#like they both know that they're hot but then s4 and it turns out that they are not only decent humans | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

luveline · 1 year

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𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 | 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧

Steve doesn't really like the holidays, but he likes you. So, he makes some concessions. Rainbow lit, tinsel-covered, pine tree-smelling concessions.

6k words, christmas centric, fem!reader who celebrates christmas, mutual pining, gingerbread houses, mistletoe, ugly sweaters, friends to lovers, idiots in love, allusions to s4.

❆

Steve hates Christmas. He doesn't want to get into it and he won't, not when you love it the way that you do — quietly, and yet every movement hints at your excitement.

Your hands are basically shaking when he lugs the new box onto the desk. It's adorable.

"Thank you for doing this," you say, meeting his eyes and sending him one of your too-nice smiles. Kind that makes him nervous and sick and excited all at once.

"I don't know why you're so eager. They're the same cheese-fests this year as last year," he says.

You lean over the counter enough for him to smell your perfume. "That's not true. You said you have The Christmas Star, right?"

"Ten whole copies."

He pulls open the cardboard box and digs for your desired tape. The case is cardstock and crisp with newness, and it squeaks as he pulls it up and displays it against his chest.

You beam. "Yes. How much? Expensive 'cos it's new?"

"Not with the employee discount," he says, placing the tape down neatly.

Your smile turns shy. Steve has always thought you were pretty, in the same way he thinks that grass is green and stars shine at night, but lately you've turned to a sweetness that has his teeth aching if he thinks about it, all manner of terrible emotions flooding his idiot brain. Jealousy, protectiveness, and — he shudders — affection. Even now he's tempted to round the desk and make up an excuse to touch your arms, or your hands. Your face.

"Thanks, Steve," you say softly.

"Of course. There has to be one pro to working in this dump, right?"

"Is it a dump? It looks super clean."

He hesitates. "We had to fix it up. Holiday decorations are coming in tomorrow."

"Make that today!"

You both turn to see Robin struggling out of the back room, two boxes held in her arms and hiding her face. She stumbles to the desk and Steve leaps to help her, unveiling her grinning face. There's a meanness to her eyes that Steve abores.

"Well, yesterday. Keith says they got here last night, which means today is officially the first day of Family Video Christmas."

"It's November," Steve says, narrowing his eyes.

"Thirty first!"

Robin pries open one of the huge boxes and thrusts both hands in unafraid, pulling out streams of green and silver tinsel like festive innards. Her eyebrows jump up. "Nice," she says appreciatively.

"I almost wish I worked here."

"You can stay and help," Steve says.

Your laughter makes his chest hurt. "I can't. I have decorating to do all by myself next door." You straighten your Palace Arcade polo and your black, plain skirt. "Do I look okay?"

Steve has a terrible lapse in judgement wherein he thinks about telling you exactly how you look, lips pressed together ready to make a 'b' sound, but he stops himself in the nick of time. Friends don't really do that.

"You look fucking adorable," Robin says, having wrapped the tinsel around her neck in a makeshift scarf. She sparkles as she turns to Steve. "Doesn't she?"

"Adorable," he says tightly.

You scratch under your ear. "Thank you.”

You promise to come back at the end of the day for The Christmas Star and escape before Robin can poke fun at your shyness.

The door closes behind you and Steve buries his face in his hands. His cheeks are hot.

"That was pretty bad. Better, though," Robin says, an air of genuineness about her that he knows she doesn't truly possess.

Steve scrubs a hand through his hair, temper welled to the surface quick and uncomfortable as usual. He pushes it down and turns away from Robin and the glaringly bright Christmas decorations rather than say something snappy that she doesn't strictly deserve.

"Maybe by Christmas you'll be able to look her in the eye."

"Maybe by Christmas I'll have friends I actually like."

"Points for quickness," she cheers. Steve can feel her moving to stand beside him. "But ultimately weak."

"It could happen."

"Could it?"

He rolls his eyes and starts to log The Christmas Star under his name for you. Employees get pretty good privileges, like reduced rates and nulled late fees. You could keep it 'til the 25th, if that's what you want.

Robin drapes tinsel over his shoulders. "I really, genuinely think that, despite your bad posture, your hair, your clothes," — Steve scoffs — "and your dismal taste in movies, she likes you."

He's so distracted by her (mostly) joking insults that he doesn't quite hear the end. Then, when it sinks in, his incredulity lends itself to a new target.

"What?"

"Steve," Robin says flatly.

"She likes me?"

"I think so. She's not coming in here every day for me."

"How should I know? I'm not exactly a good judge of it."

Robin taps her foot against his. They're overly familiar if not overly affectionate friends, and he relents in his bad mood, pulling the tinsel from his shoulders with a dejected sigh.

"I doubt it. She was excited about the new movies." Not me. He doesn’t think you'll be back tomorrow.

"Why aren't you excited?" Robin asks.

"You know I don't like the holidays." His agitation is clear in his annoyed hand gestures, fingers furling and unfurling. "Weeks of torture. Cranky moms walking around like somebody shoved a candy cane up their-"

"Steve, that's like, ten percent of the holiday season! There's a bazillion other things to like about Christmas."

He snorts. "Like what?"

—

Steve doesn't know how she managed it, but Robin has someone orchestrated the older gaggle of their friends to sit down anywhere but next to him. When you arrive, late and full of abashed apologies, the only seat empty is the chair to his right.

You collapse beside him and the December chill outside follows you. Cold emanates off of your clothes. You peel out of your black denim jacket and press the back of your hand to his.

"Cold, huh?" you ask.

He swallows around nothing. "Cold."

Your touch lingers. If he were your boyfriend, he'd take your cold hands in both of his and blow on them generously. He'd rub your stiff knuckles until they were loose and your fingers limp.

Robin opens her arms and a half a dozen boxes clatter into the middle of the table, upside down and on their sides. Steve turns his head to read the font, and then promptly sits up.

"No," he says.

"Steve," Robin pleads, already turned away to retrieve a wicker basket full of candy. "Don't be a loser."

"Too late," Eddie says, painted nails digging into the cardboard flap of his box.

"You don't want to make one?" you ask Steve.

"Gingerbread houses are a little elementary school, aren't they?" Steve turns to Jonathan imploringly. "You agree, right?"

"No," Jonathan says with a laugh. "Me and Will still make them every year. El's getting good at them, too."

"Will made one with a door that opens last year," Nancy says, pride for her boyfriend's brother clear in her pert smirk.

Steve rolls his eyes. "That's good for him, and I mean it, but why are we doing this? Tell me there's beer, at least."

"Yes!" Eddie cheers, slapping his thigh. "Harrington, you're finally saying something I can get behind. I have a little something extra in the van, just say the word."

"There's beer," Nancy says emphatically.

Eddie pretends to die in his chair. You giggle like crazy at his dramatics and set about opening your box, fanning gingerbread walls and roof panelling out over the table.

Steve feels old resentment for Eddie bubble up like it never left. He wants to be the one who makes you laugh like that, all sweet and secret like you're trying not to make a fuss but you just can't help it. The resentment fades when you reach across from him and open a second box, laying supplies out in front of him one by one.

"I think we should be a team," you tell him.

"That's not fair," Eddie says.

"Can it, Munson-"

"We can all be teams," Robin says, returning with a blessedly cold six pack, three piping bags, and a handful of metal tips. "You two, me and Eddie, Nancy and Jonathan."

Steve doesn't miss her suggestive eyebrow wiggle, and neither does anybody else. You turn to Steve in confusion. He shakes his head vigorously in a rapid and untrue show of I don't know, arm weaving under yours to bring your attention to the bigger piece of gingerbread. "This is the floor, right?"

Steve’s surprised by how good of a team you turn out to be. Your gingerbread house takes shape slowly. Steve holds the pieces in place and you apply the icing seams like caulking, smoothing the lines out with your index finger and licking it clean. You’re a picture of happiness, happy jabbering interspersed between singing along to the Christmas songs on the radio and warding off insincere insults sent your way.

"My grandma can decorate better than that, and she's pushing ninety. She has glaucoma."

“Cut the shit talking, Eddie,” you warn, flicking him with a jellybean. It hits his neck, and his retribution comes in five more aimed at your gingerbread house.

The sides wobble unsurely.

Steve frosts the roof, assuming it’ll be easy. It isn’t easy at all, and soon any cuteness you’ve made is ruined by his ugly hatching. He winces, then frowns, then glares, eyebrows furrowed in agitation.

Jonathan and Nancy are the ones to beat. Both nerds, both neat. Jonathan’s an artist and it’s obvious he does this every year, their house made up of pretty white swirls and gem decorated doors and windows. They're bantering quietly, insincere declarations that make Steve jealous — not of Jonathan, exactly, but of their relationship as a whole. They fit together in a way Steve and Nance never had. They’re effortless.

Robin and Eddie make a good go of it, surprisingly. Steve had expected Eddie to throw the competition before he could lose, and hates to be proven wrong. Dorks combined with too much imagination, their gingerbread house has become a sort of macabre scene with a dead gingerbread man outlined in the snow surrounding, and icing stalagmites rise under the roof’s overhang.

You pull your chair in as close to Steve’s as you can, your knee pressed into his thigh and your elbow glancing off of his bicep every time you place a jellybean.

“There,” you say, pulling back. “That looks awesome, doesn’t it?”

It’s a hot mess. Unbalanced, too much icing on one side of the roof and not enough on the other, you lean back into Steve’s chest, your skin to his skin and your hair smelling of jasmine, appraising the work you’ve made just as it begins to fall apart. The weight of the roof becomes too much and the walls split either side of one another, in both slow motion and fast. Steve sees it happen incrementally, and it’s too quick to stop.

Your gingerbread house collapses.

“Fuck,” Steve says. “Fucking fuck.”

You get second place.

“It looked good when it was actually standing,” Nancy reasons, her lies obvious in her raised pitch, her queasy shifting.

“It did,” you agree.

Steve’s self-loathing abates ever so slightly.

“Pity win,” Eddie says with a cough.

You laugh like crazy, and Steve decides gingerbread houses are for kids.

—

After the gingerbread house disappointment, Steve thinks things cannot get worse. He is swiftly proven wrong.

It's his turn to host a party, Robin's idea, and Christmas crawls ever closer. When he closes his eyes at night he can see the faces of every annoyed mom asking for The Christmas Star. Carols play in his ears unbidden. He finds himself humming songs he hates out of nowhere and clamping his mouth shut hard enough to chip a tooth every time.

You love decorations, and so he and Robin have spent the last hour making his big empty house something fit for a rom-com, wreaths and tinsels and rainbow flashing lights. You love Christmas music, and so the stereos dialled to a cruel thirty in preparation for your arrival. You love cookies, and so, to Steve's amateurish expense, plates of sugar cookies line the kitchen countertops, along with all the finger foods one could ever desire.

