he did a nazi salute at a concert, insulted ice spice for her race and body-shamed her. calling out people on racism as a person of color is such a fucking nightmare, even just generally when you do this the person you're correcting pulls up the victim card and refuses to acknowledge how dangerous their beliefs are, when you do that, you become the problem. people like matty healy ARE THE PROBLEM.

I miss 2020. I miss when I pulled up Folklore on Spotify and rediscovered Taylor and freaked out over Evermore and watched Miss Americana and thought Taylor was the greatest person on earth. I miss being ignorant and being able to enjoy her music in peace. I'm no stranger to her controversies (I used to have a blog dedicated to her but deleted it after the Ginny & Georgia fiasco), but somehow I convinced myself to just move on. It was my white privilege I guess, that told me I could still maintain a relationship with her. (Albeit a critical one).

But now?

I just can't. I can't defend her anymore. Taylor's not an idiot. Her team aren't idiots. They know full well who M*tty He*lly is and they don't care. They are, in their good conscience, associating (and in Taylor's case dating) He*ally, a (now) known racist, anti-semite, queerphobe, Islamaphobe, etc. They don't care about who he is. Taylor doesn't care about who he is. She's just in it for herself. And I in good faith cannot continue supporting her. Like, at all. And I feel so lost.

I have multiple of her CDs. She was my top artist on Spotify wrapped last year. I have a fucking CALENDER of her on my wall. She meant a lot to me. Her music means a lot to me. Just last week I was flipping out over Spean Now TV. But how can I listen to it now? How can I still give her my money knowing who she truly is? I can't hide from it anymore.

For those who say this a PR stunt, it's a fucking horrible one. If I were on her team I would have shut this down before it even started. "All press is good press" well sometimes the press isn't worth it. Sometimes it blows up in your face. And I HOPE it blows up in Taylor's face. I hope she regrets this for the rest of her life. Because she should know better! Her team should know better! Shame on them! Taylor, who made a whole documentary about her "stepping into politics" and standing up for minority rights, should know enough that she needs to stick to her word. But she also knows she's a rich white billionaire so IG we know what truly drives her morals.

And for those who say M*tty's just doing a bit or that we should just let her be happy, A) M*tty is a grown-ass man. A grown-ass man does not use bigotry as a "bit" in good conscience. If he thinks it's funny as a bit then he thinks it's funny actually. B) Nobody's happiness is worth more than those who are hurt by it, celebrity or not. Taylor is 33. She knows what she's doing. She sees the controversy. And she's basking in it.

“Are they coming?” Hero whispered, her voice raspy and gravely from days of being unused.

Villain looked up from her phone. “What?”

“Are—are they coming? My team?” She stammered. She peeked up from her knees, strands of hair messily falling into her face. Villain stared back at her, an eyebrow raised. Hero shrunk backwards.

The woman who’d been watching over her hadn’t been much more than apathetic to the hostage. She asked her name once, gave her’s, then they didn’t speak again unless she was handing her a plate of food and had to prompt Hero into uncurling from the bunched-up lump she’d assumed the past few days.

Villain hadn’t been cruel, but she was a villain—she could be cruel.

“No, not yet.”

“When’s my time up?” Hero asked.

“It was up yesterday.”

“O-oh.” Hero leaned back down into her knees. What was going to happen? The time was up, her team wasn’t going to come, and now…she was entirely at the mercy of the villains that kidnapped her.

“You aren’t going to get hurt, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Hero’s head slammed up again so hard and so fast that she could’ve broken her neck if she had a scrap more strength in her weakened body. “Really?” She managed scratchily.

It wasn’t what she expected to hear—Hero didn’t expect to hear anything at all, and definitely not from her captor that barely even glanced at her unless it was necessary—but even so, the words came as a slight cooling balm to the frantic, erratic thumping of her heart.

Her wide eyes locked with Villain’s eyes, wildly searching her for any sign of deception in her steely gaze.

“I’m in charge of anything that happens to you, and I’m not a big fan of the ‘cutting off a body part per day’ things—its too messy, and I’m the one that has to clean up afterwards.” Villain shrugged. She glanced back down at her phone, but shoved it in her pocket and leaned back against the wall, arms crossed. “Why isn’t your team coming? I thought heroes were supposed to save people, especially their own teammate.”

Hero hesitated, her mouth dry as she searched for the words to say—if she should speak at all. She wasn’t captured to be friendly with her captors. Saying too much would expose her vulnerabilities, her weaknesses, her insecurities. Things easily manipulated. It would be better to stay silent as she was before and bunch her head back between her knees.

But she hadn’t talked in so long.

Usually, she preferred to be alone and stay silent, but it had been so long without any contact with anybody that she found herself craving a conversation.

“Here, drink this. You don’t want to lose your voice.” Villain said.

Hero barely caught the plastic water bottle.

To Villain’s credit, she hadn’t been unnecessarily cruel with the bonds. Hero’s hands were untied, and she could move them around as she pleased. It was only her right ankle that had a chain around it, attached to a hook in the floor. Even then, it was firm but it wasn’t too tight. She had enough slack from the chain to get up and pace a few steps, if she chose.

