#read the books if u want but yknow. stay safe or whatever | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

crowdemon-boyo · 2 years

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Honestly - shame on you for telling people to not read Half Bad books. Show is bringing in new people, and bunch of them don't even know that books exist! Several people in your notes were interested in reading, but probably won't because of you. It's such a disservice to a good story. You didn't like it and that's perfectly fine, but to go around and tell everyone to not read just because of that is really low. Books have a *completely* different vibe than the show, and they (and associated 2 short stories, that one need to dig up in the webs) are totally worth the read. Even if you end up not liking how things went.

hey man! why don’t you turn off anonymous and we can debate this properly instead of being a fucking coward :)

you think the books are ‘totally worth the read’ and that’s your opinion but that doesn’t give you the right to bash me for mine. at the end of the day i’m literally just Some Guy on tumblr and if someone really wants to read the books they are gonna do it regardless of whether or not i warn them not to. all i’m doing is making sure people know what they are getting themselves into, and in fact i’ve explained to multiple people what point they can read up to in order to avoid the more tragic parts while still getting a better grasp of this universe.

like you said the books have a completely different vibe to the show and some people might not know about that and assume these books will be exactly like the show. the first time i read them i stopped midway into the first book because it was too violent, and just not the type of thing i usually feel comfortable reading, but i did eventually push through that and finish them later (given i was in the peak of my tolerance for fucked up shit this is really saying something lmao). anyone who assumes that because they were ok with the show, they’ll be ok with the books might run into topics that are much darker than they were prepared for. just because you and i could handle these books that doesn’t mean everyone can and i want to be respectful of that and give people a better understanding of what they’re getting themselves into.

a load of people who enjoy this show do so because of the characters and their relationships (particularly the main trio) and as a book reader you know that these characters are totally different from the books. there is no polyamory, they aren’t all friends, and the characters are totally different. hell, annalise isn’t really even a main character for most of the books, and anyone who read them looking for more content about her specifically is going to be incredibly disappointed.

for me, when i’m watching shows or reading books or whatever, the characters are the most important part to me. i fully believe that without the similar plot and names, you’d never be able to tell that the book characters and the show characters are even meant to be the same people, and i know i wouldn’t really want to read these books if they weren’t going to give me a deeper understanding of these characters- sure, you’re gonna learn more about them, but a lot of that isn’t applicable to the show at all.

and dude, seriously, the ending. it’s horrific. you know this, i know this, and for a lot of people the specifics of it can be a little triggering. i was barely out to myself in 2019 when i read these books and to see the way the queer characters in those books end up was incredibly demoralising. i know other people have had the same experience with this and i hope to god the ending is changed if the show gets that far, but to let people walk into that without a warning is unfair to them and to the perception of this series. if i had known how these books ended i would probably have never picked them up in the first place. i don’t know you or what your deal is, but most queer people i know want to see stories where queer people have good endings, because until recently this wasn’t exactly something we could count on in media. maybe this doesn’t bother you but it bothers me, and i know it would bother a lot of people who may walk blindly into these books expecting everything to work out for these characters they have come to love during the show.

i’m not trying to do these books a disservice. i have never said that they are bad books or that they aren’t objectively, in their own way, worth the read. did i enjoy them? some parts, yeah. the magic system is great and they’re a change from the usual generic YA trilogies. they are however, a totally separate thing from the show and i don’t think that just because someone likes the show, that automatically means they’ll enjoy the books. i don’t want anyone to finish these books feeling the same way i did in 2019. if someone wants to read the books, they’ll read the books, and at the end of the day it’s none of my business whether they do or not. you’re welcome to your opinion, and i’m welcome to mine. and mine is that unless you’re a person that watched the show and thought ‘oh man i wish these were way darker and ended badly for everyone’ the books are not going to improve your experience of watching the show or endear you to these characters anymore.

anyway stream half bad: the bastard son and the devil himself on netflix, and hopefully we’ll see a renewal announcement in the next few months.

#read the books if u want but yknow. stay safe or whatever #don’t come for me fucker #the bastard son & the devil himself

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shawnstoriesx · 5 years

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Bear Pt 3

my heart is literally so happy that this piece is getting so much love ! i hope this one lives up to your expectations. there will be another part so any feedback would be greatly appreciated

also! just a heads up but there is a scene where a character is touched without consent. pls reach out to me if this makes u uncomfortable and I’ll def try to avoid writing stuff like that. :-)

Since their fight, YN had completely shut out Shawn. Whenever she was near him, she was instantly reminded of the hurt, anger, and insignificance that he made her feel. And so she blocked his number, ignored his efforts at trying to talk to her, and left the room whenever it was just him and her.

