems like your comment, for whatever reason, has hit a nerve. “Whatever you say, pretty boy.”
He reaches over, grabbing one of your feet, like yesterday, and tugging your sock off, balling it up, and tossing it across the room before massaging the sole.
“Do you have a foot fetish or something?”
His lip twitches in amusement. “No reason why it can’t benefit you.”
You raise a questioning brow.
He shakes his head. “No, I don’t. It’s called being nice. You should try it some time.”
You slide down the couch, settling your other foot in his lap as well. “Oh, I can be very nice. To the right people. Honestly, you probably wouldn’t even recognize me if you saw me with them.”
You stare down at your hands in your lap then.
The latter-most statement had come off as a tad…sad to him. “Why?”
You look at him. “It’s a long story.”
He shrugs, taking your other foot in his rough hands. “No place else to be.”
You glance to the watch on your wrist, knowing Travis is apparently bringing by another cop today to get him dealt-in on the business. He’d asked last night if you’d be there today. You’d said maybe. Meaning that you don’t have to leave.
He looks at your watch as well, then at you. “Do you?”
Your eyes meet his. “Not technically.”
Ever the enigma to him. Never a straight-forward answer with you. You kept him on his toes and guessing, that much was for certain.
“Are you always this cryptic?”
You shrug. “Trust is earned.”
“Trusted me well enough yesterday.”
You glance to him from under your lashes. “I should’ve never told you any of that. It was a mistake. A stupid thing to do.”
His thumbs move to the ball of your foot. “You don’t need to worry. Your secret is safe with me. Besides, I already told you I don’t have any friends. So, who would I have to tell?”
It’s just a general feeling—same as it was yesterday—that he can be trusted. And that’s an unusual occurrence for you. To meet someone like that.
Like him.
He rolls his head to the side, looking at you.
The warmth in his eyes…it’s not often you see such a sight.
“So, who are ‘the right people’, then? Classmates? Boyfriend?”
You cross your arms, shifting uncomfortably. “Family friends.”
He hums, moving his hands back to your other foot. “Why aren’t you with them now?”
“Are you always this nosy?”
He smirks, moving his fingers to your ankle. “Told you yesterday that I only have a few dozen questions to ask. That I find you fascinating.”
“And what do I get for answering?”
His lip twitches. “Helped you with your homework, didn’t I? Sounds like a give-and-take to me.”
“I was doing just fine before you came along.”
He rests the crook of his neck back against the couch. “I think you needed me.”
“Sounds to me like you still have one hell of an ego.”
He chuckles. “Never said I didn’t, honey.”
You glance to your watch again and sigh.
He looks at you, moving his fingers back to your foot, which you then remove from his lap, standing.
You head across the room to retrieve your sock.
He sits up. “Are you leaving?”
You pad back over to your shoes. “Mhm.”
He’s quiet for a moment, thinking. “Want me to give you a ride home?”
You look up to him after slipping them both on. A strange man bringing you home—especially if Scott or Joe were there, or your dad was in a mood—is most certainly a bad idea.
Even at that, with Travis…things were still new and blooming. You knew he felt special—since the rest of them you’d known for years and years—and taking a new guy to bed so soon had made him believe there was something different about him for you. Seeing you with an unfamiliar, like Billy, would only give him doubt.
“No, thanks. I like walking.”
You pull your backpack on and he stands then.
“Will I see you tomorrow?”
You shrug. Normally, you didn’t come here on the weekends to begin with. But you’d procrastinated your math homework yesterday in favor of reading instead. And then had used the unfinished assignment as an excuse to come back today.
You wonder if he always works weekends as well.
He takes a step closer to you, floorboards creaking.
You stare up at him. “Will you be here tomorrow?”
He smiles. “If you want me to be.”
You don’t entirely know what to say to that. “Do you not have work?”
“I don’t work Sundays. And I only work every-other Saturday. It’s the only reason I’m out here today.”
So next weekend you’d have this place all to yourself from the sounds of it. You now had something to look forward to.
You step past him. “And here I thought you came for me.”
He laughs. “Now who has an ego?”
Once the two of you are on the front porch—you really wanted to begin trying to fix this place up, even just a little; perhaps the furniture upstairs could be put to use—you turn back to him. “What I’m doing tomorrow depends on today. Make of that what you will.”
If Travis’ fiancée was to be at work all night, you knew where you’d be this evening. And if you felt wore-out from it come tomorrow, you most likely would hold off on coming back until Monday after school.
Billy raises a brow. “Think I need more details to make anything of it.”
You stand on tiptoes then and press a soft kiss to his cheek, just like yesterday. Once you’re standing on flat feet again, you look up to him with a smile. “Bye.”
He’s blushing again now—you think it sweet that he’s still capable of doing so; the last man who you’d made blush was Rhett, and that was quite some time ago—and you turn, heading through the field to your right without another word.
Billy shakes his head. “What the fuck have I gotten myself into?”
When you come into the yard, you don’t falter in your steps when you catch sight of Travis and his friend leaned back against Travis’ cruiser—another parked behind it—as they speak to your dad.
You merely glance to them, and the new one—he’s perhaps forty, tall, with dark hair and tanned skin, his strong jawline covered in stubble—looks to you with dark eyes for just a moment. His demeanor is cold, hard, distant. Already he unsettles you.
He breaks the staring contest when he looks back to your dad as you head up the front steps, going inside.
You head to your room, softly shutting the door behind you and slipping off your backpack, setting it on the floor before flopping down face-first on your bed. You smile softly to yourself when you think of Billy’s hands on your feet—such an un-intimate part of the body that he’d made feel the very opposite—and the way he’d blushed when your lips pressed against his warm skin.
You had a crush.
The last time you’d felt such a thing was when you first set eyes upon Scott at eight-years-old. It was now a foreign feeling to you, but nevertheless felt…good. It made you giddy, warm, excited. You bury your face in your pillow and softly squeal, kicking your feet. You should’ve told him yes to tomorrow. You wanted to see him again. You wanted to see him every day.
At what was now your place. You still somewhat wish he’d never found it, but he seemed nice enough so far. Different. And he clearly likes you.
But he liked hard-to-get, had said as much out loud. Most men did.
It was always a careful, delicate balancing act upon a high tightrope you were forced to walk day-in and day-out. Glances and soft touches, giggles and flirtatious comments, precise body-language that could be easily construed one way or the other. But never so distant that it left them frustrated or wholly uncertain of your feelings toward them.
They always needed to believe they were the ones in control. That you might think you know what you’re doing, but in reality, they always have the upper-hand. That they know how to play the game far better than you ever could. Because you’re just a girl. Some pretty, empty-headed doll or sex-toy, while they rule the world. That you need them.
You’re broken from thoughts of golden curls, pretty eyes, and handsome smiles by a knock at your bedroom door.
You groan. Travis. You’re sure it’s him.
You turn onto your side, snuggling the pillow under your head. “Yes?”
When the door opens, you’re proven correct. He leans his tall, broad form against the doorway, crossing his arms. You notice his typically short dirty-blond hair is just a tad shorter today—he’d gotten a haircut. He’s wearing a gray t-shirt, which just says ‘HPD’ on the front, and jeans. At least he’d bothered taking his shoes off first—they all know how you hate them walking through the house with them on.
He gives you a small, soft smile. “Where you been all day?”
You shrug.
He hangs his head, shaking it with a smirk and a small chuckle before looking to you again. “Should come outside and meet Cyrus. I’ve told him a lot about you.”
That translated to: I tell him the things we do when Amy is away at work, and he’s interested in also getting to know you on such a level.
Honestly, you’re a bit surprised he would do so. He’d made a ‘joke’ the last time you two had had sex last week, asking ‘how to get you all to himself’. You’d told him that that’s not how things work around here. If some newbie—a cop in particular—came along and demanded you all to himself suddenly…it would not end well for him.
You sit up then, on the edge of the bed, and just stare up at him.
He glances around your room, then back to you. “She’s out tonight, pulling a double at the hospital. You could come over. I’ll even make you dinner. Spaghetti?”
