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enmy-writes · 3 years

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My Rock Star

Request: Anon: hii can i request a zuko x reader fic where the reader is in a famous girl group (like blackpink for example) & the whole gaang is backstage while the reader is getting ready for a performance & its just super fluffy & cute? Thanks!!

Word Count: 2,646

Fandom: ATLA (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Pairing: Zuko x Fem!Reader

Genre: All fluff. It’s some nice fluff time

Rated: 18+

Content Warnings: swearing, mentions of abuse (not detailed though), suggested themes but nothing bad

****My first request!! Sorry, anon, if I didn’t capture everything you wanted, but I hope it is! I am a sucker for music and bands, and instead of a blackpink approach, I gave the band instruments because I simp for instruments lol I might do a part 2 if this turns out well so lmk! Also, I learned how to make the “keep reading” line show up so that’s exciting yay me. Enjoy :)****

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It was about two hours before the show was supposed to start and Y/N was doing her normal self-routine before she had to go to her ‘Band-Team-Gang’ (or BTG as her and the girls liked to call it) pre-show rituals.

Y/N was a part of a famous girl group who had just recently started making it big in Ba Sing Se and were on their first huge tour. Normally, this would make any performer nervous of the attention and putting on a big show, but this was the environment that she thrived in.

Suki, Mai, Ty Lee, Azula, Yue, and herself all knew each other from an all-girl’s private school that they grew up in together and bonded immediately over their love for creating music. It was inevitable for them to become a group.

They spent most of their high school days writing songs and joking around in Y/N’s backyard bungalow her parents had gotten her for her twelfth birthday. To this day, they still go back there and do hot (dumb) girl shit.

“Why would we stop? That’s our home, of course we’d still go back there!” Ty Lee answered the interviewer with her signature hair flip and giggle.

Azula rolled her eyes at the girl, hiding a fond smile. “At this point, It’d be weird not to go back to that little corner of hell we made.” Yue smacked her arm quickly, “Azula! Don’t act like you haven’t written most of our top hits in the bean bag we definitely didn’t steal from the school lounge.”

The rest of the girls laughed, remembering how they had to hop the gates and sneak past the night guards to be able to get the bean bag. The plan would’ve been a total waste of time and definitely would have gotten them all expelled if anyone had caught them, but thank Mai’s ability to pick locks (which no one knows where she learned to do but they do not question it).

“Plus,” Suki chimed in. “Y/N’s dad makes the best snacks and meals for us. It’d be a federal crime to not take up that offer for as long as we can.”

Needless to say, the six girls were so comfortable with each other that every performance was just like every group practice with, like, thousands of extra guests of honor. They even have a couch lounge area as part of their stage set props. It just makes sense.

Even though those were her best friends ever, sisters even, Y/N had another friend group that she was super close with. Azula had introduced Y/N to her brother, Zuko, back when they were in their sophomore year of high school and the two instantly clicked. It had only taken a year of being friends and hiding crushes for them to get together, and the two were still going strong. Through him, Y/N met a gang of (crazy) people that he had spent his whole public schooling years.

Aang, an enthusiastic and bald, vegan kid who loved life and enjoyed everything around him; Katara, his pre-med and feminist girlfriend; Sokka, her hilarious and amazingly smart brother (though, sometimes his ideas are questionable); and Toph, a blind and tough girl who is on her way to ruin the top 1%. With Zuko, they were the tightest and happiest little family that automatically accepted Y/N when Zuko brought her over one night.

She was there when he went through a pyromaniac phase, his varying hair styles, and when he tried to get his father’s love back.Ozai, their father, was the owner and CEO of a massive weapons corporation. He had burned Zuko’s face on a hot stove and kicked him out of the house for suggesting that he raise the wage of all his employees to a comfortable living wage because many of his employees struggled to provide for their families even though they worked their asses off. Thankfully, his kind Uncle Iroh instantly picked the boy up off of the streets, letting him live with him and run his successful tea shop called the Jasmine Dragon.

Azula had been shoved away by her father mostly for sexist reasons. Ozai would never pass his company down to his daughter, no matter how smart and dedicated she was. He threw her in the private school where she lived year round. She had never told Y/N or any of the other girl’s any of this, Y/N had found out through Zuko.

Y/N’s mother was a successful lawyer and her father was a district attorney who were very very passionate about bringing justice to those of racial discrimination, domestic abuse, abuse in general, and orphan rights. Her mother was an orphan who was plain lucky to get adopted by a loving old couple who used their life savings to get her the education and life she deserved while her father was a victim of domestic abuse.

So, after months of convincing Zuko, Y/N told her parents about the two siblings. Long story short, they got Ozai arrested for his abuse crimes, bribery history, employee mistreatment, and many more crimes. They also adopted Azula herself and gave full custody of Zuko to his uncle.

Since then, the world has been peaceful for the group. Azula has started to recover from her trauma with the help of her friends, therapy, and love from two caring adults; and Zuko was glowing year round in the company of his uncle and friends.

A smile forms on her face, thinking of her large family and all they’ve gone through to get here, when the door to her personal backstage room opened up. The loud voices from Aang and Sokka met her ears next.

“I LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOU REMEMBERED THE HAM SANDWICHES WITH NO CRUST.” A kiss to her cheek and Sokka is instantly at her snack table.

“Y/N! How’d you know I was going to bring Appa and Momo?!” Aang walked his huge, white dog and lemur (don’t ask how he has it. It might be illegal, but no one can tell him no) to the pet bed corner she had put in.

Not answering them, Y/N just smiles at her friends who barged in and turns back to her mirror where she’s trying to decide her earring combination for the day. Warm arms snake their way around her waist, a body sliding up against her back soon after.

“What’s your ideas for tonight?” Zuko’s voice speaks quietly into her ear, causing her to hum and lean back against his chest slightly.

“I’m not sure. We’re going for the edgy look tonight, but we all know Ty Lee is still going to wear pink. Man, our manager is going to kill her...again.” They both laugh. “Ugh, why did you let me pierce my ears, like, ten times. There’s too many combinations to choose from!”

“Me?! I did-- never mind. Just grab a handful, no one can see them from the stage anyways.” Despite his attempt to seem like he doesn’t care, one of his ring-clad fingers starts moving his favorite pieces over into a little pile by themselves. Y/N rolls her eyes and starts putting his choices in random holes in her ear, pushing him back lightly so she can bend over closer to the mirror to see better.

“It’s the fit Zu… if the fit is a vibe, the confidence is there. If the confidence is there, nothing can stop my hot girl shit.” Her words cause him to let a huff of jealousy, flicking her arm playfully.

Their eyes meet in the mirror, and he can clearly see the mischief in them. Calming down, he jokes back. “Yeah, well, you may do your ‘hot girl shit,’ but no one can steal you from me. We’ve been here too long.”

Toph cuts in from across the room with a loud laugh. “Please, fire brains, I could steal Y/N if I tried.”

He whips around to face the short girl, “No you could not!!”

“Actually, she makes a point.” Katara says, nodding along in hopes to pick fun at the boy.

Sokka adds his two cents. “Honestly. Toph would just have to pick Y/N up and slam her against the wall or something and she’d tell her manager to send you a letter of resignation.”

The whole group laughs, save for the angsty boy, and Y/N wraps her hand around his wrist. She pulls him towards her and reaches for a peck on the cheek. “While that may be true,” she gets a glare. “I’m too big of a simp for you… and Uncle Iroh’s dinner and game nights.”

While the rest of them laugh, Zuko’s eyes soften and he presses his lips to hers in a short, soft kiss. Uncle Iroh adores his girlfriend and everything she has done for Zuko and Azula where he had no power to do anything. The man calls her more than he does Zuko himself, and he’s pretty sure Y/N convinced him to download Words With Friends on his phone to play with her for when she can’t make it to the weekly game night dates.

Y/N smiles up at him and pats his cheeks lovingly before moving to the wardrobe area of her room. She pulls out ‘Cards Against Humanity’ from a duffle bag on the floor before joining the rest of her friends around the lounge area, patting the seat beside her for Zuko to join them.

Everyone cheers at the sight of the black and white box with the many expansion packs that they have collected over the years. While Katara deals, everyone else makes bets on who is going to win this time. Y/N slides back into Zuko’s side as his arm comes to rest around her shoulders, playing with the ends of her H/L hair.

It’s about fifty minutes before the show is starting, and Y/N knows she has to start getting dressed and ready for the concert. Sighing, she slips from her boyfriend’s grasp (a small whine coming from him) and moves to her dressing corner. Suki, Ty Lee, Mai, Azula, and Yue had made their way to the room shortly after they started due to Sokka texting his girlfriend (Suki) to come over and join.

The rest of the girls notice you get up and leave as well, much to everyone else’s dismay. You reassure them to keep playing a few more rounds, not wanting to ruin their fun with you putting clothes on. Y/N quickly shoves her outfit choice on which is very hot, black, and riddled with chains. To top it off, she had thick-heeled combat boots on with numerous buckles on them. Her hair, makeup, and accessories have already been done so she heads back to the group.

‘Cards Against Humanity’ has been packed up neatly and her friends are lounging around, getting last minute snacks and quality time before they go to their special seats right in front of the stage. Nothing but the best for her friends. Sokka and Katara are the first people to see her, and the former lets out his own wolf whistle in his own way to hype Y/N up.

“DAMN, my best friend is HOT AS HELL. Zuko, you lucky ass man.” Katara hits him, but shoots her a wink as the rest of the gang look over. Y/N laughs giddily through their praises and hyped words (Toph in good spirit rather than actually seeing her outfit), as she makes her way back to her spot on the couch.

Zuko, who hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her yet, quickly grabs her bare waist and tugs her onto his lap to hold her tight. “So… this is what you meant by ‘hot girl shit.’” Letting out a loud laugh, Y/N turns her head and gives him a quick kiss. “I’m a rock star, baby, what can I say.”

Aang cheers out of nowhere. “Yes! I’ve always wanted to be a groupie!” More laughter and jokes ring throughout the room, keeping the atmosphere as light as always,

A knock at the door interrupts them. A man is standing there in all black with a headset on and a sleek, red (with little sparkles that only gleam in the light), electric guitar carefully caressed in his hands. While they are a girl group, their success has mainly come from being a girl group who also plays all their instruments. With Mai on the drums, Ty Lee on the keyboard, Azula and Y/N on electric guitars, Yue on the acoustic guitar, Suki on the bass; the band is truly a sight with all of them sharing the vocals and their enthusiastic (near crackhead) energy that give their crowd a good show.

“Miss L/N? This is your five minute warning.” He tells them, not bothered by the usual group of people who are constantly in these rooms with her.

“Thanks Lee!” Y/N hops up to get her pride and joy (her child as Suki and Mai like to joke about). “I’ll be right out.”

Knowing these are the last pre-game minutes, everyone starts getting up to leave the room as well. Zuko lingers by Y/N who’s busy making sure her instrument is tuned perfectly for the numbers she’s about to perform.

“I can feel you staring, Zu,” She smiles, still looking down at her strings. He huffs out a laugh, reaching out to push a piece of hair back to see her face.

“Good luck out there, my rock star. Don’t do too much hot girl shit.”

“Oh, I’m doing all the hot girl shit.” A glare. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding… unless…?” She laughs at his fed up face. Reaching up, she presses one last, lingering kiss to his lips, enjoying the feeling of his fingers clutching her sides firmly and the feeling of his heart beat under her palm that’s resting on his chest.

“Bye, love. I’ll see you after the show.” She whispers, sealing the promise with a kiss before moving back. “Alright kids! Get the hell out of my dressing room.” Y/N shouts at her friends and they all leave together, laughing away.

The rest of them wish her luck before moving away, Sokka sprinting to find Suki one last time. Zuko holds onto her free hand, watching her laugh at ‘Simp Sokka’ with his small smile on his face. He kisses her hand, pulling her attention back to him.

“Bye, rock star. I’ll see you after the show. Break a leg, yeah?” His cliche words make her laugh more, pulling away from him and towards the rest of her band who are chanting “BTG! BTG!”.

“Zu… I don’t break legs. I break hearts.” And with one last mischievous look, she mouths ‘hot girl shit’ and struts away in that way that makes Zuko want to make her cancel the show completely.

His phone buzzes a few minutes after he caught up with his friends in their special closed off section on the floor. He opens the notification and it sends him to Instagram where Y/N had tagged him in a post. The smile grows on his face with every second he takes in the post.

Katara must’ve taken the picture. The angle, lighting, and quality could only be done by her. Y/N was on his lap, dressed to go on stage. Zuko’s mouth was almost touching her ear, definitely when he was whispering to her, and her face was wide in a smirk. They looked good, perfect even. The caption is what made him laugh, warmth and pride that she is his spreading through his chest.

“Y/N_L/N: for him? I’m always on my hot girl shit”

#zuko #zuko imagine #zuko x reader #avatar zuko #atla x reader #atla #fanfic #Avatar The Last Airbender #atla fanfic #alta x reader #atla x you #zuko x you #zuko x y/n #x reader #enmy-writes atla

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peachcitt · 3 years

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peach's top songs to project adrien agreste onto: waterparks edition

(disclaimer: the title is not to say that there will ever be other editions, but i did want to specify that this list is entirely comprised of songs made by the band waterparks. thank you)

ive been experiencing adrien agreste brain worms in relation specifically to waterparks, which is one of my favorite bands, and since ive been going insane over the adrien-specific feelings these songs have been giving me, i decided to make a master list of exactly how i project adrien onto these songs. this is going to be a long one

structure:

Intro

Airplane Conversations

Black Light

Cluster

Double Dare

Entertainment

Fandom

Greatest Hits

Conclusion

1. intro

it should be mentioned that i originally started hardcore projecting adrien onto waterparks songs after i started making my mlb radio rebel au in which adrien is a pop singer for his dad/in a band for fun with his best friends. i was trying to figure out what adrien's music might sound like, or what vibe his music would give off, and my mind immediately went to waterparks because they're one of my favorite bands and also because im insane.

in my head, for the au specifically, waterparks' earlier garage-band sounds from their EPs (airplane conversations, black light, cluster) would've matched up to adrien's band for fun in the au, and their later more pop-leaning songs from later albums (mostly fandom but also double dare and entertainment) would've matched up to the pop songs he released under his father's label. so that's how it started, which is, like, the most absurd origin story ever, but such is how it goes.

it should also be mentioned that i don't project adrien onto EVERY song, and the songs i do project him on aren't like. the most perfect fit, but there are always certain lines that scream adrien, and if it's like that, then i will include the song on the list.

with that explained, let's actually talk about the songs i project adrien onto and why:

2. airplane conversations

like i mentioned earlier, waterparks has a couple of garage-band sounding EPs, and this is for sure one of them. airplane conversations is the first EP they released, and the main themes are: feeling stuck, recognizing the fact that you are Growing Up, and being in love

5/5 songs on this EP can be considered adrien songs

silver

the song starts with:

"i’ll be the silver lining around your fence used to protect yourself from all the world and its sharp teeth 'cause my open hand and heart think you belong with me"

which is very ladynoir-esque. the beginning line of wanting to be "the silver lining" around the other person's protective fence against the rest of the world reminds me so strongly of chat's place as ladybug's partner; she wanted so badly to guard herself against the rest of the world after she became the guardian, and chat saw that and wanted to be her bright side to all the stress of being the guardian/a superhero. he stayed beside her and joked around because he loved her but also because he recognized that he needed something bright - a silver lining - to balance out all her stress. and "my open hand and heart think you belong with me" is pretty self explanatory, but chat's heart is always open for ladybug - as a partner, as a friend, as a potential lover. he supports her, in any and every way she might need.

in the second verse, we get:

"I was the one who kept myself standing tall You were the light at the end of the hall"

which relates to adrien enduring his dismal home life. his father and the work his father imposes on him isn't easy, but adrien was and still is able to stand tall beneath it all - partly because of what he wants for himself (he ran away to public school entirely on his own, after all), but also because ladybug is there to mark and signify the freedom and love he feels with her as chat noir.

bones of '92

so bones of '92 isn't. like a super adrien song, mostly because it's very much about the struggles waterparks was having as a new band, however the outro is. well. it's:

"i won’t let you down just promise that you won’t forget about me can’t stop the future from settling but i can change the way it feels just promise that you won’t forget about me"

this feels like adrien is speaking to his father in the first couple of lines ("i won't let you down / just promise you won't forget about me") because of how much of a strict and absent father gabriel is. i think adrien, at least in part, believes that the only way he is able to gain affection from his father is by doing exactly as he says and going along with what his father wants.

the next couple of lines ("can't stop the future from settling / but i can change the way it feels") is adrien's hopeful call to the future. he's stuck right now with his father, and he maybe even thinks that he'll always be stuck doing what his father wants, but he can change how he feels by being chat noir. by being chat noir, adrien is taking hold of his own future and his own feelings, shining a positive light on the future that he may not have had before.

the last line, a repetition of "just promise that you won't forget about me" could again be talking to his father, another plea after expressing his own desire, like he thinks that his father won't approve of him wanting his own things. or it could be adrien talking to ladybug or even the city itself; adrien loves being chat noir, but he's not really as popular as ladybug, and he also fears his relationship with ladybug. he needs frequent reminders from her that he's valuable and important to her, and so this fear of being forgotten - by her or Paris - tracks well with his character.

i was hiding under your porch because i love you

also not a huge adrien song BUT the line "it's just you and me / through all these inconsistencies" screams ladynoir

they all float

again, not a huge adrien song but my powers of projecting are unmatched and the line "this time i'll do things the way you wanted / it's not right, but it's just the way you wanted / lay it all on me, 'cause i'm all ears" is another adrien to gabriel line.

fantastic

i did not really consider this an adrien song until i looked up the lyrics and realized it was. im right. we have the chorus:

"i can't imagine fast enough to settle on a dream but i've spent this winter wondering when they're gonna settle on me and there's some things i've just gotta know but one thing's for sure"

which is another inscription of adrien's hopelessness in regards to his position with his father; he's never been given the opportunity to truly figure out what he wants for himself, and so he doesn't even really know where to start. the "one thing" that's for sure can be interpreted as the controlling hand gabriel has on his life, or it can take a more hopeful tone, considering that we have seen adrien take those first steps to move out of gabriel's control - by going to public school and by becoming chat noir. the "one thing" for sure could be gabriel, but it can also be that, for sure, adrien will always find ways to escape gabriel.

in the post chorus, we get:

"and i can't wait to go outside and spend my summers contemplating what I'm gonna do with my life"

which lends hope to adrien's "one thing" being him able to escape because of the excited tone of the lines. he "can't wait to go outside" as chat noir, outside of the mansion, and take time to contemplate what he wants from his own life, for himself.

3. black light

black light is the second EP waterparks released, and it's another garage-band sounding EP. the main themes of this EP are: being frustrated with your situation and the people in it, and wanting to carve out a better future for yourself

4/6 songs on this EP can be considered adrien songs

christmas

this is!!!!such an adrien song!!!!!! this is one of the songs that i picture adrien's band playing in my au i mentioned earlier. we start the song with:

"i fell asleep last winter woke up and it was august not much has changed, yeah, i still feel the same but i’m slowly making progress"

which fits into the themes of adrien's character i talked about during airplane conversations of adrien going through the motions of what his father tells him to, but slowly trying to break out of that control and make progress for his own goals.

in the chorus we get:

"i’m just waiting and i’m just saying maybe the end is near but all that means is a new beginning"

this isn't like. super adrien related but i still think it deserves mentioning because of how it progresses through the song (which i will mention in a second), but i think it relates well to the "growing up/fearing the future" stuff we've talked about.

we get a featured singer sing this part (which in my au nino sings, it doesn't matter):

"i’m just waiting for my chance to put a picture of me, put a picture of me in the dream scenes of dream scenes of dream scenes of dream scenes of my ideal future"

which, again, relates to adrien wanting to be able to call his future his own, outside of his father.

and in the outro, we get the lyrics from the chorus changed up a little, so that we get:

"i was waiting and i was saying the end wasn’t ours to fear and all it meant was a new beginning"

in my head, because of the way the tenses change from present to past, this would be adrien's perspective after the events of his childhood and teenage years. but because his youth is also so tied up with being chat noir and defeating hawkmoth (who is his father) i think this is such. this is such an emotional and hopeful line, looking at this from adrien's point of view. after defeating hawkmoth, despite how truly grueling that might be for him, he becomes free from gabriel's control. growing up, defeating hawkmoth, facing the end of childhood means adrien can have a new beginning. he can have his ideal future.

american history

american history isn't fully adriencore but the line "the action's a fraction of how much this hurts" is very much "we're teenage superheroes fighting supervillains every day and somehow the action of the fights is not the worst thing that's happening in my life"

new wave

i actually named my au after this song because it's such a bright, upbeat song against adults who try to tell you the way the things you do isn't right. it fits right in with the theme of the au, and it can also be applied to ladybug and chat noir's fight against hawkmoth.

in the first verse we get:

"call it new wave say it like you should because a call to arms is a calling card and i’m calling soon hoping i can get through to you"

which is like. hawkmoth is "calling to arms" his akumas, which in turn acts as a calling card for ladybug and chat noir. the "i'm calling soon / hoping i can get through to you" is chat noir specific because of the fact that hawkmoth is his father; instead of just defeating him, adrien will probably feel some empathy towards his father and want to get through to him.

in the pre-chorus, we get:

"every single time you throw your white flag down and surrender like every single second's just another second spent to lose but this is something i can’t lose"

which translates to hawkmoth akumatizing a new person nearly every day but still pulling back and "surrendering" after the akuma is defeated. he's playing the long game; he's confident that, eventually, he'll defeat ladybug and chat, and so he doesn't really care if he loses another day. but for ladybug and chat noir, this is life or death. they can't afford to lose to an akuma even once or else they lose the miraculous, maybe their lives, and definitely paris. they can't lose.

the outro is a variation on the intro and it's:

"call it new wave until it's all washed up because we'll be crashing soon but before we do i hope i get through through to you"

which refers to ladybug, chat noir, and hawkmoth "crashing" together in their final battle, but, before they do, adrien hopes to get through to his father, connect with him. and maybe that might make the "crashing into each other" less severe.

night maps

night maps is another song that fit into my au; it starts with:

"i couldn’t keep up with watering myself down and so all that grew was the high tide until i drowned the oxygen had all run out and now i’m left dried up and standing here"

which translates to adrien being drained and watered down to be the image his father wants him to be. the rest of the song, however, is about finding a place for yourself and beginning the process of being yourself again, which, for adrien means being chat noir.

4. cluster

cluster rounds out the early garage-band EPs as the third and final EP. the main themes of this EP are: being separated from someone you love and feeling frustrated about your situation.

4/5 songs on this EP can be considered adrien songs

crave

this is a very bittersweet song about being in love, which makes it, for my intents and purposes, a very bittersweet song about being in love with ladybug. at the beginning of the song, we get:

"i wish i could forget you but it's out of hand i wish i was aggressive and had a plan"

in canon, adrien dated kagami, but still obviously had feelings for ladybug. he did, however, like kagami a lot, and so he might've wished that he could forget his feelings for ladybug, especially knowing she can't reciprocate and he had an amazing girl right in front of him. he wants a plan to get out of feeling for her and for feeling for kagami.

in the chorus, we get:

"i'm cravin', a getaway from the smooth talk, that's keeping me grounded to the, carpet in my room my quiet blue tomb of you"

as chat, adrien can't resist flirting with ladybug because that's the friendship they've established with themselves, and ladybug is always smoothly replying back to him with jokes of her own. her banter, as much as he loves it and values it, keeps him thinking about her when he's alone in his room instead of thinking about kagami. his love for ladybug shouldn't be - she can't love him back and he is in a relationship with someone else - and so his bedroom where his innermost desires come to light becomes a guilty sort of place.

territory

territory is so ladynoir it hurts. in the intro we get the lines:

"i wear my game face in your headspace where it's storming at least most days we are both like that we are both the same"

which translates to ladybug and chat meeting, at most points in time, in order to fight akumas - hence, they always have to have their "game faces" on. ladybug's headspace is "storming" most days because of her stress with being the guardian and fighting akumas - and they find solace in each other's company because they're both teenagers burdened with way more than they should be.

the bridge gives us:

"i'm gonna hunt you down cause i'm a handful i'm gonna freak you out but it's all substantial so bring me bad news anything you have to just to keep me on my toes"

which is how chat views the way he tells his feelings to ladybug; he knows she'll probably "bring him bad news" by rejecting him, but he wants to continue being around her in her territory - he wants to be her friend, and he also wants to keep loving her.

pink

pink can also be a song about adrien loving ladybug, especially with the chorus lyric of "you're one of my favorite few" which is just. SO sweet and romantic but anyway. in the pre-chorus we get the lines:

"i'll watch you from my telescope; my eyes stuck to my favorite show i barely get more than a glimpse but it's better than nothing, yeah, i know"

which is like. adrien doesn't really get to see ladybug often, at least not in a relaxed setting like he really wants to. he feels far away from her, but when he does get the chance to be near her, he tries to absorb as much from the interaction as he can, throwing out dumb puns, flirting, and generally trying to get to know her in between akuma fights. it's not the ideal way he'd choose to spend time with her, but it's better than nothing.

no capes

no capes is another song about adrien wanting to be different that what he should be (with lines like "the anything slash everything that i should be / but i don't want to be like that") but this one takes a more somber and scared tone, which could relate to the fears he feels as chat noir.

the pre-chorus is literally just the line "no one will ever love us the way that i do." for adrien, being chat noir is so important to him, considering his home life, and he knows ladybug likes him, but she doesn't love him. he loves their partnership, he loves her - he fears he'll be in a position where he's wanting this (being a superhero, being friends) more than she does.

in the bridge, we get the lines:

"i hope you watch me through the letdown 'cause no one will be here, be here forever"

which could translate to any anxieties he feels about what happens after they achieve their goal of defeating hawkmoth. adrien has a lot of issues - issues about adults in his life disappearing/dying or emotionally leaving him behind - and he doesn't want ladybug to be another person to leave him behind after everything is over. he wants to still be able to be friends with her, maybe even learn her true name. but he fears that won't happen.