Though in Steve's case, that's none. He hates Christmas parties, reminded of his parents' misaligned efforts to earn favour with equally pompous parents. He and Tommy would hide out in backyards with stolen booze, and when that got too cold they'd shuffle inside, warm in their chests and numb in their fingers.

He frowns at the memory and wizzes it all away. Tommy was an asshole. Steve was an asshole, he still is. This party isn't for his parents.

It's for you.

Not that anyone can ever, ever know.

"What do you think?" Robin asks, pulling at the edges of the sweater she's changed into.

It's a movie reference he should understand, but doesn't. "I love it."

She smiles. Rare for them to operate above dry sarcasm and quick wit. Christmas makes Robin squishy, like she's forgotten how shitty the world is, and Steve wants her to have a good time tonight. This includes being nice (which he should be more often, anyway).

"Go change. She'll be here soon."

"Who, Nance?"

Robin tips her head back. "Oh, yeah, Nancy. Definitely who I meant."

He flips her the finger, putting an end to their Christmas niceties. She's still laughing as he climbs the stairs and barrels into his room. He doesn't bother closing the door even as he hears the doorbell ring. The pizza should be getting here around now.

Steve doesn't rush. He’d left cash on the countertop. Robin can deal with it.

He ducks forward and pulls his polo up the length of his back, hair puffed out like a cloud. He'd set aside his ridiculous reindeer sweater on the top shelf of his closet. Or, at least, he'd thought he had. He searches once, twice, and then gives in to his short temper and drops his face into his hands.

Stupid Christmas. Stupid sweater. Stupid party.

He hears your inhale like a whisper. Breath caught in your throat.

"Steve," you say, sounding surprised.

It's his room. He's not sure what's so surprising.

You're standing in the doorway looking angelic, all things considered. Your features softened by powder, wearing a white Christmas sweater with dainty beaded snowflakes and a plaid skirt. You look pretty, and Steve's not one for dramatics but he wishes he was dead.

"You look nice," he says pathetically.

"You, too," you say. You clear your throat. "I mean. Uh-"

"You okay?" he asks, pushing hair out of his eyes.

Your smile falters. You look at his naked chest. Steve worries he's making you uncomfortable and turns as nonchalantly as he can to his closet again, says, "I can't find my sweater. It's…" He lifts a bundle of jeans up. "Horrifying."

"I can help."

You step into the room. Each footstep silent, you've already discarded your shoes. He looks down to your stockings and then up again, ignoring the blush that wants to emerge at the sight of your thighs.

"It's brown, and it has a weird red thing hanging off of it. Rudolph's nose."

You step close enough that he can feel the heat of your arm and run a hand down the shelves. It takes a couple of seconds at most and you've found it, pulling it from the pile carefully. He loves the way you move, each inch deliberate.

You press the sweater into his chest. His hands come up, his fingers cover your own.

When he's with you, Steve feels as though everything — every movement, every moment — is broken down into its finest details. He thinks he could draw your fingerprint if asked, each miniscule line embossed into his skin as you touch him.

"Steve?"

But that's ridiculous.

"Thanks. I think I got tinsel in my eyes or some shit," he mutters, averting his gaze.

"You're welcome. Robin sent me to see what was taking you so long. I'll tell her it was a Rudolph related crisis."

You stroke his arm.

He loses his shit internally, hand reaching for your retreating figure as you turn your back. He doesn’t know why. Maybe he would’ve kissed you.

"Steve?" you ask, now standing in the doorway.

He recalibrates, muddled. "Yeah?"

"Get dressed,” you encourage. You give him a short smile, blinding, and laugh quietly as you leave.

He's hopped up on hope as he gets dressed, a smile plastered over what had felt to him like a seasonal scowl. He's no idiot; arm-touching, your tinkling laughter. Maybe his crush isn't as hopeless as he'd thought.

He smooths down his hair for much longer than necessary, listening as the door opens and closes and opens again, friends trickling in with happy hellos and complaints about the weather. It's cold but too wet for snow, and evidence of it trails in from the front door through the hallway where shoes lie discarded in clumsy pairs.

He picks over them and finds his friends, ones he made willing and otherwise, draped over his living room like old throws. Max and Lucas have stolen the couch where they sit laughing, clearly gossiping about something. The rest of the lunch club stick close by, bowls of snacks already claimed and in cross-legged laps.

"Steve," Jonathan says, "what the fuck is that?"

"Fucker," Steve says. He's the butt of too many jokes, then, and he glares at Robin even as she plates him some still-warm pizza.

"Sorry," she mouths.

You curl up on the couch next to Max. He appreciates the unlikely friendship you've formed, sort of a sistership. You only know her through Steve but he genuinely thinks you'd pick her over him, and that makes him like you more.

That's all he does, lately. Finds new ways to fall in love with you.

"That is the ugliest sweater I've ever seen," Max says.

Fucking Christmas.

—

Steve's been in a bad mood since he came downstairs, and you're not okay with it. Despite your shameless meltdown in his bedroom at seeing him shirtless, you don't quit. You spend some time with Max on the couch, and when she seems a little less agitated you track him down.

He's definitely hiding.

"I think Max's glasses are hurting her nose," you say.

Steve looks over his shoulder at you, and he smiles, the slopes of his face kissed by the open refrigerator light. "They'd hurt anyone. The lenses are like, five inches thick."

“Poor girl,” you mumble, more to yourself than him.

He turns back to the fridge and pulls out a two litre of coke. “You want a drink?”

You shake your head. His hair looks incredibly sweet from this angle, and you don’t mean that in a condescending way. It curls toward the bottom of his neck, that tiny bit too long compared to his usual cut. His neck moves as his head swivels, and there’s ligaments, there’s muscle, the bump of his Adam’s apple, all of it commanding attention. You think about stepping forward to touch him, his neck, to curl your finger around the side of his throat and hold him in place. If there’s one thing about Steve lately, it’s that he’s always fucking moving. He can’t sit still. He looks between you and the empty glass in question, twice, a third time.

“I don’t read minds,” he says eventually, near pleading.

You decide some flirtation is in order.

“I’m glad you can’t,” you say lightly, crossing what’s left of the kitchen tile between you to stop at his side. You pretend that you’d wanted a drink, taking a glass down from one of his cabinets so he can fill it for you. Something he could’ve done himself. You hope that’ll be clear enough for him — the blatant want to be close.

It isn’t, unsurprisingly.

“What’s that mean?”

“Well, I think…” You lower your voice,a private confession. “That sometimes what I’m thinking, it might be- Uh, telling.”

Poor Steve. That hadn’t come out anywhere as smooth as you’d anticipated. It’s harder to tell him now you’re confronted with him, his every detail. And Steve, sweetheart, angel Steve, he misses the mark. Forget different pages, Steve’s reading a separate chapter, and your flirtation reads as a deeply unromantic confession.

“Is there something wrong?” he asks.

“No,” you say. “Of course not.”

His eyebrows jump and his forehead crinkles. “You sure?” His protective tone melts into something softer. “Let’s hear it, whatever it is.”

Steve isn’t patient. You know that about him. His temper is short and fierce. You like how hot he runs, love his agitated pouting and his dark-eyed scowls — he’s handsome in every expression.

He isn’t patient, but he tries. He’s kind, and if you wanted to sit and talk about the hypothetical that isn’t bothering you, he’d listen.

“I actually wanted to ask if everything was alright with you,” you say gently.

His hand wobbles, fastening the coke cap. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I’ve noticed you don’t really like Christmas.”

He smiles, and soon the smile catches, a shy lip bite that has you fighting with your hands to keep them where they hang at your sides.

“You got me.”

Steve pushes the twin glasses of coke back and then turns around, resting the small of his back against the countertop. You step in front of him without thinking, head ducked to catch and keep his eyes. They’re such a lovely brown, light and earthy, potted with white dots from the fluorescent kitchen light like falling snow as his eyes slip down. You swear, Steve is looking at your lips.

“Is there something I can do?”

It’s a terrible time to ask because you genuinely mean it, you’re not just trying to cop a feel. He doesn’t smirk or laugh as you’d thought he would, he only smiles.

“Thanks, but I’m good.” He tips his head back, criminal, neck arched and ever-enticing. “Fucking sick of this itchy straight jacket,” he groans, pulling at the collar of his sweater like he’s hot.

He is hot. You’d both benefit from a sudden winter breeze.

His head drops, eyes lit with confusion. “What? Something on my face?”

“Something,” you agree.

You look behind you to check what you’d thought you’d seen was truly there. When it is, you turn back to Steve with a feigned concern. “Here, come step into better light.”

You hurry into the doorway, frowning.

Steve frowns in turn and follows you. You give the game away without meaning to, looking up at the sprig of mistletoe pinned sloppily above you.

He sees it. He lights up. The happiest he’s looked all month, Steve scrubs a hand over his face and into his hair, pushing it out of his eyes as he comes to meet you. Your stomach flips with excitement, because oh shit, he looks like he wants to kiss me.

“Butler, I’m in need of one of your finest cokes, please.”

Oh, no.

Eddie bounces into view with a certified shit-eating grin, hair decorated with tiny metallic baubles. His sweater is surprisingly normal, a black and white knitted affair with reindeer and snowflakes.

He comes to a stop beside you. “What’s happening?”

Don’t look up, don’t look up, don’t look-

“Shit, hey! Mistletoe.”

Eddie opens his arms. You sigh, to his delight, and lean in so he can give you a chaste kiss on the cheek. You try to look at Steve and find your view blocked by a mass of hair.

“Wow, sweetheart. And I thought we were friends,” Eddie says good-naturedly.

You scrunch your hand in his sweater to push him away, not unkindly. Guilt gets the better of you and you pat the place over his heart. “We are.”

He makes a kissy sound and dives in toward your neck. Startled, you squeal, stumbling away from his rabid affection and back into the kitchen. He follows, though he doesn’t try anymore kisses.

“Harrington! I wasn’t joking about the coke. Can I-“

“Help yourself,” Steve says.

He sounds miserable.

—

There isn’t time or opportunity to smooth things over with Steve that night. Actually, a week becomes two, and neither do you kiss nor talk about kissing. You want to explain to him what he probably already knows — you really had been standing there for him, hoping for a kiss, a proper kiss.

He’d looked crushed. You don’t use the word lightly. Steve looked as though somebody had stepped on his chest and pressed all of their weight against his ribs. Frazzled, unhappy. You can’t get the look out of your head, and Christmas doesn’t feel so cheerful with the gap that yawns between you, an icy crevice.

You try to explain and things get in the way. At the video store, you show up with a plate of apology cookies hoping for a second chance and suddenly the radio breaks and gets stuck blaring ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’ like a storm siren. You meet up for games night with a twig of mistletoe in your purse hoping to be a tad more brazen about it and he sits on the opposite sofa, doesn’t take any pee breaks, effectively foiling your plan with inactivity. You ask him out for hot chocolate over the phone and he can’t come.

“My parents are flying home. I gotta pick ‘em up from the airport.”