Having dinner made for you was also different. It was the other way around with the rest of them. But he’s still new at this. Trying to woo you, even if it’s completely unnecessary. You don’t need presents to get you to spread your legs for him.
You doing so easily and willingly is a pivotal part in all of this—your role to play; cross to bear. It was one more thing that kept them all coming back—kept them working with your dad, even if he’s unaware of it. You think sometimes he suspects—he’d nearly caught you and Scott once on your bedroom floor—but he says nothing of it if he does indeed know anything.
If you ever stopped—decided to start telling any of them no—they wouldn’t take kindly to it. They saw you as something they were entitled to, something that belonged to them. And even if they accepted that: you wanting to stop—albeit reluctantly—the business would fall apart.
Having an attractive young woman to fuck whenever, and however they pleased for free with minimal effort put into your so-called ‘relationship’ was something they wouldn’t be getting anywhere else.
You don’t come home covered in bruises or crying, and haven’t gotten…well, as of two weeks ago you could no longer say that. That was the day you’d found the house. You’d never needed it more than in that moment after getting out of Joe’s truck a nervous wreck after leaving the clinic.
But because you always seemed fine, your dad let it go. Sometimes you wish he wouldn’t.
You cock your head to the side. “It’ll be just us?” Will your buddy be there, too? You’re asking.
He smiles again, nodding. “Yeah, baby, just us.”
“Okay.”
He grins. “I can take you home with me when I’m getting ready to leave?”
You stand, readying an overnight bag, incase you need it. “Just let me know when you’re ready to go.”
He comes closer to you, wrapping an arm around your waist, his other hand tugging gently at the hair at the nape of your neck, easing your head back, his lips coming down to settle over your pulse. He kisses, other hand squeezing your rear and he groans. You feel him pressing into your stomach then, hard and firm.
“I will,” he mutters against your skin, sucking on it for just a moment before stepping back. He winks at you before heading back outside.
You simply roll your eyes once he’s out-of-sight.
#fic: stranger things (billy hargrove x reader)#billy hargrove x reader#billy hargrove imagine#billy hargrove x female reader#billy hargrove x y/n#billy hargrove x you#stranger things x reader#stranger things x y/n#stranger things x you
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The Birthday Gifts
Rose has a very special gift idea for her Mum's Birthday, but to get it, she's going to need the help of her Uncle.
Words: 5947
If you crave some Fourteen and Rose shenanigans but also lots of Fourteen and Donna angst then look no further than this fic, it’s got it all! Dedicated to my bestie @kottekonst ❤️ Also available on AO3
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Today was Donna’s 53rd birthday.
The Temple-Noble residence was, therefore, rather busy for a Friday evening. The gathering was shaping up to be moderate – Donna never liked a huge fuss, but plenty of people were soon to be mingling in the large backyard, under a hired tent and the setting sunlight.
Rose had already secured her mother a gift. A bracelet, along with one of her very own handcrafted plushies. It was something of a birthday tradition and Rose was happy with her chosen little critter.
Except, she wasn’t, deep down.
There had been a niggling idea in Rose’s mind for weeks, now, and despite her best efforts to shove the idea aside and be happy with the sparkling bracelet wrapped in a gift box under her bed, she couldn’t shake the feeling of wanting to do more for her Mum. A true show of appreciation that could speak louder than any words could, without making it too… cringe.
There was a gift much more special and personal out there in the world. All day at school, her thoughts had never been far from this gift… it couldn’t be bought, nor could it be found in any shop.
It also wasn’t the correct year.
It was why collecting this gift had at first seemed impossible to Rose. How could she ever fly herself a whole year into the past?
Most people didn’t have an uncle who could navigate time and space, however.
He was retired, of course, supposed to be resting – and he did, mostly. But nobody enjoyed bending the rules of retirement more so than the Time Lord who was supposed to be doing it.
Especially when it came to his niece.
“So, are you in?”
Sat in the living room away from the hustle and bustle in the kitchen, enjoying a cup of tea made by none other than the teenage girl perched across from him, the Doctor raised an eyebrow.
“I can see why you made me the tea, now,” the Doctor regretfully replied, having listened intently to Rose’s idea for the past five minutes.
It had been a particularly strange day, on his part. Social gatherings and parties were so very domestic and human, but he was very much part of the family now. He’d helped Shaun set up the tent, fixed the broken stereo system and even dabbled in blowing up balloons under the watchful eye of Sylvia.
Anything for his Donna.
He’d finished the balloons which were all scattered around him and he'd wandered into the kitchen to make a well-earned cup of tea, when Rose had offered to make him one. Alarm bells should have rung right there and then.
“Come on, I know it will mean so much to Mum – I really want to try and make her happy,” Rose encouraged, sat on the edge of the sofa practically shaking with anticipation.
“You do make her happy, every day,” the Doctor reminded her. He never would have thought he’d be the one trying to discourage sneaking away on a quick trip.
Five months ago, they would have been in the TARDIS already.
This was different, however.
“Not like this, though… please? People will start arriving in a couple of hours and by that point it will be too late. I know the exact day, time, and everything… June 6th, 2023, it will only take two seconds, I promise.”
The Doctor glanced behind his shoulder to make sure nobody was eavesdropping.
"Couldn't we go tomorrow?" the Doctor asked.
"We could, but it wouldn't be the same. Today is her birthday and it just feels... right."
“That's fair, but it could be dangerous... you do understand the risks of bumping into your past self? It would create a paradox that would-”
“-devastate reality around me, I know,” Rose whined, but she grew more serious when she saw the look on the Doctor’s face. “I won’t bump into myself, or Mum… I know exactly when and where to go.”
Delicately deciding if he could truly trust his niece, which he would any day, the Doctor thought of a further barrier. A barrier related to the here and now. “Let’s say, hypothetically, I agreed to take you… how would we get to the TARDIS?” the Doctor asked.
The kitchen they would need to walk through to get to his beloved ship, sat on her perch surrounded by flowers, was currently occupied by Donna and Sylvia, sorting through the mountain of buffet food.
Rose frowned. “I should be able to walk into the garden no problem, but if we both walked through then-”
“-Donna would immediately know what we were up to,” the Doctor finished, looking thoughtful as he took another mouthful of tea and pondered their options. “Listen, I think it’s all a bit too risky. Even if we somehow managed to get past her, it’s her birthday, and she told me specifically the TARDIS was out of bounds today – unless there was an emergency.”
“She always says that, though - and this… sort of…is an emergency?” Rose tried to plea, flexing her hands with a strained smile.
The Doctor placed his now empty mug on the coffee table and turned to Rose, his expression solemn, and one that clearly meant no.
“I’m sorry, Rose. I won’t risk you getting into trouble.”
Definitely a no.
Rose sighed. Then, she curved her mouth downwards, stuck out her bottom lip, and glared straight at the Doctor.
“What are you doing?” he questioned, even though he knew exactly what she was doing.
Rose didn’t reply. She sighed again, for the dramatic effect.
“Now listen, I told you, it’s too risky,” he replied airily.
The pout didn’t faulter.
“That won’t work on me, y’know, so you might as well stop now.”
Still, the pout remained.
The Doctor’s nose twitched. He patted his knees a couple of times, trying his hardest to focus on something else to ignore Rose’s silent plea – didn’t Donna ask him to help with the sandwiches? Oh! There was a gift for Donna he needed to wrap upstairs, wasn’t there?
Gift… he hadn’t even asked Rose what her particularly special gift was. Was it something Donna had lost? It dangerously fuelled his curiosity, and he risked a glance over at the teenager again, who was still pouting in his direction.
The Doctor's mouth opened and closed a couple of times, now rocking gently back and forth as he tried to resist the temptation, but it grew harder as each second ticked by.
"Please, Uncle Spaceman?" Rose said quietly.
"Oh no, don't do that... this isn't... I-I can't..." he stuttered, yielding no result.
How could he say no to her? Clearly, the gift was something really special if her persistence was anything to go by. Something more than a simple gift... it seemed so very special. If it would make Donna happy, then what did he have to lose? Rose would be careful, like she always was. She always listened to him, never wandered off.