5. double dare

with double dare, we've breached album territory: double dare was waterparks' first official album, and it started branching into more polished, pop-leaning songs. the main themes of this album are: being tired and frustrated with something that you should like and loving someone who may not love you back

5/13 songs on this album can be considered adrien songs

stupid for you

stupid for you is ladynoir. it's ladynoir so hard. i mean, we have lines like:

"you're yellow, i'm natural blue let's get together and be green like my insides"

which. okay i know adrien is generally seen as the yellow golden boy and he is! but like, looking at him in comparison to marinette/ladybug and actual color theory, he's more of a natural blue. he's more likely to fall victim to negative thoughts than marinette is; she's generally more positive, more 'yellow.' (also, when you consider that their character design colors are each other's colors when inversed, this also makes sense - adrien is 'blue' beneath his appearance and marinette is 'yellow') and the "let's get together and be green like my insides" relates because green is a chat noir color. he wants them, in their 'yellow' and 'blue' contrasting moods to get together and be green, like chat noir, who is generally silly and joking around. he wants them to be able to be silly together.

in the chorus, we get:

"hey, tell me what you want me to say you know i'm stupid for you hey, can you come and come out and play? you know i'm stupid for you"

which is like how he is after he's been rejected; he doesn't know what to say after she tries to get him to stop flirting. he wants her to give him blueprints of how to act so that she'll like him (i.e. what color rose he gives her), but he still wants to be around her and and joke around with her.

in the bridge, we get:

"Just double dare me And I promise now that I'll stay It's not like you're married but I still got carried away"

which further develops his insecurities in regards on how to interact with her - he knows she didn't like when he confessed to her, that it made her feel guilty and a little upset because she couldn't return her feelings, and he got carried away with his over-the-top methods. but if she were to ask him to stay with her, in any sense of the word, he would do it in a heartbeat.

in the second chorus, we get:

"you're playing ring around my head i wear you like a halo you're a symphony, i'm just a sour note i'll take what i can get the best is hard to grip when everybody wants you and everybody wants you"

which conveys how ladybug is always on his mind ("you're playing ring around my head") but he likes this fact - or at the very least he doesn't mind it ("i wear you like a halo"). he sees her as someone who is so good and so out of reach for him ("you're a symphony, i'm just a sour note") but he still wants to be around her as much as he can. he'll take what he can get in terms of her time and attention, because he knows how the entire city is vying for her attention - she's the face of paris and she's the guardian and she has her own life to attend to - he thinks that maybe to her, he's just another person in her life who wants her.

royal

royal is only kind of an adrien song with lines like "i'm two faced from your double exposure" about his conflicting personas between what his father wants from him and what he himself wants to be, and this is especially poignant because of the "double exposure" metaphor, like the cameras adrien is behind for his modelling jobs are what make him "two faced"

royal is also about working so hard but not knowing if the pay off is worth it, which also relates to adrien's job with his father.

take her to the moon

take her to the moon is a "adrien loving ladybug song" with lines such as:

"i wanna make my way into your kiss i wanna live inside your mind next to your favorite songs i won't slow my pace until your walkway i wanna lose my mood inside a late night phone call with you"

which such a sweet lovesick yearning idea that adrien has 100% thought about ladybug before. i rest my case

powerless

powerless is a ladynoir song. in the first verse we get:

"you know i'd make the time i'm just waiting on your green light yeah, i'll be at your porch by this time tomorrow 'cause i'm almost not fine, but i'd never let you know"

which is like. adrien is SO down to be anything ladybug needs - he has almost no time at all what with his father's schedule, but he will always make time for ladybug. he's literally just waiting for her to call, and he'll be there. but in terms of actually letting her know how important she is to him in his life, as both a friend and as someone he loves romantically, he can never tell her because he doesn't really want to worry her.

in the chorus we get:

"you're the only one that makes me powerless tonight all i am is losing track of time tell me why oh, oh you never really missed me back"

which leads us into the bridge:

"i want you to need me like i need you i need you to see me when I'm see-through it's sad but it's true: no one's waiting for you but i was thinking we could get away sometime yeah, let's call it a date and you can devastate my personal space i never liked it anyway"

and that tells us how strong his feelings are for her; they're so powerful that he's effectively powerless against her. but he feels as though he's the only one that feels that way - she never seems to miss him back. but he wants her to want him in the same way he wants her - he wants her to be able to see him, in all his details, and still like him. and he wants her to go on a date with him and actually get close to him - get up his personal space because with her, he doesn't actually want personal space.

i'll always be around

i'll always be around is guess what!!! another ladynoir song!!! the chorus gives us:

"you know i'll always be around i'd never never never leave you hanging out to dry because the world's gonna pass me by but if you wanted, i'd never never never leave your leave your side i'd never never never leave you out to dry i'd never never never get you off my mind"

which is so!!! relates to the previously mentioned ideas of adrien being willing to drop everything to do what ladybug asked. he's devoted and loyal to her - he always wants to be someone that she can rely on as both a friend and a partner, and, potentially, as a lover.

we also get the line:

"you stopped me in my tracks you caught me in a gaze"

which relates to the moment he fell in love with her when she stood up to hawkmoth in front of all of paris: in that single moment she'd caught him up into having feelings for her, even if she didn't know it.

and in the bridge we get:

"if there ever came a dark day (if there ever came a dark day) that crushed us out and took you away i'd chase you to the end i'd chase you to the end of the world"

which is so. so ladynoir. their relationship and friendship is constantly haunted by the threat of hawkmoth, and so this consideration of the terrible "what ifs" and the insistence that no matter what, he'd find a way to get back to her is like. yeah that's ladynoir.

6. entertainment

entertainment is the second album, and it continues leaning into the pop-alternative sound while still somehow sticking to the punk sound. the main themes of this album are: loving someone, loving someone who hurts you and isn't good for you, and feeling trapped in your circumstances

4/10 songs on this album can be considered adrien songs

11:11

this song is so!!!! adrien loving marinette core!!!!!! i actually wrote a fic that had one of the lyrics of this song as a title (my favorite set of stairs is the one up to your room)

the pre-chorus actually gives us this line here:

"my favorite set of stairs is the one up to your room and my heavy set of cares evaporates all around you evil comes in pairs and we like what we do you've got me feeling like a walking love song"

which just makes me think of the way adrien will be after the identity reveal happens. he already wants marinette to be ladybug (based off the sheer amount of times he's referred to her as 'the everyday ladybug' + every time he's gotten so close to discovering ladybug's identity and his brain has always gone, without fail, to marinette), and so when he realizes that she is ladybug, she'll quickly become the person he most wants to be around and the person he feels most comfortable around. because of how dismal his home life is, he'll probably spend a lot of time at her house, and he'll come to associate the stairs of her room with walking into love and comfort. he'll be absolutely smitten with her.

in the chorus, we get:

"i must've caught you from 11:11 the lucky number seven i try to hide with my words but you just find me clever i found a million places you'd be worth the chases to go-oh-oh"

which again just inscribes how strongly he would feel for marinette - and it's also kind of a pun because of how "lucky" he would be to have her. like. get it. lucky charm. anyway, his "hiding with his words" would refer to the way he disguises his feelings with humor, but she would be able to see past that - they would know each other so well. and, just like how i've said adrien is with ladybug, he would totally be willing to go anywhere and everywhere for marinette. this song is post-reveal adrinettecore.

lucky people

guess what fellas we have another song about adrien loving ladybug/marinette. after looking closely, it seems like we might have a post-reveal relationship sort of vibe here, but it doesn't really matter because bare bones? this song is about adrien loving ladybug who is also marinette.

we start with the verse:

"light us up until we pop i wanna burn bright 'til we're not let's keep each other safe from the world i'll be your optimistic black hole full of love i can't control let's keep each other safe from the world from the world"

which falls into the previously-discussed themes of adrien wanting to be around ladybug as much as he possibly can before they defeat hawkmoth and inevitable Something Different happens, and he also wants the both of them to stick together. the "i'll be your optimistic black hole / full of love i can't control" also relates to previously-discussed adrien themes where we know adrien is actually someone who is prone to negative thoughts, but he comes off as someone who is really optimistic, and also that he loves ladybug something fierce - it's a love that he knows has already scared her, but it's also a love that he feel like he can't help but feel.

in the chorus, we get:

"i know you said to mind my business but cupid sent me on a mission that's got me sitting, wishing, waiting for your call"

which plays into adrien's romantic nature conflicting with ladybug wanting to keep their feelings out of superhero work. regardless, because of his romantic nature, he will always be sitting and waiting for her to call him so that they can be together, even if it's just to fight akumas.

we also have the line:

"you've got me more than clumsy but you're my yellow, lovely"

which (SEASON 4 SPOILERS) after mr. pigeon 72 is like. adrien literally was so busy looking at marinette that he bumped his head against a car door. but he won't even mind!! because marinette/ladybug is a spot of brightness in his world that he absolutely adores.

rare

i am once again telling you that this song is about adrien loving ladybug. hear me out. i'm right. in the chorus we get:

"i just hope it's nicer where you are 'cause i only want to lift you up i guess i never really said enough for you to hear me where you are 'cause i only want to lift you up i guess i never really said enough so let me tell you now"

this is adrien hoping that, wherever and whoever ladybug is, she's living happily - at least more happily than him. he only wants to lift her up and support her, not only because he loves her, but also because he values her as a friend. but he feels like she doesn't know how much she truly cares about him - he feels like she brushes off when he tells her he loves her, so he wants to say it loud enough for her to truly understand.

and in the other half of the chorus, we get:

"my tired thoughts don't take vacations, oh no you float up in conversations, oh no you're my final destination, i know you're probably fine there just know i think you're rare"

which is where he tells her how he truly feels; he's always thinking about her, and when she comes up in conversation (which she does, she's ladybug after all), he feels some stress because he has all these feelings for her that his civilian self isn't supposed to have. and yet he feels like she's it for him - he loves her so much and can't imagine loving anyone else. she's his "final destination." and he thinks that she is so good and powerful and beautiful that she's rare in comparison to the rest of the world - which tells her how happy he is to have found her. (and, thinking about this line as if he's speaking to ladybug, it's funny for him to say that he thinks she's rare but refer to marinette as "the everyday ladybug." which really just tells you how highly he thinks of marinette)

sleep alone

we're rounding out this album with, you guessed it, another song about adrien loving ladybug. like. "i feel dead and a half but you're making me laugh" ?? which relates to adrien being overworked by his father but meeting ladybug in his spare time and managing to feel truly light hearted around her??

in the chorus we get:

"my face feels hot and blue my hands still count on you to let me down articulate and lonely enough for the two of us but if you want, if you want, if you want to you can call me on my phone, i'll run to you you won't ever have to sleep alone you can call me on my phone, i'll come to you you won't ever have to sleep, sleep, sleep alone"

which hints at how adrien knows that ladybug will continue to turn him down, but he can't deny his feelings for her ("my hands still count on you to let me down"). and he's lonely - isolated by his father - which he feels like he has enough to loneliness to cover the both of them, which is why he proposes that they stay together; he'll take on her loneliness, too. and, just like in all the adrien-loves-ladybug songs, we see that he is only a single call away from doing anything ladybug asks him too.

we also get the line "but if you want it you can have it, you can have me in full" which tells us that he respects her wishes to keep their identities a secret, and he understands that she doesn't have romantic feelings for him, but if she ever changed her mind - about either thing - all she would have to do is ask, and she would have him, entirely.

7. fandom

fandom is the third album, and it leans into not only pop-alternative sounds, but also rap and almost r&b alternative sounds. the main themes of this album are: wanting to be able to express yourself in the way you want, feeling separated from someone you love, and getting out of a bad relationship

7/15 songs on this album can be considered adrien songs

cherry red

starting off strong with the album's opener (which also starts with the ending music of the last song on the album which is- okay. this album's art. continuing on) which is - i'm thinking you're sensing the pattern - at least partly about adrien loving ladybug. cherry red is super short, and the only line that really applies is:

"cherry red you know i'd die for you"

which. cherry red refers to ladybug because of, you know, cherry red suit, etc. and the "you know i'd die for you" is. well. adrien has made it very clear that he will go out of his way during akuma fights to protect ladybug. it's not exactly dying, but it's close enough.

dream boy

dream boy is!!!!!!!! dream boy is THE adrien song!!!!! dream boy was the song that made me mold au adrien's band after waterparks, dream boy is the song that semi-inspired this post, dream boy is the reason i project adrien onto so much of waterparks' discography.

dream boy sounds a lot like a love song. but dream boy is, at it's core, a commentary on the way that media and fanbases treat conventionally attractive boys in the spotlight, and it's a commentary in the form of a bright, bubbly pop song. it's brilliant. it's adrien

the chorus, which is also the intro gives us:

"am i the boy you dreamed of? oh living in your subconscious, oh do you believe in love? oh and is it because of me?"

which is like. from the very start of this song, we get the idea that adrien (since we're supplementing the speaker as adrien, you get it) exists only as a the dream of a boy his fans have of the perfect boy. they believe in love because they love him, but they don't love the real him, they love the 'adrien' that they've constructed in their minds

in the verse, we get:

"build your expectations saturated and inflated 'cause i was born to be your favorite make me complicated i'm modern and i'm dated because i was born to be your favorite"

which builds on the manufactured feeling of adrien agreste. his public persona as a model was built by gabriel to make money - he was literally constructed as a teenage heartthrob "born to be your favorite" so that his father could profit.

and in the pre-chorus, we get:

"build-a-boy, pick my pieces overjoyed‚ never leave your heart destroyed, i'm your boy custom-made your beloved getaway i'm your favorite holiday you'll never be alone with me"

which is like. adrien is constantly rebuilding himself to fit the ideals other people want from him, and other people are constantly rebuilding him in their minds to fit the ideals they have for him. he isn't his own person - he's always belonged to other people, custom-made, depending on their preferences, to be the most likable he could possibly be.

high definition

high definition falls into the category of "songs about adrien loving ladybug while trying to be in a relationship with kagami." in my mind, i hear adrien in this song talking to two separate 'you's - both kagami and ladybug.

when the song starts, giving us the chorus we get:

"i'd love to be in love with you enough to write a love song, mmh i need to feel needed and i need it more than i let on"

which is adrien speaking to kagami. he wants to love her because he knows she deserves it and she's an amazing girl, but he can't. but he still needs that affection she gives him because he's lacking it in other parts of his life.

in the second half of the chorus, we get:

"i'll be home just thinking about it, maybe call like i used to but i'll just stay alone because alone is safer than with you"

which, in my head, is where he transitions to talking to ladybug. he still thinks about her and he wants to be with her, but he recognizes that those wants aren't responsible while in a relationship with someone else.

in a verse, we get:

"i know i'm not around enough to make me worth the wait it's like who wants to be close with someone who always goes away? and even when they're here it's like where's your fucking head at? why's it take so long to text back? you're so bad at loving people back"

which is where we see his relationship with kagami devolve. (SEASON 4 SPOILERS) i mean, this is almost literally why kagami breaks up with him; he's always running off for seemingly no reason, and even when he was around, he was emotionally distant because of his feelings for ladybug.

telephone

telephone is a HUGE ladynoir song. this is a song about how much chat wants to be able to get to know ladybug, which gives us lines like:

"i'd like to know your middle name let's talk about your parents and your future dreams i'm interested but distant to a fault and i'd never want to complicate your heart"

which is just like!! he wants to know all the little information about her like her middle name and her parents, but he also wants to talk about her and her dreams. he wants to know her, outside of the mask, but he knows that's not something she wants, so he tries to keep these wants tamped down.

the second verse gives us:

"i talk a lot, but we could fill your frames with pictures of our faces 'til we share a name i'm living on a target and you shot it with an arrow now i lost my self-control, i can't stop thinking and i'm thinking that i lost it all these aisles feel like miles where you go, i'll follow"

which, again, expresses his desire to be with her in her civilian life, even fantasies about marrying her. he is so stupidly in love with her - and, as i've talked about before, he is absolutely devoted to her. wherever she goes, he'll follow.

never bloom again

never bloom again is a little too sad for my to comfortably label it a ladynoir song but this line:

"now all the girls in los angeles look like you from a distance i tried to give you space until i stepped away from your brain and now i just miss it"

is very adrien-loving-ladybug-esque. replace 'los angeles' with 'paris' and you get adrien trying to find ladybug's features in every girl he meets while still trying to give ladybug space on their secret identities.

[reboot]

[reboot] isn't a really an adrien song, but it does reference dream boy, which is worth mentioning. in the chorus, we get the line:

"i never promised you your dream boy i'm better as your chew toy"

which could be like adrien's actual thoughts on his placement as paris' and his father's manufactured dream boy persona. he's not actually everyone's dream boy, he's just a toy for them to use a destroy.

zone out

zone out is a huge adrien song because it is literally just dream boy. zone out acts as a break before the last song in the album, and it is the lyrics to dream boy set to a softer, more lullaby-esque tempo and instrumental sound. it's a lot sadder than the normal dream boy, and you can really feel the fact here that dream boy is not a love song.

with zone out, we have adrien's actual quiet, sad feelings about dream boy. he wants to fill the dream boy role for his father, but he can't, really, because he can never live up to that level of perfection. he will always fall short.

8. greatest hits

and with that we have reached the most recent waterparks album. this album plays with experimental genre sounds even more so than the previous two, but is still unmistakably the "waterparks" sound. the themes of this album are: strange dreams and nightmares, struggling with being in the spotlight, and wanting to feel loved

7/17 songs on this album can be considered adrien songs

lowkey as hell

lowkey as hell isn't overtly an adrien song but the chorus plays on the common themes we've seen before:

"if you need me now i'll be there somehow i'll pick you up, we can ride i'll fly away like i bought my own airline i'll take you with me, we can ride"

which is basically that adrien will always be around to do anything ladybug needs - if she ever has the need to call to him, he'll always find a way to be there for her.

violet!

i won't go too in depth about it, but violet! is about a stalker and their victim, who is the speaker, and you cannot tell me adrien does not have any stalkers at all with the way the show portrays his fame. he's probably had to deal with his fair share of crazy fans, so i thought i'd mention violet! here.

snow globe

also not an overtly adrien song, but we get these lines in one of the verses:

"’cause all i hear is 'i love you so much' but it starts to mean nothing when my heart is shut from you my heart is shut from you my little tiny world is in your hands so shake it like a snow globe fuck my plans"

which talks about how the love adrien experiences as a famous model isn't the kind of love he wants - he wants feel loved by his father. but gabriel just uses him for the company - he holds adrien's tiny world in his hands, and uses that grasp to shake up adrien's world and disrupt the relationships adrien has with the outside world.

the secret life of me

this song is about fantasizing about running away to a new life, or to a secret life away from responsibilities, so like. adrien about how he's chat noir.

in the chorus, we get:

"sunbathe looking like a sunday wishing for a someday i could run away like that now i think i need a life or maybe 9 'cause i feel like i’m running out of time, yea

which plays on the ideas of running away. it's really fitting, i think, because of the reference to wanting 9 lives, which is definitely a pun adrien would make as chat noir

american graffiti

this is another song about struggling with being in the spotlight, which relates to adrien. in the chorus, we get:

"yeah, you've been reading all about me and you're loving what you found i'm like american graffiti you want some glitter, drink it down yeah, you've been seeing all about me taking notes, yeah, write it down i'm like american graffiti if you need me, i'm here now if you need me, i'm here now"

which relates to the themes brought up during dream boy: we have this circumstance of people finding adrien, learning all there is to possibly know about him, and deciding that they love this version of him they see in the media. the "if you need me, i'm here now" also refers to the dream boy theme because of how this version of adrien that exists in most people's heads will always be there to comfort them and "love" them in a parasocial relationship.

fruit roll ups

fruit roll ups is yet another adrien-loving-ladybug song in which he talks about wanting to invite her over so they can watch movies together and also how much he feels for her.

in the first verse, we get the lines:

"when you talk it's in cursive to me and it's nicer than anything i'd believe about me it's like that shit was written in gel pen and i love those"

which is not. super important but it's cute! also the line "and it's nicer than anything i'd believe about me" also might refer to the way ladybug reassures him of his placement as a hero and a friend in her life, which are things he continually finds hard to believe. so it's also sad!

crying over it all

speaking of sad this last song is another adrien-loving-ladybug song and it is. sad.

the pre-chorus is:

"so practice your passion on me give me your 100 degrees i'll die off whenever you need an afternoon just to breathe soon everyone will be gone they'll forget my albums, i hope you'll be here when it's done and i'm crying over it all, yeah"

first of all. i go insane every time i hear the line "so practice your passion on me." now that we've gotten that out of the way let's continue on. we have the line "I'll die off whenever you need" which refers to chat's tendency to sacrifice himself for ladybug during akuma fights, and these lines also express that familiar desire he has of wanting ladybug to stay beside him after the events of whatever will happen next actually happen.

and in the chorus, we have:

"and all i think about is where you might be and when i'm swallowed down i'd say it's for you, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, oh i'd say it's for you, yeah, yeah, yeah"

which refers to how adrien wonders about ladybug when they're apart - he wants to know about her and how she spends her free time, but he can't know these things, not yet. and the line "and when i'm swallowed down / i'd say it's for you" would refer metaphorically (maybe sometimes literally) to the things he does during akuma fights for her to make sure they succeed.

and in another verse, we get:

"cherry red's your touch a touch i'm failing to feel, or feel enough to love you safely “who?”, “what?”, “when?”, and “why?” all drive me crazy please make me sane for you"

again using the phrase "cherry red" to refer to ladybug, her touch something that adrien can't feel enough of because their relationship is strictly platonic, but he wants more. he wants to know the 'who, what, when, where, and why's of her life, but he can't, and it drives him a little crazy. in contrast to being "stupid for her" back in double dare, he wants to be "made sane for her" so that he can have some feeling of peace in their relationship after getting rejected.

9. conclusion

the biggest conclusion we have here is that im insane. the second biggest conclusion we have here is that i have the amazing ability to project adrien onto a very large portion of waterparks' discography, and i'm right in doing so. an equally important takeaway is that adrien needs a hug and also that he loves ladybug. thank you for your time

#adrien agreste #ml meta #adrien agreste meta #miraculous ladybug #ml #mlb #my meta #literally if anyone reads this the full way through you are stronger than the us marines. i mean this literally #me: i will make a fun post about the songs i project onto adrien!#also me: takes it way too seriously #i should've just done it based on memory and saved everyone the trouble of this stupid huge post but im stubborn #and love making things harder for myself.#i literally looked at the lyrics for every single waterparks song and considered whether or not i could project adrien onto them #this post took me. an embarrassingly long time. so long. i will not say how long but so long.#and don't get me wrong. it's not embarrassing because of how long it took me - it's a long thorough post so obviously it would take long #what is embarrassing is the fact that it is a long post about projecting adrien agreste onto songs and also that i unironically reference #an mlb radio rebel au multiple times unironically throughout the course of this post. THAT is embarrassing #speaking of my mlb radio rebel au i really need to finish that. hopefully i can work on it over the summer #anyway. i have to go to sleep now because it's stupid o'clock. im running on fumes. everything's great #goodnight i WILL be reblogging this when i wake up. i want to burden as many people as possible with its existence as it has burdened me

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sunflowersseemhappy · 4 years

Note

Not 100% sure if this is up your alley? My MC for Arcana *AHEM* KNEW Lucio prior to the events of the game and I have a head cannon of her LI feeling guilty of their ~history~ but she tries to reassure them saying "After all, I've been with Lucio!" How do you think the Main 6 would react?

For context: Each LI is talking about their respective regrets in the past to MC who in trying to comfort them accidentally reveals their former involvement and relationship with Lucio (something they remembered from their past).

I enjoyed the prompt so much I wrote them as short stories, ‘cause I had a lot of feelings...

The lengths are a bit inconsistent, so sorry for that! There are suggestive themes but nothing that goes into detail so like 12+ years old (if there are even -12 year olds in the fandom, which why?!)

Hope you enjoy! REQUESTS ARE OPEN

Next up is Main 6 react to an MC that is tall but really self conscious about it.

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Asra

Once the words are out of my mouth I halt abruptly, glancing unsure at Asra who has fallen quiet beside me. His lips are drawn in a thin line, his brow furrowed. I hadn’t meant to tell him, but he had been so caught up in his regret for the past that I had wanted to comfort him with my own. It had just fallen out of my mouth and now it hung in the air like a suffocating cloud. Shifting uncomfortably I fumble for words, but it’s him who speaks.

“I knew,” his amethyst eyes betray no emotion as he turns his head slightly to regard me with a level stare. I can’t quite tell what his exact emotions are, but I can hear the weight in his voice. “I didn’t like it, but I’ve known for years.” My stomach flips in anxious circles, he knew...

All this time he knew and didn’t tell me? Most likely it was because he had known me so well in the past, I wonder if I told him or if he had just simply seen the two of us together. It’s strange, he knows more about my past than I do. More than I’ll probably ever know.

Nevertheless it makes my memories of Lucio feel real with Asra’s confirmation and for once my head doesn’t hurt at the memory. If I hadn't told him today would I ever have told him? Probably not, I know how much he hates Lucio but it doesn’t matter now because he knew anyway. I start to wonder does he hate me for it? Does he hate knowing that Lucio held me like he now does? Does it- do I make him uncomfortable?

Sucking in a breath, I keep my eyes locked down. Faust has come to rest on my wrist and I can feel her uncertainty like my own as her tongue flicks out toward me. I don’t think she entirely understands why myself and Asra have turned from each other. Faust’s weight is the only thing keeping me from leaving, she knows it and bobs her head at Asra. Calling in her light voice.

“Asra sad? Friend sad too!” Faust’s scales rub my wrist as she moves uncertainly between us, in the end she lies between us but her tail is wrapped around my wrist and her head is laid on Asra’s lap. A droplet falls into my lap, and I pull my head up slightly whilst touching a hand to my cheek. I’m crying, I didn’t even realise.

I swipe away the hot tears threatening to spill over my cheeks, but as I do so more come and before I know it salty tears are trailing down my face and falling from my chin. I begin sobbing into my hands, drawing choked breaths. At first I think Faust is sliding over my shoulders but I see Asra leaning in and in seconds Asra’s arm wraps around my shoulders. He pulls me into his chest despite my resistance. My breath hiccups as his hand rakes my hair back from my face, pulling it back, his hand cups the nape of my neck, whilst the other hand snakes around my back.

“You must hate me, thinking about me being with him after all he did to you and the others.” My voice is shallow and quiet but I can tell Asra heard me from the shake of his head as lays his chin on top of my head, soothing me with shushing sounds that sound like waves breaking on the surf.

“No, I don’t,” Asra mumbles soothingly. “You can’t help who you fall in love with, I should know that better than anyone. I could never judge someone, most of all you, for the actions of whoever they are or were in love with. Besides, do you have feelings for him now?” I sniffle and peek up at his face, his gaze meeting mine lovingly and without judgement. He pulls back slightly and cups my face with a hand giving me that mysterious smile.

“Of course not,” I hastily choke taking a breath, my hands smooth out to rest on his shoulders. I grip his shirt in my fists, white-knuckled and desperate to hold him where he sits. Speaking firmly and meeting his eyes with steely resolve I continue. “I love you, and I want to be with you. Not Lucio.” Asra gives me a nod and presses his lips to my forehead.

Leaning into his touch I press close to his chest, heaving a sigh and looking up at him. I kiss the closest swath of bare skin I can find at his throat, he’s nothing like Lucio. He’s better, his strength and softness emboldening me. Asra follows my kiss with his own, planting one on lips and savouring it. He nuzzles my face with his own and then his mouth finds the area neck to my ear where he kisses me lightly and whispers in my ear.

“You’ll never know how happy I am to hear you say that,” Asra whispers against my skin squeezing me tight and holding me close. “I want to be with you always Y/N, I love you.”

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Nadia

The words just slip from my mouth, and already I’m slapping my hand to my mouth and cursing my lose lips. Before me on the bed Nadia blinks in surprise, her mouth slightly agape at my outburst, I hastily clear my throat the next words that come out from my mouth jumbled mess.