You don’t know whether he’s lying or not. His parents actually being home feels outlandish. If he is lying, he doesn’t want to see you, and if he doesn’t want to see you…

He doesn’t like you. Not the way you like him.

You worry you imagined the whole thing, his enthusiasm, his starry eyed smile.

So you’re giving it one last shot. If it doesn’t work you’ll spend your Christmas heartbroken and sulking, but if it does you might actually get to kiss him. It’s a huge thing, and your hands are shaking with more than the cold as you bump up the small step to Steve’s front door.

The green wreath hanging below the peep hole jitters as you knock, a fragrant twining of pine and cinnamon sticks.

The door opens all at once.

“Hi,” you say, biting the tip of your tongue. “Hi, I’m, uh-“

The man who’s answered, who you summarise to be Steve’s father despite never having seen him, looks disinterested. “Steve,” he calls. “One of your friends.”

He walks away with nothing else to say, a dark brown liquid lapping at the sides of his small glass. You pull the wrapped box in hand closer to your chest, shifting from one numbing foot to the other as a small tumbling sound comes from upstairs. A pair of hinges squeal, and Steve is halfway down the stairs before he’s even looked up.

He slows as he approaches the bottom.

He’s in pajamas. Sweatpants, nondescript, but his too-tight shirt clearly of the Christmas variety. A snowman smiles over his chest.

“It’s laundry day,” he says.

“Sure.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t go out with you-“

“Steve,” you interrupt, shaking your head. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

“Is that… for me?”

The box in your hands is wrapped modestly. You hadn’t wanted to shove Christmas down his throat, trading reds and greens for a shiny silver paper pressed with fine glitter snowflakes.

“Yeah. It’s for you.”

Steve stares at you. You stare back.

“I’d invite you in, but…” He shakes his head. “Let me get my coat.”

Steve doesn’t close the door, to his father’s annoyance, deep grumbling echoing from the kitchen area. You watch him shove his socked feet into a pair of sneakers and scramble to grab his coat and a scarf.

“Okay?” he asks, stepping out onto the path and closing the door behind him.

You don’t answer, distracted by his hands suddenly held up, the scarf thrown neatly around your neck. He does a single knot and tucks it under your jaw. “Awesome,” he says.

You walk down his street. Hawkins is half woods, and soon you’re weaving between naked trees, no destination in mind, not one unspoken feeling acknowledged between you.

“Why do you hate Christmas?”

It’s just dark enough for Steve’s clouded breath to show against the sky. “I don’t,” he says.

Your footsteps break over leaves so frosted they crackle.

“I mean, I guess I do,” he says. “I don’t know. I think I want it to be better than it is.” He stops under a tree that’s clinging to its last handful of leaves and gives a low-hanging branch a playful shake. “I never enjoyed it, as a kid. Or, I don’t remember. I’m sure I liked it when I was still snot-nosed.”

“So, last year?”

He chuckles warmly. “Exactly.”

You walk a little further, too awkward to hand him his gift.

“I don’t hate it. But it’s cold, and everyone’s rushing, and the bad outweighs the good.” He sounds tired.

He breaks your heart like that.

You stop walking and Steve takes your cue, the two of you toe-to-toe, your sneakers dirty, his socks odd. One white and one grey.

“I got you this because… um, I have something to tell you. I don’t think I can say it out loud, but- but I hope it adds something to the scale.” You extend the box slowly, your fingers stiff with the cold. “You deserve some good. You deserve a lot of good.”

You laugh, flustered, and Steve joins in, chest lifting with it as he accepts his gift.

He rips off the wrapping paper, at first carefully and then less so, shoving little pieces into his pocket as he goes. You take the bigger scraps from him so he can look at the box itself.

Your gift is actually multiple gifts contained inside, and the first isn't technically a gift at all. The Family Video copy of The Christmas Star.

"Is this-"

"I've been meaning to give it back to you. I'm sorry, I know it's not a real gift, I just figured- I mean, you've never seen it. I thought we should watch it, and that you'd like it if you did. Or maybe you'll hate it, and that would be fine too."

He nods and moves to the next gift, lips twitching with an emotion he won't share.

"That's your size, hopefully. I asked Robin but she didn't know. I kept the receipt."

Steve smiles at you. "Would you hold this?" he asks.

You put your hands out and take the box back, worried, but he's only unzipping his coat. Quick as a flash he's shrugging into the sweater head first. It's a simple thing, red wool, soft to touch. A Christmas sweater, though there's no decoration beside a tiny holly leaf embroidered at the collar in dark green.

"This is fucking sweet," he says.

You agree. He looks good.

A shiver racks his spine.

"Put your coat back on, you're gonna freeze," you say gently.

He beams at you. "My dead body will be the best dressed in the morgue."

"Don't joke about that!"

He laughs and gets back into his coat, zip right up to his neck. He still looks cold.

The third present is a gingerbread house kit. The fourth, a sprig of mistletoe. They're obvious now the sweaters in action, and Steve seems mildly confused by them. You leap to explain.

"I thought, I mean- I want a do-over." You tilt your cheek toward your shoulder, scared and fond at the same time. "I wanted you to kiss me. I think you wanted to kiss me, and then Eddie," — you laugh loudly, cheeks burning with the cold — "was being himself. And Steve, I brought that stupid plant with me to Robin's house last week hoping we'd be alone, and to work the week before. But you're hard to pin down."

You take a deep breath before continuing, eyes determined at his collar, "If you don't want to kiss me, that's okay. That's why I brought the gingerbread house, because ours was awesome before it fell apart, and I'm pretty sure Robin gave us a dud on purpose. We made something really cool together, and I think we can do it again."

"I did want to kiss you. I do."

You bite the inside of your lip, nose scrunched up in happiness. "You do?" you ask, and there's this feeling in your chest like you could burst, and all the cold shrinks into nothing. You're warm in your arms, your fingers, your fingertips.

His hand comes up to his face briefly, shielding his eyes. "Am I obvious?"

"Am I?"

His exhale tickles your cheeks. "No," he says breathlessly. "No, you're not."

He says it like it's a good thing. A great thing.

"Everybody else knows," you say similarly.

"I know."

He brings a hand to your cheek. It's cold, cold as your face, but he still winces and rubs at the apple with his thumb. "You're freezing," he says as he inches forward.

His lips are warm. More gentle than you'd imagined, hesitant, and the box you're holding stops him from getting as close as you want him to get. He kisses you once, then he pulls away and kisses you again, his lips slightly parted.

It's better than you'd thought it would be. His palm stroking your cheek, the pressure, the heat. Knowing he wants to kiss you now as he wanted to then.

"No fucking way," he says, tilting his head back.

You tip your head back too. Something wet falls in your eyelashes, a drop of rain.

Not rain. "It's fucking snowing," Steve says.

It's snowing. Because it's Christmas, and the powers that be are on your side.

"Happy Christmas, Harrington," you say jovially.

You're given another kiss in reward. Reward, or to shut you up. You're not sure.

—

Steve is impartial to Christmas. He doesn't want to get into it but he will, because you love it.

The snow — the snow, which had fallen thick and fine as powdered sugar, which you adore, and which makes coming to see you in the days leading up to Christmas near impossible. It's something out of a movie, Steve, seriously, and you need to appreciate what's happening.

The music you play when he comes to see you, records on your record player and cassettes in your tape deck lying on your chest, knee to knee and thigh to thigh with him. Your quiet humming; you won't sing, but the small sounds alone are enough to make him want to kiss you (though everything does now). He can't hate Here Comes Santa Claus when you hum along under your breath, lips skipping over the skin of his bicep, your hand scratching a rhythm into his hair.

Everybody knows Santa's coming, I don't see why they have to have a whole song about it.

Are you jealous? I'll write a song about you. Or maybe I can steal one. You ever hear Santa baby? We can make it Stevie baby.

Christmas music? Not his thing. You calling him baby? Fine, he can get behind it. At least until January.

Christmas sweaters! He fucking hates them. They're ugly, they're scary, he doesn't wanna walk around with a pom pom on his chest thank you so much, but he has to allow them. Has to. If only so he can watch you get dressed with one eye hidden in your pillow and the other wide open. Thank little baby Jesus in the manger for Christmas sweaters so you have something to tuck into your skirt, so you have a reason to wear a skirt at all, and a reason to take one off.

Christmas snacks he can get behind. Or, he can get behind this. You on the couch, a needle threaded in your hand. A bowl of popcorn in his lap, and your face as you lean back.

He throws a kernel and it lands in your open mouth.

You both holler, twin expressions of unadulterated joy, popcorn spilling over the sides of the bowl. You just look so happy, he climbs on knees to steal a kiss. A smiling kiss, the very best kind.

"Aren't you supposed to do this stuff before Christmas eve?" he asks.

"I've been a little busy."

Steve digs his face into your neck so you won't see him blushing, hands curling around your waist in an impromptu hug. Yes, he supposes you have been.

You kiss his temple sweetly.

"Merry Christmas," he murmurs. He really, really means it.

❆

thanks for reading! im so out of practice but hopefully this is okay!! i meant to post it yesterday but anyhow, i hope you enjoyed <3

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charmixpower · 2 years

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What do you think the guys™ do after graduating from Red Fountain???

Like?? "Following my girlfriend around" only makes sense when the Winx are somewhere they can follow, and I can't imagine all of them having "Trophy Husband" as a carrier goal, they can't all be Brandon

What do you think they do?????