The Doctor's entire posture suddenly sagged, and his eyes closed.
There was nobody who could pull his leg like his niece.
Rose stopped pouting, holding her breath with a trepid tilt of the head.
After a moment of defeated silence, the Doctor reopened his eyes and finally spoke. “Fine, I’ll take you,” he said, ignoring the glee of excitement out of the corner of his eye, “but we’re both taking the blame this time, you hear?” he added with a point of his finger, even if he would be the first to defend her if it came down to it.
“Deal,” Rose replied quickly, still engrossed in her victory, but relieved and elated she was getting the chance to go through with her plan. Oh, she couldn’t wait to see the look on her Mum’s face.
A smirk crossed the Doctor’s lips, unintentionally feeling very proud of Rose’s persistence. Would he regret this all later? Probably. Would it help knowing Rose was happy? Absolutely.
“You’ve turned me into a soft touch,” the Doctor mumbled as he stood from the sofa, stretching out his back to release the knots from his period of sitting.
“You’ve always been a soft touch,” Rose replied with a smirk.
“Oi - don’t push it. I might be somewhat retired but I'm still the Lord of Time,” the Doctor jibbed back, “but if it’s important to you, then it’s important to me, no matter how much it will sting when we get back.”
Rose chuckled. “So, wait… we’re banned from going into the TARDIS, our route to said TARDIS is blocked but I can go out into the garden without raising suspicion… how are you going to get to the TARDIS without going through Mum? Last time we snuck away only Great-Grandad was home, and he never tells on us anyway,” she pondered, “we’ll both have to go through the kitchen one way or another.”
There was no direct access to the back garden other than through the kitchen, nor was there any way to reach the blue box by leaving the house through the front door. There was, however, a little secret the Doctor had kept to himself, in case of emergency.
“Oh, don’t you worry yourself. You’re looking at the man who snuck out of the biggest high-security prison in the Silfrax Galaxy – twice. In one week.”
Rose looked fairly impressed, but the Doctor found it was getting harder and harder to impress the teenager as time went on. There was only so many times he could tell a story about escaping a fleet of Daleks before it grew a little repetitive.
“Tough crowd,” the Doctor uttered, straightening his tartan waistcoat with a sniff, “I’ll use the cellar window, easily done.”
“Wait, you use the cellar window to escape!?” Rose gawped.
“Rose Temple-Noble, how dare you insinuate such a thing. I used it once a couple of weeks after I arrived to get away from Sylvia and her book club,” the Doctor explained, “I do love my dear old mother-in-law, but there’s only so much you can take of them misquoting Charles Dickens. I did offer to take her and the other members to meet him, but she refused… so, I snuck out the window to go for a walk, instead. Haven’t used it since.”
This time, Rose did look impressed.
“Right then… meet you by the TARDIS in three minutes?”
-
Once Rose strolled calmly into the kitchen, complimented her Gran on the very well-presented quiche and offered to help her Mum with the sandwiches – which she knew would be met with a no since nobody could ever tamper with her mother’s sandwiches – she expertly explained she was going to lock up her crafting shed and wouldn’t be too long.
Neither Donna nor Sylvia noticed the Time Lord slipping through the cellar door in the hallway.
“Don’t close those patio doors or we’ll lose the breeze!” Sylvia reminded her granddaughter, who smiled and nodded, trying to edge her way towards the open doors. Donna, who’s hair was wrapped in curlers, suddenly looked a little curious as she added more egg to a tray of sandwiches.
“Where’s your uncle, anyway? He said he was finishing up those balloons an hour ago and that was the last I saw him,” Donna asked.
“Oh, he’s just… he’s just, tinkering! Yeah, tinkering… with the balloons. Balloon tinkering,” Rose replied, much less convincingly than she would have liked. It was a miracle her mother bought it.
“Fair enough – remember, no sneaking off in that blue box, the pair of you. It’s my birthday, I don’t want Sontarans storming the garden, or Ood showing up to cater for the party,” Donna warned, pointing a fork in Rose’s direction, but it was with a motherly smile.
Rose nodded, despite the sudden urge to stop what she was doing and listen to her Mum. Yes, this would make her mad… but it would be so incredibly worth it. “Yes, I know… I’ll be back soon.”
Instead of turning left to go to her crafting shed, Rose made sure neither Donna or Sylvia were looking before she quickly ducked right, under the kitchen window and sneaking around the bushes. Once in the clear, Rose quickly raced over to the blue box basking in the late-afternoon sunshine with a victorious shine in her eyes, the rest of the garden empty.
The Doctor was nowhere to be seen, so Rose leaned against the TARDIS and decided to wait for her uncle to appear.
Rose waited.
And waited.
Then, just to fuel her nerves even further, she waited some more.
Worryingly tapping her foot, the anxious teenager tried to peak around the greenery and flowers. The cellar window was positioned in a clearing surrounded by the bushes her Great-Grandfather loved to take care of, with stone steps leading down to some tables and chairs. There was no sign of her uncle emerging from that clearing.
“Come on, Mum’s going to catch us,” Rose uttered under her breath with a trepid glance at the open patio doors.
“Pst – Rose!”
An urgent, quiet whisper from behind the bushes. Rose perked up at the sound of the Doctors voice.
“What is it?!” Rose replied in a hushed whisper.
“Come here!” came the reply.
“Why?”
“Just come here!”
Rolling her eyes with a frustrated sigh, Rose carefully made her way towards the clearing of bushes, sneaking down the steps while shooting worried stares at the doors. At least the bushes would keep them hidden while in that area – for now.
“Doctor, we need to go, before Mum see-”
Rose was suddenly face to face with the Doctor – or rather, face to face with half of him. He was poking out from the cellar window, evidently agitated with his hands pressed against the wall, his face contorted into a grimace.
“What the hell are you doing?!” she asked.
The Doctor stopped his pushing and glanced up at his niece.
“What does it look like I’m doing?!”
“Oi, don’t get snappy with me, Mum won't like that,” Rose replied, folding her arms while glancing to make sure Donna hadn’t spotted them.
“Well I don't think she'll like any of this if she finds out what we’re doing – now help get me out of here!” the Doctor reiterated, his strained noises making the already anxious teenager even more nervous.
“Just… I dunno, shimmy your through?” Rose replied, somewhat confused.
“Shimmy!? Don’t you think I’ve tried that?” the Doctor replied in another snap, still struggling with the window to prove his point, “See? I can’t!”
“Well, why not?”
The Doctor’s expression fell into a serious but embarrassed glare. He stopped his efforts with a sigh, his diverted gaze looking everywhere but Rose.
“I can’t move,” he replied, in the quietest, most meek tone, like he’d just been caught by Donna with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Say again?” Rose asked.
“I can’t move,” the Doctor repeated. Still far too quiet for Rose to hear.
“Louder for the people in the back, please?” Rose retorted exasperatedly, putting a hand to her ear – completely forgetting they were supposed to be escaping silently.
“I can’t move!” the Doctor finally exclaimed - much too loud, as footsteps suddenly echoed just inside the patio doors. Rose gasped and quickly ducked down beside the Doctor, who grew as stiff as a board.
Donna’s mop of pinned-up ginger hair was visible even through the leaves and blossoming flowers as her head poked out into the garden.
Rose held her breath. The Doctor held his breath, his slightly shaking frame making the spikes of his hair tremble.
“Strange, thought I heard a noise,” Donna shrugged, and with that, she turned away and was gone.
After the pair released their held in breaths, Rose turned her attention back to the Doctor, who was now gritting his teeth.
“Are you saying you’re stuck?” Rose whispered, glancing at the cellar window. Now she was closer, it did look rather tight, with the Time Lord squeezed into it uncomfortably – it was a small window, just big enough for a skinny alien to navigate. Or rather, had been big enough. “How can you be stuck?”
“Keep your voice down!” the Doctor quipped, eyebrows tensed as he glared at his niece, who shot him a very disapproving look.
