#+And there's your final bell+

[blusical]

So let me get this straight (no pun intended) The NHL is getting rid of not only the pride warmup jerseys, but also *literally every other jersey*, just because some whiny babies couldnt keep their mouth shut? Really? And then they wonder why the NHL isn't as popular as other sports SMH.

[drurrito]

you in a honky tonk

an: all mistakes are mine for sure

warnings: alcohol...

----------------

It's your first night off in weeks, and you're spending it in some country bar in the middle of nowhere. Sam didn't need much to convince you. Your original plan was to waste away on the couch watching Gossip Girl reruns.

You're two drinks in by the time you're hitting a line dance with Sam and Carol. The rest of the crew watches on from the safety of a long table.

Clint has a trucker hat pulled down just enough to cover the bruise that some heavyweight painted around his eye last night. Bucky flicks the brim of the tan cowboy hat that he "borrowed" from a nearby table. Yelena keeps picking at the frayed bandage on her hand to the tune of Natasha scolding her every other minute for doing so.

"Stop your fussing, go out there already," with a huff, Yelena nods towards the dance floor. Natasha spares half a glance, and it's enough to catch the way your smile gleams under the colorful lighting. For a second, Natasha's heart thumps in double-time with the music.

"I don't dance," Natasha takes a swig from the beer bottle in her hand and focuses on it while the music slows and the dance floor begins to clear. The DJ pitches a one-liner about slowing it down for a couple songs to give people some reprieve. You only make it a few steps towards the table when Carol stops you with a hand on your arm.

"Wanna dance?" she asks like she already knows the answer. You match her lopsided smile with one of your own.

"I'll lead."

You take her hand and follow her back to the dance floor. Natasha watches the way you twirl Carol under your fingers with a natural ease. Even the way you two-step in tandem with Carol seems practiced, Natasha looks at Yelena's wounded hand to keep her mind from galloping off into the sunset.

Carol is hardly around. But when she is, it's a whole thing. She always hand-picks someone to be a lucky participant--last time it was Steve, this time it must be you. Of course Carol likes to go dancing--turning heads everywhere she goes has always been her M.O.

"Your face is going to get stuck like that," Yelena quips. She takes a sip of her drink and then licks at the Whiskey glossing her upper lip. Natasha spreads and flexes her fingers so they don't ball into fists.

"All eyes on her, just the way she likes it," Natasha does a piss-poor job of trying not to sound like a grump.

"Maybe," Yelena takes another sip, "she just likes to have fun, and doesn't care about who is watching."

Natasha entertains this with a hum and ignores the tender spot where Yelena's words dig. Carol just wanting to have some fun could (very likely) be true, but that would mean cutting this pity party a lot shorter than anticipated. Natasha's worked too hard these past few weeks to not indulge herself.

She is toying with the bottle in her hand when Yelena jabs an elbow into her arm. Natasha glares at her and then looks over in time to catch you dipping Carol as the song ends. She feels her jaw twitch as you pull Carol up with a laugh. As if on cue, Carol's hand finds the center of your chest and her lips stretch into a smile that is far too wide.

"Now's your chance, sestra," Yelena sings into the mouth of her glass but knows better than to look her sister in the eye at this point.

One time. Natasha smiled for a little too long after talking to you one time, and Yelena has never let her hear the end of it.

Carol and Sam slide into a seat at the table. You're about to do the same until a slow and sweet tune fills the room.

"I love this song," you look towards the dance floor to find people already pairing off.

"Need a dance partner?" Yelena hardly tries to hide her enthusiasm as she points at her sister. Natasha thinks about the force needed to bend Yelena's finger backwards so it looks like she's pointing at herself.

"If you'll have me."

You're earnestly smiling like you didn't just ask Natasha to embarrass herself in a bar filled with strangers.

"I would, but I can't dance," her eyes stay on yours. Even under the funky bar lighting, the way your eyes crinkle with your smile makes her stomach twist something awfully spectacular.

"That's okay, just follow my lead, you'll make it back in one piece," it's at this moment that Natasha realizes she can't even pretend like she can say "no" to you.

Natasha downs the rest of her liquid courage in one gulp to wordlessly take your hand without a second thought. Yelena bites her lip with amusement. Bucky puts his hat on your head when you're not looking. Natasha takes this opportunity to adjust it while she makes you promise not to get upset if she smashes your toes the entire song.

