#// me when i was grabbing fcs to put in this post: not realizing they all have light hair except for one

[mythcaels-a]

i need the dash to look at one more round of fcs.

[jsprnt]

Healing Hearts PT. 17 | Virgil van Dijk

Would a fresh start bring you more than just a new job?

A/N: last post of 2023 🥺 happy new year babes! Wishing for 2024 to be your year! Thank you so much for all the love this year <3

WC: 3.136

Summary: Y/N L/N is a very skilled and praised physiotherapist. A certain event pushing her for a fresh start, as a physiotherapist for Liverpool FC. One question always being in the back of her mind: Will she be able to let go of her past and allow herself to experience new things?

"Do you want to go in the same car or?"

I shout from my room, getting ready for the day as Virgil is eating breakfast.

I myself didn't feel particularly hungry, more so because it was the first time we'd go into the training center as a 'known' couple. So, I figured I should at least look good, deciding to take my time on my make up.

"Yeah, we'll come home from the match together then." He answers, as hear I the dishwasher being pulled open. Then hearing his footsteps coming closer.

"What are you doing?" He asks, coming closer to me as I set my face with powder.

"Making sure my art stays in place." I joke, turning back to face him as he sits on the edge of my bed.

"I'm almost done I promise."

I finally grab my lip products, lining my lips meticulously and applying my gloss. Chucking both products into my bag as I stand up.

"Let's go."

I pull on my sneakers, checking myself out in the mirror for a split-second before we finally get into the elevator.

"Who's going to drive? You or me?"

I ask, watching the numbers on the elevator screen go down.

"I'll drive of course." He smiles, showing off his keys.

He holds my hand as we leave my apartment building, as we walk up to his car. Opening the door for me.

He walks around, as I put my seat belt on, getting in himself. Meanwhile, I grab my phone to check my notifications, now minimal since I deleted my social media apps.

"Here." I hear Virgil say, handing his phone to me.

I look at him confused, then looking at the phone screen. A playlist, titled 'red scrubs.'

"What's this?"

I ask, scrolling through, realizing it was full of all my favorite songs. Looking back up at him as he drives with one hand.

"A playlist I've made for you."

A smile forms on my face immediately, my mood getting brighter than earlier.

"You're so cute." I mumble, unable to stop cheesing at his cheesiness. It was very small and childish gesture, but the love it expressed was huge.

I watch him smirk, my hand coming up to squeeze his bicep playfully.

"How'd you even-"

"I wrote the song titles on my phone when you got excited about them."

I smile even harder, looking away for a moment to regain my composure. Then leaning slightly to kiss his cheek in appreciation.

"Let's see if you did a good job then hm?" I say, putting the playlist on shuffle.

"Why am I suddenly getting so nervous? Maybe separate cars was a better idea." I say, wiping my clammy hands on my thighs. My nerves getting the best of me.

I watch Virgil glance at me, his eyebrow raised as he drives up to the training center. Greeting the security nicely, as we drive into the parking lot.

Parking all the way in the back, this was either good or bad. We were about to do the walk of shame and pride at the same time.

He finally turns to me, his bigger hand grabbing mine. His thumb caressing my knuckles softly.

"You're going to be okay."

He assures, leaning to kiss the top of my head.

"It's like we're showing off or something-"

"So? I want to show you off. What is anyone going to do about that?" He asks, gazing into my eyes.

Right, what is anyone going to do?

"We'll go in just like usual okay? Want to hold my hand or no?" He asks, his eyes softening.

I nod only, trying to compose myself fully.

I grab onto Virgil's hand tightly, only squeezing it harder when we step into the building, his thumb still caressing the back of my hand in reassurance.

"Clara!" I exclaim, seeing her look up with a smile as we walk up to her.

She'd long known about us, we couldn't actually hide it from her as she and I hung out often.

"Finally showing your girl off huh?" She asks Virgil, as I give her a side hug.

She glances at me, probably seeing the nerves on my face.

"You'll be fine, I think the guys will love you two together. Be prepared though, you know how they are." She says, squeezing my shoulder.

We walk further into the building, stopping right in front of the stairs and I already hear a low whistle.

"Look! My new favorite lovebirds!" A very cheery Trent says, Dom walking along with him, towards us.

I dread every second it takes for them to walk up to us, frozen smile plastered on my face.

"Don't start." Virgil waves them off, greeting them both with a handshake. Then going in to hug me.

"Are we allowed to hug her now or?" Dom teases, glancing at Virgil before he hugs me.

"How did you guys learn about it?" I mutter, rolling my eyes humorously.

"My Instagram! We aren't going to be the only ones you know." Trent chimes in.

"Well thank you for the mental preparation. I'll leave to my office now. See you guys later?" I say, letting of Virgil's hand.

He looks at me, eyes definitely asking for a kiss. I groan internally, Trent and Dom looking at us like we're a pair of pandas in a zoo.

I plant a quick kiss on his cheekbone, stubble grazing my skin slightly as I make a run for it before I could hear the guys say anything.

Sadly, I do hear a very loud "You know Virg, you've got some pink lip stuff on your cheek."

I walk into the canteen during lunchtime, Clara glued to my hip. Only because I forced her to, for emotional support as I watch eyes linger on me as we both fill up our plates.

"Doctor! Clara here!" I hear, snapping my head to a table, a very enthusiastic Ibou, his hands motioning for us to come over. His laugh undeniably infectious as a smile creeps up to my own face.

"Good afternoon guys." I say, realizing they probably intentionally left a seat next and across from Virgil. I sit next to him as Clara sits across from me.

Virgil automatically looks at me, grabbing my plate out of my hands and putting it down. His arms coming behind me, around my back as he smiles at me.

"Hey." He says, shamelessly placing a kiss on my cheek. Followed by immediate commotion from the table.

Some "aww's" mixed with some "my eyes!" making me laugh.

"Come on guys calm down." Clara says, trying to level out the comments.

"It's not like we didn't know already." I hear Ryan say and I immediately look up at him.

"What do you mean?" I ask, glancing at Virgil for a moment. His hand coming to hold mine underneath the table, resting both our hands on his thigh.

"We've been suspecting you two for like... two weeks or something." Harvey says and I raise a brow at him.

"Someone elaborate, please." I urge, the suspense was killing me.

"We kind of knew something was going on when we heard you went to the Netherlands and Greece game." Cody explains, looking at me.

Really, It was that easy? I had been stressing and fretting for no reason? They kind of knew already? That early?

"Yeah, but we kind of knew since your first day." Trent explains.

"My first day?"

"Yeah, captain had been talking about you in the changing room, like every day from then on."

This slowly started to become my favorite conversation ever. A grin forms on my face, gently squeezing Virgil's hand.

"Really?" I ask Virgil, a caught off guard expression on his face. That was why the guys looked so- giggly and smiley that first week?

"He's going to start blushing now!" I hear, immediately laughing as he did look insanely flustered.

"Right, he said you were 'the most beautiful woman that he’d ever worked with' and 'your smile was-" Virgil puts his hand over Curtis' mouth, stopping him from speaking.

"That's enough. Isn't it?" He mumbles, embarrassed smile on his face.

I tap his thigh, motioning him to stop suffocating Curtis as I lean into his side. His arm reluctantly wrapping around my back again.

"I want to hear more." I beam, looking at Curtis as I finally dug into my food.

"We had bets and everything." Curtis says, smug grin on his face.

"About?"

"Like who said 'I love first' or when you guys got together." Trent explains.

"Ohh, must've been very entertaining for you guys." I say, covering my full mouth with my hand.

Yeah, but it gave me heart palpitations.

"Are you two going to reveal it then? I need to know if I won." Cody chimes in, as he takes a gulp of his water.

I glance at Virgil, smiling at him. The team definitely knew how to entertain themselves with gossip.

"That's for us to know and for you to wonder." He says, pulling me closer into his side.

"You know we've seen scratches on his back and hickies on his neck-"

"Okay- I don't want to hear more actually.”

"I do not like when we draw." I mutter, to no one in particular as I watch the match unfold right in front of my eyes.

So far it was 1-1 against Bournemouth, and at least we had no injuries. I adjust my position in my seat. I sat in the last seat of the first row, looking directly at the position of the ball on the pitch.

I glance at the players behind me, all packed in their black, green embroidered club puffer jackets like me. Virgil sitting in the seat right behind mine.

The rain had been pouring down ever since the start of the match, making me hope that the damn waterproof mascara did its job and stayed on properly. At least my puffer was warm enough.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, looking back to see Virgil. "You okay?" He asks, rubbing his hands on my jacket.

"Yeah, it's just the rain that's annoying and it's cold." I complain, adjusting my zipper.

He extends his hand, giving me his hot pack.

"Here it'll help a little."

"Thank you." I smile, trying to warm up my hands as his hands stay on my shoulders. It was probably the maximum PDA I would allow in front of cameras.

The match finally ends with a 2-1 win for Liverpool, after an absolute banger of a goal from Darwin. Making us the last eight competing for the Carabao Cup.

I immediately run inside, almost slipping due to my wet shoe soles. Trying to avoid any more rain. Then waiting for everyone to pile inside again, a very happy shouting Virgil rushing in.

"You're going to fall." I comment, watching the last few players walk in.

"I fell already." He says, coming closer to me.

"You did? Are you injured?" I say, looking over him concerned. His hands coming to hold my cheek, making me look at him.

"No, I fell for you."

I blank stare at him for a moment, wondering if he really just said the most cheesy, cliché line ever.

"I think I need a moment." I utter, avoiding him as I walk to stand next to Klopp.

"It was a joke, come on." He complains, coming to stand next to me again. Klopp glancing at us with a smile.

"Yeah, a really bad one. Like who says that?"

"Babe? Can you... pick us up?”

She giggles, phone pressed to her ear clumsily. Dim pub lights casting a minimal glow on her face, her earrings glistening as she moves her head.

"Are you drunk love?" He asks, standing up from her living room sofa, and grabbing his car keys.

"A little, got carried away."

She mumbles, laughing at her drunk friend's dance moves.

"Okay send me your location. Can you do that for me?" He asks, walking out of her apartment.

"I think... I can- hold on." she slurs, tapping some familiar buttons. Managing to send her location to him.

"Alright I'll be there in a few. Want to hang up or stay on the phone?" He asks, starting the engine of his car.

"Stay." She answers, drunkenly keeping an eye on Sofia and Clara.

"Okay, want to tell me something that happened?" He says, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Uhm... this girl was wearing like 15 centimeter heels, like how?" She mumbles, leaning forward onto the table tiredly.

"Hm really? How about yours? Do your ankles not hurt?" He asks, humming.

"I'm just sitting down now." She answers.

"Are your friends there? They're okay right?”

"Yeah... they're very happy." She replies, looking at them laugh and chat clumsily.

"That's good, I'm almost there. Don't come outside yeah?"

She hums, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment.

After a few short minutes the tall athlete arrives, peering around to find three girls sit next to each other. Though, his girlfriend seems totally exhausted while her friend are as cheery as ever.

"y/n." He says, running his hands on her back.

She looks up, recognizing him and standing up. Her body immediately leaning against his, molding against it.

"You're okay." He mumbles, barely audible due to music.

"Girls, let's go." He says, watching both Sofia and Clara grab their own bags. His hand going to grab his girlfriend's bag.

"Sofia, can you walk? Or should I call Noah down?" He asks, having dropped off Clara safely already.

"I'm good." She mumbles having sobered up a bit, reaching over to open the car door.

Virgil looks at his girlfriend in the passenger seat, half awake as her head is angled downwards.

He finally gets out of the car, picking up his girlfriend and walking alongside Sofia, up to their level.

He watches Noah open the door, bringing Clara in as he throws a thumbs up to Virgil.

"Thanks lad!" He says, closing the door as Virgil throws out a ‘no problem’.

Virgil finally opens the front door, bringing y/n onto the couch as he goes to wash his hands and grabs a cup of water.

"Here drink some water." He coaxes, bringing the cup to her lipstick smudged lips.

She complies, eyes open by a sliver as she gulps the entire cup down. He leans down, chucking the heels off her feet.

"Okay now let's get you cleaned up." He mumbles, picking her up again.

"I'm going to set you down on the counter. Alright?"

"Mhm."

"Okay this is your cleanser right?"

He says, showing her a white bottle.

He was right.

"No, I can do it myself." She mumbles, getting off the counter.

"Okay, I'll brush my teeth."

He does, stabilizing her when she stared clumsily moving again. Drunkenly applying all sorts of toners and serums.

"You look like glazed donut."

"That's... the point."

"I know. Let's go to bed."

He guides her by the shoulders, placing her on the edge of her bed as he grabs her pajamas.

"No, I can- do it myself." She exclaims, grabbing the change of clothes as she starts tugging on the zipper on her back.

"Let me- help you."

His hands go up to her zipper, zipping it down successfully as she pulls the dress down further.

He grabs the dress, placing it in the laundry basket and returning to her.

She grabs onto the pajama shirt, pulling it over her head easily, his minimal help needed. She grabs the pajama pants, looking up at him.

"See? I can do it all alone. Even when I’m drunk. I'm a genius-"

She tries to say, accidentally tripping, face-first into the bed when trying to step into the pants fully.

He tries to stifle his laughter, knowing she wouldn't appreciate it. Especially in her drunken state.

"Woah- let me help you."

After a struggle and battle with the pajamas they both finally lay down into the bed cozily. His hand cradling her closer.

"My ankles hurt." She complains, soft groan leaving her mouth.

"Want me to massage them?"

"Yes, please."

He shifts in the bed. Rolling the ends of her pants up as he starts to rub and massage her swollen looking ankles.

"Did you dance a lot?" He asks, a soft hum leaving her lips.

"I wish you didn't wear those high heels then."

"They looked good."

"I know, but still."

He looks closer at the back of her ankles, realizing the back of her heels were probably too rough and made her bleed.

"The back of your ankles are bleeding."

"Really?"

"Hold on."

He walks back and forth to the bathroom, grabbing the necessary disinfectant and band-aids.

She winces as the ointment makes contact with the small wound. He quickly places a band-aid on both ankles and patting her leg.

"I'm sorry love. It's over." He says, voice deep and thick with sleep.

"Let's sleep now."

I watch as Curtis and Virgil pretend to be Santa in front of the camera crew. It was the first week of November but I guess the PR team decided to film Christmas videos already.

I was having some food with Clara at the other table as they had walked in with the cameras on. I try to muffle my laughter as they kept pulling out ridiculous presents from their bags.

I finally see them nearing the end of filming, Trent, Robbo, Curtis and Virgil gathered around and flipping through the calendar full of images from different players.

"Doctor come see this, you'll love it."

I hear Robbo say, looking at me as I pop a strawberry into my mouth. I raise my brows, chewing the fruit as I stand up to see what he's talking about.

"What is it?" I ask putting my hands in my pocket, looking him with questioning look.

"Here see for yourself." He says handing me the calendar. I glance at the guys for a moment, opening the calendar to see every month having a new photo of Virgil.

"Oh-" I say, raising my brows as every photo becomes even more questionable.

"You can have it from Santa!" Curtis says, pushing the calendar further into my arms.

"Oh it's-"

"Aw you don't like it?" Trent chimes in, glancing at Virgil.

"Doesn't really fit with the interior of my apartment you know." I tease playing along, though unable to contain my laughter as Robbo bursts out in laughter.

"You're serious?" Virgil say, looking betrayed.

"You know you seem to love it more than me Andy. Besides, I've got the real deal already."

I joke, handing it to him. Winking at the camera for jokes. There's no way it would be used anyway.

[ofinkdried]

INTRO: MUN // TASK #001

hey all!! i’m slowly working on bios and pages and such but I wanted to introduce myself first -- so here’s what’s technically was the first task?? im using it as the template for my intro so HERE WE GO!!

PERSONAL INTRO

name  /  alias : victoria / tor gender  /  pronouns : cisfemale / she/her where  ya  from  ? : texas!! the  current  time :  4:29 pm height :  5′4 job  or  major :  unemployed at the moment, but I have a degree in health science/health administration & a national certification in phlebotomy pet  (  s  ) :  one doxie/beagle mix named Roxie favorite  thing  (  s  )  about  yourself :  my ability to remember song lyrics better than my own name any  special  talents  ? :  uhhhh I can play 4 ( 5? ) instruments why  you  joined  hqclouds :  FUNNY STORY care was talking to me about some Tea ( we’re in another rp together ) and she made a comment about running an rp and im a bit of a sleuth and found hqclouds and decided to join  meaning  behind  url :  it’s ‘ of clementines ’ because one of my favorite halsey songs is clementine and i’ve been on a halsey kick as of late  last  thing  you  googled :  ‘ fools troye sivan ’ because I wanted to send my friend the music video birthday  /  zodiac :  october 29th / scorpio in  your  opinion  ,  does  your  sign  suit  you  ? : some days myers  -  briggs :  I took it forever ago and don’t remember... ^^’ moral  alignment :  chaotic good hogwarts  house : ravenclaw!! three  fictional  character  (  s  )  you  see  yourself  in  +  why :  oh gosh.... katherine from newsies ( dedicated, doesn’t take a man’s shit), emma from the prom (nervous gay who plays guitar), and flynn rider from tangled (jokester, very in love with our girlfriends) i  started  roleplaying : 2012 I think? types  of  rps  i  enjoy :  definitely literate ones favorite  fcs  to  use :  I try to not reuse fcs a lot?? like I have some I prefer for certain characters, but I don’t have a strong draw to certain faces... fandom  (  s  )  you’d  like  to  write  in : musicals ( namely newsies ), fairy tail, the raven cycle fandom  (  s  )  you  aren’t  in  but  are  curious  about :  uhhhh I dont really know... share  a  funny  roleplay  horror  story :  oh gosh I dealt with one girl who like... constantly gaslit me as a player and my characters, would make me feel bad for not responding immediately, made everything about her characters, and then got mad when I called her out on it? and now she goes to a christian school and says that rp is ‘ the devil’s work ’ and I just... yeah. fondest  roleplay  memory :  I feel like the moment my now girlfriend and I realized we always do ships bc just had awesome chemistry and then started dating like, 4 months later. favorite  canon  muse  (  s  )  to  play : connor murphy ( deh ), gansey ( trc ), spot conlon ( newsies ), jimmy ( bandstand ), lucy heartfillia ( fairy tail ) favorite  original  muse  (  s  )  to  play : theo massard ( a boxer, jack barakat fc; had an AMAZING ship for him )  canon  ships  you  can’t  help  but  love :  CATRADORA. none of my other ships are technically canon : / trope  (  s  )  you  tend  to  be  guilty  of : tragic backstories, tough on the outside soft on the inside i  prefer  .  .  . angst  ,  smut  ,  or  fluff :  I wanna say fluff but I know care and megan will call me out bc I love angst more than anything long  or  short  replies :  mid-length pre  plotting  or  chemistry : chemistry leading to pre plotting! sentence  starters  or  headcanon  memes : both? I love discussing headcanons single  muse  or  multimuse  blogs :  multi!! gif  icons  ,  medium  gifs  ,  or  static  icons : typically gif icons, but lately ive been loving medium gifs grab  the  book  nearest  to  you  and  pull  a  quote  from  it : ok so I have no books atm bc im moving, but the first book on my phone is the dream thieves, and the line I see first is “ The Gray Man considered what it must’ve been like to live like that, always waiting for your door to be kicked in. ” what’s  a  quote  or  song  lyric  that  speaks  to  your  soul  ? : oh gosh, so many... “ I'm a walking travesty/But I'm smiling at everything ” ( therapy, all time low ), “ I imagine the tears in your eyes/The very first night I'll sleep without you ” ( roman holiday, halsey ), “ Am I the product of a problem that I couldn't change?/Got his eyes, got her hair/So do I get their mistakes? ” ( secondhand smoke, kelsea ballerini ) top  current  celebrity  crushes :  halsey, froy guiterrez, harry styles ( always ) last  movie  you  watched :  I think it was uhhhhhh miss americana on netflix? did  you  like  it  ? :  YES I loved it favorite  movie  (  s  )    of  all  time : 10 things I hate about you, newsies ( ’92 ) favorite  tv  show  (  s  )  of  all  time : she-ra, queer eye, fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood, gossip girl favorite  tv  show  that  hasn’t  ended : zoey’s extraordinary playlist favorite  series  of  books  /  novels  /  comics : the raven cycle, all for the game, the last song sports  team  (  s  )  you  rep : dallas cowboys, houston astros ( yeah I know about the scandal and I hate it, but they’re my team ), FAU owls ( my alma mater ) favorite  video  game  (  s  ) : breath of the wild, KH series favorite  youtube  channels : unus annus, daniel howell ( rip he hasn’t posted in a year ), the try guys, NPR Music, CrankGameplays ( ethans just a dork I dont even like gamer videos that much ) hobbies :  guitar, singing, being in zoom musicals ( im playing whatsername from american idiot for one in July and auditioned for a few others! ), reading what  are  the  three  non  essential  things  you’d  bring  to  a  deserted  island  ? : my guitar, my laptop, wifi put  your  music  on  shuffle.  what  six  songs  pop  up  ? : HOLD ME TIGHT OR DONT, fall out boy; I’m Still Here, John Rzeznik; Towers, Little Mix; Way Down Hadestown, hadestown obc; Stitches, state champs (cover); Look Back, betty who personal  aesthetic : nerdy punk?  dream  vacation  ? : disneyland paris or disneyland Singapore with my gf dream  job  ? :  music teacher dream  car  ? :  one that works at this point if  i  could  live  anywhere  ,  it’d  be : austin, texas ( im about an hour away rn ) favorite  musical : OH GOSH..... the prom, bandstand, newsies, hadestown favorite  food  (  s  ) :  blueberry pancakes, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing coffee  order :  at starbucks? venti iced chai tea latte. at dunkin? large iced vanilla coffee. at home? french vanilla coffee and caramel macchiato creamer and 2 scoops of sugar.  unwatched  stuff  in  your  netflix  /  hulu  /  etc :  netflix: sex education, the umbrella academy, end of the f***ing world, the people vs. oj simpson. hulu: portrait of a lady on fire, my friend dahmer, rocketman what’s  a  subject  you  know  too  much  about  +  never  get  tired  of  talking  about  ? : I dunno? I have a ton of useless facts on a wide range of subjects. like did you know that in 100 letters, halsey says ‘ You wrote 100 letters just for me/And I find them in my closet in the pockets of my jeans/Now I'm constantly reminded of the time I was 19/Every single one's forgotten in a laundromat machine ’ and that’s actually autobiographical -- her bf at the time wrote a note and put it in a pocket of every pair of pants she owned, and she was still finding them months after the relationship ended, so she took all her pants to a laundromat and washed them so she wouldn’t have to see the letters anymore!!

[dramaqueeenamby]

Feast

A/N: Yeah. Idk how to stick with the word requirements for blurbs so here is a whole damn oneshot with Big Nasty and a black reader. Also, ya’ll know I love Amara and she’s my go-to FC, but feel free to ignore and imagine yaselves’! :p

Words: 3.4K

Warnings: Slight, like very slight, and shitty smut

Tagging the fellow Flo’s Hoes/Lil Nasties who I know share love for our manzzzz and expressed interest in this hot mess!

TAGS: @chaneajoyyy @forbeautyandlife @heyauntieeee @crushed-pink-petals @mimigemrose @thepinkjinx @honeychicana @sdcyumyum @babygirlofwakanda

FEAST

“Bitch, hurry up. I can only hold my stomach in for so long. Not all of us have abs like you.”

Your best friend and current photographer sucked her teeth. “What abs? I haven’t done a real workout in months.”

You rolled your eyes, breaking from your position to place your hands on your hips and look over at her, squinting from the intensity of the sun. “What are we about to do then?”

Maya mirrored your stance. “You know damn well we’re only going to make it about a block before we call it quits.”

You laughed. It was true. While Maya had a bit more stamina than you, neither of you were feeling like being healthy. Plus, between decorating your new condo that you’d purchased with your best friend since elementary school or getting in a negative calorie burning workout….playing interior designer sounded a lot more appealing.

“Well let;s at least get these pictures done. We look too bomb to not snap a pic or two.”

“Or 100.”

You fake sniffled. “You know me so well.”

Sharing a laugh, Maya instructed you on how to pose, snapping more than two photos before you switched positions.

“Ugh. Give me your height, please.” At 5’10 with a slim thick figure, your best friend could have easily been a model if you two hadn’t went into the clothing business, opening your own boutique.

Maya snorted. “Give me your booty.”

“It’s a trade,” you agreed as Maya gave you poses that made her look even that more angelic and bomb than she already was. “Work, bitch.” The two of you fell out laughing as she gave a little twerk before covering her face.

“Can’t take us anywhere.”

You wiped at your eyes. “Nowhere.” She came to stand beside as you two perused through the photos you’ve taken eventually settling on one for each of you to post on social media.

“Franchise is going to love that one,” Maya murmured as you guys started to walk back toward your condominium, the decision to bypass the workout an unspoken agreement made among you.

You threw your head back and groaned. “You and that damn nickname.”

“I wouldn’t have given it to him if you would bless that man with some Rosetta Stone.”

“Now see, what we not gon’ do is talk about my baby.”

“That’s the biggest ass baby I’ve ever seen.” As her eyes fell onto you, she caught the sly and suggestive smile planted on your face. “Stop that!”

“You tell no lies,” you wiggled your brows as she grimaced.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” She pretended to gag as you pulled out your phone to check the post. Sure enough, he’d been one of the first to like it.

Smiling, you swiped to see he’d left two separate comments.  

😍😍😍

Mine 🤪🙌🏻❤️

You quickly double tapped both to heart them before giving a quick reply.

☺️😘❤️

Your boyfriend, Florian, was the definition of unexpected. You’d met by chance, both of you being on the same connecting flight that been delayed, forcing passengers to spend the night in the terminal. Your phone was dying, you foolishly leaving your charger in your suitcase as you hadn’t expected your battery to die before you reached your stop, Honduras.

Looking around the terminal, you noticed that there was only one available seat that was near a charging station. And it just so happened to be next to the tall, large, and handsome man who you could have sworn you’d caught staring at you several times. Never really into white guys, even you couldn’t deny the man was sexy as hell.