“Ididn’tmeantosaythat, I’msosorryNadia-” Before I can finish my sentence I hear a snort, I turn toward the sound and gape at Nadia as she breaks out into... laughter. I’m astonished, she’s never laughed like this in front of me. It’s so pure and unrestrained, like I’ve just told the funniest joke on Earth instead of just admitting I had a thing with her former husband.

“You’re not... mad?” I hesitantly ask, very aware of the hand that is lightly squeezing my knee as she laughs, as her giggles die down Nadia shakes her head with an airy sigh swiping a tear from the corner of her eye as she regains her composure.

“My darling, the fact that you comforted me with such brash honesty was just too ironic. Given your missing memories I assume you only learned of this fact recently?” She’s as intuitive as always and I nod slowly, embarrassed as she pats my knee and gives me a understanding look. “To be perfectly honest my own relationship with Lucio is something I always felt... repulsed by. Even though I don’t remember much, if any, of that time.”

My shock gives way to understanding, she’s sympathising with me rather than anything else and it truly is comforting. I had spent the last few weeks cringing at the sight of his portraits on the walls, fragments of memories with him burning into my mind. My memories, moments I had longed to regain became unwelcome intrusions in my mind. Until now I had kept them to myself, but I wasn’t surprised that Nadia had cottoned on to me. She was so observant I wonder why she didn’t bring it up before now.

Looking at her now I’m glad it’s all out there, I don’t like lying to her and its a relief to have her be so understanding. I let out a light chuckle and pinch my lip between my teeth, a smile graces my face as Nadia looks down at me.

“I’m really glad you’re not mad at me,” I admit with a relieved sigh, a sly grin crawls across my face. “Otherwise I couldn’t dish the dirt on his short-comings...”

“Oh, do tell!” Nadia chuckles again, settling back as I tell her about all the ridiculous and downright strange things Lucio did when he was younger. I’m not sure how much time passes but soon enough me and Nadia are snuggled up, our throats sore from all the laughing and our cheeks stiff from not being able to keep straight faces.

“Who knew we would end up talking about Lucio all night?” I sigh, winding a strand of her hair through my fingers. She hums under my touch, her hands absentmindedly tracing circles on my legs.

“Once upon a time I would have been less enthused talking to my husband’s former lover. But I realise that I have changed much over the years. I think it is important we love who we love for whom they are, and not for the people they themselves have formerly loved.” She turns her head upward from my shoulder to look into my eyes, giving me a smile as she shuffles slightly to kiss my chin and then pass her lips over mine. “Enough talk of my husband’s bedside manner Y/N, I think we should turn our attention to each other...”

My face reddens but I nod all the same as we kiss once more.

“That would be nice.”

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Julian

My words peter out as I say them, red faced I turn to Julian. The eye not covered by his eye-patch is wide and his own face has taken on the complexion of a tomato as he splutters awkwardly. He’s trying to find the words for whatever he’s thinking but they don’t come and all of a sudden I’m afraid of whatever he may say. It must show on my face as I turn away because his spluttering dies down and he lets out a strained sigh.

I feel tears prick the corners of my eyes, the heaviness in the air like a boulder on my back. I flinch slightly when Julian rests a hand to the small of my back and I know he can see the tension in my body and feel my unsteady breath as I try to hold back my tears and calm myself.

“Y/N, I didn’t mean to be so surprised.” Julian’s tone sounds apologetic and honest, I tilt my head to show him I’m listening even though I’m too afraid to look him in the eye. “But I was. Surprised, that is...”

“I know,” I admit turning sheepishly to face him, eyes darting to my hands resting in my lap. “I only found out a couple of day’s ago, I wasn’t sure how you would react so I didn’t want to tell you. Guess I can’t lie to you even if I try.” I laugh brokenly, and I hear Julian chuckle under his breath. He pulls my shoulder and I face him, that goofy grin...

“Here I thought you had better taste in men,” Julian jokes, I frown in mock anger and purse my lips. My eyes bore into his and I shove his chest playfully and snort indignantly.

“Says you!” I chuckle with a roll of my eyes, he seems to take my words as a challenge sidling up close to me, our chest’s almost touching. With his height he dwarfs me and there’s a devilish smirk on his lips as he looks down on me.

“Oh?” He asks lowly, his face lowers close to my ear and his breath tickles my cheek. His lips almost press against my skin but before they do I take on my own smirk and push him back with a finger. Forcing him back with a barely contained whine.

“After all, once upon a time you were the dangerous fugitive Doctor Julian Devorak, a supposed murder and tragic miscreant!” He blinks in surprise as I push him an inch farther and he’s on his back to the cushions on the bed.

“Playing dirty are we? Better be careful my dear. There’s only room for one reckless one in this relationship.” Julian gives me a crooked grin, leaning up on his elbows as I straddle his torso and lean over him, faces so close now.

“Reckless? Don’t even get me started-” I scoff, Julian cuts me off as he leans up and holds his face close to mine, inches from each other.

“Then I won’t...” His lips press against mine and we fall against each other, his hands carding through my hair, as my own roam his shoulders. We kiss a moment longer and it’s Julian who breaks away with a roguish smirk and a dramatic tone.

“I can’t say I didn’t make one of two bad life choices during my lifetime... Just tell me this Y/N was he a better lover than I?” He closes his eye and fakes sadness, trowing a hand to his head. I know what he wants but he’s not getting it. My voice comes out monotone.

“If you keep talking like that I’ll say yes.”

“How cruel?!”

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Muriel

I can’t believe myself, the words feel traitorous and not my own but they come out anyway. I blink a few times and even start to wonder if I said that out loud, a fluttering breath leaves me as I side eye Muriel. His usual neutral expression has melted into a frown, I said it out loud! I bite down on my tongue and swallow thickly, words just don’t seem to want to form and I’m left sitting in silence.

Next to me Muriel’s face melts into something else, a small voice inside me screams to do something but I’m frozen. It’s taken a minute for Muriel to mull over the words, and I know it’s because he doesn’t quite understand my vague words. But now I can see it on his face, he knows what I meant and I know he doesn’t like it.

I can see the clench of his jaw as it works, his eyes uncharacteristically dark, and his large body tense. I flinch when he speaks.

“Are you lying?” He asks in his gravely tone, his lips barely part but I just about hear him. I can’t answer, my mouth stubbornly remains shut. He eyes me and I can hear the desperation in his tone as his eyes squeeze shut. Like he wants me to answer but knows the answer will hurt him. “Tell me you’re lying...”

“I wish I was,” quiet and hoarse my voice is not my own, now the words are out desperation takes me. “I didn’t know until the other day, my memories of him just came back and I-”

Muriel’s bolts up so fast his head thuds against a low hanging beam of the hut, I gasp at the noise but he seems undeterred by whatever pain it may have caused him. I look him up and down; fists clenched, red-faced and turned away from my gaze.

“I need to leave,” Muriel mumbles under his breath, at this I bolt up too but he’s faster than me and before I can take one step he’s out the door and out into the lashing rain. A fitting comparison to my tremulous emotions as I run out into it, but Muriel is gone. Where I have no idea, but I’m alone.

I call out in the rain for hours until I’m soaked through, fearing that if I delved deeper into the woods I could get lost or worse without him. I sit in the doorway for another hour shivering in the cold until I feel a cold settle in my lungs, at this point I don’t care but I go to bed all the same, planning to set out and find him in the morning. Inanna is nowhere to be found, I hope she is with him.

As I lay on the bed I close my eyes and breathe in his smell. Myrrh and wood smoke, I want him here with me and think that maybe if I had a better explanation maybe he wouldn’t have left. I don’t know how long I lie there, but at some point fever sets in and sends me to sleep.

I startle at the thud of wet footsteps, opening my eyes I see Muriel. Large shape outlined even in the darkness as he crouches by the fire and sparks a flame. Inanna is next to him laid out near the fire as it gets going. I remain silent and watch him as he sheds his wet clothes, and hangs them up. A weak cough escapes me and Muriel’s face turns to me, I can’t see his features but I know he’s looking at my face.

He approaches and I remain still closing my eyes as he draws close and kneels in front of my face next to the bedside. The back of what I assume is his hand places itself against my forehead, I know he feels the fever heat there and Muriel lets out a soft sigh. I pretend I can’t feel it as he climbs over to me and slips under the covers next to me.

“I know you’re not asleep,” despite wanting to move I lay still as his chest and stomach press to my back, one of his arms slips over my waist and pulls me close. His breath is on my neck as he nuzzles into me, I’m shivering from the fever although my skin is warm I feel so cold and I know he’s pressing up against me to warm me. But there is more there, and I can feel the waves of regret and love coming from Muriel. “You made me realise-”

“I understand-” He sighs against my skin and tries once more to say what he wants to say. “Y/N, I understand why you don’t hate me for my past, you love me for who I am now. Not who I was then, even though you were with him. I don’t care because I feel the same way you do. I love you here in the present more than I hate him in the past.”

I open my eyes, although they burn from my fever, and turn slowly to face him. Those green eyes are full with love as he stares at my face longingly, I must look a mess from being as ill as I feel but his other hand cups my face.

“Were you mad?” I croak and he nods slightly.

“Yes, but not at you. Never at you.” I sigh against him, snaking my arm over his waist and one of my legs moves to straddle his. I fight a cough and Muriel looks worriedly at me. “I’ll keep you warm and safe Y/N, sleep my love.” He kisses my cheek and pulls me as close as we can get. My eyes flutter closed and I hum in defeat.

“Okay, I love you.”

“So do I,” Muriel admits softly and I fall asleep as he asks, dreaming of him by my side.

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Portia

I’m kicking myself as the words leave my mouth, I’m more embarrassed than anything else. Portia pausing with a thoughtful ‘um’ on her lips, but if I had to tell anyone I’m glad it was her. Gods forbid I mention it to any of the others...

As I look desperately at her I notice that her face has gained a thoughtful look, nothing like the surprise, disgust or fear I expected. He mouth is opening and closing like a fish, and I know she’s trying to find the right words and I wait with bated breath.

“You mean the count?” Her head tilts regarding me with... confusion. It was a reaction I hadn’t expected in the least and I can’t help but let out an involuntary laugh.

“No, the guy who serves me coffee at the market.” I drawl sarcastically, it only serves to make Portia giggle “Of course the count!” I laugh with her, giving a rueful shake of my head. Our giggles dissolve quickly and I look down at my hands, wringing them unsure of what to say next, but Portia is already sidling up to me. Laying her head against my shoulder.

“Are you okay?” She whispers, her arm squeezing my waist. It’s a comfort that she is touching me and holding me close, I don’t feel like such a stranger and I can feel my troubles melt away.

“Better for telling you,” I murmur into her hair, I pull back to look questioningly into her eyes. Even though I’m unsure of myself her face betrays nothing but understanding and she gives me that cheery smile. My voice wavers as she stands and walks to the table where a pot of tea sits. “How do you feel about it?”

“It’s weird, I didn’t ever know him but I know he wasn’t the greatest guy around.” I watch as she pours tea out into tea cups, winding her way past the furniture and offering me a steaming mug.

“Yeah, it’s definitely weird.” I admit taking the cup and blowing on the liquid lightly, relishing the warmth seeping from the cup into my fingers. It’s pomegranate tea, one of Portia’s new blends she bought from the market, it smells overly sweet and is a deep red but I’ve come to like the taste.

“I’m curious though, if you could get back with him would you?” Portia watches me over the rim of her cup, hidden behind the light steam as it wafts up. She takes a sip as I reply.

“Not at all.” I admonish bringing the rim of my teacup to my lips and relishing the fragrant concoction, exotic and beautifully blended. I’m unprepared for her next question.

“What was he like... ya’know?” At those words I involuntarily inhale, choking on my tea. I splutter as it stings my throat and stains my shirt crimson, coughing some more I take a startled breath.

“Portia!” I place my cup to the side and give her a warning frown. I feel myself drawn back into my memories, every one of them feeling like an intrusion as if I’m not really seeing my own memories but those of another. It feels so intrusive to even think about them, to think about me and him together...

“I was just curious!” She giggles, when she notices me go quiet her hand creeps onto my leg as if to ask for my forgiveness.“But seriously Y/N, did he ever do anything you didn’t like? Because if you need to talk to me, about anything, I’ll listen. I’m good at that.”

“Portia, I-” My slack face comes up to meet her gaze and I give her a sad smile. I can see in her eyes that she means it but I know that I’m not ready yet, to talk about Lucio or what happened. I know she sees it in my eyes too, but she doesn’t press anything. “Thank you.”

“Thank you for telling me, I don’t ever want you to be trapped in your own mind about things that happened so long ago.” She places her own cup of tea down and wriggles up next to me, we sit back against the headboard of the plush bed. She snuggles up against me and plants a long loving kiss on my cheek. “And in case you’re worried if being with Lucio made you a bad person you’re not, you’re two different people. You are not responsible for anything he did.”

I smile and nuzzle back against her, and we forget talk of the former count, opting instead to enjoy each other’s company and some tasty tea.

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Lucio

MC probably wouldn’t say it to him as it’s him we’re talking about but I just think he’d be spluttering in offence to any one of the above.

(Sorry Lucio stans)

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spencers-dria · 3 years

Text

Someone To Stay

Original story by fairytales1896

Spencer x fem reader

8. Completely Fantastic

Y/N POV:

The next morning you wake up and start packing as you prepare for the drive back home. You take your hair out of the bun you had slept in, leaving it with some long loose waves. You throw on a long, flowing navy and white maxi skirt with a navy tank top and some strappy sandals. You are feeling particularly in touch with your bohemian side after a weekend spent in the great outdoors.

After filling up on a quick breakfast, you grab your bags and head out to the car. You look to Spencer. "Is it okay if I drive?"

He appreciates you asking. No one ever does. They just assume.

"Sounds good!" He tosses his keys over to you. After filling the trunk with both of your bags, you scoot into the driver's side and adjust the seat and mirrors. You may be tall, but Spencer was much taller.

As you pull out of the driveway and make your way down the road, Spencer looks towards you.

"I'm guessing you want music. I don't really have much. If you hand me your phone I can put on whatever you like."

You unlock your phone and hand it to him, smiling at the kind gesture. Seems like he catches on quick.

"Hmm" you think out loud. "Well, I know you haven't listened to quite as much as me so we have a lot of genres to cover on this car ride. We'll start with the 70's and go from there. Just put it my 70's playslist on shuffle. We'll let my phone pick for us."

Gypsy by Fleetwood Mac comes on. A smile of content spreads across your face. You reach into the compartment above your rear view mirror and grab what you liked to call your "John Lennon Sunglasses". They're rosy and oversized and perfect for your current mood. You roll the windows down and let the wind whip through your hair, resting your elbow out the window. Sunshine warms your skin as you listen to the incredibly talented Stevie Nicks.

After a few more songs you ask him to flip to the 80's playlist on shuffle. As Forever Young by Alphaville comes on, you see a look of recognition on Spencer's face.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you were an 80's baby! 80's pop is some of my very favorite."

He smiles and nods. You get it. There's something oddly comforting about nostalgic music from your childhood. You let the rest of the 80's playlist finish, since you both seem to enjoy it.

Eventually Spencer turns in his seat to face you.

"I had a lot of fun this weekend." He states this with a fairly serious look on his face.

"Yeah me too! Is everything okay though? You look like you have more to say?"

He continues, while fiddling with his hands and hair and staring down at his lap. He's clearly nervous.

"It's uh j-just...would you...well would you want to be friends? I know that's p-probably an odd question I just, well I enjoy hanging out with you. Since I don't see you at my uh place of work I wasn't really sure the c-correct protocol for..."

You reach over and squeeze his hand to cut him off, since you can see he's clearly only making himself more anxious.

"Hey" you give him a reassuring smile.

"We're already friends. I think we have no choice but to continue hanging out. I mean, we just get along to well, it's not really up to me" you joke.

The both of you laugh and he seems to relax again. He squeezes your hand back as a thank you. Before you return it to the steering wheel.

"How do you feel about a weekly movie night?"

His eyes light up at the idea before clouded over, clearly thinking it through.

"My job..." he starts before you cut him off.

"I know, Spencer. Don't stress. My job schedule is inconsistent too. I mean, I get my schedule given to me six weeks at a time but, I work different sets of days each week. It's completely random. But that means I have four days off a week so I like our chances. And if some weeks it doesn't happen, that's ok too. You go save lives, and I'll help heal them. It's what we do."

He raises his eyebrows in surprise before responding.

"Oh well you've thought of everything, huh?"

You shrug, trying to conceal a smirk. "Maybe."

He looks to you. "Ok so what will be watching first?"

"Hmm, I'll let you pick first. And we can trade off?"

"Well I don't know how into fandoms you are but... would you mind if we watched some of Harry Potter?"

Usually your face is a huge giveaway to what you were thinking, and not just to FBI profilers. In this instance, you were incredibly determined to keep a straight face and not let on a single thing.

You just give a small nod as you keep your eyes on the road, expressionless.

"Sure, we can do that."

"Ok, so when and where? Or do you have that planned too?"

"Well..." you think for a minute before extending the offer. You don't want to scare off your newest friend.

"I'm free tonight if you'd like. We can unpack and maybe sneak in a nap first?" You glance over to gauge his reaction.

He smiles and nods, on board with the idea.

"Yeah, and I can meet back at your place at 5? Want me to bring anything? The DVD's?"

"Oh no it's fine! I'm pretty sure I saw them on Amazon or YouTube TV..." you respond, still trying to control your face. You really wanted to fool the genius profiler.

Spencer asks to borrow your blanket before curling up in the passenger seat and taking a nap the rest of the way home. It was too adorable. You couldn't help yourself. As you pulled up to a red light, you snap a quick picture of him. You also take a selfie with you making goofy faces, Spencer sleeping in the background.

You gently shake him awake after parking outside of your building. You grab your bags out of the back and wave to him as he backs the car out.

Once in the apartment, you take Juneau out for a quick walk. The dog sitter had given you detailed updates while you'd been away. You throw your weekend bags in the closet and hop in the shower. After drying your hair, you throw on a Black Borgin and Burke's T shirt and some black leggings and get to work.

It's September which, for you, meant the Halloween decor was abundant. You plug in all of your purple, green, and orange string lights placed all around your living room and kitchen. You light several candles you have scattered amongst your Halloween decor. Your shelves are lined with pumpkins, potion bottles, and various skeleton items.

You pop in your guest room to make sure it looks presentable. You're fairly sure he won't be expecting anything like what he's walking into tonight. On one hand, if it scares him off then it was bound to happen eventually. But if he doesn't mind...well maybe this friend is in it for the long haul.

You grab two butterbeer mugs and set them on the counter next to an assortment of flavored hot chocolate packets. You also set out microwave popcorn and a bowl of Halloween candy.

You decide to do one last thing, really hoping Spencer won't think you're completely insane. It's not long before you hear a knock at the door.

You open it, wearing your Ravenclaw robe and your glasses which just so happen to look a bit like Harry Potter's.

Spencer's brow wrinkles in confusion before he starts laughing.

"So I'm guessing you've seen Harry Potter before!" He says after finally catching his breath.

"Ummm..." you smile and just take his hand pulling him through your apartment till you reach your guest bedroom.

His eyes widen as he looks around at all your Halloween decorations. Before he can comment he's standing speechless in the doorway.

He looks around to see a completely Harry Potter themed guest bedroom, filled with creatures, books, wands, and more.

"Yeah Spencer, I've seen the movies" you finally say, letting out a laugh you've been holding back.

He looks stunned. "How did I... but you..."

"Yeah I'm usually pretty bad at hiding things so I have no idea how I pulled this one over on you. Aren't you supposed to read people for your job?" You joke with him, nudging his side with your elbow.

He's still just standing there, eyes wide, taking it all in. He walks over to the book shelf to flip through what you have.

"You have the potions book?...the maurader's map?...even the Quibbler?"

You just shrug, smiling as you watch him look around.

"So you don't think I'm completely crazy?"

"I think you're completely fantastic!" He blurts out, blushing a bit after he says it.

You bite your lip as you say " I may or may not also have the movies on DVD in 4K...to watch on my new TV."

He steps back into the living room to see where the two of you will be spending the rest of the night.

"Oh, this is going to be perfect!"

He takes a moment to finally take in the complete explosion of Halloween across your home.

"I hired Jack Skellington as my decorator" you snicker, making fun of yourself a bit.

He turns to you, eyes wide once again. "You like Halloween too?" He reminds you of an eager little kid with the look on his face.

You answer him with an eager nod and a grin.

"Y/N, I think it's pretty clear that we were meant to be friends! Where have you been all my life?" He laughs.

You don't know why, but you feel yourself turning red at hearing this comment.

You prepare some hot chocolate and popcorn for the two of you while Spencer sets up the Sorcerer's Stone.

"Oh I almost forgot, I brought something!" Spencer pulls something out of his sweater pocket. He has handfuls of Ghirardelli chocolates.

"Are those Rossi's? From the trip?"

"I have know idea what you're talking about." He states with a smirk as he plops down onto the couch, tossing you one. You lean back against the opposite end, leaving you room to both stretch your legs out and share a blanket.

You try your best not to quote the movie that you know by heart, but you just can't help it. Then you look over and see Spencer mouthing along with the lines. You give him a small kick under the blanket.

"I bet you could do a one man show of these movies, Mr. eidetic memory." You giggle.

"From the looks of it, so could you. We could take our show on the road. We'd make millions."

The two of you burst into a fit of laughter. With Spencer, you're always smiling.

#criminal minds #spencer x reader #spencerreid #writing #someone to stay #fleet wood mac #alphaville #Dr Spencer Reid #Harry Potter #road trip #car rides #snacks #Spotify

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subukunojess · 4 years

Text

On The Edge of Living (Ch 1)

Archive of Our Own / DeviantArt / FanFiction

Fandom: Beetlejuice the Musical

Word Count: 5,511

Content Warnings/Awareness: Death, Blood, Possible Gore, Mentions of Abuse, Smoking, Suicidal Themes, Giant, Tiny, G/T, People, objects, and animals are getting eaten, Vore (don’t know whether to tag it as such), Fluff, Angst, Adventure, Found Family, Friendship, just everything is wild.

Pairings: Charles/Delia, Past Charles/Emily, hints of Beetlelands, hints of Lydia/OC

Summary: AU. Lydia Deetz knew her life would turn upside down when she moved to a supposed haunted house with her father and life coach. What she didn’t expect were two actual ghosts living in her attic or being cursed to be bound to a demon sealed in some ancient spell book.With a growing emotional demon by her side and the afterlife betting on their future, Lydia will travel from Hell and back to break the curse and find out where she belongs… if her new town doesn’t end up being rampaged first.

Here’s my entry for the Beetlejuice Big Bang!

This was a surprise project I decided to take on when I saw it on my dash and I wanted to challenge myself writing with word count in mind. I knew I wanted to write a Beetlejuice AU with a tiny Lydia and a giant Beetlejuice, so I worked from there. I also wanted to challenge myself by planning and organizing my story ahead rather than take it chapter by chapter. Although it’s been difficult, I managed to pass the required 10 K mark and plan out the gist of my story. As of now, I have the chapters figure out and I have at least 20 K, but at the moment I have three completed chapters. I hope to work on the fic during my free time.

Thank you, @beetlejuicebigbang for giving me the opportunity to do this! Without further delay, here’s the first chapter of my fic:

Chapter 1: The Curse Begins

In life, people say that only death is certain. For the afterlife? Eternity, any suffering of some kind, and the places the dead end up. Depending on the soul and the circumstances of someone's death, a person could be sent to a variety of realms. There were different versions of Heaven, Hell, Limbo, and in some cases, a holiday world. This tale in particular resides in the living realm, Hell, and the Netherworld.

There were two major details that the living didn't know about the afterlife. The first one was that the Netherworld was like a creepy airport for the recently deceased, only that it was really a dark abyss that led to who knows where with no way of telling where anyone would end up.

The second thing? Demons are really huge compared to humans, dead or alive. In the living realm, they blended with humans physically to make situations easier. But in Hell? A demon's true height could range between seven feet to hundreds of feet tall. And Hell wasn't just a cavern of fire and brimstone either. It was the dark, grimy underworld of a city where slum lords lurked in the alleys and the air was polluted with a fiery, red haze. It was nine circles of everlasting torture ruled by cardinal sins and vices. And for a certain demon who spent most of her afterlife in the Netherworld, it was an empty and bleak waiting room in a large office building with the walls decaying and the air smelling of burnt socks.

Juno Shoggoth scowled as her heels clacked against the tiles of the hallway, walking to the waiting room while trying not to hunch over as usual. Once she had signed in with the receptionist, she took her seat and briefly pulled the cigarette out from her lips, letting the smoke ooze out from the slit on her neck.

"Why did he have to call a meeting now of all times?" Juno hissed, crossing her legs. "Doesn't he know my work schedule in general?"

As director of Netherworld Customs and Processing, it was her job to make sure that the transition from life to the afterlife went smoothly for the dead. Sure, the work was tedious and the woman would rather smoke for eternity than deal with tiny annoyances, but she was assigned to the position not by choice. She literally and figuratively grew from a civil servant spirit to a powerful demon overnight; one of her proudest achievements she had to admit.

Her biggest mistake was Lawrence.

Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth. Just thinking about his name made her blow another smoke ring and want a shot of alcohol. Like most other demons who were born dead rather than turned into one, Betelgeuse appeared after Juno had affairs with a demon and the demon left. She didn't like children to begin with, let alone raising something that acted like one. Regardless, she didn't have a choice either when a dead-born was involved. Dead-borns were powerful shifters with abilities no one dared imagine and capable of changing their size more smoothly than regular demons, hence the curses placed on them and the mandatory supervision. If every realm in existence turned upside down and the blame traced back to Juno, she would never hear the end of it.

"Lucifer is ready for you now, Miss Juno!" The receptionist's shrill, but deep shriek interrupted her train of thought.

"It's about damn time." Juno muttered under her breath as she threw her cigarette away and stood up. A red line of energy was drawn in front of the demon out of nowhere before splitting in two and opening as a doorway to Lucifer's office. She walked through the portal, the line disappearing as soon as she entered the room. Although she got used to the afterlife, Juno would admit that she didn't know whether it was a relief or unnerving that the room was a typical office one would expect a boss to reside in with a chair and desk, save for the hazy landscape of hell on the other side of the window in front of her. At this point, she didn't even bother wondering.

"Have a seat, Juno." A deep, gruff voice commanded from a leather swivel chair in a calm tone, causing a slight echo in the room. Juno sat on the wooden chair without fanfare, glaring at the window.

The ruler of Hell was arguably the most massive demon ever known, probably rivaled by Leviathan if they got into a mood. Big horns? Monstrous? Usually dwelled at the very bottom of Hell? Most of the rumors were true along with the fact that everybody knew not to mess with him unless they had a wish worse than death. Despite such knowledge, Lucifer appeared from the swivel chair on the other side of the desk, much smaller than normal and dressed for business. A simple black suit and dark red tie with golden cuff links. Dark grey medium length hair with large twisted horns of ivory adorned on top of it. Yellow eyes with pupils akin to a goat's narrowed as he fixed his collar and cleared his throat.

"I have a feeling you know the reason why I called you here." Lucifer stated, raising an eyebrow. Juno returned the action.

"You usually don't call me unless A) you’re redesigning the Netherworld in some way or B) Beetlejuice is involved. Something tells me it's the latter."

