#since there is no information about the season 3… i will take a break from it as i’ve been doing lately | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

seospicybin · 8 months

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TOO HOT TO HANDLE.

PART III

Bangchan x reader. (s)

Too Hot To Handle Masterlist

Synopsis: You and Chan become contestants in a reality dating show, Too Hot To Handle. (11,7k words)

Author's note: Season 3 is done! See you on the next season :)

YOU: $0? [Facepalms] So, where do we go from here?

The bright sunny day is not working to cheer everyone up after the shocking announcement that there's no money left in the prize fund.

You've been sitting outside with Chan, holding each other's hand and trying to process everything while looking at the beautiful view of the endless sea and the surface of water glimmering under the sun.

Chan has been quiet for too long and it's concerning. You decide to break the silence, shaking his hand and saying, "We spent too much money, babe."

He sighs and rubs the back of your hand with his thumb, "Too much."

You don't want to put salt on the wound but it's time to face the the truth that you both fucked up.

"We let them down. We let everyone down," you say with a heavy heart.

He looks at you and sees you in the eyes, "I'm sure there'll be a way to make it up to them."

He doesn't sound that confident with what he said but you're grateful that in a time like this, he tries his best to comfort you.

"And we'll show them that we have a genuine connection," he says with a soft smile.

You return the smile and put your other hand on your clasped hands, "We took a big step last night."

Physical connection is not that new to you but after last night, you can feel that something shifts between the two of you into something that is peculiarly new yet familiar at the same time.

"I feel closer. I feel more connected to you," you honestly tell him the changes you felt.

"That's true," he agrees with a smile that is more brighter and hopeful than before.

You take the chance to comfort him this time and sweetly smile at him, "We got each other," you remind him.

It's you and him versus everyone. For better or worse, through ups and downs, you face it together. You may be at the bottom now but you're sure you both will be back on top, together.

"Always," he says.

He brings your mouth close to his mouth and kisses it, "Since day one."

That makes you take a look back. You've been going through so much together and it makes you realize that with him, you feel like you can do anything.

Together you are invincible.

YOU: I feel terrible for what I did but at least, now I no longer doubt the feelings I have for Chris. It feels real now and it's scary... in the best way.

In the afternoon, Lana calls everyone to the cabana.

Chan hasn't recovered from the announcements from this morning yet so he's not keen to know what's coming his way, he has an inkling that it's not good for him and you.

Just like you read his mind, you place a soft kiss on his neck and wipe the lipstick mark you left on it with your thumb.

"We got each other," you whisper.

Chan is grateful for you, you've been so open and understanding, even though he's a hard-shell type of person, you make it hard for him not to let you in.

The chime comes and Jace gags in response. The melodic chime is certainly, anxiety-inducing.

"The prize fund is currently at $0," Lana announces as if everyone has forgotten about it.

"However, there will be more tests and opportunities to replenish the prize fund," she further informs.

It's like everyone is collectively letting out a big sigh of relief and getting a breath of fresh air at the mention that there's a way to return some money into the pot.

"I'll commence the first test," Lana continues.

Chan gets stressed once again and so is everyone. Test means he's not doing great, test means that it's not going to be easy, test means bad.

The worst thing that could happen is his name got called by Lana for that test.

Like he manifested it into reality, Lana does call his name along with yours. He sees you look at him and feels bad that he can't show a brave face to you.

"I gifted you watches as an incentive to connect on a physical level for the right reasons. Yet you have shown a complete disregard for my gift and your fellow guests."

He looks at you and you put on a thin smile for him, he puts his arm around you to pull you closer, he needs something to hold on to.

"Therefore, drastic action is required," Lana sternly says.

CHRIS: I've messed up. Big time. [Deeply exhales]

Deep down, you know you deserve what's coming for you but you don't want to go home, no, not yet.

"You both..." Lana drags her words to heighten the suspense.

You and Chan still have some growing to do as a couple and if Lana is kind enough to let you stay, you'd be very grateful. If not, then... it's not like you didn't see this coming.

You have to own up to your mistakes so whatever happens, you will try to accept it.

"... have 12 hours to prove you can connect on a deeper, more emotional level."

You feel a little lighter knowing that it's not an elimination but it's not time to be relieved yet, you're still waiting for the catch.

"If you fail to get a green light in those 12 hours, your time here will be terminated."

There it is. The catch. This is you and Chan's biggest test yet. There's no wasting time, you have 12 hours to prove or you go home.

"Your time starts now!" Lana announces.

YOU: This is going to be a challenge for us. We've never really talked about our emotions.

It's going to be harder for Chan.

He realizes he rarely talked about his feelings with you. His default setting is to show affection through actions so he is never good at verbalizing it.

"I don't want to go home," you tell him, cuddling on the sofa outside, "I want to spend more time with you."

He holds your hand and puts it close to his chest, "I don't want to go home either but I just—"

He inhales air and finishes his sentence, "It's not easy for me, talking about emotions."

"We can try," you say with your fingers lightly caressing his bare chest.

You tilt your head to face him, "You know what? I'll start," you volunteer.

He puts your hair away from being blown by the wind and holds it there for you, "Yeah?"

"Remember when we first met and I made you tell your name again?"

He nods as the recollection of it plays in the back of his head.

"I pretended not to hear it because I wanted those lips near me," you confess with a giggle.

He can't tell if you're trying to get a green light or just want to make him feel better, either way, he finds it adorable of you.

You check your watch and pout seeing that it's not turning green, "Well, it's worth a try," you say with a laugh.

As he breaks into laughter, he pulls you close and kisses you on the cheek.

"No need to hurry," you playfully say.

You rub his back and place a sweet kiss on his neck, "We still have like ten hours to get a green light."

That only reminds him to hold you tighter, he needs it more now than ever after knowing that he possibly wouldn't be able to do it again.

CHRIS: I find it hard to open up and talk about my feelings. Not sure I can do it.

With time keep slipping out of your hand, and your heart is getting worried.

You give Chan space and time to be on his own, organizing his thoughts and maybe it'll help him find the courage to talk about what he truly feels.

You remind yourself that it'll not be his fault if both of you end up getting eliminated. So you let go of the guilt and prepare yourself for the worst outcomes.

Before he leaves for his workshop, you pull him aside and warmly hug him.

"I really like you, Chris," you murmur.

You look up and softly smile at him, "I care about you."

You don't want to pressure him but you want to let him know that whatever happens, you will have no hard feelings nor hold a grudge against him.

"I know it's tough for you to open up but if you weren't ready, it's okay. If we got sent home, that doesn't mean things between us are over, you know that?" You say with a smile.

"I know," he lowly answers.

You stand on your tiptoes to plant a long kiss on his cheek, "Don't pressure yourself, okay, baby?"

He nods and hugs you back, locking you in his big arms because this might be the last time you embrace each other like this.

YOU: This is more difficult than I thought. At that moment, I think we might be going home.

"That dress looks good on you, darling!" Dani praises you as she watches you checking your appearance on the big mirror in the dressing room.

"Yeah?" You ask yourself why bother looking this good on your last night in the retreat.

"Yes," you suddenly shout.

"I want to look good when I get eliminated," you take a jab at yourself and laugh.

"Nah..." Lola groans, "Don't say that!"

Dani props her chin with her hand and looks at you, "You're going to get that green light tonight," she says.

The boys are back from the workshop not long ago but they're all coming back with paints on their bodies. Chan is still showering and it'll take more time to get dressed.

You're waiting for him by the fire pit, sipping your wine while half-heartedly listening to Pierre, Alicia, and Olivia talking.

As you're sipping on your second glass of wine, Chan comes and holds his hand out at you.

"I believe we have to talk," he says to you.

You put your glass down and take his hand, feeling more nervous now than before.

"I'm rooting for you guys!" Alicia mutters with an encouraging smile.

Chan takes you somewhere quiet and sits on the bench that overlooks the sea with the reflection of the moon drawn on the surface of the water.

There are still three hours left to the time limit but it's never too early to start and try to open up.

"You want me to start again?" You ask because he's been so quiet even after you both get the privacy to talk.

He cracks a laugh and puts an arm around you, "Yeah, sure."

You lick your lips and try to articulate your feelings as best as you can. You look him in the eyes and just pour your heart out to him.

"I like you. I like that I can be myself around you. You understand me, you put up with a lot of shit to be with me..." you pause to let out a laugh, "I'm happy that we became closer."

Chan can't stop smiling as he listens to you speaking your heart out. You can see the fondness in his eyes and you also hope that he gets the sincerity in your words.

"And I think... this is a good chance for us to talk about how we feel about each other," you conclude.

YOU: I can tell him more things that I like about him but sadly, time is not on our side.

It feels great hearing what you thought about him but at the same time, Chan feels burdened to be as open as you.

He's aware of how much you've shared with him while he gave you so little in return. He owes you a lot and it's time for him to settle that debt.

"You look gorgeous," he starts with a compliment.

You reach for the collar of the baby blue linen shirt he's wearing and compliment him back, "So do you."

You rest your hand flat on his chest and dreamily sigh, "You look good in colors other than black and white, you know that?"

He grins at that and nods, "I'll wear more colors."

"Okay, good," you say with gentle pats on his chest.

It's not time for small talk, time is running out. Chan grits his teeth and starts talking, trying to empty his heart through words.

"I'll be honest with you," he begins.

He sees you swallow air and nods, "Okay."

"I haven't completely opened myself up to you."

"Mm-mmh," you hum in response.

He takes your hand and holds it tightly in his hand, "The last relationship I had..." he refrains from sharing too many details on his past.

"From that relationship, I got myself a trust issue out of it, and as much as I like you, it's hard for me to trust you. I got haunted by my experience with trusting someone with my heart..." Chan takes a moment to collect himself and not lose it completely to his emotions.

"I didn't think that I'd get here and find someone like you in here," he says with a low laugh.

You lowly laugh along with him, "Yeah."

"I feel extremely lucky to find you and I realize now that it's not fair that I compare you with my former partner. She might have caused me a trust issue but that doesn't mean you'll do the same to me," he says.

A smile blooms on your face and he feels your hand in shaking in his hold.

"I genuinely am feeling stronger emotions for you which I haven't felt in a long time," he earnestly says with a sincere smile.

His heart feels so much lighter and emptier now, that only means he has more space for these new feelings he has for you.

Chan's heart is full of warm feelings and other than that, it fills with hopes.

CHRIS: It's been such a long time since I've opened up like this with anyone but it feels so natural with her.

"I like you so much," Chan says while squeezing your hand in his.

It feels good to know that your feelings are reciprocated. You've been tormented inside and you keep it bottled up inside you, now you can let it go.

"I'm so excited for us," he adds with a smile.

Then the chime comes and you glance at your watch to see that it turns green.

You both did it and you didn't mean to cry but your eyes are like bursting dams right now, tears are flowing down your face. He immediately pulls you into a hug.

"I wasn't ready to go home yet," you croak with tears caught in your throat.

"Me too," he says.

He holds you for a moment and whispers into your ear, "Are we going to kiss or what?"

You completely forgot that the rules do not apply and you're allowed to kiss him. You hurriedly wipe the tears on your face with the back of your hands.

Chan doesn't hesitate to kiss you when you believe you look ugly from crying. He leans in and kisses you softly, brushing his lips as if he were telling you how you feel with it.

Your heart is heavy and quivering as it carries so much love inside you. You like him so much and it feels so good, it's so good that it's scary.

When he pulls away from the kiss, Chan holds your face and looks at you, tenderly wiping your eyes with his knuckle.

He's softly laughing as he says, "I can see now that you're just a baby."

He caresses your wet cheeks with his thumb as he fondly looks into your eyes, "just a baby, my baby," he says.

You pout yet smile at his words. There's no use to deny it when he can see everything now.

"My baby girl," he delightfully sighs and presses a long peck on your lips.

Sure you feel relieved you get to stay in the retreat but the best thing about all this is getting to know each other better, emotionally.

"Good job," you tell him with a smile.

"Good job," he says back to you.

YOU: Watching Chris open up and comfortably share his feelings makes me feel like I can understand him now. Also, it makes me fancy him more and more [smiles]

Chan didn’t expect everyone to wait for them to come back from their talk.

The resentment they have is nothing compared to the friendship they have sewn in time with both you and him. They look at him in anticipation of whether he passed the test or not. They're tucked in their beds and watch him as he walks to his bed with you trailing behind him.

"So...?" Pierre asks.

Chan can't contain his excitement anymore, he grins and says, "We got the green light!"

Everyone cheers for him and you, clapping with pride. Jace hurls a cushion at Chan as he shouts, "Congrats, Aussie boy!"

Alicia comes to his bed to hug you, "I told you. I'm rooting for you!"

Dani hugs her pillow in front of her and asks, "So, did anyone say anything?" She asks in curiosity.

"She told me she likes me," Chan answers without the slightest of embarrassed saying it out loud.

"Did you say it back to her?" Pierre asks.

"Of course!" He shortly replies.

You lay on your stomach on the bed, facing everyone, "It was really hard to begin with but he opened up to me."

"Aww..." Lola coo in response then lightly applauds for you.

"At least we don't have to worry about them rulebreaking now," Luke comments.

"Because there's no money to spend to begin with," Pierre adds.

Everyone is laughing the shared pain away. But with the promise that Lana will return some money through tests and you both passed one tonight, everyone gets hopeful again.

CHRIS: I'm so glad we're making progress. I'm so proud of her and me. We both got so far [smiles]

It's like you both got a fresh start at a new life.

Even with zero dollars on the prize fund, you feel happy to get to spend more time with him in the retreat. Yesterday was a torture and that only reminds you to use the time wisely.

But it's not like you can't keep yourself away from him you're smitten, you have butterflies fluttering in your stomach.

After last night, you talk about things deeply and openly, you talk more about your future together that it gets you giddy

You're straddling him on the bed and hovering above him, putting a safe space between your faces. You admire his beautiful face, trailing your fingers on his facial features, eyes, nose, and plush lips that lure you to kiss.

"Now that I'll be coming with you to Australia, where will you take me first?" You ask out of curiosity.

Chan has been resting his hands on your thighs and not letting them go anywhere. He looks up at you and answers, "My home."

You're giggling because your dirty mind can only think of one thing, "So we can—"

"I'll introduce you to my family," he slices through your sentence and takes you aback.

This seems that serious to him and you usually choose to step back when things get this serious, however, you're feeling excited about it instead.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I want them to know about our relationship," he casually says.

"Ooo... relationship," you point out the thing he just said and wonder if it accidentally slipped out of his mouth or he meant it. You bet it's the latter from how he gets so flustered and laughs at it.

"Why? Do you have anything else in mind?" He asks with a sly smile.

You look away from his eyes as he catches on your dirty thought, "You know what I'm thinking."

He sits up on the bed so he can hold you and you wrap your arms around his neck, "Well, before we do all that, I'll lock you in my room and we'll have lots of sex," he murmurs, then places a hot kiss on your neck.

You lowly moan at how his soft lips feel on your skin, sending a tingle down your spine.

"Oh, you have no idea what's coming for you," he seductively whispers with his breath tickling your ear.

He then switches to the other side of your neck and places a longer kiss with his tongue lightly licking the skin, leaving a wet kiss mark on it.

The emotional connection only heightens the sexual tension between you and him yet it feels like you've reached a new level in your relationship.

YOU: It's HARD! I like him so much therefore it's getting harder to resist him.

"Whoa, whoa, what am I walking into," Pierre says as he busted you straddling him on the bed.

Without getting up from his bed, Chan calmly responds with a joke, "There's no harm in losing more money."

"Damn right," Pierre replies with a laugh.

With someone else in the room, the tension is slowly fading out and you get off his lap, sitting next to him instead.

Chan notices that Pierre is smiling at himself and he knows that there must be something.

"What's up?" He asks while putting his arm out so you can rest your head on it.

"Alicia and I are going on a date later," Pierre replies.

"Oh, wow, that's great, man!" Chan offers his hand for a fist bump.

"I'm excited for you, Pierre!" You add with a gleeful smile.

But instead of bumping his fist at him, Pierre collapses onto his bed. It's the first time Chan sees him being this nervous, "Why are you so nervous?"

You're giggling next to him, "You've been sharing a bed with Alicia for so long," you add.

Pierre groans and holds his head with both hands, "Ugh... I don't know."

"Just do you, enjoy it, man," Chan suggests.

Pierre sits on the bed again now, "Yeah, you're right."

He gives Chan his fist bump now then gets up from the bed, "I have to get ready for the date now. See ya!"

"Good luck!" You shout at him before he gets out of the door.

It must be nice to get on a date with you but Chan understands that he has to earn it here. He looks at you and he can see that you're wishing for the same thing.

"We'll get our time," he tells you.

"Yeah," you reply with a smile.

"Come here! Hug me, baby girl!" He pulls you into a tight hug and flips over so you're under him now.

"I want to kiss you," he says as he looks at you.

You put your hand on his lips and glance at it, "We can't. We have to be good."

It's like the roles are reversed now. It's him playing the bad guy now and you're playing the good girl now.

"You're right," he says, he chooses to bury his head in your neck instead.

CHRIS: Lana, we’ve been good so please get us on a date too!

Lana throws a party tonight.

You're tired of guessing what she's trying to celebrate and if she has something behind it. The worst has happened, you want to enjoy tonight.

"What are you wearing tonight?" Chan asks while you're drying your hair.

"Uhm... nothing," you mindlessly answer.

He puts his arm around your neck and playfully puts you in a chokehold, making you laugh in response. He then nuzzles his nose into your hair and asks again, "I want to match my clothes with you."

"Aww... that's so cute, Chris!" Lola comments from the other end of the vanity table while putting make-up on her eyes.

You turn your head around and jokingly say, "Then... wear nothing."

He wraps his hand around your neck and tilts your head to the side so he can bite on your shoulder, "Just tell me what color!"

You're laughing as you try to get his hand away from you but he keeps ticking your neck with his nose. In the end, you both settle with his favorite color, black.

You're fixing the straps of your dress while looking at the mirror in the bathroom and Chan is leaning against the sink, running his eyes up and down your body.