You’d overheard him talking on the phone and noticed he had a European accent to his deep voice, amping the appeal you were already having problems ignoring.

As your battery sunk into single digits, you decided to approach the handsome stranger, asking if it was alright for you to take the seat next to him.

“Of course.” Was his kind reply, his smile causing your stomach to do all kind of somersaults and walkovers.

While you’d initially planned to pretend to be busy on your phone, it seemed as though being in his proximity or being the first to make the move was the only thing he needed to start up a conversation.

An exchange of names and casual conversation quickly turned into you learning almost everything to know about each other. He was an actor who’d just been cast in a film he couldn’t tell because of contractual reasons and was going on a short vacation with close friends before traveling to the states to start filming.

You told him how you were heading to Honduras to celebrate your best friend’s 25th birthday. His favorite color was green. Yours was pink. He was the baby of his siblings. You were an only child. He was single….you were single.

You could definitely detect the flirtatious tone he allowed to seep in his naturally confident demeanor and surprised yourself with how you matched his vibe. Then again, how couldn’t you? The man was gorgeous and his body was delicious.

And that was just from what you could see through his sweats.

Contact information was exchanged as you two eventually separated, and what started as a long distance friendship easily transformed into something a lot more serious. He was away filming for three months, 90 days that comprised of constant phone and video communication, virtual interaction constituting the forming of your relationship.

Though you hadn’t officially discussed the status of you “-ship” as you’d gleefully ran into his open arms as you met him at the airport, making physical contact with him for the first time since you met…..you just kinda knew.

Then, of course, the fact that you two went through almost half a box of condoms the same night and you learning the real reason they called him Big Nasty probably helped as well.

So now, months later, there was no question about where you two stood. Florian was your man, and you, his lady.

Pulling down to refresh the comments, your smile dropped as you saw Maya’s reply on the thread between you and your boyfriend.

🤨 She been both fine AND mine long before you, Franchise.

Looking at her with the ‘really, bitch’ face, she busted out laughing.

“You know I had to.”

You maintained your annoyed expression before joining her in her cackling. “I hate you.”

“Lies,” she sang. “That’s like saying you hate Baby Arnold.”

“Maya!”

She was right though. Though you’d always been hesitant about falling too deeply given your less than stellar track record with men, there was something different about Florian. Being with him made you feel like a teenager all over again. Hell, you were 25 and getting all giddy over a damn Instagram comment.

You didn’t want to say that you loved him. Not yet. Not out loud, at least. But….you definitely more than just liked him.

As you two made it back to your condominium, you decided to start unpacking the boxes that created a fire hazard in your kitchen. You’d had just about enough takeout and while neither of you could cook to save your lives, it couldn’t help to start learning.

After all, you wanted to try to learn how to make at least one of your man’s favorite dishes. All you needed was a recipe, ingredients, prayers, and a fire extinguisher.

“Would you get off your phone and help me put some of these dishes away?” You yelled at your friend as she waved you off, continuing her IG live as she ate the last bit of her Chinese takeout.

“You’re doing great, sweetie!” She snorted as you turned around to flip her off.

“Hey, Siri. Play my music on Shuffle,” Maya called out to the HomePod. You rolled your eyes and prepared to tell the music player to turn it off when you realized it was “Bust Down Barbiana.”

“Ayee!” You shouted, running over to turn the music all the way up as Maya jumped up as well. Going over by her, the two of you started to dance and sing along.

“Thank you next, Ariana!” You both yelled as you two twerked on each other, all desires to stay on task thrown out the window. You continued to dance, noticing as the viewers of the Live continued to go up and up as you remembered Maya had a good amount of followers.

For a second, you contemplated moving out of the frame but as soon as the next song came on, Tia Tamera by Doja Cat, you knew it was a wrap.

“Hair grow long like Chia. Money go long like Nia!” You sang loudly, moving to climb up on the half wall, dancing on there, dropping into a squat and moving your ass. “I am the big idea! My twins big like Tia!”

“Aye! Aye!” Maya continued to hype you as she grabbed her phone to better film you. “Get it, Thickems!”

Continuing to act a fool, you didn’t notice Maya roll her eyes until she shouted.

“Go away, Franchise!”

Hearing that, you looked at her. “Flo’s watching?” As she murmured a ‘you know he is,’ you grin widened as you blew a kiss. “Hi, baby!”

“Can ya’ll not be all romantic on my live!” Maya groaned. You ignored her and continued to dance, purposely moving your ass even more. Flo loved your booty, his big hands always going to grab or smack it every chance he got.

Especially during sex. His favorite position was any that allowed him to bend you over. The counter, the bed, a workout machine, anything really.

“He said get your ass down before you fall, Bee!” Maya warned, though you were unsure if she was just saying that or if Flo really was concerned.

“If I fall and hurt myself, will you come home?” You asked, half joking, half serious. Promo for the film Florian had been filming, Creed II, was at full force, your poor boyfriend having to partake in interview after interview and premiere after premiere. A part of you felt bad for him, but you missed your man more.

It’d been almost two months since you’d seen him in person, and he wasn’t set to come visit you for another month. Your shower head and vibrator could only do so much. You needed the real and much bigger thing.

But sexual desires aside, you really just missed being held by your boyfriend, joking around with him, forcing him to watch your “chick flicks” or the occasional trip to the club.

“Ooooh.” You finally jumped down and walked over to Maya. “Call him.”

Maya turned up her nose. “Hell no. This is a rated G live. Ain’t no freak shit taking place on my watch. I’m a Christian.”

“Bitch you a whole lie and 3/4ths.” You smacked your lips as you looked over her shoulder to see comments coming in left and right but focusing in only on his.

😂😂😂😂😂

“Call me, baby!”

“It’s maybe.”

“Maya, I am about to punch you in your throat.”

“Come on then, bitch. I ain’t never been scared.”

“You are so ignorant.” You wiped at your eyes and elbowed her, walking away to get your phone out the kitchen.

“That ass though!”

Shaking your head, you looked at your reflection in the FaceTime before calling him. Ring, ring, ring, With each ring, your smile dimmed. Why was he not answering? Eventually, the “unavailable” screen came up and you frowned.

“He didn’t answer.” You told Maya as she walked over, having ended her call.

Maya shrugged. “Probably went to go beat his-“

“Maya!”

——

As you finished applying your night serums, your mind was still focused on the day’s earlier events.

You’d tried calling Florian a few more times after that with each call being ignored. You texted him. No reply. Hell, you’d even resorted to more stalkerish tendencies by checking his IG activity to see if he was liking photos or whatnot. Nothing. He’d just gone ghost.

You tried to ignore it. You really did. The last thing you wanted to think about was him cheating, messing around on you. He was probably working, but as you thought about where he was and the time zone, what work could he be doing at 3 something in the morning?

Something just wasn’t right.

Of course, Maya called you stupid.

“Terminator knows I’ll kick his Russian ass if he breaks your heart.”

“He’s Romanian, Maya.”

“I don’t care if he’s Lettucian. He still gon catch this fade if he wanna be on some Tristian Hoempson shit and cheat on you.”

You chuckled. Your best friend was crazy, but you loved her.

Just like you love Flo-

“Oh hell no.”

Frowning, you walked to the bedroom door. “What’s up?”

“Ain’t this about a bitch.”

Sighing, you walked over to slide on your slippers and headed out your room. “Heifer, you better be dying.”

“Oh, someone is about to die.”

You rolled your eyes and walked over to the top of the steps. “What-“

Mouth ajar, eyes wide as saucers, you completely blocked out Maya’s smirking, charcoal mask covered as she crossed her arms over chest, and murmured a small “gotcha.”

No, your eyes were focused on the giant standing at the bottom of your steps, bag on one shoulder, suitcase on the floor next to him, his magnetic smile on his handsome face.

“Surprise.”

As though his voice was your ‘on’ switch, you broke from your trance. “Baby!” Descending down the steps with surprising speed, you threw your body into his, legs wrapping around his waist.

“Now what if you had fallen? Hmm? Who was going to pay that hospital bill?” Maya wondered aloud as you flipped her off while crashing your lips onto Florian, his hands going to palm your ass as he held you against him.

“Hey, hey, hey! All possible baby making activities need to take place in the bedroom as per section G, paragraph 2, lines 8 through 11 of the contract.”

“What are you doing here?” You asked after having to break away for air, completely ignoring your best friend. “I thought you couldn’t get away for another month.”

“I’m done in a month, but everyone needs a break, yeah?” His finger traced your lips as you went to drop your legs so that you could stand up, only for him to tighten his grip. “You missed me, hmm?”

“You know what I’m going to miss? The silence!” Maya groaned. “Where are my Beats because if you think I’m going to listen to “fuck me daddy” and “don’t stop” all night-“

Florian chuckled as you wrapped your arms around his neck, dropping your head on his chest. “It’s nice to see you too, Maya.”

“Don’t lie to her,” you mumbled into him as he turned to look at you, pecking your forehead, forcing a giggle as you clutched him tighter.

Maya gagged. “I’m leaving. Don’t beat it up too much. Tomorrow is the Lord’s day.”

“Hate you, mean it.” You groaned as she walked up the steps, finally leaving you two alone.

Hitting him on his shoulder, he looked over at you with a scowl. “Wh-“

“You had me worried sick about you.” You finally remembered the stress he’d unknowingly forced you to endure as the result of his surprise.

“I’m sorry.” You noticed the guilt in his eyes and voice and felt a bit bad about making him feel bad. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“I don’t like surprises,” you pouted as he finally let you down so that he could slide the bag off his shoulder, hands going to your hips. “I like being able to talk to my man.”

“Maybe I don’t wanna talk,” he hummed, head dropping down as he lightly nipped at your neck. “Maybe I want to touch…to taste.”

You released a mixture of a moan and groan, legs involuntary clenching together.

“You should be tired.” You tried to be considerate. As much as you wanted him, you thought about how he’d most likely been in the midst of traveling while engaging with you on Instagram. He’d been in airports and on planes for the most of the day. “At least, take a shower. Settle down.” Your fingers crawled up his chest. “Just for a bit.”

He sighed with irritation as you giggled. Standing up on your toes, you kissed his nose. “Go on. The sooner you get done, the sooner we can get started.”

——

Pouring the crystal light into the glass, you closed up the container and placed it back in the fridge. As soon as you turned around, you were ambushed with a passionate kiss, Florian grabbing you by the back on your legs and hoisting you up against his shirtless frame.

Hands holding onto his broad shoulders, you nipped on his bottom lip.

“I guess I don’t need to ask if you missed me, huh?” You teased as he sat you down on the counter so that you could grab your drink.

He chuckled and looked down, hands moving up and down your bare thighs. “I always miss you, Bee.”

Grinning bashfully, young nails lightly raked across his back as he netted his head into your neck. “Needy.”

“Very,” he absentmindedly replied, hands moving higher up your legs and under the big shirt you were sporting.

“Flo,” you whined, taking a sip of your drink as his fingers toyed with the waistband of your panties. “At least let me fix you something to eat.”

“I don’t want that.” He groaned, lifting and relocating you to the island. “And you can’t cook.”

“You know what,” You gasped and slapped his arm. “I-“ Your eyes fluttered as pushed him hands up your body, kneading your breast with one hand while using the other to carefully push you down on your back. “Not here.”

“Why not,” he murmured, kissing the inside of your thighs as he started to tug on your underwear. “Kitchen made for eating, hmm.”

You whimpered as his finger stroked your folds, a low groan leaving his mouth. You were already so wet for him. “You said you missed daddy, ehh?”

Nodding rapidly, you threw your head back and just as you felt his cool breath on your pussy, it fell out in breathy voice.

“Mmmm, I love you.”

Both of you froze. Your eyes stretched as you started to wonder just how you were going to get away from him, put as much distance between you two as possible.

Unfortunately, with the position he had you in, it was almost physically impossible for you to dash so you forced yourself to attempt to do damage control.

“I-uh-what I meant is-you know-uh-,” you stammered, finally gaining the courage to him to see that he was smiling at you. Like, genuinely fucking smiling. You wanted to smack him.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you snapped, turning your head when you felt his hand come to cup your cheek, forcing you to meet his eyes.

“You love me?” He questioned casually, like it wasn’t something you’d been trying to keep a secret for weeks, still unsure if it was, in fact, love or just lust. Maybe that’s what it was. Lust. Yeah. It’d been too long and you were speaking from your pussy. Not the heart.

That was your story and you were-

“I love you too.”

Silence.

The silence that fell over you two was so thick that you could literally hear the sound of your gulp.

“W-wh-at you just say?”

He couldn’t have said what you thought he said. No. Your-your ears were playing tricks on you.

His gaze darkened as he gazed his lips over yours. “You heard me, frumos.” Beautiful. “You want me to say again?” He questioned, giving you no time to process let alone reply as he brought his head back down your body. “Or show.”

You moaned and released a shaky breath. “Baby-“

“Shhh,” he tugged your thighs over his shoulders, pulling you right into him. “Daddy needs to eat.”

And as your man finally indulged on the dessert he’d been waiting for all day and your mewling fueled his hunger, you realized that while your punani certainly loved the man feasting on you like you were his last supper…..so did your heart.

Huh.

“Ugh. I’m starv-ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW!” A Beat. “YA’LL ARE GOING TO JAIL, PERIODT!”

[ghostofviperwrites]

Training Day

Seiya Sanada/FC

Category: Smut

You pulled up short as you entered the arena, surprised to find the ring actually occupied. You had come very late at night in hopes of avoiding this exact circumstance. You were very new to Ring of Honor, very new to wrestling in general. You knew you had only been signed for your looks and the fact that you showed some athletic ability, but you were determined to get better. To prove you belonged. You just needed time in an actual ring to work on your timing and movements.

Shoulders slumping you were about to leave when you focused your attention on the ring. There were five men in there, all very attractive, but that wasn’t what caught your attention. You were almost awestruck as you watched them fly about the ring, performing amazing athletic maneuvers and working the ring with seamless grace. Even the bigger burly man in there seemed to fly with amazing athleticism. You sunk into the chair by the entrance, transfixed on the ring. You decided you would hang out until they were done, then you could have the ring. In the meantime, maybe you could pick a few things up as you watched.

You found yourself a bit jealous as you watched as it quickly became clear that these men didn’t just work together, that they were family. You wished you had friends like that in the industry. Being a newbie and knowing nothing about wrestling didn’t exactly endear you to the talent. They pretty much saw you as a nuisance, and everyone you asked for help turned you down. You were stubborn though, and you refused to let yourself be driven off just because people thought you fucked your way to a contract. You hadn’t, but that didn’t stop them from thinking it. Seeing them winding down you rose to your feet grabbing your bag as you waited for them to leave to trek to the ring.

Twenty minutes later your patience was coming to an end. You were tired and just wanted to get some work in, but they didn’t seem in any hurry to leave. Four of them taking a seat on ring posts while the fifth lay in the center of the ring on his back as they laughed with each other. To be fair they didn’t know you were waiting, it wasn’t like you announced your presence. Swallowing your nerves you decided you needed to let them know you were waiting on the ring. You didn’t know who they were, not recognizing them as Ring of Honor talent. You knew Ring of Honor had a partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling so you figured this group was a part of that talent share.

Coming to stand by the ring apron you cleared your throat, shying back as you suddenly became the center of attention.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” You said quietly “But I was hoping to get in the ring.”

“We’re using it,” The burly one said brusquely.

“I see that. But you guys have been in here for over an hour now and you seem to be done. So I was hoping I could get my work out in.” You replied.

“We were here first.” The man with longish black hair with red tips said petulantly, looking you over with hooded eyes.

“Again. I know that.” You said through gritted teeth starting to get irritated. “But you’re clearly done. I just want to get some extra work in and go home.”

“Say pretty please and we’ll think about it.” The man with the orangish hair laying in the center of the ring spoke up.

“I’m not going to say pretty please. Just get the fuck out of the ring.” You snapped only getting angrier as they laughed at you.  You could feel the heat flushing your face, fire dancing in your eyes as you glared at the obnoxious men.  

“Fine, fine.” He said pushing himself to his feet. “We’ll get out of your precious ring. We were just having a little fun.” You huffed as he waved to the men and they all climbed out of the ring. It was then you noticed they were all wearing gear bearing the stable name Los Ingobernables de Japon and your heart dropped into your stomach. The whole company had been called into a meeting to ensure the talent and staff treated the LIJ stable from Japan with respect and didn’t give them any issues. It was a big deal for New Japan to send the entirety of their top stable to the United States and ROH didn’t want to have a single issue with the men. Now here you were arguing with them like a brat.

“Thank you.” You said softening your tone. As soon as they were clear you hopped into the ring, stripping off your jacket and track pants not noticing that one of the men had stayed behind, taking a seat in the folding chairs as he meticulously organized his gear, folding everything properly and making sure it was in its place.

Sanada finished his task, satisfied his stuff was appropriately put away and was ready to leave when he looked into the ring at the annoying blonde. A sneer marred his handsome face as he watched your splotchy work. You were a mess and he wondered how you got a contract with Ring of Honor in the first place. Taking a long look at your tight little body answered that question. He was sure you weren’t hired for your ring prowess. He wondered who's dick you had sucked to get hired. 

“You’re terrible,” He found himself saying, outright laughing when his voice startled you and you tripped over your own feet, crashing into the ropes.

“Excuse me,” You asked indignantly. “I’m doing the best I can. I have no one willing to work with me so I’m learning as I go. How about instead of jackass remarks you offer some constructive criticism? Especially when you haven’t even introduced yourself.”

Sanada rose to his feet, moving to stand at the apron below her.

 “I'm Sanada and all the ‘constructive criticism’ in the world isn’t going to help you without someone in there working with you.”

Your face fell as he voiced what you knew in your heart. You couldn’t get used to working with other bodies if no one would work with you. Swallowing the bullet you hesitantly asked

“Would you work with me?”

 You looked everywhere but at him, not holding out much hope he would help you given the prickle attitude you had encountered so far.

“I don’t do anything that doesn’t benefit me in some way princess,” Sanada smirked.

“Please? I really need help. I’m going to lose my job if I can’t make improvements.” You practically begged. “I watched you, you’re really good and I know you don’t work for Ring of Honor, but you could help me while you’re here.”

You stepped back from the ropes when he effortlessly hopped up onto the apron.

 “I’ll teach you if you accept my conditions.” Sanada told you.

“What conditions?” You asked warily retreating further as he stepped through the ropes, utterly confident you had no choice but to accept his terms.

“For every hour I give you in the ring, you give me an hour out of it.” He proposed. “Anything I want, whenever I want it.” He stalked towards you until your back hit the ropes on the other end of the ring his hands moving to clasp the top rope on either side of your shoulders. “If I want you to fuck me, you fuck me. If I want you to suck me, you suck me. If I want you to fetch me water, you fetch me water. Anything I want.” Your mind whirled through your options trying to find another solution and coming up empty, realizing you were at this man’s mercy.

“Okay,” You said exhaling a shaky breath.

“Good. Get down on your knees.” Sanada commanded.

“Wait, wait, wait,” You protested. “I’m not doing that yet. You haven’t helped me at all.”

Sanada rolled his eyes impatiently. “If I work with you then you could just walk away without giving me what you owe me. Consider it a deposit.”

“I could say the same. I suck you off and you walk way, not helping me at all.” You huffed.

“Then I suggest you do a good job, make me want to stick around for more.” Sanada said pushing down his sweat pants and freeing his hardening cock. “Now let’s see you earn my time.”

Defeated you dropped to your knees, reaching your hand out to circle him as he stepped closer allowing you to bring his dick to your mouth. Hollowing your cheeks you sucked him deeply moving your tongue around him as he slid in. Bobbing up and down you slid Sanada in and out of your mouth, making sure to change your sucking pattern and circling your hand around the base of his cock to stroke what you couldn’t fit. Sanada watched you letting you work your own pace. He was being honest, he expected you to make him want to stick around. He had no problem walking out on their little deal if you couldn’t make it worth his while. You were doing a pretty good job so far he mused as you slid him deep into your throat, swallowing around him, throat gripping his length as you did so. When he could feel himself getting to the point of coming he lost the relaxed attitude, hands moving to the back of your head and taking control of the pace, thrusting his hips as if he was fucking your pussy until he spurted onto your tongue, holding himself deep inside your mouth until he felt you swallow.

“Clean it off,” He said as he pulled out watching as you licked all the remnants of cum off of him and sat back on your knees watching as if you expected him to walk out.

“You did alright.” Sanada said with a nod. “Let’s get to work.”

[haila-wetyios]

Raiding

Since it became a pretty long post, Imma just throw this under a Read More. It’s not about current tumblr drama fashion. So no popcorn scene for you peeps. Just my experience as a whole and to finally let go of a few feelings that kept weighting on me for a good while until my current team took me in.

The first time I ever advertised on a PF that I was seeking a raid team, was during the final months of ARR. I was a complete scaredy cat, anxious of whether I'd be good enough to work on a team that required more coordination than pugs to get things such as extreme primals or savage raids done. Off I go as a SMN main, panicked as my raid leader of that team joined my party for a brief interview. Afterwards though, during our first joint team efforts for HW content (Ravanna and Bismark extreme at that time) I discovered that I wasn't as bad as I thought. On the contrary, I was too perceptive of everything to the point I would rush to do mechanics assigned to our newbie healer who after several explanations would still not do the thing. Despite my huge insecurities of probably not doing the relevant rotations down to the last skill, my ego started to rise a bit when parsers started to take more and more of conversations between static members. And although I would never ask about my numbers directly, I would celebrate in silence when reading the overall party dps the moment I realized mine had been at the top even with a ninja and a dragoon in the party. That should have been a flag to me now that I look back for being a caster that was doing more damage than the melee. But I didn't know any better, and stayed with my group regardless throughout the entirety of gordias savage. Every week would be the same pummeling against the horrifying Faust dps check, then the first turn's boss, then the second turn until we finally hit the wall of jigglyman and disbanded. I didn't have much complains, despite how tiring it was, I had long since given up on those clears and instead turned each night into 'training to see how long I can last the moment shit hits the fan in any given fight'. And boy did I get a ton of experience down that lane.

The next times I started looking into content once more, I could only play the part of a sub for any group of people I trusted due to life and time issues. But I still took pride in being that one stable sub that could support any group on any extreme primal through HW. I still lament that I was never able to go through Midas and Alexander savage when they were relevant and merely watched from the sidelines.

Then SB came up, and I merely stood aside once more for the first Tier with Exdeath. Except this time, the frustrations of not having been there while I watched all my friends start doing EX's and savage content had finally gotten to me. And lo' and behold, suddenly I was back on square 1, trembling in fear while waiting on my PF announcement that I was looking for a group for Sigma (Kefka times). Nearly died the moment I had two people with interesting names join in my party and just grab me on the spot. I had no idea what I was getting into, they mentioned they just needed a caster slot for the new rag tag group they had built, but at least I had a team! Then the first day of raid came up, and right off the bat I was terrified at the fact that our raid leader was missing, being replaced just for that moment with the FC leader instead. Turns out my entire group save for the ninja, were a raiding FC with multiple groups going in through the week. And what was the first comment of the night pray tell? Well "No one should be here with X ilvl gear." Who was it aimed at? Well, to the only potato that for the first time was slightly outdated in 2 pieces of gear for not being active before the patch dropped. That was the moment that marked my spiraling down a rabbit hole that I wish I could let go of easily but still has a tight grip on me to this day.

I felt like crap, I fought my best and did research on how to be a better caster. Other than the FC leader's comment, no one berated me or spoke about me on a negative light. But it still left a mark in which I kept trying to prove myself and be useful. Suddenly I would find myself cursing at my skills. Hating how no matter how hard I tried with everything, I would never be able to even pass the goddamned Stone, Sky and Sea for savage raids. But we were still getting things done. Two new savage turns down in a single week of release? That felt incredible and also bittersweet. Because any time that my party members celebrated their purples and golds in fflogs, I would be in a corner, self destructing with greys. I kept trying and trying, until my coping mechanism ended up being "I'm just a fill in. But if I'm just this, I'm damn going to do a job stable enough to have a place here." Then things started turning out easier to deal with. I had noticed the goofiness of a lot of the members despite the numbers that dictated their runs, I gave up on my grey numbers and focused on getting their asses up if someone made a mistake. To support the healers as much as possible with mana shift and such. I started putting my experience of keeping the party alive to more use while I slowly tried to recover the confidence I had lost when starting the tier. Granted, they didn't care for the group as much as I did. No amount of hanging out after raid times or helping was enough for the few in charge to announce when we were done raiding after months of being together. They just stopped one day until their FC leader asked me if I was aware of the 'disbanding'.

Then it was time to switch gears, for the first time I thought my work had bore fruit when I was recruited into the FC leader's group instead, and all was well.... Until it wasn't, we kept having to replace members left and right, specially healers and tanks. Progress was slow, sometimes we’d clear Chaos and Midgarsormr, and others it would be a mess depending on the random team comp we had for the week. Things should have been better by the time we made it to Omega, half the party had cleared with their mains after all. Except that it was the point where everything went south in the background.

We had gained a good White Mage, who would complain about random jibber jabber every now and then, but that was fine, no biggie. Then they brought in their former co-healer from their previous static, a Scholar, and all was supposed to be fine. But then something happened that slowly started to wear us all out. For some reason, we suddenly were struggling some more with Midgarsormr, and then Omega.... Boy, even if we had previously cleared, suddenly the three days with 3 hours of raid time each went on on that goddamned turn, and then the final 15 min would go for Omega Male and Female and the reason was hard to tell at first, we were doing the same old after all. It wasn’t until nearly a month of wiping that probably the group had started to realize what was wrong. Our Scholar wasn’t exactly pulling his full weight.

This is what caused probably something that I should have seen coming and that stuck with me for a long while until now that I found this draft I worked on when the wound became fresh again from just thinking about it. It’s just frustrating, sad to a degree and I brought part of it on myself for trying so hard to be useful to no one. What happened? Well, the leader didn’t want to get involved into any drama by only kicking the Scholar because they were friends with the White Mage, so a disbanding was supposed to be the better way to end things. Except the leader decided to do it in a different and up to date still a very shitty fashion. 