“Oi! I am! It’s you that’s stressing!” Rose replied while waving her hands at him, “I thought you said you’d used this window before?”
“Yeah, well, that was a five months ago,” the Doctor replied, attempting to tug himself forwards again, but with no result, “clearly, I’ve been enjoying retirement a little too much,” he added through clenched teeth.
Rose watched as he tugged again, realising what her uncle meant – he strained, seemingly slipping through, but at such a slow pace they’d be there for all the party guests to see if he didn’t hurry.
“Come on, you can do it,” Rose encouraged.
It was no wonder his suits had been feeling slightly tighter recently. Five months of ‘three meals a day, Spaceman’ and ‘look, here’s a packet of your favourite biscuits’... and how could he forget lovely little old Mrs Fredrick from next door who always popped around with the odd pie or batch of brownies?
Another few precious seconds ticked by, and the Doctor eventually slumped in defeat, out of breath and still very much caught in the window.
“This is not good,” he admitted, “well, worse than not good, actually… very bad, more like.”
“Okay, okay, chill, we can fix this,” Rose tried to reassure him despite her growing concern. “You just need to twist around a little bit, shift your weight, I’m sure you’ll pop right out.”
The Doctor tried that. A little more progress… which only resulted in more tightness. Eventually, he stopped again, long fingers clutching the soft grass as he tried to catch his breath.
By now, guilt was starting to bubble into Rose’s chest – she’d caused this. If they were caught now, she dreaded to think what her mother would say.
“Listen, let’s just call this whole thing off, I’m not having you hurt yourself because I wanted to-” Rose began, but the Doctor quickly cut her off.
“There is absolutely no way we’re giving up now – just because I’m having a little bit of trouble with this window, does not equal defeat, right?” the Doctor said and he gave Rose his most reassuring smile, despite his predicament.
Rose instantly felt more at ease and she smiled back.
“A little bit of trouble?” Rose questioned, finding humour among the urgency, but also incredibly grateful to the Doctor for not giving in so easily.
“Hey - you try saying no to lovely old Mrs Fredrick when she’s stood at the front door holding an apple pie that she made ‘just for you’,” the Doctor retorted.
It was true… Rose wondered how anyone could say no to that sweet old lady when she stood in her little flowery oven mitts with her baked goods.
“Okay, don't worry, we can do this – I have an idea,” Rose confidently told the Doctor and determinedly got to her feet, holding out both her hands after sparing a glance to the patio doors to check for any sign of her mother. “Give me your hands.”
The Doctor, who admittedly was extremely eager to be free from the window to continue helping his niece, didn’t hesitate to reach up to grasp her outstretched hands. It was an awkward position for his long, thin body, but this was their last chance.
“If your Mum saw this I think she’d laugh rather than get mad,” the Doctor commented.
“Let’s not test the waters – ready?”
And with that, Rose leaned back and began pulling.
They were both quietly delighted when the Doctor began to move immediately, quicker than his lone efforts, but it was still precariously tight for the poor Time Lord.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the patio door.
As if playing musical statues, Rose and the Doctor froze with their hands still clutched together, the Doctor awkwardly stretched with Rose leaning back on her feet, her curly hair swaying in the light breeze.
Donna appeared again and she held out a hand, evaluating the settling beams of the sun.
“Still warm out, Mum - fancy finishing those cocktails in the fridge before we start decorating? I’ll go grab some ice from the cellar, we’ve ran out up here. And I need to find Spaceman, wherever he is, I need help with the rest of these sandwiches,” Donna said as she pulled back her hand from the sun beam she’d been testing and strolled inside.
Rose was sure she’d never seen such panic overtake anyone’s expression as quickly as it overcame the Doctors.
“Rose Temple-Noble, get me out of this window, now.”
“On it.”
Rose resumed her efforts with an added franticness, while the Doctor tried to wriggle the rest of his trapped waist through the window.
After a tense few seconds, he eventually slid through, and Rose gently placed his hands down onto the grass. He was clearly winded from the effort and his arms shook as he tried to lift himself up.
“OI!”
Donna had been expecting to go to the spare freezer for the ice without a care in the world – oh, she loved those cocktails from Lidl.
What she hadn’t been expecting was the sight of her best friend’s lanky legs dangling inside the cellar window.
“What the hell is going on?!” She yelled as she began to march down the old wooden stairs, completely bewildered at the sight.
Outside, Rose practically flung herself at her uncle, helping to heave his exhausted form forwards enough to get him moving. They were both in fight or flight and, in that moment, they both chose flight - no matter the consequences.
Inside, Donna was fast approaching the flailing tartan legs.
“Get your skinny backside back in this house!”
“Come on, come on!” Rose urged the Doctor.
“Is that you Rose? Oh, just you both wait until I-”
Donna reached out to grab one of the disappearing Converse but missed by a mere centimetre as the Doctor’s shoes finally disappeared through the window.
In the time it took her to recover from the near miss and look through the glass, she saw the retreating figures of the Doctor and Rose running through the bushes.
And by the time she’d raced back upstairs and past a very confused Sylvia holding a tray of slightly overcooked sausage rolls, Donna knew it was much too late.
-
“You have ten seconds to explain yourself – go.”
Stood before a very irritated Donna Noble in the back garden, the Doctor and Rose glanced at each other.
For Donna, it had only been two minutes since she’d discovered the Doctor’s dangling legs in the cellar. Two minutes had been enough for her to piece together a familiar puzzle, and so she'd angrily removed the curling blocks from her hair and stood in the back garden, waiting for the familiar whirrs of the TARDIS returning.
“Donna, we’ve only been gone for two minutes, and in my defence-” the Doctor began explaining but was quickly shushed by Donna.
“Not now, Spaceman – Rose, what do you have to say for yourself?”
The Doctor promptly closed his mouth and placed his hands behind his back.
Ah, family…
“Mum, I know this looks bad, but please, don’t be mad, I really wanted to-”
“To what? Fly off to some dangerous alien planet - nearly fall into a black hole? I told both of you I didn’t want anyone jaunting off on my birthday, and yet look where we are!” Donna stated, holding out her arms. Despite the anger she’d already prepared for, Rose stepped forwards with both hands secured behind her back, holding the very item she hoped would be able to save both herself and the Doctor from a grounding.
“Mum, please listen – this was all my idea, and no, we didn’t go flying off looking for trouble. I-… I wanted to get you something, for your birthday.”
Donna’s expression softened.
“Wait – you snuck off to get me a present?” Donna replied, not excusing it, but it was far from what she had expected to hear.
At Rose’s nod, Donna softened even more.
“Rose, darling, you know I’m always telling you not to make a fuss – the Doctor is supposed to be resting, not flying you around time and space to go shopping. This is the third time in two months you two have gone flying off together without me knowing… I don’t ground you both to be mean, I do it because I worry about you. Both of you.”
The Doctor looked a little meek as Donna shot him a glare to make sure he knew the impact of her words. He diverted his gaze downwards, as Rose took another defiant step forwards.
“But if I told you where we were going you would have said no, and it would have ruined the surprise, so…”
Donna’s hard stare returned, but she was no longer furious. “Maybe if you’d asked me first, I would have said yes, but instead, you had your uncle climbing through our cellar window? You both lied to me - on my birthday, no less.”
The Doctor didn’t just see but could physically sense the excitement dripping away from Rose’s posture and he couldn’t stay quiet any longer.
Domestics never used to be his thing. Once over, he would have run away and hid from a confrontation of this very nature. Now, it was time to defend his niece.
“Donna, it’s really not her fault – I agreed to do it, for her,” he explained, “and I really think you should look at what she’s gotten you.”
Donna sighed. Even she could see her daughter’s excitement dwindling… her kind, beautiful, wonderful daughter, no less.
“Okay, fine,” Donna gave in with a small smile, and Rose shot the Doctor a thankful smile before she revealed the object from behind her back, holding it out for her Mum to take.
This was it.
“Happy Birthday, Mum.” Rose smiled.
Donna reached out and gently took the gift from Rose.
It was a crumpled piece of paper.
“Oh… what’s this?” Donna questioned.