"You're so gorgeous," he compliments with a grin and those cute dimples.

He bites his fist when you check the back of your dress in the mirror by turning your body to the side.

"Gosh, I'm the luckiest," he sighs.

You get flustered and say, "Stop it!"

Pulling him close, you turn him around and make him look at both of your reflections in the mirror. Not going to lie, you like what you see.

You turn to look at him and then say, "Damn! We look good!"

He looks back at you and smiles, "We look good together."

Without warning, he puts his arms around you and carries you out of the bathroom.

The party had just started when Pierre and Alicia were coming back from their date. Everyone is being nosy with their questions yet you can't help to get nosy as well.

"Tell us everything!" Lola demands.

From the look of it, Pierre and Alicia look happy and it makes you just as happy for them, everyone seems to feel the same way as well.

"It was nice. We went on a boat and enjoyed the sunset," Pierre says.

Alicia nods along to his words, "Then there was a funny question at the end," she says, then leers at Pierre.

Pierre cracks a laugh before answering, "I asked her to be my girlfriend."

Dani, being the one invested in the story, impatiently asks, "What did you say, Alicia?"

Alicia leers at Pierre again and smiles, "I said yes."

It's like watching a sports game and the home team scores, sending everyone into a celebration. Glasses of drinks raised to the air for a toast.

"To Pierre and Alicia!" Jace leads the toast.

"To Pierre and Alicia!" The rest repeat after him and take a sip of their drinks.

YOU: Well, unlike us... [chuckles] Pierre and Alicia are the most committed couple in the retreat so I couldn't be happier for them.

Instead of being jealous, Chan is happy for Pierre and Alicia.

He's happy to see his closest friend in the retreat happy and it's not like Chan is not happy, he is happy with you. He looks around and they're just as happy even though the prize fund is still at zero.

He holds you close and kisses the top of your head, "I'm so happy."

"Me too," you murmur with your head resting on his chest.

The music abruptly stops and Chan kind of guesses what comes next. There she is, the ultimate cockblocker and party crasher Lana.

Everyone already knows where to go and they drag their feet to head to the cabana. You sit next to Chan, putting one hand around his waist and the other clasped with him, resting it on his leg.

The money is at zero now but that doesn't make everyone less nervous, if anything, there's an anticipation for what Lana is going to announce this time.

Chan's heart skips a beat the second the cone lights up, signifying her arrival. She skips on greeting everyone and calls for both of your names.

You look at each other to exchange a mix of panicked and confused looks.

"On your previous test, you were able to access your true feelings for each other, proving to me that your connection is more than skin deep," Lana says.

That's good news and the applause everyone is giving toward both of you confirmed it.

"However, actions speak louder than words."

Chan hates it when that word comes in the sentence: 'however' because that means, Lana has bad news to tell.

"Tonight, you will both be put to the ultimate test, a night in the private suite."

Remembering that you both failed on the same test and knowing you both have to go through it again. Chan feels the pressure already and he sees you wince in response to that.

"If you refrain from breaking any rules, you will win back $100,000 for the group."

Everyone is cheering at the amount of money you can win back from it but your last failure reminds them not to haste to celebrate.

Chan notices a few pessimistic faces among the group and he understands that. But he knows that it's time he pays everyone back for the damages he did to the prize money.

"We'll try to win back the money for you guys," Chan earnestly says with you nodding along in agreement to his words.

"Please, make your way to the suite!" Lana orders.

He offers his hand to help you get up from the sofa and keeps holding your hand.

Jace nods at Chan to encourage him, "Don't mess up, 'kay? You got it!"

"Wish us luck!" You say to everyone for the last time.

CHRIS: This is it. This is the big, ultimate test.

The second you both enter the private suite, you throw yourself at him.

Thank goodness that he is quick to catch you and steadily holds you against him to keep you from falling. You loop your both hands around his neck and warmly hug him.

You pull away to look at his face, "We can do it," you murmur with a soft kiss on his cheek.

He returns the kiss but his lips land on your jaw instead, "for that to happen, we shouldn't have a bath."

You pout at him and say, "But I still need to have a bath. I'm dirty."

"You are dirty," he says with a sly smile.

You narrow your eyes at him and put your forehead against his, "Are you dirty?"

It's like a deja vu watching you get undressed in front of him, doing it so confidently like he isn't there and looking at your enticing body with dark, lustful eyes.

"You can join me or..." you nonchalantly say as you step into the tub.

"You can just watch," you continue as you lower yourself into the water, flashing him a naughty smile as you lean back in the tub.

Chan has seen and experienced this scene before but he doesn't like how it ended. This is why it's called a test, see if he can take it and come up with a better result than before.

"Atta, boy!" You exclaim as he starts to take his clothes off.

You intently watch him taking every piece of clothing on his body until there's none left. Your eyebrow raises as your eyes flick down there.

"Hi, there," you playfully talk to his semi-hard member.

Everything about you evokes the rebellious side of him, he just wants to do whatever he wants and pleases. He reminds himself that he needs to control himself and the money that he can win back from doing it.

With one foot down in the tub, Chan can already feel the heat of the moment.

CHRIS: When it's just the two of us the sexual tension goes...[Sighs] It's high!

Jumping onto the bed, you crawl over to get something from the tray of sex toys on the bedside table.

You know which one you want to get and take it with you as Chan dives onto the bed next to you. You waste no time straddling him, "Put your hands above your head!"

He ignores your order and laughs at you instead. He chooses to disobey you so you take both his hands and put them above his head, you cuff them with handcuffs.

"I'm sorry," you tell him with no hint of regrets whatsoever in your apology.

You look at him and smile in satisfaction that he's laying helpless underneath you.

"You've been very, very bad, Chris," you say in a low, sultry voice and run your fingertips down his bare chest.

He takes a deep breath and looks back at you, "I've been bad, so?" He dares you with a smirk.

As expected, he will disobey you and dare you to do things to him. He's enjoying it and you're more than willing to play along.

You crawl over to the side and use the opportunity to bring your ass close to his face while you take another sex toy from the tray.

You sit down on his crotch, intentionally hard, and enjoy the low groan he lets out. You show him the long, leather whip in your hand.

You put the end of the whip under his chin and used it to tilt his head to look at you, "Do you admit to being a bad, bad boy?"

Instead of answering, he bites his lips and fiercely looks at you. Taking him off guard, you slap his chest with the whip.

"Answer me!" You order.

He slyly smiles and refuses to answer again. You start to slap his chest and abdomen with the whip, making heart-shaped marks on his pale skin.

You decide to get off him and lay on your side next to him, "I'm going to keep doing it until you answer me," you taunt him as you drag the end of the whip down his thigh.

You lean into the side of his face and lowly whisper into his ear, "Answer me, Chris."

He shakes his head and you immediately land a slap on his inner thigh twice that he gasps in response. Feeling mischievous, you slip the whip under his boxer and rub him there.

"Will you answer me now, mmh?" You ask.

He catches you off guard now, rolling on the bed and putting his body on top of you. He buries his head deep in your neck while kissing you there.

"Oh..." you breathlessly moan as he bites on your neck.

Chan is always afraid to put his whole weight on you but you don't want to have it another way, so you put your legs around him and let him collapse on top of you.

He looks at you but his eyes are centered on your lips, "Do you want to kiss me, mmh?"

He alternates it by placing kisses along your jaw and finishes it with a sweet kiss on your cheek, "Actually, there are a lot more things I want to do to you."

YOU: Our prize fund is zero so that means there's no money to lose... [bites lips]

Chan keeps his handcuffed hands in front of him as you unlock it for him. He puts it back on the bedside table and sees you still straddling him.

He pats the space next to him, "Come here so we can cuddle!"

You shake your head and put your hands on his chest, "No, I like it here. I like sitting on top of you," you say with your eyes enchanting him to gaze back at them.

He puts his hands on your thighs, fingers teasing the hem of the short sleeping dress you're wearing, "Is this your favorite position?"

"Uh-huh," you answer and put your hands to hold your hair in a makeshift ponytail.

"You want to be on top, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm good when I'm on the top," you tell him with your head slightly tilted to the side and your lips curl into a naughty smile.

"Is that true?" He asks, allowing his hands to move up to your waist and hold you there.

"I can show it to you," you dare him.

Seeing you straddling him like this only gives him the glimpses of what you'd like fucking him and he bet it'd be so good. Swear his cock twitched just now from remembering how good it is inside you.

Now you're sitting on his crotch and there's only a layer of clothing that separates him from what he wants, he believes you can feel how his cock is achingly hard for you.

"Maybe next time," he kindly refuses no matter how much his body wants to scream yes.

"Why not now?" You ask with a low giggle.

You make it so hard for him that he has to lift you off him and lay you down next to him. Without giving you time to escape, he puts his arms and legs around you, limiting the things you can do around him.

"Stop teasing me," he presses a wet, long kiss on your cheek.

You helplessly try to get out of his hold while giggling but failing.

"Baby," you softly call.

You hold his chin in your fingers and turn your head at him, "I want to sleep naked tonight."

CHRIS: The longer they let us alone together, the more I want to do things to her [raises eyebrow]

Even after the morning comes, it doesn't mean that the test has been done yet.

Somehow, you wake up naked and find yourself snuggling to Chan who's just as naked. You don't want to force your brain to work just yet.

It seems like he's awake already as he puts his hand on your back and runs his fingers down your back, light and fluttering, lulling you back to sleep.

Realizing that the test is not over yet, he gets away from you only so he can lay next to you and easily places kisses on your bare back.

You delightfully hum every time his full lips make contact with your skin, warm and soft, making you tingle inside.

"You're so beautiful," he hums.

He then starts another trail of kisses from the nape of your neck and down your spine. He stops before he gets tempted to go lower than your waist.

"So soft, so beautiful..." he sighs with so much frustration as if he saw something he couldn't perceive.

Chan decides to prop both hands on each side of you and kisses your neck as he's hovering above you, waking you up with sweet, gentle kisses.

"Wake up, baby," he softly calls you.

Wanting more than just kisses, you pull him close so you can feel him whole, his body on your body, skin-to-skin. It feels rather more intimate than sex.

He puts all of your hair away to the side so he can pepper your shoulder with kisses, "Morning," he says in between kisses.

You smile with eyes closed and croak, "Morning."

There's not much time left in the private suite and you both have to face everyone soon.

"How are we going to tell them?" You meekly ask him, feeling the anxiety already.

He gently caresses your cheek with his knuckle, "I'll do the talking," he simply answers.

You overlap his body with yours and put your arm across his chest, "Can't we just stay here?" You innocently ask with a low laugh.

"We can stay a little longer," he consoles you with a kiss on your forehead.

As much as you want to stay, it's time to face the truth once more.

YOU: Last night was... special. The best night I ever had in the retreat. [smiles]

While holding Chan's hand, you wake slow walk on the way back to the villa, and meet everyone in the bedroom.

Everyone is looking a bit antsy even though they're still in their beds. They stop talking once they notice you're back from the private suite but they seem to be scared to ask the important question.

Chan gestures to you to sit on the sofa instead of on the bed next to the table where Lana is sitting still so prettily.

Before Chan can open his mouth and speak, Lana gets ahead of him, chiming on the table next to you.

"Last night, you faced your ultimate test," Lana skips the morning greeting and goes straight into business.

"As a couple, if you could refrain from breaking any retreat rules, the prize fund will be increased from $0 to $100,000."

You grimace at that because anything could happen at this point.

"However..."

Lola gasps at the mention of that word and hides behind the duvet. It's your turn to gasp as Lana calls your name.

"Even though you were successful in sexually arousing Chris, he was able to hold firm and respect the rules of my retreat."

Applause and cheers erupt from every corner of the room. You hate that Lana exposed you for what you did in the private suite but it won't stop you from celebrating as well.

"Which means that the prize fund now stands at $100,000," Lana updates.

More cheers and whistles are coming from everyone at the announcement that you both gained half of the total prize money back.

"I am so proud of you, babe!" Dani says to you.

You blow her a kiss as a token of gratitude and look at Chan, he's looking as proud as you are.

"This is what I call growth," Pierre comments with a smile.

"Yeah, that's true," Lola agrees.

Everyone gets quiet as Lana continues talking, "As a reward for showing restraint and putting the interest of the group above your own, you will be going on a date."

You turn to look at Chan and smile, feeling so proud of both of you. You look around the room and ask, "Can I hug him, now?"

They are all laughing before answering, "Yes."

You walk up to Chan and he welcomes you into his arms, holding you so tight while lifting you off your feet.

It feels good to do good and get rewarded for it, you lean close to murmur, "I'm so proud of you."

"I'm so proud of us," he says back with a kiss on your cheek.

YOU: The last few days have been so hard for us so I think we deserve this date and I'm just so excited [grins]

To be honest, Chan is nervous.

Yes, he's happy and excited for the date. What he's worrying so much about is the talk he'll be having with you and he wants to make sure that he gets his emotions across.

It's important that you know his feelings for you.

His face lights up as you walk toward him, he helps you board the boat to get to the other small island where the date will be.

"Gorgeous," he sweet compliments as he brushes your hair and tucks it behind your ear.

"Thank you, baby," you mutter and take his hand to hold it.

The two of you take a short walk to where the date has been prepared, a cute little picnic with a bottle of champagne chilled in a bucket of ice which Chan can easily pop open.

"Mmh... My man is so strong," you playfully praise him.

You take one of the champagne flutes so he can fill it for you, "What are toasting to?"

He thinks for a moment, "Mmh... for passing the ultimate test?"

You chuckle and nod in agreement, "For passing the ultimate test!"

You both clink your glasses together and take a sip of the bubbly wine.

CHRIS: We both know that we have a strong physical chemistry between us but I need to know if we have a strong connection as well. I want this to last.

The sun is slowly sinking into the horizon, painting the sky with stunning bursts of flaming gold colors.

Even Chan is here, in one of the most beautiful places he's ever been, he thinks that what makes it so special is because he's with you.

"Have you realized that it's been me and you since day one?" Chan asks.

You fix your hair and prop one hand next to you, "Yeah," you answer while nodding.

"We've been going through such... a long journey," he says, emphasizing how rough it has been for the two of you.

You nod again and softly laugh, "You know, with other people, I would push them away and keep moving forward. I never once in my life thought I would find 'that someone'."

This is why he's comfortable around you. He shares a piece and you share one piece of you too, it's never going one way with you. Everything is fair and he thinks this is what good communication is.

"As you know, the last relationship I had... it was ugly but in here, in this retreat, I learned how to confront my emotions and open up to someone," Chan shares his piece of him with you.

You're looking at him with eyes that match the soft smile on your face while tucking away the hair getting blown by the wind.

"Also, this retreat helps me put things into perspective," he continues, "I'm able to show sides of myself that I didn't know I had."

You take a sip of your drink and nod again, "Just like I said when people get into my space, I'd normally push them away."

You put your drink away before continuing, "But the fact that I met someone that I like... that makes me feel emotional and vulnerable."

Chan would be lying to say your words aren't making him feel the slightest bit emotional as well. He can feel the sincerity in your words, they are pure and heartfelt.

"I wonder if we're compatible moving forward in the outside world," you finish.

He takes your hand and holds it in the space between you and him. He then clears his throat before speaking.

"Now it's time where I can tell you and it would be wrong for me not to say this..."

His heart hurts as every bit of emotion is getting squeezed out of him into words but he wants to tell you everything, baring it out for you so you know his true feelings for you.

He looks into your eyes, it gives him the confidence to go on and say, "I genuinely do love you."

You close your eyes and break into laughter, it's not the reaction he hoped for but he waits for you to say something.

"I can't believe I came here and fell in love..." you say with a sheepish laugh.

You stare into his eyes and squeeze his hand as you say, "I love you too."

It feels like a ton of weight has been lifted off his chest. He thought he would be bound and confined the moment those words were out of his mouth, instead of that, Chan feels like he's been set free.

CHRIS: When I arrived here, I didn't mean to meet a girl and tell her I love her. I'm a changed man and it's because of her [smiles]

Seeing him happy makes you happy.

The happiness only doubled knowing that the feelings go both ways. Never in a million years have you ever thought you would be falling in love with a guy like him.

Chan is a gentleman, he's kind and sweet, he's very thoughtful and caring, and he has everything that you're not looking for in a man.

But he changed you and made you realize that you deserve a better man. Meeting him and being with him is a blessing like a star falls right onto your lap.

"I always told myself I'm better single and do my things, but with you, I feel safe, comfortable, and powerful at the same time," you let your thoughts out loud to him.

You swallow air to not let the tears get in the way of you speaking your heart out to him, "The best thing is, with you, I feel more reassured and that's something that rarely happens."

The way he's looking at you now is the most beautiful view you've ever seen and you want to imprint it in the back of your head. You also want to bottle this precious moment so you can treasure it for life.

Chan has been quiet for a moment then he lets out a sigh, "I feel like I've won the lottery," he says.

This has been a long journey but you're grateful that you come out of it together, stronger and on top of that, in love more than ever.

Both of your watches chime at the same time and you glance to confirm that it's green.

"Oh?!" You look at him with a surprised face.

Chan smiles and crawls over to you, "Thank you, Lana!" He shouts.

The kiss feels special and it's ultimately because this kiss marks the beginning of your relationship, the first one of many, and hopefully, the start of a long-lasting relationship.

YOU: I'm the... [squeals] I'm the happiest girl in the world [gleefully smiles]

Everyone else is already sleeping when the two of you decide to sneak out to have one final swimming lesson.

Again, it's not a lesson and you both promise to not spend any money. You're doing it as tonight is the last night of the retreat.

Nothing is going to change even when the show is over but it doesn't stop you from feeling sentimental about it.

"It's going to be weird not waking up next to you," you sadly say as Chan hugs you from the back.

He rests his head on your shoulder with his hands wrapped around your waist, "You'll be coming home with me, remember?"

You nod but what you actually meant is how the outside world would be different than here. We have the stupid rules here but everything is much simpler and happier here, you're afraid of losing it all once you step out of this retreat.

"I'm just glad we won back the money," you say, shifting it to a much brighter topic.

"Or else we wouldn't have money for our flights home," Chan jokes.