They're already way out of their depth in s3 and are only marginally useful in s4 because of a plot convenience. These bitches need lives

Like;

Sky was probably supposed to become some kind of military commander for fighting Eraklyon wars as per his parent's wishes and I think as soon as hes out of his parents grasp he'd ditch that lol. I can see him moving to Domino and helping them move into the new age after being gone for hundreds of years, getting them up to date on the new courtly manners, and all the boring noble stuff that's been smashed into his brain after years and years of tutors. I can see him doing this partly so he doesn't have to deal with the s3 fall out bc lord knows both he and Bloom have avoidance issues a mile wide, partly so he can ingratiate himself to his new in-laws, and partly because his parents planned out his future and he genuinely has no clue what the fuck he's supposed to do with his life now so he's just following the lead of a new royal family. The sheer amount and variety of domestic dragons on Domino is definitely an added bonus (dragons are cool)

Brandon obviously is a-ok being princess Stella of Solaria's Trophy Husband, why do you ask? He'd probably also pick up duty's running the Solarian palace. Hiring people, checking in on certain important duties, helping things get set up for politicians ect in between looking hot for Instagram

Timmy seems like he isn't even supposed to be doing field work. He joined to be an engineer, RF seemed like the best place to do his required basic training at, and just so happened to also be a excellent pilot and keeps!! Getting!! Dragged!! Into these situations that he didn't sign up for. I can see him just going to the engineering job he always wanted to have before the fucking universe started ending once every year. He gets access to all the amazing ships he's always in wanted to get his hands on, and has enough trust from everyone around him because he helped with the defeat of multiple great evils that he can just...steal a good looking ship for the Winx's mission when they need a lift. It's fine. He'll give it back later

Riven would love to go back to field work of like...I'd imagine the job he'd perticually looking for is neutralizing dangerous magical animals?? Like monsters of myth that pop up and attack settlements every now and then. Stop the Kraken/Mastiff/Manticore/whatever nasties obviously live in the magical dimension, but like this guy has fallen off of a tower, gotten murdered, knocked out and thrown into a cage, and then turned into a puppet by an evil bug lady. He doesn't need to be in anymore life threatening situations. I literally cannot see him being happy not doing something tho, so like...go do something that won't get you more injured. Maybe in investigative job or something bc he likes gossip so much idk

Helia could be doing all sorts of things. He could sit down and become a full time artist, filling up galleries. He could stick by Saladin and become a teacher as Saladin is getting pretty old and maybe Helia could take over the school for him. He could work on his magic, I have no clue what he'd do with it but ya know. Maybe an art show but all the art is magic and does weird shit bc Helia has magic and the show weirdly only acknowledges it for his art and I have questions—

Nabu probably becomes a scholar or something. Man's really seems to be into magic mechanics and books. I can see him completely veering off into becoming official court mage after Taboc or whomever steps down. It would be really cool to see magic that doesn't focus on combat or exclusively domestic magic like the Winx primarily use. There has to be magic users who's job it is to stop natural disasters, make it so crops get water, protect magical items, make magical items and other more...chill but just as important magic stuff. I think it would be really cool if Nabu is like fine at combat magic, but his passion lies in more long form magic. Like who ever made that box Valtor stole

I'd love to know what anyone else thinks they do after graduating because "following my girlfriend/fiance/wife around" will not work forever and I want these idiots to have lives

#winx club #rus chatters #winx specialists #winx sky #winx brandon #winx timmy #winx riven #winx helia #winx nabu #winx headcanons

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knightinink · 9 months

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20 pip

OOO YES I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THIS OKAY LET'S GET INTO IT!!!

20. Scars Pip, I think, would have a lot of scars, considering that he is life's doormat, punching bag, etc. He would have scars of all kinds, & each one has a story to tell.

Head Scars Throughout his life, Pip has sustained head injuries on multiple occasions, starting out in England first. He mentioned in his titular s4 ep that, when Estella says they're going to play a game called "smack the blond boy in the head with a large log", that "my sister and I play that game at home all the time!". Getting hit like that multiple times by an (assumedly) heavy hitter would definitely break the skin & bleed him, & if intended, it would be deep enough to scar over. He's got scars from that on the top of his head hidden by his hair, & a few on his forehead, which he covers with his hair as best he can.

He's also cracked his noggin on the concrete! When he went down the slide at recess & smacked right into the swing pole, & then on the ground, it bled him quite bad (as we saw him in nurse Golem's office bleeding profusely).

He was also headbutted during a football game & bled pretty badly, as Chef wouldn't let him wear a helmet during the game. Knowing how hard those helmets are & with Pip being as small as he is, it probably caused a fair amount of damage.

Forge Scars Let us not forget, Pip was Joe's apprentice for a while! & as a blacksmith, he was around many sharp tools & weapons, as well as fire & flying sparks, so it only makes sense that he might get hurt while in there. They would all be accidents this time around, & will be the only time his scars are accidental. Joe would never want his boy to get hurt, & if he does, the man's right there with some first aid. He's got some small burns on his hands & arms, but nothing serious or very noticeable. If he ever grabbed a hot handle, whether it be a tool or something they were working on, it would only be for a second, & Joe would dress it accordingly with some wrappings he keeps in the forge for just such an occasion.

Bite Marks Remember the s1 Halloween episode? Where Pip was turned into a zombie for a short period of time? Well I like to think that he's got a scar from being bitten by zombies on his left forearm & right shin. They're a bit faded, but they did break the skin & bruise at the time of receiving them.

Burn Scars Now these are my favorite ones to talk about, as he received them in both in GE & SP, albeit in different ways, & they're an intergyral part of his character that I love. Keeping with the SP theme, in the s1 episode "Damien", the antichrist set him ablaze in a grand firework show, explosions and all. Since hellfire is hotter than normal, he was burned pretty quickly, despite not having been on fire for long. These were by far his worst injuries, as he suffered 3rd degree burns that scarred from the right side of his face, his lower jaw, trailing down his neck & around his collar bones, down his torso & spiraling around his arms & fingertips, & ending just below his hips. Miraculously, he survived the incident, but he scared all over, & these are the most visible scars he has, & still has as he grows older (I do plan on making a reference of all these scars so I can draw him more consistently).

Thank you so much for sending this in! I love talking about this, & it was a great opportunity to do so!

#pip pirrup #south park headcanons #south park #my askbox

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variousqueerthings · 11 months

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okok i do wanna think about structure and ted lasso, real quick (or not, we'll see) (edit, it was not quick) (edit, okay we'll make a separate post for hypothetical s4) (edit, I have no idea if there are mistakes in this, but fuckit we post!)

I really liked the ending overall (I have some things I disagree with, mainly that nate would want to be kitman again and his relationship with jade, but I will get more into nate on this post!) (edit, I will get more into nate's ending in the s4 post, however other nate stuff is here)

I keep feeling confused about why it was 3 and not 4 seasons, I am charlie day meme about it all -- several characters could've done with more space overall, especially nate, sam, and keeley

so I'm thinking about the 4-season structure

SEASON ONE: introductions + set-up for some of the major storylines. we know rebecca and rupert, we know ted's panic attacks (but not, yet, his family backstory), we know jamie a little better, we know that nate's been bullied but has an opportunity now to change his fortunes, we know that keeley's been floating around and is trying to find her purpose + she and roy are something or other, we know roy's going to retire, so there'll be something about that + a few other things, such as potential narrative development with sam

* SEASON TWO: roy and keeley's relationship continues to develop + they're both on the journey of figuring out who they are individually (which may clash with finding out who they are together), jamie needs to find his way back to the team, we get more about sam and his ideals + the struggle with politics in football, especially through being Nigerian, so focus on exploitation and effects of colonialism on a young Black man playing for an english football team, we discover that ted's father killed himself and he isn't a fan of therapy, nate's newfound power clashes with nobody really dealing with the harassment he faced in the past and so he turns to rupert to get what he considers real power, rebecca genuinely wants the team to succeed off the back of relegation which changes the overall focus, but with the success of the win on a playing level, comes the fallout of personal relationships *deep breath in*

* SEASON THREE: here could be the continued delving into those personal relationships, including times when one needs to cut off a relationship (whether professional or personal or both) and times to remember who matters to you and who you'll be there for, with the episodes ranging between 30-40mins max (except for sunflowers, you can stay at that length) -

a lot of below is similar to what does happen, but with an understanding that they're structured differently, particularly with regards to the ending (which being a hypothetical s3of4 rather than a final season, is filled with uncertainty, rather than wrapped up)

keeley: roy and keeley split up (in second ep not first) because roy is convinced it won't work out, and it affects keeley's start in a new business. as a consequence of not feeling confident on her own two feet + very hurt about roy, she gets into hot water because she hires a past friend and gets romantically involved with her boss. the season ends for her with the friendship, romantic, and business-relationship being ended, but with one character she didn't think was in her corner, sticking up for her -- barbara. rebecca offers some start-up money for a smaller version of the company at the end. her need to have shandy around and unhealthy relationship with jack last the whole season. at the end of it her boyfriend split up with her, and similarly two people she thought she could rely on (her friend and her new gf) made things worse for her, but she discovers who she can rely on, and makes a commitment to being in control of her company and not putting others' needs ahead of her own. the end of season 3 is her bringing the proposal for a women's team to rebecca, but there's another season to come...

nate: we follow nate at west ham as a trainer. as he starts to doubt rupert's intentions and realises that his newfound power has not, in fact, given him confidence, he begins to change his training methods from bullying to taking in some of ted's ways of buoying the team. he dates jade who's suddenly giving him the time of day, but it doesn't work out because he realises that she was never all that nice to him and part of a wider group of people that he let dictate his worth (including his father). he leaves both the team (rupert) and jade, with an expectation that while he doesn't know how he'll get around to it, he will start valuing himself more. this can end on his making amends with will with the locker-room scene, and returning home to his old bedroom, unsure of what will happen in his life now, but at least out of a bad place. rupert bad-mouths him to the press and without nate knowing, this upsets the richmond team and ted especially

sam: sam's narrative with the restaurant and his political narrative start to become more intertwined, like they do on the show, but on a larger scale and slower -- this includes edwin akufo sabotaging his career several times and his hitting an overall breaking point, at which point his dad comes into the picture. again, this builds up slower + are connected, so him not playing for nigeria is tied emotionally to the restaurant being trashed. the team continuously supports him in getting people to the restaurant and start openly backing up his political presence online, perhaps urging other footballers to do the same. they help to rebuild and reopen his restaurant, getting him tons of customers. for now his future is very uncertain, but he knows the others are there for him. near the end of the season he and rebecca have a conversation as well, finally clearing the air between them, so that the breakup isn't just something coming from her side, but sam has some opinion about it and say in how it goes down as well

roy's and jamie's storylines still revolve around their bonding and unpacking Stuff together, and perhaps includes talking about keeley and where they both went wrong + jamie's nerves about eventually playing manchester city again and his dad being there (he finds out at the end of the season that he's in rehab). keeley, roy, and jamie celebrate the mancity win together/we still have them coming to his mother's place, but it's at the end of the season. overall pretty similar, including roy's commitment to go to therapy, but spread out more

rebecca's storyline is still about letting go of wanting to "beat" rupert and ends with bex coming to her, and we have a conversation between them, although we don't know what they'll do yet. I want her to continuously not like zava, despite having hired him, and feel like there's something more she ought to do for the team. at the end she does consider selling, but then final scene is keeley putting the women's team proposal in front of her

ted's storyline is still him floundering between his commitments to the team and wanting to go home, and while he does get it together, it ends with him telling rebecca that at the end of the football season he'll be going home (or it ends on the cliffhanger and s4 begins with them knowing he'll be going home at the end of the season)

colin's storyline still ends with him kissing his boyfriend, except it's at the end of the mancity match, and perhaps there is some focus on this/perhaps it'll affect s4 (I'm on the fence about this as it is meant to be a fantasy, but for this version, which grapples a tad more with the politics inherent in football)

trent's still there to write the book, and as a chronicler gets to still do that meta exposition, and exists even more to comment on the ways things are happening with the various characters, including doubting zava's presence as a good thing. perhaps as a callback to s1 he challenges ted more directly on his lack of passion (because he's torn and unsure), but the difference is that this time he believes in ted, where ted doesn't believe in himself. we also get an episode where he interviews various team-members, because that would be hilarious