Right after we’d finished the last raiding night for the week, he posted an announcement about how people, aka his FC members were tired of constantly bashing their heads against Omega with little success and so they were gonna reform. By kicking the only outsiders of the static team. The White Mage, the Scholar, and me. There was no further explanation, no messages to me, nothing. I was just tossed like that after +6 months of knowing this FC and having raided and hung out with a good chunk of their members. I’d sacrificed so much for them. My time, my confidence to a degree, I had been a slave to their parsers more than a few occasions each time I heard them celebrating or complaining about their numbers. All because I wanted to feel like I could stand on the same levels as them. And I did to a good degree. I reached a point where I knew that my abilities weren’t as bad as the greys on my numbers showed me. But it meant nothing to any of them in the end. No message from the leader that up to that point had kept communication with me for raid times and other stuff. No reaction from the peeps I’d raided the most with. 

The most ironic part that I still respect? The only person to apologize, the only one that actually took the time to send me a message after the whole group ‘disbanded’ was the dragoon that I had only ever heard speak about their golden parses and nothing else on discord. We hadn’t even talked up until then. But he still cared more than the people that had known me for longer in that group. Granted, I did get to throw at least a cent in the raid channel about what I thought before getting kicked, so he probably wanted to come out clean on that. 

I am glad to no avail that I will never have to see them again, because the server splits sent them to a different data center. But it still left a deep mark on me when it came to XIV. I stopped logging in to do any content for a while, focused more on screenshots, on shady flower lady times until I could learn to love the game again. It probably took longer than I would have liked because all of this happened at the exact time that my friends from my crew had dived into raiding at a deeper level. I got to see them celebrate clearing the final omega. Then server transferring to be with their static before the great split or quitting. And then with Shadowbringers hearing “We’re not looking for a dps caster slot.” Each time anyone needed a fill in for their group. 

All this left me at an odd spot, being the veteran that keeps up groups or dungeons on normal modes, but having a hard time trying to get back into my niches in the game. My way of getting through raid had been to think of myself as being replaceable or worthless, but still trying to keep my hope that I’m actually valuable. Getting through all of it alone is not the solution now that I can let go of that bitterness of not being appreciated even as a person. I just happened to get a random chance to try out filling in for a group for a friend. But it wasn’t that what helped me the most both to be back on raids and to have finally built back my confidence. They probably didn’t think that I would check, but I’m the curious kind. Specially when you join a discord that has brief mentions of you on the recent chat. And seeing them mention me, and then vouching over my skills as a player, and how I was their first friend in the server? Well, despite having trouble expressing any feelings myself most of the time, when I get to think of it, you have no idea how much it meant to me. 

I managed to get back on what I like and enjoy most of what I do after deciding to take another leap of faith and join this group despite my stigma. Granted, mentions of parses and all will always be there. But not letting them define you, and believing in what you can and can’t do in content, I think is the best choice you can make to have a healthy experience and enjoy yourself as much as possible. 

[trcve]

h hey hey gays!! i’m kit, 20 yrs old, currently working full time in the mdt timezone! i use them/they pronouns n i’m a whole ass cancer... yea the stereotypes r true. i love marvel in general and p much have interests all over the place?? harry potter, lotr, kpop, anime, u name it pal. feel free to mssg me on discord (or here) for plotting, or like this post and i’ll go to u!!

now get ready to meet eden, or as i like to call him, the dumpster fire. 

i kind of already have his bio, just not entirely fleshed out, which you can find here! i’m gonna list down a summary below, plus a few points i missed and will be adding eventually. so, as a wise man once said, let’s-a-go!

tw: murder, physical abuse, guns, mentions of alcohol&drugs.

the weapon’s expert, codename: trove, thirty-seven, tom hardy fc.

eden harvey was born into a family of criminals. his father, possibly the only real psychopath in the family, was sentenced to life in prison after he murdered the man he called his best friend, along with his wife and two children. 

eden was seven years old in the year it happened, and his mother didn’t paint over anything when she told him about the gruesome crime. he grew up with sparse visits to his father, because while he didn’t exactly love the man, he didn’t despise him as much as he thought he should. this event was the reason he grew up into having very grey morals. 

his mother was the type of woman who didn’t make a habit of showing affection, or praising her children when they did well. instead, eden and his brother grew up with the idea that they got hit as a form of love and education. neither of them actually held it against her later on in life, though. the two were so used to the roughness of life that they could happily appreciate their mother in all her coldness. 

his brother was essentially his guide as a young boy. eden was four years younger than him, and he learned all of his ways from him. especially his love of weapons. he was eight years old when his brother let him shoot his first gun, and from then on there was no return. 

he’s had adhd his whole life, which means that his school life was hell. eden never bothered with it, because even if he did, he’d still find it too difficult. besides the fact eden thinks that even without the adhd he still wouldn’t like school, no subject he learned in a classroom ever seemed to grab his attention, and he spent his days skipping and then getting detention for it. he was the kid in the back of the classroom making wisecrack jokes and disrupting lessons. the one no one seemed to care about, they all shared the collective thought that he wasn’t going anywhere in life. 

he dropped out of school when he was a junior in high school, not caring about disappointing his mom, the only person who (kind of) gave a damn about where he was going in life. he decided that he’d had enough of having enough. enough frustration, enough of feeling like the stupidest person in the classroom, enough of getting hit whenever his mom received complaints from the school board. 

he focused entirely on being a disaster. parties, drugs, alcohol-- discovered he was into doing anyone who he found attractive, man, woman or otherwise. overall, he was having a pretty good time, and then he moved into the shed in their backyard after one particular bad fight with his mom, which was exactly what he hadn’t thought he needed. he turned the place into a workshop, where he started pulling guns apart and then making new ones from parts. at first, it was mostly aesthetics changes from the original models, but soon enough he became well-versed enough to start working on original ideas. 

he was eighteen when he received a visit from his uncle, a man he’d met very sparsely in the past; when he turned four years old, and the day his dad received his sentence. he was there for the recent engagement of eden’s brother, and as the appointed godfather of both boys, he made a promise to their father to be there. it turned out he was an arms dealer, and when he discovered eden’s creations, he suddenly became a fixture in his life. his uncle offered him work in the company, and the money was more than eden had ever made, so he agreed. 

the two started working side by side. his uncle would handle the business side of things while he had the freedom to work on original creations, but he was too irresponsible to seriously dedicate himself. he’d still party too often, miss deadlines, and make his own inputs on client orders. it took three times of getting ganged up on by groups of thugs to realize that they were being hired by his uncle, but that was just part of their differences. eden took everything too humorously, even getting beat to a pulp by some guys that his own uncle hired to teach him a lesson. after all, that was family. it was how they showed love.

 twelve years into the future, he was still working under his uncle. his brother had somehow gotten his life together with his wife and now three children, but eden was still a mess. he was now thirty-two and still too selfish, too careless. in the blur of a year, three things happened to him that changed things forever: his brother’s death, the first time he killed, and a run-in with the cia.

the killings the the run-in were unrelated, but his brother’s death was not. when he got the news that he was fatally shot during a shootout, eden had enough information to follow a lead, and he killed the man who shot the gun, and the man who made the order. both childhood friends. the run-in happened during business hours. eden wasn’t surprised that they’d be interested in him, and he didn’t hesitate to leave the family business for the cia. he was the godfather of his brother’s three kids, and he promised that he’d take care of them and his wife if anything were to happen to him. he took the opportunity to be a clean provider, put his uncle in jail right next to his father, and betrayed the whole family. 

he moved his sister-and-law, her three children, and his mother to an apartment complex with high security. he knew that if anyone found out that he betrayed everyone for them, they’d surely come after them, and part of his agreement with the cia was that they’d be placed under protection. 

and that has all brought us to the eden we know today! lastly, though, some personality!

very unhinged, very careless, honestly just here for a good time. he loves anything that goes ‘boom’. the bigger the better kind of person. you know, go big or go home. 

he’s been receiving therapy for adhd, which means that it’s easier to live with now, but he’s still a very distracted person. he spaces out of conversations, brings up random subjects, and basically his train of thought just goes a lot of places in a small expanse of time. he needs to find interest in something to truly be focused, otherwise simple tasks can take him a while. something that has always captivated him are weapons. they’re like the love of his life, pretty much.

his whole coping mechanism is humor. he laughs at the things that happen to him in life, and he’s so used to the bad things happening that it’s easy to take them as they come. a trait he received from years of living with his mother. 

he’s catholic, though not too involved in the religion. definitely believes in god and definitely believes he’s going to hell. he prays almost everyday but only goes to church every now and then.

you can literally do anything to him. punch him, stab him, offend his entire heritage, there will (eventually) be no hard feelings. he’s incredibly understanding, to the point of a fault. instead of caring, though, it has an opposite affect. he simply does not care enough. just don’t say anything about his brother, threaten those he protects, and things will be chill. 

ok, i’ll stop here because i absolutely gave into my habit of long intros fhdifughfd soRRY im just EXCITED. this was garbage and all over the place, but hmu anyways? hfiusdhf 

[wroetominter]

Saved - Simon Imagine

[daddyconfessions]

daddy’s journal 3/16/16

daddy’s journal 3/8

Thursday Mar 2nd Bubbles hit me up today around 9am and told me she couldn’t make it. She’d gone out with Piper and had stayed out too late. Her and Piper had been hanging out a lot. I guess that explained all the drunk texts she’d sent the other night. I couldn’t be bothered though. I was busy looking at job ads.

I had a lot on my mind. The more I looked at jobs the more I realized I desperately needed to get in with some recruiters if I wanted to improve my chances. I hit up Firecracker to let her know I was free. She told me she couldn’t make it and had plans to volunteer somewhere. About an hour later she asked if she could have extra money. Something about needing to buy a ticket for a trip with her friends. I told her it was cool. Then a couple of hours after that, she texted me again to tell me she was having a weird discharge and needed to go to the doc and get it checked out.

I asked if she had a STD.  That didn’t go over well. We got into an argument, mostly her calling me out for thinking of her that way as well as her making it very clear no one was hitting the kitty uncovered.  She stopped texting me suddenly. I figured she was mad so I left it alone.  I had always used a condom so I wasn’t really too worried. Still she was acting weird af.

Napoleon came into my office not too long after that. We had a brief discussion about the next meeting with the Russian’s as well as the Board of Directors meeting next week. He seemed jovial with me, not at all like a guy who wanted me gone. Maybe I was just being paranoid about my job. Still when he left, I got up and cleaned my office some more. Tomorrow could be the big day.

Later that evening, I went home and spent about an hour with the family before I poured myself some Crown Royal and coke, grabbed a Cohiba and went out on the front porch. Nothing clears the mind like a little crown and coke and some of Cuba’s finest.  I was feeling sporty after that. My mind was clear. FC was tripping. Bubbles cancelling left and right.  What’s a SD to do? Time to get online.

I played around on CL for kicks. I didn’t expect much. Usually sugardaddy posts get deleted within the first hour of being posted. But I came up with a snazzy title that would pass cursory inspection and posted it. Then I got back on SA, paid for my membership. Then I logged into SD.com and looked around. I toyed with the idea of going to this bar known for being a sugarbabe hook up spot. But I needed to get a bit prepared for that so I passed. Truthfully, I can’t handle another SB but the way FC and Bubbles are going, it’ll be over soon.

While I was playing around, FC got back to me telling me she didn’t have any STDs and then launched into some long tirade about the doc saying her body was going through changes, hormonal and what not, and reacting to the weight gain she’d had as well as her period being out of sync. I apologized for insinuating she might’ve had something. She told me she needed a break to let things clear up. It all sounded suspicious to me. But in the absence of more info, I had to go along with it.

Friday Mar 4th The big day. My office is clean af. If I get sliced all I needed to do is grab some pics and a bag and I’m out.

10am. 11am. Noon. Nothing. 1pm. Still nothing.

I get  text from FC saying her period finally started. I didn’t even respond. I’m starting feel like I’m in a chess game.

2pm. I realized my boss had gone home for the day. Guess I wasn’t getting fired after all. I get a text from Bubbles. Hadn’t thought much about our date that day. I took a Lamar Odom and an hour later I was heading out the door to meet her. Can’t believe I overreacted like that about my job. Guess my paranoia got the better of me. But Bubbles hadn’t cancelled again so not a bad end to the week. It dawned on me that I hadn’t had any kitty all week.

When I got to the restaurant Bubbles had already gotten the table/booth. I like that shit. Most SBs will be late. Or if they get there first they’ll stay in the car until you arrive or wait in the sitting area. No way their getting a table and you ain’t there. Not Bubbles. I liked her style.  The way the booth was made it sat sideways so you could see the whole restaurant. We sat back and people watched while we sipped our drinks, ate and kissed. Bubbles doesn’t have any problem with PDA. We must have tongued each other down several times throughout the early dinner. Sharing the sweet taste of our drinks on each others lips and tongue. Several other tables kept looking over at us. It was kind of fun. Wild. Definitely a thrill. An elderly couple kept looking over too. Not in disgust more out of curiosity. Bubbles is a pretty girl. She’s skinny as a toothpick but she’s pretty af. The old heads were probably wondering why an old scrub like me was getting that young kitty….$$$$

Bubbles kept checking her phone. She apologized. Told me her son had a fever from some shots he’d just gotten and she was constantly checking on him. I honestly keep forgetting she has a 6 month old. You’d never know she had a newborn the way she looked. She doesn’t have a stretch mark on her body. Her stomach was flat as a board. I asked Bubbles about the other night with her girlfriend. She and Piper had gone out with some rich record exec. You’d probably know him or one of his artists if I mentioned them. Pipers the type that can’t handle her alcohol though so when she got drunk she started fighting with everyone including Bubbles. Bubbles was trying to calm her down and talk sense into her. Piper hadn’t backed down, got mad at Bubbles and took her phone and threw it across the room, shattering the screen. Some other stuff happened including Piper cursing out some of the security guards and other guys at the table. The big Exec told security to throw her out but they didn’t want Bubbles to go. They wanted her pretty little ass to stay. Bubbles couldn’t let her friend be outside, drunk, by  herself so she went with her even though the entourage wanted her to say. They took uber to get there and hate to wait until another Uber to come which was almost an hour later.

I took the opportunity to bring up some serious concerns. “I’m don’t know if I can compete with your circle of friends,” I told her. “You’re hanging out with rich dudes. Famous and shit. Not to mention they know other famous people. Money aside, I couldn’t come close to that kind of lifestyle.” She touched my hand and pursed her lips. “Oh babe its not like that. Those guys aren’t my type. I’m not into the thugged out, gold chain wearing, baggy pants type of guys. These guys got tats everywhere and they treat girls like shit. Besides, just because they have money doesn’t mean they’re going to be doing anything for you. I keep telling Piper that. They just want some pussy and when their done with you you’re gone.”

“Well I was just wanting to bring it up,” I said. Truth is I’m tired. In the old days a bloke could shell out some cash and have a good time with a girl. Spoil her to death and not worry about all the drama the sugarbowl has now. But now its mad drama and all this unnecessary competition. Not to mention all the games both SBs and SDs try to do to each other. Its enough to drive a man crazy. I told her what I was thinking and added, “I know hanging with Piper gets you into the inner circle and all that. But from my past experiences, its tiring competing with celebrities. Not to mention the lifestyle they have to offer. It gives me a headache just thinking about it.”

She shook her head. “No. Piper’s just a groupie. She’s my girl but I gotta be honest. Besides, since I’m not doing anything when we go out its getting harder and harder to hang with her. I’m like the 3rd wheel. And all of these guys don’t give a shit about her. They even hit on me in front of her and she just laughs it off. Honestly, I’m sort of getting tired of it but Piper’s my girl. And she knows people that knows people. If we ever needed to get into a club, backstage at a concert, all we have to do is ask her.”

“The benefits of being a groupie,” I said. We both laughed. She put her hand on my thigh and rubbed it. “But really babe, you don’t have anything to worry about. I already have my lover.” She lifted her glass and said, “To us.” I lifted mine and we clicked glasses. Then we kissed again, the sweet taste of the drinks on our lips made the kisses that much sweeter.

We talked a bit more about Piper, celebs and our situation. Suddenly, Bart was hard as a rock. The Lamar Odom’s had kicked in. I was ready to fuck.  

From there we headed to the hotel. Lots of kissing and tonging before we moved to the bed. I couldn’t wait to lick the kitty. But she stopped me. Told me she was still spotting. Damn. Can a Daddy get a break this week? WTF?  I couldn’t even hit it. She decided to just give me fellatio. I’d love to blog about how I licked the kitty. Sucked the clit. But no. No fun filled evening of me trying to get inside that tight kitty. She gave me brains, but I wasn’t that into it tbh. I wanted some kitty.  “I’m sorry baby,” she said, stopping, my tip less than an inch from those pretty lips. “I’m not usually this bad of a fuck. Its just that I haven’t been that active…” Poor girl had to work hard to get ol Bart to cum. And when I came it was nothing spectacular. I can’t say she did  a bad job…more like I was just wanting more that evening.

“I’m sorry. I promise I’m not this bad…” she kept saying. She said two more times and then, “I promise I’m not usually this lousy. I switched BC and its got my body all weird. That’s why I’m spotting.” For a minute I was thinking her and Firecracker were collaborating. “I’m sorry if I keep cancelling. It’s just hard with my work, my son and my friends.” The look on Bubbles face was of pure worry. I could tell she really felt like she was disappointing me. I told her to relax. I was patient. Low key I suspected a threesome was in my future. The thought alone of a 3 way was enough to make even the most impatient man wait. Then she promised things would be better tomorrow. But that would never happen….

Saturday Mar 5th By noon Bubbles cancelled again. Her son was still running a fever and she didn’t feel right leaving him again. It was cool. She was probably still spotting. I also had several messages from my CL ad and some hits of SA. I’d forgotten I had even been playing around on the sites.

No point in wasting a perfectly good Saturday afternoon : ) I poured myself some more Crown & Coke, sat down in my office and I spent the afternoon talking to some POTs. The stuff from CL was admittedly just garbage. Mostly girls looking to catch a date. The only hopeful one was this mid 40’s chick. She was kind of liking the fact that I was so young. Her last SD was in his mid 50s so she was interested in seeing how this would turn out. She was ready to meet to. Said she was going out with the girls and wondered if I could meet her at the bar. Old cougar. I call her Tigress. I declined to meet though. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to go that route. Old chicks be on something else. And, its been awhile since I was involved with someone over 30.

Sunday Mar 6th FC texted me and she felt like things were over. I took that as an indication she wanted to end things. She told me she felt guilty the last few weeks. That was right around the time I’d bought her a new Louis bag. I recalled she had been shocked I had bought it. She was happy too but I could see something in her eyes that something was wrong. Now it all made sense. She felt like she hadn’t deserved it. “I just don’t feel like I can give you everything you want,” she said.

The funny thing this all I ever really wanted was her. It was never something complicated.

But I was tired. Whatever was going on with her had taken its toll on me. I figured she had a new SD or a new fuckboy. Either way it was probably best to end things. I cared for Firecracker but I wouldn’t be a fool for her. Not with so much other kitty around me. She told me she wanted to remain friends and that if I wanted to have lunch or sex one day then to hit her up. We sort of ended it right there.

I was sad. I even posted this journal entry just to vent. She was my princess and now she was gone….

The week was off to a fucked up start.

[chrismdthings]

caught in the middle

pairing: chris dixon x reader warning(s): none note: requested by anon / i love writing for the charity match oml it makes me happy / 5,882 words

Beep... Beep... Beep..

Instead of the usual long, drawn out groan leaving your lips before you slam the snooze button on your alarm, you woke up that morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. You didn’t hate the thought of rolling out of bed and getting ready to face people, you didn’t hate yourself and wonder why you stayed up so late, instead you smiled as you opened your eyes and shut off your alarm before peeling the covers of your body and preparing for the day.

It was May 21st; the day of Sidemen FC v. Youtube Allstars once again meeting, but this time in The Valley Stadium just inside of London. It was the home of Charlton Athletic FC on any other given day, but this day, it was the place where two sides would clash for bragging rights.

And this year, you had been invited to tag along on a squad. Last go around in Southampton, you had suffered a small ankle injury before the squads were announced, so you had given up your selected spot to someone you thought of more deserving. Regardless of your close friendships with the Sidemen, whom were more like your older brothers as you had been recording with them for years and visited them nearly every weekend, you had joined the Youtube Allstars squad. 

Their fans knew you, not because you were in at least dozens of their videos and appeared everywhere from tweets to Snapchat stories, but because you had a channel of your own. It was not long ago that you found yourself being considered a “FIFA Youtuber” but you didn’t mind. Your channel was actually how you befriended everyone that would be in the stadium later that day.

After rolling out of bed, you took a quick shower, following along with your normal morning routine of washing your face and teeth and then changing into a pair of joggers and a simple tee.

As you continued to get ready by packing your things into a duffle back to take the stadium, you could heard hear your phone buzz for what seemed like a straight minute on the nightstand. You groaned and reached over, grabbing the device and looking at the screen to see numerous texts from a groupchat; the same groupchat that included almost every single member of both teams, give or take a few. You glanced over the texts to see that everyone was meeting down in the hotel ballroom for breakfast and a quick briefing about the match, and then everyone had at least an hour until they loaded onto a charter bus and left for the stadium together.

Deciding that you didn’t have anything better to do, and food sounded perfect at that moment, you slid your feet into your white ADIDAS and proceeded to grab your phone and keycard before making your way downstairs to the lobby. Everyone on the floor must have had the same idea too, because Tobi, Freezy, Harry, and Chip had all tagged along with you on the lift as well.

Both teams had met up in the ballroom and had a quick breakfast that morning to hold them over until after the match (when all the food and celebrating would ensue.) Instead of the full English breakfast, you chose something light; toast with avocado and cherry tomatoes. You had managed to eat it before the briefing began; it was sponsors and owners of the stadium who just gave a quick run-through before they were dismissed.

And even though everyone was dismissed, most of them lingered around. No one was going anywhere, especially since there was only minutes until they were due to leave. You sat next to Simon at a large round table, Vik and Joe and a little bit of everyone else was around as you all chatted for a bit about the match and what everyone expected from each other and the fans who were going to pack the stadium.

Glancing down at the watch on your wrist, you realized that there was about twenty minutes before everyone was due to leave. The others who returned to their rooms after the briefing were coming back down with their bags now, so you decided that you should go up and finish packing your bag. However, when you stood up to leave the table, you heard someone call out your name behind you.

You, and mostly everyone else who heard someone shout your name, turned around and glanced at the door. It was Chris. He was walking into the ballroom, holding onto a cup holder were two Costa Coffee cups were sitting inside and with a large grin on his face.

“This one,” Chris said pointing to the other coffee in the holder as he took the one coffee. “Is for you.” 

You smiled at him and took a step forward before grabbing the plastic cup from the holder. It wasn’t a coffee, but instead it was a cooler. 

“Did I do something to deserve this?”

“Nah,” Chris shook his head and fixed the lid of his coffee cup. “I would have got you an actual coffee if you did something special.” 

You raised a brow at him, taking the straw between your fingers as it neared your mouth. “Were these just cheaper?”

“Yup,” he said before you two laughed and walked back towards the table where everyone was staring at you two. “And I got you a mango and passionfruit cooler.” He watched a grin tug on your lips and smiled himself. “Your favorite.” 

“My favorite.” You repeated before taking a small sip and letting the flavor dance on your tongue. “Chris, we have been friends for way too long. What has it been now? Two years?”

“Two years, and it took me that long to remember your favorite smoothie flavor.” Chris chuckled and walked over to the table, sitting his coffee down before lowering into a seat, and you followed behind him by sitting in your old chair. "I was still shocked the day I got on Twitter to see that you replied to my message."

Your brain immediately went back to that exact memory.

You remembered coming back home from school two years ago to see a message from @ChrisMD10 on Twitter. You had watched the majority of his videos that week and followed him on Twitter, and vise versa for him, but you had never expected to actually speak to him. 

At the time you had more subscribers than him, and so far, nothing had changed. But Chris had sent you a quick DM to see if you would be up to record a pack opening with him, in which you couldn’t help but agree to, to his surprise. It was late that same night, around 1 AM, that you and Chris recorded the pack opening with a challenge as a forfeit as the first video with the both of you.  And that's the “long” tale of how you and Chris became friends nearly three years ago. That DM, which took a lot of pride on Chris’ part, lead to numerous recordings and videos together, flights to and from Jersey, and even a friendship that either of you saw coming.  It was also a friendship that went through a lot of teasing in the past, with the thanks of most of the Sidemen and others, including some fans. It was mostly Joe Weller though.

There was always some speculation that you and Chris were together simply because you two were really close; the Instagram posts, the tweets, the numerous amount of videos. Fans and hell, even your friends, thought there was something more.

At one point, so did you. 

It was a period of a couple months that you thought you and Chris could potentially be more than friends. Those feelings began to come around during your second trip to Jersey within the span of a few months; after recording a video together two both went back to Chris’ house and decided to watch a film to end the night, and the next thing you know, you woke up at 4 AM next to Chris on the sofa with a blanket draped over you, and your body pressed against his. 

You didn’t know what happened within those few hours that lead to that moment, but your heart couldn’t help but feel things you never once did towards Chris, and your mind couldn’t help but wander to the possibilities of something more.

He was your best friend; you two spent countless sleepless nights together on the phone, recording, or simply just talking when you visited Jersey or he came up north to your part of England. You two would talk about the deepest things, like the meaning of life or conspiracy theories about aliens, but also talk about chicken nuggets for thirty minutes and laugh so hard neither of you could breathe. There was also the bond over football and arguments over which former Arsenal player was the biggest snake. Chris became your shoulder to lean on, your go-to, and your best friend. 

A few months passed and no more advances were made after that night on the sofa, so you thought that maybe you just took Chris’ kindess for something more. It was more logical for him to be just your friend, and nothing more, so you forced yourself to drop it there.

However, there was a point where Chris believed there was something more.

Much like you, Chris saw you as his shoulder to lean on, you were his go-to person when he needed to talk or vent, you were the person for Chris. 