Your shared waves of laughter are making ripples on the surface of the pool water.

"Who is going to win the money though?" You ask in genuine curiosity.

Chan shrugs in response to your question, "Definitely not us," he says.

Considering that the two of you are the big spenders in the retreat, you wouldn't even dare to think that there's the possibility of winning the prize money too.

To be able to come home with a man you are deeply in love with is already a big win for you.

YOU: I don't care about the money. I got what I want, I got my man [smiles]

"Good morning, friends!" Lola cheerily greets everyone the second the lights turned on.

Staying up until late last night causing him to feel sleepy, he keeps sleeping with his head buried in the pillow. He can feel you slipping your hands around him to spoon him from behind.

"Morning, Channie baby," you softly call him by his Korean name.

He told you about it last night, the name only his family and his close friends are allowed to call him with that name.

You are, of course, more than allowed to call him that. It feels strange to hear it at first but he likes the sound of it, especially the affectionate tone you're using.

He takes your hand and kisses it, putting it close to his chest as he tries to get a few more minutes of sleep. The sound of the melodic chime is enough to make him refrain from going back to sleep.

"Good morning, everyone!" Lana greets, sounding exceptionally kind even though she speaks in the same robotic voice.

"Morning, Lana darling!" Claire replies with a cracked voice.

"Welcome to the last day of the retreat," she announces.

Everyone sadly groans which is quite shocking compared to the first day of the retreat, now everyone is not wanting to leave.

His head snaps at you and it reminds him to soak up every minute left in this retreat with you.

"I will be announcing who the finalists are shortly," Lana further announces.

Everyone's ears perk up at the announcement, finalists in 'plural', which means there is more than one candidate to win the prize money.

Everyone else is secretly guessing who's going to win it but with his bad record, Chan chooses to sit back and wishes everyone the best of luck.

"It's the last day!" Luke remarks, still in disbelief of it.

"Let's make it the best one!" Dani adds as she yawns into her hand.

"And let's spend the whole money today," Chan jokes even though he's slurring his words.

"Funny, Aussie boy!" Jace says as he tosses a cushion at him.

CHRIS: I fully trust that Lana will choose the right person to win the money and I'm okay that I'm not it, Lana, I have no hard feelings [laughs]

"It's the last day so I'm going to wear the tiniest bikini."

Chan hears what you're saying since he's in the dressing room to take something out of his closet.

"Oh my, Gosh!" He responds to what you're saying.

You're chuckling and look at him as he stands across the room, "I'm putting another test on you."

He walks over to your chair and puts his hand around your neck, that way he can angle your head as he pleases. He attacks one side of your face with small kisses.

"Stop being so cute," Claire says as she hollowed her cheeks to apply some colors to them.

"Yeah, stop it before you spend some money," Alicia playfully adds.

Chan lets you go because he needs to go to the bathroom to style his hair, he finds Jace in there, putting his long blond hair into a small bun.

"Who do you think is going to win?" He asks.

It's the third time someone asked him the same question and he'll remain diplomatic about his answer, "Whoever wins I'll be happy for them."

Jace respects his answer and does not further press him to give a name but Chan gets curious about his answer.

"Who do you think?" He turns the table to him.

Jace sits on the edge of the tub and watches as Chan combs his hair in front of the mirror on the sink.

"I think it's you, Aussie boy."

Chan snorts in response, he figures that Jace wants to entertain him with his answer.

"Hey, the one who made a lot of mistakes is the one that is most improved," he defends his answer, proving that he's actually serious about his answer.

"Yeah, nah, I don't think it's me, mate," he refuses his answer to entertain the idea that he has a chance to win it.

"That's just my opinion," Jace says with a nonchalant shrug.

CHRIS: If it were up to me, I think everybody would win here but it's not, it's up to Lana. [Shrugs]

It's the time in the cabana again.

You're sad that it's going to be over soon but God! You're so glad that soon you'll not be hearing that melodic chime again. It's like hearing a soundtrack to a horror movie.

"Hello, everyone!"

"Hey, Lana," you reply, suppressing your anxious groan coming out of your mouth.

"I have been collecting data since you arrived and have now conducted my final analysis," Lana informs.

You can't tell what everyone is feeling right now, it's a mix of anticipation, anxiety or relief, sadness or happiness, everything is there.

"As you are aware, there was a prize fund of $200,000 allocated to aid your development."

You wince at the mention of the word 'was' and it brings back your not-so-finest moments in your head.

"The prize fund stands at $100,000."

"Whoo!" Lola whoops, "That's a lot of money, baby!"

"And it was very hard to gain," Chan playfully comments, sending everyone into laughter.

"Like literally," he adds.

You cover his mouth with your hand to stop him from embarrassing himself more and let Lana continue.

"There are three places in the final."

Now everyone is assessing each other for their possibilities to win the money. You're definitely not going to make the cut with how much you spent in the retreat.

YOU: It's clearly not going to be us. We're the antagonists in this show [chuckles]

"Following my rules alone isn't enough to win. The finalists are those who have shown personal growth during their time at the retreat."

Oh, wait? Personal growth?

If we're talking about personal growth, everyone can see how much Chan has grown since the first day of the retreat. People would think that it's a biased opinion but you believe that Lana sees it, or you hope so.

"The first finalist is..."

You're secretly praying that Chan's name gets called, it's not much about winning, he deserves to be in the final with the journey he's been through in this retreat.

"Pierre and Alicia."

It's kind of expected and everyone is clapping for them because they deserve it. You watch as they're hugging each other and looking so cute it makes you cooing adorably.

"The second finalist is..."

You continue to pray in your heart for one name to be called by Lana, you even have your hands clasped together and close your eyes as you deeply wish for it.

"Jace and Lola."

Again, everyone is clapping because they're genuinely made for each other, they complement each other in a way like no other.

"The third and final finalist is..."

For the last time, you wish and pray as hard as you can in your heart. You never wished for something this badly so for the first time in your life, please let—

"Chris."

Your mouth hangs open in response while he pulls you into a hug. You're at a loss for words for a moment until he pulls away from the hug.

You get teary as you see him standing up to take his place on the final, feeling so proud of him and the man he has become.

"Pierre and Alicia, Jace and Lola, Chris, one of you will walk away with $100,000."

Chan offers his hand at you so you can hold it while he's standing up in front of you. You can't fight the tears that are already pooling in your eyes.

"And the decision will be made by the remaining guests."

"Oh, my God!" You quietly gasp while dabbing the tears in the corner of your eyes.

"Will the shortlisted guests please leave the cabana while the voting takes place," Lana orders.

Chan bends down to hug you since he has to leave. He presses a long kiss on your cheek and caresses your cheek, "I'll see you soon, yeah?"

You nod with a smile, "Okay."

YOU: Oh, I don't care if people think that I am being biased but I saw his growth, every day in this retreat. My vote is going to Chris.

The dressing room is crowded because everyone is getting ready for the last party in the retreat. Everyone is wearing white per the dress code announced by the staff.

Chan pulls you to the bedroom to have some alone time before he gets to be separated from you because the finalists have their special entrance to the party.

He sits down at the end of the shared bed and then pulls you down onto his lap.

"I can't believe that I'm one of the finalists, it's... mad!" He says in disbelief.

You put your hands around his neck and look at him, "You deserve it, baby."

He takes a deep breath as though he was swimming in deep water. He then runs his hand in your hair and affectionately brushes your hair.

"Whatever happens, I'm happy, I'm winning," he says.

You nod.

"I'm going home with a girlfriend," he shyly says with his dimpled smile.

That gets you flustered as well and it seems like it has just sunk in you that you're dating him now, "oh, shoot, I have a boyfriend now," you say with a shocked laugh.

He hugs you as you both laugh at the sudden realization, he buries his head in your neck to drink in the scent that gives him a sense of comfort.

He allows his hands to trace down your sides and adores every curve of it, "Mmh... You look stunning tonight," he praises.

"Spin for me," he demands.

You get off his lap and elegantly raise your hands above your waist before spinning around on your feet to show him the whole look.

"Do you like it?" You ask.

"Oh, love it!" He answers with a dramatic, overwhelmed eye roll.

You sit on his lap again and let him rest his head on your chest, on the soft mounds of your clothed breasts. There are only hours left until the retreat ends but his hands are already getting impatient as they're teasing the zipper of your dress.

"Can't wait to take this off of you tonight," he murmurs with his lips grazing your cleavage as he speaks.

You're lowly humming in response and cradle his head close to your chest, "Anything you want," you tell him.

Those words are sending his mind wandering off and away from his head. He's not thinking about the money at all, all he can think about are the things he wants to do to you.

"You can do anything you want later," you say again with your fingers softly scratching the back of his hair.

"Now that's a real prize," he says with an enthusiastic smile.

CHRIS: Winning or not, I'm leaving in love [smiles]

You sit next to Claire and Nick as the rest of the guests are waiting for the finalists to come and join the party.

"It's sad, isn't it?" Dani says with a sad smile from the other bench.

"It's coming to an end, yeah," Claire shares with a pout.

You've been meaning to not feel sentimental about it but now everyone is feeling the same way, you can't help but have your say about it.

"It's bittersweet, you guys," you say.

Everyone is nodding in agreement and Luke initiates a toast to start the last party in the retreat. The talk continues with everyone sharing their memories here, happy, sad, or funny ones, also everything in between.

Mac has to abruptly stop talking as the finalists are about to enter.

A round of applause welcomes all five of them. First is Pierre and Alicia, and following behind them are Jace and Lola. Last but not least is your number one man, Chan.

You scoot on the bench to make space for Chan to sit on and welcome him with a hug.

"Missed you," you murmur even though you have only been separated from each other for less than an hour.

He caressingly kisses your cheek and puts his arm around you, you reckon he needs the comfort from how nervous he looks right now.

"Got all my fingers crossed for you," you whisper to him.

"Yeah?"

"Uh-huh!" You answer without a beat and grin at him.

You hold his face by the jaw and place a kiss right on his dimple, hurriedly wiping the lipstick mark with your thumb after.

The melodic chime comes from the cone and it's going to be the last you hear of her, Lana.

"During your time at the retreat, I have observed you all commit to the process, acknowledge your failures, and show significant change."

You nod and smile, "Thank you, Lana!" You sincerely say from the bottom of your heart.

"The time has now come to announce the winner of the $100,000 prize."

You put your heads together and hold each other's hands on his lap, letting go of everything all at once, and no matter what happens, you are happy with each other.

"Pierre and Alicia, Jace and Lola, Chris, please stand!" Lana orders.

YOU: At the end of the day, I'm leaving as a changed person and I'm in a relationship with a man I love. And that's something I have never imagined in a million years. [Brightly smiles]

Chan isn't that optimistic he would win the money.

Yet he feels so nervous Chan has to take a deep breath before getting up from his seat without letting go of your hand.

"You got it, baby," you mutter to him with a squeeze on his hand.

He peers over his shoulder to look at you and flashes you a grateful smile.

"Your fellow retreat guests have voted," Lana continues with the announcement.

Chan looks at the other finalists, at Jace and Lola, and the other way, at Pierre and Alicia. He never thought he would be considered as one of the finalists, he's still in denial about it.

"The person in third place is..."

His heart is beating faster and faster he starts to wonder if he's going to have a cardiac arrest.

"Jace and Lola," Lana announces.

Chan's head snaps in the direction of Jace and Lola who are embracing and congratulating each other despite they do not win the money.

CHRIS: I'm on the top two... [deeply inhales] not expecting this at all. If I win, it wouldn't be my own because she played a big part in my growth in the retreat.

Lana doesn't give him time to relax as she continues to the next announcement.

"Pierre and Alicia, Chris, one of you has been chosen to check out of the retreat with the prize fund."

He squeezes your hand in his hand hard enough that his knuckles turn white. He needs it, he needs something to hold on to.

"The winner who will be leaving with $100,000 is..."

Who doesn't want that much money? But honestly, it's not going to be a loss if he didn't win it. It's been one hell of a journey and an emotional one, he made friendships and experiences of a lifetime here.

"Pierre and Alicia."

He did end up not winning the money but he doesn't feel like losing at all. He's reeling from it and only aware of himself when you hug him so tightly.

CHRIS: Couldn't be happier for Pierre and Alicia.

YOU: [Nods] Yep, they definitely deserved it.

"Congrats, you two!" Chan takes his turn to congratulate the winning couple.

"So happy for you, man!" He says as he gives Pierre a big hug.

The celebration continues with them popping open bottles of champagne and spraying everyone with it. You hide behind Chan as Pierre is aiming the bottle at both you and him.

"You're dripping!" You exclaim, seeing his face sticky and wet with white wine.

You help by wiping it with the back of your hand while he brushes his hair to the back.

Chan looks around and sees that everyone is having fun and happy, there's nothing he wishes more than his. It's a memory he'll treasure for life.

Everyone settles back to their seats as Lana has one announcement left.

"Your time at the retreat is over and therefore, the rules no longer apply."

Chan is turning to you but you're looking the other way, you walk over to the other side and he sees that you're coming over to someone.

Chan and Luke can only laugh as you share another kiss after the retreat ends with Dani.

Luke has to pull Dani away from you to not let the kiss continue while Chan pulls you from behind.

"Okay, that was hot," He says with an impressed smile.

He puts his arms around you and pulls you close, "But it's my turn now."

You giggle at him and waste no time to kiss him, opening your mouth to let him kiss you deeper, relishing the craving he has for the taste of your lips.

CHRIS: We never thought we'd get this far.

YOU: [Nods] Yeah.

CHRIS: [Looks at you] I'm proud of you.

YOU: [Shyly smiles] And I'm so proud of you!

The sounds of the fireworks going off startle you and you both turn around to see them lighting up the sky in bright, colorful sparks.

He's hugging you from behind as everyone else is also watching the wondrous view. His heart feels full yet he wants more of it, he knows that the only way he can get more of it is by sharing it.

Chan brings his mouth close to your ear and says, "I love you."

You turn around to look at him with a confused look on your face, "I'm sorry what?"

It's the explosive sounds of the fireworks and the music playing that make it hard for you to hear what he said the first time.

He raises his voice a little louder and says again, "I love you."

"What?" You raise your voice even louder than him against the constant explosion in the distance.

Chan laughs because it reminds him of the first day you met. He can tell you're not pretending to not hear it this time, he tries again by pressing his mouth close to your ear with his hands cupping around his mouth, "I love you!"

You coo at him in response and turn around to face him, "I love you too."

He captures your lips in one long, lingering kiss and lets out everything in him, freely and intensely. He's not afraid to let go now because he knows that's the only way to love you fully.

And no one can stop him, not now, not ever.

CHRIS: No more Lana. No more rules.

YOU: [Looks at Chris] And that means...?

CHRIS: Get in here!

YOU: [Kisses Chan] [Moans]

CHRIS: [Let go of the kiss] [Looks at the camera] Can I go now? Cause she needs to be f—

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justcallmedolce · 4 months

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Violet's death & Mizu's self-hatred.

I don't know if someone already noticed or analyzed this before, but I'm going to talk about it anyway.

As we know, Mizu killed one white "man" before the current events of the show.

It was first mentioned in episode 3, in the meeting with Heiji Shindo.

Mizu confidently says that currently there are 3 white men in Japan, which implies that she was already able to get to one of them.

So from that moment on we are sure she got to kill and get her revenge on one white man, but we don't know anything about how she was able to find them and who they were yet.

This changes at the end of episode 6 though.

When Mizu finally gets to face Fowler in the castle where he was hiding.

After Fowler takes over Mizu, he mentions a certain "Violet", to be precise, he states that "something happened to old Violet" and "was that you?” is the question he asks right after since he understands how dedicated Mizu is to her revenge.

(little note: in other languages Fowler refers to Violet with the “she/her” pronouns)

Thanks to that we know that the white "man" Mizu killed might be a woman, an old white woman named Violet.

Now.

Let's go back to episode 2, before the Four Fangs get to Mizu, she has a strange “vision” of her killing her older self, well at least that’s what I thought at first due to the missing information.

That, in fact, is not a “vision” but a flashback.

A flashback to when Mizu killed Violet.

What we can see is Mizu breaking through what seems to be a house, approaching an old woman sitting on a couch.

Now, the question is, why does she have Mizu’s face?

The answer is quite easy: Mizu’s self-hatred.

Mizu repudiates her white “half”, so deeply that she feels a strong desire to eradicate it from herself.

That leads Mizu to subconsciously switch Violet’s face with her own. As if part of her “impure” blood gets purified whenever she takes away the life of a white man she swore to get revenge on, because they’re actually the ones who made her, in everyone’s and, as a consequence, even in her own eyes, a monster.

—

Lastly I want to add that this is just MY theory, what I stated might not be totally correct. (if you think differently I’d love to see your theory in the comments, I’m curious to know what do you think of the “flashback/vision” Mizu had)

Okay soo, this was all. I honestly can’t wait to know more of Mizu’s past in season 2.

See you there.

#mizu blue eye samurai #mizu #blue eye samurai #bes

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ciaonicole85 · 2 months

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Waiting on my AO3 invite. Here's a one shot Sydcarmy story. Canon compliant. Post season 2. Please excuse the grammar/spelling mistakes. I need season 3 to get here quickly!

Title: Won't You Be My Neighbor

It was her break and for the 89th time in the last three days Sydney reassessed the apartments within 15 minutes walking distance from The Bear. As CDC she no longer wanted to depend on the train should there be some kind of accident, strike, or weather event. There were three that she could afford on her own and many more options if she were willing to become a roommate. She wasn't. If inspiration for a recipe struck her at 2am she wanted to get up and cook if she wanted. She loved the freedom of walking around naked after a shower, picking out her clothes or getting a snack. Most of all she missed turning up her music and dancing like an inflatable tube man in private.

She had sent a message to each leasing office to schedule an appointment next Monday and two of the three had confirmed a 10a and 11a showing. It had been more than 48 hours since she messaged the third so she called. The leasing agent informed her that the specific unit she wanted was no longer available, but they had a gorgeous 2 bedroom for $3800 a month if she was interested. "Okay, now that's just two options" Sydney muttered after getting off the phone.