“Remember last year when we were walking through the park and you pulled out your purse, but it was really windy, and everything flew out? Receipts, money…” Rose trailed off.
It took a moment, but Donna soon recalled the event Rose described.
“Yeah, it was that cheap old purse from Primark, fell to bits, didn’t it… and I lost…”
This time, Donna’s voice trailed off. She immediately began to unfold the crumpled paper, which was dirty, but still intact. When the paper finally opened, Donna felt her throat begin to tighten, her eyes began to burn.
“You lost the last thing Grandad ever wrote down for you.”
Donna held the paper like it was made of crystal… like it was the most precious thing in the entire Universe.
On the paper, in Geoff’s handwriting, the words read:
You’ll do amazing things, my girl. Love, Dad.
“You never told me, but I knew after Dad said you’d lost it that day,” Rose explained, “I remember I watched it fly away into bush and I didn’t say anything, because I thought it was just a random bit of paper - not anything important. So, now you have it back.”
Donna sniffed, reaching up to wipe the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Never would she have thought she’d be holding this again.
“So… y-you went back in time to pick it up?” Donna asked, shakily.
Rose nodded.
“The Doctor took us to the exact day, a few minutes after we’d originally left the park. I was worried it might have blown away, but it was there, in that same bush. No trips to Mars, no sneaking off to the 1800’s, no-”
Rose was interrupted by her mother’s tight embrace.
“You don’t have to say anymore, sweetheart,” Donna said, still clutching the paper in her hand, “I forgive you for sneaking off. I’m so sorry for being so mad,” Donna apologised, holding onto her daughters curls tightly. "Thank you so much."
Rose lifted her arms and hugged her Mum back, smiling with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.
“Go and show your Gran, she’ll be just as surprised as me,” Donna suggested, pulling back from the hug to cup her daughters face. “And I mean it this time when I say no more sneaking away. This-” she placed the paper into Rose’s hand, “was more than I ever could have asked for.”
Before Rose even considered making her way back to the house, she turned to run up to the Doctor and wrapped her arms around him tightly. The Time Lord, having stood in absolute silence with a slight wetness in his eyes, quickly returned Rose’s embrace.
“Thank you,” Rose said.
The Doctor didn’t say anything. Instead, he pulled back and gave her a wink. A wink that said everything he needed it to.
The garden was silent once more as Donna watched her daughter retreat into house, elated at the surprise gift and kindness of the gesture.
Suddenly, the silence was broken.
“Am I forgiven?”
Donna closed her eyes and shook her head – but the faintest of humorous smiles sat on her thinned lips.
“I’m still debating on that,” Donna stated, turning to face the Doctor, “you did promise me you wouldn’t fly off under any circumstances today.”
“Oh, come on,” The Doctor replied, “when she told me her idea, I couldn’t say no… it touched both my hearts, I’ll have you know. She’s as thoughtful and kind as her mother.”
“Oh no you don’t, Brainbox, flattery will get you nowhere,” Donna jibbed, but she was smiling as the Doctor approached.
“You know I don’t mind you taking her on the odd trip here and there, but when I said I worry, I mean it… if something happened to you while you were out, what would happen to Rose?”
“I wouldn’t let anything like that happen, Donna… HADS, remember?”
“Yeah, well, the HADS are one thing… but alien potatoes pointing rifles at my daughter would be another, just to name one example.”
“Again,” the Doctor said, “wouldn’t let it happen. I try not to go looking for trouble as much, these days.”
The look on Donna’s face grew sharper and he realised he couldn’t be so nonchalant.
“Okay… I’m sorry.”
Donna sighed. “I know you are,” she replied, nudging the Doctor in the side with her arm, “you just can’t resist that niece of yours, can you?”
Of course he couldn’t. She was his world now… they all were.
“Nope,” he answered, popping the ‘p’.
Donna slinked an arm around the Doctor’s waist, and he in turn wrapped an arm around her shoulders. When Donna squeezed him however, he unintentionally winced and let go.
Surprised, Donna immediately loosened her own grip.
“Spaceman? You alright?”
The Doctor quickly recovered from the sudden stinging sensation and shook his head. “Oh… don’t worry, it’s nothing. Just a little strain from… well, never mind. Moving on - still need help with the sandwiches?”
“Strain from what?” Donna asked, concerned enough to ignore his attempt at diverting the conversation.
“Nothing, it’s honestly nothing, Donna, I promise,” the Doctor sniffed.
“Doctor, tell me,”
“It’s nothing!”
That clearly meant it was something.
“Wait a minute…” Donna declared, her concern losing its edge, but not entirely, “that’s right, I remember now - you were hanging halfway out of that cellar window when I caught you.”
The Doctor’s cheeks were suddenly the same shade as the pink flowers in the nearest plant pot. “You mean nearly caught me,” he corrected her, quietly.
Donna inhaled. "Okay, nearly caught you...any reason why?"
"No."
“Aw… did the retired Time Lord have a little trouble escaping through a window?”
“What? Nah…” the Doctor pied off, a little too quickly, “walk in the park, that was. Just a bit of an awkward angle. Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
Donna reached out and prodded the Doctor in the middle – where her finger would have once met complete flatness, it instead sunk into a small mound of softness which filled out the once loose shirt. When the Doctor instantly swatted her hand away with a grimace, she knew.
She knew her best friend, his expressions, his body language... that sadness lingering behind his eyes.
“Oh, Spaceman,” she sighed while gazing up into those round brown eyes. The Doctor noticed and raised his eyebrows.
“What?” he uttered.
Donna gently moved her hands to the front of the Doctor’s stomach, between his open waistcoat.
“What are you doing?” the Doctor asked, growing stiff again at the prospect of his sore skin being jabbed, but he was surprised to feel a gentle touch, Donna’s palms resting on his tiny belly.
“Nothing, just… I’ve noticed these past few weeks how much healthier you’re looking. More there.”
More there? The Doctor raised an eyebrow.
“But… I was there, here, wherever, before, wasn’t I?” the Doctor said in a high-pitched squeak.
“You were, but not like this,” Donna replied, thinking back to watching the two Doctors fighting for the fate of humanity with a ball – the new Doctor had exuded so much energy and youth… her Doctor, this Doctor, had looked pale, thin, exhausted. “I was so worried about you, all that time leading up to that bloody game of catch. You were burned out. Thin as a pin, remember?”
“That’s the second time I’ve heard that today,” the Doctor replied.
“Yeah well,” Donna began, “seeing you like this, with a bit of meat on your bones and your face looking less gaunt and sunken in… it’s on par with Rose’s surprise gift. I don’t want fancy watches or spa days for my birthday. I want my best friend to be healthy… that is such a wonderful gift. And I've never been happier to realise you had trouble squeezing out of a window.”
The Doctor was silent. Donna’s sincerity was finally beginning to sink in as he opened his mouth to speak, but closed it when no words came out.
Yes, he had days he struggled… oh, sometimes he could scream and cry into any open abyss. Wounds would flare, his mind would play tricks on him, or he’d spot someone on the street resembling Amy, Clara, or Bill… and he’d want to run. This extra weight... he hadn't realised it, but the doubts had crept up.
But Donna. She kept him grounded. His family kept him grounded – and hearing such soft, sweet words made him feel better about ever getting caught in that bloody window.
“I only want what’s best for you, Spaceman… and this,” Donna said, rubbing her hand softly over the Doctors tighter shirt, “tells me we must be doing something right.”
Tears were blurring his vision now. His throat felt constricted, and his lower lip wobbled.
“You could never do wrong by me. Any of you,” he replied, in the quietest, most fragile whimper.
Donna always expected to have a little cry on her birthday, every year – but now, for the second time that afternoon, she wanted to cry again and let her tears build.
“Come here, you big old softie,” she said, moving her hands to pull the Doctor firmly into a hug. He chuckled through his own tears and fell into Donna’s arms, his head tucking against her shoulder – and she held him. Firmly but softly. Quietly, but with the odd sniff from both of them.
“And for the record, Spaceman – yes, I do forgive you.”