It was the day that you came to visit him in Jersey that he realized that he did have feelings for you. It was when you fell asleep while leaning against him while watching a film, it was when you two shared a long hug outside of the airport the next day when you left, and it was when you called just hours later when you landed back home and told him that you missed him already. 

But, much like you, Chris thought he was too in over his head. There was no way someone like you could like the brace-mouth, awkward human being that he was. So, he dropped it when he realized that he was just putting together a scenario in his head that would never happen.

Those secrets remained secrets, but that didn’t stop anyone from teasing you two about the “potential.” 

“Oi Dixon, what’s with that?” Joe called out, walking towards the table from his conversation with Marcus and Will. Chris sat his coffee down on the table after having a sip and raised a brow at him. “You bring the pretty girl a drink, but none of your boys?”

Chris chuckled, feeling his cheeks flush lightly under the accustations and under the eyes of everyone around him. 

“She’s the only one in this room that will pay me back.” Chris said, causing you to raise a brow too when you turned to face him. He had brought it to you randomly. Hell you didn’t even know where he went after he left the briefing; you had no idea he was going to bring you your favorite drink. 

Chris didn’t have any other excuse. He didn’t expect you to pay him back, nor did he want you too, but he needed something to cover it up.

“I think you owe me about eight bucks worth of Nandos, Weller.” He said with a chuckle and Joe nodded sheepishly.

“I’ll get back to you one day.” He said before nearing Chris. Chris braced himself for Weller to grab him by the shoulders or something, but instead, Joe walked around the table and to you. 

Taking a sip of your drink, you watched Joe walk around the table and right behind your chair. He reached forward and grabbed your shoulders, squeezing them tight before massaging them. 

“But you know, Dixon, if you like this girl here, you may want to go fast.” Joe trailed off. “Because after the world recognizes her football skills today, guys and girls will be all over her, and one may snatch her up before you know it.” 

“Weller, my God.” You sighed, shaking your head, feeling the back of your neck heat up. “You are impossible.”

“What? It’s true!” 

Chris faked a laugh before picking his coffee back up and taking a sip again; his heart sink into his stomach at the thought. The thought of you being with someone else other than him made him feel uneasy. As you and Joe bickered in the background, the others watching and laughing along, Chris stared off into space.

The match wasn’t due to start for three hours, but you found yourself on the pitch with a couple others. Chris and Freezy had joined you out on the pitch for a little kick around prior to match time. You had been working out for the match, trying to get back in shape like you used to be when you played competitively, but you had been playing little football since then. So to get a feel back in your feet and in your mind, you decided to slide into your turf shoes and head out for a while.

“What are your score predictions?” Freezy asked as you three took a break from playing for just a moment to relax. You sat on the football as it rested on the box line, Chris was sitting on the grass, and Freezy was laying down dramatically while panting from all the running and jogging that had just went down during drills.

“I don’t know.” You said picking at the grass between your feet. “Maybe one all? Down to the last minute?” 

“Shit, really?” Freezy laughed. “Who scores the equalizer?” 

“Oh, me, of course.” 

Chris snorted. “I think it will be me, if we’re being honest here.” He said playfully, extending his leg over to nudge the ball under your butt, causing you to giggle and he grinned, boasting. “Who is better at last minute equalizers than me?”

“Um, me,” 

“Me,” you and Freezy said simultaneously, causing you all to laugh. 

Stretching out your legs in the tunnel, you felt the red shorts ride up your thighs before switching to your other leg. You jumped in place for a moment, shaking out your hands and craning your neck before pausing to take a deep breath.

After singing Oasis’ Wonderwall, badly and with everyone in the tunnel for laughs, the nerves started to kick in. 

It wasn’t that you were taking his like an actual match, but it was that you were wanting to be cautious. You weren’t able to compete last year due to an injury, so you didn’t want to ruin your chance this year of playing while by suffering from an injury mid-match. 

You had been waiting for an entire year to get on the pitch with some of your closest friends and you weren’t going to let it slip between your fingers once again. And after receiving a lot of backlash, mostly rude comments about you being the only female, since you were in the starting line-up (or simply on the squad all together), you wanted your chance to prove your worth to those who doubted you.

Those who watched your videos and followed you religiously knew your worth, and knew exactly what you were capable of. Those who didn’t were those targeting you, but everyone in the tunnel knew those people were in for a surprise. You weren’t asked to become a member of the Youtube Allstars because you were simply friends with them, but because everyone, especially Freezy, knew what you were like with a ball at your feet and he wanted you on his team.

You couldn’t wait for that first moment of stepping on the pitch in the red kit in front of the fans who had packed the stadium.

Feeling an arm throw around your shoulders, you turned your head to the right to see Simon. He glanced down the tunnel, where the grass was awaiting the two teams, and then looked at you. 

“You a bit nervous?” He asked, noticing your wringing hands.

You teetered your head back and forth. “It’s been a while since I’ve played in front of people.. so, yeah, a bit.” You admitted.

“I understand, I was absolutely bricking it this morning.” Simon said and you two chuckled. “You’ll do fine, don’t worry.” He said giving you some words of encouragement. “And I tell you what, I’ll buy you dinner afterwards if you don���t nutmeg me in front of twenty-thousand people.” 

Your mind went back to the IRL football video you had filmed with the Sidemen months ago in which you nutmegged Simon and nearly brought his life crumbling down piece by piece. He even admitted he lost a bit of his masculinity that day, or what was left of it anyways. 

A laugh escaped your lips and you nodded. “You have a deal, Minter.” 

Simon chuckled and rubbed your arm lightly before pulling back. “Goodluck out there.” 

“You too.” You said before he walked to the front where he would lead his squad out in just minutes. 

Rubbing your hands together, you made a quick conversation with Callux, whom was right behind you in line, before the line began to slowly inch out. As you laughed, ready to walk forward, you glanced back beyond Cal, and noticed Chris standing a couple people back from you. 

When your eyes met his, Chris shot you a smile and you did the same. Lost in that moment, preparing to say goodluck, Cal grabbed you by the shoulders and pushed you on to follow behind Hugh in which you turned around and walked out of the white tunnel.

As the two teams emerged from the tunnel and into view, the 27,000 fans that packed inside of The Valley stood on their feet, cheered and whistled as they saw their favorites for the first time that day. 

You looked up, noticing all of the fans, all of the eyes that were on you. The fact that they would all be watching, and watching you any moment you were in focus or on the ball, made your stomach flip. Swallowing hard, you brought your clenched fist up and clapped as you walked out from the tunnel and between the lines of people waving flags, and finally onto the pitch.

After taking a quick squad picture, the eleven members of the Youtube Allstars made their way to their positions. You were given the position as right-wing, and Freezy told you that if you wanted to go for it at any moment, he knew your right foot, go for it, babe. 

Feeling the sun on the back of your neck, you placed your hands on your hips and looked around at your side of the pitch. Speks of red kits spread out across the pitch and you smiled. 

“Hey!” Hearing a voice directed at you, you glanced forward and to Chris standing right up front with you. He smiled at you again before calling out, “Good luck!” 

You held up a hand to him and nodded, and a second later, the whistle blew. 

The first half started off on fire for the Youtube Allstars. 

Chris had played the ball in from a free kick and attempted to get it in the box, but JJ cleared it out, but straight to Castro who had a shot attempt, but was just inches wide. 

You had a run down the left wing after a kick play in from Marcus, so close to the box, yet Jamie managed to get a stop in and clear it back. You felt a bit dejected, but still great since it was your first touch and you got close. However, opposing team or not, Jamie offered you a hug in which you couldn’t deny.

Yet, Castro got the first goal for the Youtube Allstars past the two minute mark. Callux crossed the ball in from the right wing, over the heads of every defender and awaiting Allstar, and right into the path of a running #21. 

You were just a bit out of the box, a little bit behind Callux when the ball was crossed. You froze for a moment, unsure of what you could do as the ball was sailing through the air, but it luckily played out in the Allstars end when the ball bounced into the bottom left corner of the goal. 

Everyone except the goalkeeper ran down to the corner of the pitch and celebrated, jumping and making a standing pile near the post. You laughed, throwing your arms around him as the others cleared out and giving him a hug. As you let go to walk back to your position for the restart, you heard the boo’s that echoed out onto the pitch, causing you to laugh over everything else.

You didn’t take the boo’s personally. The Sidemen FC was the squad that most fans came to see, not the Youtube Allstars, who were now more like the villians.

“You had a run going there a minute ago, you know.” Chris said as he jogged up next to you when everyone was returning back to their positions on the pitch. 

You laughed and his jog slowed down to a walk next to you. “I almost had Jamie; damn him and his long legs.” You explained and Chris chuckled before splitting back up again.

The end of the first half was full of drama; there was JJ diving at the edge of the box trying to earn a free-kick, and then one close attempt at a goal by Tobi that in all honesty, he deserved to go in, but was saved at the last possible second. 

You had a series of good touches and passes during the match, proving some wrong with those simple moves, but you were more disappointed in yourself for not having good runs or possibilities towards the end. As halftime was called, you dropped your head and slowly made your way to the tunnel.

And for the first time since arriving, you were able to step inside the Allstars locker room. Even though you were a part of the squad, you opted out changing in another room in the stadium. It wasn’t ideal to change right in front of a squad full of guys. But now you were able to slide in since halftime was here and everyone would at least be fully-clothed.

“Listen, don’t hate yourself.” Freezy said as you two sat next to each other on the locker room bench. Everyone was kind of lingering around after a quick pep talk from the captain himself and just waiting to head back out soon. “If you don’t get a goal today, that’s fine. Don’t beat yourself up because you couldn’t prove those dumbasses out in the stadium wrong on one day- your channel itself is enough proof that you are a God with the football at your feet.” 

You chuckled and leaned over, punching Freezy in the arm before standing up. The locker room door opened and everyone started to head out into the hallway once again. 

“I just hate being useless, Cal.” You muttered, shrugging your shoulders. “I feel useless out there and it’s embarrassing.” 

“Useless?” Freezy snorted. “Guess who played the ball into Callux before he crossed it to Castro for the goal?” He paused before poking your cheek. “You, you did.” He said before standing up, and you followed behind, tossing your water bottle onto the bench. “Now get out there and play your damned heart out.” 

You laughed and brought your hand up, saluting him. “Yes, sir.” Freezy shook his head and shoved you.

“Just get out there.” 

Joining Marcus, you two walked out of the locker room and into the hallway. Freezy lingered behind and as he walked towards the door, Chris called out after him and jogged up.

“Listen, I have a plan.” He started off, licking his lips quickly. Freezy raised a brow and Chris motioned towards the door. “A plan to get her a goal.” 

Freezy pursed his lips and sighed, pulling Chris to the side of the locker room and away from the door. “Listen, Chris,” he trailed off. “Don’t worry about her, okay? You know who she is and what she is like on the pitch. If she is assisting out there, she is still doing something huge. If she scores a goal on her own, that’s even better. But I know her, and you do too, and if we plan a goal for her and she finds out, she will be utterly pissed at us.” 

“I just want her to do something to prove everyone out there that she deserves to be here.” 

“Then let her do her thing.” 

The second half started off much like the first ended. 

After a mistake by an Allstar, Tobi was free in the box and one-on-one with Hugh in the goal. Everyone lagged behind, unable to keep up with him, and Tobi kicked it with hopes of slotting it in, but Hugh managed to save it before another Allstar came in to clear out the box. 

And not even three minutes later, the Allstars earned a chance at a free-kick just outside of the Sidemen’s box. Chris was on a run after a ball from Marcus, but he was stopped just short of the box. You jogged up on the left side of the box, mostly because you had no idea of what was going to play in. There was no real chatter in the locker room about the case of a free-kick.

You watched closely as Marcus lingered on the other side of the box and two others lingered inside the box with Sidemen FC defenders. Glancing back to Chris, you licked your lips and watched him dribble his feet before taking a large leap for the ball and swinging his leg.

Keeping an eye on the ball, you slowly jogged further into the box as it kept straight and didn’t arch. The ball took right at just enough height in front of the goal, but Charlie in the goal was just too quick (and tall) and punched it out before it really had a chance.

You watched as Charlie punched the ball out and suddenly all of the Sidemen defenders were running forwards, but you had your head start. The ball rolled to the right and straight in your path; breaking out in a run, you beat Josh there. 

Placing your toe on the ball, you sensed Josh running straight to you. You used your right foot and nudged the ball to the right before faking it with another and sliding to the left; whistles echoed throughout the stadium. 

The ball stayed at your feet with simple touches, and you picked up your pace as you felt someone coming from behind. Sliding past another, you looked up to see one more defender and Charlie in the goal, however, you couldn’t get a run in such a short space. Using your eyes as a more important tool, in that split second you noticed a clear on the left side of the box. With one deep breath, you took the last second decision and swung your right foot back before releasing a powerful kick. 

It was like slow motion that the ball traveled up and into the air, spinning in the air and right in the path that you had set. Everyone on the pitch and in the stadium watched as the ball slid in the gap between Jamie and Charlie; Charlie’s hands were just a second too late and the ball slotted home in the back of the net.

A smile spread across your lips as happiness and relief flooded your body. You kept your running pace and ran to the corner nearest to you, holding your arms out before you jumped into the air and kicked at the corner post. 

You looked up at the stadium, seeing some familiar faces but mostly those of just fans staring back at you. Some more smiles, others were laughing, but most were whistling and yelling.

Turning around, you saw the entire squad in red running towards you.

“Look at that,” Joe’s voice filled the microphone from the commentators box in the stadium with Elliot. “The only female on the pitch, absolutely one-upping everyone out there.” 

Out of all the faces running towards you, the person up front by a mile was the one you wanted to see the most. Chris had the widest smile, holding his arms out as he neared you. When Chris got you, he threw his arms around you, lifting you into the air and spinning you around slightly.

You laughed, clutching onto the back of his kit until he placed your feet back on the ground. You hugged him tight once more before looking at him and letting his eyes meet yours. It was a moment of happiness, of pure joy for you.

You stared at him, both of you wearing the widest smile, and a second later his hands left your waist and they held your face in his palms. 

“Congratulations, love.” He said and you swallowed hard at the nickname. You watched as his eyes flickered from yours to your lips and back, and a flame lit inside of your stomach. The way he stared at you in that second caused your heart to race, and in that second, you wanted to lean forward, let your lips find his. 

And Chris wanted it to. There would be no better way to celebrate a goal in front of a stadium of 27,000 people. 

But that thought was broken up just as soon as it started. The entire team got there a moment later, throwing their arms around you, saying congratulations, and hugging you tightly. A small pile was formed in the corner as everyone in the stadium was snapping pictures and videos. 

The celebration was once again cut short as everyone was told to get back to their positions for the restart of the match. You trailed behind, shaking your head and laughing at both the boo’s, and the whispers in the group hug; “we are kicking their asses this year!” It wasn’t a whisper, more of a yell to the entire world, really. Thanks Cal.

Once the match restarted, it was much the same. There was still a lot of heat and passion, need and also greed on the pitch for the remainder of the half. 

Simon nearly had two goals for the Sidemen and minutes later Marcus had a good run that was only just inches wide of another for the Allstars. Tobi came close but didn’t take the chance when it was clear, and Joel somehow also dislocated his shoulder while defending Manny. It was tough and relentless, especially in the last few minutes of the match.

Nearing the ninetieth minute, just two minutes short, the Sidemen had yet to give up even though they were two-nil down. As Chris, quote on quote “bottled it” and Manny took off on a run, you managed to slide in front of him as he ran down the middle of the pitch. 

You managed to get a foot in there, stopping Manny in the midst of his run, causing everyone in the stadium to be sent in a frenzy of “ooh’s.” Looking forward, you noticed Chris was free and holding up a hand on the left side of the pitch. With no one around you, you took your time and crossed the ball to him perfectly.

That moment was also like slowmotion. You stood just a couple feet past the halfway line of the pitch and watched as Chris controlled the ball with a head touch and then his feet. Josh and Jamie were on either side of him, but Chris managed to fight Josh off first by slowing down and turning to the left with his right foot.

Jamie was still in front of him, however, but in a second decision, Chris switched to his left foot and swiped the ball quickly, letting it roll against the pitch and straight into the bottom right hand of the goal.

The stadium was yelling, chanting, and cheering as the Sidemen found themselves down three in the final minute to a goal from Chris Dixon.

You smiled as Chris ran, pointing a finger to the sky before running towards the corner of the pitch and jumping high into the air. Much like recreating several Arsenal player’s celebrations in the past.

Everyone was ahead of you, running over to him first before they gathered in a group hug, and soon fell onto the side of the pitch. That caused you to laugh as the other members of the squad ran over and jumped onto a forming pile; hell, even Hugh ran from one side of the pitch to the other to do so.

You lingered behind, not feeling like being sandwiched between all of the sweaty guys on the squad, but jogged your way over to the edge.

The guys eventually stood up from the dogpile, all spread out but some giving Chris hugs anyways before they started back to the pitch. Laughing, Chris hugged Deji before looking around at the group and noticing there was one person missing.

Turning around to face the pitch, Chris watched you jog over to him, wearing the widest smile on your face. 

You held out your arms and hugged him tight. He was the only sweaty person you didn’t mind hugging. He laughed and wrapped his arms around your shoulders. 

After a second, you looked at him and smiled before letting your arms drop from his torso. Just like he did to you, you reached up and cradled his face with your hands. 

“Congratulations, Dixon.” You chuckled.

“Thank you.” He said, grinning. “A goal for you, and a goal for me. What kind of celebration are you planning?”

You teetered your head back and forth. “I have one in mind.” You said before leaning up lightly and letting your lips meet his.

Chris smirked against your lips before deepening it, letting his hand find the back of your head to kiss you just as hard. The whistles in the stadium were deafening, from both the fans, and the players on the pitch. Leaning back, you laughed, your cheeks flushed when you looked back at Chris, whom looked much the same.

“Is that an ideal celebration?” You asked, raising a brow as you backed up towards the pitch.

Chris grinned and licked his lips. “It’s one I’m sure I’ll never forget.” 

You winked at him playfully. “Good, now come on, we have a match to finish.” 

In the commentator’s box, Joe and Elliot were having the time of their lives after the sight of a kiss between two teammates on the pitch. 

“You know, if you said there would be a kiss on the pitch today, I would have put my money on Simon and JJ, not those two.” Elliot chuckled into the microphone.

Joe chuckled. “I told him earlier he was going to have to get her before someone else did after today.” He said. “But I think she got him instead.” 

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 34

Fuuuuck its finally done. Seriously I haven’t spent this long working on a single chapter since... I can’t even remember when. And I’m so fucking tired but whatever. This chapter is a mess because of it but I guess it could always be worse. So anyway, hope you all enjoy!

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/159651353069/universe-falls-chapter-33

Chapter 34: Into the Bunker

QEB CLOJP TB TBXO XOB BSBOVTEBOB PIFM FKQL X KBT LKB FC VLR AXOB

If there was any idle pastime shared between Dipper and Wendy that they enjoyed most, it was watching the old, low-budget movies that were frequently aired on Gravity Falls public television and making fun of their hilariously poor quality all the while. And the pair was doing just that as they relaxed at the foot of the cashier’s bed, sharing a bowl of popcorn as they mockingly laughed along to the utter cheesiness of the zombie movie currently playing.

“What do we do, Chadley?!” the female lead of the movie cried, clinging onto her boyfriend as a horde of blood-thirsty zombies surrounded them. “I thought they were dead!”

“Far worse, Trixandra!” Chadley exclaimed overdramatically. “They’re… Nearly Dead But Not Quite!”

As the protagonist dropped the title, it appeared on the screen for a brief moment before returning to the melodramatic, clearly fake zombie attack. “Man, these movies are a lot less scary when you’ve actually fought regular zombies,” Dipper remarked, rolling his eyes at the movie’s lackluster effects that paled in comparison to how horrifying he knew genuine zombies to be.

“They’re slow!” Wendy shouted at the TV with faux frustration. “Just power-walk away from them!”

“How much you wanna bet that guy dies first?” Dipper asked with a smirk, only for that very thing to happen seconds later.

“Ah! My face is getting eaten a lot!” Chadley screamed as the zombies comically pounced on him, much to Dipper and Wendy’s equal amusement.

“Ha! Chadley ain’t pretty no more,” Wendy said as her and Dipper laughed over the main character’s ridiculous fate. Their levity was interrupted, however, as the cashier’s phone buzzed on the bed nearby. “One sec,” Wendy grabbed her phone, her grin quickly turning into an aggravated scowl upon seeing the latest notification. “Ugh, another text from Robbie!”

“Oh yeah,” Dipper said, though he made sure to phrase his next statement carefully since he didn’t really want to pry too much. “Robbie. So, uh… how… how’s all that going?”

“Ugh, I’m over him, I just wish he was over me!” Wendy huffed in exasperation. “Just look at these texts! Winky frown? What does that even mean?”

Dipper hesitated before saying anything, excitement and anxiety filling him all at once as he realized this could very well finally be his chance. That is, if he didn’t end up getting in his own way again. “A-and you’re not… not, like… seeing any other guys, or…”

“Of course I am,” Wendy replied, not noticing Dipper forcing himself to hide his shocked dismay at this news. “Meet my new boyfriend, dude.” With a joking smirk, the cashier pulled up one of her stuffed animals, much to Dipper’s apt relief.

“Right, right,” he laughed a bit too awkwardly, averting eye contact with his crush as he began to pose the question he had been thoroughly thinking and fretting over for weeks now. “S-so, I was wondering if… If maybe y-you wanted to… You know… Maybe w-we could… I-I wanted to know if you…” Dipper took in a sharp, deep breath, cringing at his own complete inability to just tell Wendy how he felt, something that was so simple as a concept, but nearly impossible in execution. And seeing as how he had already messed up whatever slim chance he might have had, he let out a defeated sigh as he went off on a different tangent entirely. “If you… wanted to join me, Mabel, Steven, and the Gems on a mystery hunt tomorrow? Conspiracy stuff and all that?”

“Yeah, dude,” Wendy immediately agreed with a grin. “I love doing all that junk with friends. Yo, Chadley! Look out!” she laughed as she turned her attention back to the movie playing on TV, even though Dipper couldn’t really do the same.

“Yeah, that’s what we are…” he sighed in disappointment as he discreetly pulled a piece of paper out of his vest while Wendy wasn’t looking. Dipper frowned dejectedly as he glanced over the note he had written (and rewritten at least several times over) that openly confessed his own hopeless crush on the cashier, a note that he refused to ever let her see, lest it cause him untold mortification. “That’s all we’ll ever be…” he muttered glumly, crumpling up the note before putting it away and flopping back onto the bed. “Friends…”

“Dude, you’re lying on my bra,” Wendy informed him with a hint of amusement in her tone. Dipper let out a panicked scream upon glancing over to see that he was indeed on top of one of the cashier’s bras, prompting him to dart upright before the situation could get any more awkward than it already was.

Steven smiled contentedly as he sat on a nearby tree stump as Pearl, Greg, and Stan collaborated on trying to fix the former rock star’s broken-down van outside the shack. The young Gem didn’t pay their muttered conversing much mind, however, as he instead entertained himself with the Crying Breakfast Friends personality quiz on his phone.

“Sniffling Croissant!” Steven exclaimed brightly as he finished the quiz and got his result. “You really know me, internet. Hey, guys!”

“Yeah, Steven?” Greg asked, turning his attention from the engine him and Stan were holding steady for Pearl as she worked on it.

“You guys should take this online quiz I found,” the young Gem quipped, holding his phone up so they could see. “It tells you what character you are from Crying Breakfast Friends!”

“Crying Breakfast-” Stan cut himself off, looking to Steven completely dumbfounded. “Kid, what the heck are you talking about?”

“Oh, it’s a really great cartoon with a huge cast of really interesting, relatable characters!” Steven explained with a smile. “And every single one of them is a result you can get in this quiz! Like I said, you all should totally take it!”

“Uh… why?” Pearl asked with a confused frown.

“It’s just fun to see yourself as a cartoon character,” Steven shrugged, looking back to his phone. “Like Weeping Egg Cup, who’s neurotic and uptight, or Pining Grapefruit, the sensitive older one who wishes he were a better role model, or Grumpy Pancake, who’s ill-tempered but has a hidden heart of gold.”

Pearl, Stan, and Greg all exchanged an aptly bewildered glance upon hearing this, none of them really sure of what to make of the odd characters Steven was detailing to them. “Uh, maybe we can do that thing after we fix the van,” Greg said with a patient smile.

“Yeah, or better yet, never,” Stan muttered, rolling his eyes as he got back to work.

Steven let out a disappointed sigh upon hearing this, but nonetheless, he accepted their answer. “Okay… I’ll just find someone else then!”

“Yo, Steven!” Amethyst called to the young Gem as her and Garnet stood on the fringes of the trail leading into the woods. “You ready to go?”

“Oh yeah! I almost forgot!” Steven jumped to his feet, putting his phone in his pocket as he prepared to head off.

“Oh, are you three going off on that ‘mystery hunt’ you mentioned earlier?” Pearl asked the young Gem before he could get too far.

“Yep!” the young Gem said, walking backwards as he addressed her. “We’re going to meet Dipper, Mabel, and Soos in the woods right now! Aren’t you coming, Pearl?”

“Oh, well, I-” the white Gem was cut off as something inside the van’s chassis suddenly burst, resulting in a thick plume of smoke and a shared exasperated groan from Greg and Stan. “I… think I’m needed more here,” Pearl said with a slightly bemused grin. “But stay safe! And have fun!”

“Oh, we will!” Steven nodded as he joined Amethyst and Garnet. “Especially since I have this quiz to keep us all entertained along the way!”

The white Gem continued to wave her teammates off with a smile, one that faded into her earlier confusion as she turned back to the conman and the former rock star. “Do either of you understand that cartoon show?” she asked pensively.

“I don’t really understand anything anymore,” Greg admitted honestly.

“Ditto,” Stan dryly agreed as they got back to work sorting the van’s struggling engine out.

Meanwhile, Steven cheerfully strode alongside Garnet and Amethyst, the former silent and observant as ever and the latter casually snacking on the messy sandwich she had brought along for the hike. “So where’s this ‘super mysterious’ place Dipper wants us to check out again?” the purple Gem asked somewhat boredly.