beard is still in a rocky relationship with jane, but it's on the outs/not considered healthy. he ends up breaking up with her for good (although she's still in s4 in some capacity/he still thinks about her in s4). he misses the signs that ted isn't totally focused at first, because he's focused on jane, but he and ted briefly have a disagreement (not a falling out, more a "oh hey what's happening there") before both recommitting to the team doing well in the league at the end of the season

overall: the season includes putting zava into the mix, but he stays for most of the season, with people gradually realising (both the team, and the commentators) that he's not actually good for the team as it's been developing thus far, and there's an overarching message of knowing who's got your back (both in the specifics of the storylines, as well as on the pitch). zava perhaps leaves on his own, or ted starts a conversation about getting rid of him that he overrides as if it was his idea, and there's no overall hard feelings. we also meet his wife at some point

the rest of the team get closer throughout, with similar kinds of narratives as what we saw, particularly around colin and isaac

the 3rd season is only half of the league and ends on the mancity match, mirroring the mancity match in s1, with jamie this time scoring that goal and it being a different kind of victory to when he made the extra pass + it overall goes down pretty much the same

the focus of s3 is about various personal relationships that either need to be left behind or re-committed to, whilst ted's preparing for his exit. it sets up the final pieces for s4 to play out

three bigger subjects that are also set up to have more focus in the final season are: racism and homophobia in football, and equal access for women in football -- perhaps we start on a women's match, or with some discussion about the england vs germany win, so there's a sense that this will matter going forwards, and continuously there's reference to women's football in some way

structural changes: a lot of the second half of the show doesn't happen (partially, yet), with several of the earlier season things developing much slower, with nathan leaving west ham + keeley and jack breaking up + shandy blowing up + sunflowers all coming later + zava arrives later and stays for longer, edwin akufo arrives earlier and is centred around sam's storyline, and the restaurant destruction occurs later, along with sunflowers "ultimate football" doesn't begin to happen until late in the season, with the understanding that it will be developed more in s4

where s1 was a structural setup for s2, s3 is an emotional setup for s4

the biggest difference overall is that people leave the season mostly uncertain of their future, except for trent who's kind of a narrator now, and ted. ted knows he'll be going home. everybody else is focused on rebuilding in s4 -- keeley's business version 2.0. having less money behind it but a dedicated team, nate no longer with west ham but back home with his parents, sam's restaurant reopening but unsure of how he'll achieve his dream of being on the Nigerian team, rebecca considering selling the club but suddenly handed a brand new opportunity, roy starting therapy with shannon (as s3 ends for him already), jamie discovering his dad has gone to rehab and not knowing what to make of that information. there's a feeling that certain relationships (jamie, keeley, roy // nate and the team // keeley and rebecca // ted and beard // rebecca and ted) have been pushed aside more or less for things that didn't matter as much, and next season they'll try to make it right

what doesn't happen in this season: nate doesn't return officially to the team in any capacity (yet), he doesn't have an interaction with beard or the rest of the team (yet), he doesn't date jade for that long and we don't have as many scenes of them vs what's happening with him at west ham -- the akufo league isn't proposed, we don't see jamie texting his dad (yet) or reconnecting with him, the last episode doesn't happen (since it's a finale episode)

the mancity episode is still the second-to-last, but the last one has a focus on setting up s4, including nate going to live with his family + apologising to will, sam's restaurant having a grand reopening that everyone comes to, ted telling rebecca he's leaving (or about to tell her), roy starting therapy, bex coming to rebecca about rupert, with the most one-to-one parts being keeley's revamped business and the women's football team proposal shot

what I'm not sure about: michelle's relationship with their therapist -- I didn't really want to see it, but since it was there, I kind of wish it had felt more organic in some way and not just "oh and then they don't get on"

jamie and roy fighting for keeley's attention -- wasn't a big fan of it, especially as it was tacked onto the final episode of the show and so felt a bit out of nowhere, but if it was with an understanding that they both have work to do, then yeah maybe? but also I don't think it's so interesting, so I'd leave it on the cutting room floor, especially for this season

#ted lasso #im watching ted lasso #ramblerambleramble

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tuiyla · 1 year

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Thoughts on Faith in BtVS S4/AtS S1, Tara and Anya?

Oh good timing! I was just thinking about how I'm yet to note how much I enjoy Anya's character. So let's start with her. I don't have a ton to say apart form really enjoying her bluntness and the refreshing presence she brings to scenes. It felt a little strange when they started humanizing her and making her part of the group but she's charming, and though I don't think the Xander relationships bodes well for her I want good things for Anya. I vaguely remembered references to her as one of the Scoobies but then she appeared and I was like, surely this isn't the same character? It's an interesting route but I can see why they kept her on. Anya really is a delightful presence and I'm glad she's a series main now and in the opening credits.

Then, Tara. I don't think enough has happened with her so far for me to really have much to say. I like her and look forward to whatever reveal is coming about her backstory, based on the deliberate sabotage of a spell earlier on and whatnot. She might be a tiiiiny bit too bland so far but Oz wasn't the most exciting ch either. I can take or leave shy characters, now that Willow is more assertive than her high school self the balance works out. I do wish she had, just, more, but hopefully we'll get to see more of her before, well, you know. Because it would feel especially cheap if they just buried her without properly flashing her out first. I know she's a fan favourite and I understand, I just hope she gets more in the series, possibly outside of Willow. Her scene with Dawn in s5ep2 was sweet, maybe more of that.

And Faith, oh Faith. The bodyswap episode was great but I have a bit of the same problem with Faith's heel-face turn as I did with her face-heel turn. As in, the spiral there felt a little too fast and too intense with no going back, and here she descends into darkness once again when appearing on Angel before coming right back up. And look, her scene with Angel is great, the breakdown is effective, the following ep good at showing how it's gonna be a process. I do think her, sigh, sexual assault of both Riley and Buffy, coupled with her previous aggression towards Xander is very unfortunate, to say the least. I still like her and want to see her fight on the side of the good guys but it was impossible to support women's wrongs there. Still, she was hot as always and had some great scenes in Buffy s4, and finally peaked and turned back in Angel s1. I guess my main gripe is now she barely has any eps left, as IMDb might have told me, and this is just when we'd need her on Angel. The scene with her and Angel at the end of s2ep1 was very, VERY sweet and it's cruel that they're giving me that only for, what? For Faith not to return until season 4, is it? Or Buffy s7? That's just cruel.

Sigh, okay, I have more thoughts and feelings on Faith than what could be expressed here but I'll try in subsequent posts. Everyone knows I went into Buffy wanting to be obsessed with Faith and I am, I'm just also a little frustrated with how her ch was handled at times. And now that we're at the real juicy bits where she could become who she was meant to be, she'll barely have a few episodes to do so. We need a full season of Angel where Faith is an on and off presence, being sponsored by Angel and all. Goddamn. I guess I'll just have to read the comics.

#i'm frustrated with faith because i love her #and want better for her #bothersome when she'd decentered in what is ostensibly her story or at least substory #buffy asks #btvs #anon #faith lehane #the hell are the other two's surnames i was thinking about this today #anya jenkins #tara maclay #thanks tv tropes

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jojameswinter · 10 months

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I love crimson & clover, and I’m excited to see where you do take it. I do thinks Kiara forgets in the show just how different her and JJs lives are. What seems to consider his freedom, lack of pressure and ability to choose what to do… these are more accurately the result of abandonment, no guidance, low self worth, and a lifetime of assumptions about him because of his name (Pope and Kie in every season make comments about “being JJ” that are related to negative actions). Even a lot of his criminal choices (stealing, breaking in etc) are a result of not having food and shelter.

I totally agree that JJ doesn’t know how to navigate these family tensions, but I don’t know if Kie has realised that to him even an ounce of affection would be worth fighting for. Even in s3, when she visits him and gets so upset at the look comment (which I understand is upsetting for various reasons) but to stand in clean clothes, fed and having been welcomed home, in front of someone with nothing but what they’re wearing - that reveals the gaping disconnect between her interpretation of an equal struggle and reality.

Plus, she seems resistant to telling him what she needs or expects, but is quick to point out what she doesn’t like.

I’m not sure how/if this’ll help with crimson and clover, but yeh… just my 2 cents!

OMG what invigorating and insightful thoughts you've laid out!!! So much to think about; love your introspection!

It's interesting; in earlier seasons we aren't sure what exactly the Pogues know or how aware they are of the extent of things. Like how horrified they are during the hot tub scene, it kinda seems like one: maybe it's escalating in real time, and/or two: it's the first time they're starting to realize how bad it really is. I know that's one glaring hole that the fandom has spoken about - just that there's not a lot of discussion/acknowledgement surrounding JJ's traumatic home life and the Pogues.

But by season three, there's a palpable shift at least from Kie to acknowledging JJ's trauma and wanting to be there for him. Yes, there is a certain layer to it that she may not ever understand, but she definitely seems like she tries to and wants to, in my opinion. I love how she just continually reminds him they'll handle it together, she loves him, she'll help him, etc. because she's not saying she knows his experience - simply that she's always there for him no matter what, that he's worth loving/deserves to be happy. Her patience with his behavior S3, knowing he was just pushing her away because of his trauma, was the most beautiful display of unconditional love. It actually makes me so feral thinking about it 😭

This: "but I don’t know if Kie has realised that to him even an ounce of affection would be worth fighting for." ksjdfskd yes, JJ has a totally different view when it comes to wanting affection/love from a parent, however destructive it may be. But I think it's so interesting for both of them to weigh what's healthier/what should happen in terms of cutting ties vs. trying to mend fences. LOTS to unpack there!

Regarding her not explaining her needs - I really think she was trying not to put that on JJ right now. I think she's trying to be the strong one and help him shoulder the weight of it all, and genuinely just be there for him without expectation or agenda. But I really hope to see her allowing him to shoulder some of her pain as well/receiving some comfort/having her needs met in S4. Hopefully I can portray some of that in this fic! 😬 I know we've said before, it's JJ's turn to show more affection and how much he loves Kiara. Yeah, we got some of him pining S1-2, but S3 was very much focused on Kie's affection for him.