"Come on, Juno. Don't sound like I keep calling you because of that! You're a good worker. No nonsense. Telling it like it is while sorting out the souls. You're one of the few demons I could tolerate." When Juno didn't respond, the ruler of Hell continued.

"I just wanted to discuss what our plans are for Lawrence in the future, that's all." Lucifer shrugged. "Just to prevent repeated offenses from happening. Despite his... flaws, your son still has potential. Deceit. Torture. Power that some dead-borns don't have. I wanted him to become an official exorcist demon, but you insisted on having him as a Netherworld guide instead, even though he hasn't done it properly in centuries!" He brought a fist down onto the desk, the whole room seeming to tremble at the action.

"With all due respect, sir, we cannot give any more power and ego than the fool believes he has." Juno hissed as she pinched the bridge of her nose briefly. "If we do, both the Netherworld and Hell would be in shambles. And I believe you just want him to annoy one of your own headaches."

At that, both demons glared at each other and crossed their arms as they leaned forward. They stared at each other down for a while until Lucifer pulled back up with a sigh.

"... You're smarter than I thought." Ignoring the woman's tiny smirk of victory, Lucifer turned his back to her as he stared at the hazy city before him.

"You're not wrong. You got Lawrence and the Recently Deceased, I got the souls of the damned and the other cardinal leaders bothering me. Beelzebub especially. Always gloating that he's more powerful and mainstream than the rest. I figured that if he's with someone just as annoying as him, he'll settle down and we both get them out of our businesses for at least a decade or two. Maybe a century if we're lucky."

Juno scoffed. "That's going to be a problem since I banished mine to the world of the living."

"And how's that going for you?" Lucifer glanced back at the director, almost knowingly. "Knowing him, he'll find a way back to the dead. He always does."

“I can assure you that Lawrence is stuck at the surface with the living and suffering for it.”

Meanwhile in one of the several downtown areas of Hell, something was going down on one of the top floors of a ten-floor apartment.

In front of the building was a black Mercedes Benz with a fly painted on the hood, idle as the driver waited for someone. Inside the car, black sharp nails drummed against the wheel at a scattered and quick pace while the owner of said nails exhaled a buzzing breath.

“Why is he taking so long? There won't be much time left!” The driver growled in a high baritone voice that sounded as if it were melting like butter. His unruly, spiky orange hair seemed to hover over his pointed ears as his bright orange eyes narrowed at nothing specific on the street. He was tall, had dark tan skin, and a bit chubby around the edges with a pot belly held back by a sleeveless maroon shirt and ripped black jeans. The large fly wings on his back hummed against the seat, almost impatient. It was supposed to be a quick stop of supplies and nothing else. What was going on in there?

Just then, there were some muffled shouts until someone burst out through the front door lugging an overfilled burlap sack over their shoulder. The demon was a bit more than five and a half feet tall with golden eyes, pale skin, and wild green hair along with some yellow strands popping out. They wore a dusty dark grey coat over their black and white striped suit and green tie.

They then exclaimed in a masculine, gravelly voice as they scrambled into the front passenger seat, "Step on it, Bee!"

"It's about time!" The orange-haired demon groaned in relief as he slammed the accelerator and the car sped off, causing the other to almost fly out to the backseat, but he held on.

“What took you so long, Beetlejuice?! I’ve been waiting here for decades! Did ya get everything?” Bee inquired with a smile.

Beetlejuice chuckled and nudged an elbow to Bee, “It hasn’t been that long and you know it, Beelzebub. I should know; I’ve been waiting for centuries. And it isn’t my fault this time! A couple o' demons were late, some of the items were wrong, and I kinda-sorta pissed some of the demons off with a femur. Don't ask."

“Damn… my bad. We wouldn’t have taken this detour if dear old Satan and the rest of my ‘family’ didn’t seal some of my powers away! You take over a few séances and possess a large group of people for three weeks and suddenly, you’re the bad guy!” Bee snarled and shook his head before making a sharp left turn at an alley once he saw some shadows at his rear-view mirror.

“I know, right?” Beetlejuice scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Sounds just like my mom. ‘Beebleboose, stop bothering the recently deceased and get a job!’”

Beelzebub laughed as he elbowed the dead-born demon, the yellow colors fading back to green. “See? We get each other, BJ! The only other demon who gets me would be my twin, but he’s more about locking his stash away and never using it. Not us. We gluttons know how to have a good time! Why don’t you move down here for the rest of eternity? We could be neighbors, roommates even!”

"As much as eternal suffering sounds awesome, it kinda loses its touch after a while, ya know?" Beetlejuice leaned back in his seat. "Doesn't it get boring torturing and killing souls over and over and they always come back? It's gettin' to a point where everyone expects it. I just wanna get out and have my kind of fun for a change! I wanna be with the living! I don’t want anyone or anything tying me down ever again."

"I hear ya, Ant-Wine. There's just something about the living that's so damn addicting. And I ain't just talking about tastes either! Why do you think I keep risking my existence for the biggest gluttons out there? And what's your job on the surface again? It sounds hilarious!"

"A bio-exorcist. Y'know how the living try to take out demons? I, a demon, take out the living for the dead." Beetlejuice jerked a thumb to his own chest with pride, then shrugged after thinking about it. “Granted, I can’t affect the living and I’m getting ghosts to make the living say my name, but it’s a good gig.”

“Well, ya don’t need to worry about that anymore once we get to the spot!” Bee assured him as he checked to see if anything else were following them, then sighing when they were in the clear. “I got some of my followers on the surface getting themselves into position. When we get there, I possess the leader, say your name three times, and we both get summoned into the land of the living. We scare and eat as much as we want, grow as we please, and we split the world and possibly the universe fifty-fifty!”

“Eighty-twenty.” Beetlejuice challenged.

“Seventy-thirty.”

“Sixty-forty, plus I get a Broadway musical and say-so on the merch!” The green-haired demon pointed finger guns at the other while winking.

“Deal!” Both demons shook on it.

“Ay dios mio, is that what you were planning all this time?!” A tiny, muffled voice squeaked all of a sudden that almost made the two demons jump. Hearing the source near him, Beetlejuice blinked and glanced down at one of his shirt pockets. He reached to open it when a small head poked out of the pocket. A blueish-green head with long red hair that Beetlejuice recognized from anywhere.

"Teresa?! What are you doing here?" He exclaimed as he almost fell backwards in his seat. The woman in question stood up from her spot in the pocket and lifted her arm to point up at him.

"I could ask you the same thing, mi canalla! Here I am, riding and sliding in your pocket instead of taking my well-earned, once-in-a-death time break! Do you know how much paperwork I needed to file to get it approved?!" Teresa scolded while almost ripping strands of her own hair out, then sighed as she pinched her forehead and muttered in Spanish briefly. "I saw you leaving the Netherworld and I got worried, so I followed you and hid in here while you shifted."

At that, the dead-born demon scowled and crossed his arms. "There's nothin' ta worry about. I'm fine on my own!"

Beelzebub glanced from the wheel to see the tiny spirit and gave a slight smirk, reaching to poke her with his pointer finger. "Huh... So your guardian ghost is Miss Argentina?" At that, Teresa snapped her fingers and pushed the large appendage away.

"That's Miss Teresa Maria Argentina to you, buster! No touching!" She craned her head up to the giant that carried her. “Who does this guy think he is, anyway?”

“This guy is the demon prince of Gluttony.”

Teresa scoffed, then did a double take and stared at Bee again. "Huh. Not what I expected for the king of all pigs."

"La adulación la llevará a todas partes, Señorita. And there's more to gluttony than just eating." The demon crooned, focusing back onto the street. “We’re in the age of excess, honey, and you’re a part of it whether you like it or not.”

“Oh no, I’m not going to be in your little scheme of yours! Which, by the way, will backfire!” Miss Argentina pointed out before crossing her arms in disapproval.

“You can come to the land of the living with us?” Beetlejuice offered with a grin. Before Teresa could reply, both she and the dead-born jolted forward when Beelzebub suddenly on the brakes. The three looked out the window to see an entire row of demons barricading the street. Some demons had motorcycles and their own cars while others stood with their hulking bodies alone. All of them came in different shapes and sizes. A particular demon who looked more like a chubby dragon in form stepped forward from the crow of angry demons.

“Beetlejuice, we got ya surrounded! Come outta the glutton's car. We just need ta talk!” The dragon demon bellowed with a brash voice.

Beetlejuice let out a laugh, his hair turning a bit yellow at the tips as he opened his window and waved. "Heeeeeey, Rosco! How's the femur?" A growl and glare was his only reply.

"Go on ahead! I'll see if I could blow these guys off and contact Mintaka to back us up! I'll catch up with you two when I can." Beelzebub ordered. Without waiting for an answer, he revved up his engine and made a sharp 180 turn. Magma spewed from between the wheels and created a large wave of molten rock, causing the line of demons to scramble away from it.

“Now!” Beelzebub shouted as Beetlejuice's door opened by itself. The ghost didn't need to be told twice. He flew out of the car and landed on his feet before he ran into a nearby alleyway. A few demons and imps who had avoided the magma followed him.

Teresa clung to the edge of the shirt pocket for dear afterlife as her giant mode of transportation moved quickly. Yes, she was dead, but that didn't mean she was immune to pain. It was also a force of habit.

Beetlejuice cursed at himself. It would've been much easier if he were at the surface and he could just teleport himself away. He didn't have that luxury in Hell. Seeing a wired fence up ahead, he had a plan. He pulled at his hair three times as if grabbing something, then he seemed to throw something invisible to his pursuers. All of a sudden, three clones of himself appeared in front of the demons, blocking them from their path as he leapt onto the fence and clambered up to the other side.

"Damn that rat!" One imp exclaimed in frustration. Beetlejuice smirked and continued moving. After a while, he came across an open clearing and an entrance to a burning park covered in glowing stalagmites. They were close to the summoning spot. The ghost with the most cheered, jumping into the air and pumping his fist. Nothing could ruin his moment! He took a few steps forward...

... only to get tackled by a large dust cloud consisting of Rosco and Beelzebub clawing and gnawing at each other. Beetlejuice snarled as his nails and fangs sharpened, trying to push both demons off of him while biting and scratching anyone who came too close. Teresa ducked down to the safety of the shirt pocket, questioning her afterlife choices. The ball of fighting seemed to stop when both Beetlejuice and Beelzebub grabbed Rosco by the shoulders and slammed him to the side of a building.

"Ha!" The two demons exclaimed in victory. The impact was so great, it caused the building to break in half and topple over, hitting the building next door. And the one after that. And the one after that. Soon, there was a giant building version of dominoes falling one by one until it stopped at a particular office building where two demons were having a meeting.

"BETELGEUSE/BEELZEBUB!" Two voices roared suddenly, echoing all over Hell and possibly the Netherworld as well. Both demons in question stood up straight, let go of the dragon demon, and winced in unison.

"Oh crap."

Before either of them knew it, the two demons and the spirit found themselves in Lucifer's domain, tensed and unaware of what would transpire. As Bee got dragged away in chains, Beetlejuice stood in the middle of the hallway and averted his eyes from Juno's sight, his hair and outfit turning a gloomy violet as his wrists shifted from the handcuffs behind him. Teresa stood on the director's shoulder, not saying a word.

"Why doesn't this surprise me one bit?" Juno stated calmly, only to shriek when Beetlejuice opened his mouth to speak. "You damn fool! You couldn't give me just one year of peace without screwing it up!"

"But mom-!"

"BUT NOTHING! I'll deal with you later." Juno raised the palm of her hand, causing Beeltejuice to stumble backwards and freeze. Without delay, she then took out a piece of chalk from her hair and drew a tiny door on the nearby wall. She knocked on the door three times with her pinky and the door opened up to reveal green mist. She then aligned herself so the ghost on her shoulder was in front of the entrance.

"I take it you enjoyed your relaxing break?” Juno asked in a saccharine tone. Not waiting for an answer, she exclaimed. “Now get back to work! We just got a bus load of casino gamblers who are probably going to fight with the football players and do who knows what. And no word of what you saw here to the others, understand?”

"Yes, ma'am." Teresa nodded as she held herself while trying to look as professional as possible. She strutted to the door, but stopped just as she was about to enter. She turned her head to look back at Beetlejuice who tried not to make eye contact with her. With a sympathetic frown, she gave a slight wave and made her exit, the door shutting behind her. Beetlejuice looked to the door and sighed, only to yelp when his handcuffs tugged him forward.

“Come on, Lawrence. Satan’s waiting for you.” Juno ordered, walking ahead past her son. She beckoned her finger and the handcuffs tugged again, forcing Beetlejuice to follow her. They went down the hallway and entered the last room which was filled to the brim with demons and imps like a courtroom. Most of them were either involved with recent events or were nearby. There were conversations between their groups until the Shoggoths entered the room, causing the room to become silent.

Juno took Beetlejuice to the front of the stand where the Cardinal Council sat in tall podiums waiting for him. The Cardinal Council consisted of powerful demons who embodied the seven main cardinal sins known to humans. Belphegor of Sloth was dozing off in his seat. Leviathan of Envy was writing a few notes to themselves. Asmodeus of Lust brushed his pink long locks with a comb and some help with a breeze he summoned. Mammon of Greed fidgeted with his coins like always. Beelzebub of Gluttony managed a subtle wave to the dead-born. Last but not least, Lucifer stood at the tallest podium. Despite popular belief, he had the honor of having both Pride and Wrath in his repertoire. Nothing changed about him except that he had more fur and goat features at the moment. Beetlejuice took his place in front of the council, but felt the force from his mother staying with him. Once everyone was accounted for, Lucifer cleared his throat and drummed his claws on the podium.

“Out of all the dead-borns we have in Hell and all over, you have got to be the most stubborn pain in the ass I ever met.” He started, glaring down at the dead-born.

"Lucy, hey! How ya doin'? Your horns look extra-curly today." Beetlejuice casually greeted with a wink.

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Lawrence." The goat demon deadpanned. Beetlejuice felt his handcuffs tugging him back and he glanced to see his mother's disapproving frown. Swallowing the negativity for now, he returned his attention to the one in charge.

"C'mon, Lucifer. Let's talk demon to demon, huh? Sure, I snuck down here to hang out with one of the most powerful demons in Hell and destroyed a few things, but what demon hasn't?" The ghost with the most laughed and shrugged. "Besides, it's not like the first few times I messed up here."

“Oh, where do I begin with that?” Lucifer asked in a sardonic tone before he pulled out a large scroll from behind his back and unraveled it. The paper dropped on the ground and continued to roll onto the ground, stretching out of the room and seeming to continue rolling. Yellow strands of hair started to appear on Beetlejuice’s head.

“Surely, you must be exaggerating!” An imp who stood below the podium exclaimed in disbelief, leaning over to read the long scroll.

“This is Beetlejuice we’re talking about. Am I? Let’s read a few random ones, shall we?” The ruler of Hell took out a pair of eyeglasses and placed them on before skimming to a random spot on the list. “There was the time that he and another dead-born managed to freeze all of Hell for a while because, and I quote, ‘We need to have a snow day’.”

"We really needed one!" Beetlejuice shot back in defense. "I've seen breathers enjoy those all the time and Mint owed me one!"

Lucifer chose not to answer as he continued, "You let all the hellhounds loose and insisted that Cerberus should go on a 'play-date'."

"Hey, what Spot and I have is something special! They and Sandy would get along great eating souls and all."

"They are MY pet!"

"Eh... you say 'pet', I say 'furry and fun three-headed acquaintance'."

"And let's not forget the 'food' incident when you somehow managed to make the Netherworld smell like coconut, Hell smell like guacamole, and nearly consumed a hundred souls assigned to a specific place in Hell!" Nearly every demonic being in the room shuddered at the memory.

At the last offense, Beetlejuice shuddered as he nodded in agreement. "Okay, now that was a mistake I will never do again. The last time I would ever make anything in the Lust district. We'll leave it at that! No offense, Azzy."

"None taken." Asmodeus muttered from his seat, not knowing whether to bleach the memory from his brain or keep it.

"The point is you've been causing trouble both here and the Netherworld for centuries despite your curse and I'm at my limit for the last time!" Lucifer sneered, rolling the scroll of crimes back up and making it disappear.

The demons, imps, and four members of the Cardinal Council talked amongst themselves. No doubt they were talking about Beetlejuice and how annoying he was. Beelzebub raised his hand.

"Hey, Satan. It was my idea in the first place. B-Juice was just going along with it. Can't we just lock him outta Hell for a while and curse me instead?" The demon of Gluttony offered. The demon of Pride and Wrath glared at him.

"Oh look at you, trying to act all noble!" Lucifer's voice went up a pitch as he clasped his hands in mockery before he dropped the act and adjusted his glasses with a frown, earning a glare from Bee. "Don't play cute with me. He'll just somehow come here and you two will cause mayhem again!"

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Juno commented drily. The mutters and clamor resumed until Lucifer smacked the side of the podium with his tail hard, causing the room to be silent.

"What we need is a more... proper punishment. A curse that'll make sure you get the message through that thick skull of yours." With a wave of his wrist, a hefty folder of papers stamped with Beetlejuice's name on it appeared on the podium. Lucifer then started skimming through the file. This continued for a minute or two until his eyes widened at a particular page. He glanced at the dead-born.

"You're obsessed with humans, right? I believe you call them breathers in the Netherworld. You and Bee have that much in common."

No one said a word. Beelzebub averted his gaze from everyone, sinking into his seat as he wanted to be anywhere but there. Juno blew a smoke ring, keeping her thoughts to herself. Beetlejuice continued to glare at the ruler of Hell from his position. Lucifer placed down the stack of papers and took off his eyeglasses to stare at the other. He was silent for a moment until he gave a slight smirk.

"Since you like breathers so much, I should give you what you want. It is what you deserve, after all." He rubbed his claws against his chest before he pointed one at the dead-born. "Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth, you are still banished to the world of the living and cannot say your true name, but I'm adding a few details so you'll stay put. The first one? I'm sealing you to the one item that'll be your downfall."

Lucifer snapped his fingers and a flame burst up from the ground, forming a specific shape. When Beetlejuice noticed what the shape was, he paled.

"No... Not that. Anything but that!" He exclaimed.

"Oh, yes that. Congratulations, you're going to be... LITERATURE!" The flames died down and a large book with a black cover floated in the air. Upon seeing it, Beetlejuice dropped to his knees and screamed dramatically.

"But I can't spell! You maniac!"

"And that's not all! You will be sealed inside this book for all eternity unless you can bond with a living person. It could be any type of bond as long as it's genuine and strong. I'll add some more rules for you to read at your leisure. Until then, only a breather who can read your book could set you free and we all know the chances of that happening!" Lucifer laughed, causing everyone to join him. He then turned to Juno, raising an eyebrow. "This curse alright with you, Juno?"

"Beetlejuice becoming the very thing he destroys? Now that's something I would like to see." The director of Netherworld Customs almost grinned at that. Her son stared at the ground, the purple on his body and hair getting deeper. Seeing that Juno had no complaints, Lucifer then addressed everyone else.

"All those in favor of turning Betelgeuse into a book and throwing him out, say 'Eye'."

"Eye!" Everyone in the room except Beetlejuice and Beelzebub raised their hands, some of the demons even held up their own eyeballs. Lucifer took a quick scan and grinned.

"It's settled. Majority rules. Time to go. Bye, Bug-Beverage!" With a sadistic glint in his eye, the demon ruler snapped his fingers. The large book floated in the air and opened itself, its pages flipping and glowing until it stopped at the center of the book. Once it stopped, a swirling vortex appeared on both pages, acting as a powerful wind current as chains shot out from the book and connected with the ghost's handcuffs to pull him in. Beetlejuice panicked.

"No, wait! I'll behave, I promise! Not this, anything but this! Satan, the things I do ta get a different beginning from the original source material!" Beetlejuice cursed as he gripped at the ground to hold himself from the wind current and chains pulling at him.. It only increased the suction, causing some demons and imps to brace themselves.

His claws dug deep onto the floor as he was dragged by his chains towards the book. Gritting his fangs, Beetlejuice reached out to Beelzebub and cried out, "Tell my story!" Before the gluttony demon could respond, the ghost with the most was sucked into the book and it slammed itself shut.

Everyone in the room applauded and let out a sigh of relief. With a deadpan expression on his face, Beelzebub got up from his seat.

"Well... that was fun." Bee yawned and rolled his eyes, pointing to the other side of the room. "I'm out!"

"Ah-ah-ah. Not so fast!" Satan crooned and grabbed the orange-haired demon by the shirt collar to stop his escape. "I haven't forgotten about you nor my original plan. Just need to put the finishing touches..."

Without any explanation, Lucifer pulled Beelzebub's arm towards his face and bit at the other's thumb, causing the latter to scream. He then slammed Beelzebub's left hand onto the book. Black blood seeped from the thumb and spread onto the entire book, glowing orange upon contact. When he felt that there was enough, Lucifer took off Bee's hand and waved over the book, causing the glow to fade. With that, the seals were complete.

Having watched everything, Juno stared at the book her son was in, her face expressionless. She then took a drag of her cigarette and glanced away, almost relieved. "Let the living deal with him now."

"Where should we drop 'im, boss?" An imp asked as it hopped next to Lucifer, ready to complete the deed once and for all.

"The one place rarely anyone would find it so easy." The ruler of Hell replied after a bit of thought. "A place no one would ever expect such a powerful book to be!"

Late at night on the surface where the living dwelled, a red portal opened up above the sleepy town of Winter River, Connecticut. The black book fell out from the portal, its blank pages fluttering with the air as the portal immediately closed back up. The book continued to fall until it reached above an old tall house on a hill, going through the roof and landing right inside the attic of the house where it waited for someone, anyone worthy, to open and read it.

#snjstories #snjwrites #fanfiction #Beetlejuice #Beetlejuice the Musical #AU #Giant #Tiny #G/T #Juno #Beelzebub #Lucifer #OC #Beetlejuice Big Bang #Miss Argentina #cw: abuse #cw: smoking #On The Edge of Living

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mcwriting · 5 years

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one kiss is all it takes

I had this cute idea pop into my brain one night when I was tryna sleep and just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

It’s wayyyyy overly descriptive but this whole thing was basically me imagining every little detail possible and putting it on the page. I’m not one for ambiguity in my writing if you haven’t noticed lol.

Anyways I’m still working on starstruck so here’s this for your troubles

Fandom: Thomas Stanley Holland (plus mention of spidey)

Ship: Tom Holland x Reader (ik the beginning has Peter but it’s explained under the cut ;) lol)

Setting: good ol’ Atlanta, GA (aka a place I wanna visit so bad)

Word Count: 4943 (omg I almost had a stroke reading that number this is my longest story to date)

Warnings: teeny bad word, some SeXuAl themes and kissing, as the title implies

Rating: T but it ain’t that extreme

sorry it’s so long lol rip

“Look, Peter, you may have been gone that 5 years, but I lost almost everything during them, and then, it all somehow got worse,” you explained through gritted teeth, standing from the end of your king sized bed to face him.

“My mom, my only source of comfort, was snapped, blipped, gone, sucked into a stupid rock for five years and me? I was stuck up here in this dumb apartment with an asshole father,” tears streamed down your face, confusing you, as you continued ferociously.

“You know what happened after maybe six months? He brought home his idiot secretary and flaunted her in front of me for over four YEARS! And guess what happened after the whole shebang was over and everyone came back?”

Your voice finally cracked and you stared at Peter for a moment before continuing.

“He pretended that he was faithful the entire time, all the while ignoring me and ruining every false hope I had that he was a decent human being. So you know what, spider boy? You may have been gone those five years, but I lost every good relationship in my life, so don’t come here pretending like you’re the only one with problems in this city,” you whispered.

He stood, reaching out to say something, but you held up a hand to stop him in his tracks.

“You know what? Just get out,” you commanded.

“Wait I-”

“Out. Now.”

He stood for a brief second before stepping to your open window. Before he could put the mask on and go, a loud voice cut through the silence over a speaker.

“Cut!” Exclaimed Jon, causing both you and Tom to relax and smile.

You wiped the unintentional tears from your face. This had been your third take and for some reason, you had finally worked up a cry for the scene. It felt right, and Tom came over to compliment you on it.

You were filming for another Spider-Man film and your character was a fresh take on Gwen Stacy, who had a new name similarly to Zendaya’s MJ.

The character was a rich, somewhat bratty New Yorker who had been eleven during Thanos’s snap and grown into a sixteen year old Midtown student by the time everyone was revived.

She hadn’t been on the European trip displayed in Far From Home, the excuse being that she was a model working events and doing photoshoots all summer. She also had become one of the most popular people in the school due to her internet fame, incredible academics, and wealth.

You had been shocked to receive the role but honored to become a member of the MCU. Over the couple of months spent in Atlanta by now, you had become integrated with the rest of the cast, getting especially close with your celebrity (and now real) crush Tom Holland.

Weekends were often spent at the house Marvel provided him, where he lived with Harry and Harrison, who was once again able to tag along as Tom’s “assistant.” You lived only minutes down the road in your own small place and would go to Tom’s to swim or just hang out.

You and Tom were currently talking, you joking that you wished the scene was done so you wouldn’t have to bring out tears again.

Almost prophetically, the Jason Bourne theme began playing over the speakers, Jon’s way of indicating that the scene was finished and needed no further work until post-production.

You looked to Tom and both of you sighed and held out arms for a hug and congratulations, ready to wrap the day as it was a late Friday night and you wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed all weekend.

You two began walking off of set to go to the trailers when Jon jogged after, calling out,

“Hold on guys, I need to talk to you about next week!”

He was holding two manila envelopes, each printed with yours and Tom’s names. Jon gripped them tightly.

“So I thought I’d give you these tentative scripts for the kissing scene so you two could prepare for Monday. As always, you can do some improv or try to make it better but I thought I’d give this as a heads up,” the director explained.

You were stunned, and surely looked it too. A quick glance at Tom showed he was more collected but definitely confused too.

“I’m sorry, Jon, but kiss? You never said there would be one between us I mean, he and MJ are still together, right?” You asked tentatively.

“Yeah I’m gonna have to agree with y/n, man. You said we might have a ‘moment’ but never mentioned a kiss. The fans’ll hate us,” Tom concurred, “but I haven’t read it yet so I’m sure it makes sense.”

“Wait did I not warn you guys? I’m so sorry. I mean we can change the scene if it makes you guys uncomf-”

“NO!” you exclaimed way too quickly, face heating up. “No, no, I mean, I’ll do it, if Tom’s in. I just, uh, didn’t realize we’d have to do an actual, real kiss is all.”

You had never kissed anyone before, and the prospect of Tom Holland being your first was unbelievably tempting. Tom had nodded along and agreed to move forward with it as well. With that and the scripts now in hand, you began walking to your trailers again, Tom alongside you.

After a few moments of silence under the artificial lights outside, Tom spoke up.

“Hey, would you maybe want to practice this scene at my place tomorrow? I know it was all kind of just thrown on us and I’d definitely feel better with some rehearsing.”

You smiled at the gesture, but again blushed at the thought of kissing Tom Holland, the guy you had been crushing on since Homecoming. You were glad that there was a shadow hiding your pink cheeks.