“Did something happen between you and Shawn?” Alexa asked. She and YN were sitting at their kitchen counter, eating their breakfasts before they had to leave for class.

YN tensed up. “What do you mean?” She knew exactly what Alexa meant. But she wasn’t about to tell her roommate that YN and Shawn weren’t friends anymore because Shawn preferred Alexa over her.

“I can obviously see that you both aren’t talking to each other and Shawn’s been telling me about how easily you get on his nerves now.” Alexa said cooly.

Getting on his nerves? YN couldn’t believe it. Shawn really was doing everything in his power to ruin their now nonexistent friendship.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean to say it like that though.” Alexa added reassuringly. “Anyways got to go! Going to be late.”

Alexa rushed out of the apartment while YN walked back to her room. Alexa’s first class of the day started 3 hours before YN’s so YN always had some time for herself, most of which she spent at the gym. Today however, YN chose to stay at home to catch up on her reading assignments.

She was an hour in when she heard the front door unlock. Is Alexa ditching the rest of her classes? YN quietly walked out of her room to see who it was. She wasn’t expecting to see Shawn rummaging through her fridge, his back turned towards her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked coldly, arms crossed in front of chest, her face expressionless.

Shawn jumped at the sudden break of silence, giving a small high pitched shriek at the surprise. YN couldn’t help but give a small smile at Shawn’s reaction but that quickly disappeared.

“Oh uh Alexa forgot her lunch so I grabbed it for her and I uh wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Shawn muttered, motioning towards the Tupperware of salad he had in his hands.

“I live here you know. Of course I’m going to be here.” she responded before turning away. YN had to leave now. She couldn’t stand being in the same room as Shawn anymore. YN didn’t know where to spend the remaining 2 hours until her first class but she quickly threw her books into her backpack and grabbed her keys and walked towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Shawn asked, still standing in the spot where she saw him last.

“The gym.”

“Without your gym bag?”

Shit. “The library.” she quickly responded.

“YN, can we talk? You’ve been avoiding me ever-“ Shawn implored before she cut him off.

“Sorry. Don’t want to get on your nerves more than I already have.” YN retorted while putting on her shoes.

She glanced up at him, a look of confusion was evident on his face. Hah he really thought he could talk crap about YN behind her back without her knowing.

“What do you me-“ Shawn started but he was stopped by the slamming of the front door. YN had already left.

“You ready for tomorrow YN?” Brad asked as he handed her a water bottle.

Brad and YN had finished the midterm project early but still saw each other often since they had become gym buddies and she was still his formal date. They quickly grew close and she found it easy to open up to Brad. He knew all about the falling out between YN and Shawn and was her emotional support system.

YN nodded. Although she was nervous at first, YN was excited for the formal. Brad explained to her that the formal would only last for a couple hours and then afterwards, everyone would hit the clubs. She didn’t party much but she felt that this would definitely help distract her from all of the drama in her life.

Before she knew it, YN was sitting on her couch waiting for Brad to text her that he was here to pick her up. YN was flipping through the various TV channels to kill the time when Alexa called YN into her room.

Alexa and Shawn were also headed out for dinner that night. It was their 2 month anniversary and Alexa needed YN’s help to curl her hair.

“So you plan on making the moves on Brad today?” Alexa asked as YN twirled her hair around the wand.

“Haha no. We are strictly friends. Plus, he’s got a girlfriend.”

Alexa raised an eyebrow at YN through the vanity mirror. “That doesn’t mean anything.” Alexa joked cruelly, causing YN to give a nervous laughter.

“Nope we both have made it very clear that we are friends. Just very affectionate friends. And I’m glad I’m going with him. I trust him enough so that when we dance and drink at the club, I wo-”

“You’re going to the club?”

“Yeah we’re going to be at Valda after the formal. It’s not supposed to last all night.”

YN had just finished up curling her hair when she heard a knock at her door. Guessing it was Shawn, YN told Alexa to get the door as she sat back down on the couch.

“Hey baby. Oh and hi Brad.” Alexa grinned. YN quickly got up at the name of her friend and walked to where Alexa was in front of the doorway. On the other side, Shawn and Brad were both awkwardly standing side by side, with flowers in their hands.

“I thought you were going to text me!” YN exclaimed, completely ignoring Shawn.

“Haha I couldn’t do that. Have to treat you right yknow” Brad chuckled before handing her the flowers and pulling her through the doorway in for a warm hug.

The hug was abruptly ended tby Shawn pushing past her to enter the house. Rude.