AND LISTEN THIS HAS HELPED ME SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!!! The analyzing and discussion gives me SO MUCH INSPIRATION - I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR YOU AND YOUR SUPPORT!!!! ❤️

#god we really could write novels on jj and his trauma couldn't we #some of it's the writing and a lot of it is rudy #the show really wants to give them meaty backstories #but then we get the gold instead of more follow through #crossing fingers for S4 #jiara #ask #my asks #lovely anon #diana answers #crimson and clover #jiara fic #jiara fanfic #jiarafic #obx3 #obx4 #jj maybank #kiara carrera

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felikatze · 2 years

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Hello again, I'd love to here more about Harumi and Sensei Garmadon, they sound really cute and fluffy!

hello again to you too~ late response cuz you caught me just as i was heading to sleep last night, whoops

havent intensely thought abt green swap in a hot second but!!! garmadon and harumi!!

for one, you are right, they are cute and fluffy. that found family dynamic, ykno?

on the other hand...

so, at like, s3, s4, that point, sensei g pretty much adopted harumi, and harumi is thrilled abt it cuz he's cool, but, at the beginning, they really only click cuz the other is what they "want" in a sense

see, harumi's motivation for finding the serpentine was distracting herself from her grief over her parents. and this plays a lot into my perception of canon harumi, too. i think she never quite got over that loss in canon too, and one of her big reasons for summoning garmadon isnt just revenge. she's also projected onto him as a pseudo parental figure for herself, hence the whole "what about a daughter?" scene from s8. she's still craving the parental affection she was robbed of.

with less time for this to fester, and much different circumstances behind her parents' deaths, she again latches onto garmadon as a replacement for her own parents

and garmadon is happy to oblige, cuz he misses lloyd, basically. in this AU, the ninja never find lloyd, so he's just Out There for a bit. Lloyd cant find garmadon and garmadon cant find lloyd and they both miss each other a ton.

when wu breaks garmadon out of the realm of madness to rescue harumi, he has way less emotional stake in it. but he still does it, cuz he sees a scared kid and just... can't help himself. initially, it is very much the affection for lloyd he never could live out, redirected. projection on both sides lmao.

for what i imagine s2 here, that's where harumi really starts seeing good in him. cuz, even if he's possessed by the overlord, even if he is the lord of evil, someone willing to storm a volcano for some random kid can't be all bad. harumi refuses to believe that.

and for sensei g, this girl believing in his inherent goodness is what finally saved him.

we have a selfless act in s1 stacking up with a selfless act in s2, so when s3 comes and the two have to stick together for weeks, they're inseperable after.

once they can get to know each other as people, the element of projection also lessens, and the two start on processing their grief, one step at a time.

(of course, lloyd is still alive, but hey, garmadon doesn't know that.)

and after all that, you get a scene from a fic i really should finish!! (thank you lloydweek for providing incentive for me to do so. i see the prompt trust/betrayal and i yell GREEN SWAP TIME BABEY)

it's still Rough tho i need to rewrite it lmao. hence all lowercase cuz i'm lazy. anyway.

---

"I can only imagine the kind of person he grew up to be." garmadon's eyes shine with pride. "if he's anything like you, then that's enough."

"like me? how am i good?"

"you're helping me now, aren't you?" he ruffles her hair the way her dad used to. "you're a kind girl deep down, harumi. kind, and smart, and inquisitive, and brave."

he stares ahead. harumi stares at him. "i'm sure lloyd will love a sister like you."

harumi is silent. dazed. her mind is spinning.

garmadon turns back to her and the moment ends. "i apologize. that was presumptious of me."

harumi holds an image in her mind. of herself, garmadon behind her. next to her, a rambunctious blond boy. all three of them smiling.

a happy family.

"i'm..." why do words fail her again now? "i'd love a brother like lloyd, too."

garmadon beams. harumi allows a small smile to creep through.

#Feli gets asked #green swap au #ninjago #I NEED TO FINISH THE S3 FIC #i'm gonna finish it for lloydweek i PROMISE #somebody hold me to that

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wikiangela · 1 year

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finally watching 911 lone star 4x04

finally a good tarlos/carlos episode, the last three their storyline was so fucking boring 😂

all my thoughts while watching under the cut! spoilers ahead!

okay, the first 3 minutes are already far more exciting than their entire storyline through the first three episodes altogether, and I'm loving it haha I cannot fucking wait to see it unfold 😍😍 it's the most invested I've been in carlos' storyline since s3 finale lmao (and he's my fave character - so glad they're stepping it up rn haha)

I know the FBI lady from something and I need to look it up finally because it's bothering me 😂

"do you have to take it" "it's my son" awww I miss their relationship, I wanna see more this season

okay, so I accidentally saw a bit of a spoiler about that scene, and that people were mad about Owen's advice here? but like... it's a good advice? 😂 like, he told TK to give Carlos space and let him reach out first whenever he's ready, it's not unreasonable, since they both have no idea what's really happening, and TK just thinks Carlos is with Iris 😂 and like, yeah he basically hung up on him, because the fucking FBI were literally rushing him wtf, I'm not Owen's biggest fan either (tho he looks so fucking hot this season I'm not even that mad that he gets so much screen time lol) but jfc he's not always the worst 😂

shit, Carlos' situation is stressing me out but it's so exciting 😍

aw, not TK blaming himself 😭😭

"it's not entirely legal, but it's not entirely illegal either" thank god for Grace 😂

like, I'm sorry, it is all very stressful and I'm worried for Carlos (well, not really, I know he's gonna be fine 🙄) but I just can't help but laugh bc the dynamic between the serial killer and his mom is lowkey so funny 😂 - sometimes I laugh more at lone star than at actual comedies istg 😂

while I generally really don't mind Owen's screen time all that much anymore (I actually enjoyed him in s3 and now in s4 so far, and I like O'Brien's actor) - this is supposed to be Carlos' episode, pls fuck off Owen lol

Carlos' parents!! yaaay! I'm loving this episode

"I'm a fireman, our codes are like: fire" 😂 Owen has been hilarious since s3 and it's the main reason I don't mind him that much anymore 😂 (also, seriously, why does he look so good, is he like... less annoying or something? why am I noticing it this much this season jfc)

we're getting protective and worried TK!!! 🥺🥺😍

omg TK is literally right there!!! oh my god I'm gonna cry

I love Gabriel so much, I'm so happy we're seeing him, and that he's on the case - if anyone's gonna find his son, it's him (I hope lol)

that police officer didn't just turn away like that... 🤦🏻‍♀️ like, you're looking for a missing person, you hear even the least suspicious thing, you should check it out, right? 😂 idk, lmao

they found out who the murdurer is kinda quickly and easily, and it's almost the end of the episode 😂 idk why I expected more, this is not really that kinda show, but I just binged criminal minds so I guess subconsciously I kinda connected that to the serial killer and expected more? 😂 idk, still loving this 😂

YAS GABRIEL AND TK ARE HERE!!

it's so dramatic, and like, yeah, he's dying, but like, I would be so much more worried if we didn't see photos from next episodes, and, like, Carlos and TK in suits/tuxes or whatever 😂😂

like, I loved this episode, but like, with all the promo stuff for the season, there's like no stakes when it comes to tarlos because obviously they're gonna be okay? 😂 imo they kinda fucked up with the promo because there's no suspense sns 😂

I hate that Owen isn't answering TK's calls, because, like I said, I miss their s1 relationship, but also, he has a valid reason - but then again, it is his fault he got himself into that mess 😂 I just want wholesome dad-son moments between TK and Owen pls, I'm a sucker for parent-child relationships 😭

I was about to say that I hope this FBI/whatever the name of the gang is storyline is over, but apparently not....

and that's the last scene? no Carlos? if the next episode doesn't show us Carlos in the hospital bed with TK next to him, I'm gonna be so disappointed

now that the serial killer thing is done, I hope we'll see more of the 126 again - please I am begging you, give Marjan and Paul and Mateo and Nancy some fucking storylines, PLEASE (and can Iris like, leave? like, I don't dislike her, but she's so whatever 😂)

anyway, this might've been the best episode so far, it was great, I enjoyed it - tho, like I said, no tension or suspense because they fucked it up by the promo stuff 😂 if they kept us in suspense about later episodes, if we had no idea if the wedding was gonna happen, if there was even a hint of a possibility that they'd kill Carlos off, this episode would hit so much more fr

still, I really liked it, I love the focus on Carlos, and Gabriel was there, and we got worried TK, it was great 😅

looking forward to the next one! (not really "can't wait" somehow this season isn't really keeping me waiting for the next episode eagerly idk, I just want some other team members to get some storylines pls)

#I feel like this season is kinda weak ngl haha #like I'm enjoying it but also it's not amazing?#911 ls season 4 #911 ls 4x04 #911 ls #911 ls spoilers #911 lone star spoilers #911 lone star #thoughts while watching #episode commentary

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silverdecepticon93 · 3 years

Text

Aussie Allure

*Gif is not mine

Dolly's Note: The reader is kinda based off of a DC OC I have but I am going to say right away that the reader is an Aussie because they're the child of Captain Boomerang and therefore, why they have an accent. I also wrote YJ Wally because I miss him and S4 is almost upon us.

(Y/n) Harkness, also known as Cadet Boomerang, was just like their father. They were snarky, they were full of themselves, and they couldn't be trusted under any circumstances because they only are concerned with themselves and their next con. Yet, they had a certain allure to them, one that not even a former sidekick could deny.

"Didn't know you were back from Australia." A voice spoke out from behind.

You stopped shoving jewelry into the tiny burlap bag in your hands and raised you head, only to smirk a little when you heard the familiar voice before you turned around, skillfully throwing the sack over your shoulder and tilting your head slightly at the sight of your long-time rival.

"Hah, I was wonderin' where the welcomin' committee would show up," You sneered as you placed a hand on your hip, just in case you had to grab one of your concealed weaponized boomerangs.

Leaning on one of the decorative pillars in the jewelry store, Kid Flash had his arms crossed as he stared at you with his green eyes that held a similar mischievous twinkle that was shared in your (e/c) eyes.

"So, Cadet," He began, emphasizing your title before he kicked himself off the wall and began to walk towards you, "do you still think you can outrun this speedster?"

"Oi, mate, I dun' need tah outrun ya," You smirked as you took out a boomerang and threw it at him, "I jus' need tah outsmart yah!"

Wally quickly ducked and tried to run over at you but once your boomerang hit the pillar he was standing, it soon began to split into multiple boomerangs and soon, there was a mess of them ricocheting all over the place. The sound of glass breaking and the whizzing of them confused and flustered Wally as he tried to find all of them and catch them, meanwhile, you were calm in the eyes of boomerang hurricane you just made and made your grand escape. Once Wally managed to collect them all, silently wondering to himself you managed to fit twelve boomerangs into one, he began to scan inside the store to search for you and naturally, you weren't there, which made him frown but soon grin.

"Alright, looks like the chase is on, (Y/n)." He said to himself.

Meanwhile, already managing to climb up to the rooftops of a building and running and jumping from one obstacle to the next to get as much distance as you could, you couldn't help but snicker to yourself as you remembered the shocked look on the face of your yellow adversary. Man, looks like he got slow during your time back in Australia, but at least you were back to help him get back on his mojo.

"You know, it really amazes me just how many trick boomerangs you have. Like, where do you ever find the time to make them between the stealing and the jail time?" His voice boasted, breaking you out of your thoughts.

You gasped in surprise when you saw him, once more cockily leaning against a water tower on top of the building you were on, and soon your amused grin became a scowl.

Okay, so maybe he hadn't gotten slower.

"Ya found me quicker than I thought." You muttered, your tone a mix of disappointment and irritability.