“Honestly, that’s perfect. I can come over at like 11 and after we can all have lunch and hang by the pool?” You asked, nervously hoping he would accept as you stepped in front of the steps to your trailer.

“That’s perfect, darling,” he replied, voice smooth and clear. You couldn’t help but look back at him walking away as you climbed the steps and went through the door, butterflies making themselves present in your stomach.

You slung your bag containing a swimsuit, sunscreen, towel, and snacks over the back of a chair and tossed your keys on the end table in Tom’s living room. You, Harry, and Haz sat on the kitchen counters while waiting for Tom to come out from a shower, joking around and sipping on beverages.

Soon enough, Tom came out and led you into the office, a small room with a couch, desk, and bookshelves that connected to the backyard with a sliding glass door. It was pretty private and well lit, giving you both a comfortable environment to work.

You started off by just reading over the lines and doing some basic marking, always stopping before the kiss. The scene would tie into Friday’s take, where Peter would return to your room to apologize, and you would kiss him out of nowhere in your distress. Then, you would promptly kick him out again upon realizing the ramifications the kiss could have on Peter and MJ’s relationship.

Finally, Tom suggested you work on the kiss by itself,

“Before we do, can I make a confession?,” you questioned, chest beating heavily.

“Of course,” he said, full attention on you, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“Look, Tom, I’ve never kissed anyone, in real life or acting. Can we please take this slow?”

“Absolutely y/n. I had no idea,” he looked around, “and since it’s your first time, I think a lesson is at hand.”

You cocked an eyebrow, then nodded, trying not to seem too excited. He led you over to the large, sturdy oak desk, gesturing for you to hop up.

“I know you’re in control of this during the actual scene, but if it’s okay I thought maybe I could lead it for right now? I get it if you don’t want to but-”

“No, no. That’s a great idea,” you pushed onto the desk and sat on the edge, legs dangling, “tell me what I’ve gotta do.”

He smiled and stepped forward.

“Okay, um. Well. Is it okay if I get between your legs, or put one knee in and,” you burst out in laughter at his wording, “Oh my God that sounded awful didn’t it I’m so sorry I just don’t want to push you further than you’re ready to go.”

“Tom,” you put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him closer, your knees now around his hips, “you’re doing great. And you know me, I’m not afraid to tell you what’s up if I’m not feeling it.”

He looked down at you sheepishly, then placed his hands on the desk on either side of you. Your position caused you to be only a few inches shorter than him, so as he leaned forward his face came even closer.

The proximity made your heart race, and you tried to figure out where to put your own hands, settling on your lap for now.

He grabbed your wrists and placed your palms on his back, then put his own on your shoulders.

“Okay so is it alright if I put my hands on your neck and chin? Or do you want to do something different?”

“Dude, just do what feels right. You’re the one with experience. If it goes bad, then it’s bad and we figure out what to do, right?”

“Maybe you should be the one doing this then,” he chuckled, causing you to wrinkle your nose and shake your head.

His fingers traced up your shoulders and neck, him placing the left on the nape of your neck, underneath your mess of hair, and the right just below your chin. He tipped your face up gently and you were now millimeters apart, so close that you could feel his hot breath.

“May I?” he whispered, making you gulp and give a slight nod. You could feel your eyes glazing over.

He took this as a yes and leaned in further, finally closing the gap. You closed your eyes completely to melt into his warm lips. The feeling of his fingers gripping your hair was like heaven, and after a seeming eternity, finally you separated to get some air.

Your eyes were still closed when you felt Tom brush his thumb over your lips. Upon opening your eyes and glancing up, Tom was looking at you with a soft grin mimicking yours. His left hand remained in your hair but he slid the right one down to the space between your shoulder blades.

“Was that alright for your first time, darling?” He questioned sweetly, words dripping like thick honey in the still air.

It was like fireworks were going off around you in your head.

“I, um. It, yeah. Absolutely. I’m just... wow.” you stammered, unable to compose yourself properly.

He breathed out a laugh and threw his head back, then went back to looking into your eyes. You studied the crinkles by his eyes and his lopsided grin closely, trying to burn the memory into your brain forever.

“Shall we try again?” he asked cheekily, and you responded with fervor once more.

He continued to move his right hand further down, palm spreading over the small of your back. Your nerves tingled at the touch and instinctively you arched your back. Your own hands found themselves on his shoulders and your legs wrapped all the way around his hips loosely.

The second time was longer, hungrier, more passionate.

Am I dreaming? You promptly imagined, wondering how life had brought you to this moment.

After separating this time, you could see a ravenous flame in Tom’s eyes, and you decided to try something different.

You told him to wait as you climbed further onto the desk, sitting on your knees and now towering a few inches above Tom. He looked a you with an interested glint in his eyes as you scooted closer.

Your hands found his again and this time you guided them to the lowest part of your back, hoping he would take the hint.

With that, you were now in control, grabbing each side of his face between your palms and pulling him forward and up into another kiss, his hands instinctively traveling below your hips and onto your glutes, just as you had wanted.

Suddenly you broke the kiss, afraid you were coming on too strong.

“This is all for research purposes, right?”

“Sure, we’ll call it that,” he quipped before pulling you back down.

Eventually you found yourself standing on the ground, once again shorter than Tom but happy nonetheless. The make out session continued, both of you trying to convince yourselves that with each new hand position or lean you were purely trying it all for the measly scene on Monday.

Finally, you found yourselves on the couch. You had started by just sitting next to each other, similar to how the scene described your positions, but now somehow you were sitting straddled over his lap, knees digging into the sofa and his hands once again resting on your backside.

Nothing could ruin this moment you thought as your fingers ran through his curls.

Oh how wrong you were.

You thought you were just imagining the sound of the door creaking open, but suddenly realized that you hadn’t when a new male voice spoke up.

“Woah, hey there you two,” Harry joked, causing you to whip your head around and stare at him like a deer in the headlights.

“Harry! It’s not what it looks like, I swear!” You immediately exclaimed.

Nice one, y/n. Like you aren’t just straight up making out with his brother??

“Righttttt. So anyways I just came to let you know that lunch is ready and also you guys have been in here for like an hour but feel free to finish up whatever... this is,” he trailed gesturing vaguely at you two before turning around and shutting the door behind himself.

You turned back to Tom, whose face was red as a tomato (and yours probably was too), then in record time separated yourself from his lap, heart pounding like never before.

“Sooo... lunch?” He asked awkwardly.

“Definitely. Definitely lunch.”

You were lounging on a chaise near the pool, sunglasses covering your closed eyes as you soaked in the sun. The boys were messing around in the pool and you couldn’t help but think about what happened before lunch every time Tom spoke.

“Hey y/n!” he called.

“Hmm?” you hummed, not bothering to look up.

“Why don’t you join us? We want to do a chicken fight and I need a partner.”

“Depends. How warm is the water?” you ask, still unmoving.

“Like 30 degrees! It’s so nice.”

“That’s below freezing in Fahrenheit. Not very appealing to me.”

“Alright that’s like, what, 85 f? It feels reeaaaally good, babe.”

You couldn’t help but smile when he called you babe. It wasn’t the first time he had, and he actually did it to a lot of people, but it still felt nice.

“Alright fine,” you sighed dramatically as you stood up, removed your sunglasses, and dove in.

An hour or so later, more members of the cast had come over and you decided to join Zendaya under the porch, both of you watching the new team of Jacob and Tom chicken fighting Harry and Harrison while Tony, Remy, and Angourie looked on from nearby.

“So I heard that Harry saw something going on earlier. Anything you wanna tell me?” Z mentioned slyly, lowering her sunglasses to eye you.

You groaned and placed your head in your hands.

“Is he really gonna tell everyone?” You managed to ask, wanting to crawl in a hole and hide forever.

Zendaya had been the first person to confront you about your crush on Tom about two weeks after filming began. She had told you that most of the people on set had a suspicion but were afraid to ask, so ever since then you often confided in her for advice or just to spill tea.

Finally, you sat up and quietly told her what happened, her trying to hype you up occasionally while you instead tried to shush her as not to draw the boys’ attention.

That night, after pizza and drinks with everyone, you prepared to go home, grabbing your bag, keys, and script. You called out a goodbye to everyone still there and waved, heading to the door.

Tom jumped up and followed you.

“Hey, y/n!” you turned around at his voice and could see everyone elbowing each other and whispering in the beackground. He led you out the door and shut it behind him.

“I just wanted to make sure you were alright after today and say I’m sorry if I ever took things too far,” he confessed. Your heart swelled at how sweet and considerate he was.

“Honestly Tom, I could say the same. I’m was afraid you think I’m crazy or something,” you joked, causing a chuckle from both of you and him to shake his head.

“I could never. You already know how crazy I am, and I think I’ve already seen some of your wild side too,” he shot back.

You both said your goodbyes and went in for a hug. It lasted a few seconds longer than normal, and when you pulled away, he looked down at his feet. Even then, he still waited on the porch for you to get in your car and waved as you pulled away, making sure you got out safe.

It was 5 am Monday morning and you weren’t ready to head to set.

Your Sunday had been pretty standard, reading over lines in the morning and hanging out with some of your cast mates that afternoon. Once night fell, though, you found it difficult to sleep in fear of the kiss scene.

Yours and Tom’s Saturday afternoon kept replaying in your head like a Twitter gif until you finally succumbed to exhaustion, dreaming still about a certain celebrity, so you weren’t exactly well rested upon waking.

Once arriving to your trailer at Pinewood Atlanta, you dropped off your things and headed straight to hair and makeup. The scene would be set at night as your character prepared to go to bed, so only a light coating of natural foundation and clear mascara adorned your face and your hair was tied back in two french braids.

You were glad that your makeup was so quick today, but you also didn’t want to leave as dread filled your stomach about the scene.

It was one thing to make out with Tom Holland in the privacy of his own home, but another to plant one on him in front of the cast, crew, and cameras.

You headed to wardrobe, where you got dressed into comfortable black leggings and an oversized midtown sweatshirt.

You were walking out when Jon, looking down at his phone in hand, almost ran into you, stopping you in your tracks.

“Oh, hey, y/n! Just the person I was looking for. I just wanted to see how you were feeling about this whole kissing scene. Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” you laughed, “but really, Tom and I worked through it Saturday so I think it’ll be alright.”

“Right, yeah I heard about that. Harry said you guys were pretty... thorough about the scene. Well anyways, we’ll call you and Tom to set in a little bit. He’s getting in the suit right now. See you later!” Jon walked off, going back to his business on his phone.

You, on the other hand, were frozen in place, mortified. Why did Harry have the need to tell everyone that he caught you locking lips with his brother? It was just research, after all, nothing serious, you tried to convince yourself again.

You of course shouldn’t have been surprised. Leave it to a Holland brother to keep his mouth shut...

You walked onto the bedroom set, where Tom was already present with his back to you, getting some last minute translucent powder over his t-zone.

His ass and thighs looked exceptionally good in the suit today, the tight material hugging his muscular body nicely.

You felt a little bad that your costume was literally pajamas and Tom’s was spandex, but hey, you weren’t necessarily complaining.

You took a deep breath, trying to shake off any “intrusive” thoughts, considering the high you were still riding from Saturday and your nervousness for the shoot.

When Tom turned around and his eyes met yours, his face lit up.

“Hey, darling. Good morning. How are you? Are you ready?” he immediately began, his chipper voice surprising you considering how early it still was. You both went in for a hug.

“Good morning to you, too. And I think so, considering how well we prepared the other day,” you joked quietly into his shoulder.

You both pulled away and he had his eyebrows raised in response to your smirk.

He was about to rebut when Jon made his way over, putting one hand on each of your shoulders.

“Alright you two. I know you worked things out over the weekend, but you guys are gonna have to hold back a little bit, this may be an intense scene, but not that kind,” he chastised, a hint of mischief in his voice.

Jon was eyeing both of you, and you and Tom both looked to find each other blushing like mad.

With that as confirmation, Jon clapped his hands together and yelled out for the production team to get in their positions so you could camera test and eventually shoot the scene.

With everything planned out, you both got into character and found yourself in place to begin.

The AC held a clap board in front of the camera, waiting for the all clear to begin your take.

“Alright, action,” Jon called over the microphone.

You walked across the room, stopping in your footsteps.

“Peter...” you trailed in surprise.

He pulled off the mask and shook his head, motioning for you to wait and allow him to speak.

He began apologizing, trying to convince your character to give him a second chance and even try to be friends.

Then he started talking about his parents and uncle Ben, causing your face to fall over time as realization that both characters had experienced extreme loss in different ways, his much worse than yours.

Both of you eventually sat on the side of the bed closely and looked at each other, a sad expression glazing your features. You looked down in thought.

“Are you okay?” Peter asked tentatively.

An overwhelming urge took you over and your lips crashed into his. You had squeezed your eyes shut and put a hand on his shoulder. Peter stiffened like a board, but then kissed back.

Suddenly, you pulled back, eyes wide open.

“Oh my God. You’re with MJ. I just kissed a taken man. Peter, you just kissed me back!”

Panic overcame your voice.

“You have to leave, now!” you exclaimed in your alarmed state.

“Wait, we can talk about this, it wasn’t what you think!”

“Peter, I can’t do this to your girlfriend. She doesn’t deserve this. You need to go, and you should probably give her a heads up about what happened. But please,” your voice was desperate now, “make sure she knows it’s my fault. Make her hate me, not you.”

Parallel to the last scene, Peter went back to your open window, ready to mask up and swing out.

“Cut!” Jon called out again, then asked you to stay in your positions while he came down.

“Guys that was great!” he began upon getting closer. He then gave you both a few notes, explaining that you would need to do the shot a few more times at least to get it really solid.

After every take, both you (and hopefully Tom) became more comfortable kissing in front of the crew. It took another twenty or so takes with different motivations and movements and angles before Jon called it done.

Both of you suspected that he and everyone else really just wanted you to kiss more, but no one would mention it out loud.

With the scene finished, everyone prepared to film other parts of the movie where Peter would have his mask off and you got to have a few breaks, watching from afar with Harry, Harrison, and some of the other assistants.

Harry leaned over at some point during the afternoon.

“You two really tamed it down, huh?” he whispered. You gave him a backhanded hit to the bicep.

“Oh shut up. We were acting, that’s all.”

He raised a suspicious eyebrow and leaned in again.

“Tell that to the video Harrison got of you two in the study. He may or may not have set up a camera in the bookcase,” he suggested, glancing over to Tom’s oblivious best friend.

You gasped and straightened up.

“I’ll kill him,” you too looked to Haz, then Harry again, “but after he shows me the footage.”

A long filming day had once again commenced, and you were packing up your bag to head home when a knock was heard on the door of your trailer.

The distinct rapping pattern alerted you that it was Tom and you opened it up to see him looking down at his phone.

“Hey, y/n. Ready to walk to the parking lot?” he asked holding out his hand to help you down the steps.

For a while now, Tom or one of his “assistants” would usually walk with you to your car for safety purposes, especially if it was dark out.

As you both strolled through the darkness, you couldn’t help but notice the slower pace you both took on, trailing quite a few yards behind Harry and Haz, both of whom laughing at who knew what while going to Tom’s vehicle.

“So I think today went well,” you brought up, not sure where it would go.

“Yeah it was fun. I do have to say, however, that Saturday was a bit more enjoyable than this morning,” he implied, eyeing you.

“Oh yeah? I’d agree, but I hear that your best friend happened to catch it all on video.”

He huffed and rolled his eyes.

“That voyeur, always ruining the moment. Maybe we oughta try it again sometime, without the threat of others watching,” Tom suggested, surprising you.

You decided to get bold.

“You’re not even gonna take me out first? The nerve of some people,” you jokingly scoffed, gazing away from Tom at the cars highlighted in moonlight.

“Okay,” he replied, mimicking the way you had looked away when you turned back to face him. There was a faint smile on his lips.

“What?”

“I said okay. Let’s go on a date.”

You stopped in your tracks and fully turned towards him and he followed suit.

“You don’t mean that do you? Like, you actually would take me on a date?”

“If it meant that I could kiss you one more time I would take you on a million dates,” he replied sincerely.

You couldn’t help the way your jaw dropped in surprise. Both of you stood silently staring at one another, unsure of what to say.

Suddenly, you burst into giggles and he did too.

“That was so cheesy!” you exclaimed between laughs, both of you doubled over, and he nodded in agreement.

After calming down you gave him a toothy grin.

“The answer is yes, by the way.”

“Really?” he asked incredulously.

You began walking again, your car just in sight.

“Of course. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve had a huge crush on you since before we even met,” you confessed. You stopped again, just behind your car bumper.

“Coulda fooled me. I thought I was the one being obvious. I have been attracted to you since the first time we met, and my feelings have only grown since knowing you.”

You couldn’t help the butterflies erupting in your stomach and your widening smile as you looked up into his eyes.

“You know, I think I could make one exception right now, as long as you’re willing to make it up later?” you proposed, your eyes looking to the moon and stars now as you awaited his reply.

“I think that’s a debt I can handle,” he responded, snaking a hand around your waist and the other up under your chin again.

He closed the gap between you both and you smiled against his lips, eyes closing in euphoria.

You could’ve probably stayed there forever, but the hoots and hollers of the other two British boys just across the aisle made you both pull away.

You looked towards the voices to find Harry and Harrison sticking out of the sunroof of Tom’s Audi A8, where they were still cheering and Harrison was holding up his phone to film.

Both you and Tom couldn’t help but laugh at the once again unfortunate circumstance as he threw an arm over your shoulder to pull you close and you put one hand on his chest next to where you rested your head.

Maybe you two were destined to be seen every time you smooched, but hey, at least you were the one kissing Tom Holland.

A/N: yo this took way too long to write. Mostly bc I’m still in the process of writing starstruck and I always get stuck deciding on which piece to work on every night but alas! It is done! I’m proud of this one. I know it’s long, but I think it’s worth it ya know? Hope you all enjoyed! XO love y’all :)

#one kiss is all it takes #tom holland #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #marvel #harrison osterfield #Harry Holland #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x you #sm:ffh #spider-man #spiderman #spider man #Spider Man: Homecoming #tom holland spider man #spider-man far from home #tom holland oneshot

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morgelyn-whoregelyn · 4 years

Text

Ao3 Meme

Thanks for tagging me, @sylvanwhispers

Ao3 Name: Morgelyn

Fandoms: Game of Thrones / ASoIaF (I love both equally but for different reasons and tend to veer wildly between the two, often within the same fic.)

Tropes: Classical thramsay with an emphasis on Stockholm Syndrome and general headfuckery, along with a side order of psychedelia.

Number of Fics: 8

Fic I spent the most time on: Probably Sweet Dreams, and Sour, because it was a gift for the wonderful @deiwimin who has given me so much encouragement and support, so I wanted to get it right for her.

Fic I spent the least amount of time on: Gods and Monsters - it was one of those situations in which it appeared to write itself without much involvement from me at all. The whole thing was written and posted in the same evening.

Longest fic: Essence of the Sun at 4482 words. I’ve only written oneshots so far, although this one is the first part of a loosely-connected series of drug-themed fics.

Shortest fic: Waking into Nightmares at 611 words. It’s more of a vignette than a story per se, but I think it’s as long as it needs to be.

Essence of the Sun is my most popular fic, with 743 hits, 42 kudos, 7 comment threads and 8 bookmarks. I think the reason for this is that it’s the most overtly smutty thing I’ve written...thus far, anyway.

Total Word Count: 20,667 words

Favourite fic: A very tough question, as I’m immensely proud of all of them (I hope that doesn’t come across as too arrogant!) It’s probably a tie between Gifts, Favours and Love Tokens (because I love the conceit of the Valentine’s Day theme) and Sweet Dreams, and Sour (because it’s smutty, dark and surreal - the ultimate triad!)

Fic I want to rewrite/expand on: Kindnesses, because it was the first fic I’d written in years and the first one ever in this fandom. It was only 6 months ago, but it feels like I’ve improved so much since then that I would do a much better job writing it today.

Share a bit of a WIP or a story idea you’re planning on:

So I’ve been working on a 1960s AU, part weird spy stuff like ‘The Prisoner’ with a touch of ‘Withnail & I’. It’s taking a while because I’m still finding my feet with AUs, having not written one before, but I’ll get there eventually:

He continued to trace patterns in the spilt salt on the formica tapletop, not looking up as the door opened. It wasn't until he heard a female voice ordering a coffee that he paid attention. A young woman, attractive enough in a severe sort of way, wearing a cheap polyester dress that was too short for the cold night air and that clung too tightly to the lines of her angular body. She looked a bit of a tart, to be honest, but maybe that was a bonus. Less picky. Less adverse to being chatted up by a strange bloke in a cheap greasy spoon on the wrong side of midnight. Maybe his luck had turned around. And besides, he thought with only a tinge of bitterness, beggars can't be choosers.

He put on his most winning smile and turned to her, raising his coffee in salute. “You all right, darling? Having a good night?”

She looked at him for a moment, her gaze almost assessing, then suddenly broke into a smile of her own. “About as good a night as you are, by the look of it.”

“Hey!” Theon put on a mock-wounded look, but kept his smile playing round his lips. “I'm having a simply marvellous night. You see,” He leaned forward conspiratorially and whispered, “I'm actually a member of the aristocracy and tonight I'm slumming it. You know, as an adventure.”

“Oh, really?” said the girl, thoroughly unconvinced but still smiling. Theon thought of when he had first moved to London and how often that line – that almost truth – had worked. Now it was relegated to an ironic bit of flirtatious banter, but still did the trick on occasion. If the girl was dumb enough, she might even believe it. But if she was as clever as he suspected this one to be, she would hopefully at least find his hubris entertaining enough to continue the conversation back to her place.

Tagging anyone who might want to!

#tag game

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quarterfromcanon · 4 years

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1-4. For the asks

Thank you so much for sending these! <3

Once I started to answer them, I realized there were comparatively few recent television shows appearing on the list. I seemed to keep gravitating toward older ones I remembered from years ago. I took a handful of days to mull it over in case I was forgetting something, but nothing else comes to mind. Maybe my ongoing list of Shows to Watch During Quarantine will turn up some fresh results but, for now, it looks like I’ll be taking a little trip down memory lane. :)

This turned out to be a pretty long and rambly post, so I’ll stow it under the cut!

Top 5 TV Shows

1. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - I can’t imagine this surprises anyone who has been following this blog for the past two years or so. It brought fellow fans into my life, got me back into writing fic, and prompted countless tags of meta. It’s the show my mind drifts to on a weekly basis (if not daily) even a full year after the finale. Just when it seemed I’d reached an age where that level of intense fandom involvement and character attachment might be fading, it proved that quite the opposite was true. I’m very thankful to the series for that, and for the people whose paths have crossed mine as a result.

2. Schitt’s Creek - This is my #1 Feel Good show and, though I’ve been dodging spoilers for the final season until it gets uploaded to Netflix, I get the impression that it will remain in that top spot. The world feels softer and more hopeful there. It’s healing for my soul. I’m going to have a dreadfully difficult time saying goodbye, but I’m glad there are six season to revisit whenever I want.

3. Stranger Things - The theme song alone sends such a rush of excitement through me. I love the aesthetic and the atmosphere. I sometimes have mixed feelings about the romances but the FRIENDSHIPS sure do have a direct line to my heartstrings. I think the way they’ve combined media influences into their own story is really neat. You get something that’s new and engaging, but you can also go back and enjoy the sources of inspiration with fresh appreciation.

4. Joan of Arcadia - I can’t help it. The snark, the jackets, the early 2000s songs, the performances -- the nostalgia for this show is so strong. It’s not without its problems, but it did have some really good things to offer as well. I remember an episode that was one of my earliest introductions to the concept of a trigger, and the effect it could have on a person if exposed to one of theirs. The series dealt a lot with grief and the many forms it can take (I STILL can’t hear Fiona Apple’s cover of “Across the Universe” without getting misty-eyed). I’m also surprised, looking back, at the somewhat positive way I recall them discussing homosexuality on the several occasions that it came up in the show. Not to give too much credit since I don’t think there were recurring canonically LGBTQIA+ characters but, for a kid who spent most days around closed-minded people of a certain religious leaning, it was meaningful along my individual journey. I’d like to provide the several examples that are most vivid in my memory:

A. A girl with short hair, short nails, little to no makeup, and a bulky leather jacket is generally assumed to be a lesbian by the bullies at school. The show directly confronts the fact that “gay” should not be used an insult, that identity should not be assumed without the person telling you so, AND makes sure that the character in question never pushes back by saying harmful things about lesbians despite not actually being one herself.

B. A boy who is questioning is able to confide in his big brother and have a fairly calm conversation about it; the awkwardness mostly comes from neither of them being accustomed to openly discussing emotions, not from the possibility of a negative response regarding the subject matter.

C. Another character is accidentally discovered to be gay (he only appears in the one episode, if my memory serves), and some of the leads have the opportunity to share that for personal gain. However, even though he is a popular jock who is a bit of a jerk in the hallways, the show makes it clear that the right choice is still to leave the telling of that information up to him and him alone.

Like I mentioned, it can’t be said that representation was in abundance here - for instance, I don’t believe anything other than straight or gay was presented as a possibility - but any accepting acknowledgement in a faith-centric series was something for me to hold on to in my still-deeply-closeted days. As a final Very Important personal side note, this show brought Judith Montgomery into my life (pictured below on the left), and that feels like it merits a shoutout for being what I consider a rather significant marker in my awakening.

THE OVERWHELMING CRUSH I HAD - and still have - is one for the books.

5. Pushing Daisies - This is another show with an aesthetic I adore. The series has such a fun, whimsical energy. The crime-solving! The clothes! The cast! There's a lot to love. It’s the kind of world I wish I could visit... well, minus the evidently rampant murder rate.

Top 5 Overrated TV Shows

1. Once Upon A Time - *deep sigh* I tried to stick with it for so long. I think I’ve seen five out of the seven seasons in their entirety. It just felt like everything got mired down by excessive (and increasingly convoluted) subplots, often for the purpose of tossing in as many fairytale and/or Disney characters as possible. Plus, quite honestly, there was too much emphasis on romantic love. For a show whose first season involved a curse being broken by [potential spoiler, I suppose] a mother kissing her son’s forehead, I ultimately found myself up to my ears in romantic ships. It reached such a stifling extent that, if you were not particularly attached to those pairings, there wasn’t a whole lot else to entice further viewing.

2. Under the Dome - I don’t know for certain what the general public opinion of this series was, but it felt like the commercials always featured alleged rave reviews, so I figured I could include it here. I was vaguely interested in Season 1, mainly as a fan of Rachelle Lefevre’s work. Season 2 pulled me in with the introduction of a new townsperson and I threw WAY too much of my heart into that attachment, which backfired when that character was killed. I made quite the spectacle of my heartbreak, so much so that my family doesn’t let me mention this show around them anymore. :P Season 3 was, to phrase it delicately, not a great time. The series did introduce me to a few new-to-me actors, though, so that was cool.