It granted Hero the ability to drink the water herself instead of having to rely on somebody else to do it. She had that to be thankful for, she told herself in an effort to calm herself down.

“…th—thank you.” Hero gulped.

Villain took the empty plastic bottle. “My question?” She prompted.

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I tried my hardest—I really did—but,” her voice cracked and tears began to burn in her eyes, “but I’m the dispensable one. I’m not as close with them as they are with each other…I’m just—there.”

She shoved her palms over her eyes, trying to push back the tears to keep them from flowing. She didn’t want to cry. Not with Villain watching.

“So are you going to sit here and wait for them to come?”

“Do I have a choice?” Came the responding sniffle.

What else was she supposed to do? It wasn’t as if she could do much from her prison. The only things to do were sleep, dissociate, wallow in self pity, or stare at the blank wall and do a weird combination of all.

Hero could feel Villain’s eyes honed on her, as palpable as a hawk’s gaze.

“Your deadline already passed, so that means I have full control over you. As I said before, I’m not going to hurt you, I’m not going to chop off your body parts and send it to them in a box, I’m not going to kill you, but I don’t think you want to sit in here everyday for the rest of your life.” Villain answered. “Is that what you want?”

Mutely, Hero shook her head.

“Then you do have an option. You can stay in this room forever, or you can become a villain.”

“B—but—“ Hero gaped. “I—I can’t be a villain, I…” Her heart pounded too loud, throbbing in her ears, jackhammering against her chest as if it would burst that moment.

Villain’s hands on her wrists were cold as ice, but gentle as she moved Hero’s hands aside. “Hero, right? I don’t usually take a vested interest in captives, but I’m taking it in you, so you should use that.”

“Can I—can I have time to think about it?” She croaked. She had all the time in the world. Her—the team wasn’t coming anytime soon.

Villain nodded, stepped away, and within a few seconds, it was back to how it usually was. Villain was back to guarding the door, looking at something on her phone without much interest towards her prisoner, and Hero was shrinking into her body as if it were a shield.

However, this time, Hero wasn’t desperately clinging onto the scrap of hope that the team was coming.

This time…she was considering taking the deal.

And Villain wanted to gloat.

“After all these years,” they started, “after countless battles between you and I. It is finally you who loses and me who is victorious. I won, I’ve defeated you.”

They let out a victorious laugh as they turn to the large curtain concealing view of the city. They heard a rustle of chains as they opened the curtain, letting some light into the room. They paid no mind to the noise, too giddy to see what Hero was up to. It wasn’t like the hero could escape, Villain had spent too much time chasing after the hero; they weren’t going to let them get free so easily.

Instead Villain focused their  loving gaze on the city view. The beautiful, serene city, full of regular civilians milling about. Some catching a cab for work, some grabbing a quick bite to eat at some small cafe, some meeting up with friends. Beautiful, tall buildings, some dating back to the 1700s. Rich with history. 

Soon to be destroyed at Villain’s command.

“Look at them,” they said. “Living their normal, ordinary lives. Completely oblivious to what is about to come. Faceless beings, extras in the grand scheme of things. And among them, your loved ones. They’ll perish too. Because you—”

They turned around and paused mid-sentence. Hero still sat there, chained up and unable to escape. The only difference was the thick black cape that wrapped around them perfectly. Villain’s cape. Only their face was visible as they sat swaddled in the stolen good, their expression caught between a scowl and a pout.

“You stole my cape,” said Villain, too stunned to come up with a snarky reaction.

“It’s cold up here,” Hero said simply. “If you had invested in some sort of heating system for your lair, I wouldn’t have resorted to thievery.”

“You’re adorable,” the villain spoke with a forced sneer. Because they were adorable. They looked cute and warm and absolutely perfect cuddled under Villain's cape. 

Villain stared at them a moment longer before returning to their big speech, the image of Hero swaddled in their cape never leaving their mind.

Weeks passed as Villain’s plan slowly began to unfold. Hero still sat in their lair with a direct view through the window. And over those weeks, Hero and Villain had spent a lot of down time talking to each other, getting to know one another. Developing feelings for one another. 

Though both were way too stubborn to admit it. Hero would deem it crazy and boil it down to just a mild case of Stockholm syndrome. While Villain would pull some dramatics and claim to rather die than admit some silly feelings. 

But to the outsiders’ eye, there was no pair more obvious with their attraction towards one another than Hero and Villain. With the gentle tones they’d use on one another, and the surprisingly soft treatment Hero received despite being held captive. Villain always went out of their way to feed Hero a hot meal everyday instead of the cardboard-like granola bars they’d saved specifically for their prisoners. They’d even turned the heat up so Hero could rest as comfortably as one could when chained down.

Villain hated to admit that they really enjoyed the pleasant smile Hero started to send them whenever they entered. Something selfish began to grow inside of them as they found themselves wanting to keep Hero here forever. Their heart filled with joy whenever they gazed upon the hero, a void they didn’t know was empty being filled.