The Doctor’s wobbling lip crept into a smile.
"Happy birthday, Donna Noble."
#just figured I’d post the actual thing here!!#Donna’s dad gets a mention for the feels#but this is mainly uncle and neice silliness#fourteenth doctor#donna noble#rose noble#doctor who#uncle doctor
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Twisted Maiden [Act I] CHAPTER 10
Writing a fight scene was harder than I thought, so I focused more on [Name]'s psyche and inner feelings during the moment. The next chapter will be the conclusion of [Act I].
Warning: non-implied mention of psychological abuse
[ACT I] CHAPTER 10
Everyone watched in horror as Neige’s magic was suddenly becoming unstable. He was muttering to himself like a madman. Tears in his eyes, he laughed bitterly before crying out loud. It's in a wretched scream that Neige's appearance changed.
“_ Why… I'm perfect… I'm always perfect… so WHYY?
_ Neige!”
[Name] screamed as the idol’s monster roared behind him. Seeing Vil hugging her in his chest, Neige was even more furious. It was like everything was crumbling under his feet. A screech resonated in the room as everything shook like in an earthquake. It was way scarier than she thought. Unlike in the game who showed little to nothing, this was reality. It was horrible, [Name] could feel her stomach churn at the sight. That black gooish ink that suddenly escaped through his mouth, eyes, and ears, even the nose didn’t escape as his appearance changed. He looked like a shadow of himself. His fair skin was white almost like a corpse. The young girl was terrified, she couldn’t move an inch.
“_[Name]! Come back to us [Name] we have to go!”
Vil pulled her with him as they escaped the room. Neige screamed, annoyed by the actor's interference. Behind them, Aurelius and the others followed them. This was way different from in-game. Far from the Overblotted Neige, Vil held her face. He looked deep into her eyes, as she looked terrified. Vil couldn’t imagine how traumatizing this could be for her. She was just a magicless girl far from her home, all alone. And this happens.
“_Look at me, it’s alright. Everything will be alright [Name].
_Is he going to die? If this continues…”
Vil couldn’t bring himself to answer. From his knowledge, no one ever survived their overblot. Their magic will slowly deplete and the mage will die. He just held her in his arms, unable to say anything. [Name] felt powerless, it wasn’t like in the game. In fact, it was never explicitly shown how the overblot was dealt with.
Overblot Neige floating behind them screeched as he threw whatever was around him. As everyone was taking cover, a rock hit her head. [Name] trembled as she looked at her bloody finger. Her head was ringing. Once again she was forced to face the hard truth, this was reality. She could die here. The gears in her brain were rolling as her primal instinct kicked in. She was wondering if killing Neige wasn’t better. She didn’t know if she could save him, she wasn’t sure she would be able to, this wasn’t a game where she could die and revive infinitely. This was reality.
“_It’s not fair… I worked so hard…”
[Name] was brought back to reality by this soft whisper. Looking around she couldn’t find the source. It sounded like a child, sobbing and alone.
“_It’s not fair… I did everything I was asked… so love me…”
The voice came from Neige, but also not really from him. It was difficult to explain, but the young girl was sure it came from somewhere within Neige. Looking at him, [Name] took a deep breath. She couldn’t say it was impossible to save him without trying. Observing his attack, she was able to notice two things. Neige looked like the overblot monster and his attack control was mostly plant-based.
“_Pyro….
_What?
_WE MUST USE FIRE-TYPE SPELL!! IF WE USE THEM ON THAT MONSTER BEHIND, MAYBE WE CAN SAVE NEIGE!”
Vil looked at her surprised for a moment. She looked different from the fear-stricken behavior she had just now. She didn’t just look determined, but also ruthless in a way. This [Name] looked more real and dazzling than usual. The group decided to try and follow her suggestion. It was better than doing nothing. Ambrose and Makoa stood up getting in the front to protect the children. They were more experimented than the youngster so they knew it was their duty to protect them.
“_Alright we will try it, but if things become too dangerous. I want you all to evacuate the dorm. Do you all understand?”
They all nodded before concentrating on the fight. Under the careful pointer of the young girl, it was strangely easier. Vil had a strange feeling of familiarity but couldn’t pinpoint where. The fight was long but with the teacher as support, they almost easily destroyed the monster. The glass head exploded shards and ink flew everywhere.
***
Everything was black and gray as she looked around. She could hear the sound of sobbing somewhere. Walking toward it, she saw a young child hiding under a tree. He was holding a teddy bear in his arms. The child had clear white skin and jet-black hair.
“_Are you alright?”
[Name] reached to touch the child. The minute her finger touched his shoulder, a strong light surrounded her. Looking around, she saw the child watching a show on TV. The young girl now could recognize the child, Neige. His eyes shined at the scene he was focused on the show. The woman behind him smiled and laughed softly.
“_Do you love Vil-chan that much?
_Yes, I looove Vil-chan!! I want to become like him!
_ Fufu, I’m sure you will become like him if you work hard.
_Really?”
The woman laughed looking at the child. [Name] smiled softly before the scene changed before her. Neige, still a child was in a studio. He looked tired, ready to collapse. The man in front of him, his teacher watched him with a smile.
“_Come on, Neige. You will never be like your Idol if you don’t work hard.
_Will Vil notice me, if I work hard?
_Of course!”
Neige’s face sunken at his word. The child was obviously tired. It was easy to see, but that teacher still pushed it through. Shaken by the man, Neige forced himself to smile. He stood up and forced himself to return to the lesson. Every bridle of memories was the same. No matter what he did, they all said the same thing. “You will be loved if you work hard.” “Vil loves hard-working people.”
She could see how distressing it was for him when he noticed Vil despised him. He worked so hard only to be met with hate. Unconsciously, they conditioned him to be starved of affection. They used it as a way to “blackmail” him into working hard. So when the long-awaited reward turned out to be contempt, Neige was lost. At first, he told himself that it was because he didn’t work hard enough. Until [Name] appeared.
It was strange to see how others perceived her. The young girl silently cringed as Neige's voice reverbed around her.
In Neige’s eyes, [Name] was perfect. Everything she did, she did it flawlessly and easily. He knew he fell in love at first sight with her. “Wow, she looks like a princess. So pretty.” Neige said nothing but he agreed with the student who said that during the entrance ceremony. She must have been a princess in her past life, that was his only conclusion. Neige also felt a strange connection between them. Being recognized by such a perfect soul, he felt good. He wanted nothing more than to cling to it. And so he worked hard to look like he would be a perfect boyfriend. So one day when he confessed to her, he was sure she would accept his feelings. But things didn’t develop that way, and the culprit was Vil. The moment she walked on the set, Vil’s attention was on her. Like a moth to a light, like him, Vil was attracted to [Name]. Deep down, Neige felt jealous. Unlike him, she easily entered Vil’s circle, while he worked hard to be at his level only to be met with hate. And just as easily, Vil looked perfect by her side. Their chemistry worked well and Neige felt like he was losing the place he was working hard for. He didn’t know when this happened, but he knew something inside him was twisted.
“_It’s my fault, I wasn’t good enough… I’m sorry.”
[Name] looked at Neige, he was sobbing his face buried in his knees. The young girl walked up to him.
“_It’s not because you are not enough that I don’t love you. I do like you, but just not like you wanted.
_I see, do you love Vil?
_I like him.”
Neige smiled before standing up. He hugged her slowly before burying his head on her shoulder.
“_I’m sorry, I hurt you.”
[Name] looked at the red apple in her hand. It was red and ripe. She wondered how an apple could look so red and perfect. Surely it wasn’t natural. She wondered if it was poisoned as she took a bite.
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Tag
@cocomollo @owodi @illytian
#twisted wonderland#twst#twst x reader#twst oc#neige leblanche#vil schoenheit#yandere vil schoenheit#yandere vil x reader#vil schoenheit x reader#yandere neige leblanche#yandere neige leblanche x reader#twst neige#neige le blanche x reader#rsa oc#twisted wonderland rsa#twst rsa#yandere twisted wonderland#disney twisted wonderland#disney twst
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prompt 5 with Satan, please? 🤲💕
hello!! yes of course :)
enjoy <3
prompt 5 w/ Satan
“Mc, how much sugar in your tea?” Satan called to you from the kitchen. You were seated in the living room, texting friends.