3. Bates Motel - Even the incentive of learning that the two characters I liked most share a lot of screen time later in the series hasn’t been enough to call me back to this one. I don’t know if it was the pacing that put me off or what, but the prospect of finishing the remaining seasons feels so daunting. There are evidently five seasons in total and I believe I’ve only seen two of them thus far. I will probably muddle through it someday just to see how it goes, but the fact that I am so disinclined to prioritize it made this feel like a fair addition to the list.

4. Lost - My interest in this series unfortunately waned right before fervent fandom spiked. I don’t have any specific complaints that come to mind about what I saw; I just sort of drifted and then stayed away. Teachers I liked and peers I spent time with were starting to latch on to the show and I couldn’t find even the slightest inclination to give it a second try. However, did I still dutifully read all the latest installments in my friend’s Sawyer Ford and Kate Austen fanfiction when she passed me handwritten copies at lunch? Sure. I was glad it made her happy, even if I was no longer a viewer.

5. Hemlock Grove - I say this as someone who still mourns the fates of some characters in this show, so I wouldn’t go so far as to claim that the series stopped being able to make me feel anything. I’m just of the opinion that, in some ways, it might’ve been better off stopping at one season. That’s where the book it was based on ends, and things just didn’t feel as cohesive after that. Season 3 especially was - borrowing from my above review of Under the Dome - not a great time. That being said, there are also certain elements from the book that I could’ve done without in the Season 1 adaptation but... well... here we are.

Top 5 Underrated TV Shows

1. Picnic at Hanging Rock - Another one that won’t surprise followers of this blog. I have rhapsodized about it quite frequently since I found it a little over a month ago. It’s a period piece mystery miniseries with LGBTQIA+ representation, gorgeous costumes, and Samara Weaving. This felt specifically designed to wedge its way into my heart, and I’m quite content with the space it now occupies.

2. Dark - I’m so intrigued by the overlapping timelines with all of the morally gray characters. It’s possible to like one of these people in the timeline where they’re young but dislike them as adults, or vice versa. It also makes me think of Rant by Chuck Palahniuk a little tiny bit with the idea that time travel, specifically tampering with your own timeline, might make you physically and behaviorally unrecognizable to yourself. And the SONG CHOICES! I have gotten some solid new music selections from this series.

3. Sense8 - I still need to watch the finale. I really do. But I knew it would make me sad so I’ve avoided it for... two years now? Pretty close, I think. The concept is fascinating and the cast is so strong. Plus the cinematography! They came up with some of the coolest ways to depict the link these characters share and what it’s like when they connect over distance. The planning and careful editing it all must’ve taken... I remain in awe.

4. Penny Dreadful - There were definitely some story/writing choices I didn’t particularly like along the way, but I did get engrossed in the creepy goodness and the performances -- Eva Green’s Vanessa Ives most of all. It left me wishing for more period piece “monster mash” stories, because having all those classic characters in one place was a blast. It also helped me understand why Helen McCrory was once slated to play Bellatrix Lestrange because she can be terrifying. Oh and Sarah Greene in her Wild West outfits? Perdita Weeks with short red hair in fencing garb, and later in all leather with boots and a long jacket? I WAS NOT PREPARED AND I HAVE STILL NOT RECOVERED. I NEVER WILL.

5. Wonderfalls - There’s some cringe-inducing handling of certain representation in the series, but I have such a weak spot for quippy outcasts who become reluctant chosen ones (Joan Girardi in Joan of Arcadia, Wynonna Earp, Jaye Tyler in this series, et cetera). I also really love the sibling dynamics here. They bicker, tease one another, help each other out of trouble, and have rare but genuine heart-to-hearts. Caroline, Lee, and Katie all did such a great job blending their characters’ adult personalities with certain childhood attributes that rise to the surface in the presence of family.

Top 5 Movies

1. Addams Family Values - I’ve rewatched this movie at least once annually since I found it in Media Play at age 13. Usually, I’ll play it around Halloween or, at the latest, Thanksgiving. It’s mouth-along-with-every-line level ingrained in my memory. I find myself leaning forward in my seat before favorite parts because I’m still that excited to relive them. Why this movie, and why this devotion to such a degree? It’s hard to explain, even to myself. I can tell you, however, that I hold up every other portrayal of the Addams characters to the versions found in this. Everybody in the cast just feels that perfect for their part.

2. Clue - I was already pretty fond of this movie to begin with, but then my sister got older and claimed it as a favorite of her own, so now she just supplies me with further excuses to watch it repeatedly. It’s also been a bonding piece of media with a couple of close friends and such through the years. It’s incredible to think not everyone in it was the first choice for their roles; what everybody brings to the table is so top-notch that I wouldn’t have it any other way. I also LOVE knowing that it originally went to theaters with different endings depending on which showing you attended. I gather people weren’t terribly thrilled with the stunt back then, but I kinda think some moviegoers would be into that approach these days? Then again, one hit that tried something different tends to start a fad, so maybe I’d end up regretting the suggestion after a while. :P

3. The Craft - This. Movie. Yes, Act III is a major bummer even though I know it’s coming, and I’ll always wish it ended differently. Even so. This. Movie. I tend to headcanon mostly for shows and sometimes books, but The Craft is a beloved exception. I love so much about it: the magic, the music, the clothes, the settings, the dynamics within the friend group, the performances. I had no idea when I first got the DVD at 17 that it would become such a part of my life, but I’m so glad it found its way to me.

4. Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion - The soundtrack is a glorious ’80s and ’90s treat for my ears. The colorful costumes are perfectly suited to the main characters’ version of the world. There are so many great lines and it feels like everyone is having a lot of fun in their roles. I LOVE HEATHER MOONEY SO MUCH. She’s my awful, scathingly sarcastic, little grungy grump and she fills my heart with joy.

5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - I was pretty sure at least one of the three had to appear on here. I think, if I were to tally them all up, The Return of the King features most of my favorite moments, so it wins the spot. “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!”, ‘Edge of Night,’ Éowyn in battle, The Army of the Dead, ‘Into the West’... I end up crying during the end credits every time. So, yeah, ultimately, I would choose the third part of the trilogy if I could only watch one.

Phew, that’s it! All the questions answered, all the shows and movies listed! Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read it all, and thanks again to @monaiargancoconutsoy for sending in the prompts! <3

#About Me #Answered Asks

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wigglebox · 5 years

Text

This was a long response so I didn’t attach it to my original thread, but you can read what I’m responding to here.

@mittensmorgul I’m sorry I didn’t attach this whole thing to the original post, but it got very long, so I hope you don’t mind that I put it here.

Let’s just first start off by saying meta =/= spec. @tinkdw herself touched on spec and meta. Here’s something she wrote for an Anon regarding season 13:

“So yeah, speculation is speculation, it’s never gonna be 100% right. But there are themes that come out in meta when analyzing the past and IF the writers continue on those themes (season 10 is a lesson in when that doesn’t happen) then it’s not that difficult to extrapolate the next steps for the themes though not necessarily the intricate details”

Speculation is your 20-page college essay. To write the essay:

PR, other spoilers, and actual show canon are your source materials

Meta is the class notes you took.

Also, a TLDR: speculation and meta both just work best when you have other people to bounce your ideas off of, which a Twitter GC is good for on occasion. Also, don’t be condescending to other people’s spec just because it doesn’t line up with your own.

Okay! Here we go:

First we got: I know both of you spent most of the hellatus over on twitter, Land of Rampant Hot Takes, but I find the disconnect between what I’ve personally been speculating about (and what I’ve seen others talking about here on tumblr), and this Wild Hot Take that leans so heavily into “well Jensen said” speculation.

Twitter can be the land of rampant hot takes, but not our (SPN fans and mutuals on Tumblr as well) corner. We also exist in group chats where we bounce ideas and spoilers off each other. There’s quite a few of us. We all are on the same general side of things, but with various flavors of opinoins on things. Usually, the meta lines up between us give or take a few things, but the spec is worked on collectively (this summer at least it has been).

So, while you personally have a different take on speculation than Tink and I, just know our speculation didn’t exist in a vacuum on Tumblr and only took into account the opinions of “me, myself, and I”.

Tumblr and Twitter fandoms interact differently but most of the people we interact with on Twitter are people we interact with on Tumblr. For me at least, twitter loads faster on my phone and I get a faster response to an idea than if I put it in a Tumblr post. Especially during a Hiatus when people tend to gravitate away from social media in general. At least that was my case.

If you were also on Twitter, you’d know we weren’t all basing it on “well Jensen SAID…” stuff. Whatever spoiler and tidbit came out we talked about for hours if not a couple of days.

In theory, being present in both platforms would have been the most beneficial for me, but it just didn’t happen over the course of this summer. Sue me.

Second: Because I haven’t seen much of this weird Dean/Cas tension speculation here. I’ve personally been standing more on the periphery of the twitter drama where it’s only occasionally bled over onto tumblr. The vast majority of my own personal speculation (which I admittedly don’t engage in, because 99 times out of 100 it proves pointless anyway) has been “it’s the fallout over the revelations of 14.20 that are causing the Main Emotional Tension of early s15.”

Because I’ve learned from having been horrifically burned by PR in the past that whatever story they decide to sell before the season starts is so misleading as to be ridiculous.

And again, we’re back to the “personally” thing, which is really all speculation comes down to. You can brainstorm with others and everything but it always comes down to personal opinion right?

But, you list your speculation: Fall out from 14x20 causes the Main Emotional Tension of early 15.

That’s a lot of people’s speculation as well. Some are putting more tension on the God end, some are including 14x18 and 19 as well as 20 and giving the Dean/Cas tension aspect more weight if not equal weight to God. But you laid out your thesis statement for your season 15 spec. Coolio.

While PR is a game, the fact that Dean/Cas tension talking points followed us from SDCC to the eve of the premiere means yes, it’s going to be a thing. Even the GA can make that assumption based on the dialogue and choices made in the final three episodes last season. It’s just not 100% clear for how long this tension between the two will last.

You’ve been burned by PR as have the rest of us and yes in the beginning stages of the PR , going into a new season, They can overhype things. We are mostly all aware. Also remember, early PR (if not, all PR) isn’t for Fandom, it’s for GA. It’s to rope them in. There will be an element of truth to everything they say in some shape or form. We like spoilers, more specifics, photos, yadda yadda. SDCC roundtables just give us basic building materials to start brainstorming with.

PR won’t bite if you know how to handle it.

When there are multiple articles in EW, TV Guide, TV Addict, press bites, all this stuff mentioning Dean/Cas tension night up to two days before the premiere, you can safely assume that it will play some part in Cas’s emotional state, which is what this post touched on in terms of speculation.

It’s not just “Well Jensen said –”

A mix of existential crisis from God, failing to protect Jack, and an ever-widening fissure between him and Dean (and Sam but I doubt Sam will be that pissed off at Cas [look! spec!]).

The spec part isn’t “He’s always had a tumultuous relationship with God here and there and in this episode”.

The spec is: How is this existential crisis he stands to face (like the rest of them) affect his decision making.

So, we didn’t get many talking points about God. We did in the overall storyline sense but not in a hyper-personal sense until that TV Guide article came out. That’s when the God stuff regarding Cas personally started knocking around. It was another puzzle piece I, and others were waiting for because that will help us speculate a timeline. The puzzle piece is always coated with those grains of salt, but it’s okay to at least look.

Just because you “personally” haven’t seen this spec or you “personally” aren’t taking PR into account doesn’t mean anyone else is wrong for doing so. If we get burned, we get burned – I’m okay with that because I really don’t care I’m down for this season regardless.

Also, quick side note: Twitter fandom drama =/= show speculation. So, I don’t really care you stood on the outside of it all, that really means nothing here.

Third: I’ve been speculating that the “tension between Dean and Cas” will be the direct result of Cas’s sense of failure to protect Jack, and his sense of wild disillusionment in the face of Chuck’s revelation. I feel that this will be demonstrated by Cas feeling this is his “no matter what I do, I’ve ALWAYS been useless,” which is what he has to come to terms with. The concrete “in” he had to the Winchester family– as he said in 14.18– was Jack. And now without Jack, he fears he has no purpose. Remember what he expressed in 12.19 before he was shown that vision of The Future:

So – cool. That’s your spec! That’s awesome! There’s a mixing bowl full of shit going on in Cas’s mind, you outline it to yourself right here. Do I agree with it? No. I don’t like the stripping out the personal Dean/Cas relationship from this tension and instead, making it about Jack. I don’t agree with this paragraph but it’s your spec, based off your class notes, based off the source material. That’s your thing, and that’s cool.

The next couple paragraphs are not spec, it’s meta. Cas isn’t going to wax poetic for 40 minutes about the existential crisis he’s having with his father, because Sam and Dean are also having existential crises and the have to still fight monsters and run around and do things.

I’m not going to copy all your spec/meat over because again, it’s your own personal stuff, which, I probably would have been more receptive of if this post didn’t have that condescending and gate-keeping flavor.

Four: I’m just… honestly shocked that twitter has apparently put so much stock in the “well Jensen said” quotes as if they were concrete fact. Because Jensen… lolololol is not a reliable source of these sorts of spoilers… >.>

Can I just for a second? Your word choice really just makes it sound like Twitter is the stupid one in this Fandom relationship, and you’re looking down your nose to them. That’s an attitude I felt while reading your whole response. I don’t know if that was your intention, but –

Twitter hasn’t put that much stock into only his words.

Some twitter users have maybe, but also maybe some tumblr users you just haven’t seen did as well.

Stop looking at Twitter as some dumpster fire of hot-takes and shit spec. If you’re not really on there, how can you really know what’s going on at that end of the spectrum? Again I’ll say Tink, I, and a bunch of others join various chats and bounce ideas off each other to see what will make the most sense. Meta (our class notes) is involved here and there, bringing up past things to try and frame out what may happen – but we’re trying to plot a timeline and what the character’s initial actions may be. We’re trying to track major plot points that may need to happen. Some of it is nonsensical, but who cares?

The only time meta really invaded my spec is when Episode 7 “Last Call” was being talked about by the writer, Christian Kane, and set pictures came out. I was reflecting on how bar scenes that feature Dean mostly have homoerotic subtext to them. But that’s just meta assisting what I think will happen in the episode, not what will happen in Dean’s head (other than the few bits of “Random Fun Spec” moments where we allow ourselves to fool around a bit. Ex-boyfriend anyone? Hubba hubba).

Five: (for reference please see the sdcc 2016 quotes that had us all CONVINCED that Dean and Sam would not be reunited until at least 12.06, based entirely on But Jensen Said… please don’t be the clown that actually accepts his word as fact, because if you’ll recall, they were reunited in 12.02) (sorry, my brain fuzzed and this is now edited to the correct season spec… >.>)

This is pretty damn condescending, Mittens. If we listen to him, we’re clowns? If we use his words at all, we’re clowns?

First of all, if speculation is proven false, then it’s proven false. It’s not a blueprint for the writers who are already 12 steps ahead of us, and it’s not a crystal ball. You’re never ever going to get everything right. Ever. Sorry.

Don’t ever call me or my friends on Twitter or Tumblr a clown. Only I can say I’m a clown for certain things. Don’t insult us.

I also am not accepting his word as fact. I, and Tink, and Others, used his SDCC stuff as a jumping-off point, read: source material. Not as good as canon, not as good as solid spoilers, but it’s source material.

We’re doing speculation. We speculate on little things here and there. If something changes, you change your spec. It’s for fun. If you take your spec that seriously where you have to resort to getting upset that you were wrong, or calling people names if they do things differently than you, then that’s on you. Don’t take it out on us.

Six: At the time of SDCC, the ONLY episode of the season that Jensen was actually familiar with was 15.04– because he’d directed it. And it’s an episode where Cas has already left after his new disillusionment, and we can imagine that Dean will be Upset™ by Cas’s departure (because he always is). Dean will OBVIOUSLY be suffering after Chuck’s revelation, as well, after manning the helm of the SS Team Free Will all these years and now discovering his vessel has essentially been a toy boat in Chuck’s bathtub, and there’d never been any real choices outside of Chuck’s little stage.

Yes. I agree. We all basically agree with this. Well done. Cool. Don’t take it too seriously. No one literally no one ever said Dean wouldn’t be suffering as well. In fact, in the SDCC stuff I think, someone at the roundtables (and I’m too lazy to bring up the article) indicated all three will be suffering in very different ways. IDK what this paragraph is trying to prove in conjunction with the above statements.

Here’s a Singer/Jensen big from SDCC we used as a small springboard: The beginning of the season also has “some housekeeping to do with the relationship between Dean and Cas which has been fractured,” Singer noted. Ackles added that from what he has seen four episodes in, there’s still friction between the two characters that has not yet been resolved. https://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/1085867-cs-interview-supernatural-cast-final-season-comic-con

Nothing big, nothing major, but stuff that still lines up with the season 14 ending. Jensen only knew up to season 4, you’re correct, so – what’s the thing we’re not supposed to take away from this?

We speculate you do too, that “The Rupture” is when Cas will leave, and more than likely, their conflict and his headspace is not cleared. That’s a thing. That’s speculation. SDCC comments were made in July, and that’s what got the multiple speculation theories going.

Seven: (obviously this will affect Sam as well, who’d always relied on his belief that Chuck was out there and wanted them to be happy, to discover now that Chuck’s personal happiness came from Sam’s eternal torment… and now Sam has shot Chuck with The Equalizer, and there’s bound to be Consequences™ from that wound, too… I’m not discounting any of that, but I’m focusing on the Dean and Cas stuff since that’s apparently been the Hot Issue over on the tweeter)

Gotta be honest, your last two paragraphs are like – “Well yes. Obviously.”

Also, since you keep subtly shading Twitter in your post, and it tastes wrong in my mouth, you saying that the Dean Cas stuff was a hot issue on Twitter makes it sound like, in my mind, that you really don’t care about it at all and don’t view it as a worthy thing to discuss at all. The tension that starts from 14x18: Some of it is there, your bit equating their tension to Cas and Jack, fine, but it feels like you’re really ignoring other key bits over here that was even talked about in meta as well. That’s the stuff we’re also talking about on Twitter, along with everything else you’re outlining in your own personal spec. But we’re including some things you are not. Is that what’s throwing you off?

But again, hey, cool, your spec. I don’t care, right? It’s all personal!

Finally: So I’ve put about 3% reliability stock into that particular hot take for speculation purposes, which apparently has been all twitter has been talking about for a while now? I’m just finding a massively wild disconnect between expectations from twitter to tumblr, or at least to ~my individual online experience~ versus y’all’s, and it’s kind of… jarring, to say the least. It is interesting to see such a wildly different set of expectations, though.

I guess we’ll all see what happens tomorrow night, at any rate :’D

“Hot Take”. You’re calling our spec (which includes stuff you’ve pointed out, muddled under the hefty weight of your Meta class note) a “Hot Take” just because you didn’t come to any of those conclusions yourself or because you aren’t putting it in your own spec? Why are we the “Hot Take”?

Because Dean and Cas will have residual tension going into Season 15? And we’re including the behavior and words from both of them from 14x18 onward? Why can’t we include that? Why is including that = hot take?

I’m sorry that you really only had yourself to talk to on Tumblr all summer and that we come back with “jarring spec” that doesn’t add up with yours but

You’re not the gatekeeper of spec or meta. Everyone thinks differently, and making condescending posts about it doesn’t do jack shit to help anyone’s cause. Just because it’s “jarring” to you, doesn’t mean that Twitter land is full of hot takes, read: wrong shit. You could have referenced Twitter vs Tumblr spec in a different, more insightful light, but nope! Guess not.

For shits and giggles – I’m adding your tags:

#seriously y'all this read on the situation sprang up out of the abyss and punched me in the dang face#it came from so far out of left field that my soul attempted to escape my body last night#for a reference point for just how different our hellatus experiences have been on tumblr vs twitter#since y'all haven’t been around here as much lately…

Sorry it came out of nowhere for you, but maybe you’d do well in a Twitter GC and talk over stuff for speculation that way you gain more viewpoints and insights than only your own.

We haven’t been around there as much over the hiatus, which isn’t the end of the world. But that honestly shouldn’t matter.

Tumblr isn’t the Mecca of Spec-land.

#long post #spn spec #spn fandom #kinda wanky #kinda negative #this isn't my usual thing #and I know I probably missed some points #fandom shit goes over my head a lot #but I wasn't really happy with that reblog so here we are #spn spoilers

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thehelleniclunarwitch · 5 years

Text

Don’t Fear The Reaper (02)

Author’s Note: PLEASE READ ME FIRST. This chapter takes a bit of a dark turn. There is mention of past abuse and dark themes. Please don’t read further than this if the dark themed conversation will upset you. Also, please, note that some of the conversations are based on something that happened to me years ago. If you are finding yourself in a horrible situation of Domestic Violence please reach out to 1-800-799-7233 for help.

xoxo

Inky

Pairing: Diego Hargreeves x Reader

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy

Warning: Dark Theme, Violence, Manipulation, Abuse

Clara sat in the chair across from Y/n’s desk. Jack was currently pacing back and forth. Y/n was positive that her brother was going to wear a path in her office floor with the way he was pacing so quickly. Y/n leaned back in her chair and watched her brother with careful eyes.

“Jack, you need to calm down,” Y/n finally said.

Jack stopped to glare at his sister.

“I’ve talked to Patch. You’ve talked to Patch. She’s vouched for Diego,” Y/n pointed out.

Jack sighed.

“Jack, you’re gonna have to let your sister live,” Clara said.

“The last time I stepped back and let a man into my baby sister’s life she was destroyed inside and out,” Jack snarled.

“Not everyone is like Jason,” Y/n said in a whisper.

“No, they’re not, but there are too many people who are like him. I don’t want you to end up in that situation again,” Jack said.

Y/n leaned forward in her chair. She ran a hand over her tired face. The time was ticking away. Diego would be here soon to take her on the date. Clara was here as a supportive best friend, Jack was here to be a thorn in her side.

“You might as well walk me out, Jack. I know you’re still here just so you can meet him,” Y/n said.

Jack looked at his sister. “I just need to get a reading on him,”

“I know. Come on,” Y/n sighed pushing away from her desk.

“Good luck. Call me later,” Clara said.

“Thanks and you know I will,” Y/n said.

Jack put a hand on his sister’s back and guided her out of the office. Clara returned to her desk. Her heart even skipped a beat at the sight of Diego walking into the office. You’d have to be blind not notice how good looking he was. Clara knew she really needed to finish some of her paperwork, but she really wanted to watch the showdown between Jack and Diego.

Diego smiled when he saw Y/n walking towards him. Y/n gave him a soft smile.

“Diego, my brother, Jack. Jack, this is my date, Diego,” Y/n introduced.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Diego said holding his hand out toward him.

Jack took his hand and gave it a hard, firm shake.

“So, Diego, what are your plans tonight with my sister?” Jack asked.

“Jack,” Y/n said in a warning tone.

“It’s okay, Y/n, he has the right to ask,” Diego told you softly.

Y/n sighed.

“I have reservations for us at Mikado’s. Then we would head over to Arboretum Park to hit up the fair and then end the night with ice cream at Stucci’s,” Diego listed.

“And what if my sister wants to do none of that?” Jack questioned.

“Well, then I would ask her what she would like to do and let her create our whole date out of thin air if that’s what she preferred,” Diego answered.

“Enough Jack,” Y/n said before Jack could ask another question.

“We have plans tomorrow so I don’t want her out all night,” Jack said with a small growl.

“She’ll be home by eleven,” Diego said.

“Alright that’s enough of the interrogation,” Y/n said stepping away from her brother to join Diego.

“One step out of line,” Jack started to warn.

“Shut it down, J,” Y/n snapped.

Jack closed his mouth and took a step back. Diego turned toward Y/n and held out his arm toward her. Y/n slipped her arm into Diego’s and the pair were on their way. Jack crossed his arms over his chest as he sighed. He turned on his heel to see Clara sitting at her desk. Clara quickly looked down at her computer. Jack walked back toward Clara.

“Come on blondie,” Jack said.

“What?” Clara squeaked.

“Let’s go. You don’t have to be here anymore. And I wanna take you to dinner,” Jack said.

“Me?” Clara said in confusion.

Jack laughed. “Do you have better plans?”

“Um, no,” Clara said.

“Then let’s get a move on it,” Jack said.

Clara was quick to shut down her computer, grab her bag, and jump to her feet. Jack was grinning as he watched the girl struggle.

“Hope you don’t mind motorcycles,” Jack said.

“I’ve never ridden one,” Clara replied.

“Well then I guess it’s your lucky day,” Jack smirked.

Clara gulped.

“Lighten up, blondie, it will be alright,” Jack said.

Clara walked next to Jack as they headed out into the cool night air. She stopped at the sight of the bike. Jack held out a helmet toward her. Sucking in a deep breath, Clara shoved down her nerves and took the helmet. She had been eyeing Jack for awhile now and she wasn’t going to let her nerves ruin the perfect moment.

At dinner, Diego held up the conversation. Y/n couldn’t believe how open and honest he was being on a first date. She had never had somebody ever talk so much to her about anything. He kept her laughing which she also appreciated. They skipped out on dessert and headed toward the fair where Diego boldly claimed that he would win every price she wanted. She took that on as a challenge.

Of course, Diego kept his word. Every game they stopped at she would pick out a prized possession she wanted and he delivered every single time. Diego even helped carry most of the stuffed animals as they made their way through the fair.

A few times through the evening, Diego noted how sudden loud noises or sudden movements had her cringing away from him. Diego lowered his voice. Moved in closer so he didn’t have to shout at her to have a conversation. He became more careful with how quickly he moved.

She was hiding something. Something had happened to her and that made his blood boil. All of it was starting to make sense. Why Jack was determined to question his every motive with his sister.

“So, can I ask why your brother was so determined to try and scare me off?” Diego asked.

Y/n looked up at him. “It’s a long story, are you sure you want to me ruin our date?”

Diego’s face darkened. “What happened?”

Y/n looked around at the large crowds that moved past them. He watched a shiver run down her spine and how she was quick to shake it off. Her eyes darted back and forth at all of the strange faces around them. Diego knew that he had to get them out of there if she was going to feel comfortable enough to talk to him.

“Let’s save that conversation for ice cream?” Diego suggested.

“That’s a good idea,’ Y/n quickly agreed.

The pair finished their way through the fair. Diego had stuck all of her prizes in his backseat and then opened the door for her. Inside the car, Diego took Y/n’s hand in his and brushed his thumb on the back of her hand as he pulled out of the parking lot. They drove in silence. Y/n was starting to panic. She couldn’t tell him. If she told him then he wouldn’t want to see her again and she really really liked him.

“Stop,” Diego said suddenly.

“Stop, what?” Y/n asked in confusion.

“Overthinking. Whatever you need to tell me you can. I’m not going to run away scared,” Diego said.

At the ice cream parlour, Y/n sat at a table outside while Diego headed inside to grab their sweet treats. Y/n wrung her hands together as she nervously thought about telling Diego. She just met the man could she really be so personal with him? He did tell her a lot at dinner so maybe he’ll understand and not judge her for it. Diego returned, dropping down across from her and handing over her ice cream.

“Diego,” Y/n began.

“If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to. I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t want,” Diego said.

Y/n bit at her bottom lip. She had to. He needed to understand.

“I told you it’s a long story,” Y/n whispered.

“Take your time,” Diego said as he licked at his melting ice cream.