"Hey mija, what you looking at?" Tina asked sitting down to eat lunch.

"Just apartments. I finally have the funds to move" Sydney answered with a sigh.

"What's wrong? Aren't you happy to be getting out on your own?"

"Oh, yeah for sure. It's just I'm really picky"

"Well, it doesn't have to be forever. Just make sure to read the reviews. You don't want roaches or bed bugs".

"Oh, I can't stand bugs! My dad still has to kill them for me, but I better get a fly swatter and spray now that I'll be on my own soon."

Break was over and Sydney stood up to resume her duties. First she needed to talk to Natalie about the upcoming private party. A celebrity had reserved the entire restaurant next Thursday evening. The names of all staff members on duty that night had to be submitted ahead of time with signed NDAs. It was all happening so fast and The Bear's debt was likely to be paid less than a year after opening. First there had been a Grio article about her being a rising black chef. That led to Keith Lee, the TikTok restaurant reviewer, raving about his to-go order that included the T-Bone and the Michael cannoli. It went viral and suddenly, they were booked for the next three months with a waiting list. She was working harder than ever, getting paid pretty well, and she deserved a place of her own.

After talking to Natalie, she found Carmy working on her prep.

"Hey, thanks! I can take over that now if you want"

"Actually….it's done. I wanted to take you somewhere for like 30 minutes" he said finishing up and cleaning the station.

Sydney folded her arms, her eyebrows raised high.

"Okay, where are we going?"

"I know you've been looking for a place and I think know the perfect apartment for you. Just a 10 minute walk from here. The landlord gave me the key so I could show you today" Carmy said trying to sound casual, but a deep pink flush rose in his cheeks.

"Why is he being weird?" Sydney thought but simply said "Okay, that's dope."

The Chicago air was soft and warm, the clean sunlight making everything look new. Summer afternoons like this made you forgive the brutal winters here. Carmy directed Sydney when to turn left and right, but refused to tell her where exactly they were going. Soon they were standing in front of his building.

The reason for his weirdness was now perfectly clear to Sydney and she felt so flattered that she had to avoid looking at Carmy when she said "So, there's an open unit in your building?"

"Uh, yeah. The people who lived just above me moved and I, uh, thought you might want to see it".

The apartment was on the fourth floor. Carmy unlocked the door and let Sydney go in first. The walls were freshly painted in "Cloud White" and the oak hardwood floors creaked comfortably under their feet. The layout was the same as Carmy's apartment with plenty of windows to let in natural light and a shockingly large kitchen for a 1 bedroom place in Chicago. As Sydney inspected the appliances and bathroom, she decided that if the rent was going to eat up even half of her check it was worth it. She had always admired Carmy's spacious apartment and with her sense of style she could make hers, a cozy bohemian oasis filled with plants, wall art, and actual furniture (eventually).

Carmy had let her roam around in silence for a few minutes, muttering and emitting tiny sounds of joy to herself. When she met him in the living room again, he said trying not to grin too widely, "If you like it, it's already yours."

"How? I know places like this are snatched up fast" Sydney said her eyes finally able to meet his again.

"The landlords, they're a couple, and their 20th wedding anniversary is coming up. They want reservations at The Bear." Carmy explained, desperately hoping to sound nonchalant about it.

"Oh, that's nice work, Carmy."

Then Sydney squealed and cried "This is just what I wanted!!" and she flung her arms around his shoulders in a wild hug. Carmy commanded his body not to shudder as he hugged her back. She was just wearing a t-shirt and without her usual layers of clothing he felt her delicate frame, her slim shoulder blades imprinting on his fingers.

In a moment Sydney pulled back shly and let her arms fall to her sides, her face burning. She made a mental note: Hugging Carmy. Not a safe activity for those who want to cook along side him using sharp objects or sleep peacefully at night dreaming innocent thoughts.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!" Sydney said taking another step back and making another turn around the room.

Carmy nodded and concentrated on not melting into the floorboards.

"You're okay with this? We already spend 60+ hours together at the restaurant every week and now I'd be in your building! And literally living on top of you."

"Yeah, well, I want you to. You deserve everything you want, Syd."

"Then I'll take it! Just a warning though. If you hear someone belting out Kpop and an occasional thud, that's just my weekly one woman concert, which will be over no later than 10pm. I'm not being murdered."

Carm was no longer unable to contain the width of his smile. This girl is so cute, his body physically ached. How would he get through service tonight?

With a happy shake of his head, he replied, "Thank you, for the heads up!"

With that Sydney marched towards the door and exclaimed "Take me to your landlord!"

Carmy floated behind her.

Cue: Maxwell's "Whenever, Wherever, Whatever"

#sydcarmy #sydney x carmy #carmy x sydney #carmen berzatto #syd adamu #the bear #fanfic #fan fiction #one shot

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azzibuckets · 1 month

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For the Love of the Game [Pazzi | Part 5/10]

paige bueckers x azzi fudd

summary: paige and azzi get the cameras rolling

a/n: i’ve gotten so many requests for this part so i hope it lives up to y’all’s expectations 😶😶 it’s more of a filler chapter but the next one is going to be so unhinged i can’t wait

word count: 1.6k

masterlist w/ all parts

“Paige, if you’re gonna sit and watch, come sit and watch on the bench!” Geno yelled out, threatening to pull Paige from the scrimmage.

The blonde set her jaw, putting her head down as she sprinted to get back on defense. Today was not her day. She could feel Azzi’s eyes on her as she moved around the court. They’d hadn’t gotten the chance to talk since their kiss yesterday, and Paige wasn’t sure if she even wanted to.

Finally, Geno clapped his hands and called for a water break. Paige walked slowly to the bleachers, gasping for air. Rummaging through her backpack, she searched for her water bottle. Realizing she’d left it at home, she cursed, kicking the ground.

“Here.” Azzi materialized from behind her, her blue Hydroflask in her outstretched hand.

Paige looked at her cautiously.

“I didn’t poison it,” Azzi muttered under her breath. “Drink it, babe.”

Paige gratefully accepted the water bottle, taking a long swig before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“What’s up with you?” Azzi studied her face. “You’re playing like shit.”

“I’m distracted.”

Azzi wrinkled her nose. “By what?”

Wordlessly, the blonde let her gaze fall to Azzi’s lips, immediately causing her to blush. Paige handed back the water bottle, biting back a smile at how easily ruffled Azzi was.

“Girls! No time for chit chat. Huddle up,” Geno called.

The girls joined the rest of the team as Geno went over what they needed to work on. After they broke, he asked Paige and Azzi to stay.

“My daughter came for practice today,” Geno informed them, nodding to a short, brunette girl who was talking to Nika with a notepad and pen in her hand. “Can you guys get started on her project?”

The girls agreed, and Geno sent them off.

——————

“I was thinking we could start with some candid shots. We can move onto the actual interviews later once we set the atmosphere of the film,” Leo, Geno’s daughter, explained.

Once Paige and Azzi nodded in assent, she smiled gratefully and turned around to start setting up her cameras.

“So, Azzi, I heard you’re a monster at the 3 point line,” Leo called from over her shoulder.

Azzi shrugged. “You could say that,” she responded nonchantly, earning a roll of the eyes from Paige.

“Geno said your shooting mechanics are almost textbook.” Leo grabbed a ball from the floor and tossed it to her. “So let’s get a shot of you helping Paige with her form.”

Paige’s mouth dropped open and her eyebrows shot up. She stuttered for a few seconds before she managed to find her words. “Are you serious? I was the national player of the year last season. I don’t need no lesson on shooting,” she protested vehemently.

“I don’t know, your wrist snap has been looking a little weak recently,” Azzi teased, clearly pleased at her newfound duty of coaching the blonde.

Leo laughed, amused. “Listen, I’m not saying anything about your skill. It’s just some fluff for the film. You know, you two being cute.” She put the strap of the camera around her neck and waved her camera. “Let’s roll.”

Leo positioned Paige at the 3 point line, then motioned for Azzi to come join them. “Just be as normal as possible,” the brunette instructed. “Pretend the camera isn’t there. Flirt, talk, touch however you guys normally would. Let’s give the audience something to see, alright?”

Azzi bit her lip. Her heart was beating in her ears, but she forced herself to stay calm. She couldn’t have Leo reporting back to Geno that the two girls who were supposedly dating refused to even touch each other. So she slid her arm around Paige’s shoulder to rest a hand on her elbow.

“Lights, camera, action!” Leo yelled, motioning for them to begin.

“Alright, P, you’re gonna be learning from the best. You ready?” Azzi joked. Thankfully her voice came out lighthearted and relaxed, the opposite of the internal tension she was feeling.

“Show me how it’s done, coach.” Like always, the blonde was all smooth and easy-going.

Azzi dropped a hand to Paige’s waist, gently adjusting her hip positioning. To be fair, Paige already had almost perfect form, but she had to do something for the cameras. With her other hand, she guided Paige’s wrist. The blonde’s back was pressed up entirely against her front, and she suddenly found it hard to breathe. It’s because Paige is basically compressing my damn lungs, she thought. Not because every point of contact between our bodies feels electric.

“Just…like…that,” Azzi breathed, and when Paige released the ball, it fell with a perfect swish through the net.

Azzi wrapped her arms around Paige’s waist, pulling her closer in. “Good job, baby,” she murmured into Paige’s ear. She was surprised by how easy the words came out, and she thanked God for her newly acquired acting skills.

Paige seemed surprise at her confidence too, and she stilled for a second before remembering their roles. She turned around and hung her arms around Azzi’s neck, putting their foreheads together. “It’s easy when I’m learning from the best.”

This time Azzi didn’t have to pretend to smirk. She was never going to let Paige live that down.

“Alright, cut!” Leo yelled. She didn’t even look up, reviewing the footage on her camera with a pleased smile on her face. “That was awesome! You both have such natural chemistry.”

Realizing they were still pressed up against each other, the two stepped back, looking at anywhere but each other.

As Leo set up the shot for the next scene, the dark haired girl poked a finger in Paige’s ribs. “The best, huh?” she snickered.

Paige grabbed her finger and squeezed it aggressively, causing her to yelp. “Shut up right now, Fudd.” She released her finger, and Azzi rubbed it with a frown, glaring at a now amused Paige.

—————

Day one of the shoot for Leo’s film was over, and Azzi slumped her shoulders in relief. It hadn’t been half bad, but she was tired after the long practice and just wanted to go home.

“Azzi Fudd! Where do you think you’re going?”

Azzi halted on her way out of the gym. Turning on her heel, she gave Geno a meek smile. “Home?”

“Your hair’s dry.”

Azzi looked at him with confusion. Geno crossed his arms. “Were you tuning me out during our talk today? Ice baths after practice every other day from now on.”

“Oh,” Azzi started speed walking back towards the recovery room. “I was listening, coach. I just forgot.”

“Uh huh.” Geno grunted, shaking his head as he watched Azzi hurry back.

As soon as she reached the recovery room, she saw Paige smirking at her, already in the ice bath. “You fucker,” Azzi growled, stripping off her clothes. She wanted to get over with the ice bath as soon as possible and go home. “You let me leave with Geno there.”

Paige shrugged. “I can’t save you from Geno every time, Fudd.”

Azzi exhaled sharply as her skin met the freezing water. She closed her eyes as she slowly submerged herself, trying to take deep breaths to prevent herself from hyperventilating. “I hate ice baths,” she said shakily.

“Really? I love them. I had the best bonding moments with my high school team during our ice bath sessions,” Paige recalled fondly, not seeming to be fazed at all from the frigid temperatures.

“What school did you go to?” Azzi asked, deciding now might as well be a time to get to know Paige better. Anything to strengthen their facades.

“Hopkins. I’m from Minnesota.”

Azzi nodded silently, not knowing how to respond.

“What ‘bout you?”

“St John’s. I’m from the DMV.”

Paige raised her eyebrows. “A private school?”

“Yep. Had it all laid out for me. Didn’t even have to try,” the younger girl intoned sarcastically, swishing her hand through the water.

Paige scrunched her nose. “Why do you do that?”

Azzi’s eyes snapped up. “What do you mean?”

Paige absent-mindedly rubbed an ice cube through her palms. “Put yourself down like that.”

The younger girl wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to preserve her body heat. “I don’t know. You went to public school. I was assuming you’d say something about how going to private school set me up for success or something.”

“No.” Paige’s response was abrupt. “I wouldn’t say that. I know how hard you’ve worked. It wouldn’t be fair for me to attribute it to going to some dumb private school.”

A smile crept onto Azzi’s face. Her instinct was to start teasing Paige about how nice she was being, but she stopped herself, deciding that she didn’t want to ruin the moment. “Thanks, Bueckers.”

Paige nodded, still focused on the piece of ice that was now slowly melting. “You liking UConn so far?”

This was probably the longest time they’d ever had a normal conversation, Azzi thought to herself. And for some weird reason, she didn’t mind. “Yeah. The system here is great. Geno knows his shit.”

“Yeah.” Paige closed her eyes, tipping her head against the side of the tub. “He’s tough, but he’s amazing. You’re gonna learn a lot from him.”

Azzi nibbled her bottom lip. “Are we gonna talk about the kiss?” she suddenly blurted out, not being able to ignore the elephant in the room anymore.

Paige didn’t even move, continuing to breathe evenly though her nose. “No.”

Azzi tipped her head against the tub too, shutting her eyes. “Alright.”

#paige bueckers #azzi fudd #pazzi #uconnwbb #wcbb #wbb #enemies to lovers

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heyclickadee · 3 months

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Guys, I’m gonna need the fandom to stop being weird about Phee.

Okay, so, first off, I’m not back. I’m still on break; I just logged in to check on the DMs? Made the mistake of checking the tags, and happened to see some real hot takes about Phee’s line about Tech and wrote this out before my better judgment kicked in. Two things:

1. From a narrative perspective, a NARRATIVE perspective, not a character perspective, a narrative perspective, Phee’s line has the exact same function as every other mention of Tech by the characters and visual reference to him through the season so far. We haven’t seen any single character process Tech’s “death.” And by processing Tech’s death, I mean that we haven’t seen a single character come to terms with it the way we, for example, saw Omega and Tech come to terms with Echo’s departure, or the entire ghost crew come to terms with Kanan’s death in Rebels.

In refusing to show us this, the show refuses to allow the audience to internalize Tech’s death as an actual event that has consequences and is expected to stick. In addition to this, the show pokes at us at least once an episode, whether by a single line or by visual cues, to remind us of Tech’s absence. In so doing, the show refuses to allow the audience to fully let Tech go; this only makes sense from a writing perspective if the absence is temporary and the much needed catharsis after an event like the first five minutes of “Plan 99” is going to come from something other than processing the character’s death—something like letting him come back. Phee’s line is just another one of those jabs reminding us that Tech is absent.

(Before anyone comes in here saying that they’re probably mourning Tech off-screen: They probably are. That’s not the point. The point is that there is purpose in what writers choose to emphasize. They have had plenty of opportunity to show us Omega or someone coming to terms with what happened, and plenty of time to do even more than that, because not only are they willing to stop for emotional moments—half the season so far has been Crosshair’s extended emotional moment and catharsis from two seasons of buildup. I’m actually not willing to argue about this at this point.)

2. The way Phee talks here is the way that every character has been talking about Tech the whole season. She’s not unique. The Tech mentions have largely been informative and impersonal—just enough to hurt, not enough to derail a conversation. The emphasis has not been on the loss of him as a person, but instead on his absence and how that makes life difficult. Once again, from a narrative perspective, this is because getting personal with the Tech mentions leads directly into the characters actually processing their loss; and since the show is not allowing that processing to happen since it’s almost definitely bringing him back, the little, slightly impersonal mention once an episode is as far as it can go in bringing Tech up. And since it doesn’t want us to forget about him either, that’s what we end up with. It’s not bad just because Phee did it too now.

3. From a character perspective generally speaking (of the whole cast), the way the mentions work reads to me as ambiguous grief. Remember that Hunter and co. never recovered a body, never really saw any evidence, and don’t really know what happened to Tech in the end. And, speaking from personal experience, not knowing can be emotionally paralyzing and can leave you incapable of processing your loss, because you don’t know if it’s a loss or not. They come across to me as stuck and unable to to anything that we see besides noting that he’s not there. He’s gone, they don’t know where he is; he might be dead, and he might not.

4. And, speaking of Phee specifically: Phee’s mention of Tech wasn’t overtly sad, but neither was Omega’s mention of Tech back in “Shadow’s of Tantiss.” Not everyone cries every time they bring up someone they lost. I don’t. Don’t expect everyone to outwardly react the way you want them too, please.

And, frankly (this IS a hill I will die on) Phee brought Tech up out of nowhere. They weren’t talking about him. She brought him up completely unprompted in an unrelated conversation, meaning he’s on her mind, meaning that, no, she’s not over it.

PS: Do not come into my notes and bring up Fives and the lack of Fives discussion in TBB. I love Fives, I love the domino twins, but Fives was a secondary character on a completely different show with a completely different kind of narrative structure. Not bringing him up in this show is not the same as not allowing the characters or audience to process the happened to Tech.

PPS: I’m sorry if I sound salty in this. I am. This isn’t really directed at anyone I follow or interact with on her, or really anyone who follows me; this is directed at certain parts of the larger fandom that are kind of exhausting.

PPPS: If anyone comes into this post to call me delusional for still thinking Tech is coming back because that’s literally what they’ve set up on screen, they’re getting instablocked.

PPPPS: Don’t @ the cast and crew on Twitter, guys. Just don’t. Think about what they’re doing and what you’re doing, and don’t.

#fandom salt #not tagging this under the main tag #because this is REALLY salty

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genericpuff · 8 months

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The Mishandling of LO’s S3 Mi(n)season Hiatus - Part 3 2/2

ALRIGHT. THIS IS THE LAST PART. I MEAN IT THIS TIME.

I had completely forgotten how long the mi(n)season finale for S3 was, but I suppose it makes sense considering it was operating as the true cliffhanger before the 4 month break.

If you haven't read the first 3 parts of this episodic breakdown, please go check these ones out first:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 1/2

Alright, let's get this show on the road!