“Apparently, its right on the temple hill,” Garnet replied, her attention focused on the path ahead. “The very same place where he supposedly found the journal. So this mission will hopefully give us some answers that are a long time coming. Which means I expect you both to take it seriously.”

“Don’t worry, G,” Amethyst smirked, her mouth full as she munched on her sandwich. “You know me. I’m as serious as they come.”

“Same here!” Steven nodded thoroughly. “Oh! Speaking of serious stuff, you guys gotta take this online quiz: ‘Which Crying Breakfast Friend Are You’?”

“I’ll pass,” Garnet said simply.

“Yeah, same,” Amethyst stuck her tongue out. “That show’s really weird. Who wants to watch a cartoon about people crying?”

“I do!” Steven protested, tears already starting to form in his eyes.

“Ok, ok!” the purple Gem quickly retracted for the sake of appeasing the young Gem. “Uh, what’s the first question?”

Steven quickly perked up as he looked back to his phone and read the question out loud. “Do you ever act without thinking?”

“Nope,” Amethyst shrugged, throwing the remainder of her sandwich into the air before catching most of it in her wide-open mouth.

“Are you afraid of taking risks and trying new things?”

“Terrified,” the purple Gem deadpanned, licking the remains of her sandwich off her face.

“Amethyst, are you taking this seriously?” Steven asked with a frown.

“Of course, I am,” Amethyst rolled her eyes, making it quite clear that she wasn’t. Still, Steven tapped ‘yes’ on his phone under the question he had just asked her before moving onto the next one.

“Are you insecure about your relationships and how you are perceived by other people?”

The purple Gem’s lax expression abruptly shifted into discomfort upon hearing such a prying question, especially as she glanced towards Garnet. The Gem leader herself wasn’t really listening to the conversation as she stoically pressed on ahead, but even so, Amethyst was aptly anxious as she gave Steven an uncertain reply. “…No? Yes? Uh… what’s the right answer?”

“There is no right answer,” Steven said. “You’re just supposed to answer honestly.”

“Eh, I’m bored,” Amethyst quickly returned to her usual casual manner as she quickened her pace to catch up with Garnet.

“Wait!” Steven called as he ran after her. “I still have loads more probing personal questions to ask you!”

“They’ll have to wait till later,” Garnet spoke up, putting her hands on her hips as she came to a stop. “We’re here.”

“Hi, guys!” Mabel greeted the trio brightly as they arrived. Her and Soos were eagerly waiting near a tall, conspicuous tree that Dipper was intently pacing in front of while meticulously leafing through the journal. He stopped short, however, upon noticing that Steven and the Gems had shown up.

“There you guys are!” Dipper said with relieved smile as he closed the journal. “I’m glad you could make it. Thank you all for coming.”

“Hey, when there’s a mystery, you can count on your sister… -ey!” Mabel quipped, somehow making the pun work.

“That’s an amazing rhyme,” Soos chuckled before trying his own. “When you want some… some good… When you need a Soos, you… Oh, gosh, I got nothing.”

“Oh, this is so exciting!” Steven exclaimed with a zealous smile. “What mystery are we gonna solve this time? Why fairies are so small and sparkly? Or how gnomes celebrate president’s day?”

“Neither,” Dipper shook his head. “We’re here to solve the number one mystery in Gravity Falls: who wrote this journal?” He held said journal up, flipping to the torn pastedown that would have otherwise revealed its writer’s identity. “Thirty years ago, the author vanished without a trace, but according to this new clue, we may have found his secret hiding place,” He paused once more to hold a portable backlight up to a page depicting the very same tree they were all standing under. The backlight, however, revealed a winding staircase wrapping underneath the tree, leading the way to a hidden underground dugout.

“Wait, so you’re saying this author guy has been squatting right underneath our temple for the past 30 years?” Amethyst asked incredulously. “All without us knowing about it? That seems kinda, I dunno, impossible?”

“We don’t know who the author is,” Garnet reminded solidly. “But he somehow knew a lot about us. It would have made sense for him to have gotten that information by observing us right behind our backs.”

“Literally!” Steven quipped jokingly.

“I don’t know…” Dipper interjected with a frown as he looked back to the journal. “Based on how the author wrote about you guys, it still doesn’t really seem like he got all this info just from spying on you… But that’s what we’re here to find out. We find that author, we learn the answers to everything. We just need to figure out a way to get down there…”

“Chop it down, dudes!” Wendy called as she pulled up to the group on her bike.

“Wendy!” Mabel and Steven greeted the cashier, pleasantly surprised that she was joining them.

“Oh, hey! You made it!” Dipper exclaimed, also quite excited to see her.

“Dude, I’m so stoked about this!” Wendy remarked, putting her usual hat on as she dismounted her bike. “I’ve been wanting to go adventuring with you guys. Sure beats picking up after my dad at home. So thanks for the invite, man!” She grinned as she passed by Dipper, giving a friendly punch on the arm.

“O-of course!” Dipper called after her with a smile that was far too wide and clearly flustered. “Anytime you wanna… I, uh… We’re always… uh-”

“Uh oh!” Mabel cut in as her and Steven both sent Dipper broad, knowing grins while the Gems and Soos moved on towards the tree themselves. “Inviting Wendy on our mission? Methinks there’s romance afoot!”

“No,” Dipper quickly rejected this notion, even if he was more intent on convincing himself more than either of them. “Look, I’ve thought this through and I’m over Wendy. I’ve looked at it from every angle, and that thing was going nowhere. I know what matters to me now, and that’s finding the author of this journal.”

“Ha! You’re over Wendy?” Mabel smirked with wry disbelief. “Allow me to put on my ‘skepticals’.” Said skeptical were merely just Mabel forming circles around her eyes with her fingers, but even so Dipper was far from amused.

“Dipper, why don’t you just tell Wendy how you feel about her?” Steven asked with a good-natured smile. “It’s gotta be easier than just trying to keep it a secret. I mean, just how great things turned out when Bawling Bacon told Mourning Muffin about his crush on her in Crying Breakfast Friends.”

“Oh, that episode is a classic!” Mabel interjected, still keeping her ‘skepticals’ on.

“…I don’t even know what to say to that,” Dipper said dryly. “But still, I’m not going to tell Wendy anything because there’s nothing to tell. I’ve moved on. You guys should too.”

The pair merely exchanged a tentative glance as Dipper stepped past them, though Mabel made sure to get the final say on the matter. “Skepticals…”

“Hey, guys,” Wendy said as everyone gathered close to the tree. “Is it just me, or does that branch look kinda like a lever?”

“Huh, yeah,” Dipper agreed, looking up at the branch the cashier was referring to before turning away from it to properly pan. “But how do we get up there…? It seems like we’d need a ladder, or like, ladder-shoes. I’ll get Soos to draw up a prototype, maybe go get Pearl and have her help build them…”

“Should we tell him?” Amethyst muttered to Garnet as they watched Wendy use her belt to skillfully scale the tree behind Dipper.

“Eh, he’ll figure it out,” Garnet shrugged.

At the same time, Wendy had reached the lever and pulled the ax out of her belt. With a smooth flick of the wrist, she spun the weapon around and hit the lever with its dull end, easily activating it. “Boosh!” she exclaimed, sending a satisfied smirk down to the amazed group on the ground.

“Whoa! Wendy, dude, that was awesome!” Soos exclaimed with a grin.

“Oh yeah, my dad used to make me compete in these lumberjack games when I was a kid,” Wendy remarked with a humble shrug. “Guess I kinda ruled at it.”

Still, no one had too much time to be impressed as the tree suddenly began to shake violently. Unable to hold on, Wendy fell off of it with a frightened cry, though fortunately, the shrub at the foot of the tree broke her fall. She didn’t really have a chance to breathe a sigh of relief, however, as the ground surrounding the tree began to retract, though thankfully Dipper and Soos were quick enough to pull her away from the emerging opening. The group crowded around the circular hole, watching in stunned awe as a set of stairs started jutting out from the lower half of the tree, stairs that led to a metallic door down below.

“Uh… G?” Amethyst tentatively spoke up, looking to the Gem leader with apt concern. “Am I the only one of us who’s thinking this looks sort of…”

“Familiar…” Garnet finished, her expression unreadable as she looked towards the hidden door and nothing else. “No, you’re not.”

“Wait, have you guys been here before?” Steven asked with immense curiosity.

“I don’t… think so…” the purple Gem frowned, bewildered.

“Still, it feels like we have…” the Gem leader adjusted her shades, her tone slightly unnerved. “It’s… hard to explain…”

“Well maybe going down there and checking it out will help jog your memory!” Mabel suggested encouragingly.

The pair of Gems exchanged a dubious glance, neither of them, not even Garnet, really sure of what they might find underground. Still, as always, Amethyst was the first to return to her usual verve. “Well, what are we waiting for?” she asked with a forced, confident grin. “Let’s crash this creepy joint!”

“Alright, guys, this is it,” Dipper said with bold resolve, making sure the journal was securely tucked into his vest. “Remember, what happens down there, we tell no one.”

The others all responded affirmative to this in different ways: Mabel with a thumbs up, Steven with a solid nod, Garnet with a clenched, determined fist, Soos by turning his hat backwards, Amethyst with a casual salute, and Wendy by zipping her lips. Without the need for any further deliberation on their plans, the group began descending the staircase down to whatever might await them in the depths below.

What did await them behind the door was a rather small, rather cramped room. Its walls were constructed out of firm, sturdy metal, and despite the dust and cobwebs clinging to nearly every surface, there was certainly much to see. A small, decrepit cot sat against one wall, a cabinet used to store weapons against the other, and shelves upon shelves of stock-piled food in boxes labeled by year against another. The group all gasped in muted awe as they wandered into the room, all of them somehow managing to squeeze into the claustrophobic corridor as they began to investigate every detail they could.

“Ok, this is stupidly cool,” Wendy remarked with an impressed grin.

“I know, right?” Steven glanced around the room, his eyes alight with wonder. “Who knew all this stuff was hiding right behind the temple?”

“Hm…” Garnet mused as the young Gem said this, remaining in one spot as she scoped the area out. While her future vision usually was able to give her clear glimpses into what was ahead, it was of no aid in providing her glimpses of what might have been before. And yet, every fiber of her being resonated with the feeling that this place, as cramped and as darkened as it was, was a place she had stepped foot in before, somehow and some when. She knew, even without asking, that Amethyst likely harbored the same feeling, and Pearl would have as well if she was with them. And perhaps, even Rose would have admitted to its familiarity if she was still around to see all of this. Or better yet, fill in the gaps that they seemed to be missing.

“It’s like a fallout shelter or something,” Dipper noted, glancing over at a calendar fixed to the wall that was stuck on the year 1982. “It must have belonged to the author.”

“Yeesh, I feel sorry for the dude if he lived in this dusty old box,” Amethyst said, trying her best to pass off her own uneasiness towards the familiarity of it all. “Still, at least there’s plenty of good cans lying around to snack on.” With a satisfied smirk, the purple Gem grabbed a nearby empty can and downed it whole as Steven and Mabel shared an amused laugh at her odd appetite.

At the same time, Wendy pried a metal sign off the wall that read “Fallout Shelter”, grinning as she blew the dust off of it. “This is going over my bed.”

“Ha!” Mabel chuckled brightly as she pulled her head out of the barrel she had been investigating, not even caring about the countless caterpillars inching across her face. “My face feels fuzzy!”

“Aw, they’re so cute!” Steven quipped, gleefully petting one of the fuzzy creatures.

“This is incredible!” Dipper remarked, fully in his element now as he tried to imagine the mysterious author himself standing in this very room. “It’s like he was preparing for a disaster. But… what kind of disaster would need supplies for over sixty years…?” His smile faded as he looked to the extensive collection of storage boxes sitting on the nearby shelves, all of which were labeled with years dating all the way up to 2070.

“Oh my gosh!” Soos gasped as he opened up the weapons locker and pulled anything but a weapon out. “A Smez dispenser! I remember these things. What’s that?” he paused, holding the dog-shaped dispenser up to his ear with a playful grin. “Why yes, I will have some of your old-timey face food!” The handyman pushed a piece of candy out of the dispenser and ate it, choking a bit over its staleness. “Ew, dusty!” he cringed, before popping another one into his mouth.

“Ha ha! Look, Steven!” Amethyst smirked to the nearby young Gem as she found a gas mask hanging on the wall, one that she jokingly put on. “I’m a pachyderm!” Of course, Steven let out a charmed laugh at this, though his amusement turned into shock as Amethyst pulled a skull, albeit a fake one, out of the mask. “Oh! And there’s a prize inside!”

“Amethyst,” Garnet spoke up, turning to her teammate. “I thought you said you were going to take this mission seriously.”

“Hey, I am being serious,” the purple Gem retorted defensively, quickly tossing the gas mask aside. “Just figured I’d liven this stale old place up a little is all.” Amethyst flashed a hopeful grin at her leader, who, based on her unflinching expression, was anything but impressed by her levity. Still, she made no comment on it, much to the purple Gem’s simultaneous worry and relief.

“Wait, guys!” Dipper interjected as he happened to pick up one of the countless discarded cans off the floor, one that just so happened to be still somewhat full. “I think this can was opened recently…”

“The author still might be alive down here, then!” Soos exclaimed.

“Wait a minute…” Wendy cut in as she glanced over to the far wall, where a large map of Gravity Falls hung. The map itself seemed to be blowing against a mysterious unseen breeze, the source of which was revealed as the cashier pulled it off the wall, uncovering a slightly ajar hatch. “I think I know where he might have gone…” Wendy smirked to the others as they gathered around.

“Then here’s the plan,” Garnet said authoritatively. “We’ll follow this tunnel to wherever it leads. But since this is unknown territory we’re in, Amethyst and I will take the lead and the rest of you follow behind us.”

Everyone nodded in agreement with this safe plan, knowing that the pair of Gems would be their best line of defense in case anything happened to go wrong. Garnet herself went first, crawling through the tight tunnel that led deeper into the darkness, with Amethyst heading after her, followed by the others.

“Oh Garnet,” Steven grinned with admiration as he climbed into the tunnel behind the Gems. “Stern but practical. Just like Spilled Milk.”

“Ugh, you’re not still on about that dumb cartoon, are you?” Amethyst asked, annoyed as she glanced back at the young Gem.

“Oh right, the quiz!” Steven pulled out his phone as he tried to hold it and shimmy through the tunnel the best he could. However, before he could read the next question, Mabel enthusiastically interrupted.

“Oh my gosh, you don’t mean the Crying Breakfast Friends personality quiz, do you?!” she asked excitedly. “I just took that this morning. I got Sad Pear, just like I knew I would!”

“Whoa, Sad Pear is totally you, Mabel!” Steven readily agreed. “I got Sniffling Croissant, and now I’m trying to see which character Amethyst is. So, next question: Do you get defensive when people ask you questions about the feelings you prefer to keep hidden?”

“Pfft, I know someone who does,” Mabel remarked offhand, sending a goading smirk to Dipper.

“Mabel, please,” Dipper huffed in exasperation, though he did briefly glance back at Wendy rather apprehensively, though thankfully she didn’t notice.

Amethyst, on the other hand, was far more alarmed and perturbed upon hearing the podding question the young Gem had just posed. “Don’t get all psyc-o-logical on me, Ste-ven,” she hissed somewhat harshly, glaring back at him.

The young Gem flinched a little at her bitter manner, though still, he wasn’t exactly sure what about his seemingly question had provoked her. “Uh… Sorry?”

“Everyone, watch your step,” Garnet cut through the conversation with a forewarning as the group reached the end of the tunnel. Once again, everyone was rapt with amazement as they emerged into a large, square chamber, its walls, floor, and ceiling all composed of metallic tiles, all of which bore strange, cryptic symbols on them. While purpose of this strange room was far from clear, everyone took the time to stop and scope it out nonetheless, more out of awe than anything else.

“Wow! And I thought that first room was cool!” Steven exclaimed, glancing around with wide eyes. “This one’s even more mysterious!”

“I know, right?” Wendy smirked in agreement. “Was this place built in the past or the future?”

“I dunno, dudes…” Soos muttered apprehensively. “This room is way creepy…”

“Not as creepy as Dipper’s internet history!” Mabel exclaimed with a broad, joking grin. “Heyo!” Despite the aggravated glare Dipper was sending her, Mabel gave him a playful shove nonetheless, which resulted in him stumbling forward onto one of the marked panels on the floor, a panel that just so happened to be a hidden switch. Without any warning, a blaring alarm began to sound as the other symbols on the walls lit up bright red. The hatch the group had just emerged from abruptly slammed shut and locked itself tightly, and while that wouldn’t have been drastically alarming, it suddenly became a very dire fact. The tiles on the walls themselves began to push in towards the group on all sides and from all angles with only one intention: crushing the intruders trapped therein.

“That’s why I told you all to watch your step!” Garnet called over the loud alarm as everyone crowded together fearfully.

Still, the only one among them who wasn’t completely distressed by the impending danger was Mabel, mostly since her face was still covered in caterpillars. “Ha, it’s hard to be scared with caterpillars on your face,” she grinned blithely.

“W-we gotta get out of here!” Steven cried fearfully, gasping in surprise as Garnet summoned her gauntlets and slammed her hands into a nearby block in the hopes of stopping it.

“Way head of you, Ste-man!” Amethyst exclaimed daringly, leaping into action. While the others tried in vain to push the tiles back, the purple Gem went high, using the rapidly moving blocks to give her a boost as she positioned herself between two of them near the ceiling. Amethyst grunted loudly as she shoved her foot against one of them, trying to use her entire body to keep them separated as she looked down at the struggling group below. “Yo, G!” she called to the Gem leader, who was barely paying her any mind as she pushed back against a tile. “Check this—huh?” The purple Gem stopped short as she happened to glance up at the glowing tile right above her head, marked with a symbol that was far too familiar for her, even if she didn’t really know how. The blaring alarm and sense of urgency seemed to dull a bit as Amethyst started up at it, fascinated and somewhat confused. And, with a slow, tentative touch, she gently placed her hand upon it, her eyes lighting up as she pressed down on the apparent switch, turning its symbol from red to blue. “Hey guys!” she shouted, barely even aware of the tiles aggressively pushing against her. “Look what-”

Just as everyone glanced up her way, Amethyst let out a sharp, loud gasp as the blocks finally pressed against her body too tightly. And yet, instead of sustaining any kind of injuries, the purple Gem’s form abruptly disappeared in a bright puff of smoke, leaving nothing but her gemstone behind. Everyone save for Garnet let out a collective gasp of shared horror at this, especially as Amethyst’s gem began to freely fall from her previously high perch. Fortunately, Steven reacted just in time by catching the stone before it could hit the hard ground and shatter entirely, but even so, no one had any time to show anything other than shock to what had just happened, especially since the walls were all still tightly closing in.

“Amethyst was onto something,” Garnet noted as she glanced up to where the purple Gem had been, catching sight of the switch she had activated mere seconds ago.

“Wait, she was!” Dipper exclaimed, holding the black light over a page in the journal that detailed the very room they were in. The hidden text revealed a set of glowing marks in particular, all of which served as the key out of the encroaching death trap. “There are five more of these symbols. Quick! Everybody find one!”

While Garnet worked to hold the tiles back the best she could, the others split up the best that they could, each of them searching for the other five conspicuous tiles that could very well save them. Soos found the first one, and seeing as how this was a life or death situation, he didn’t hesitate to run for it without delay. “One!” he called, pushing the switch in firmly.

“Two!” Wendy shouted as she found the next one, jumping up to give it a solid punch.

“Three!” Steven announced as he used another block to get a boost to reach another switch.

“Four!” Mabel called, high fiving the next symbol.

Dipper paused as he frantically looked around for the final untapped symbol, only to spot it right as another block began to move in front of it. Acting fast, he ran for the switch, hurriedly climbing the blocks leading up to it and fortunately hitting right before it was covered up entirely. “Five!”

With all five of the switches activated, a door revealed itself on the far side of the room as it swung open, finally giving the group a window of escape. Still, it was a rather narrow window, seeing as how the tiles were still pushing in towards them just as quickly as ever.

“Run for it!” Mabel shouted, leading the way through the tight fit towards the door. The others were quick to follow suit, Garnet abandoning her post as she leapt through the opening deftly. Steven made sure that Amethyst’s gem was tightly secured in his grasp before fleeing, and though he was the last to escape, Dipper made it out just in time, even if his vest did happen to get caught between the blocks just as they finally all slammed shut on each other.

“Yes!” Wendy cheered in apt relief as soon as they were all safely on the other side of the security room. “That was nuts! You ruled back there, man!” she exclaimed, sending a congratulatory grin to Dipper.

“Heh, thanks,” he remarked with something of a bashful blush. However, the triumph of the moment was quickly cut short as Steven let out a distressed cry.

“Amethyst!” the young Gem wailed, distraught tears in his eyes as he held the purple gem close.

“W-what happened to her?” Mabel asked, also quite concerned as the others crowded around.

“Is… is she like… gone?” Soos asked with an apprehensive frown.

“No,” Garnet quickly confirmed.

“But… Amethyst got crushed to-” Dipper cut himself off, not entirely sure how to properly phrase it. “Well, I guess being crushed to death wasn’t exactly what happened to her…”

“Whatever did happen to her wasn’t pretty…” Wendy remarked, glancing at Amethyst’s gem with a frown. “I mean, how could she have actually survived something like that?”

“A Gem’s body is a construct of light,” Garnet began to explain, her tone as calm as ever. “Our physical forms are illusions. And sometimes, when we’re badly damaged, we’re forced to release those physical forms and retreat into our gemstones to regenerate.”

“So… so she’ll be ok, then?” Mabel asked, hopeful.

“She’ll be just fine,” Garnet assured with a smile. “This sort of thing happens to Amethyst all the time, believe me.”

“I-it happened to Pearl once too, a few months ago,” Steven sniffled, still hardly consoled. “A-and it took her two whole weeks to come back, and I already miss Amethyst so much!”

“Don’t worry,” the Gem leader encouraged, placing a gentle hand on her sorrowful young ward’s shoulder. “She’ll be back before you know it.”

And, as if right on cue, the purple Gem began to make her rather rushed reappearance. Everyone gasped as Amethyst’s gemstone radiated a practically blinding light, floating freely upwards out of Steven’s grasp. “Literally…” Garnet muttered upon seeing this, her smile fading as she watched her teammate regenerate. A bright silhouette surrounded the stone, shifting subtly before landing on the most familiar form of the purple Gem. Or at least, so it initially seemed.

As the light faded from her, Amethyst landed squarely on the ground, a little out of it, but otherwise completely unharmed. Delighted to see her return so quickly, Steven rushed for her, wrapping her in a tight hug as the others all breathed a shared sigh of relief. “Amethyst’s back! Amethyst’s back!” the young Gem happily proclaimed as he threw his arms around her.

“Ugh…” Amethyst groaned rather tiredly as she gently pushed him away, only to notice something off about her hands. Or rather, lack thereof. “Huh?”

“Uh, Amethyst?” Dipper spoke up, quite bewildered by the purple Gem’s new appearance. “What happened to your… arms?”

“I think you mean legs, bro-bro,” Mabel quipped, correctly describing what Amethyst’s arms had been replaced with: another set of legs.

“Looks like you… grew a few feet since the last time I saw you!” Steven joked, much to the already confused purple Gem’s annoyance.

“Nice one, dude!” Soos chuckled. “Oh, I got one! Hey, Amethyst, can you lend me a foot? Get it?! C-cause you have-”

“Yeah, Soos, I get it,” Amethyst deadpanned dryly.

“That was fast,” Garnet interrupted, looking down at her teammate with a stoic frown. “Even for you.”

Amethyst was quick to push herself to her feet (her usual ones anyway) upon hearing this, pushing her alarm off as she casually brushed her bangs out of her face. “Eh, it’s no big deal,” she shrugged nonchalantly, smoothly transitioning to stand on her new arm-legs. “I didn’t wanna keep my biggest fan waiting!” She sent a playful smirk Steven’s way, eliciting a laugh from the young Gem that ended when she put one of her regular feet on top of his head. He rolled his eyes as he removed it, chuckling once more and not noticing that Garnet was nowhere near as amused with Amethyst’s antics.

“Let’s just keep moving,” the Gem leader resolved, pressing on ahead. Amethyst huffed an irritated sigh at Garnet’s terse manner, but all the same, she trudged on along with the others as they began exploring their new surroundings.

“Whoa, get a load of this crazy surveillance room,” Wendy remarked, impressed by the observation deck they now found themselves in. The atmosphere here seemed to be much calmer than that of the security room, its walls lined with a wide array of monitors and control panels. A few of the screens still seemed to be showing sparse video feed, though from where, no one really knew. Still, just like the first room, there was plenty of interesting clues and details here worth exploring, which was what the group split up to do.

“Check it out, dudes!” Soos exclaimed as he held a pair of beakers up to his eyes, making them appear comically large.

“Soos, Soos,” Wendy said, her tone serious before she broke out into a grin. “That is hilarious.”

“Hey, Steven,” Amethyst smirked to the young Gem as she remained standing on her arm-legs. “Watch me ‘roll with it’.” At this, the purple Gem proceeded to cartwheel easily using all four of her legs, something that Steven instantly wanted to try, only to fall flat on his face the moment he attempted a handstand. Mabel got a good laugh out of this failed attempt, though she was more than ready to try it herself, only to stop short upon noticing Dipper’s vest still hanging from the edge of the security room.

“Hey, bro, you forgot your vest,” she called over to him, heading over to go retrieve it. However, as she pulled the vest loose, a piece of paper happened to slip out of it, something that instantly garnished Mabel’s attention and interest. “What’s this…?” she muttered before quietly reading whatever her brother had written aloud to herself. “Dear Wendy, I’ve always had a crush on-” She cut herself off with an excited gasp, covering her mouth up with the note in an attempt to stifle it. “Oh my gosh! Steven!”

“What’s-” Before the young Gem could even finish, Mabel shoved the note into his face, an overwhelmingly elated grin on her face.