“You guys have fun!” YN shouted back as she and Brad walked to his car. Brad gave a friendly wave back to the couple still standing in the doorway.

“They’re cute together.” YN heard Alexa say before the door closed behind them.

The formal was rather uneventful. It was mostly speeches and a little bit of dancing. However, as she and Brad got into his car to head to the club, YN couldn’t conceal her excitement.

“Finally, we can party hard!” YN as she danced in her seat.

“You can party hard.” Brad corrected her. “I’m going to be sober. DD remember.”

Oh right. Brad had volunteered to be one of the designated drivers for the night to personally make sure that YN and his friends made it home safe.

“I forgot. Okay you won’t drink so I won’t drink.” YN said, turning her entire body towards him as he started the car.

“No no don’t let me ruin your fun. I’ll still party,” Brad mimicked the dance moves that YN had made earlier. “Just not as hard as you will.”

“I’m a clingy drunk you know,” YN joked, resting her head against his shoulder.

“I’m sure you are, just don’t get too wasted. I still have to take care of you.”

YN and Brad had made it into Valda and were now seated at a booth with other members of his frat and their dates. They were all engaged in conversation when one of the guys suddenly shouted, “Hey Pete. Isn’t that your ex-girlfriend?”

A boy who YN assumed to be Pete looked up in the direction that the other boy was pointing. “Crap. Yea it’s her.” At his response, everyone quickly shot their heads up to get a glimpse of this ex-girlfriend.

YN couldn’t believe her eyes. They were all staring at Alexa. Alexa and Shawn were at the same club as her. Great.

She and Brad exchanged eye contact before he placed his hand on her shoulder and pulled her body towards him in a comforting side hug.

“Is she the one who cheated on you?” someone asked. Wait what?

“Yeah. She is. Whatever. Must suck to have a personality as ugly as hers.” Pete responded before taking a sip of his drink.

“What do you mean?” Brad asked, throwing a confused look to his friends.

“You haven’t heard Bear? She’s totally fake. Avoid her at all costs.”

“She’s YN’s roommate.” Brad responded, concern evident in his voice as he looked down at her. The booth went silent.

Not used to the attention, YN gave a nervous chuckle and started toying with the buttons on Brad’s shirt. “Yeah. I’ve only known Alexa for less than a year but I’m sure she’s not like that. She’s very sweet to me.”

Everyone at the booth nodded a little too vigorously and there was an awkward silence until one of the girls yelled, “So let’s do shots!” The group instantly erupted in laughter and the topic of the conversation moved on, but YN couldn’t forget what everyone was saying about Alexa.

After a round of shots, one of the girls asked YN, “Hey want to go to to the restroom with us?”

YN nodded and stood up to walk with them. To get to the restrooms, they had to pass the bar where Shawn and Alexa were, his arms wrapped around her waist as they lightly swayed to the music. YN looked down, hoping that they wouldn’t notice her.

“YN!” Alexa called out.

Of course. YN let out a silent groan and then quickly turned around to flash her roommate a quick smile, making sure to avoid Shawn’s eyes.

“I completely forgot you would be here. Where’s Brad?” Alexa yelled over the loud music.

YN pointed over to the direction of her booth and she saw Alexa’s face contort as her eyes looked over the people seated next to Brad.

YN remembered that she was on her way to the restroom with the other girls and quickly excused herself. She found the other girls standing in a huddle, eyes focused on YN and Alexa. She blushed and walked over.

As YN was washing her hands in the sink, one of the girls went up to her. “Has Alexa done anything to you yet?”

YN gave a polite smile. They must have a thing against her roommate. “No she hasn’t. She’s a great roommate.” she said unwaveringly.

“She hasn’t said anything contradictory or suspicious?”

YN froze. There was the time when Alexa said she was interested in Harry Potter like YN and Shawn were but acted otherwise.

The girls took her silence as confirmation.

“Sweetie, we ALL used to be friends with Alexa.” The other girls nodded silently. “She’s completely fake. She used all of us but acted like she was such a great friend. Why do you think she always has new people hanging out with her. The old ones finally realized how cruel she is and left.”

Now that YN thought of it, Alexa always was hanging out with different people every month. But YN thought that just meant she had a lot of friends.

“What do you mean she used you?” YN asked quietly.

“We all have different stories. Alexa made me believe we were best friends during a big project, left me to do all the work, and never talked to me again afterwards. Alexa stole Laura’s boyfriend. But I think Tracy had it the worse. Alexa made her life a living hell.”

Tracy nodded before stepping closer to YN. “She spread lies about me to all my friends and I didn’t know until I confronted them about it. She told them I thought they were annoying -“ Tracy was cut off by another large group of girls entering the restroom.