CAUTION: THIS IS PART 2 OF THE THIRD PART OF A 3 + 1 PART SERIES IN WHICH I WILL BE SPOILING MUCH OF EPISODES 251-253. THIS EPISODE CONTAINS TOPICS SURROUNDING SEXUAL ASSAULT. THIS WILL BE A LONG POST. BRACE YOURSELF.

We've gotten delusional Leuce. We've gotten erasure of the SA. We've gotten a complete bastardization of the original myths that this story got its claim to fame on. The dread has set in, and all I want to do is get off Mr Bones' Wild Ride. But we have one more stretch of mind-numbing track to go, because the reveal of Persephone starting winter was not the end, oh no. The true cliffhanger of this episode - upon which the fans and critics alike have sat on for 4 months - proves that when we think Rachel has gotten crazy enough in this circus she calls a "retelling", she manages to prove that yes, she can make things even crazier, and no, you will not have a good time.

Ironically, despite that opening, I actually have a lot less to say about this last part of Episode 253 than I did about the first part. Obviously there's no feasible way to top "Persephone causes winter", but this episode does come rather close in its absurdity. Ultimately, if these essays have proven anything, it's just how much Rachel retcons things, to such an extent now that she seems to be retconning or outright forgetting information that she established just a handful of episodes prior. You'll see what I mean here as we go along in this.

As soon as it's hinted at that Persephone has started winter, we cut away to Apollo. Because, as per LO tradition, we can't spend longer than 10-15 panels on a single scene.

Already this seems like... really odd framing.

This is Apollo. A character who has been a villain since basically the beginning of the comic, when he sexually assaulted Persephone. This is not something that's up for debate. This is not something that can be refuted, as much as the comic may try to erase it or twist it into something else.

And yet, the vibe I get from this is, "Misled but good-deep-down character being taken advantage of by a sinister being." This isn't the type of framing we should be seeing around a character like Apollo.

I mentioned it ages ago in my post about the SA erasure that it really feels like Rachel is slyly trying to make Apollo empathetic, from giving us an entire episode in his perspective to adding extra panels into the books to making Persephone weirdly reminiscent of feelings for Apollo that she never had.

One thing I also touch on in that post is how Apollo is framed against Zeus. Zeus is also a villain character for much of the series, and even after he's "redeemed", the fanbase still considers him largely to be an antagonistic force. So to have Apollo be trying to take down Zeus comes across as very "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and I really don't like seeing that framing when it's regarding a rapist.

And this scene largely feels the same. It feels like Rachel's trying to sway the audience into believing Apollo is like Draco Malfoy - a misled boy who "didn't know any better" and was being manipulated by a greater evil. If you haven't guessed by now, that "greater evil" is Ouranos.

Why is it Ouranos? In my opinion (so take this with grains of salt) this is because they need to somehow "one up" Kronos and give Persephone and Hades a tangible force to fight against, to draw a clean line in the sand between "good" and "evil" so that we, the audience, will be forced to categorize Persephone and Hades as "good" and someone else as "evil".

But really, why Ouranos? We're told that he manipulated Gaia to use her powers in an attempt to create "hierarchy" (whatever the FUCK that means, I don't think Rachel really understands how societal hierarchies are created) but there's NOTHING to imply that he was tyrannical or "evil" in the same way that Kronos has been depicted. Rachel's basically submitting this whole plotline to "well it's in the prophecy" but there was NOTHING dictating that she had to try and write a "prophecy" storyline to begin with. So as a result, it feels very tacked on and it's hard to tell what the point is, it really just seems like Rachel watched too much Marvel one week and decided that Lore Olympus - a fantasy romance - needed a big bad.

And by extension it feels like Apollo is being used as a pawn in this dynamic. By making him subservient to an "evil" force, it means he can labelled as definitively "evil", and thus it gives Rachel a vehicle to have Apollo taken down - or even perhaps empathized with much like in the Draco Malfoy sense - without having to touch the SA plot that she set up and never resolved.

He was evil before, but he wasn't the kind of evil that Rachel could write around. Because she doesn't know how to write SA or give her female characters any sense of retribution or agency. We've seen that already with her robbing Demeter of winter and Persephone of her feelings regarding the SA. There was never going to be a chance in hell she was going to be able to write herself out of a plotline she's been procrastinating for 4+ years.

That said, this is just a vibe I get, so I'm not gonna speak on it much more. This is one of those "we're really not gonna know until the comic returns" situations.

Once again, Rachel's trying to make Apollo seem like a "master manipulator", but she's also trying to make him seem like he's the one being manipulated, but she's ALSO trying to write him as a big dumb idiot who literally can't grasp consent. Apollo has to be one of the most inconsistently written characters in the entire comic, and yes, that includes Persephone. Again, it just goes to show she hasn't been able to fully commit to the SA plotline because Apollo's motivations and intelligence levels change with each passing episode. Sometimes he's being nefarious and plotting to overthrow the King, other times he's literally asking a nymph if she'd be willing to cut her hair to look like Persephone. The comic can't choose and so we, the audience, can't tell why Apollo is even still here.

Again, this is SUCH bizarre framing. If we're to believe that Persephone has been "cursed" by no longer being able to create Spring, only Winter, then does that make Ouranos and Apollo the heroes here? Because Ouranos is right, if Persephone is causing winter, that's going to kill the mortals, which is the complete OPPOSITE of what she's trying to do. So what are we left with? A plotline where Apollo and Ouranos might actually have a point about how she rushed into a marriage with the King of the Underworld and sacrificed everything that gave her agency and power - both metaphorically and literally - in the process?

Again, this is why Rachel fundamentally misunderstands the original purpose of The Hymn to Demeter and how she's, by and large, made her retelling worse in an attempt to be "subversive". It puts the plot and character motivations in a place where it's hard to tell what the story is trying to say, I can understand if maybe Rachel's trying to write a conflict where Apollo uses this information to manipulate her, but it doesn't help that knowing EVERYTHING we know about the H x P relationship within the context of this comic, Ouranos has a point that Persephone's union with the King of the Dead is problematic. It might not be the same "problematic" that we're all thinking of, but it really just reinforces the criticisms of this relationship. Is the comic really asking us to say "fuck the human race, they're in love" ??? Because that's NOT what the point of the original myth was in the slightest and it's just a really weird place to put your audience in.

It's 4:45 AM right now as I'm typing this so my thoughts are a little scattered, but all this really feels like is an attempt on Rachel's part to create a new "big bad" for her to use as a distraction from the SA plot and to give Persephone a "flaw", but that "flaw" really only takes away the strength of another character.

Oh, and by the way? This whole "you need the fertility goddess" thing? THE COMIC HAS ALREADY TOLD US THIS WON'T WORK BECAUSE SHE HAS TO BE IN LOVE WITH APOLLO FOR HIM TO BE ABLE TO USE HER POWERS. SO RACHEL'S ALREADY WRITTEN HERSELF INTO A CORNER THAT SHE'LL EITHER HAVE TO SOLVE OR RETCON ENTIRELY. DO YOU SEE WHY THIS IS SO ABSURD???

This line is kind of jarring because we had the Kassandra prophecy at the beginning that talked about the herb, but the prophecy Ouranos is talking about is the one about the sons of kings overthrowing their fathers. I definitely forgot about that one for a hot second reading this, I didn't get how this sequence related to the poisonous plant thing because they're framed as completely separate prophecies. It's not like Kassandra said in her initial prophecy that this plant would be used to overthrow a King again, she just said that the plant still existed and Psyche figured it out on her own that Apollo was gonna use it on Zeus. IDK that's just something that bugged me (also again, why are they believing her prophecies when we literally just had it established an episode ago that no one believes her prophecies LMAO)

Because if it wasn't enough for LO to have one Evil Robot Jeff Bridges villain, it had to throw in another one for good measure. It's just a line of dads and grandpas going back centuries waiting for their turn in the ring with Persephone.

lmao I love this 'hint' at Apollo being the one to write the note from Hebe and leave the cupcake for Zeus. Like... duh? We already put that together as SOON as Psyche said gasp "Zeus!" and then it showed Zeus eating the cupcake while Psyche called him on the phone telling him Apollo was gonna try and harm him. This sequence of 'revealing what really happened' doesn't work here because we've already been told what happened.

Except we know he won't. There's no tension to this whatsoever.

That's Hebe by the way.

It's odd that Apollo is embracing this prophecy when he has a kid himself. He literally has a fully grown son in this comic. I guess Apollo forgot about that, just like Rachel.

And that's it. That's the midseason finale. Ouranos is the new twist villain and Apollo is... whatever the fuck Rachel plans on doing with him.

Now, this leads me to my original motivation to create this series of reviews. It spawned from a conversation we were having in the Discord, discussing what it must be like to be a free reader who hasn't paid for the FP episodes that are still behind a paywall. This is not standard for LO, it hasn't kept FP episodes behind paywalls in the past during long hiatuses like this. I can even prove this with screenshots from the Wayback Machine, during the last midseason hiatus:

(whoof, that rating has dropped. I know it doesn't seem like much but for a series with millions of readers, by law of averages it takes a LOT of poor ratings to pull that number down compared to a series that only has a few readers)

Point is, this is the first time Rachel/WT have done this. Now, I will make this perfectly clear, I don't think this was a decision that was purely on Rachel. WT controls much of the backend like paywall costs, release dates, etc. so I'm not gonna go pinning this on her.

However, I do think this is a completely bungled attempt at trying to get people to pay up. LO has been dropping in views steadily but surely since the midseason break for S2. It's not pulling in the peak numbers that it used to, while it does still pull in a lot more views and money than other series on the platform, it's nowhere near the juggernaut that it once was in terms of record-breaking numbers, and I think WT knows that. So this really comes across as a stunt to get readers to FP, assuming that people will HAVE to pay if they're left waiting for 4 months.

But here's the flaw in that logic - people are still going to have to wait 4 months anyways. Reading those 3 locked episodes, especially all at once, will still leave you in the same place as you were beforehand.

And it shows in the numbers that people aren't falling for the bait.

Again, 17k likes still isn't anything to sneeze at for a FP episode, but it's still just barely above the new average that LO has gained over the past two years. I remember a time when those like counts would be 30k+. And now, despite being on break 4 months with these episodes still locked behind a wall, it's barely able to scrap by its new average of roughly 14-15k, and that average is when episodes are actually updating.

Obviously like counts = / = viewcounts but when they fluctuate, we know that the views have to be as well by extension, at least to some extent, and that's still engagement that's dropped of in and of itself. And we can also see a rough look at how the views have dropped off through the comic's landing page. Now, it's hard to compare data because there was a time when WT actually didn't give follower/view counts on the landing page (this was also when the like count capped at 99k) but we can still see a downslide in growth very visibly in the view count, sub count, and most of all, the rating, which has been steadily dropping for years now.

August 2020:

May 2021:

November 2021:

March 2022 (don't get confused by the 995 million, this is where view count comes in):

September 2022:

March 2023:

Today (October 24th, 2023):

Again, there's no way to get a true clear picture of LO's stats beyond this surface level data, but it does show that LO is just not getting the rapid growth it used to. People are moving on from it. And while its view and sub count are steadily increasing (albeit slowly for a webtoon that gets as much marketing as it does) the average rating is going down. It's clear that the majority of LO's growth happened between 2018 and 2020, which would make sense as the series was still relatively new compared to how it's become old news today, and Webtoons experienced a boom in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdowns - a boom that they think still applies in the year 2023, judging by their attempts to import as many series onto the platform as possible and capitalize on an audience that just isn't there anymore.

All of this leads me to wonder - what's in it for free readers after all this? Because if you recall from where we started, the cliffhanger they started on was Hades - possessed by Kronos - attempting to strangle Persephone, a cliffhanger that was resolved within seconds for FastPass readers. If they don't FastPass after that, they'll be met with numerous reveals that don't even make sense for the plot as a whole (such as Leuce making up the text messages).

Again, I don't want to claim that this was a decision on Rachel's part, but it really seems like either she didn't plan this hiatus, or her inability to write naturally without the need for addictive-style formatting as a crutch made it so that the free readers would be given the worst midseason premiere ever.

And what are we, the FastPass readers, going to return to? There are still so many plot threads that have been left unresolved, multiple villains being setup, and as far as Webtoons and Rachel have revealed during NYCC, LO is supposed to end by the spring. That's 20-30 weeks TOPS, which isn't exactly a whole lot of wiggle room for a writer like Rachel who's chronically bad at pacing and getting to the point of the plots she's established.

I know there are so many readers right now anticipating the return of this comic, some of whom genuinely believe this comic is "better than ever" and others who are critical of it but hope that the comic will come back in a better state after the hiatus. But right now there's so much evidence to support the contrary - that LO is about to come back in as bad, if not worse, condition than it was in when it left.

And through all this, for a comic that's finally ending after 5 years, I have to ask - where is the hype? Why are Webtoons and Rachel keeping the finale of this comic behind closed doors? Where's the promotional art, the hinting at what's to come, the attempts to generate any semblance of excitement for the readers who are still left after clinging onto this ride for 5 years? Why were the fans themselves barred out of their own communities during the majority of the hiatus?

And that just leads me to an even more discouraging thought. This is not meant to accuse Rachel or make assumptions. It's simply a thought that I had while thinking about what the series could possibly pull upon its return, so please, take this with MOUNTAINS of salt. It's one thing I hadn't considered with the knowledge that LO will be returning with 3 episodes still behind a paywall, a 'buffer' in and of itself for Rachel to work off of.

Rachel only technically needs one episode ready for the release. Not three as she normally would if the episodes had been unlocked like in previous hiatuses. That's not including whatever buffer episodes she would need beyond the upload schedule, but she's proven to be chronically bad at maintaining a buffer as well since day one.

We haven't seen any promotional art. No hinting. No hyping beyond what's been seen for her "Rachel Smythe Presents" series.

With all that in mind, I have one question to leave this on:

Has Rachel even started working on Episode 254 yet?

#thank you for reading this very long essay series #it's 530 AM and i have to work at 2 PM #i've been listening to drakengard music on loop for 2 hours #these are troubling times #deadass i think the comic is gonna come back even worse than before #and i WILL be here to talk about it if and when it does #lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus

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pedrostylez · 1 year

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Mi Vida

pairing: Javier Peña x fem!reader

summary: reader and Javier are coworkers that typically hate each other, but find each other helpful in relieving that stress

rating: 18+ (no minors please)

word count:3.6k

warnings etc: smut, dirty talk, unprotected p in v sex, pet names, oral, female recieving, established relationship. NO USE OF Y/N.

A/N: I finished Narcos last week :( and I know that Murphy isn’t in the last season but I have him here because I feel like it. Loosely based on some of the events in Season 3, but barely. Anyways! This is the final part of the Mi Luz fic. Thank you for sticking around for my first one. Writing will hopefully improve as time goes on :)

3 months after Mi Cielo

Seeing him at work was different from his apartment. Both were stressed out Javier, but one was colder to you and one was loving, inviting, and warm. Sometimes you thought he was angry with you, even though it had been clarified on more than one occasion he was trying to separate the two of you at work so as to “not embarrass you.” Had you really asked for that so often that he repeated it back?

Maybe at first you were embarrassed-you didn’t want anyone to know about your relationship with him because you thought it would backfire. But now you wished for a little more attention. It had almost been a year since you two started your weekly get-together, and Susan and Amy had let you know that after that night in the bar, they could see how he cared for you.

You brought a file up to Murphy after he called you while heading back from his most recent trip out, now staring at the back of Javier’s head while Murphy flipped through the file. If Murphy was asking you a question you missed it, the back of Javier’s neck was too interesting to not focus on. He looked tense, head buried in the paperwork in front of him and going through files you had given him days before that he never returned.

You used to get on him about not giving back files, but you knew this was important. He had mentioned at his place over the weekend that he was trying to track one of the connections' wives down from the Cali cartel, and you encouraged him to keep the papers until he figured it out. He had momentum and you weren’t going to break it.

“Thanks for this, but I don’t think it is what I need.” Murphy’s voice took you out of your trance, eyeing you and glancing at Peña. He had never said, but you were positive that he knew about your relationship with Peña too. They were friends and sometimes your weekends were cut short so that Javier could go to Steve’s like he used to.

You smiled, bringing your eyes back to Murphy. “Okay, do you want me to look in one of the older files? This was the most recent intel from a few months ago.”

Murphy shook his head and sighed. “No, I’ll come down and take a look in a few hours. Gotta update the boss first.” He stood up, glancing one more time between you and Javier, smiling in a way that said “he’s upset right now, best to leave him alone”.

You nodded, holding the file tight to your chest as you walked back to the hallway that led to your archives room. He would tell you if he needed you.

A few hours later, sitting at your desk and taking notes, you glanced up to find Javier standing in the doorway watching you. He looked tired but smirked and stepped into the room. “I’ve been here for a few minutes and you didn’t notice.”

“Sorry, I was taking down some information that was left by one of the girls. Do you need something?” You felt breathless, hoping he would close the door and ask something personal like he would in your bed. He had been so careful the past few months that there really was a separation that you had asked for initially.

“I’m here in place of Murphy. He asked me to grab the files you two talked about earlier?” He looked around the room, not avoiding you but not intent on keeping your focus. He was distracted, thinking about how the rest of his weekend would go.

“Oh, right. Let me just see here.” You stood, tapping the table lightly with your fingers as you thought about where the older files were. You moved your ladder over, taking a step up and reaching for a smaller box.

The door shut behind Peña and he lowered his voice. “I’m uh-I have to take care of work tonight. I have to bring that asshole's wife back to Miami so he will talk to us and I am going to be gone for a few days.” He was nervous, shoving his hands in his pants pockets and glancing up at you. “I’m sorry I am telling you here but I didn’t want to just go and not tell you and I don’t think I will have time to see you before.”

You looked at him, stepping down from the ladder and smiling. “That’s okay Javi, I understand.”