"Yeah, I bet you're rethinking the whole I dun' need tah outrun ya, I just need tah outsmart ya thing right now, aren't you?" Wally mocked, mimicking your accent.

It made you roll your eyes but your former grin soon began to grow on your mouth before you reached out for a new boomerang.

"No wuckas, mate, I ain't a Galah who just has only one plan. I've got heaps o' tricks like how 'Straya has emus." You responded.

Wally merely squinted his eyes at you, his brain trying to decode what exactly you were even saying and if it was even English before he simply said: "Yeah, I don't...What?"

You sighed and shook your head before you put it in more American terms, "I'm kickin' yer arse one way or anothah, you doofus."

"We'll see about that." He grinned, now running over to you.

Soon, you were in the center of his hurricane, flashes of yellow and red surrounding you and trapping you in a circle, and while the shock did overtake your body, it didn't last for your long as you grabbed the boomerang and threw it over at the streak, but, of course, it went through.

"Hah! Ya missed me!" His voice echoed around you.

"1...2...3..." You counted to yourself, and soon, multiple boomerangs came back to you, hitting from different directions that not even Wally could've even forseen.

Falling to the ground after being hit by one of them, Wally watched as you placed multiple boomerangs back into...wherever you were putting them in the first place.

"Really? You have another boomerang that just has more boomerangs in it? Seriously, how do you do that!?" He groaned, trying to get up.

"Aussie secret, mate." You shrugged with that same playful grin on your face.

"Sure it is," He scowled before finally recovering from the attack and standing up to his feet, "but secret or not, you're still going to jail and you're still going to bring back that sack of jewelry back to that store."

"Am I?" You sneered, "an' whose gonna make me? Cuz it can't be you, mate, not when ya gotta save all those people below."

Wally furrowed his brows when he heard your words before he heard a loud crack of something behind him and turned around. The water tower he was formerly leaning on, two of the wooden legs were busted and it was about to fall over. While it was clear that the water damage was going to be through the roof, both literally and figuratively, the bigger problem was that the mini-tower itself was going to fall onto the sidewalk and Wally was sure that it wasn't going to be good for the civilians or the traffic below it.

But how did you even manage to bust the legs when-

Oh, right...the boomerangs.

"Quite the dilemma ya got here, speedy, seems like we're both in a hurry." You mocked before you finally began to run away from him, meanwhile, he glared after you before running down the building and quickly grabbing as many civilians as he can before the tower itself fell, he wasn't sure what he do about the cars so he tried his best to grab as many people from them as he could and put them at a safe distance before the tower fell.

However, as he was helping the last few civilians out of their cars, he watched as the tower was soon going to crash right into the middle of traffic and yet, there was still so many people he had to save, but just before it hit, it exploded. Launching pieces of fiery wooden debris everywhere and while cars were dent and some windows were broken, there didn't seem to be any extra damage to any of them or the people around them. At least, not any physical damage. Wally frowned when as he tried to piece together what exactly he saw.

First the water tower fell, but then it didn't, it just exploded. But what could've made it explode if-

"OW!" He hissed in pain when he felt something hot and heavy on his foot.

Jumping back and looking down, he was surprised to see half of damaged and burnt boomerang, and while it took a while for his brain to process, his mouth began to contort into another smile before he looked up at the rooftop where the water tower formerly was. You were probably long gone by now but as you were running to the safe-house you were established in with the rest of the Central City rogues, you smiled to yourself as you thought about how your opponent wouldn't let you live down this one good deed the next time you met, but that's fine. You'll just have to remind him that while you weren't heartless, you were far from an angel.

You were a criminal, looking out for yourself, but occasionally doing what you could to prevent any unnecessary damage.

And maybe that was all apart of your allure.

Who knows?

#I Only Date Heroes #Yikes sorry if this was bad #I just needed something to help me get into the writing mood.#Wally West x reader #Wally West x you #Kid Flash x reader #Kid Flash x you #Younger Justice x reader #Young Justice x you #Dc x reader #Dc x you

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beautifulterriblequeen · 3 years

Text

The Thief and the Tinker, Part 4: Circles and Cycles

part 3

Part 4

Viren: *smirks and plinks Runaan's coin to Ethari*

Ethari, furious: You throw another Moonshadow at me and I'm gonna lose it.

Circles and Cycles

Angst rating: 8/10

Back to Ethari, because we're not done with him yet. Ethari is soft, but he isn't weak. He won't be a willing pawn for Viren. He loves Runaan to the point of invention, and his devotion is more constant than the moon itself. He'll agree to do what Viren says, and he'll be Very Sad. But his spirit is in no way broken. Viren bribing him with the coins containing his family will only have the opposite effect. It'll give Ethari something to fight for.

We could get Focused Chaos Ethari. We could get Angery Trickster Ethari. We could get Rules, What Rules? Ethari. Let him try to steal the coins, try to break them, try to kill Viren, and be stymied at every turn, until he settles and seems cowed. And then all he does is craft his way out of the problem.

What if we are gifted with Iron Man Elf Ethari, who pretends to build a fake Key for Viren, but meanwhile he's really building a coinbuster with whatever he can get his hands on - primal stones, magically imbued gemstones, stolen artifacts, his own arcanum, his own reputation as the Master Craftsman of the Silvergrove. He'll use almost - almost - anything, to stop Viren and free his family.

Ethari may have to choose between those two things, though. And he's a hero, deep down, just like his family, just like his daughter. If he has to choose, he'll choose to stop Viren and save Xadia. He'll pay the same price as his family has if he must.

He'd let Viren think he was motivated purely by wanting his family back, but Ethari is far too steeped in the illusion and sacrifice for that to be all there is to his motives. It's a so-close-and-yet-so-far thing, how he and Viren almost embody the same ideals. Almost. Ethari would take one look at Viren, who just burnt down his whole Forest, he'd see the biggest threat in Xadia, and he'd say anything to get a chance to stop this juggernaut of destruction from getting his hands on whatever that ultimate power really is, locked behind that missing key. If he has to abandon his people and bawl his eyes out to convince Viren he's in, then he will.

And Viren wouldn't make it easy for him. He knows clever when he sees it. He went through all this trouble to persuade Ethari to work with him. He would need to keep Ethari as off-balance as possible to ensure that he keeps working as he should.

Angsty jewelry, anyone?

Viren giving Ethari his husband in pendant form to remind him what he's working for, when Viren and Ethari both know full well that only dark magic can open the hellcoins. Ethari wearing another pendant of his love, except it's not a metaphor this time. It's literally his love, in a coin around his neck.

Viren would love making Ethari stay close to him of his own free will if he ever hoped to free Runaan. Making people bind themselves to you is a big power flex. Remember that TDP stream future-season teaser note about Bait being in a creepy restraint in a future season?

This card is written on in all-caps, so that really could be "Bait" or "bait," or--knowing this show--both. Viren's been using Runaan as bait for Ethari all along. Putting his coin in a dark magic pendant casing for Ethari to wear would be a great parallel for that. Oh god. Oh man.

Maybe he'll stab the coin's scary casing right through that circle on Ethari's chest, right over his heart, make that Iron Man reference really obvious. Ethari also losing his shirt at some point, for angsty Viren-related reasons? It's more likely than you think. I mean... Ethari is literally involved in both forms of forging at this point. Shirt's gotta come off for uhhhh work reasons. And because he's hot. Because of all the forging. Mmhmm. I mean how else are we finally going to discover what his markings look like this is research I swear

I mentioned that I liked god-tier villains, right? Yeah, this is amazing. I haven't wanted to die and ascend over an idea for quite a while, but Ethari vs Viren in a drawn-out battle of wills would kill me in the best way. Especially since, while it looks like they're essentially fighting for who gets Runaan, they're truly fighting a much larger battle with much higher stakes. They're fighting for the future itself. It's an epic struggle between the Narrative of Strength and the Narrative of Love. And we've seen what happens, over and over, when the Narrative of Strength gets to call the shots.

On a meta note: If Ruthari's story arc isn't a love letter from one trauma survivor to another, and on a broader scope to all survivors who see it, I don't know what is. Sometimes life just chews us up and spits us out and we can't stop it and it breaks us. But sometimes we can reach out and grasp the chance to help each other, even after that, even when it hurts a lot, because we know what it means to be loved, and to love, and to want a safer future for each other and for people we'll never meet. The future is worth standing together for, helping each other back up for, fighting side by side for, even if you can't see how it'll end, or even how to begin. We are stronger together, and sometimes we need to fight for our "together" before we can fight for anything else. And that's worth it, every time.

This is glorious, it's beautiful, it's tragic, it's amazing, it makes me want to dance, it makes me want to scream into the void, it makes me want to slap someone with a semi truck. No, someone specific, don't worry, and he super deserves it.

Because Ethari is going to win. He was always going to win. He's soft, and he's clever, and he hasn't forgotten what love means. It's what he's fighting for. Not power, not control. Love. He doesn't want to dictate Runaan's future or anyone else's. He just wants his husband--and everyone else--to have one at all.

So he's going to win.

What thwarting Viren looks like, I couldn't possibly guess. TDP is no stranger to angst, so there will probably be a high cost involved in outwitting the dark mage. Maybe not everyone can be rescued from the coins. Maybe Ethari will lose his life, or his soul, or his vision, or something else really angsty. Viren could even kill him and resurrect him as a smoky craftsman, or a zombie craftsman, or something equally biddable but horrible. The only thing I'm sure of is that Ethari would never willingly make a working Key of Aaravos Ethari as long as there's a chance Viren could possess it. But I do believe that if he gets the right opportunity while he's busy saving the world from Viren's dark intentions, he'll break his husband's hellcoin open somehow and set him free, even if he has to smile at the devil to do it.

Ethari understands the difference between "you can" and "therefore you should." He might sacrifice his own world to save his husband, but he'd never sacrifice someone else's world. That's one of the Moonshadow cultural limits I've noticed: they accept boundaries when it comes to other people's autonomous rights, especially regarding life and death.

These limits could get pushed. Ethari will be under great duress and emotional strain if he goes through this kind of interaction with Viren. And maybe he will choose some dark things. Everyone else has. But I'm placing all my eggs in the basket labeled "Saved By Love." Either I'm right, or I'll get the best angst omelets in the universe. And I do love omelets. A villain invented them, you know. ;)

Another support for Ethari not making the key for Viren: the real Key exists!

Callum has it right now. The plot doesn't need Ethari's key (yet? ever?), but it does need Ethari to learn what he's made of, to stand up for something, or against something, or both at once. And once he learns what he will and won't do and the universe has rewarded his discovery with the return of his beloved husband then Ethari will be ready to take on whatever else the plot has in mind for him.