“Look! Look! Look!” she urged eagerly, handing the note off to Steven. He took a moment to look over it for himself before mirroring her excitement with a gasp of his own.

“Oh my gosh!”

“That’s what I said!” Mabel exclaimed enthusiastically before turning towards her brother with a coy grin. “Hey, Dipper! Look what we found!”

“My vest, I hope,” Dipper deadpanned, grabbing that from her first, only for his eyes to go wide with shock upon seeing his note for Wendy. “W-what?! Where did you—Give me that!”

“I knew it!” Mabel exclaimed triumphantly even as Dipper snatched the note away from Steven. “I knew it! I knew it!”

“We both knew it!” Steven added with a bright chuckle.

“Yeah we did!” Mabel readily agreed. “You’re not over Wendy at all!”

“Oh! Were you gonna tell her today?!” the young Gem asked, hopping to his feet with an invested grin.  

“No,” Dipper quickly protested, quickly glancing over his shoulder to make sure the cashier couldn’t overhear them. “I changed my mind; it’s a bad idea. I’d just embarrass myself and then I’d be another guy she hates, just like Robbie.”

“Dipper, you should just tell her already,” Mabel insisted. “One way or another, you’ll feel better about it afterwards.”

“Mabel’s right,” Steven nodded in agreement. “It’s like Garnet always says: honesty is the key to any relationship. And she would know, since she’s like, the master of romance or something!”

“You bet I am,” Garnet cut in from right behind the trio.

“Garnet!?” Dipper exclaimed in apt surprise. “H-how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” the Gem leader remarked, adjusting her shades.

“Wait a sec, this is perfect!” Mabel quipped. “Garnet, you can just tell Dipper how him confessing his feelings to Wendy is gonna turn out so he can just go and do it instead of being all lame about it!”

“Hey!” Dipper protested, more than ready to argue with Mabel on this point, though once more, Garnet interrupted.

“Actually… I think this is one future Dipper’s going to have to discover for himself…” the Gem leader mused definitively.

“Oh come on, seriously?” Dipper sighed in exasperation, a part of him hoping that Garnet would have been able to provide him with at least some foresight on the matter.

“However,” she continued pointedly. “I will say that Steven was right about my advice. Whether things turn out or not, being honest about your feelings is always better than keeping them buried under the surface. Trust me.”

A sudden crash from the other side of the room cut through the conversation, prompting everyone to turn and see that Amethyst had accidentally dropped a glass beaker thanks to her handless-arms. “Whoops,” she said stiffly, playing the incident off with an awkward laugh. “Foot-hands, ya know? Turns out they don’t make very good… hand-hands…”

“I knew this would happen…” Garnet sighed, already preparing to go take care of the purple Gem, but not before imparting a few more words of wisdom. “Just remember what I said, Dipper. The truth can set you free. Literally.”

“Huh, I wonder what that’s supposed to mean,” Mabel remarked in slight confusion as the Gem leader walked off.

“So was that enough to convince you to go talk to Wendy about how you feel, Dipper?” Steven asked with an encouraging smile.

“Yeah, no,” Dipper replied flatly, still deeply resolved against the very idea.

“Ugh, come on,” Mabel groaned, frustrated. “Why not?”

“You guys just don’t understand,” Dipper said dismissively. “I can’t tell her, no matter how much I want to, ok? So just drop it already.”

Mabel and Steven were both more than ready to argue with this, but before they could, Wendy herself interrupted the conversation. “Dude, Dipper! You gotta check out this weird metal closet!” she called from the open closet she was standing in at the back of the surveillance room. With a small laugh, she jokingly took on a robotic tone to up the effect. “I am a robot, I have a metal closet.”

“Coming!” Dipper called back to her with an anxious laugh before briefly turning back to Mabel and Steven. “This never happened.”

Still, neither of them were anywhere near satisfied as they watched him hurry off, especially upon watching his rather stilted interactions with Wendy. “Aw, man…” Steven said with a worried frown. “Poor Dipper, holding in his feelings like that… That’s gotta be so hard…”

“I know, right?” Mabel huffed in annoyance. “He totally wants to tell her, but he’s just scared! But maybe all he needs is a little push…”

“A push? Like what?”

“Oh, you’ll see, Steven,” Mabel said with something of an ominous smirk. “You’ll see.” Without explaining anything of her impromptu idea, she rushed for her brother, reaching him before he could even make it to Wendy and locking him into a sudden hug from behind. “Brother, whatever happens, I just need you to know something,” Mabel paused, her tone oddly serious as she looked him dead in the eyes. “This is for your own good.”

“What?” Dipper asked, only to get no answer as Mabel abruptly shoved him forward hard, right into the closet. Before he could even realize what had happened, she slammed the doors shut and locked them from the outside, grinning in satisfaction all the while.

“Oh, so that’s what you meant by a push,” Steven surmised thoughtfully as Amethyst let out an amused laugh at what she assumed was merely a prank.

“Nice one, Mabel!” the purple Gem chuckled. “Reminds me of that time I locked Pearl in the bathroom back at the temple. She beat on the door for hours! It was a riot.”

Meanwhile, inside the closet itself, it took Dipper a moment to gather his bearings, but when he did, the first thing he realized was that not only was he trapped inside of the nearly pitch-black closet thanks to Mabel. But he was also trapped in there with Wendy, of all people, a fact that instantly filled him with simultaneous exhilaration and panic, especially given their forced closed proximity to each other. “Mabel!” Dipper quickly shouted, pounding on the door adamantly. “Let us out!”

“Oh, I’ll let you out, Dipper,” Mabel smirked confidently. “As soon as you tell Wendy that thing you’ve been wanting to tell her! You’ll thank me for this later!”

“What’s she talking about?” Wendy asked Dipper, aptly confused.

“N-nothing!” Dipper exclaimed defensively. “Mabel’s just been eating raw sugar packets again!”

“That’s beside the point!” Mabel called from the outside even as she dumped two packets of sugar into her mouth without a care. Her levity dulled a bit, however, upon noticing the somewhat disapproving frown the Gem leader was sending her way. “Aw, come on, Garnet. You said so yourself: Dipper needs to be honest about his feelings!”

“Yes, and I also remember saying that he needs to see how this all turns out for himself,” Garnet countered. “Still, I figured something like this would happen. That’s why I told him the truth would set him free. Because in this case, it apparently will.”

“So are we just gonna like, wait it out then?” Soos asked.

“You better believe we are!” Mabel proclaimed boldly, much to Dipper’s immense displeasure as he overheard this.

“Mabel, let us out now!” he shouted, beyond irritated by this point.

Wendy, on the other hand, was as levelheaded as always, only slightly aggravated by the relative darkness of their cramped surroundings. “Ugh, where are the lights?” she asked, fumbling around a bit until she managed to feel out a chord hanging from above. However, instead of turning a light on, pulling the chord resulted in a sudden spray of water, one that completely soaked and startled both Dipper and Wendy. Still, they were only wet for a brief moment as a strong gust of warm, drying air burst from all four of the surrounding walls, roughly pushing the two of them into each other as a dull red light beamed from a nearby sign that read “Decontamination Complete”. And while Dipper and Wendy were still rather caught off guard by what just happened, they were both more than relieved to see a door finally slide open on the other side of the closet, granting them access to an entirely new part of the bunker altogether.

This area was by far the most spacious yet, built amidst high cavernous walls marred by deep trenches of varying shapes and sizes. The same sort of technology from the surveillance room was apparent here, with pipes, tubes, and monitors all linking towards a series of empty glass pods, many of which showed the same sort of intentional damage the rest of the equipment filling the room did. The sparse overhead lighting flickered warningly as Dipper and Wendy tentatively stepped out of the closet and into this mysterious new space.

“Whoa, a hidden lab!” Dipper exclaimed, amazed and impressed by this intricate setup. “Maybe the author did experiments down here.”

“Hm,” Wendy mused, looking over the hole-strewn wall. “What do you think dug all these tunnels?”

“Let’s hope we don’t find out…” Dipper frowned, his curiosity quickly shifting to outright fear as a low growl, ominous suddenly echoed through the entire lab. Things only got more frightening however, as a large, lumbering shadow draped across the far wall. And from its creeping movements, it was clear that whatever it was, it was getting closer.

“Run?” Wendy asked in a stiff whisper.

“Run!” Dipper exclaimed in clear panic. And the pair did just that, racing for the only other way out they knew of: the closet. “Mabel, open up, for real!” Dipper shouted, pounding hard on the still locked closet door as Wendy did the same. “There’s a monster in here!”

“A monster, huh?” Amethyst perked up, hoping up from her arm feet to her regular feet. “Finally, some action! My feet were starting to fall asleep!”

“Which ones?” Garnet asked dryly.

“Oh no!” Steven cried worriedly. “Mabel, we gotta let them out! They could get hurt!”

“Come on, Steven,” Mabel scoffed, not buying her brother’s claim. “He’s totally overexaggerating. Nice try, Dipper! But the only monsters are your own inner demons!”

“That is so wise,” Soos nodded thoughtfully.

“Dipper, just say whatever Mabel wants you to say so she’ll let us out of here!” Wendy exclaimed, her usual calm all but gone in the face of this unknown danger.

Dipper took in a sharp, apprehensive breath at this, his heart racing with fear that went even beyond that of whatever was lurking in the nearby shadows. It certainly seemed as though this was the literal moment of truth, especially as the cashier looked to him expectantly. “W-Wendy, I… I…” he began just as clumsily as he always did whenever he tried to tell her this. Still, it was either this or—well, Dipper wasn’t entirely sure, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it was bound to be easier than telling Wendy the awkward truth. “I-I’m gonna find another way out!” he quickly exclaimed, grabbing the cashier’s wrist and pulling her back into the lab.

“Wait, what?” Wendy asked in alarmed confusion as she ran after him into one of the countless wide tunnels. “Dude, where are we going?” Dipper didn’t really give her much of answer, as fueled by fear and adrenaline as he was, but the dead end at the end of the tunnel was enough to stop them both in their tracks. Unfortunately though, it wasn’t enough to stop the unknown creature that eagerly ravenously them. “What do we do?!” Wendy exclaimed, pressing against the nearby all as the shadow of the monster loomed ever closer.

“I-I don’t know!” Dipper admitted, fully regretting his rashness now. However, before the monster could pounce out of the shadows and onto them, someone else miraculously enough pounced onto it. The pair watched in awed relief as the silhouette of a man fiercely tackled the beast, bravely scuffling against it, despite its large size and bloodthirsty demeanor. In the end and with a few heavy punches, the man managed to beat the monster into submission, pulling something away from it and sending it skittering off in the opposite direction.

“Back, you heinous beast!” the man shouted after it, completely unphased by the outraged screech it sent back in his direction. With the threat subdued, the stranger emerged from the shadows, allowing Dipper and Wendy to see him clearly. His goggles, lab coat and gloves certainly gave him the air of a scientist, and while he was clearly on in years, he still stood firm and strong in the aftermath of his skirmish with the creature. “Well, I just pulled out a monster’s tongue,” he announced heroically before throwing said tongue down onto the ground.

For a moment, all either Dipper or Wendy could really do was stare at this mysterious newcomer with shared amazement and confusion, especially since they had no idea where he might have come from. But with that bewilderment in mind, Dipper was quick to remember the very reason why they had come all the way down here in the first place: to find any leads on the author’s whereabouts. And sure enough, it seemed as though they had found something even better: the elusive author himself. “It—it’s you!” Dipper gasped in apt shock, scarcely able to believe that after all this time, they had finally found him.

The author didn’t seem to have heard him, however, as he had already turned away from the stunned pair and began leading the way out of the tunnel. “Hurry now,” he urged insistently, his manner serious yet articulate. “I scared it off, but it’ll regenerate. These Gem monsters always do.” The author paused for a moment, his expression darkening into a scowl that neither of his newfound young companions noticed as he continued. “I wasn’t expecting guests. I’ve been down here for a very long time. Years! Weeks, maybe. I miss orange juice.”

“Y-you don’t understand,” Dipper spoke up, still overwhelmed with excitement. “You’re the guy I’ve been looking for!”

“He’s the guy?” Wendy asked, surprised.

“Wendy, he’s the guy!”

“The guy?” the author interjected, raising a confused eyebrow.

“I’ve got like, a billion questions!” Dipper exclaimed, scarcely able to contain his elation and curiosity. And really, how could he, seeing as how all of the answers he had been looking for all summer were finally within reach? “Why did you write the journals? How do you know the Gems? Who was after you? Why did you build this bunker?”

The author seemed charmed by this barrage of enthusiastic questions, letting out a small, bemused laugh. “My boy, I’d love to discuss all of this in time,” he began as they returned to the main part of the lab. “But for now, we have more pressing matters. It’s one of my experiments, a shape-shifter. Able to flawlessly take the form of anyone or anything it sees! It broke free from its cage of solid steel! I’ve gone half crazy trying to catch the creature alone, but now you’re here!” With a sincere smile, the author knelt down to Dipper’s level, placing a firm hand on his shoulder as he lifted up his goggles. “Will you help me catch it?”

The only way Dipper could even respond to such a question was with an excited gasp and an insistent nod. After all, meeting the author himself was one thing; but working together with him to solve a mystery was something he could have only ever dreamed of. And, against all odds, it certainly seemed as though that was a dream that was destined to come true.

“Very well then! Let’s get started!  Come in! Come in!” the author beckoned as he led Dipper and Wendy through another one of the several tunnels into what seemed to be something of an unkempt living space. “I apologize for the state of things. I don’t get many non-mole people visitors. Now,” he turned to his two young companions, his manner as steadfast as ever. “The beast must have some kind of weakness we can exploit. I just wish I had my research on me! But alas, I lost my journals so many years ago…”

“Did you say journals?” Wendy asked, glancing at Dipper with a knowing grin.

“Dude, I found one of them!” Dipper enthusiastically exclaimed as he pulled the journal out. “That’s how we tracked you down here!”

“What? Could it be?” the author asked in apparent disbelief, eagerly taking the journal to get a better look at it. “My boy, I can’t express my gratitude!” he exclaimed brightly as he began to carefully leaf through the book. “Oh yes… after all these years!” The author grinned almost obsessively as he turned away from the pair once again, his eyes pouring over everything in the journal greedily, almost as if he hadn’t written every word himself. An assumption that perhaps might not have been all too outlandish after all.

Seeing as how they did little else to do, the group in the surveillance room continued exploring it to pass the time. Well, at least that’s what Soos and Mabel were doing as they freely rooted through the abundance of drawers near the control panel for anything interesting. “Sure are taking their time in there,” Soos remarked, casting a brief glance over at the closet before he resumed plundering. “Hey, do I look smarter with this coat and brief case?” he asked Mabel upon pulling on a tightly-fitting lab coat and grabbing an old metal briefcase. “I feel like I look smarter…”

“Oh yeah, you totally look 110% more genius-y, Soos!” Mabel quipped with an approving thumbs up.

“Yes!” the handyman cheered triumphantly.

At the same time, Steven followed close behind Amethyst as she sauntered about the room on all fours, something that was much easier now that all four of her limbs were legs. “Your new form is really interesting,” the young Gem commented with a smile.

“Thanks, Steven,” Amethyst replied rather dryly, blowing a lock of hair out of her face.

“I didn’t even know you could come back this different!”

“Thanks, Steven…”

“So… why’d you come back with four legs?” Steven asked curiously.

“Because I like walking!” the purple Gem huffed in clear aggravation with all of his comments.

“Wow…” the young Gem mused, amazed. “I want four legs too! Oh, or maybe four arms! Either of those would be so cool!”

“No it wouldn’t,” Garnet staunchly interrupted, glancing up from the files she had been pouring over. “Amethyst rushed her regeneration. She should have taken her time.”

“Like Pearl?” Steven asked, not noticing as Amethyst scowled sharply upon hearing this, her back still turned to him.

“Yes,” the Gem leader nodded. “Pearl put a little more… thought into how she came back…”

“Ugh! Pearl, Pearl, Pearl!” Amethyst growled in bitter annoyance. “You know I can hear you, right?!” she asked hotly, pulling her hair aside to reveal an oversized ear. “I’m sorry I’m not like Pearl with her fancy form or her polite, boring personality!”

The purple Gem was clearly completely outraged by this point, angry enough that she landed a brutal kick to the nearby cabinet out of sheer frustration, not even noticing the heavy metal box precariously perched on top of it. That is, until it came plummeting down towards her. “Huh?” Amethyst glanced up, her eyes growing wide with alarm, but she could do little as the box fell squarely on top of her. Once again, her physical form was unable to handle such sudden stress, which was why it was quick to retreat into her gemstone. Fortunately, the stone itself went flying at this, narrowly missing the box landing on the ground and crushing it entirely and instead landing on the ground right in front of Steven.

“Amethyst!” the young Gem cried in horror as Mabel and Soos both let out shocked gasps. Garnet was hardly surprised, however as she instead rested a consoling hand on Steven’s shoulder as he sniffled morosely, clinging onto the purple gemstone gently. “G-Garnet, she… she got poofed again!”

“Man, Amethyst is really having some sucky luck today,” Mabel remarked with a concern frown as her and Soos headed over.

“This is a good opportunity for her,” the Gem leader concluded, unwavering. “Now she can focus on making a better form.” No sooner had Garnet said this, however, then Amethyst’s gem started to radiantly glow once more, a sign that she was already making a hasty regeneration. “Or not…”

The others watched with curious anticipation as the bright silhouette of the purple Gem surrounded her stone, though as the light faded, this time it was clear to see that Amethyst had drastically changed. This time, she had reformed herself to bear quite a striking, if not mocking resemblance to Pearl, complete with a nearly identical outfit and ballet slippers that were far too long for her small feet. Her long hair was now swept up to a point much like the white Gem’s usually was, even though it was immediately apparent to see just how impractical this was the moment she regathered her bearings and turned her head, her new style taking half of the beakers on the nearby shelf with it. “Aw yeah!” Amethyst snickered deviously, looking over her new form. “This is much better! What do you guys think? Aren’t I just Pearl-fect?”

Steven, Mabel, and Soos all laughed at this, greatly and unanimously amused at the purple Gem’s pun and her comical impersonation. “Ha! She’s doing Pearl!” the young Gem chuckled blithely.

“Dudes, just imagine if the real Pearl was here,” Soos interjected with a grin. “It’d be like, impossible to tell the two of them apart!”

The kids shared another laugh over such a humorous, but Garnet was far less amused or impressed by Amethyst’s new appearance. Still, she said nothing of it for the moment, instead heading back to the control panel to continue investigating. She stopped short, however, upon noticing something that distinctively tipped her off, especially given her already uncomfortable vibes with the bunker as a whole. “Everyone,” she called the others out of their levity. “Get over here. There’s something you need to see.”

“What’s up, Garnet?” Steven asked as they all joined the Gem leader.

“Oh, is it those neat tube-y things?” Mabel pointed to the glass tubes visible through one of the working monitors. It wasn’t hard for her to find the button that got one of them working, even if it had a rather eloquent-label that read “Cryogenic Activation”. “Whoa!” she exclaimed in amazement upon pressing the button, which caused the tube to instantly fill with ice. Of course, Mabel didn’t hesitate to hit the button over and over again, smiling with delight as the cryogenic chamber reacted accordingly. “Frozen! Unfrozen! Frozen! Unfrozen!”

“That’s not what I meant,” Garnet spoke up, gently moving Mabel’s hand away from the button. “I was talking about that.” She nodded to a note taped to the far side of the control panel, one that Steven grabbed and read aloud.

“Experiment number 210: the shape shifter,” the young Gem frowned in confusion as he read. “Warning: extremely dangerous! Do not engage! A shapeshifter? Whoa, that’s sort of like you guys!” he exclaimed to Garnet and Amethyst.

The pair of Gems merely exchanged a wide eyed glance upon hearing this, both of them drawing up a complete blank at first. After all, certainly they would have remembered if they had ever encountered a non-Gem shapeshifter before, right? “This ringing any bells for you, G?” the purple Gem muttered, putting her Pearl impersonation off for the moment for the sake of her newfound nervousness.

“I… I’m not sure…” the Gem leader admitted truthfully. “It does sound familiar, but…”

“Uh, dudes?” Soos spoke up, his expression awash with sudden concern. “Didn’t Dipper say there was a monster in there with him and Wendy?”

Mabel gasped fearfully upon being reminded of this, realizing that, despite her good intentions, she may have just put her brother in considerable harm. “I thought he was just joking!”

“You know Dipper’s jokes are terrible!” Soos exclaimed in a panic.

“We gotta go in there and save them!” Steven cried, already leading the way to the lab’s main primary entrance as the others were quick to follow. “Come on!”

While the Gems in particular were more than ready to leap into action against any potential danger as they all burst into the lab, they found no sign of any sort of shape shifter, or even Dipper or Wendy for that matter. The lab itself seemed to be oddly calm, but still, no one really found that to be a very comforting sign.

“Oh man, its so dark!” Soos exclaimed fretfully, trying to see through the dull lighting ahead. “How will we ever find them?”

“Leave that to Mabel!” Mabel exclaimed with a wide grin, pressing the light bulb on her sweater, which caused it to emit a surprisingly strong glow.

“Whoa!” Steven gasped, thoroughly impressed. “Mabel, you think of everything!”

“Seriously, that’s so rad!” Soos enthusiastically agreed. “Although isn’t electric clothing kinda like a fire hazard?”

“No, it’s a fun hazard,” Mabel corrected. “Now let me light the way!”

“We’re coming for you, dudes!” Soos called in the hopes that Dipper and Wendy might somehow hear him.

“And for that shape shifter too…” Garnet added coldly, knowing that if the creature was a threat, then it certainly had to be neutralized.

“Pfft, even if there is a shape shifter down here, it’ll be no match for my shiftin’ skills!” Amethyst quipped, briefly transforming into an appearance that was even more closely identical to Pearl before. Upon seeing Garnet glower at her doing this, however, she reverted back to her relatively new form, muttering crossly to herself as she did so. “And once I take it out, then maybe I’ll finally be good enough for you…”

As the author continued to skim over the journal on his own, his two young guests eagerly awaited to hear whatever conclusion he would soon hopefully reach on defeating the supposed shape shifter. Of course, Dipper was still beside himself with excitement over having met the author at long last, and based on first impressions alone, he was everything he had been expecting: bold, courageous, pragmatic, intelligent, and everything in between. And what was almost just as thrilling to Dipper was the fact that the answers to all of his longtime questions, namely the questions that even the Gems didn’t have answers for, were finally about to be answered by the source of them all himself.

“Wendy, isn’t this amazing?” he whispered to the cashier with a zealous smile. “I still can’t believe we’re actually meeting the real author!”

Wendy was ready to agree with him, though she instead stifled a shocked gasp upon noticing the label on the discarded can lying at her feet. “Dipper!” she whispered sharply, grabbing the can as she eyed the author with sudden fear, though fortunately, he didn’t notice. “Look!”

Dipper did so, looking to the can she was holding out to him with confusion at first, though that confusion instantly turned to dismayed alarm as he made the same realization Wendy had. The aviator shown in the bean can’s logo was distinctively identical to the very author standing but a few feet away from them, something that was far too conspicuous to be a mere coincidence. It was clear that the only logical conclusion to be made about this concerning twist was that the “author” was not all that he appeared to be.

“Uh, y-you know what?” Dipper addressed the “author” tentatively. “We should probably get going. Can I have my journal back?”

The “author” froze at this, looking up from the journal as he made a small, rather eerie hissing sound. All at once, he confirmed he was not only a fake, but inhuman altogether as his head did a full 180, his neck lengthening to accommodate the move and his eyes blinking sideways as he glared at the frightened pair menacingly. “You’re not going anywhere!” he growled, his deeper and much more sinister. Still moving, erratically, the creature dropped to all fours, its form morphing seamlessly as it quickly climbed up the wall, taking the journal with it. By the time the apparent shape shifter had reached the overarching ceiling, it had taken on its true, much more monstrous form. Its body was large and disproportionate, composed of slimy skin that was clear enough to that its white exoskeleton was visible through it. Its right arm was long and very slender, a complete contrast to its shorter, more bulky left arm. Four thin legs kept the creature upright, and its pinkish eyes lacked pupils while its mouth was a wide opening surrounded by sharp fangs and closed off by large teeth. “How do you like my new form?” the shape shifter asked even though Dipper and Wendy were quick to share how they felt about it with a unified scream of terror. “Go on, admit it! You like it!”

“You!” Dipper exclaimed, trying his best to be bold in the face of such a grotesque, intimidating monster. “What did you do to the real author?!”

“You’ll likely never find out,” the shape shifter said with cold triumph. “That six-fingered nerd hasn’t been himself in thirty years! But I thank you for bringing me this journal. He used to write it while I was in my cage. So many wonderful forms to take!” The creature laughed twistedly as it began to flip through the journal, seamlessly taking on the forms of many of the entries within it, from the Gremloblin, to a gnome, to the Centipeedle, to the slinker, all in quick succession and all completely flawless in accuracy.

Needless to say, Dipper and Wendy were equally alarmed at the shape shifter’s admittedly impressive transformative prowess. And certainly, with something like the journal in its possession, it would essentially have a complete menu of deadly monsters and creatures at its disposal, to use in whatever no doubt treacherous way it saw fit. “We gotta get that journal back!” Dipper whispered to Wendy while the shape shifter was still distracted with the book. Fortunately though, the cashier had an impromptu plan in mind.

“Hey, body snatcher!” she shouted at the shape shifter, picking up a discarded can from earlier. “Snatch this!” She threw the can hard at the creature, who side stepped out of the projectile’s path as it turned into a lumbering, frog-like monster. The shifter lashed its new long tongue out at the pair, though Wendy managed to shield them both from it using a nearby piece of scrap metal, which the creature only succeeding in pulling back towards itself. As the metal pelted the shifter squarely in the face, it was startled enough to loosen its grip on the journal, and as the book fell to the floor, Dipper didn’t hesitate to hurry and reclaim it.

“Run! Run! Run!” he shouted frantically as they both did just that, retreating back out of the dead end they were in. Of course, the moment it regathered its bearings, the shape shifter gave chase after them, clearly willing to take on whatever form it had to in order to claim the coveted journal for itself.