He felt the breath leave him quickly, and he reached out to your desk for support. Did you call him Javi? At work? He had been so careful, keeping his distance from your archives and keeping the door open when he had to see you. He wanted to see you more but knew you didn’t want to jeopardize anything. “Maybe you can go out with Susan and Amy or something and I’ll give you the key to my place?” He whispered, feeling like the offer was the right move. Have fun with your friends but come back to me even if I am not there.

You chuckled, shuffling through the file box.” I don’t think so, you know what happened last time.” You hadn’t gone out since that night, explaining as vaguely as possible to Susan and Amy what happened. They never asked you again, rather having a girl’s night in or gossip session at your place.

Pena smirked, hiding his irritation at never finding Roberto (he was a DEA agent for Christ’s sake and he couldn’t track down one asshole?) “The sex after you scared me half to death was worth it.”

You laughed, glancing behind him to the doorway that was currently closed. “I might go out, but just to be with the girls, not to drink. I know where you keep your key, maybe I’ll do a load of dishes for you.” You felt yourself heat up as you spoke, embarrassed that you were willing to do domestic things for him while he wasn’t there.

A full smile plastered on his face, and a light chuckle breathed out. “That is very nice of you mi luz,” He said, looking at the shoes you were wearing today and back up to your face. You were likely going to be walking today. “I’ll be back on Saturday, hopefully before lunch. Will I find you in my bed or should I go to yours?”

It was like he was purring, and it made you squirm. “If you want me to stay at yours to watch your apartment, then I can.”

“That’s not why I want you there, but if that is what will get you there then I’ll take it.” He laughed, grabbing the handle to the door and swinging it open. “I’ll call you.” He winked, glancing out into the hallway and seeing it was clear before running back into the room and grabbing your face. You seemed more relaxed recently, and was willing to risk your fury for a kiss. “Just a quick one, cielo.”

He pecked your lips twice, then kissed you for a little longer on the last one before running away, file in hand for Murphy and chuckling at how your eyes were the size of saucers. You cleared your throat, feeling blood rush to your face as you busied yourself at your desk. Once he was clear of the hallway, footsteps no longer heard, you reached into your second drawer and pulled out the “Spanish to English” translation book that Javier got you as a joke a couple months ago, thumbing through to the dog-eared pages to find the words.

Mi luz: My light

Mi cielo: My heaven

Instead of going out, you headed straight for Peña’s place, knowing he had a couple movies you could watch while doing some dishes that you had left at his place a couple nights ago. There was no way he had cleaned it up since he was so busy with this most recent issue.

It didn’t take long for you to do dishes, and you figured that his couch was more comfortable than yours so you sat down to finish the movie you had put in when you first got there. Just as you sat down his home phone rang, making you glance at its spot on the kitchen wall. Was it smart to answer his phone? What if it was his family and a girl was answering and he didn’t want them to know? He did say he would call…

You were caught in your thoughts for so long that the ringing stopped, and you thought you were in the clear until it rang again. Sighing, you stood up and hesitantly picked it up. “Hello?”

“Cariño-it 's me.” Javi sounded out of breath, struggling even, on the other end of the line.

“What’s wrong?” You wrapped your fingers around the cord, nervously looking up toward the door.

“I-well. I need to hear your voice. I wasn’t sure if you would be there yet but you didn’t answer your phone after the fourth ring…I'm going to be home later tonight.” He still sounded out of breath, trying to act normal.

“What happened?” you pushed. “Javi you sound like you just ran a mile, why aren’t you on a plane?”

“I fucked up baby, and now I don’t need to go to Miami. Are you staying at my place? Will you be there when I get there?”

You nodded your head, reaching out to the counter to support yourself. “Yes, Javi, I'll be here. Do you want me to stay awake? Can I do anything right now?”

He was trying to not panic through the phone, but the relief he felt that you were on the other end of the line calmed him enough to quiet his voice in the airport bathroom. “Just-fuck. I fucking lo– I’ll be back before you’re asleep I think. I’ll bring food-”

“No, honey I’ll have food ready for you. Is everything okay? Really I need you to answer me.” You were scared. He had never done this before and the way he was talking through the phone made your concern increase. There had been plenty of weekends where he had to travel to find a cartel in a jungle or to fly to the States, but he always returned and would call you to visit him on Sunday night, wanting just a minute with you. You overlooked how you called him honey.

He didn’t miss it, and it made him take another breath. “Everything is okay, I just don’t know how much longer I can do this.” He felt small admitting this on the phone to you. “I’m heading your way soon. There’s cash in the drawer next to the silverware to order takeout if you want hermosa. I’ll see you soon.”

You had changed out of your clothes, running home and grabbing a bag and running back, convinced you would miss him and that he would worry. You both ended up living very close together, but if you walked at your leisure it would have taken 30 minutes one way. Breathless, you started cooking something easy so that there would be leftovers for him but so that you could eat something while you waited for his return. You were still jittery, nervous about what he meant by not knowing how much longer he could do this.

You were halfway through putting cheese on some bread to pop in the oven when you heard him slide his keys into the lock of his front door. You looked around the corner of the wall from the island, seeing his shoulders come into view as he threw his keys on the coffee table, locking the door behind him. He turned around, coming face to face with you and you saw it-the worry in between his eyebrows, the tilt of his eyes. “What happened, Javi?”

He deflated, ripping his jacket off and into you, wrapping his arms around your waist, and setting you on the counter. His head was hidden in your shoulder as he breathed deeply, working up the courage to tell you of his failure. “I was supposed to bring her to Miami to see her husband, but he’s dead. He was killed as we were getting on the plane.”

You paused, bringing your hands up to the nape of his neck and doing your best to soothe him. He pushed further into you, his breath catching. “That isn’t your fault.”

He let out a gust of air, tears coming to his eyes as he gripped your hips tighter. “Everything goes wrong all the time and I don’t think I can keep doing this.” He clutched to you, willing you to understand. How could he keep being at the root of all this chaos?

You pet the back of his head, rubbing in between his shoulders and quietly cooing at him as he continued to cry. “It’s okay Javi, we can just relax tonight. I have food–”

“It isn’t okay!” He exclaimed, bringing his eyes to yours and grabbing at your face to make you look at him. “I’ve hurt so many people in the process of catching these assholes in a country that doesn’t even give a shit–”

“Listen to me.” You grabbed his arms, stopping him in his tracks. His eyes were already swollen and red-rimmed with tears. “You can do what you want about leaving, but don’t think for a second that this is your fault. One way or another people were going to get hurt, whether or not you were in the position you are in now. You have done what you can to do what needs to be done and if you need to remove yourself from all of this then you’re allowed to do that.”

He watched you speak, waited for you to finish, and sighed, leaning his forehead against yours. He couldn’t believe that you were here for him right now, soothing him, cooking for him. He saw your bag that was in the hallway when he first arrived and he hoped you weren’t planning on leaving-he couldn’t be alone. “Okay.” I love you. “You’re right, we should just relax. Why didn’t you order takeout?” Thank you for cooking for me. “I told you where the money was.” Don’t leave me.

You smiled, patting his shoulder. “I thought pasta would be easier.”

He leaned back, glancing down at your lips and giving you a quick peck. “Will it be okay to leave it unattended for a minute?” He asked, fingers dancing along your hips and pushing the shirt you were wearing up. “I have an appetizer in mind.”

You let out a giggle, spreading your legs more and leaning back on your hands. “Let me set the timer for the bread and see if we can beat it?” You knew this was a distraction, and all you wanted was to make him happy.

He smiled, pulling at his tie and kicking off his shoes. “Better hurry cariño, I’ll start without you.” He disappeared into his bedroom, taking off his shirt first and hearing you laughing as you reached for his timer. Hearing your laugh made him smile, his hands coming to the button of his jeans as you walked into the room. He grabbed at you, growling playfully to hear you giggle again and falling onto the bed with you in a heated kiss.

His movements were frantic, reaching into your shorts and finding you already wet for him. “Mi luz you’re already drenched. All for me?”

His breath was heavy on your neck, your hands finding purchase in his hair and messing up his gelled waves. You flipped back to the same page in that translation book in your head and smiled. “For you, always.”

He groaned, ready to sob at the thought that you were only his. He could always admit to you his feelings when he was buried inside you, but were you able to do the same? His hands retreated, grabbing at the waistband and helping you shimmy out of the shorts and underwear, spreading your legs and inhaling deeply.

Your legs tingled as he grabbed at them, spreading you apart and making eye contact with you as he leaned down with the tip of his tongue, connecting with your clit. With barely any pressure, he circled it, keeping your attention as he squeezed your inner thighs.

He groaned, closing his eyes as his tongue dipped down to your entrance and in, reaching inside you and back out, spreading your wetness. He did this over and over again, silently listening to you whimper and feeling you squirm as his beard and mustache got wet. He turned his head and kissed each thigh, letting you feel how wet you were, his facial hair dragging on your skin. Your legs shook with need, reaching down and grabbing at the top of his head making him smirk. “Does it feel good?”

“Yes-please keep going.” You were quick to respond, pulling his head closer to you and watching his tongue reach back out to your clit. You didn’t notice his hand slide up your thigh as he moved two fingers around where you made a mess, sinking them into you and holding you open for him.

“Have a timer we have to beat don’t we?” He mumbled, suddenly sucking your bud into his mouth and smirking at how you jumped.

“Maybe 15 minutes left on the clock.” You whispered, leaning your head back and sighing deeply.

“Plenty of time, baby.” He groaned into you, pulling you closer to him as you started to squirm away, fingers rhythmically pushing into you, looking up to see your throat exposed, blush creeping up slowly as your breathing increased. “I think we will even have time to spare won’t we?”

“Y-yes.” You looked back down at him, brown eyes already on you and tilting up in a smile and you felt a rush of confidence. “You look amazing like this, mi vida.”

Javier felt his world stop, watching the smirk grow on your face into a smile and then into a whimper, biting your bottom lip as you grew anxious with the continued pumping of his fingers. He pulled away, face messy with your wetness, and paused his fingers still inside you. “What did you say?”

You hesitated, wanting to laugh at how shocked he was but also suddenly nervous. Did you say it wrong? “Uh, mi vida? Is that the right-”

“I’m your soul?” He choked, feeling tears come to his eyes again. When did he become such a crybaby? “Do you mean that?”

Your eyes softened, looking down at his hand still inside you, and pushed your hips down further onto them. “I don’t say things I don’t mean, Javi. Do you say things you mean?”

He couldn’t speak, just staring at you as you unintentionally bucked your hips and whined, watching your eyes race between his own and his hand. “I mean every word I say to you.” He groaned, pulling his fingers out of you even though you sighed in protest, leaning up to be at eye level with you. “You’ve been reading that book, haven’t you?”

You laughed, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and widening your legs for him to slot between them. “I have pages marked so I can refresh my memory when you say something.”

He leaned forward to kiss you, pausing as you let him explore your mouth, cradling your face in his hand. He hiked your legs up around his waist, pulling back to watch your face as he sunk into you. “So you know then-” he groaned, holding your hip still as he started a slow rhythm. “You know that you’re the light in my life?” He pushed hard into you, wanting to hear your breath catch for a moment. “That you’re my everything?”

You smiled, loving the feeling of him inside you. You felt your throat catch when you went to respond, instead moaning and reaching up and grabbing what hair you could at the nape of his neck.

“Answer me.” He demanded, picking up speed at the pull of your fingers in his hair, wanting to feel you pull harder.

“Yes.” Absolutely breathless. “You’re my everything too, Javi.”

He closed his eyes, feeling like he was losing his mind. He continued to pump into you, leaning himself back to watch as he disappeared into you again and again. “You look absolutely filthy like this baby. You take me so well, such a good girl. Mine, aren’t you?”

You preened, nodding at his question and grabbing onto his arms for support as you felt your release begin. You couldn’t control yourself around him anymore, always enjoying your time with him and then losing yourself before you even had a chance to pull in the reins. He enjoyed watching you lose control, vaguely hearing the timer in the kitchen as you cried out. He was close too, falling over the edge after watching you in bliss, stuttering his thrusts inside of you.

When you both caught your breath, he stood on wobbly legs, laughing and running to the kitchen to turn off the oven and stovetop. When he returned, half soft and hair a mess, he watched as you sat up, eyes glazed over in relaxation. You smiled at him, reaching out your hand for him to join you.

He sat next to you, leaning into your neck to kiss you lightly. “I can’t stay with the DEA but I want to stay with you.” He swallowed roughly, feeling that he needed to explain more but wanted you to already know.

You looked at him, tilting your head and sighing. “Then leave the DEA. You’ll still have me-I’ll be here.” You knew. He was at the end of his rope with this job, and you would be there to support him.

He chuckled, reaching for his shirt on the floor. “Well mi luz, then you’re stuck with me.”

#pedro pascal fanfic #pedro pascal smut #javier pena x reader smut #javier pena fanfic #javier pena fic #javier pena fanfiction #javier pena smut #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal #pedro pascal x reader

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conflictofthemind · 2 months

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Can we Please Re-Open the Petergate?

Ever since learning about Petergate in its entirety, it has been breaking my brain. There’s obviously something incredibly important happening here, enough so that it has to be hidden until the final season of the season.

For those not in the know, Sam Owens has / had a son named Peter that was first name dropped in Season 4. For some reason, the military wants his old schoolwork as evidence in the investigation of the Chrissy murder in Hawkins.

We also pretty much know that Peter is dead. The way Owens acts around Will in Season 2 as the only scientist who is actually determined to save his life, and the implications he makes that he understands the plight of Joyce both heavily imply he has lost a child. This also adds a layer to the whole ‘taking away your son’s precious school projects’ if that son is dead and those are some of the only memories you have left.

Okay so: Sam Owens lost a child, which explains his character motivations in the show. But it’s not quite interesting just ending it there, is it? And why leave this to be seemingly be a reveal in the fifth season where we already have so much else to take care of? Would Sam Owens’ son dying really be that impactful towards the narrative? Would that warrant the copious amounts of references (at least seven just in season 4) to Peter that exist within the show and are still coming out even in recent ST5 BTS pictures?

Something about Peter Owens has to be crucial information in the fight against Vecna.

Let us also remember that those military agents took Peter Owens’ schoolwork as some kind of evidence in relation to the Henry Creel murders, and it was important enough to highlight to the audience.

Let’s go over some facts:

1) Sam Owens has a house in Ruth, Nevada where he lives with his wife. Population irl of only a few hundred people.

2) Henry Creel lived in Rachel Nevada which uh didn’t exist in the 50s during his childhood where he encountered:

3) The Nevada Experiment. Henry happens upon related equipment and is briefly transported into Dimension X before coming back with powers and an altered personality.

4) In TFS, Henry is mentioned to have put a classmate from Nevada in a wheelchair following the events of his trip to Dimension X.

5) Henry was in the care of different doctors before he met Dr. Brenner and moved to Hawkins.

We curiously get no more explanation on this matter; whatever happened in Nevada is probably some of the most crucial information and is thus saved for Season 5. We’ve already gotten most answers that are relevant to Henry’s backstory in Hawkins… but not for Nevada.

Some of the major questions for S5 include:

1) What is Dimension X?

2) What is the actual origin of the Mindflayer and is it an independent sentient being?

3) How did Henry develop powers while in Dimension X?

4) What was the Nevada Experiment and the original Project Rainbow?

Since the military took Peter Owens’ schoolwork as evidence… it means Peter is at least connected in some way to this mystery, if not directly to Henry and probably implies the two knew each-other and were even classmates who worked on projects together.

Here’s the basis of what I propose (to be expanded upon later of course):

Henry and Peter were classmates in their youth fairly likely at this point. Henry and Peter were working together on a project that had them investigating the Nevada cave system. Or perhaps something relating to Area 51 / secret US government stuff. The project has to be relevant evidence since the military took it. This is what led to Henry stumbling upon the dimensional equipment in the cave that transported him to Dimension X.

My question is - what if Peter was also involved in Henry’s disappearance? Maybe he disappeared with him, and this was covered up by the government. Or he was simply exposed to the event but didn’t get transported with Henry, just became severely ill because of this Dimension X virus, and died as a result.

Or maybe Peter was meant to disappear as part of Brenner’s Project Nevada experiment. They didn’t plan for Henry to be there as well, and sure didn’t plan for him to be taken. The whole “rogue staff member stealing the equipment and hiding it inside a cave where Henry just happens upon it I guess” has been weird for a while. Maybe Peter was actually older and involved with P. Nevada, and he was the rogue staff member who hid the equipment? But then how did Henry conveniently get there and why was the schoolwork taken.

I don’t want to make this post too long; but something about this gives me major Will and El parallels in a way I can’t really illustrate quite yet. Boy gets taken under suspicious circumstances that could imply HNL meddling, but this time the supernatural kid is able to save him and bring him back. Owens becomes interested by this and comes to study Will in S2.

Owens also mentions that he has risked his family’s lives for the sake of their research, which I feel is relevant here. He’s talking about the current day NINA Project… but it could of course be a reference to the fact that this happened before, and ended in tragedy.

So wow, that got long! I didn’t even get to mention the Fringe parallels that people have brought up. This is just going to be Part 1 into my investigation of Petergate.

There’s so much promise in this potential storyline that I think really needs to get investigated, so I hope this interested people regardless of whether or not they’ve already come across Petergate. The fact that Henry’s time in Nevada is such a major gap in his backstory really fascinates me as to what they’re hiding from us.

#henry creel #sam owens #martin brenner #petergate #stranger things #peter owens #will byers #<- by extension. I think he is involved somehow

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mind-empty-just-fictional-people · 10 months

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Hello I absolutely love your writing! I wanted to ask if I could request a Soldier Boy imagine? Specifically one where the reader is Black Canary. She’s an incredible fighter, has her loud ear piercing sonic scream & the bad ass bodysuit with the fishnet tights! He’s basically smitten & wants to go out with her. Although she hesitates for sometime because of his reputation he manages to convince her. But we also see him admiring her when she’s working out/training and when she’s saving people/being a hero. Thank you💕

A Compliment A Day

masterlist

pairing: soldier boy x black canary!reader (female supe)

summary: soldier boy gives black canary a genuine compliment each day to show her he’s capable of being a good person

rating: R for language

word count: 1.6k

warnings: soldier boy (he’s a warning for this one, but he does get better), language, workplace harassment (?), i think that’s everything

timeline: set in an au a few years after season 3

author’s note: anon thank you for requesting!! i’m hoping this is what you were looking for! 🫶

It had been years since Vought came crashing down and Neumann was put behind bars. Supe Affairs had been running smoothly, and from the ashes of Vought arose a group of Supe’s who called themselves ‘Avengers of Justice’.