“I don’t have this sunshine and rainbow past, Diego. My parents never should have been parents. My mom ended up being committed to a mental hospital when I was thirteen. My dad drank himself to death in between the beatings that Jack and I both had to suffer,” Y/n started.

Diego froze. He hoped that she didn’t notice.

“It’s always been me and Jack. He stopped at nothing to take most of the beatings from our dad. When dad finally died, Jack took me in. He didn’t have to. I could have gone into the foster system, but Jack didn’t want us to be separated,”

“So here’s this nineteen year old taking care of his fifteen year old sister. Jack went to school full time and worked several part time jobs just to keep himself in school, food on the table, clothes on our backs, and a roof over our heads. He got himself a fancy lawyer job and continued to sacrifice everything for me so I could get an education too,”

“It was my junior year at college when things started to change. I met a guy. He was amazing. Or so I thought. He treated me like Jack. God, he reminded me so much of Jack I thought I had found the perfect guy. Everything seemed so perfect when we first started dating,”

“When Jack started to get busier and busier, I spent more time with Jason. And that’s when things started to turn. It was mental stuff first. Like making me believe that Jack was glad to finally be free of me. He only had to pay for one more year of college and then I wouldn’t be his problem anymore,”

“Then it came to the verbal stuff. Calling me stupid, dumb, or an idiot. Then it got worse and I believed it. All of it. Everything that came out of his stupid mouth I believed it. He built a wall between me and Jack. I started to pull away. Cancel plans. I’m surprised that I didn’t fail out of college because I was so stuck on spending every waking minute with Jason,”

“The summer before my senior year was the first time he hit me. God, I should have known better. My dad did that shit to me. And I knew how wrong it was. But with Jason, I was just apologetic. Promised to do better. To be better. But nothing I did was good enough for him,”

“This continued on for months. Jason was heading home for winter break. He didn’t want to bring me home to meet his parents. That was a blessing in disguise. A day after he left, I got the courage to call Jack. He came right away. He saw the damage done to my body. New scars. Old scars. A black eye and a split eye. It took everything out of me to keep Jack from flying across the states to beat the living shit out of Jason,”

“Jack helped me file a restraining order. We took pictures for evidence. But after that, my trust was gone. Part of me blamed Jack for not trying harder. I blamed myself for being so naive. I moved in with Jack for my last year and I only recently got myself a place of my own,”

Y/n finally looked up at Diego.

“God. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for just spewing that all over you,” Y/n blurted out an apology.

Diego clenched his teeth as he reached forward to take Y/n’s hands in his.

“Y/n,” Diego said dangerously low.

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

“Don’t apologize to me. Ever. You have every right to talk about your traumas. It’s okay,” Diego said softly.

“I’m broken, Diego. I don’t trust easily. I scare way too easily and I run when I get too scared,” Y/n admitted.

Diego shifted so he was sitting knee to knee with her.

“It’s okay. I’m not running away. I’m going to stay right here,” Diego told her.

Y/n let out a shaky breath.

“Now, what happened to that piece of shit ex of yours?” Diego asked.

Y/n shrugged. “After the news came out of what he did to me he vanished. Jack tried hunting him down but came up empty handed,” Y/n explained.

Diego just gave a quick curt nod. He softly brushed away the tears. Y/n closed her eyes and let out a small sigh.

“Why don’t I take you home?” Diego suggested.

Y/n nodded.

The car ride was silence once again, but neither of them minded. Y/n finally spoke up to give Diego the directions to her house. Diego held onto her hand tightly. Y/n sat up a little straighter when she saw Jacks’ bike outside of her place.

“Your brother?” Diego asked.

Y/n nodded. Diego parked and dashed out of the car. He came around the side and opened the door for her. The pair grabbed all of her prizes from the back and headed up the porch steps.

“Diego,” Y/n began.

“Please, don’t apologize. You trusted me enough to tell me and I really appreciate that,” Diego said.

Y/n only nodded.

“I’d like to take you out again,” Diego said.

Y/n’s head snapped up. “Really?”

Diego chuckled. “Yeah, how about lunch next week Tuesday?”

“That would be great,” Y/n replied softly.

Diego leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek.

“Good night, Y/n,” Diego said.

“Goodnight, Diego,” Y/n whispered.

Diego opened the door for Y/n. She stepped in and moved to the side so Diego could set down the rest of her stuff. He waited until she closed the door. As he jogged down the stairs he could hear Y/n calling out for her brother.

Back inside his car, Diego’s shaky hands grabbed the steering wheel. He gripped the wheel tightly, his hands turning white. He let out a frustrating scream. Diego needed to take care of his anger and he knew the perfect way to release the fire within his soul. He pulled away and headed back to the fairground with a glint in his eyes.

Tagged:

@ahhhhkeya @i-alyssa @hedwigmoss @les-bio-lie @dawnson-hargreeves @ryans-mad-queen @alysweets @hyradun @lollipopdomination @awesometheydontknowiamhere @buckyandstevegayornay @anotherfanficreadingblog @not-so-epic-iii @ampbian @liveitdoll @gerardwayslips @snazzydoesthings @gorgeourrific-nerd @olkathefoxi @umbrxlla-acxdxmy @soul-of-a-traveller @harrisbn @classyasssuperbitch @misspygmypie @officially-kendra-hargreeves @sithskywalkers @rose-01 @carryon-doctor-lock @ynm1505 @klausbutgayer

#Diego Hargreeves #Diego Hargreeves x Reader #Dark!Diego Hargreeves #SerialKiller!Diego Hargreeves #The Umbrella Academy #TUA #insert reader #dark theme #mention of abuse #don't fear the reaper #chapter two

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lycorogue · 5 years

Text

Happy Anniversary, “Peeping Tomcat”!

Found on AO3, on FFN, and on DA

(sorry, I lost the original copy of the cover art, so this is low-res version is all I still have)

Summary: Something called to Adrien, and before he knew it, he was addicted to sitting outside Marinette's window as Chat Noir; just watching her. His voyeuristic habit needs to stop, but things have gotten far too complicated now that he realizes he's growing a crush on her.

Rating: K / General Audiences

Pairing: Adrienette (And kind of MariChat... even though they don’t interact??)

Chapters: 17

Status: Complete. 84,239 words

**Disclaimer: This story is only semi-compliant with season 2 and does not take place within that season aside from post-Collector since that concludes Volpina.

A year ago today, I posted "Peeping Tomcat.”

The previous August (2017), a month after I introduced myself to “Miraculous Ladybug,” I had written my first ever fanfic for the fandom. The one-shot was the original “Peeping Tomcat” (it has since been renamed “Peeping Tomcat - Teaser”). I enjoyed the story so much, I decided to expand this one-shot into a full-blown novel.

I worked on “Peeping Tomcat” during that year’s superhero-themed NaNoWriMo. I made it to 50,000 words, but I wasn’t done with my story. I spent the next few months editing my first draft, and there are large parts in the final product that barely resemble the original version. Even after I posted the first chapter on March 30, 2018, I kept working on edits and reworks for the rest of the novel.

I posted a new chapter every Friday for 3+ months. I officially finished the project when I published the final chapter on July 31, 2018. Nearly a full year after I wrote the one-shot.

This novel has been such a large point of pride for me, and I want to thank all of my fans for reading, faving, leaving kudos, bookmarking, commenting, and even reblogging my promotions for each chapter. A year later, and I’m still getting notifications about a new reader, new comment, or new fave/kudos. You guys all super duper rock!

So, how about a trip down memory lane, or how about a taste for those who may have missed this story’s original run?

Sample of chapter 1 below the break.

She didn't realize I watched her every night, and, frankly, I probably shouldn't have.

A thought pulled at the back of my head as I reflected on the akuma supervillains that had originated at that school. There were fifteen kids in my class, including myself. Fifteen. There were thirteen akuma victims that were my classmates. Excluding myself, that meant only one of my classmates hadn't been akumatized. One kid didn't have a school year punctuated with the guilt of becoming a Paris-attacking supervillain: Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Realizing that Marinette was the lone student, besides me, who hadn't been transformed yet, I had a protective need to check on her home, as if gazing upon the abode was enough to ward Hawk Moth from her. I shifted along the roof of the Collège Françoise Dupont so that I was again facing the Place des Vosges. Nestled between these two key points in my life as Chat Noir was the humble bakery Marinette's parents owned, complete with the apartment the Dupain-Cheng family lived in.

It was a simple home considering the entire first floor made up the bakery, which was still smaller than my bedroom. In fact, my two-story room may have been larger than the entirety of the three-level apartment. Neither Marinette nor her parents ever seemed lacking, though. In fact, part of me envied the small apartment. No one could get lost in there. No one could feel alone. Family was always a good holler away, not that Marinette ever needed to holler to get her parents' attention.

There was a warmth to that building that transcended the ovens Mr. Dupain started up at four every morning. Even at night, long after the bakery had shut down, and despite being across the street, I still felt that warmth. For the first time that day, I felt at peace. Just looking upon the Dupain-Cheng household calmed me the way being Chat Noir normally did, the way running through Paris normally did, the way the Ladybug and Chat Noir statue normally did, the way none of those did that night.

Family. I think that's what pinned me to that spot; what soothed my heart. That transcending warmth I could feel meters away was the idea of family. The idea that Marinette was always surrounded by hers, and how it was obvious that her family was immensely proud of her. Marinette's parents were constantly smiling and visibly beaming whenever they were around their daughter, or at least talking about her. Their pride in the woman Marinette was becoming was palpable. The same was true about Marinette's great-uncle Cheng Shifu. The entire clan radiated with love. Anyone could feel it, even from across the street.

I needed that sensation that night. After all of my failings, and with Father's stern talk of his disappointments in me, I needed a reminder that unconditional love existed. I needed to know that people could love others even with their shortcomings; a way to reassure myself that my father still did love me, and that Ladybug would still need me as her partner.

Like the scent of freshly baked croissants, the pacifying feeling of honest, familial love wafted towards me, and I breathed it in deep. I was no longer on edge as I pictured all the things that made the Dupain-Cheng home so welcoming and loving.

I remembered being Chat Noir in Marinette's home as I assisted Ladybug in hiding Kim from an akuma villain who was hunting him down. While Ladybug discussed her strategy with Marinette's parents and Kim, I had spotted a family photo displayed on a bookshelf in the living room. Marinette had her goofy little grin, and her parents sweetly smiled behind her. While I don't think I have a single picture like that with Father, the photo reminded me of the ones I had with my mom; both of us grinning ear-to-ear. Love shone through the pictures of me and Mom, just as it did with that photo in Marinette's living room.

My mind then wandered to when I helped Marinette by translating for her Chinese great-uncle. She was so nervous about dishonoring the master chef, but the man took to his great-niece instantly. I got to spend the day watching the two of them interact, and it was sweet the care each took to learn about the other. In the end, Cheng Shifu was so proud of his great-niece that he renamed his famous Celestial Soup after her. True, my father uses me as a poster child for his clothing line, but there was something different; something special in Cheng Shifu honoring Marinette the way he did. She was able to be her clumsy, awkward, unsure self and still manage to impress him. I have to be poised, reserved, and refined at all times to avoid disappointing my father. Which is probably why I needed Chat Noir so much.

The thing that brought me the most comfort, though, was remembering when I was at Marinette's house to practice for the Ultimate Mecha Strike III gaming tournament. Marinette may have been embarrassed by her parents, but I thought it was super sweet that they kept popping in to check up on us. The fact that they did so using the pretense of bringing us snacks was a nice added touch. They always had smiles that matched the warmth of the croissants, cookies, or quiche they brought for us. I get that Marinette was like most teenagers who just wanted some space to breathe, but I've had all the space I could want, and then some, since Mom went missing. To have someone check in that frequently, to have parents that so desperately want to be in their child's life; I don't think Marinette realized how fantastic that is, or how jealous I was.

I allowed myself to truly relax. I lounged across the roof of my school, my legs dangling over the edge, as I leaned back on my elbows and imagined what was going on in that warm apartment. What was it like to live there? What was it like to be part of that family? I pictured myself in Marinette's place: Tom Dupain was my father instead of hers, and Sabine Cheng was my mother. I envisioned it was me flailing around during a water balloon fight with my father, or that I was the one being instructed by my mother on how to roll out the dough properly to make the crust for a quiche. I could practically smell the smoky sweetness of a well-seasoned roast and fingerling potatoes being pulled from the tiny apartment kitchen oven and placed on the breakfast counter. I almost tasted the flaky butter of still-warm biscuits topped with a touch of plum jam. The chilled breeze of the night vanished from my notice as I felt snuggled into what would have been my lofted bed; should I have been the one who lived above the neighborhood bakery. I breathed in the sweet lingering smells of the day's baked goods as I pictured them being the cologne from the Dupain-Chengs as they tucked me in and kissed my forehead goodnight. I yearned for Marinette's reality to be mine, and imagined that it was.

I got so lost in that fantasy I nearly fell off the roof when I heard the scream.

Want to keep reading? Check out the full chapter here: Mistake

Want to read the whole thing? You can find it at these three sites: on AO3, on FFN, and on DA

#ML #Miraculous Ladybug #fanfic #LycoRogue writing #Peeping Tomcat #Adrien Agreste #Chat Noir #Cat Noir #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Multiple-chapters #chaptered story #17 chapters #84000+ words #non-sexual voyuerism #adrienette #pseudo-marichat #first anniversary #chapter sample #LycoRogue original

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ryouverua · 5 years

Text

Finally, the alone time with Tsumugi that I’ve been desperately missing! minus the love hotel. we don’t talk about the love hotel

Excuse me, what? Another new room??? .... In Kaito’s.... lab?

is this the beginning of building a ‘what if Kaito was the mastermind’ AU because I am strangely intrigued -

Anyway more RUNNING AROUND THE SCHOOL oh dear lord I just realized we have to go all the way down to the first floor and then up again???? KAITO WHY IS YOUR LAB SO EXTRA

you know what made everything worth it though

BYE MONOKID S U C K I T

Man that shouldn’t have been as satisfying as it was.

(also up and down 6 floors later, you know Shuichi is grateful for the training he was doing with Kaito)

U U U U U U M

We are suddenly leaning hard into those VLR vibes again??? Hello, pod room/treatment center. We aren’t going to find out thre are only 15 pods or something are we???

Looks like there are 16... wait, isn’t that strange too? Why does K1-b0 need one?

WE LITERALLY JUST GOT HERE

Oh, and interestingly enough, Tsumugi’s sprite changed to her scared/upset one. I guess Shuichi isn’t the only one so adversely affected by the flashback light after all!

STILL NOT SICK OF THE FLASHBACK ANIMATION

AAAAH NO EVERYONE IS HERE ALREADY MY HEART’S NOT READY

Wait... this is - this feels weird. Isn’t this the first time we’ve actually seen everyone together in a memory?

Ahoge-K1-b0 is back!

AAAH TENKO

oh god my heart really isn’t ready for this

Lmao my question was answered, and as usual it relates to robophobia.

RYOMA!!!! I MISSED YOU!!!

as;dfljkasdf;jl

sdfkljsdfkjl

good.... bye........... heart........ it’s literally just been a chapter but I missed that laugh so much

REMEMBER... WHEN THE CLASS WAS JUST TOGETHER.... SO CASUALLY.... LIKE THIS..............

!!!!!! KAEDE!!!!!!

LMAO “FRIENDS YOU SAY -”

pour one out for the potential that could have been a Kaede vs Kokichi rival relationship

Hell, maybe they would have a trust vs distrust along with lies vs truth -

anyway that’s what fanfics are for

FRIENDSHIP SPEECH! FRIENDSHIP SPEECH!!!

oooughgugh quiet broken sobbing

Oooh, it’s weird to see her properly poised after how things ended in Chapter 2.

WOW IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME, MR ULTIMATE SURVIVOR

IS IT BAD THAT I REALLY MISSED HER ‘NYAHAHAHA’

And eventually everyone agrees until...

I don’t know if it’s a minority opinion but I miss hat!Shuichi. He’s so cute, ffff - and he really does have a different vibe about him. Character design can be pretty powerful in that sense!

Also, it’s kind of amazing how quickly Kaede took charge the moment she stepped back in the spotlight. She’s very powerful like that, huh?

aaah yes, a little hint of that crush Kaito had on Kaede is back

...........

This back and forth along with their colour schemes matching really make me wish we got to see them together more? What’s the scoop on the fandom’s interpretation of a Rantaro / Tenko friendship, lads???

sssshshshhhhhut up K1-b0 don’t bring that ‘h’ word crap in a full class flashback

THERE IS..... SOMETHING.... IN CREDIBLY PAINFUL... ABOUT KAITO BEING THE LAST PERSON YOU SEE AT THE END OF THE MEMORY... AND HIM TELLING EVERYONE HE’LL SEE US LATER.... . GGGH

And just like that....

“GOD THESE MEMORIES ARE ALL DESIGNED TO MAKE ME MISS KAITO AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE CAN YOU NOT -”

So there didn’t seem to be an instructor or anyone to help them set up - was that maybe Kaito’s role? Why he was the last one we saw, and the one that directed everyone to go to sleep? other than just hitting home those saimota feels I mean -

So do they all have identical memories? I guess it can’t be that way with the friendship ones - also, was this one specifically triggered by entering this room?

................ I have thoughts on that.

Okay, that does explain why they’ve never been together in a memory before -

but. but. They had the funeral memory together, didn’t they? They all had that same funeral memory. So haven’t they met before?

..........

THEY ARE PROJECTED THEIR IMAGES OF THEMSELVES ONTO THE ACTUAL STUDENTS’ PORTRAITS IN THAT FUNERAL MEMORY THEY ARE MISREMEMBERING SOMETHING THEY ARE NOT WHO THEY THINK THEY ARE THEY ARE NOT WHO THEY THINK THEY ARE -

Aaaaw. 8′)

..................... I feel bad saying this after you said those heartwarming things but those feelings of suspicion towards you are growing Tsumugi I’M SORRY GIRL I STILL LOVE YOU EVEN IF YOU ARE EVIL I CAN’T HATE A GIRL WHO KNOWS AND APPRECIATES THE WONDERS OF EVA FOAM -

Okay just to explain this more now because big things happen below and I don’t want to wall-of-text too much, I.... just don’t think it’s a coincidence that this room just was discovered so conveniently. I mean, yeah, it’s in Kaito’s lab, but it just. You know. Appeared right now. And Tsumugi ‘found’ it. Tsumugi found it conveniently because holes were blown into it. Here’s my question.

Why was she in the position to find this room?

No, seriously. Kaito’s lab is so far out of the way of everything. It’s in an isolated area at the top of the building with a long spiraling staircase that spans what, six floors? And the holes blown into it came from above and through the lab.... and nowhere else. It’s not connected to any part of the building - there are no convenient K1-b0-created holes connecting it to the rest of the floor it’s on. Tsumugi had to have come here, specifically to Kaito’s lab, for the sake of investigation, when there are so many other areas of the school to look and there is no reason to find anything in Kaito’s lab, or Kaito, suspicious, especially in the face of him actively going against the mastermind. Why? Why other than the stuff that’s about to come up below, and for the sake of triggering that flashback?

Because here’s the thing - the moment we stepped in this room we got the flashback! The moment we got in here! All the other flashbacks happened randomly while we were investigating things, right? There didn’t seem to be any specific trigger words or anything - but this one happened with this room. I can’t... think of that as a coincidence. I just can’t. I’ll feel bad if it turns out it was though lmao

OKAY I GOT THAT OUT OF MY SYSTEM I FEEL BETTER NOW

Uuuuh that is way more than 16 people so I’m guessing it’s not literally just a list of names??? or???

whY WERE YOU IN HERE EARLIER TSUMUGI I KNOW YOU CAN’T HEAR ME BUT ADDRESS MY QUESTIONS DAMN IT

.........................

don’t you do this DRV3

Finally! No more Mukuro erasure - I MEAN WAIT THAT’S NOT THE ISSUE -

You’re not seriously trying to tell me at this late stage of the game (figuratively and literally) about this potential 17th party with no clues or foreshadowing, right. Right?

I wonder how familiar Shuichi is with Knox’s 10 commandments... I mean, it’s literally addressed here:

10. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

N-Not that anyone is obligated to stick to them, and it’s more of a guideline than a rule and good stories can break them or skirt around them (I do enjoy how Chapter 1 played with the “The detective himself must not commit the crime.” rule because while Kaede was technically acting as the reader stand-in/’detective’, we in fact had an actual detective... damn, maybe that should have been our first hint), but there’s a reason these are held in somewhat high regard. 8′D

I mean, even Shuichi is saying it - this is the first time he’s heard of Kaede having a twin. And yeah, we didn’t know about Junko and Mukuro being twins, but we did get hints of something being off (not looking like the magazines, Mukuro deflecting by saying it was just photoshopped, the 16th empty chair) early on.... and I can’t think of anything like that here. Like, at all. I’m going to continue these thoughts at the end, I think ~

“He has no understanding about structural integrity. His general interests include stand-up comedy and being a pop star, or in the care-giving field. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have the slightest clue about architecture and the importance of load-bearing walls and beams.”

“.....”

“.... Look, I’ve spent a decent amount of my free time with him okay???”

oh right that too

I’M SO EXCITED WE’RE FINALLY GOING THERE!!!

“I’ve got tons of evidence to hide!”

“Wait, what was that?”

“I can’t wait to see the inside!”

because she hates herself

Again I want to reiterate how happy I am that Maki chose to be the one to look through Kokichi’s things. It’s both a sign of distrust and trust - she believes Kokichi hid a lot from everyone, and also that he may have left more clues to help them. He would be proud. 8′) It’s small, but I’d like to think of it as a way to pay penance; I’m sure she hates doing it.

DOG TAG! DOG TAG! DOG TAG! or something else maybe

WHY ARE YOU SO FAR AWAY FROM EVERYONE ELSE TSUMUGI WHY ARE YOU IN SUCH A STRANGE LOCATION WHAT THOUGHT PROCESSES BROUGHT YOU HERE

I’d be more worried about Himiko than Maki.

.... So...... I said I’d continue that thought from earlier. Here it is.

To recap what we learned:

Kaito had a hidden room in his lab that he presumably didn’t know about

Tsumugi found it by ‘accident’

Entering the room triggered the flashback light, which showed everyone met here for the first time

In the room is the participant list that says Kaede has a twin which just so happens to line up with Junko’s situation

Anyway, tl;dr: I don’t believe Kaede has a twin.

The last room we went to ended with Shuichi thinking, “what is the truth and what are lies?” so I’m building off of that and my previous theory about Tsumugi not finding this place by accident and purposefully bringing Shuichi here to trigger that flashback. I’m not 100% sure why - maybe to bring Kaede back into focus, only to gut-punch him with the ‘twin sister’ bomb? Maybe this will be the start of her creating a ‘new truth’? Possibly? It would very much match the theme of the game. But anyway, the point is I just don’t believe Tsumugi ~stumbled~ across the room and just so happened to find this participant list/profiles that immediately makes Kaede look suspicious when we hadn’t had a single hint of that the entire game.

I.... wonder. If Tsumugi... is the mastermind.... is she trying to set up Kaede as the mastermind? Or this (probably fictional) ‘twin sister’ of hers? I guess there are ways to swing that too to relate to why Kaede killed Rantaro in Chapter 1 - “she was trying to protect her twin sister, the real mastermind, so she killed Rantaro who was drawing too close to the truth” or something.

#Tsumugi Shirogane #Shuichi Saihara #I'm not going to tag everyone unless I talk about them at length for my own sake 8'D #Ryou plays drv3 #spoilers #drv3 spoilers #oops I talk a lot here

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themagiciansreccenter · 6 years

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Author Spotlight: @under-the-shady-tree

Every week we are going to be interviewing a writer from The Magicians fandom. If you would like to be interviewed or you want to nominate a writer, get in touch via our ask box.

First things first, tell us a little about yourself.

Well, my name is Lauren, I live in Indianapolis and groom dogs for a living. I have a very tight-knit family so I spend pretty much all my time hanging out with them and having fun being the “cool” aunt.

How long have you been writing for?

Since I learned how to write. My parents gave me a diary for my 6th birthday and from that moment on, I was writing all the time. I used to write stories about me and my friends and reading my stories during recess became a thing. I moved onto fanfiction once the internet came around and still continue to journal and write original fiction.

What inspired you to start writing for The Magicians?

A Life in the Day. I hadn’t written anything for almost two years. Life got rocky for a bit and I just couldn’t do it. I would get ideas for stuff, even The Magicians, but nothing would come of it. But that episode got whatever was blocked in my brain knocked out and it’s been non-stop since then.

Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write? What it is about them that makes them your favourite?

Quentin. I just relate to him so much and understand how that brain could work. He comes really easy to me. Eliot also is one of my favorites, I find so much emotion and love buried under his persona and that is so much fun. Writing them together is just a joy. I also really like writing Margo and that one surprised me because I am so different from her, but like Eliot I’ve found what’s underneath all of her bravado to be so interesting to write.

Do you have a preference for a particular season/point in time to write about?

I guess season 3 since it’s the most I have written about, but I’ll write where ever the inspiration takes me.

Are you working on anything right now? Care to give us an idea about it?

Right now my time is pretty much all focused on my timeline 23 fic, We Will All Be Changed, it’s kind of a monster of a story for me so it’s got most of my attention. But I have a few things brewing. More of the mosaic lifetime, kind of examining how Quentin, Eliot and Arielle worked as parenting team and how they dealt with her death. I’m also dying to write teenage Rupert!

How long is your “to do list”?

Too long!

What is your favourite fic that you’ve written for The Magicians? Why?

That’s hard, I always hate picking favorites. I lean more toward Destiny Is Bullshit I think because it was my first big one and it’s what really got me going into writing again. I really found Quentin and Eliot’s voices working on it and found that I actually could write Margo. The response I got from it was so positive as well and it really gave me a confidence boost that I never had before. It also inspired more than just that one story (now 8 in the series) and gave me a way to fill in the blanks for the rest of the season and for their mosaic lifetime.

Many writers have a fic that they are passionate about that doesn’t get the reception from the fandom that they hoped for. Do you have a fic you would like more people to read and appreciate?

I would have to say my fic All That Remains is Love. It’s a 5+1 story dealing with death so it might be too depressing, but it’s all of my favorite things. It’s missing scenes we didn’t get to see, angst and Queliot falling in love very slowly. I also worked non stop on it once the idea hit me and it drove me a little insane until it was done. It emotionally drained me writing it so I just want to shove it at everyone and be like “LOVE THIS!!!”

What is your writing process like? Do you have any traditions or superstitions that you like to stick to when you’re writing?

It depends on the length of what I’m writing. For the shorter fics I usually have more of an abstract idea and a few lines of dialogue or a surprise ending in mind. I have a few playlists for certain moods. (I’m a little obsessed about having a soundtrack to everything I do in my life, not just writing) Then I just start working it out line by line.

For longer ones, it’s a much bigger process because I like to plan. I don’t even consider starting a multi-chapter fic unless I’ve worked out the beginning, middle and end and what the conflict is. I create a playlist that goes to that particular fic and that always sets a good tone for me. Then I break it down chapter by chapter and start writing. I get the bare bones out, like the dialogue and where they are. Then I add the inner thoughts and actions and emotions and just kind iron it all out.