“Not too much. Like, a spoonful or two. If I have too much sugar I’ll never be able to fall asleep.” You looked up from your phone, but he wasn’t in the room.
“Thank you. You’re amazing.” You heard him laugh a little from the kitchen. He went back to preparing the tea, and you momentarily went back to messaging your friends. You were chatting about menial, unimportant, random stuff. As soon as you mentioned you had to go because you agreed to spend time with Satan, they began to tease you. They all make jokes about the two of you kissing and what not. This had become something of a regular routine, as this was something you did with Satan often. Whenever you told them you had plans with a different brother or were spending the night doing something else, they were shocked. You really didn’t spend that much time with him in the evenings like this, but part of you wished you could more.
“Ready?” He entered the living room with two mugs in hand. One was his favorite mug. It was a light gray covered in little cats doing various cat things. It had been a gift from Mammon, and after confirming he got it in a legit way, it became the only mug he used ever. The other one was a mug that was mostly Lucifer’s, but he allowed you to use it when you wanted. However, when he sees that it’s missing and you’re not the one using it, he never says anything, even though it’s most certainly Satan at that point.
“Yep!” You got up from your chair and followed him back to his room. You couldn’t lie, you were giddy to spend time with him. Even if the two of you were just spending time in each others vicinity, both doing separate activities, it made you happy. You tried to take one of the mugs from him, but he wouldn’t let you. You didn’t want it to spill, so you let it go and resolved to holding the doors open for him instead.
You made your way into his room. He set the mugs on his side table, and debated on what book to read. He seemed to be midway through a few of them. You, on the other hand, knew exactly what you wanted to do. You’d borrowed one of Levi’s Devilswitchs and had been slowly, but surely making you way through one of his games. The device was sitting on his bed, exactly where you’d left it. Eager to pick your game back up, you threw yourself onto his bed and booted it back up. Satan eventually settled down next to you with his book in hand.
“What blend did you pick today?” You asked, inhaling deeply and trying to place the scent.
“That new one you brought for me when you got back from visiting home.” He didn’t look over at you, but you could tell how excited he had gotten over that fact.
“Aw, you’re really sharing it with me? I’m honored.” You carefully sipped it since it was still a little hot. He'd handed you the mug that was usually his. It was quite a cute mug, and the gesture moved you.
“Of course I am. You gave it to me, so I figured it was only fair. It reminds me of you, anyways.” He opened his book and began reading. You started playing your game, and the time flew while you were together. You drifted closer and closer to him, until eventually you were laying with your head on his shoulder. You rolled over to the device wasn’t so much in his face.
It was nice, laying there with him. The quiet sound of Satan flipping pages was the only sound you could hear beside the occasional shuffling outside the room. You don’t know when it started, but at some point, you started to fall asleep. Your eye lids grew heavy, and every time you felt them close for a moment too long, you tried your best to snap them back open. But soon, you stopped resisting and fell asleep.
It took Satan a little while to notice you were asleep. Only after he heard your gentle snoring did he realize you were knocked out. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight. He took the switch from your hand and set it down on his side table next to your tea. You’d gotten so into your game that you’d barely touched it. He couldn’t fault you though; he tended to do the same from time to time when he was really into a book. He returned to reading, trying his best to hold still.
Some hours later, he was still reading the same book when you started began to stir. Or, that’s what he assumed. You began to twitch and shift around. At first, he thought it was cute. Your breathing picked up, and your brows furrowed. Your features grew steadily more concerned. He knew something was wrong. He wasn’t sure how intense your nightmare was, but it pained him to watch you suffer. He knew he shouldn’t wake you though. Instead, he held you close and soothing stroked your hair. Even if you wouldn’t remember it was him, he wanted to comfort you. All that mattered to him is that you felt secure.
You woke up with a start, breathing heavily and gripping him tightly. You seemed a little confused, but you didn’t want to let go of him. “I’m here. You’re safe with me.” You melted into him once you heard his voice. It was the confirmation you needed. He continued to tell you comforting things until you were calm again. At some point, he wasn’t sure if you were awake or asleep anymore. “Mc?” He whispered. Since you didn’t respond, he knew you must’ve been asleep or had a good reason to be so still and silent. He didn’t mind though. He liked that amount of trust you put in him to fall asleep on him twice.
He was happy to have met you.
#obey me#obey me!#obey me x reader#obey me satan#omswd#obey me shall we date#obey me! shall we date#obey me! shall we date?
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I know we all joke about Charles Rowland having these over-exaggerated people pleasing tendencies, but I just want to say they make a lot of sense for someone who grew up in the hell hole of a home that he did.
(Now's the time to dip if you don't want to read something kind of heavy and also really messy, sorry. CW for mentions of Charles' home life)
The night nurse gave us some insight into what Charles' home life looked like (that, and we can piece together how he must have been feeling from his reactions to the Devlin house). We know he had a volatile, objectively abusive parent. We know he and his mother were terrified of this man, enough that he keeps checking in to try and make sure that his mom is still okay all these years later.
Alright. Still with me?
There's this thing that happens to kids who grow up in households like this (trust me).
Because one parent is so volatile, they learn to model after the other parent who is constantly keeping the peace. They're constantly walking on eggshells, they have to be hyper-vigilant of even slight differences in the atmosphere to prevent a catastrophe. If they have needs or wants, then those needs and wants are not being met. If there are problems (there are) then they are not being talked about (ever, and if they try then all hell breaks loose and there are consequences).
These kids form a facade of "everything is fine, there are no problems and we are happy here". You know, what we would call a people pleaser.
This is Charles. This is very much a survival instinct, it kept him reasonably safe in life (truly, he only died once he deviated from it and "rocked the boat" so to speak).
In all fairness, it has worked out fine for him in death too- Edwin responds well to it. Edwin actually does react very well to Charles' attempts at merry making, deep breathing, even his playful ideas like boardgames and boxing. What he knows works, actually. It works so well he's stuck around for thirty years, so in his mind he probably doesn’t think he should change anything.
The second time he deviated from people pleasing, in all fairness, even when he had to or else he would get separated from Edwin, also didn't work out well. He reacted on genuine, earnest feelings. He was fucking angry when the night nurse showed him his trauma. He was pretty raw when he pushed her over the bridge and into the fish. That was all earnest, uncensored emotion, not a measured act.
Edwin reacted poorly. Everyone reacted poorly. Back to people pleasing.
Charles is really only confused when people pleasing doesn't work. When he reaches out to try and befriend Monty and gets snubbed, I think he's genuinely confused. He can't figure what's wrong. This always works. It always works with Edwin at least. So what's wrong?
That continues on when he's doing everything he'd typically do to engage Edwin while he's reading and it's just... not working (because remember the hyper-vigilance- he knows something is different and so he's unsettled).
This continues onto the roof scene. He knows something is completely and utterly fucked (he just doesn't know it is between Monty and Edwin, or that Crystal’s powers are gone) and he's uncomfortable. In a previous life, he'd be waiting for the other shoe to drop and something to hurt.
He's relieved when Edwin finally starts opening back up a little and trying to talk to him. Yes, he misinterprets what's happening at first (he assumes Edwin is coming out in general, as opposed to trying to tell him he likes him), but things are going back to normal in his mind.
They're reconnecting. He does get a little uneasy because there's still one wall between them (the cat king) that he can't manage, joke, or talk his way out of yet because Edwin hasn't explained yet.
This gets interrupted anyway though. (At least there's no more cat bracelet, lol. A win for Charles).
There's more pressing issues, though- he needs to rescue Edwin from hell. He literally cannot be separated from him. Their whole thing has been not being separated from each other since... well since the start. So he keeps his promise, sloughs through the depths of hell, and goes to get him. Easy enough! He disarms the babydoll spider with a bomb, a moltov cocktail, and Edwin's journal. This was probably the least of his problems.