They were determined to keep their fellow Supe’s in line before S.A. could take them god knows where, as well as keep the average citizens safe.

You were the informal leader of this small group. Mainly because it had been your idea in the first place, but also because no one dared go against you. Everyone knew you were holding back your full potential when it came to your powers. The last time you used them almost at full blast, was when you single handedly destroyed Vought Tower. One screech and the empty building collapsed; also temporarily damaging everyone’s eardrums in a two mile radius. (The damage only lasted a couple days, and reports showed that a few people even had better hearing afterwards.)

You were also the leader because you had saved most of the Supe’s who followed your commands.

Soldier Boy was one of them. When you learned he’d been put back under you were determined to get him back. And you did. You managed to free him and get him the hell away from the Feds before anyone realized you were in the building.

He was incredibly grateful, and at first he showed it in the most inappropriate ways.

For example, the first thing he said to you when he woke up and you were saving him was, “Wow, you’ve got great tits, miss.” You slapped him in the face before you both fled.

You didn’t stand for about half the things he said. You kicked his ass several times before he fully understood why you got so offended by the comments.

“Thank you for saving me all those weeks ago, Tweety Bird,” was the first non-sexist, nice thing he said to you. Although, the nickname made you want to scream and break his eardrums.

“No problem Army Man,” you replied with a forced smile.

He’d never admit it, but he genuinely liked how tough you were. How you didn’t let him get away with anything; his dirty dishes in the sink, his dirty socks in the living room, and many more everyday things that he never used to worry about.

But you kinda annoyed him too. To him, he was The Man of the house (well, old clock tower apartment, turned watchtower for Supe’s who worked with you) and you were supposed to respect him. You were a woman, it was your job to make him dinner, not the other way around!

The first time he said these misogynistic thoughts out loud every single Supe at the base looked at him like he had three fucking heads. You were pissed as fuck and demoted him to clean-up duty for two weeks. Suddenly his dirty dishes in the sink came back to haunt him.

He shut his mouth after that.

“Canary, we’ve got a live one!” one of your Supe’s informed you as you walked into the apartment. “Campbell down at Supe Affairs is claiming the Supe killed these people on purpose, we beg to differ.” You hit play on the video in front of you.

“Well that clearly wasn’t his fault!” you scoffed, watching as the Supe seemed to emit a force from himself but looked terrified at the outcome. “I’ll call Hughie and sort this out. Is the Supe already in custody?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Soldier Boy said. “I called the cum guzzler and he insisted that this Supe had malicious intent.”

“Please tell me you did not call the head of Supe Affairs and call him that?” you groaned. Soldier Boy just grinned. “God damn it Soldier Boy! Now I have to call the bastard and grovel.”

“Sorry,” he piped, suddenly feeling very embarrassed. “It kinda just… came out.”

“Well, you live and you learn.” You shrugged then eyed him. “Well, you live anyway.”

“Hey! I’d like to think I’ve learned quite a lot given the fact I was raised in the fucking thirties! I’ve been working with you for two-and-a-half years now and it’s been how many months since I called you a bitch?”

“Check the whiteboard, Soldier Boy, it’s been two weeks since you last hit on me.”

“I still think singling me out with ‘Days Since Last Soldier Boy Incident’ is a form of discrimination.”

“It’s not when you’ve personally insulted every single one of your co-workers,” you laughed.

“Insulted?” Soldier Boy furrowed his brows, seeming somewhat hurt. You picked up on that and decided to drop the conversation.

“Look, just listen in when I call Hughie and learn how I talk to him without pointing out the fact I could break his spine, okay?”

“Okay,” Soldier Boy huffed.

You were lifting weights in the gym room (a section of the “apartment” converted into a makeshift gym) when Soldier Boy came in to join you.

“Hey, did you mean what you said earlier?” he asked. You put the weights down and looked at him, silently asking what he meant. “When I try to compliment you… does it actually sound like an insult?”

“Soldier Boy, the last time you ‘complimented’ me, you said that my fishnet tights made me look fuckable. That is not a compliment.”

“Yeah it is! I’m saying they make you look good!”

“Alright, I’m gonna do you and every woman you come in contact with in the future, a huge favor. If you really like someone, try complimenting something other than their looks. For example, tell them you like their sense of humor, or their taste in music. Do not go up to a co-worker and say they look fuckable.”

“So, instead of saying what I’m thinking right now about your gym clothes, I should say that I think it’s incredible you can bench over two-hundred pounds even though strength isn’t really your superpower?”

“Yes! Thank you, Soldier Boy.” You smiled a little.

“Well, then get used to hearing really specific compliments from now on, Tweety, because you asked for it.” He smirked then left the room.

“It’s Black Canary, Army Man!” you called out to him.

True to his word, Soldier Boy complimented you on literally everything but your looks the next few weeks. He made sure to give you (at least) one genuine compliment each day in hopes you’d see him as more than a barely tolerable co-worker.

One you really enjoyed hearing was; “I like how you can keep a couple dozen Supe’s under the same roof without them killing each other. I think that really says something about what a great leader you are.”

He said that after two Supe’s had fought each other over breakfast cereal and you managed to calm them both down. At first you thought he was being sarcastic but when you looked at him, you realized he was completely serious.

Another one that stuck out was; “This may be ironic, given the fact you could deafen anyone you come in contact with, but you are an incredible listener, Tweety Bird. You’re really easy to talk to and you give great advice.”

The nickname was growing on you.

But your absolute favorite and the one that made you swoon (you would never admit it though) was when you and Soldier Boy had been too late to a crime scene to save a handful of hostages. The two of you were seated on the roof of a building nearby; you had tears running down your face and he looked at you with such compassion.

“I know it might not seem like it right now,” Soldier Boy started, reaching out to touch your hand gently. “But you are an incredible person and you do not deserve everything you’re putting yourself through right now. You are strong as fuck and what happened here was not your fault. You’re a fucking hero, Tweety Bird, and I love that about you. But you’re human too and I love that even more.”

You slowly turned your head to look at him, tears still clouding your eyes.

“Thank you, Soldier Boy,” you whispered. “I know I usually don’t take your compliments very well but seriously, Army Man, thank you.”

“Anytime.” He smiled, not looking away from you. “Can I say one thing about your looks right now?”

“Sure, I think you’ve earned it given the fact you’ve gone three weeks without saying anything,” you laughed a little.

“Your dark eye makeup is running like crazy right now-”

“Wow, way to kick me when I’m down!”

“You didn’t let me finish! It’s running like crazy but you still look so fuckin’ pretty.” He smiled wider when you nodded in acceptance. He stared down at your lips as you smiled.

“If you’re thinking about kissing me-”

“Don’t worry, I ain’t gonna try anything, I know I’m about one wrong word away from my ears bleeding.”

“Well, I was gonna say go ahead and kiss me but-” He cut you off again but this time with a kiss to your lips. “Wow you’re good at that,” you mumbled when he pulled away after a moment. “I think I understand your cockiness now.”

“I’d love to take the credit, but that was definitely all you, Tweety.”

“Maybe we just have perfect chemistry,” you whispered and leaned in for another kiss.

“Guess we won’t know without a few more experiments, huh?” He kissed you a third time.

“I’m free all night, Army Man.”

#the boys #soldier boy x reader #the boys fluff #the boys tv #the boys fanfic #soldier boy fanfiction #soldier boy #soldier boy fluff #by mind empty just fictional people #by mind empty just fictional people #by jean

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rednleafff · 11 months

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You better explain why leo and usagi at first became bf/bf and then broke up and then bf/bf (I think)???

Why did they break up at first?

I will try my very best to explain my idea for the Leo & Usagi story line

It will be a messy ride cause there are some parts that are missing + my English is mid so buckle up.

(Important information beforehand: this is just the base idea- things might change- but for now- it is what it is)

GOOD? FUTURE - Leo & Usagi

A little bit about Usagi yuichi first:

He’s a rabbit Yokai from another dimension, who came to this reality cause apparently his grand-grandfather was a battle Nexus champion, and Usagi is going - or at least tries to go the same path that he did, and to become the greatest Samurai there is.

He has limited time on this earth to achieve his goals before he will need to go back.

(I’ll explain later the dimensions hopping thing)

But to his surprise- to become the battle nexus champion is much more difficult than he expected - and furthermore - staying in this dimension is harder too-! So he gets a job, Between his training and fighting in the Naxus. Yep- at the pizza restaurant-

From a samurai to a waiter-

And that’s when he meets-

Him 🙄

(Around season 2)

In the classic way of serving the turtles table, Usagi got the first glimpse of Leo and instead of sharing a joke or something, the two somehow end up arguing a little bit about something, and from that day,

It was hate from first sight <3

Usagi tried not to serve them specifically but the universe had other plans and he always ended up doing it, he even asked

“You guys don’t have other places to go to??”

Which Leo replied

“I wouldn’t suggest to tell your customers to go to other places - not great for the business” or something along the lines.

It didn’t got better when the rabbit found out they were Ninja’s as well, and that Leo specifically used a sword similar to him- like- this loud mouth, arrogant- Kappa???

They were more similar that they wanted to admit.

In Leo’s end, he thought messing with Usagi was more funny than actually disliking him? He wasn’t a fan of him don’t get him wrong, he tolerated him at most-

Until some shenanigans happen- I think Leo was on another adventure with hueso that involved Usagi somehow and the two ended up fighting along side each other-

Which Usagi hated fighting along side a ninja but Leo? He thought he was pretty cool- and even tried to befriend Usagi, but the rabbit didn’t want to waste his time on building friendships when his time here were limited, and he will probably will end up leaving and never seeing them again, so he brushed Leo off, which only causes Leo to annoy the hell out of him even more.

I believe it’s only the beginning point of Leo starting to look on Usagi in a more positive light, so no crushes yet-

And from this point forward, the two will meet more and more by accident- or fate- hehe- and fight alongside at times, until one point that Leo said he could take Usagi out with ease- (he actually meant it as a joke- but Usagi took it seriously) and excepted the challenge- cause he will gladly fight and WIN against Leo who- he totally didn’t learn to appreciate a little bit and absolutely didn’t maybe like the times the hang out together- even though most of the time he was his waiter or they where in a life and death situation- that’s not the point-

And that’s when they started to fight aka train together. Their first fight , I’m not sure yet who won actually hehe- BUT since their first fight together, Leo took notes on Usagi fighting abilities, you know- just in case, and in their first fight, Usagi noticed how well Leo predicts his moves, a little to well-! And that’s annoys him as well- cause he’s not predictable!! Or so he believes.

So from fighting it became training, it didn’t happen often, cause each had there own life, but if they did train, it wasn’t in the turtle lair, but on a building roof top or something, and usually by accidentally meeting each other cause to this point- they don’t have each-others phone numbers yet-

BUT EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN THE SHREDDER ATTACKED.

Usagi, used to see the turtles at leastttt once a week in a random pizza night, suddenly noticed he haven’t heard from them two or three weeks already. Not that he care or anything- they weren’t friends- or something- sure did he enjoy talking with the Red one the most and likes the orange one good energy? Sure sure, just a casual relationship nothing more. Did he get a weird side eye from the purple one that made him feel like he kinda hates his guts? Maybe- he didn’t like them either! They were Annoying as hell too-!

And sure, maybeeee it was nice to talk to someone once in a while, and train with another person, who for some reason kinda gets him but he also wants to push him off a building, his dumb, smug face and his stupid very un-funny (funny) jokes Leonardo might - not be as bad as he originally thought. But again, not friends or anything-

So he totally wasn’t absolutely relived when he saw the gang again , some bandages up, some not, but something felt different, they acted the same but with sense of tension between them. They didn’t elaborate why they were missing for so long- obviously- not friends- remember? But just knowing they were alright was enough for Usagi.

His and Leo’s next meeting was a bit different. The blue one came to the restaurant alone, which did happen sometimes, but instead of going to mess with his boss, or think which Pizza will be the best way to say “I’m sorry”, he just set there all by himself for sometimes now it actually made him feel somewhat bad for him so he tried to- well- he wasn’t sure.

He came up to him and they started to talk a little, it was clear Leo wasn’t in a mood cause he said something like

“Why do you even care?”

He didn’t-! He just tried- to be- nice!

So he went- only to comeback not even 5 minutes later cause ok maybe he did care a little bit-

And they talk for awhile, it’s probably their first conversation that Leo is so open with Usagi. About he’s new role as a leader, which Usagi thought was great-! Being a leader is an honorable position, but Leo explains to him why it didn’t make any sense- which was like??? Usagi was used to arrogant, high confidence, mr. can’t do no wrong cause he’s great in everything Leo and suddenly hearing him being so- unsure of himself- was - odd. So odd that Usagi had to say something- and maybe he came off a little strong with his opinion statement which was

“Are you a complete idiot?”

Sue him-! He did continue by saying that- even though sure Leo wasn’t perfect, from the moments he saw, he has all the qualities

Of a good leader. And the smug he got from Leo kinda made him want to punch him in the face, but they end it on a good tone, couple of pizza boxes to go and finally Leo asked for his number, because APPARENTLY they were friends- and they should be able to contact each other if needed.

The next couple of months, they trained more and more together, Leo may or may not, choose to- run away from a problem by - literally being away from the house when he could, that’s when these two started to get a little bit closer and Usagi told h about his plans with the battle Nexus. He in fact didn’t believe Leo when he told h that he’s a battle nexus champion -

But he was also worried for him, apparently he and a raph were fighting - well 9/10

Of the time. He didn’t want this role and act like that- and when Usagi tried to talk to him about it, Leo would brush it off by leaving or changing the topic.

So imagine to his surprise when one day- apparently something something- aliens attack the human world - something something- everything is ok now- and Leo doesn’t pick up his damn phone even though he was the one to insist to have each others phone numbers so they could communicate!!!

No pressure, I mean what’s the worst that could happen? He did and Usagi will never know? Pfff yea right.

Right?

He wasn’t pleased to say the least when he found out what happened. And what state all the turtle were. He didn’t know to much, just that they were a little bit to hurt to get outside at the moment. That new guy Casey Jr invited him to come and visit, which surprised April the human girl that was with him, APPARENTLY- Our dear fearless leader Leo, didn’t tell anyone- ANYONE- about him getting close to Usagi, or training together?? Talking like- for literally hours?? No? No one? Well apparently that Casey boy knows something- even though Usagi never met him before-

It was devastating to find out Leo’s state, even though he acted - alright , and i guess he went through some character development cause the air between the got a whole lot lighter :)

Leo was also surprised to see Usagi, and then getting a while lecture about the point of a phone, which he replied that he got kinda destroyed, so any complaints send it to the manager of the Kraang, which Usagi didn’t really understand what’s a Kraang, and Leo wasn’t so quickly ready to talk about it either.

Some might say that from this point, Leo was kinda into Usagi, seeing a more caring side of him, after kinda admiring his motivation and fighting skills. Which wasn’t so great cause Usagi didn’t feel the same yet. He was wayyy to focused on his goal which ok- cool but like an imagine having your goal and a boyfriend?

Leo didn’t push to hard even though his dear brothers teased the hell out of him about it.

Once again- shenanigans happens. This time, Usagi tries again and fails to in the last battle of becoming the champion, and so he starts to take the training much more seriously. He tries to tone down with every diversion, and just to focus on this one thing-

But alas Leo. And it will become a problem, cause Usagi doesn’t want to go back home a disappointment, and the stress starts to get to him. He has this weird feelings towards Leo that he avoids, and nothing goes right for him, so he might be a little snappy and agitated. Something something- after some drama , new realizations , help from Leo and understanding that- his path won’t be the same as his grand-grandfather and it’s ok to fail and it’s ok to have goals but not to let them consume you and make you push other people away- especially the one you love,

Love? Yep apparently he like Leo

Well shit.

Leo doesn’t know Usagi will have to leave eventually, Usagi doesn’t want to let this- whatever this thing that goes between them to keep growing cause it will be doomed eventually- it won’t work - it can’t work! And yet-

They end up dating after some heartfelt confessions, Usagi tells him about the fact he has to leave this dimension eventually, and Leo tells him that until then- they can make the most of it.

Meanwhile he and the other turtles, help Usagi to train better for the battle Nexus, and he wins in the end, becoming a champion and all- but-

He didn’t admit out loud be he wasn’t happy with it- it was his only reason to stay here and now that it’s over?

And Leo helped him with it knowing that it will probably end with them breaking up and never seeing each other again- so why? Why did he helped him?

“Because it’s important to you”

He said,

“And you’re important to me”

Since when he was such a romantic?

They are about 19 years old close to 20.

And the portal to Usagi’s worlds will open soon and the next one will open only couple years later if at all-

(The portal basically opens with some magical phenomenal from Yuichi’s world)

they act like everything is ok up until couple of days before Yuichi leaves.

They like to pretend like everything was ok, even though they both knew they will have to talk about it eventually.

And it happens the night he suppose to leave- Leo admits that- if they could do it all again, he wouldn’t wasted so much time on teasing and would have asked him out a lot earlier, which Yuichi replies with

“It wouldn’t work, I wouldn’t say yes”

And Leo would answer with

“I wouldn’t stop asking then until you would say yes”

Y: “that’s harassment”

L: potato tomato

Y: I’m pretty sure the saying is “ potato potatoes”?

They laugh it off and then they will actually talk, I won’t write the conversation just yet hehe

It will be the first time they both admit they actually love each other (rather then liking)

Leo doesn’t ask him to stay, he can’t, ask him to give up his family for him.

Yuichi wants him to ask him to stay but he’s not sure he could really say yea to that-

It was doomed from the start, and they both knew that.

Fast forward ~

5 years later

Who’s back in town?

Out rabbit that right.