Sometimes it changes a lot while I write, sometimes it sticks close to what I thought.

Do you write while the seasons are airing or do you prefer to wait for hiatus? How does the ongoing development of the canon influence and inspire your writing process?

I’ve only been writing since midway through season 3 and haven’t stopped so I see myself just writing during both pretty consistently. As far as what will happen, it will only inspire more. I have a series that sticks very close to canon so I can get all my added scenes and further in-depth peek into the show. So that will only help that grow. And ideas that fit out of that bubble come along too and I just go with it.

I think it would be kind of fun to continue some of my season 4 speculation stuff right into au territory because I’m sure what I wrote won’t happen, so who knows.

What has been the most challenging fic for you to write?

Of fics that are finished, The Mess We Made. It was hard because I realized early on that I was writing a younger Quentin and Eliot than who they were in Destiny is Bullshit. I kind of struggled with getting them to fight, because I just spent months writing them with a lifetime together under their belt and a deep understanding of each other. The Mess We Made was them a few years into that lifetime so they were still learning things about each other and experiencing things for the first time. I ended up kind of leaning into that difficulty with getting them to fight and tried to amp up the fighting to a few big blow-ups.

My timeline 23 fic is quickly becoming my most challenging though, it’s basically 3 or 4 full-length fics that sometimes crossover and then all end up mashed together. It’s pretty challenging.

Are there any themes or tropes that you particularly like to explore in your writing?

Angst, angst and more angst, lol. I am also a sucker for deep connections between people, be it romantic or otherwise, and really expose the good, the bad and the ugly about those relationships. So you know, more angst. But happy endings are my favorite too.

Are there any writers that inspire your work? Fanfiction or otherwise?

I’m always inspired by all the other Magicians fanfiction writers (honestly, Magicians fanfiction is really the only fanfic I read right now)

Alice Sebold is probably my favorite writer. She has a way of writing emotion in a way that feels really real and honest to an almost uncomfortable degree. It’s almost too real. Also the authors of my youth, Ann M. Martin and Judy Blume, I wanted to write because of them.

What are you currently reading? Fanfiction or otherwise?

I am reading “Written in Blood” It’s a book looking into the death of Kathleen Peterson of Stairway fame. (I love true crime) Also, I’m actually reading The Magician King. My sister is reading the Magician’s books for the first time so I’m reading along with her so we can discuss. I also am keeping up on whatever comes up on AO3!

What is the most valuable piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?

Keep writing, whether it’s good or bad, just get it out and you can build on it later but it needs to be out there to fix.

Cringe time:

Are there any words or phrases you worry about over using in your work?

Oh man, I don’t know, I sometimes think everything I write is just a repeat of the last thing lol. Looked, people are always looking at each other and it’s hard to come up with different ways to express that.

What was the first fanfic that you wrote? Do you still have access to it?

I wrote an American Girl fanfic. My best friend and I traveled back in time to 1774 and went on an adventure with Felicity! I still have it, in a notebook in a box in my closet. I have two boxes (not huge boxes or anything) of old diaries, journals and notebooks full of my writing. My parents didn’t want to throw that away growing up.

Rapid Fire Round:

Self-edit or Beta? Self-edit

Comments or Kudos/Reblogs or Likes? All of the above!

Smut, Fluff or Angst? angst!!

Quick & Dirty or Slow Burn? Slow burn, the slower the better

Favourite season? 3

Favourite episode? A life in the day

Favourite book(The Magicians books)? The Magician King

Three favourite words? Triskaidekaphobia, Loquacious, Fuck

Want to be interviewed for our author spotlight? Get in touch here.

#the magicians rec center #author spotlight #author: rays/under the shady tree

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ryukoishida · 7 years

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Arslan Senki Fandom Day 2017 [Encounter] | The second instalment of how idol!Gieve and singer-songwriter!Isfan meet and fall in love.

Written for Arslan Senki Fandom Day 2017 – [Encounter]

Title: Primadonna and the Piano Man [Part II] Author: ryukoishida Character(s)/Pairing(s): Isfan/Gieve Summary: This is the story of how one of the nation’s top idol Gieve and bestselling folk-rock musician Isfan meet (and eventually fall in love). [Idol/Musician!AU] Rating: T Warning: N/A A/N: The song that Isfan and Gieve worked on is based on “Lost One’s Weeping”, links of which you will find in the reblog!

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Sing When You’re in Love Series:

i. We Sing We Dance We Steal Hearts ii. We Sing We Dance We Fall in Love iii. Untitled iv. This Storm, It’s Coming v. I’m Yours (and so are they) vi. Primadonna and the Piano Man [Prequel] [Part I | Part II]

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Despite their temporary truce, their journey to achieve a top hit pop song is perilous and full of conflicts.

The first two sessions mostly involve the two of them throwing general ideas back and forth at each other. The discussion goes from the target audience to the genre of music they want to make. While Gieve is known for his catchy dance pop and sugary love songs mostly aimed at the younger teenage audiences, Isfan’s style strays from folk-rock songs dedicated to nature and romance to melancholic ballads of lost identity and destructive love.

After much shouting, pen-throwing, and paper-crumpling, they’ve finally decided the theme of their song would be about the burdens of education and pressures of expectations that many young people and students face nowadays. It’s a serious but relatable topic that would engage a wide range of listeners. As for the genre, Gieve wants to do a mellower, stripped-down, acoustic version — something that’s more forlorn and heart-wrenching; however, Isfan wants to make it into a rock anthem, angrily declaring the dissatisfaction and resentment, and calling for an action to change.

They reconcile with the decision to try both versions for now, and only after discussion with the producer and other staff will they make their final choice.

Then the song-writing process begins, and it doesn’t get any easier from there.

“This riff here doesn’t sound right,” Gieve, who’s sitting on a stool next to Isfan’s piano bench, is saying as he points at the eleventh and twelfth bars on the music sheet, which have been scrawled with Isfan’s neat handwriting, drawn notes and lines. “It’s not enough…”

“Not enough…?” Isfan glances over at the idol, a single eyebrow quirked up in question and his hands still hovering above the keyboard.

“You know: flair, energy, pizzazz!” Gieve waves his hands in a huge arching gesture, hoping the other man will understand.

Isfan stares blankly back at him, uncomprehending.

“Can you be any more vague?” Isfan heaves out an exasperated sigh and shifts over a little. “Why don’t you just show me? Here.” He pats the empty space next to him, and Gieve only hesitates for half a second before he accepts Isfan’s invitation and plops himself down on the bench.

The worn-out leather and oak seat isn’t really suited for two full-grown adult men, and so even with Isfan basically sitting on the very edge on one side, Gieve’s arm still lightly brushes against his whenever the idol moves just the slightest.

Not that Isfan is paying any special attention to how warm and comfortable Gieve feels sitting so closely next to him, or how nice he smells from whatever cologne he’d sprayed himself with that day, or how elegant and sensual his pale, slender fingers look against the black and white keys of the piano.

“Hmm, I’m thinking maybe something like this,” Gieve plays a series of notes that’s similar to what’s written on the music score, but with a slight variation to the rhythm so that the entire riff sounds a little livelier, a bit richer, than before. He tries a few more variations, his eyebrows puckering in deep concentration as he plays and teases the melodies much like how he does with the strings of his guitar. His glasses are sliding down the bridge of his nose but Gieve doesn’t even seem to notice, and Isfan has the strongest urge to reach over and fix it for him.

“Isfan… Isfan! What do you think?”

“Sorry, what was that?” Isfan instinctively shifts back and almost slips and falls off the bench when he realizes just how close Gieve is — close enough that if he ducks his head slightly, his lips would be touching the soft hair by the idol’s temple.

“The riffs — the ones I just played for you — which one do you think is better?”

To be honest, Isfan has stopped functioning after the first one Gieve has played. Gods. Staying in this god-forsaken studio with no natural lighting coming in for six hours straight is doing weird shit to his mind; he needs a break, and maybe a snack.

“Do you want to go for a break?” Gieve asks as if he’s just read his mind.

“Do you mind? I can use some caffeine and cup noodles.”

Isfan’s stomach growls in agreement.

“You know both those things are bad for your throat, right?” Gieve is surprised to find that the singer-songwriter, who seems so solemn and a stickler for rules at first glance, cares so little about his diet. Having healthy bodies and protecting their voices are especially important for artists like themselves, so ever since Gieve started training with his idol unit, he’d maintained a strict diet and exercise regime.

“Let me have some fun, mother,” Isfan yawns, standing up to stretch. His jeans ride low on his hips and a sliver of tanned skin is shown for just a few seconds, but the little display is enough to give Gieve a tiny heart attack, his cheeks flushing and turning uncomfortably warm.

He clears his throat, and turns away to face the piano when Isfan glances down at him.

“Wow. You? Fun? I never thought I’d hear you wanting to be associated with the word ‘fun’,” Gieve chuckles, getting up as well.

“Oh, fuck off,” Isfan is way too tired and hungry to come up with more creative insults.

“Come on, there’s a place close by that opens late and has really good savory snacks,” Gieve winds an arm around the taller man’s shoulders and steers him out the door.

“But the song…”

Isfan is only planning to quickly whip up some noodles and coffee in the pantry, so a thirty-minute break would have sufficed.

“The song can wait! Come on, come on! My treat!”

By the time they are sitting down to write the lyrics, the two musicians with drastically different roots and conflicting beliefs have become quite in sync in terms of their ideas. Occasionally, bickering would still break out, and staff passing by the studio, the door sometimes left a crack open to let in some air, would hear snippets of “what are you even trying to convey with this line here?” or “that doesn’t even rhyme!”

Even stranger still, those same staff members who’d overheard the arguments would often see Gieve and Isfan coming out of the studio after a few hours, and they would either share companionable silence after a long day of work or chattering about where to get dinner.

One night, the two were kicked out of the studio due to equipment maintenance, but neither of them wanted to stop because they felt like they were on the verge of finally writing something good after days of scraped ideas and ripped up notebook pages, so Gieve invited Isfan back to his place to continue.

Isfan didn’t even think twice before agreeing.

When they were satisfied with what they had written, it was already two o’clock in the morning. The public transit had stopped running and Isfan’s car had been left in the company parking lot, so naturally, Gieve volunteered to make spicy instant noodles with extra toppings and treated themselves with a bottle of ice-cold beer each for the conclusion of the gruesome yet fruitful lyric-writing session.

During the few weeks they spent together, Gieve discovered that Isfan was especially talkative when he got tired, and while they ate, slurping the hot soup and moaning at the deliciousness of cheap MSG-fueled ramen, Isfan began to ask questions.

“Why did you want to become an idol?”

“Finally taken an interest in me, Isfan?” Gieve sent him an exaggerated wink across the steaming pot sitting in the middle of the dining table.

“Just curious.”

“Honestly, it’s the same old story,” Gieve replied after swallowing a mouthful of noodles, “I was scouted by an agent from Ecbatana while I was still in high school. I didn’t have any grand plans back then, and no world-shattering ambitions or goals to speak of, so I thought, ‘Why the hell not? Sounds fun!’ and just went with the flow.”

“That’s so you,” Isfan commented with a small laugh.

“Isn’t it just? And then of course behind all that glamour, rivalry arose, friendships were crushed over jealousy and competition,” Gieve carefully blew on the fishcake dangling between his chopsticks to cool it down before putting it into his mouth.

“But you made it; you’re here,” Isfan said, placing his chopsticks down.

Gieve hummed, and for a brief moment, the two men concentrated on finishing their food and drinks.

“I’m sorry,” Isfan murmured, gaze dropping to the bottle of beer in his hands, fingers dragging droplets of condensation as they left smears on the table, “for my shitty behavior when we first met. I shouldn’t have judged you or your abilities before I even get to know you.”

“I sure showed you though, didn’t I?” Gieve grinned openly, and through the thin veil of steam that was still rising from the pot of finished noodles, he almost seemed surreal, the green of his eyes beckoning him in the fog, the quirk of his lips bearing a subtler message that Isfan had yet to decode, but that strange, clawing feeling disappeared as quickly as it had swooped down over him, and he found himself turning his head away, feeling uncomfortably hot and prickly.

“Isfan?” Gieve leaned over, his face full of concern.

“Sorry, just tired. It’s been a long day.”

Gieve didn’t ask any further.

After putting the dishes away, they settled contentedly on the couch, and with the politics and bloodshed of Game of Thrones playing softly in the background, the two men fell asleep leaning against each other, their breathing slowing down until they became one harmonizing melody.

The only main task left for them is recording the song. The instrumentals for both versions are recorded without any major hitches; Isfan is responsible for playing the piano in the acoustic version while both he and Gieve contribute to the guitar portions in the rock version. The rest of the instrumentals are filled in by the company’s contracted musicians.

However, recording vocals hasn’t gone as smoothly as they’ve hoped.

It has taken Gieve many, many tries before he can pinpoint the exact emotion he wants — that deep, furious growling that he’s still not quite used to but is necessary for this song — without messing up the lyrics, and this is especially difficult due to the unforgivingly swift tempo that leaves the singer with very little space in between to take a breath.

On the contract, it’s been stated that Gieve will be responsible for the main vocals of the single, so while Isfan doesn’t necessarily need to be present for the vocal recording, he still sits in the recording booth with the audio engineer, entranced by the way Gieve puts everything into his singing while he keeps insisting that he can do better and pleads with the recording engineer to let him have another attempt even though his voice is obviously becoming scratchy from overuse.

During the weeks they were working on the melody and lyrics, Isfan already realizes that despite the idol’s seemingly gregarious and flippant personality, as if he never takes anything or anyone seriously, Gieve is an entirely different being when he throws himself deep into his work: he will nitpick and scratch out ideas until he deems the product near perfect to his satisfaction, and this is certainly one quality that Isfan has learned to respect.

About two hours into recording, with almost the entire bottle of water emptied, Isfan signals at the idol for him to come out of the booth, but Gieve merely shakes his head and speaks into the microphone to let them know that he’s still fine to continue.

The audio engineer looks between the two musicians, uncertain of how to proceed, but Isfan gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before entering the recording booth himself, half-dragging, half-persuading Gieve to take a much-needed break.

“Just let me try a few more takes! I almost got it, come on—”

“No, your voice is cracking. You need to rest,” Isfan insists.

“Isfan’s right. Let’s give it another go tomorrow,” the audio engineer tells Gieve kindly.

Isfan nods his thanks, and then with a firm and steady hand, he pulls the bewildered idol out the door with a polite “see you tomorrow” aimed at the audio engineer.

“All right, all right, will you let go already?”

Gieve has been blindly following Isfan without really questioning where he’s taking him; not that he has any choice to begin with since the taller man still has a strong hold of his hand as he leads them down one hallway after another. A few passerby staff give them odd looks as they rush past, but they keep the muttering to themselves, though it doesn’t stop all kinds of rumours from spreading outside of the company that will gradually accompany the release of the single in the upcoming weeks.

Isfan finally lets him go when they reach the roof. They’ve taken the stairs instead of the elevator to avoid the worst of the crowd, but even walking up three flights of stairs is enough to make Gieve, who exercises regularly through dance rehearsals and gym visits, sweat and breathe raggedly, his arm hanging onto the railing to support his weight when they finally reach the top.

The roof of Ecbatana Entertainment Productions has been renovated into a garden where employees can rest in a peaceful spot away from the stress and worry of their work for a little while. The place is usually crowded during lunch time, but it is now nearing seven o’clock in the evening, the sky deepening into violet and blue and awash with splashes of pink and gold of the setting sun, the rooftop garden is utterly deserted.

Bushes of blooming lavender planted in squares of soil in the center of the garden create a waft of pleasant and sweet floral scent with a trace of evening summer breeze. Leaves of various plants that neither man remembers the names of whisper and rustle softly around them, and for the moment, they share the illusion of being the only ones in this world as the city halts its steps for the night.

The two men settle on one of the benches that allows them to overlook the city skyline.

“Now that you’ve got me all by my lonesome,” Gieve breaks the silence easily and glances up at him with his infamous smile, the frustration from a few minutes ago gone without a trace as he wraps an arm intimately around Isfan’s shoulders, “is there something you wish to confess?”

Turning to face him properly, Isfan almost loses the ability to speak; their faces are only inches apart, and it reminds him of the first time they met — how irritated he’d felt towards the cheeky idol, how much he’d wanted to push him away and walk out of that room, how much more he’d wanted to pull him in and kiss him until neither of them can breathe.

He exhales slowly, eyes slipping close to refocus, but he doesn’t move away. He doesn’t want to.

“I’m worried about you,” Isfan says.

“Oh,” Gieve chuckles airily, “this is new.”

“I’m serious, damn it,” Isfan grits out, eyes flashing golden and black when he opens them again. “You’ve been pushing yourself too hard for the past week; you’ve barely finished any of your meals, and I know you’ve been chugging energy drinks when you thought nobody’s watching.”

“Well, apparently, someone’s been watching me closely,” Gieve’s grin turns a little mischievous as he leans in even closer, close enough that their breaths are mixing, a hand dragging up to the nape of Isfan’s neck.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Isfan murmurs, feeling the idol’s fingers splayed warm and heavy against the back of his neck, and he’s entirely too distracted by the other man’s eyes, made deeper green by the colored contact lenses and lightly lined in kohl due to an event he needs to attend later on tonight, and his smiling mouth, the subtle twist an alluring challenge, an undeniable invitation.

“Seeking comfort, decreasing my stress levels, trying to make you notice me more, and so on and so forth,” Gieve replies.

Isfan laughs lightly at the last item of Gieve’s statement, clearly amused by the idol’s attempt to flirt with him (which is working weirdly well, all things considered), and Gieve pouts at the reaction, slightly insulted.

“What? Why are you laughing? This is no laughing matter, you know—”

Isfan only laughs harder, the corner of his eyes crinkling and the sound of his laughter soft and rumbling like distant thunder echoing in a forest that sets alight something deep within Gieve, making his blood tremble with delight.

“You’re impossible, you know that?” Isfan says, and then he’s pulling Gieve towards himself by a fistful of his shirtfront, his mouth crashing against the idol’s unceremoniously in a messy kiss.

“And this week, on the Pars Top 40 Chart, a newly released single has reached the number one spot: it’s Gieve, featuring guest artist Isfan, ‘The Lost Ones’ Fantasy’!”

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A/N: Goodness. Excuse the terrible writing. I started giving up towards the end and didn’t really bother anymore…

#arslansenkifandomday2017 #arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #gieve #isfan #isfan/gieve #gieve/isfan #bowie's crappy writing

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missmeikakuna · 5 years

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Chad and the Incel Chapter 4

Rated: M

Fandom: Original Fiction (but inspired by the Virgin vs Chad meme)

Relationship type: Male/Male with a bit of Female/Female (the lesbians are adorable, btw) and unrequited Male/Female (in other words, the guys are bisexual).

Description: Chad is, well, a Chad, or at least he looks like one. He’s got his sights set on the cool nerd Becky and enlists the help of her shy incel ex-friend Noah, offering to help him get the gorgeous girl (Stacy) he desperately wants. Noah is reluctant to help, believing that he will be stuck in inceldom forever, but Chad’s interest in his life gives him hope. When their plans go awry, they start turning their romantic attention towards each other.

Content Warning: Given the subject matter, you can guess that this story has dark themes in it, such as suicide and self-harm (plus the mental health issues that often cause them), sexism, slut-shaming homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. There is also swearing and some mentions of sex but nothing too explicit (hence the M rating as opposed to an Explicit rating).

4th Post: Incels are the real oppressed group

Going to the local library became a regular occurrence for Chad and Noah. They went there every afternoon after Chad’s detention, deciding not to give up on their romantic conquest just yet. Every time they would start off reading books and discussing plans for winning their respective girl’s heart but they inevitably veered off course and began chatting about whatever they felt like.

Noah told Chad more about manga and recommended some. The list of recommendations was initially intimidating in its length, but Chad couldn’t help but stare with a warm heart when Noah talked about something he loved.

It didn’t take Noah long to notice that Chad wasn’t fully listening, so he came up with a new course of action. He collected a pile of manga from the library and read the blurbs aloud to him. The ones Chad looked interested in were put in one pile and the others were put in a different pile. He pushed the interesting manga towards Chad and suggested he pick one to read for the day. The one Chad picked first was entitled, ‘My Girlfriend is a Giant Robot But She’s Also My Therapist’.

Noah beamed at him. ‘I’ve read the light novel for that.’

‘The what now?’

‘You know, light novels. They’re short novels that usually come in series.’ As he went on and on about this particular light novel with a manga adaptation, Chad paid more attention to the boy’s glowing face than what he was actually saying. That last light of concentration was extinguished when he saw a girl walk past him with a smile on her face.

She had frizzy strawberry blonde hair and wore rectangular glasses that perfectly balanced the roundness of her face. In her thin but muscular arms, visible via a singlet top despite the weather, were three thick books she carried easily. Her lips had seductive curves to them, aided by ample use of apricot lipstick and matching lip liner.

After heading to one of the shelves/lockers, she turned her gaze to Noah, who also smiled at her, and dropped her own smile. However, she didn’t frown. In fact, her expression was neutral and free from judgement. Noah did not see it this way.

He looked at the manga in his hands and used those hands to hide the cover. He hung his head and scowled at the lines in the oak desk.

Chad turned his head and saw Noah’s tense shoulders. He leaned towards him and whispered, ‘Go for it.’

Noah’s head jumped up. He looked at him like he’d just suggested he commit genocide. ‘Me? Why me? She’s going to choose you.’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that. And if it doesn’t work out, you got some practice before trying to get Stacy.’ Chad felt a twinge of guilt saying this, not knowing if Stacy could possibly like a guy, though that guilt certainly wasn’t enough to stop him from trying to encourage his new friend. ‘Put these books to good use.’

With a sigh, Noah stood up and plodded towards the girl. He stood behind her for a moment, mentally preparing what to say to her. He continued standing there for enough time to make Chad make a shooing gesture.

After a few more seconds the girl noticed someone was behind her and turned around. ‘Hi, do you want to talk to me or something?’ she asked after she gave way to him and he stood still instead of looking at the books. Her voice sounded like someone had converted honey into audio.

Noah’s shoulders leapt up and he began to sweat. Even though she was smiling at him, he thought he could sense the stone-cold judgement in her eyes. She hated him. She was disgusted by him and wanted nothing to do with him. He was but a piece of snot that had stuck to her wrist when she sneezed into it.

He turned around and marched back to the desk. Chad gave him the eyes of someone seeing a kitten in the rain. Noah shoved his books and manga away from him before picking up his headphones from the desk and putting them on, taking a few deep breaths.

Inside Chad’s heart was a bit of pain. That bit was the size of a poppy seed and thus relatively easy to ignore, but it was there. What was bigger was the sudden need to make Noah smile again, though Chad didn’t know how.

He decided to use a weakness of his as a strength. His quick plan relied on the strawberry blonde girl’s reaction being the exact same one as every other girl Chad talked to. If not, well, at least he had someone to distract him from Becky.

He stood up and swaggered, or rather attempted to swagger, towards the girl. When she saw him she bit her lip and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

‘Hey,’ she cooed. ‘I’m Luce. You?’

The plan must have been working as Chad felt sweat drop down his back. ‘I’m, uh, Chad.’

‘Hi, Chad. So what do you like to read?’

‘Me? I’m, uh, not much of a reader.’ Luce raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t mean I hate it or anything, uh, you see, I’m here with a friend and, well, uh…. Why don’t you teach me what books are good?’ She scrunched her nose. ‘Wow, that sounded a little pervy. Haha. I didn’t mean it that way. I’m sure you’ve spent a lot of time with your nose in a book, right? Oh, not in an insulting way, just, you know, you seem really smart with all those, uh, books.’ Luce swapped eyebrows and took a step backwards.

‘Uh, yeah… It was nice meeting you. Maybe I’ll see you here again.’

As she walked away, Chad said, ‘Yeah, totally. I’ll see you some time in the future.’

His shoulders drooped as he headed back to the desk. Noah hesitated before patting him on the shoulder and smiling.

‘There, there. So how exactly are you a Chad? Did your parents have the wrong kid when they named you?’

‘Hardy har har. Yeah, I suck. So don’t feel too bad.’

Noah crossed his arms. ‘Did you just pretend to be awkward just to make me feel better?’

With a shake of his head, Chad said, ‘I couldn’t be smooth to girls if I tried. That was a case in point.’

‘Sure, sure.’

Knowing nothing would change Noah’s mind, Chad instead decided to change the subject, picking up a manga from the desk with the title, ‘Love ☆ Lace’. It had two men who appeared to be very close to each other, one holding a measuring tape that tied the other’s wrists together. His heart beat a little faster. Just a little bit.

‘So there’s gay manga?’ he asked.

‘Yeah. I haven’t read that one since I don’t read that stuff, but I do know it’s for girls. I just grabbed whatever manga I could find here.’

‘Girls? Seriously? But they’re both guys!’

Noah laughed at Chad’s confused face, ‘I don’t claim to understand the average fujoshi.’ When Chad looked even more confused, Noah explained what little he knew about gay manga for women.

After he was done he said, ‘Anyway, tell me what you think about ‘My Girlfriend is a Giant Robot But She’s Also My Therapist’. It’s one of the best manga of the past few years.’ He spoke quickly and made large gestures as he detailed what made the manga so great, and, once again, Chad partially listened while staring at the boy’s ever-growing grin.

Another day, Chad started hanging out with Noah at school. During lunch they would talk about a range of topics from what movies they liked to what conspiracies seemed the most likely to be true. They both liked and felt nostalgic over the movie ‘Beauty and the Beast’, though Noah thought it was a bit unrealistic.

‘As if a femoid would choose the Beast over Gaston. I mean, look at his muscles! And that Chad jaw. How could any girl resist? At least the French movie understood that.’

Chad rubbed his jaw. When he saw Noah’s smile, he realised why he said that. He didn’t thank him for the reassurance but returned the same facial expression.

As for conspiracy theories, they disagreed over whether feminists had plotted to ruin ugly guys’ dating practices, with Chad not convinced that feminists were that powerful. However, they both had their scepticisms about the official JFK assassination story.

Whenever they talked about a new subject, the ratio between things they had in common and places where they differed was pretty even. Despite the disagreements, Noah’s passion during their conversations was enough for Chad to wake up each morning with his pearly whites showing.

During their discussions, people would regularly pass Chad and wave or high five him, interrupting Noah to talk to Chad for a little bit. When the frequency of this became too much for Noah, he put his headphones and listened to music while waiting to talk to Chad again, often posting to Incels.me on his phone about how ugly men were the social class facing the most discrimination.

Over the next two or so weeks, Noah did this less and less, even joining in on the conversations between Chad and other students on occasion. At one point he stopped bringing his headphones into the classroom altogether. He considered grabbing them again when Chad told him how proud he was of him for talking with others, but upon seeing Chad’s gentle expressions, he decided against it. He couldn’t help but wonder how hunter eyes could at times look like the eyes of a duckling.

#chad vs incel #Chad x Incel #bisexual #incel #romance #drama #original fiction #breaking stereotypes #lesbian #Chad and the Incel

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