"You watched me get choke slammed by a guy five-times my size less than 24 hours ago and you're worried about stepping on my toes?"

Natasha hates how easy it is for you to make her laugh while she's looking down the barrel of public humiliation. You test the waters with a few steps before spinning Natasha into your side. You can feel how stiff she is against you.

"I got you."

The confidence in your voice makes Natasha's shoulders instantly depart from her ears. You sway and step together for a few beats and then raise both of your arms and spin yourself so you're in front of her again. For a split-second, Natasha thinks she's getting the hang of it until she steps on your foot while you're trying to twist her one way and then the other.

"It's okay, it's okay," you quickly soothe, pulling her closer than she’s ever been to anyone in the observable universe.

Natasha has no time for regret when you throw her arm around your neck with ease and spin the two of you across the dance floor. She can faintly hear the chorus as your hand slides up to her shoulder and your face is barely an inch from hers. Natasha can feel your other hand ghost the outline of her ass, travel the length of her thigh and arrive at the bend in her knee. Her breath is about to catch in her throat when you honest to god dip her like something out of a movie.

Without thinking, Natasha throws her head back like she's done this before as you lower her close to the ground.

"See? You're a natural," god, that makes her blush. Natasha's not even thinking about how her front melts against yours when you pull her back up and sway like that for a couple bars. You tangle and untangle yourselves again before letting her go with an encouraging "spin, spin!" and catch her with a proud smile that touches your ears.

Every time you hold out your hand, Natasha takes it without question. It makes sense when you grab her waist and her arm drapes over your shoulder. Where you go, she goes. You're a very good dancer. She starts to wonder if the chemistry she saw between you and Carol was all in her head.

"You trust me?" Natasha stifles a shiver when your lips brush against her ear.

"We're about to find out," she fights off another shiver when you respond by breathing out a laugh against her neck. You take a few steps with her, twirling her away from you. When you pull her back, you sweep her off her feet until she's almost upside down.

"Hold onto me," is all you say before bringing her back up. Natasha's death grip on your tricep relaxes when her eyes are back on you once more. She forgets the crowd and doesn't realize the song is ending as you spin her around and around until both of her feet are on solid ground.

"Not bad for your first dance. My toes made it out unscathed too!" You share a laugh on your way back to the table. You're both tapping a foot to the music as you talk. Natasha stiff arms Bucky so she can keep you in that hat on for a little longer.

[alchemistc]

WIP Wednesday

Coming in with only a few hours left in this Wednesday but Goon is still refusing the tweaking I'm doing to it and up until about 4AM this morning I didn't actually have any drafts in the bank that would maybe see the light of day.

tagged by @cliophilyra and @firehose118, thank you guys!

Here's some more "Buck and Tommy met at the poker game" AU:

"Ours just say 'Need mo' joe," Buck says, and his eyes take in the wide ridges of Tommy's smile. They're three beers deep and the little tasting tree set between them has long been shoved off to the side, mostly so that Tommy could fold up a paper menu into a little origami helicopter to demonstrate the science behind flying one. He's - he's the kinda cool that sneaks up on you: a deadpan joke layered over a wry grin, the sort of guy who could fireman carry someone Buck's size but still knows how to make delicate things, and Buck is so fucking glad he'd made that call, earlier on the week. He's not hurting for friends, but the draw he'd felt to get to know Tommy hadn't released any tension even as Tommy had described updraft and gestured at the imaginary dash he'd seen in his minds eye as he explained some of the crazier maneuvers he's pulled off. "Is that why you called me? Looking for a badass coffee mug?" The question feels... off. Leading. Buck doesn't have a single idea where it's going, but it feels like it's going somewhere. And he doesn't know where, or how to answer without sounding like he's completely lost his mind. "Nah, I just - the poker game was fun, the other night. Just thought it'd be fun to hang out somewhere where Chief Williams wasn't secretly annoyed Eddie brought me along to see if we could cheat Vegas out of some cash." There's a flicker of something in Tommy's eyes that catches the interest of the little worm inside Bucks brain that hasn't been able to focus on anything but Tommy in days, but it's gone before Buck can get a read on it. "Counting cards isn't technically cheating," Tommy intones, and his Adams apple bobs when he takes another drag off his lager. It'd been a little too sweet for Buck's taste, but now he catches himself wishing there was enough left in the beer tree for him to taste it again. "Is that an argument you've ever won against a pit boss?" Tommy's laugh is smooth and warm, and his eyes crease when he smiles, the blue irises bright behind dark lashes. "What kind of stake do you have to drop that a pit boss is even gonna notice you cleaning up?" He points a finger. "Don't forget, I know your salary."