YN couldn’t believe what they were saying. Alexa? She was nothing but sweet to YN. She couldn’t imagine Alexa ever being like that. An uneasy filling settled in YN’s stomach.

The girls now spoke in a hushed whisper. “Hey we don’t mean to scare you like that. If you say she’s nice, maybe she’s changed. We just want you to be cautious is all” Tracy said before giving her a squeeze.

YN gave them a weak smile and they all walked back to the booth where the boys were waiting. Brad noticed YN’s change in demeanor and pulled her into another tight hug. She looked over to where Alexa and Shawn were. Shawn’s arms were still wrapped around Alexa but his gaze was directed toward YN and Brad. They briefly made eye contact, Shawn giving her a weak smile, before he was pulled toward the dance floor by Alexa.

YN’s group took some more sips of their drinks before steadily moving to the dance floor too. By now, YN was slightly tipsy and she made true on her words to Brad in the car. She really was clingy when drunk. Brad and her were attached at the hip throughout the night, dancing goofily side by side during the upbeat songs and swaying softly as he hugged her from behind during the slower songs.

“I’m going to get a soda from the bar? Want anything?” Brad yelled, trying to be heard over the loud music.

YN shook her head and slipped out of Brad’s arms as he walked away. She quickly looked around before spotting the others in her group about 10 feet away. She made her way over until a set of unfamiliar hands grabbed onto her waist, restricting her from taking another step. YN quickly turned around and came face to face with a guy who she had never met before. He reeked of alcohol.

“Uh I think you have the wrong person.” YN said timidly, trying to break out of the man’s grip.

Instead, the man tightened his hold on her and gave her a creepy smile. “No girl as beautiful as you should be here by herself. Let me dance with you.” He leaned down to kiss her head but YN twisted her body to avoid the kiss while also somehow breaking out of his grip. She ran over to the rest of the group and had just made it to them when she felt those hands grab at her wrist, pulling her back.

YN let out a loud yelp, which quickly caught the group’s attention. The boys quickly leapt into action, pushing their bodies between YN and the strange man, forcing him to let go of her wrist, while the girls pulled her into a protective huddle.

YN looked up, praying that she didn’t attract too much attention. The club was still bustling and going on as normal except for her region of the dance floor. Her eyes scanned the surroundings, looking for Brad. Her heart was racing and she really needed his comfort right now. Instead of finding Brad though, her eyes were instantly drawn to Shawn. He was now only a few feet away from her while Alexa was standing on the other side of the dance floor, arms crossed as she glared at YN. Shawn’s face was filled with concern and his gaze kept going back and forth between YN and the man as he walked in her direction.

“YN, are you okay?” she heard Brad ask from behind her. She turned herself away from Shawn’s direction and buried her head in Brad’s chest. Tears were starting to fall as Brad spoke soothingly to her, comforting her while also profusely apologizing for leaving her alone.

YN could sense that Shawn was now right behind her.

“Bear, you should take her home. Don’t worry about us, we’ll just Uber home.” one of his frat brothers said.

Brad nodded and brought her back to the booth to collect their things before leaving.

“YN, Honey are you okay?” Shawn asked, his voice cracking a bit as he followed YN and Brad to their booth.

Brad helped YN sit down before directing his attention to Shawn. “Dude I don’t think she wants to talk to you right now. Go back to your girlfriend. I can take her home.” he said calmly.

A pulse of anger flashed through Shawn. “I don’t hear her saying that? Do you? How do I even know you’re going to take care of her? You were doing a great job at that when that creep had his hands on her.” Shawn yelled, clenching his fists.

“Bear, is everything okay?” Some of Brad’s friends had come up to check on YN and heard Shawn yelling. Their bodies were tense, ready to defend Brad and YN if necessary.

“Bear?” Shawn whispered. He looked down at YN and she could feel the hurt and anger in his voice.

“I just want to go home Brad.” she said weakly.

Brad nodded and guided her to the exit. YN looked back and saw Shawn’s body tense as his eyes darted from her to Alexa in the far corner. Alexa was still standing there by herself, visibly upset that her boyfriend had ditched her, even if it was only for a few minutes. Shawn took a step in YN’s direction at the exit before letting go of a deep sigh, pivoting his body away from YN and back to Alexa.

YN brought her face forward and moved blankly. What a fucking night.

tag list: @alinashawn @l-ivingformendes @my-sweet-escape-from-the-world

#need me a friend like Brad tho :-/#shawn mendes x reader #shawn mendes angst #shawn mendes x yn #shawn mendes au #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn mendes #college!shawn #college!au

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