“So Garnet,” Amethyst began as the group pressed on through one of the tunnels to being their search. “What do you think of my new look? I’m more like Pearl now! Isn’t it wonderful? Why, I feel,” she cut herself off, preforming an elegant spin, not noticing as her long, quaffed hair hit Steven and Mabel. “Absolutely amazing!”

“We need to focus on listening for that creature,” Garnet reminded staunchly, not even bothering to spare a glance at the purple Gem. “Or for Dipper or Wendy.”

“Oh, but I simply can’t focus!” Amethyst exclaimed dramatically, still clearly mimicking Pearl. “All these holes are different sizes! We’ll have to organize them by shape and color. Didn’t anyone tell nature how I want it to look?!”

Of course, this performance got a good laugh out of Steven, Mabel, and Soos, but Garnet was quick to show her muted disapproval of it. “Don’t encourage her,” she said somewhat crossly, moving on ahead.

“But I need encouragement, Garnet!” Amethyst begged in faux fretfulness. “I need everyone’s constant approval! I need to loquaciously converse so I can show off how smart I am…” the purple Gem’s mocking tone turned to annoyance as she finished, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms as she thought of the white Gem.

“Uh, you can converse with us,” Steven offered, pulling out his phone. “Let’s finish this quiz! Do you need to plan ahead before you act?”

“Oh, thoroughly!”

“Do you obsess over little details?”

“Completely entirely!”

“Ow wow!” the young Gem exclaimed, amazed at her imitation. “You’re so method! Next time, could you come back as me?”

“No, me!” Mabel insisted. “Oh! Or both of us at once! That would be super impressive!”

“Sure, why not?” Amethyst shrugged casually. “You guys know me. I’m a Gem of trades.”

Garnet finally stopped upon hearing this and slightly turned to face her teammate, unable to hold her pressing frustration towards the purple Gem’s callous behavior in any longer. “This is not a good choice for your form.”

“Lighten up, Garnet,” Amethyst scoffed. “Can’t you take a joke?”

“It’s not funny,” the Gem leader replied coldly. “You made yourself ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous?!” the purple Gem shouted, offended.

“Keep your voice down,” Garnet hissed in a sharp whisper. “The shape shifter-”

“You wanted me to be more like Pearl!” Amethyst interrupted hotly, her hands curled into tight fists. “And now I am!”

“Pearl would have taken her regeneration seriously!” Garnet chastised, still trying to be quiet, lest the shape shifter find them before they found it.

“What do you care?! My form is my business!”

“It’s my business when it affects the strength of the team!”

“So what?!” Amethyst spat, not even noticing as the others were all watching this ongoing argument with wide, worried eyes. “I’m not strong enough?!”

Garnet didn’t get a chance to answer this as a pair of very familiar frightened screams came from one of the connecting tunnels nearby. “Dipper! Wendy!” Soos exclaimed in alarm, recognizing the cries instantly.

“They’re this way!” Mabel pointed to the tunnel the screams had come from. “Come on!”

Everyone was quick to rush for the tunnel in the hopes of finally meeting up with the pair, though Amethyst lingered back a bit, still caught up in her own immense anger with the Gem leader. “Were you saying I was weak!?” she shouted after Garnet fiercely, trailing behind them all.

“Amethyst! Now is not the time for this!” the Gem leader retorted firmly, making it clear she would hear nothing more on the matter at the moment.

“Why not?!” the purple Gem yelled. “Why can’t you just accept me the way I am?!”

A large part of Garnet wanted to give Amethyst an immediate answer for this, but with the dangerous circumstances they were currently in, such things would simply have to wait. “Amethyst,” the Gem leader said, her tone uncharacteristically shaken as she glanced back at her teammate for just a brief moment. “Enough.”

The purple Gem took in a deep breath but said no more, at least for the moment. It was obvious she had no intentions of dropping the issue at all, but for now she could only do as Garnet had said and put this tension aside. Even if it still bothered her immensely all the while.

At the same time, Dipper and Wendy were still trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the persistent shape shifter. While the creature made good use of its transformative abilities in chasing after them, they eventually managed to shake it by cleverly tricking it into taking the wrong tunnel. Still, the shifter wouldn’t be distracted with this ruse for too long, which was why the pair continued to rush through the maze of tunnels in the hopes of finding a way out. Though instead of that, they found the rest of the group instead. Or rather, quite literally ran into them.

The moment everyone realized they were all relatively safe and sound, a round of rushed, yet happy greetings were exchanged, though the relief was very short lived. “Wait!” Dipper interjected, sending a suspicious glance to Mabel, Steven, Soos, and the Gems. “How do we know they’re not the shape shifter?”

“Whoa, maybe I am!” Soos gasped. “Mabel, inspect my shape!” he exclaimed, pulling up his shirt and allowing Mabel to give playful poke to his stomach, much to the handyman’s amusement. “Do that again!” he laughed, and this time Steven complied by giving him another poke. “Even better the second time!”

“It’s definitely them,” Dipper concluded dryly, though he let out a horrified gasp upon noticing the rather sizable cut torn across Wendy’s knee. “Oh my gosh, Wendy, you’re bleeding!”

“It’s cool, its cool,” Wendy reassured, her tone calm yet firm. “It’s just blood, man. Don’t freak out.”

“What happened?” Mabel asked worriedly.

“We got attacked by the shape shifter,” the cashier began to explain, taking her over shirt off. She tore a swath of cloth off of the sleeve and tied it around her injured knee as a temporary bandage before wrapping the rest of it around her waist. “He broke out of his cage, pretended to be the author, and he wants Dipper’s journal.”

“No way!” Steven exclaimed, his eyes wide. “You guys actually saw that thing?”

“We need to track it down and subdue it,” Garnet said, resolved. “If we don’t, then there could be severe consequences.”

“Imagine if it escapes into town!” Dipper exclaimed fretfully. “It can transform into anything! We could never trust anyone ever again!”

“So what do we do?” Mabel asked apprehensively, though before anyone else could try to provide an answer to this, Amethyst was quick to cut in.

“Please,” she scoffed with little concern. “I totally got this covered, you guys. Just sic me on that shifty creep and I’ll make it wish it had never crawled out of which ever one of these holes it came from.”

“Normally I’d agree with a plan like that, but you’ve been acting irrationally all day, Amethyst,” Garnet remarked stoically. “This is an unknown, dangerous creature we’ve up against and we can’t afford to send a loose cannon after it.”

“Oh, so now I’m a loose cannon?!” Amethyst asked bitterly. “If you don’t think I’m strong enough to do something like this, why don’t you just tell me to my face instead of sugar-coating it, huh?!”

“Amethyst, I’m not-”

“Yeah, you are! But I guess you wouldn’t have to deal with telling me the truth if Pearl was here instead of me!”

“Guys, cut it out!” Steven quickly interjected with a worried frown. “Fighting’s not gonna help us find that shape shifter!”

“Steven’s right,” Wendy spoke up staunchly, a look of solid determination on her face. “That thing took us into his home, tricked us, and tried to destroy us. I say we return the favor.”

Seeing as how it had lost Dipper and Wendy back in the tunnels, the shape shifter had taken to returning to the main part of the lab, its form constantly in flux until it settled back to its “author” appearance. “Dipper, my boy!” the disguised creature called with faux amicability, though in its unkempt fury, it did temporarily lose its form. “Come out! I must speak with you!” The already ill-mannered shape shifter had grown quite impatient over being denied what it wanted, to the point that it let out a fierce roar while taking on another nightmarishly monstrous appearance. “Reveal yourself, you single-formed human weakling!” The brutally creature pounded the ground out of rage and frustration, giving up all guises of calmness or friendliness without a second thought.

What the shape shifter was unaware of, however, was the pair of Gems waiting in the wings for the kids to carry out their part of the plan. In the meantime though, they let the creature continue lurking about, as much as Amethyst wanted to emerge and engage it in a head-on assault. Still, neither of them Gems could deny that, upon seeing the shape shifter for themselves in its original form, that it was remarkable familiar. So familiar in fact, that their attempt to defeat and restrain it almost seemed… redundant somehow.

Yet all the same, Garnet and Amethyst remained in their places, pushing such unsettling thoughts out of their minds as the twins entered the room to put their plan in motion. “Oh boy, Dipper,” Mabel began with a rather conspicuous smile. “That book sure is full of some great monsters!”

The shape shifter spun around upon noticing the twins’ presence, reverting back to its true form as it towered over them with eager satisfaction. “There you are!” the creature snarled twistedly. “Oh, and a new one! Should I be one…?” The shape shifter smirked deviously as it easily morphed into Mabel. “Or the other?” The creature kept its manic grin up as it turned into Dipper next. “How about both?!” The real twins watched with growing horror as the shifter twisted its form into a nightmarish amalgamation of them both. Its body was raised on six legs, its upper half vaguely resembling Dipper while its bottom half looked like Mabel. Both halves were equally as monstrous however, with empty white eyes and two mouths filled with sharp, deadly teeth.

Needless to say that the twins were aptly terrified by this grotesque imitation of themselves, and as the shape shifter towered over them with a savage roar, they didn’t hesitate to flee from it before it could strike. Of course, the shifter gave chase, intent on getting the journal back, but the Gems took this as their cue to emerge and strike.

As the twins escaped, Amethyst and Garnet took their place in opposing the shape shifter, dropping down from above with their weapons already poised to attack. The purple Gem had resorted to shapeshifting back into her usual form herself, knowing that, even despite her frustration, this would be a much easier fight for The creature stopped dead in its tracks upon seeing them, letting out an intrigued hiss as it shifted back into its original form to size them up. “Well, well, well…” the shifter began, clear distain in its tone. “After all these years… Finally, you Gems come crawling back down here… Oh, but it seems that we’re two short. Tell me, where’s that tall, skinny one? Or better yet, that meddling Rose Quartz? What I wouldn’t give to rip her to shreds for helping him trap be down here in this subterranean hell all those years ago!”

The pair of Gems paused upon hearing all this, exchanging a look of bewildered confusion. “Uh, what are you talking about, dude?” Amethyst asked, raising an eyebrow as she kept her hold on her whip.

“You mean you don’t remember?!” the shape shifter asked, both apparently offended and curious. “How could you not!? You were both there! All four of you Gems played a hand in what happened here over thirty years ago!”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Garnet said evenly, her gauntlets clenched into tight fists. “But if we really did have a hand in subduing you all those years ago, then we’ll gladly do it again.”

“Ha! So you think…” the shape shifter goaded, arching up high. “But whether you fools remember me or not, I’ll take immense pleasure in shattering you two once and getting that journal once and for all!” With another roar, the creature bore down on both of them, morphing its upper half into a monster with a wide, toothy maw meant to devour them both. The Gems easily leapt out of the way, but before Garnet could go in for the first strike, Amethyst hastily intervened by coiling her whip around its mouth.

“You can just sit this one out, G!” the purple Gem called, pulling back in her whip and dragging the shape shifter towards her. “I got this one covered.”

“Amethyst, you’re not going to-” Garnet tried to refute, but Amethyst wasn’t hearing it. With a daring grin, she started using the shape shifter’s own element against it by turning herself into Purple Puma as she landed a solid blow to the creature’s face after pulling it towards her. The shifter screeched in pain, transforming into a bird and taking off in order to escape any further hits. As soon as it had put some distances between itself and her, the shifter returned to its true form, sending the purple Gem a hostile glare as she they started circling each other.

“Ah yes…” the shifter hissed coldly. “I remember you. You’re the little loudmouthed one who always thought your meager shapeshifting could outdo mine. It must really burn you up that even all these years later, I’m still far more superior at it than you’ll ever be.”

“That’s some pretty big talk for something that looks like a gross, oversized milk sack,” Amethyst retorted confidently. Of course, this comment easily set the shape shifter off as it lunged towards the purple Gem, turning into a large, long snake-like creature as it did so. Amethyst met this assault as squarely as she could, making her form as broad and bulky as she could in order to do so. But even as she tried her best to hold its snapping maw back, the shifter still managed to sink its teeth deep into her arm, eliciting a loud cry of pain from the purple Gem.

“Amethyst!” Garnet shouted, aptly concerned as she began to rush to her teammate’s rescue. Amethyst, however, would have none of that.

“I said stay out of this!” she yelled hotly, using her free arm to lash her whip out at one of the nearby broken cryogenic chambers. With a labored shout, the purple Gem lifted the tube up and hurled it hard at her teammate, temporarily blocking her from the fight and allowing Amethyst to duke it out with the shape shifter solo.

“You should have let her stay,” the shifter taunted, drawing the claws it had formed for itself close to Amethyst’s gemstone. “You’re going to need someone to pick up all the broken pieces of that gem of yours once I’m through with you!”

The creature pushed hard at her once again, forcing the purple Gem up against the wall as her energy and altered arms began to waver. Still, she wasn’t about to back down now. Especially not with Garnet still watching the fight from the other side of the cryogenic tube. “Shut up!” Amethyst growled, unable to think of any witty comeback as she finally pushed the shifter away from her. Embodying all of her raw fury, the purple game shapeshifted into a large bull and charged at the creature, which was quick to morph into an ever larger, several-armed monster retaliation. As Amethyst madly charged at it, the shifter easily caught her by the horns and tossed her aside hard. The purple Gem returned to her usual appearance as brutally she crashed into a storage cabinet before falling to the ground, quite battered and beaten. Yet even so, she shakily tried to pick herself up, clutching her injured arm and weakly summoning another whip as the shape shifter steadily approached her.

“Persistent little thing, aren’t you?” it asked mockingly, its true form standing tall and largely uninjured over her. “No matter. I know something that’ll get you to stay down. Or rather someone…”

Amethyst let out a shocked gasp, her eyes growing wide with alarm as the shape shifter took on another new form, however this one was far from monstrous or even really intimidating. Instead, this form was one that was far from mistakable for the purple Gem, one that brought back far too many bittersweet memories.

“R-Rose…” Amethyst choked, her whip dissipating into thin air as she looked up to the shape shifter’s imitation of the pink Gem. And indeed, it was spot on, from Rose’s curly pink locks, to her lovely white gown, to her soft, graceful features. The only thing off about the shifter’s performance was the cold, sinister smirk on its face, something that would have been so uncharacteristic on the real Rose Quartz.

“What’s wrong, Amethyst?” the shifter asked, perfectly replicating the pink Gem’s gentle voice as well. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

The purple Gem took in a sharp breath, taking an anxious step back as she stared at this alarmingly accurate replication of her now-deceased leader. “I… You… you’re not-” she stammered, shaking her head all the while.

“Oh come now,” the shifter tried to rationalize with a more inviting smile. The false Rose Quartz held a calming hand out to the shaken purple Gem, its other hand held conspicuously behind its back. “I’m not going to hurt you… After all, I’m still your lovely, beloved leader, aren’t it?”

Amethyst was far too stunned by what was happened to even respond at this point, unable to take her eyes off of the imitation of Rose to see what the shifter was doing with its concealed arm. Garnet, however, did take notice of it, but even as she beat against the cryogenic tube’s glass in an attempt to catch the purple Gem’s attention, the shifter continued speaking. “Look at you, so small and innocent…” the creature remarked, still using Rose’s voice as it gently placed a hand under Amethyst’s chin. “You’re missing something, something more than just memories… But what is it?” It paused, mulling over its own question for a moment, before its lips curled into a sadistic smile. “Oh. I know.”

Before Amethyst could even realize what was happening, the shifter’s elongated arm suddenly coiled itself tightly around her, lifting her up and strangling her all the while, even despite her panicked struggling. “You’re missing her,” the creature whispered hauntingly, its voice shifting from Rose’s to its own. Tears has barely started to fill the purple Gem’s eyes, but they never had a chance to fall as the shifter suddenly tightened its grip around her body hard. Hard enough to send her already injured form right back into her gem for the third time today.

“Amethyst!” Garnet shouted with immense worry, her first finally flying through the seemingly impenetrable glass and granting her access back into the lab. Startled, the shifter spun around to face her, morphing back to its true form as it lunged for her with a feral hiss. The Gem leader paid the creature no mind however as she deftly vaulted over it, caring for nothing else than for claiming Amethyst’s fallen Gem, which she successfully managed to do. Tucking the purple gemstone under her arm, Garnet raced past the outraged shifter, knowing that their initial plan had failed. Which meant that the only option they had left was plan B.

The kids all heaved a shared sigh of relief as Garnet rushed into the tunnel they had been hiding in, even if they knew the shapeshifter wasn’t too far behind her. Still, Steven was quite concerned upon noticing that only one of his two present guardians had managed to return safely. “A-Amethyst?” he wondered apprehensively, glancing to the Gem leader. Garnet’s already intense expression darkened, but even so, she gently deposited the purple gemstone into her young ward’s hands. Steven let out a small whimper upon seeing Amethyst reduced to nothing but her gem once again, but this time, no tears came. “Is it weird I’m getting numb to this?” he asked with a disheartened frown.

Still, no one had any time to worry over the purple Gem again as the shape shifter’s fierce roar signaled its soon-coming arrival. “Guys, it’s coming!” Dipper warned anxiously as the shifter came into view. “Do it now!”

Soos and Wendy complied as they both began pulling on the nearby water valve in the hopes that it would release the water within the pipes running throughout the bunker. However, seeing as how the valve hadn’t been touched in decades, the rusted wheel wouldn’t so much as budge. “It’s not working, dude!” Soos cried fretfully, right as the shifter finally caught up to them.

Upon seeing the entire group all together in one place, the shifter didn’t hesitate to lash out, specifically at Dipper in a violent attempt to get the journal. The creature flung its long tongue out, somehow coiling around the journal, even though Dipper did his best to try and fight to keep possession of it. “Hey! Let go!” he shouted, still struggling to keep his quickly loosening grip on the book.

“You leave him alone!” Wendy shouted, rushing to Dipper’s rescue with her ax in hand. The cashier used the weapon to easily cleave through the shifter’s outstretched tongue, but even then, it was hardly finished. The creature quickly reformed its tongue at shot it out at Wendy this time, but instead of cutting it, she used it as a boost to jump on the shifter itself to launch a more direct offensive. She was more than ready to use her ax to land a finishing blow on the disgruntled shifter’s head, but mere seconds before she could, Soos and Garnet managed to finally turn the closed water valve. And as a result, the floodgates were quite literally opened.

With hardly any warning, a heavy stream of water suddenly burst from the nearby pipe. The initial flux of water hit the shape shifter and Wendy first, easily knocking them back into the tunnel as the shifter let out a high pitched cry all the while. It didn’t take long for everyone else to get caught up in the uncontrollable flow, sweeping them all off their feet and pushing them all down the tunnel like a rushing river would. In the abrupt chaos of it all, not only did Amethyst’s gem accidently fly out of Steven’s grip, but Dipper lost the journal and Wendy collided hard with a rock, effectively knocking her into semi-consciousness. Fortunately, the tunnel system had a surprisingly efficient drainage system, so the flood didn’t last too long before subsiding, leaving everyone soaked and scattered about throughout the tunnel.

With the water gone, it still took the group a good while to regather their bearings and regain lost air. Dipper was the first to fully do so, more out of surprise and worry than anything else as he noticed Wendy’s ax lying discarded on the ground in front of him, the cashier herself nowhere in sight. “Wendy!” he cried, cold fear filling him as he stumbled to his feet and grabbed the ax. The others didn’t notice as he ran off down the tunnel in an attempt to find her, but Steven did realize that another member of the group was missing upon pulling himself up to a sitting position.

“A-Amethyst?” the young Gem wondered nervously, looking around to see that the purple gemstone was gone. He looked to Garnet with apt concern as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and fortunately, the Gem leader remained as levelheaded as always, even despite her own worry.

“Her gem is this way,” Garnet stood, nodding in the opposite direction and prompting the others to follow her. “Let’s go.”

After their initial inspect of the nearby tunnels, the group decided on splitting up, with Mabel and Soos going one way and Steven and Garnet going another, in order to find the purple gem before the shape shifter could. The latter pair, despite the Gem leader’s guidance, were having an admittedly difficult time finding the purple Gem in the labyrinthine tunnels. Ironically though, it didn’t take too long for her to find them.

Of course, Amethyst did make her reappearance as dramatic as possible, with her shadow against the wall being the first thing that her teammates saw as she approached. However, seeing as how that looked nothing like her, Garnet made sure to place a protective hand on Steven’s shoulder in the event that the shape shifter was preparing to beset them instead. When the purple Gem did come into view however, both of them were quite surprised and bewildered by the newest form she had decided to take.

“Okay, you know I wasn’t feeling this at first…” Amethyst began with a grin as she awkwardly stumbled towards the pair. Her body was completely disproportionate, her left leg and right arm appearing normal while her other two appendages where unnaturally huge, muscular and bulky. Her hair was an unkempt mess, and it was clear that every lumbering, uneven step was a struggle for her, but even so, she came to stand before Garnet and Steven with clear pride in how she had made herself look. “But I think I might be coming around! Yo, Steven! My seems straight?”

The young Gem could only look at Amethyst with apt concern over her misshapen appearance as he clung onto Garnet’s leg rather fretfully. “Does that new form… hurt you?” he asked anxiously, hoping that this wasn’t the case.

The purple Gem jolted a bit upon hearing this, but she was quick to shrug it off. “No,” she scoffed before returning to her usual daring grin. “Hey Garnet, how’d you like to mix it up with this!?” she laughed, flexing her new muscles. “Just a little something I put together, ya know.”

“This form isn’t sustainable, Amethyst,” Garnet admonished, shaking her head in disapproval.

“B-but…” Amethyst blushed, her shame and anger finally reaching their boiling point as she let them both out. “You’re the one who said I needed to be stronger!” The purple Gem threw her massive fist down in fury while Garnet shielded Steven from the rubble that came flying up from the blow. “You know what?! Fine! I’ll take that dumb old shape shifter out myself! Then maybe you’ll finally see that I’m not weak!”

Before either Garnet or Steven could hope to talk her out of such a risky plan, Amethyst stormed off, punching any and all obstacles in her path away as she began her aggressive search for the creature. “Amethyst, wait!” the young Gem called after her worriedly, but as he began to run after her, Garnet quickly took the lead.

“Stay behind me,” the Gem leader cautioned firmly, charging after the purple Gem in the hopes of stopping her from doing something reckless. Steven staunchly did as she said, even if he was unable to shake the fear that Amethyst might not get off as easy as merely being poofed for a fourth time.

At the same time, Dipper continued his search, hurrying down the narrow tunnel with Wendy’s ax still tightly held in his grip as he looked for any sign of her. When he did manage to finally spot her though, he couldn’t hold back a gasp of shock and panic. The cashier lay, seemingly unconscious, at the foot of a short drop in the tunnel, her clothes still soaking wet, her hair disheveled and her entire form askew.

“Wendy!” Dipper shouted, not hesitating to hurry down to her, his heart pounding with adrenaline and worry and dead and hope all at once. “No, no, no!” he muttered fretfully upon reaching her, kneeling down beside her to check over her various cuts and bruises. Fortunately, none of them looked to be too bad, but even so, Dipper knew he could hardly use that as a gauge to tell if the cashier was really alright or not, especially given the fact that she was still completely listless. “Can you hear me!? Please be ok!” be practically begged, already starting to tear up with the very thought that Wendy might not wake up after all.

Desperate for any signs of consciousness, Dipper lightly shook her, only for her head to loll to the side, her breathing shallow to the point of it barely being present at all. He let out a shaky breath as he gently put her down, his warm, grief-fueled tears finally falling. “W-Wendy… I… you can’t be…” he trailed off, shaking his head in disbelief at the idea that his longtime crush could so easily be gone forever. “T-this is all my fault! If I had just told you when we were in the closet, we wouldn’t be in this mess! But I was too scared and now you could be hurt or worse, and I never even got to tell you that I’m like—in love with you Wendy!” The confession came out far easier this time than any other time Dipper had practiced it before, but given the terrible circumstances, he was hardly happy about that fact. Instead, all he could feel was guilt and despair as he let out a small, tight sob, grimly coming to terms with the fact that the unthinkable had happened.

Except it hadn’t.

“Uh… Dipper?” Wendy spoke up with an uncomfortable frown as she stood a few feet behind him, having just arrived with the journal in hand.

Dipper gasped in complete shock as he leapt to his feet and spun around to face her, simultaneously relieved, confused, and embarrassed upon seeing the cashier safe and sound. “W-wha—Wendy?! Wait, then who’s-”

Before he even finished asking the question, the other Wendy, clearly the shape shifter in disguise, quickly picked itself up off the ground and growled ferally. The creature roughly pushed Dipper aside as it instead launched itself at the real Wendy, outraged over how she had foiled its nearly perfect plan. The moment the two cashiers collided, it became effectively impossible to tell the two of them apart, especially as they began intensely grappling with each other for the coveted book.

“Give me back that journal!” one of the Wendys shouted, pulling the book hard but still not prying it away from the other one.

“Never!” the other cashier protested, even as she was pushed down to the ground, still clinging onto the book tightly. “Get off of me!” she yelled, kicking her double hard in the stomach. Neither of them relinquished their hold on the journal as they stood once more, effectively playing a match of tug of war with it, one that had no apparent winner. As this duel continued on, all Dipper could really do was stand on the sidelines and watch with apt fear and confusion as the two Wendys, completely indistinguishable from each other, fiercely scuffle with each other. Still, he did have enough wits about him to pick up the fallen ax from nearby, knowing that it would easily be his best bet and putting this brawl to an end and stopping the shape shifter dead in its tracks.

If he could only tell which one of them actually was the shapeshifter, that is.

“Give it back!” one Wendy shouted aggressively.

“You give it back!” the other Wendy retorted, equally as incensed.

“It belongs to Dipper!”

“Yeah it does! Hit her with the ax!” one of the cashiers yelled to Dipper himself quite intensely.

“Don’t listen to her, Dipper!”

“She’s the shape shifter!”

“No, she is!”

“Uh… I… um…” Dipper stammered nervously, clutching the ax tightly as he looked between the two Wendys with complete uncertainty. “I-I don’t know who’s who! Give me a sign or something!”