Success. He's got Edwin back. Life is good. Now things can go on as normal.
Only FUCK! Now Edwin is asking him to express... his... feelings...
-Well. Look how well it went the last time Charles did anything on his own volition. First he died, then he pushed Edwin away. This seems kind of important. He can't fuck this up, but they are literally running out of hell, but he can't fuck this up because that would mean he pushes Edwin away-
He comes up with something that feels close to right, measured, things that Edwin has responded well to before (and under all of that he asks him to stay, please stay, be patient, but it comes out as a declaration because that seems more certain). He cannot lose Edwin here.
They run back up the stairwell together. Charles hopes maybe Edwin understood.
Charles wishes he had better words on the roof. He doesn't, other than to reassure Edwin they're okay-- he would have wanted that. The last time he said anything, it was too extreme. He says nothing and hopes maybe Edwin will give him some sort of clue on what to do again, eventually.
Idk, maybe I'll write more later but... this is so fascinating to me because it's like so obvious as someone who grew up in the absolute tar pit that Charles did. He's not dumb, or making arbitrary choices with what he's doing here. He is doing what he knows works to keep what's important to him close to him. He's just wildly out of his depth when that doesn't work.
#dead boy detectives#meta#charles rowland#payneland#Charles x Edwin#I mean the meta is sort of slanted that direction#oops#anyway#cw domestic abuse#canon event- Charles' homelife
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VA Native Fish Hunting - 25
What a great day for some fishing! This is one of my favorite spots to spend a half hour knee-deep in swamp muck. Really, can't recommend it enough. Nothing new per se today but a couple of really neat finds.
Let's start on a high note. My very first search landed me this GORGEOUS Flier (Centrarchus macropterus). I hadn't caught any in close to 3 years, and even those were just tiny inch long fry. This beaut was much larger and extremely impressive. I would like to one day have some in my 125 gallon tank, but since that's not free today, back he went.
The next fish I caught was this Bluespotted Sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus). I love this fishing spot specifically because I can find these here, and in fact I caught maybe 5 BSSs today. Beautiful animals and highly recommend them for home keeping - definitely some of my favorite native fish!
This little guy is not as straightforward as the last two. It's a Lepomis spp but it could be a few different species. With the wavy body lines, I would guess Warmouth, but could also possibly be Pumkpinseed or Bluegill. Regardless, it was a neat find today as I don't see many Lepomis here often.
These Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holkbrooki) are what I came for today actually. I used to have a dozen in my 55 gallon tank but they only live for about 2 years and I'm down to my last 4. So I caught 8 more, including 3 males. I personally like them but they get kind of a bad rap regarding aggression in my opinion.
We also get a fair amount of crayfish in this area! Again, I'm not that knowledgeable about them, but I'm pretty sure it's a Cambarus spp. - maybe C. bartonii. Those seem to be common in my neck of the woods anyways.
The most common submerged plant here were these bladderworts - also a very fun inclusion for home tanks. They are carnivorous plants but do perfectly well without being fed live animals. The only real caveat is that they don't seem to like extended stays under direct light.
The other common plant here was this Spatterdock (Nuphar advena) which has spread quite a bit since I was last here earlier in the year. Much too big for home or pond usage honestly, but neat plants all the same.
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Hey, could I request angst with a happy ending for Dhawan!Master with the dialogue of "Do I really mean nothing to you?" "That's not fair. You know that's not the reason why."; The Master hasn't really been honest about his feelings and it leads to the reader feeling as if she means nothing to him?
Note: requests are currently closed
Of course anon! I love a bit of angst (with a fluffy ending)
Hope you like it!
Title: Miscommunication
You stormed back into the Master’s TARDIS, letting the doors swing shut behind you. You were vaguely aware of the Master catching the doors before they closed but you were too angry to stop. You made your way to your room and grabbed your suitcase.
“What are you doing?”
Finally he spoke. The Master hadn’t spoken to you on the whole way back. You rolled your eyes as you started shoving your clothes into the case.
“Don’t you think I deserve an answer?”
“Why?” you snapped, turning to face him, "you didn’t give me.”
“I did.”
“Oh yes,” you let out a bitter laugh, “eventually.”
The Master pursed his lips and you rolled your eyes. Typical. You thought that you could change him but clearly you couldn’t. Really, you were naive to think otherwise. His hatred of the Doctor ran too deep for someone like you to change. After all, how long had you known him for? The time was a drop in the ocean for how long he’d known the Doctor.
“You know,” you said, trying to keep the crack out of your voice, “I really thought that this time was going to be different. That we’d finally go somewhere where she wasn’t.”
“I-”
“You promised,” this time your voice did break and you coughed, trying to cover it up but failing, “just one time I wanted it to be you and me. Just the two of us.”
“And I-”
“Do I really mean nothing to you?”
Silence followed your words. You flung another shirt into the suitcase before finally turning around to face him. You had never seen the Master look like that before. Hurt was clearly evident all over his face and he didn’t even try to hide that. Usually he kept his emotions fairly close to his chest. You paused for a second before slowly returning to packing. However, your heart wasn’t really in it.
“That’s not fair,” he said at last, “You know that’s not the reason why.”
You took a deep breath and dropped the jeans you were holding, not even bothering to pack them away. You gripped the edge of the suitcase and said quietly,
“You didn’t tell me the reason why. What else am I meant to think?”
“You ran off before I could explain.”
You stiffened as you felt the Master’s hands on your shoulders. He rubbed small circles against them and pressed his forehead in between your shoulder blades. You closed your eyes and leant back into his touch. Slowly he trailed his fingers up and down your arms and said softly,
“I didn’t know that she and her pathetic humans were going to be there. If I had, do you really think I would’ve gone there? She left me to die. Do you really think I want to see her again after what she did to me? I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“You have done in the past.”
“That’s the past,” he muttered, “this is now.”
One hand snaked around and grabbed your chin. He tilted your head back so you were looking into his eyes. He gave you a soft smile before spinning you around and pressing his forehead against yours.
“I can show you,” he said, “if you desire.”
Your breath hitched. The Master had told you about intimate sharing a mind could be. It was something that he had wanted to do but never quite willing to ask you. What happened if you said that you didn’t want to.
“No.” you said
“No?”
Now it was the Master’s turn. You winced at the tone of his voice. Quickly you took his hands and gave them a brief squeeze.
“I mean,” you clarified, “that I believe you. I don’t want our… first time to be for you to prove to me that you’re telling the truth.”
You pressed a brief kiss against his lips and rested your head against his chest. The Master smirked before slowly returning the hug. Contact with another living being (that he wasn’t trying to kill) was something he was slowly getting used to.
“Just promise me that the next place you take me, the Doctor won’t be there.”
“Don’t worry,” the Master’s hands trailed lower, “I know the perfect place and I guarantee she won’t be there. It’ll just be the two of us.”
#fanfiction#doctor who#reader insert#request#the master#dhawan!master#the master x reader#dhawan!master x reader
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I've finally got a little AU Greens pin, so now I'm one step closer to being my sona irl. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. /silly
#rambling#in all fairness he's not really that different to me#beyond being like. 4'5 and twice my age.
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see ok I don’t think it’s bad who stole the furniture because he didn’t go to f5 and zoom in on himself a billion times
#also a stamp of innocence from foolish is a stamp from me in bbh’s case tbfh#if it is bad I will be extremely surprised. it really does go against all his characters goals rn plus it was so sloppy#if bad had done it there wouldn’t be a damn chair anywhere on the island. he would have been thorough as all get out. his points of#‘ok I didn’t do it but if I did-‘ when he runs into a chair are so fair because yeah! this is so true!!#if he was gonna be petty and throw a shitstorm furniture stealing tantrum to go against forever or whatever he would have gone 100% all in#he would have gone so far in it would have been fucking crazy of him to find some of the furniture he’d be stealing#anyways I don’t got real money on anyone rn I’m leaning towards pac and richas tho#maybe willyrex? I doubt it though he’s going around planting mines totally different MO rn#mcyt#qsmp#bbh#z speaks
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