Depending on the plan, all of these events could happen in S4, as a setup for even bigger things to follow. Viren's wishes can be thwarted here and the show's overall tension will only continue to rise. It would let Ethari flex yes pls his skills so we know who he is, it would show how driven Viren can be for a long-term goal, it would let Claudia saunter further downwards, it would reveal some human/Moonshadow history, and it would resolve the seasons-long tension regarding Runaan's fate, allowing for the cycle of speculation, feels, angst, and Ruthari fanart to begin again. ;) Viren would need to find another way to pursue his long-term goal. And Callum's Key will get a little more clarity on just how important it is to the fate of the world - which will make everything he does, and everyone he talks to, and anyone who knows what he's carrying, intensely important.

Nyx is gonna steal it isn't she, omg chaos birb

To Viren, Ethari was a main course, meant to be devoured and consumed in his lifelong quest for something that will finally satisfy. But to Ethari, Viren was just empty calories to be passed over in favor of ordering his perennial favorite dish, one more time.

Once Ethari escapes Viren's clutches with as much of his family as he can rescue, Viren may turn back to looking for the real Key, especially if someone's seen it recently. Hunting a kid probably seems easier than hunting a full-grown Moonshadow craftsman who just outsmarted him. okay so maybe Nyx stealing it would be a good thing and save Callum's life

Ethari could go on to help repair the Sunforge, or rebuild the Moonhenge, or work on constructing Moonshadow villages in Katolis if he hasn't been ghosted for abandoning everyone after the forest fire. He might build magical devices for any number of reasons, to help all kinds of characters. Hopefully, wherever he goes, he'll have Runaan with him, in some way, for at least a little while. Cycles be like, and I feel like Runaan will not want to remain still for long, for whatever reason. Does he need revenge, atonement, justice, a new body, to find Rayla, to find Ezran? He'll be back in action as soon as he can, I think.

Okay, but, I'm so soft at the thought of a scene where Runaan and Ethari come before King Ezran. The husbands tried to save their people Runaan's way, the old way, and it only continued to endanger them. Following the cycle, as Moonshadows do, was the wrong move. But the son of the last human Runaan killed reached out with mercy and broke a thousand years of suffering and sorrow and hatred. Ezran did what Runaan couldn't: he saved the Moonshadow elves from total destruction. And that, more than anything else in the world, could soften one very broody assassin's heart toward humans again.

What would Runaan do, if his heart truly changed toward humans? What would he say to Ezran? I could see him struggling for a long moment before dropping to one knee to pledge his heart as he once had to do before the Dragon Throne. He doesn't know any other way but to serve. Ezran, reading the whole room and everyone's feelings before he tells Runaan that No, we don't do that here. That he's free, and free means free. No chains, no oaths. Just trust and friendship. He should get to make his own decisions for a change, even though that can be hard and scary sometimes. Runaan being genuinely scared, because that's too much freedom. But he's not alone. He has Ethari, and Ezran, and Rayla, and Callum, and their people, and their allies. And no matter what else happens, the people of Katolis - elven and human - will find a way forward. Together.

part 5

#tdp #tdp theory #tdp speculation #tdp parallels #tdp angst #heavy angst #viren #ethari #runaan #moonshadow elves #hopepunk #ezran #runaan's super getting a tart of jelly tm

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lunaekalenda · 3 years

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Ooo I was thinking of a 👯‍♀️ with S4 Jean (during the timeskip) (tragiccomedia + 😂and 😏 if you want ⚔️) where he likes Mikasa and she likes Levi and they're both doing it coz they wanna get over ppl and he's open abt his feelings for Mikasa to her, she tells him who it's Levi a bit later or maybe he asks and guesses and his reaction is kinda shocked but then later kinda gets it? Idk,you can decide wht his reaction is, thts just kinda an idea. (ps, maybe she transfers frm the military branch or sth so she's a bit older so there's no issue with the age thing and she's over 18 whn she meets Levi but still young enough tht she's friends with the 104th) I rly want an actual conversation between them abt tht and maybe her and Levi get together in the end and Jean's rly excited for her. I just want them to be idk bestfriends tht occasionally fuck and maybe he develops a little crush once but thts not there anymore. Bonus if after the convo Jean teases her or fangirls everytime there's literally any interaction between her and Levi. Bonus bonus! if Jean finally gets over Mikasa or finds someone else too.

This was so long and detailed, I'm so sorry 💀

ofc! i hope you like it and thanks for participating! <3 sorry for all the mess jhjaj ah <3

jean x female!reader, levi x female!reader, mikasa x jean

implied sex, nudity, suggestive content.

writing this listening to role-play by astro <3 also lmao the ship names Levyn and Yevi are supposed to well yk how this works sorry in advance for the cringe on the written version

"Love is just a fucking time-waist." he says. He gets up lazily and walks to the bathroom. You strengthen your body on bed, the sheets moving softly against your bare body. He comes back after a couple minutes, as naked as he went, and takes his place by your side. Your body searches his hot one, and his arm finds your waist. You like his attention.

Even when this is just sex without feelings, he keeps cleaning you sweetly after every round, giving you attention and treating you like a queen. He’s your best friend, after all. A best friend with whom you occasionally fuck. Nothing more.

“It is.” you agree with him. He sighs.

“Hm. But, you never told me why you agreed to have this.” he says. You turn around, facing him. His hair is a mess and his hazel eyes shine with curiosity when he looks at you. He’s so different to him. A different type of beauty, a different type of charm. Jean’s features are more rough, even when he keeps being really attractive. His body is enormous and well-defined. He has an easy personality, he’s extroverted and friendly.

Levi, on the other side, is introverted. He remains silent if he doesn’t have nothing interesting to say. His traits are sharper, his body finer and more elegant.

“I told you I like someone out of my reach.” you say. Jean raises a brow.

“You know who I like, I should know who you like.” he teases you. He’s joking, he always insists a couple times, but then changes the conversation theme. It’s true that, lately, he has been more cuddly and sweet to you, even when he was all a gentleman before.

“I think it’s time to talk about it, then.” you sigh, sitting in bed. You try to cover every part of your body with the sheets, and you feel Jean’s curious gaze. “It’s Levi.”

“Wait, the Captain? That Levi?” he asks, sitting. You cover your face, all blushed, with your hands.

“How many other Levi are here, Jean.” he laughs. It’s true, there’s only a Levi. Levi Ackerman, the captain of the Special Operation squad. It’s true that you entered really young to the Corps, training hard, entering his Squad when you turned 18. Two years later, all this people appeared, making a new squad next to you, under Levi’s commands. You’re just a couple years older, Jean is now on his 20 while you have almost 22. Levi suffered from insomnia. That’s why he was always on the kitchen when it was dark night, drinking a cup of tea, his shirt open, the peaceful breeze that enters the kitchen messing his hair. Maybe that was the exact moment you fell for him. You start to tell all the story to Jean, that listens to you quietly, his gaze never leaving yours. Once you end, he sighs.

"So, another Ackerman..." he says. You nod.

"Another one." you sigh. "But this one is so difficult to know..."

"But, you're fantastic, girl. I'm sure he'll end falling for you."

"Maybe he sees me as a little girl." you sigh again. "I'm a bit younger than him."

“Wow, I... I didn’t know you liked them older.” His laugh is muffled by the pillow you have thrown at his face. He takes it away. “But you have been liking the Captain for a long time, no? We’ve been doing this for a time.” he remembers. Yes, exactly a year and a half. Even when you liked Levi for more time.

It all started on a party. Levi ended making guard on the forest and Mikasa ran after Eren when he decided to leave. That had you, sitting bored on a wood railing and Jean drinking reluctant near you. Even when you were friends, you started to talk. Jean sighed and said something like “love sucks.”. you agreed. After a little conversation, you can’t remember well why, but you felt specially attracted to him, and both ended kissing. Then, you knew you kissed him because you wanted to imagine he was Levi. That wasn’t fair for him, but he took your wrist when you were about to leave.

“Why don’t we take each other?”

That’s how your first time happened. And it was quickly followed by more. Jean didn’t doubt to ask you to repeat every time he feel frustrated, even when he didn’t seem like that with you, always praising you and adoring you, even when he teased you once finished. You also searched him every time you felt needy, but it was just that.

“Since I entered his squad, basically.” you sigh. “But I understood is a impossible relationship, I already dumped the possibility.”

“You shouldn’t!” he says. You look at Jean, his glowing skin , more bronzed than before, since he has to work under the sun. “You are gorgeous, how could him not have an eye on you?” he says.

“How could Mikasa not look at you?” you ask, using the same jokingly tone he used. Jean blushes.

“She has someone to look for.” he whispers. You decide not to talk about it, he seems touched by it. “But, now I’ll help my wonderful best friend to get with the grumpy captain. Sleep well tonight, we have tons of work tomorrow.”

“I’m not tired.” you say. After telling Jean about your feelings for Levi, sleeps sounds like a lux. He smiles, getting softly on top of you, his chain near your body.

“Well, I can help with that...”

He definitely helped. His hands ran all over your body, his mouth exploring freely every single inch of you, his sweet sounds near your ear, his praises.

Now, the sun that enters casually from your window illuminates him while he gets dressed. He’s zipping his pants when he turns around, all his muscles twisting softie.

“You’re not going to dress?” he asks. He insisted that today you two were going to search Levi. He wants to see by himself if you have any chance with the captain.

He’s not going to lie, he likes you. Just a little, but he does. But, the fact that you like a man that could take real good care of you, makes him happy. He wants to see you in Levi’s arms, smiling, truly happy.

“I’m tired...” you say. Jean lets out a laugh. Yesterday you weren't tired so he helped you, and now you're too tired?

"Don't use tiredness as a excuse, we're seeing the captain now. Should I use a ship name? like Yevi? Levyn?" You sit on your bed and slap his back.

"I hate you." you say, a smile starting to appear. He takes his shirt.

"You didn't say the same yesterday night. Should I remember you..." he crawls on the bed, getting next to you. You laugh, pushing his body out.

"Capicci, you're the best man ever, Jean Kirstein." you know he loves when you praise him like that. It makes his ego reach incalculable quantities. "Now, let me change." He turns around, but giggles.

"As if I haven't seen that before." he hums. You dress fast and you two leave the dorm. Levi was outside the dorms, so Jean literally pushed you. "There! go for it, lioness."

You walk towards the captain, feeling your friend's hazel gaze on you. He looks at you.

"Oh, y/n." he smiles a little. Jean sees how you two talk. He's proud of you. He sees how you smile to the captain, so pure. You're in love. And he knows the captain also likes you.

He wasn't bad guessing though, that's why now you walk by Levi's hand, after dating him for a month. You pass by the dorms, where a smiling Jean talks to a brunette girl. He winks at you. Levi looks your tangled hands.

"You never told me about Jean." he says, your best friend making hesrt from behind, teasing you."

"Oh..." you remember all the times the two of you shared heath, how he made you feel so good when you thought you couldn't reach Levi. "It isn't nothing important. He helped me."

You remember the day before your first date with Levi. Jean took your wrist and hugged you.

"I'm so proud of you, y/n." he said, caressing your hair. "Now go and dazzle that man." you nod, leaving. "And don't forget all I teached you this months!"

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