But today, Villain didn’t feel that joy. Today was the result of all their hard work finally paying off. The city was under complete chaos, half of the buildings burned with the other half fell away from explosions and flying debris. The entire city was being destroyed, just like they’d promised Hero it would. 

They should be thrilled, all of their hard work finally paying off. But all they saw was Hero’s solemn face as they stared out the window, watching the city they’ve spent their whole life protecting get turned upside down. It put a damper on Villain’s mood, Hero’s pain no longer worth the satisfaction of their successful plans.

They glanced between the Hero and the burning city, an idea coming to their head. A stupid idea, that would undo all of the progress they had made. Only an idiot would come up with such a thought and actually try to go through with it.

They stood before Hero and crouched down to their level, a small sigh passing through their nose. Hero spared them a quick glance before returning their gaze out the window. They still wore Villain’s cape around them, Villain never had the heart to take it from them. They looked far too cozy and Villain found some form of satisfaction seeing Hero snuggled up under their cloak.

They had taken it once, while Hero was sleeping. Hero had spilt their food on it, so Villain had made sure to wash it while they slept so it’d be clean when they woke. The smile on Hero’s face was enough to make Villain’s week.

“I know it looks bad out there,” Villain started. “But, there’s still time. If you’d like, I could ask some of my henchmen to take all of your loved ones to safety.”

Hero sighed and leaned their head against the cold wall, their eyes never leaving the window. “No need. I don’t have loved ones.”

“Are all heroes this dramatic?” asked the villain. “You must have some loved ones.”

Hero shook their head. “Not me. My mom’s dead, I never knew my dad. I have no brothers or sisters. And making friends isn’t exactly easy in this line of work, let alone keeping them.”

Villain didn’t know what to say to comfort them. They were far from able to step into their shoes. Villain had quite a few henchmen they could call friends, a couple they could even call best friends. And, yes, even though they never spoke to their parents, they were still healthy and very much alive. As it stood, Villain was the last person to understand Hero. And expressing sympathy never was their best trait.

“Sometimes I think I chose the wrong line of work,” said Hero. This caught Villain off guard. 

“What do you mean?” 

Hero released a half-shrug, the fire from the city reflecting in their eyes. “Maybe I was wrong. I entered the academy, went through countless hours of training to become this great hero. I wanted to create a society that was less dependent on superheroes. And I thought doing something on the hero side of things would do it. I didn’t realize I had worsened their dependency. But I’ve been here for almost a month and . . . ”

They shook their head, a minute motion that would have gone unnoticed if Villain had been looking elsewhere. “I’m just like the other heroes.”

An air of silence stretched between the two of them; Hero lost in their own head, and Villain at a loss for what to say to help. If there even was something that could be said to help Hero. They just observed Hero as they kept their gaze on the scene outside. 

“And I know it’s selfish to say,” the hero started again. They turned to face Villain fully, their voice rising to a normal volume. The suddenness of their action startled the villain but they kept quiet, allowing Hero to get what they needed off their chest.

“But I’ve actually enjoyed these past few weeks. I’ve risked my life every second of the day for the good of this city. And it’s exhausting,” they let out a loud sigh, releasing all of their pent up stress in that one huff of breath. “This felt like a vacation, believe it or not. A long overdue vacation. Does that make me a lousy hero?”

Villain shook their head with a slight smile. “No, it doesn’t. It just makes you human.” 

And now that stupid idea they thought of.

“I’ll tell you what,” they started, already preparing to regret it. “You seem to really care about this city. Genuinely. You want to see it thrive. I respect that.”

“I’ll let you go,” they said. “And make it look like an accident. I’ll call off the rest of my plans and help you restore the city.”

Hero sent them a suspicious look, like they couldn’t fully trust their word. And Villain couldn’t blame them, they were the reason Hero was here in the first place.

“What’s the catch?”

Villain shook their head. “No catch, I promise . . .”

They trailed off as they looked into the hero’s eyes, shining with a glimmer of hope. Their beautiful eyes that still seemed to contain the slightest bit of innocence, like the hero still saw the good in everyone. Including Villain. 

Another stupid idea popped into the villain’s brain. One that would leave them embarrassed and unable to face the hero again if they failed. 

“Well, there may be one condition,” they said with a shy smile.

Hero playfully rolled their eyes and shook their head indignantly. “There’s always a catch with you villains.”

A small wave of satisfaction flows through Hero as they watch the usually calm Villain flush red. They look at Hero with a strong sense of determination in their eyes, mustering up the courage to ask for what they want. 

“I want to kidnap you again next week,” said the villain. “I’ll take you somewhere nice. With a heating system so you don’t freeze to death.”

Now it’s Hero’s turn to blush. They sat silent for a moment as it took them a second to find their voice. 

“Are you asking me on a date?”

It almost didn’t seem real but Villain nodded their head, confirming Hero’s question. And as bizarre as this whole thing was, Hero found themselves flattered by it. They found themself nodding as a burst of excitement welled up inside them.