There are 2 portals with a gape of 2 weeks between them so he decides to come and visit -

The last couple of years

We’re

Something that’s for sure.

And he’s very very surprised seeing Leo with a freaking human baby-

But it’s very odd to talk to Leo suddenly. He really did change- and so did he.

He goes home after these 2 weeks

And thinks. About everything. About his life, about his goals, dreams, wants.

And in all of them he thinks about Leo.

The next time he visits it’s 2 years later. Yummi - the baby- is 4 years old and she’s a cheeky little girl, which isn’t surprising if Leo raised her.

This time the next portal will open only half a year away- and close for at least another 6 years-

In that time he’s doing a lot of thinking

Serious thinking about his future

Present

And past.

About everything.

One evening, the three of them are coming back home- Leo’s home- after some shenanigans. Leo has to play the soundtrack of high school musical 2 cause Yummi recently watched the movies and is very much obsessed with the songs + music in the car is a very effective way to make her sleepy. and the mission succeed! She falls asleep, leaving the other too with the tuns of “gotta go my own way” from the second movie- which they sing together very passionately cause nothing beats karaoke night !!

Just to make it clear- they are no longer together, they are “just friends”

They get home, Yuicihi putting her to bed while Leo checks up on splinter who’s also asleep and then comes back to Yummi’s room where Yuichi is still there, saying something like

“Thank you for the help, you really don’t have to do all this”

And Yuichi answers

“Of course I do. She’s important to you, and you’re important to me”

They talk a little bit more after that-

And come to the conclusion that they might - can - if the other one wants - to try - maybe - date -

Again ?

And when Leo asked him about returning to his own dimension, Yuichi replies that- he would like to stay as long as Leo is willing to have him here-

And from that point onwards- they are together again- :>

There is more stuff in the future but I digress-

Wow that was longer then I expected it to be- ops-

I hope everything is written clear enough- hehe

#leosagi #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #tmnt #rottmnt leo #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt casey jr #rottmnt splinter #rottmnt raph #rottmnt april #rottmnt casey junior #rottmnt good? future #rottmnt good? future au #usagi yuichi #rottmnt usagi #usagi chronicles

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bronx-bomber87 · 8 months

Text

Good Evening and Happy Tuesday. Ahhh we’ve reached glorious s4 aka the season where Tim and Lucy emotionally date each other while they’re in relationships without realizing it LOL The amount of emotional intimacy we get in this season is unreal. We get more growth for them both personally and professionally. Also the insane amount of work flirts is crazy but amazing. I love this season so much. Let’s get going with the premiere.

4x01 Life and Death

When we last left our gang Angela was abducted from her wedding. We start the ep out with an intense OP in progress. Tim asking Wade if they have permission to enter? Grey has a flashback to Angela’s original disappearance before he answers. We hear Lucy saying Jackson is gone along with Angela. We end up in Grey’s office with a gruesome video of their abduction.

We watch as Angela is loaded into a van and Jackson is taken as well. It’s then we see Jackson fight back but he is shot and killed immediately. Loaded into the trunk like cargo. It's horrifying to witness tbh. Watching everyone’s reactions is crushing. They’re all in shock at what they’ve just seen. Can’t believe it’s happened. Lucy’s kills me the most. Harper and Tim are shell shocked. Nolan is a statue. Grey looking as devastated as I’ve ever seen him.

What was supposed to be this momentous and happy occasion is anything but. Lucy just lost her best friend in the blink of an eye. Hurts to watch. All of them are stunned into silence. I remember watching the premiere thinking no way they just killed Jackson right? He must be ok....Just wounded..... Unfortunately that is not the case. We lose him to La Fiera’s senseless violence. I rewound the scene to make sure. I was so stunned I couldn't grasp it. Ugh. It's such a heartbreaking way to start the season off.

Grey comes back to the present and confirms Jackson been killed when replying to the Tactical Leader. The leader saying they need more time before they breach. Grey lets him know been 3 hours since Jackson was killed and Angela was taken. He wants his people to go in he can't wait. Tells Tim and the others to breach now. They’re searching the warehouse where they tracked the car that took her. They make it inside and see the car is empty. Lopez’s wedding dress on the ground.

Lucy goes to grab it when Nolan stops her. Says there’s a trip wire and it leads or C4 under the car. They head back out and request the bomb squad. Saying they can’t track the next vehicle till the scene is clear. As they’re leaving Nolan spots the dirt road outside it. Actually has useful information for once saying they took a plane not a car….

We return to Lucy with Nolan at the station. She’s currently beating herself up for not catching that trip wire. You just lost your best friend love. It’s ok to be a little unfocused. Lucy is breaking my damn heart. Anytime she cries it just hurts to watch. Melissa crushing it over here. The way she loses it over talking about Jackson hurts my soul. She’s wearing her medal he gave her too. Killing me softly with the details. I want to hug her but Tim will cover that for me shortly.

She asks if Nolan if he really thinks Lopez is alive? He says yes. Harper and Tim enter asking why he thinks that? They all start theorizing why she took Angela and where. Tim tells them they have to look at it with cop eyes not personal ones. Lucy brings up the baby. How they bonded over motherhood. That psychologically she could see how Angela betrayed that bond when Diego died. The best revenge would be to take her baby..So dark and twisted.

Grey comes in and tells them the DEA isn’t going to help them due to politics. That being the short answer. Really just red tape BS. Their main focus is finding Jackson’s killer which will hopefully give them a beat on Angela. They figure out Jackson scratched his killer as his final act. Knew he was going to die so he took his DNA with him. They’re rushing results to find out who and that he’s hopefully in the system. He went out like a bad ass doing that gotta say.

Grey tells them all to get some rest if they can. I love her letting Nolan pass by her first. Hanging back for Tim. Needing to show her deepest vulnerabilities with him only. Craving his comfort and a deeper convo with her person. Her and Nolan had a surface talk earlier. What she needs is so much more than that right now. So she naturally turns to Tim. Waits for them to be alone before spilling her emotional guts completely.

First off let me say I love the height difference shot here. Feel like we haven’t had a significant one in a hot minute. I’ll always love the tall/smol between them. Gives me ship tinglies in a way I can not put into words. Hehe Also what seems like intentional distance between them during this scene. Because we know what’s coming in their next one. Zero space between them.

Lucy confiding in Tim how she can’t go back to her apt right now. To his empty room...it’s far too much for her at the moment. Tim instantly offers up his place to her. Saying she shouldn’t have to. No hesitation whatsoever offering up solace with him. That part of himself he can’t explain with her taking the wheel in this moment. All he knows is she’s hurting and he wants to help her hurt less. It’s an innate reaction of his to protect her emotionally. Even when he doesn’t understand it. It’s that instinct that drives this decision.

Lucy being Lucy doesn’t want to impose on him. Even when she’s intensely grieving she’s thinking of others. Thing is she is anything but an imposition to Tim. Never has been never will be. He reinforces his offer telling her she shouldn’t be alone right now. Tim isn't taking no for an answer. He see's she is hurting and vulnerable so he wants to protect that. Protect her.

No way he was he going to relax or get sleep of any kind knowing how upset she was. Lucy caves and accepts his sweet offer. Too tired and emotionally drained to fight him any further on it. Tells him Thanks and Tim is brief in his reply. 'Yeah.' Just wanting to get her out of the station to decompress. Get her away from anything that will remind her of Jackson right now.

Next is the moment that is burned into all of our memories. So many facets of this moment to dissect. It’s glorious. Tim being chivalrous takes the couch. Or tries to at least. Lucy won’t allow it at all. Tim says he can’t let a guest sleep on the couch. They battle a little and Lucy wins. (Cause Wifey usually wins ha) Tim gets up and you can tell he wants to do more for her. Erase her pain or comfort her more. He just isn't sure how...

He asks her if she needs anything? Lucy almost replicating her reply in 2x12 about time travel. Tim once again wishing he had the ability to reverse time for her. If he could engineer a time machine just to take her hurt away it would be built already. No doubt in my mind he would move heaven and earth to make that happen. Instead he replies he unfortunately doesn’t have that power. So Lucy asks for something he most definitely can give. A hug. Love her being this vulnerable and asking him for what she really needs.

Then comes this beautifully intimate hug. It’s the way he pulls her in as she’s falling apart. She is clinging to Tim like he’s the only thing that will keep her together. (Good shot of that ring too..pretty sure that’s intentional) How she folds into arms effortlessly and buries herself in his chest. Like she was always meant to fit there. A puzzle piece fitting perfectly into place.

How gently he cradles her head. So delicate with his hand. It's so tender and affectionate. Encasing her in his arms fully. Space is not a word they know in this moment. It's like he’s trying to shield her from her pain by enveloping her completely. Strokes her hair in a very intimate manner. While she is clinging to him for dear life. Their chemistry is explosive in just the hug alone. I'm getting overwhelmed with feels just writing about this. The way he pulls away is very telling. It’s not just an instant break from their hug.

Tim lingers in his proximity to her. You can see it in the 4th gif above. Running his hands down her arms very slowly. Like he’s trying to extend his time touching her. Waiting to the very last inch to let go. Even when he runs out of real estate he gives her a little affectionate squeeze. Lucy isn’t adding to their distance either. Her head still very close to his chest when they part ways from this hug. She looks like she isn't ready for it to end. Her body still instinctively leaning toward his.

Tim still hasn’t stopped touching her yet. Look at that first gif. He’s still rubbing her other arm as he gazes down at her. The vulnerable way Lucy is looking up at him. *oh my lord* Still leaning into his touch. Into him. The intense shared glances they have here is electric. Lightning in a bottle chemistry goodness is what this is. I remember first time I watched this I felt like my skin was tingling with excitement. Couldn’t believe they were staring at each other like this. How they looked liked they could possibly kiss. I held my breath.

It’s that magnetic pull of theirs. They’re drawn to one another in general. This is the first time they’ve been this close to each other. Probably since the 2x11 moment where he cradled her. But this is much much different. Tim is the one to break it off before they lean into each other any further. I think he knows what will happen if he doesn’t stop this. Tim being the honorable man he is won’t take advantage of her in this state.

I also think this is Tim's ‘Uh Oh’ moment with Lucy. Man isn’t aware of his feelings just yet (ain’t even close to being ready for that) but he is VERY aware of his attraction in this moment. He can't fight the fact he is attracted to Lucy anymore. That much is obvious with this entire hug and his touches. He just showed his hand to her. One he had so tightly guarded to his chest for so long. So he cuts it off before it can develop into something more. Is the one with more self control by telling her good night. Lucy's face after he’s walked away looks like she just had an epiphany. Like ‘Oh shit I’m in love with Tim Bradford..’ Melissa’s face says it all for me.

It falls in line with the she fell first he fell harder scenario. It’s then we see them both trying to come down from their emotional high. The adrenaline of being that close to one another. What almost happened. This moment reminds me of one of my all time fav Caskett moments. Castle watches Beckett go to her hotel room after a similar almost kissed moment. He stares at the closed door and you see Beckett fighting with herself on the other side. Debating to open the door. By the time she gets the guts to open it Castle is long gone into his room.

The way they both stare in the others direction with intense longing. *heart damn clutch* Tim can’t get settled and neither can Lucy. Both trying to process the intense moment they just had. She looks like she’s having an internal battle with herself above. We say Lucy breaks Tim brain a lot and she does. But in this moment Tim has broken her's and she is having an internal struggle after they part.

Now Lucy is the one who decides to go for it. Can’t take sitting in her thoughts any longer. Stares at his bedroom door and gets up. She instantly retreats when she hears him come back into the room. Scurrying back to the couch so Tim doesn’t know what her plans were. Tim telling her Wesley knows where Angela is. The mood shifting completely.

Makes you wonder what her plans were had Tim not gotten that call. Was she going to knock on his door? Just give him a look and they would give into their emotions? I mean she must’ve had a plan of some sort. Possibly relying on that silent communication of theirs to say everything for her? The UST in this moment is off the charts. It’s the first time either of them are truly aware of the sexual tension between them. It really hit Lucy hard with her wanting to act on it.

I’ll always be happy with the way they got together. I adore the canon version. Them getting together in this moment would’ve been very messy. But I adore the tease we got to start the season for them. Was a very promising sign. I remember thinking damn this season gonna be amazing. It felt like it was their pre-get together season. And it was exactly that. Also I'll never be over the fact she’s in his clothes and wearing them damn well might I add. I am dead this scene so so good haha

Everyone arrives at Tim’s place for next steps. Also is no one going to question why Lucy is already there? No? ok...LOL This is totally normal. What I love most about this next section is how in-sync they are. Just a matching power couple in black. Also cross armed Tim mmm my fav. Sexy forearm time look at those puppies. Mm love to lick those like a lollipop. Yum. Also the intense amount of heart eyes Lucy is throwing him in this scene. Girl you have an audience put those away LMAO Clearly has not come down from her hug high. If Tim looked her way in that moment he would've been speechless with their intensity.

Wesley is telling them Angela is at a compound in Guatemala. That he’s going to get her back but he needs some help. Everyone jumps in and Grey stops them. Saying only people truly qualified for this is Harper and Tim. (Why Nolan gets to be apart of their OP based on that logic idk LOL) Nolan does bring up the good point about Max from 2x14. The counterfeiting case they had where they let his team go in exchange for their killer.

Tim explaining to Grey his unit runs covert operations all over the world. He could get them in undetected. He owes them for not putting his sins on blast. He would give them tactical support on the ground as well. Lucy is gonna hang back with Grey per his decision to help on Jackson’s murder case. While Nolan will fold in with Tim and Nyla to contact Max and get their mission going.

They land and their original plan doesn’t pan out. It was to get in covertly through the blueprints Nolan steals. Unfortunately Plan A is squashed due their covert entrance having a steel gate installed. Covering up the only weak spot for the house making the blueprints useless. Tim also brings up if they’ve added this gate who knows what else they’ve added inside? Says they have to go to Plan B which Nolan and Harper bitch to him about lol

Tim is the ONLY ONE with military experience. He knows how to quickly adapt in a hostile environment especially when a plan goes to shit. Even though its super risky it's their best option. Nolan I expect the whining from. Harper should appreciate this since she was a UC. Yeah its not ideal but bitching at him doesn't make it better. It's only ok when Lucy does it haha

I do love this scene above so much it’s underrated IMO. Lucy telling him she doesn’t like Plan B is too funny. He looks so damn exasperated by her dislike of the plan. Harper and Nolan turning around is too funny I have to say. Like we told you she wouldn’t like this plan....When really it’s just her worry coming through in spades. Her person is in potential danger and she doesn’t get to have his back. Lucy is very far away and her worry is very evident. The secondary plan puts him in more danger. Danger she can't control that from another country. So she is a little anxious. Poor thing.

Side note before we delve into the moment above. Military Tim is a flavor I like very much. Look at him. How does this man make such an ordinary outfit sexy as hell? He’s wearing the hell out of that t-shirt Ovary explosion on-top of his sexy biceps popping out of it. *fans self* Also its not shown here but his belt hanging over the edge of his pants. Wish I could've fit more gifs of Military Tim. I'm bummed I could not haha (shakes fist at tumblr's gif limit) Anyways It’s like he wants me to implode from the thirst trap that he is. Plus the 5’clock shadow lining that sexy jawline. Have mercy.

Anyways another underrated moment in this episode is Lucy telling him to be careful. It’s such a loaded moment. Look at the way she is anxiously shifting around. You can see Lucy is bouncing her knees up and down trying to get her nerves out. She not even close to processing losing Jackson right now. She can’t fathom losing her person too. Lucy needs to let him know to be careful and she’s worried. That she cares. Lucy is so very stressed for Tim. It's driving her insane she doesn’t have his back in this moment.

If Harper wasn’t there I’m sure his answer would’ve been a little different. More sincere and soft. Since Harper is Tim is doing his macho confidence thing to keep her from worrying instead. Tim is also confident in this plan even if it’s more complicated. More shock and awe. As he says. Sending Angela into pre-mature labor then intercepting her at the hospital with the antidote. Which they do pretty flawlessly. Angela dispatching of La Fiera while pregnant was pretty damn bad ass before getting away. Also I love them all pulling a gun on Max to pick up Wesley/Nolan HA Wesley and Angela's reunion in the helicopter is super sweet I love them ❤️

Fast forwarding 3 months to her having the baby, them all healing a bit more after Jackson’s death was a good call. Angela and Wes arrive home to a welcome home party. Lucy could not be cuter with her excitement over her baby basket. She made her all these organic and homeopathic cookies. Once Lucy departs Harper tells her not eat the cookies LMFAO But it was something positive for Lucy to focus on. It made her happy to assemble it for Angela. So sweet.

The episode ends with Angela talking to Jackson’s gravestone. Ugh my heart. Her updating him on everything. Saying she hopes by the time her leave is over she can face the station without him there. Killing me Angela. I love them naming their kid after him. Gut punch to the feels. Ep starts with a gut punch and ends with one. Hell of a start to an incredible season.

Side notes- non chenford

I love when Grey says he’s feeling biblical about losing Jackson. We all were Wade. So upsetting…

The intro of Elijah. He’s a solid baddie I enjoy his SL with Wesley. The things we do for those we love. Actor is solid af cause I hate him so much haha doing his job well.

Also in that post hug scene I love that Tim has a photo of Kojo on his bedside table I love this man sfm.

It is very kind of Grey to remind Nolan he’s done as a rookie. Everyone in the room is happy he’s a P2. He’s a putz but a somewhat likable one haha

I love the portion with Grey and Lucy. They got a hit on the DNA. They’re riding together to get this little shit. Lucy is still rattled and Wade tries to help her get past it. What’s great is he starts out as the one telling her she has to be professional, do her job everyone is depending on her too.

Especially Jackson’s family. Then he has a crisis of conscious right before he arrests him. His speech to that kid hurts to listen to. ‘A young man so full of life. Hurts my soul to think of him in that dark room on that cold table’ oof.

I will give it to Nolan him saving Wesley was pretty awesome. That’s his one compliment this season from me haha

Thank you as always to this incredible fandom, you amazing supporters who like, comment and reblog. Means everything. Shall see you all in 4x02 :)

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