[danwhobrowses]

For anyone else who is gonna struggle surviving the next 3 weeks with the angsty and tense situation of Callowmoore here's a few things from the last 2 episodes that I feel were underrated and will assist in trying to keep me sane/emotionally stable: - Matching messed up hands built for holding - Fearne nervously playing with her hair as she approaches Ashton - Ashton wanted Fearne to be either the last thing they saw if they died or the first thing they saw when they succeeded - Fearne's admittance corroborates Ashley's 4SD revelation that Fearne is in love with someone in the party but doesn't know how to process the emotions - Fearne wanted Ashton to be happy, while Ashton wanted to feel whole so they would be worthy of the Hells - Ashton twice tried to lead a search for Fearne, and instantly clocking onto Chetney saying he followed Fearne - Fearne making herself look as radiant as possible before giving Ashton the cold shoulder - Ashton only rose to Chetney's provocations until he said 'You hurt Fearne' Use how you will

[emry-stars-oc]

princess & the frog shenanigans happening in the mer Q/human Bo timeline

✨ (continuation with sea-cucumber-censorship under the cut) ✨

[themboification]

"i'm afraid... i'm afraid i'm a bad person, imogen"

"you're not a bad person, you're not a bad person"

i kiss her again

[luminousstardust]

🚨‼️THIS MEANS JESTER HAS SENDING BACK‼️🚨

[strawglicksocs]

The cast for Prime of Your Life, an LPS series of mine :]

[utilitycaster]

I don't begrudge anyone their campaign preferences, and I think there's plenty of valid reasons to like Campaign 3 the best and this is not directed at people who are genuinely having a great time with it, but it feels like virtually all the nostalgia and wishful thinking I see surrounding Campaign 3 is screaming "you guys want Campaign 2." You want more slow travel and downtime and interparty conversations and slow-burn romance? You wish their main focus was fighting governmental corruption? You want a party that only semi-settles down at the end and keeps adventuring and remains very close? You're frustrated by how everpresent and overarching the moon plot is? You miss when they were just fucking around in a city? I genuinely believe you want Campaign 2, or at best you love a specific ship or a character from Campaign 3 but aren't happy about basically anything else, and would vastly prefer the tone and events and plot of Campaign 2. And I don't really care if you watch Campaign 2, or if you think I'm being annoying here; I simply genuinely believe you'd be happier watching Campaign 2 than Campaign 3 and are so deep in a sunk cost fallacy well you can't see it.

[blusical]

I'm seeing more "Bedard doesn't wanna be in Chicago"/"Pull a Lindros" discourse... again -_- And tbh, everytime I see it, I think of the folks who wanted Bedard to join the Canucks instead of Chicago. And every time I think *that*, I immediately think of the Canucks' owner, who may or may not also be a piece of shit himself.

(source)

[dilf-in-peril]

I love the absolute insanity unfolding here while Colt's Copacabana entrance music plays for the perfect soundtrack dissonance.

[aerinfrankellove]

As a sports official from a long line of sports officials (not hockey but I have a point) refs and umps are rarely malicious in their calls and most discrepancy comes down to human error. Because refs are human and do the best with the information they are presented and sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. Even in games when I’ve been the team screwed over by a call it really irks me that people jump to the game being rigged when there is very little evidence to suggest otherwise other than a few calls going against a team

[ayrennaranaaldmeri]

I can't believe Emmrich is scoring higher than other characters in polls, l didn't realise so many people with good taste existed.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Really love how the mother of Zoey101 Star, Christopher Massey, is trying to defend Dan Schneider with saying blame the parents, when by her own logic, she's taking the blame then for not only Christopher being an abuser but also her other son, Kyle Massey, for being a predator.

[lalalaugenbrot]

Mad Men: without context

[danwhobrowses]

Okay sure just split the group again I'm sure nothing could go wrong this time dividing them into sub-groups to sting at high levelled and relatively unknown areas with high risk and high threat of boss level enemies in the vicinity and then go on another break to make us stew on that, it's fine IT'S FINE!