Both of them proceeded to comply, all while still grappling for the journal. One sent him an almost flirtatious smile and wink, but the other one merely gave him a cold, serious expression as she zipped her lips and threw away the key. And for Dipper, that was more than enough to cue him in on which Wendy was the real one, and which one was the fake.

With bold confidence in his decision, Dipper flung the ax at the imposter, watching with relieved satisfaction as the shape shifter roared in pain and reverted back to its true form. Fortunately enough, they were all quite close to one of the few still working cryogenic chambers, and even more serendipitous was the fact that Steven and Garnet just so happened to run into the room at that exact moment.

“You guys!” the young Gem gasped in alarm, especially upon seeing the outraged shape shifter rip the ax out of its injured stomach. Garnet didn’t hesitate to summon her gauntlets, their search for Amethyst momentarily forgotten in the heat of this intense moment.

“Quick! Push him in!” Dipper exclaimed, pointing to the ready cryogenic chamber. They all hurried to do so, yet before any of them could even strike the shape shifter, someone else did instead.

“Not so fast, you shifty creep!” Amethyst yelled as she dropped down from above onto the creature. Everyone gasped in surprise as she used her thicker arm to put it into a tight headlock, holding it steady even as it started struggling against her. “Ha! Not so much fun being all tied up, is it?”

“Amethyst, what are you doing!?” Dipper asked in apt alarm.

“Oh, you know,” the purple Gem grunted as casually as she could, even as the shifter angrily roared over her. “Just handling your monster problem for ya! After all, the only shape shifter we need around here is me!”

“Amethyst, let it go!” Garnet ordered hotly, especially as the shifter formed a large hand to grab Amethyst by the head with. “Now!”

“No!” the purple Gem shouted back, clearly struggling to maintain her slipping advantage as the shifter began to pull her down. “You wanted me to be stronger and I’m doing it! I’m being what you want!”

“I don’t want this!” the Gem leader tried to appeal, concern leaking into her usually authoritative tone.

Amethyst let out a strained shout as she tried to shove the shifter towards the cryogenic chamber, only to be shoved that way herself. “Then what do you want?!” she asked Garnet almost desperately. “Just tell me and I’ll do that!”

“I can’t tell you, Amethyst!” Garnet exclaimed amidst the purple Gem’s scream of pain as the shifter finally thrust her to the ground hard. “You have to figure this out for yourself!”

“She can’t!” Steven suddenly gasped in stark realization as the others all turned to him in confusion. “She doesn’t want to think about herself!”

A look of complete shock washed over Amethyst’s face upon hearing this, her struggling against the creature coming to a halt as she looked to her teammates with wide eyes. “What?” was all she had time to say before the shape shifter pushed down on her hard, resulting in her poofing once again.

The shape shifter merely laughed coldly over this victory as it picked the purple gemstone up, holding it up for the rest of the startled group to see. “What a weak, pathetic fool!” it mocked triumphantly. “You all are for thinking you ever defeat a master of forms like me! Now, prepare to meet the same-” The creature was abruptly cut off as Garnet landed a brutal punch to its face, causing it to not only stumble back with a cry of pain, but also forcing it to release Amethyst’s gem. Fortunately, Steven was quick to safely claim it before it could hit the ground and shatter.

“Good catch,” Garnet quickly congratulated her young ward before turning to Dipper and Wendy. “Now’s the time!”

The pair quickly complied, charging for the shifter along with Steven and Garnet as they all worked together to shove the stunned, yet still struggling shape shifter fully into the cryogenic tube. The creature had no chance to overpower them and escape, however, as it found itself abruptly locked inside of the tube. While the others had no idea how such a fortuitous event was unfolding, Mabel and Soos simply high fived as they watched everything unfold from the surveillance room. Mabel was the one to fully seal the deal, as well as the shape shifter’s fate, by pressing the tube’s activation button with a wide, victorious smile.

“Frozen!” she proclaimed brightly.

“Boosh!” Soos exclaimed as the two of them fist-bumbed over their success before hurrying to join the others in the lab.

As the cryogenic chamber began to freeze over, the shape shifter did everything in its power to escape its incoming icy fate. “No! Let me out” it cried desperately, beating against the heavy glass as it morphed into several forms, from a rock monster, to a flame beast, to its ‘author’ guise, to even Rose Quartz, before finally going back to its true form just as the glass misted over with ice, covering it entirely.

A beat of unsteady silence filled the lab in the midst of the shape shifter’s apparent defeat. For a long moment, everyone continued staring at the cryogenic chamber, fearing that the shifter might somehow break out of it, but thankfully it never did. “Is… is it over?” Steven asked tentatively, breaking the silence.

“It would seem so,” Garnet responded, adjusting her shades as her gauntlets dissipated.

“Let’s get out of here, dudes,” Soos concluded, already turning to head back the way they came as the others followed.

Yet, before any of them could even leave the room, the shape shifter’s low, ominous laughter reached them from the cryogenic chamber. Surprised to see that it was even still cognizant, the group turned around with a collective gasp to see the creature press up against the glass one more time. “And so once again, you Crystal Gems think you’ve bested me…” it began speaking to Garnet in particular, its tone as cold as the ice encompassing it. “That ‘future vision’ of yours may grant you glimpses of what’s to come, but it can’t fill in the gaps of your past, can it? He must have done something to you three, something that made you forget about all of this… Still, I can’t help but wonder if Rose herself ever had those gaps at all…”

Garnet offered no response to this mysterious, brazen taunt, but even so, her hands were clenched into tight fists at her sides as she sent the shifter a fierce scowl. But even so, the creature wasn’t finished quite yet.

“And as for you, Dipper…” the shifter said, sending the boy a piercing glare. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you? But you have no idea what you’re up against. You’ll never find the author. If you keep digging, you’ll meet a fate worse than you can imagine. And this will be the last form you’ll ever take!” Just as the cryogenic tube finally froze over entirely, the shifter turned into Dipper, letting out a panicked scream that would be forever preserved as it at last frozen completely. This scare tactic, as underhanded as it was, was more than enough to aptly frighten the real Dipper, who could only stare at his now-frozen double with a look of stunned horror.

“Heh,” Soos suddenly chuckled, trying to make the rather dark mood lighter. “Good luck sleeping tonight!”

Needless to say that after such a traumatic experience, no one was too keen on staying in the bunker any longer. And so the group emerged from it in relative solemn silence, letting the tree that led to it return to its normal, inconspicuous appearance. Apparently, they had been in the bunker all day, as the sun had set and dusk had fallen, painting the forest a warm shade of violet as fireflies gently flittered about. It was a comforting sight for everyone, especially when compared to the dark, dank, twisted corridors of the bunker.

“Dude, I think I’m kind of adventured out for a little while,” Soos spoke up once everyone was back on level ground. “My face hurts from doing this all day,” he pulled a shocked, screaming face, one that Mabel couldn’t help but chuckle at upon seeing.

“Yeah, but you gotta admit we’re all total heroes!” she remarked with a satisfied smirk.

“Hey, who wants to get some heroes breakfast, huh?” Soos asked with a grin as he tousled Mabel’s hair.

“Syrup on cereal!” she cheered, hoping up onto the handyman’s shoulders.

“Mabel, you’re a visionary!” he exclaimed, impressed as he began to tote her away. “Steven, aren’t you coming?”

“In a minute!” Steven called halfheartedly, sighing remorsefully as he looked down at Amethyst’s gemstone in his hands.

“Don’t worry,” Garnet encouraged, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Like I said before, she’ll be fine.”

“B-but she’s usually back by now!” the young Gem protested fretfully. “Do you think something’s wrong?”

Garnet paused, looking to the gemstone herself as her smile faded. “I…” she began, her tone almost uncertain, though she quickly recovered from it. “No. Nothing’s wrong. She’ll be back soon, I promise.”

Steven finally smiled upon hearing this, fully believing this promise as Garnet began to lead him back towards the temple. As they left, Dipper was quick to realize that him and Wendy were the only ones left around, which meant that now was likely as good a time as any to address his awkward confession. “Look, Wendy,” he began, averting eye contact with the cashier. “About earlier… In the heat of the moment, I might have said some… dumb things. So can we just pretend that none of that ever happened? Please?”

“Dude, dude, its ok,” Wendy reassured, putting a hand on his shoulder as she knelt down to his level. “I always kinda knew…”

“Wait, you did?!” Dipper asked, his eyes wide with complete surprise.

The cashier let out a small, good-natured chuckle at this as she rose to stand. “Yeah, man. You think I can’t hear that stuff you’re constantly whispering under your breath?”

“Oh, man…” Dipper groaned in absolute embarrassment, face palming as he plopped down onto a nearby log.

“Listen, Dipper,” Wendy said as she sat down beside him. “I’m like, super flattered, but… I’m too old for you. I mean, you know that, right?”

“Ugh…” Dipper sighed, still not meeting the cashier’s gaze. “Mabel, Steven, and even Garnet said that confessing would make me feel better.”

“Well, how do you feel?”

“Anxious… and scared… and kinda itchy.”

“Don’t be itchy, man,” Wendy laughed warmly. “Let me tell you something. This summer was super boring before you showed up. I have more fun with you than practically anyone else. And if you ever stopped being my friend, I would, like, throw myself into the Bottomless Pit!”

This finally elicited a small laugh from Dipper, even if it was still only a halfhearted one. “So… things won’t be too awkward now?”

“I just wrestled myself, dude,” the cashier remarked with a smirk. “That was awkward. If you can handle that monster, you can handle a little awkwardness.”

“So, friends?” Dipper asked, hopeful.

“Yeah, dude!” Wendy instantly agreed, playfully shoving him off the log. “Friends.”

Both of them shared another laugh as Wendy stood and pulled Dipper back onto the log before she began to take her leave. “Oh, and hey, Dipper?” she turned back to him once more as she reached her bike. “See you for movie night later. Your place this time, ok?”

Dipper only nodded as he watched the cashier ride off, a bittersweet smile on his face that quickly faded once she was out of view. A small part of him had always figured that things would turn out like this if he ever did end up revealing his feelings to Wendy, and yet he had still dared to hope that things could have been different. Still, now that everything was out in the open, he found himself somehow strangely accepting it. After all, Wendy had promised that nothing would really change between them, something that was certainly a relief. But no matter how things would be in the future, Dipper knew that another part of him would always still always have feelings for Wendy, as unrequited as they were. And while it would take some time to heal from her gentle rejection, at least he could take solace in the fact that their close, playful friendship would remain. And that would certainly be good enough for him.

Still, Dipper didn’t get too much time to mull over everything that had happened, especially as Mabel popped out of the bushes right behind him. “Sooo… how’d it go?” she asked, overwhelmed with curiosity.

“How—what did you hear?!” Dipper asked, surprised at his sister’s eavesdropping.

“Everything, all the time,” Mabel quipped coyly.

“Yeah, we totally heard everything,” Steven admitted with a grin as he emerged from the bushes himself.

“I’m not here!” Soos called, still hiding in the shrubbery.

“But I am,” Garnet said casually as she revealed herself, stepping out from behind a tree.

While Dipper normally would have questioned the fact that all of them had been spying on him, he wasn’t exactly up for it as he instead looked down with a heavy sigh. “You guys, how can everything be so amazing and so terrible at the same time?”

“Mm, I’m sorry for being so pushy, Dipper,” Mabel said with sincere sympathy and guilt.

“Same here,” Steven concurred, still holding onto Amethyst’s gem with his free hand. “But hey, look at the bright side! At least you don’t have to feel awkward around Wendy anymore!”

“Somehow I kind of doubt that…” Dipper remarked with a frown.

“Dipper, there’s no reason for you to feel ashamed over what happened,” Garnet spoke up with a small, reassuring smile. “It’s true that sometimes these things simply just… don’t work out. But that doesn’t mean that this was your only chance at finding love. That special someone is out there for you, trust me.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know who that special someone is, would you?” Dipper asked glumly, hoping that the Gem leader could give him some kind of absolute reassurance over the matter.

But instead, Garnet softly chuckled, adjusting her shades and shaking her head. “Even if I did tell you, you’d never believe me.”

“Aw, cheer up, bro-bro!” Mabel encouraged, wrapping an arm around her brother’s shoulder. “Maybe that special someone is on the list of potential rebound crushes I’m making for you!”

“Thanks, Mabel,” Dipper chuckled a bit at this, though the moment of levity was cut off as Soos sat on the other end of the log, his sudden weight tossing the kids up a bit.

“I’m still bummed that we’re no closer to finding the author guy,” the handyman sighed in disappointment. “Oh well. At least I got his sciencey coat and briefcase.” Soos held said metal ‘briefcase’ up, only for it to flop open and reveal a dusty screen and computer keys inside, as well as a label that read “Property of F”. “Whoa! What the-?”

“Soos, that’s not a briefcase!” Dipper exclaimed in apt surprise. “That’s a laptop!”

“And a really busted up one too,” Mabel added, noting how ragged and rundown the tech was.

“Wow! It’s so old and cool!” Steven quipped with a wide smile. “I wish Amethyst were here to see this! Well, technically she is here…” he paused, casting a brief glance down at her gemstone. “But still.”

“I bet I could get this thing fixed up in a few days,” Soos mused, looking over the laptop. “It’s gonna take a lot of duct tape…”

“This could be our next clue!” Dipper grinned with newfound excitement over this find. “But… will it actually tell us anything?” he asked, turning to Garnet for answers once again.

“Hm… it’s definitely worth looking into…” the Gem leader mused. “I do recommend being careful in how you go about it, but still. I feel like there’s a good chance that it’ll be able to get at least a few answers out of it… But as always, its all about looking in the right places…”

Since everyone was rather tired from the eventful day they had, they all decided to spend the evening relaxing at the Mystery Shack, Steven and the Gems included. Pearl was already there, having just finished fixing the van with Greg and Stan, and needless to say she had a multitude of questions, especially upon seeing Amethyst’s solitary gemstone. But all the same, the kids took the much needed opportunity to relax, as Dipper and Wendy got their movie night started, having put pretty much everything they had discussed earlier behind them. Soos and Mabel had made their syrup on cereal concoction and were enjoying it as they played cards with Stan. Steven was the only one who didn’t really feel like joining in on any of the fun as he instead remained stationary near Amethyst’s gem, keeping a close eye on for any sign that the purple Gem was coming back. And as he kept up this vigil, Garnet and Pearl discussed everything that had happened in the bunker quietly enough that no one managed to overhear their anxious whispers.

“So that shape shifting creature claimed to know us?” the white Gem asked worriedly. “And Rose?”

“Yes,” the Gem leader nodded tersely. “It said we knew the author too.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Pearl shook her head. “Until a few weeks ago, we had never even seen that journal before! How in the world would we have-”

“Something isn’t adding up,” Garnet interrupted, her arms crossed as she glanced down. “Everything down in that bunker felt so… familiar… I don’t know how to explain it. But it was the same feeling I got when I saw that journal for the first time.”

“S-so… what should we do?” the white Gem asked, wringing her hands apprehensively.

The Gem leader didn’t answer right away, but when she did, all traces of uncertainty in her tone were replaced with resolve instead. “We keep looking for the truth. And we don’t stop until we find it.”

Pearl’s expression was still awash with worry upon hearing this, but even so she nodded, knowing not to question her leader’s decision. And so, instead of addressing the matter any further, she decided to move onto another pressing issue. “So…” she said, walking over to Steven and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “How long has it been?”

“Four hours…” the young Gem replied, his voice a concerned mutter as he lay sprawled on the floor.

“Four hours?!” the white Gem exclaimed in genuine surprise. “She’s never taken so long! What do you think she’s doing in there?”

“I’m not sure,” Garnet answered truthfully. “I was too hard on her…”

“So what happened to her this time anyway?” Stan spoke up with dry curiosity. “She didn’t throw herself off another cliff or anything again, did she?”

Everyone who had been to the bunker exchanged a stark glance at this, all of them remembering their vow to keep what happened down there a secret. And while Garnet had discreetly detailed some of the earlier events to Pearl, she calmly made sure not to do the same for Stan. “She got hit playing chicken with a train.”

“Again?” the conman cracked up a bit upon hearing this succinct lie. “That’s like, the third time she bit it to a train, isn’t it? Sheesh, Amethyst will never learn, will she?”

“Actually…” the Gem leader smiled as she turned towards Amethyst’s gem as it finally started to glow. “I think she will this time…”

“Oh! Oh! She’s back!” Steven cried excitedly, backing up to give the purple gemstone some space as it lifted up into the air. “Alright, everyone, be supportive.”

The others all nodded in agreement as they watched the silhouette of light form around the stone, shifting and remolding at various intervals before finally remaining fixed. As the light faded, Amethyst appeared, not with bulging muscles or an imitation of Pearl or even legs for arms, but as her natural self once more. But even then, not without a few modest changes. The colors of the purple Gem’s top and leggings had reversed, her tank top now nearly black and lacking her usual fallen shoulder strap, while her leggings were lavender with neat black stars cut into the knees. But aside from those alterations, Amethyst was largely the same, a fact that she seemed quite comfortable with as she landed and casually stretched out.

“What?” she asked, noticing the surprised looks everyone was giving her.

“Aw, you barely changed!” Steven pouted in disappointment.

“Steven!” Pearl quickly chastised for his insensitivity.

“Well I think you look great, Amethyst!” Mabel complimented with an excited smile. “Seriously, black is so your color!”

“Yeah, lookin’ good,” Stan remarked with a wry smirk. “But you better still be able to pull off Revenge Trips in that new getup of yours.”

“Heh, you know it,” Amethyst chuckled, though her smile quickly faded as Garnet stepped up to her. A moment of awkward silence passed between the two Gems, the purple one glancing away from her leader bashfully, especially in light of what had transpired between them in the bunker. But in the end, Garnet was the first one to break it with a sincere, gentle smile.

“It’s perfect,” she said with full approval in her tone.

“Eh, whatevs,” Amethyst shrugged, suppressing a light blush as she rubbed her arm. “It’s just what feels right.”

“That’s why it’s perfect,” Garnet nodded, finally getting the purple Gem to blush fully. Regardless of what had happened underground or anything that the sinister shape shifter might have said, the Gem leader was glad to see that Amethyst finally realized that perhaps she didn’t have to be the biggest or the best. She only had to be herself. And with this subtle new form, that was a lesson she had fully embraced.

“It’s a marked improvement!” Pearl remarked, clasping her hands together with a delighted smile. “You finally fixed that shoulder strap that’s always bugged me!”

“Welcome back!” Steven exclaimed happily, wrapping the purple Gem in a sudden, tight hug.

“Well done, Amethyst!” Pearl did the same, gently joining the embrace right before Garnet did.

“Oh boy! Group hug!” Mabel exclaimed excitedly, hopping out of her chair and pulling Stan out of his. “Come on, Grunkle Stan!”

“Hold it, kid. I don’t do group hu-” the conman tried to protest, but he was no match for his niece’s unbridled enthusiasm.

Likewise, Soos, Dipper, and Wendy gladly joined the large collective embrace, all of which was centered around the very flustered purple Gem. “Guys, cut it out!” Amethyst exclaimed, annoyed. “Do we really have to do this?!”

“Yes,” Steven solidly affirmed, hugging the purple Gem just a bit tighter. “It’s hug time!

“Ugh, this is so dumb!” Amethyst groaned, rolling her eyes. Still, even she couldn’t hold back an infectious, satisfied smile as she soaked all of the affection going around in. Hugs weren’t exactly a rare thing for either the Gems or the Pines, but still, both groups joining together for such a thing was an amazing feat that even Amethyst, despite all of her pretend protests against it, could say no to.

 Next:

[newstwitter-blog]

New Post has been published on News Twitter

New Post has been published on http://www.news-twitter.com/2017/03/21/la-times-a-football-translation-soccer-fans-guide-to-manchester-9/

La Times: A football (translation: soccer) fan's guide to Manchester

I’ve been a fan of the Liverpool Football Club fan since college, so I didn’t expect to be excited as I walked through the players’ tunnel at Old Trafford, holy ground for fans of rival Manchester United.

As the electric green grass of the pitch came into focus, I realized I had goosebumps. This is where George Best, Bobby Charlton, David Beckham and many other soccer greats played.

Don’t tell my fellow Liverpool fans, but I bought a souvenir at the gift shop.

If you grew up playing soccer in the United States and have followed the Premier League, the most prestigious British men’s soccer league, Manchester may be a winning destination.

The city, in central England, has thrived, successfully rebuilding its center destroyed in 1996 by a bomb detonated by the Irish Republican Army. It is also where you’ll find the stadiums of two storied football teams (Manchester City is the other) and the National Football Museum.

I put together a three-day football fan geek-out last summer that included a 45-minute train ride to Liverpool to have my own religious experience at Anfield stadium.

Hotel Football

For Manchester United fans, one of the perks of staying at the Hotel Football is being able to see the glass facade of Old Trafford just outside your window.

The hotel is part of GG Hospitality, owned by Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, former Manchester United greats. It is over the top, but that’s the point.

There’s the Old Trafford Supporters Club, a dedicated hotel floor where fans can watch the games. On another floor, you’ll find a faux pitch and small nets for a quick indoor game. Even the complimentary toiletries are packaged to resemble soccer jerseys.

And in Café Football, dishes and drinks are named after players.

For the not-so-into-football visitors, the hotel abuts Bridgewater Way, where you can walk or jog along the Bridgewater Canal. It’s also within walking distance of the Lowry arts complex and the Imperial War Museum North.

Info: 99 Sir Matt Busby Way, Stretford, Manchester; 011-44-161-751-0430, hotelfootball.com. Doubles from $143.

National Football Museum

The National Football Museum, a scalene triangle-shaped building that juts skyward, glimmers in the sunlight.

It’s home to the largest football museum in the world, with five floors of jerseys once worn by the football greats, trophies and soccer games you can actually play.

It’s also where I spent more than four hours roaming the exhibits and football paraphernalia.

I sat in George Best’s black Mini Cooper and stood in awe of the Women’s FA Cup Trophy from 1979. I held the Premiere League trophy and lifted it above my head as though I had just won it, and I brushed up on my soccer skills.

I felt like a kid again playing AYSO soccer, and I didn’t want to leave.

Even if you’re not a football fan, the museum should appeal to history buffs. There’s info on the history of the game and how the media cover it.

There’s even a health angle with information on how players keep in shape and what the game does to the body. If you go, give yourself at least a couple of hours to explore.

Info: Urbis Building, Cathedral Gardens, Manchester; 011-44-161-605-8200, nationalfootballmuseum.com. Admission is free.

Meal with a view at Selfridges

One of the best views of Manchester comes with Champagne and designer clothing.

The Selfridges & Co. department store towers over Exchange Square, which was built on the site of the 1996 IRA bombing and is a testament to Manchester’s resilience.

San Carlo Bottega, the top-floor restaurant, is an ideal place to grab lunch before an afternoon at the National Football Museum just down the road. The sunlit restaurant is full of marble, plush blue booths, cold bubbly and plenty of oysters.

Non-football fans can skip the museum and spend the afternoon shopping at designer stores around the square.

Info: 1 Exchange Square Central, Corporation Street, Manchester; 011-44-800-123-400, selfridges.com.

Old Trafford

Old Trafford is the largest football club stadium in Britain. And the people working here, from the person who sells you tour tickets to the tour guide, are Manchester United super fans.

Don Corker, my tour guide, is one of those fans. He has been leading tours at the stadium for the last 12 years. He walked us through the stands, into the players’ locker room, the press room, through the players’ tunnel and out to the pitch.

Then he left us at the club museum to explore on our own. That’s where I cried reading news articles about the Munich, Germany, air disaster of 1958, when a plane carrying the Manchester United team crashed, killing eight players.

Part of me became a Manchester United fan that day. It was impossible not to.

For non-football fans, the team has been around for 130 years, and there’s a lot of history there to digest besides the sport.

Info: Sir Matt Busby Way, Stretford, Manchester; 011-44-161-868-8000, manutd.com. Tour costs about $21, which includes admission to the museum.

Liverpool

When I arrived at Anfield stadium, my Liverpool FC team scarf wrapped tightly around my neck, I passed through the Paisley Gateway (named for Bob Paisley, who spent 50 years with the team as a player, coach and manager) and stared in awe at the towering brick building.

That feeling dissipated quickly when I learned the stadium was undergoing an expansion and I wouldn’t be able to take a tour or walk out to the stands. The museum and restaurant were still open, so I made the most of the visit.

After a quick lunch at the Boot Room, I made my way to the museum to see the Steven Gerrard exhibit (he’s the best Liverpool player ever) and learn more about the team I’ve been rooting for since college.

I also wanted to see Goodison Park, the stadium that houses rival team Everton.

I took Skerries Road, a residential street southeast of the stadium, and tried to imagine the chaos and excitement of game day and how all the roads leading to Anfield flood with fans.

As I walked, I saw houses with doors painted blue or red, perhaps a show of the team loyalty: blue for Everton, red for Liverpool. It felt good to be among fellow football fans in a city that’s been cheering for my team for more than a century.

For non-football fans, Liverpool is the hometown of the Beatles, and there are plenty of Beatles tours throughout the city. You can visit Penny Lane, Strawberry Field and the Liverpool College of Art, where John Lennon went to school.

Info: Anfield Road, Liverpool; 011-44-151-260-6677, liverpoolfc.com/stadium. Anfield stadium tour about $20.

If you go

THE BEST WAY TO MANCHESTER ENGLAND

From LAX, American, United, Delta, British, Aer Lingus, KLM, Lufthansa and Swiss offer connecting service (change of planes) to Manchester. Restricted round-trip airfares from $913, including taxes and fees. Liverpool is a 45-minute train ride from Manchester.

WHERE TO EAT

If you want to spot some football players off the field, or find a nice bowl of al dente pasta, try Rosso, an Italian restaurant co-owned by ex Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand. 43 Spring Gardens, Manchester; 011-44 161 832 1400.

TO LEARN MORE

Manchester Visitor Information Center, 1 Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester; 011-44-871-222-8223

Jenn.Harris@latimes.com

@Jenn_Harris_

This post has been harvested from the source link, and News-Twitter has no responsibility on its content. Source link

[ghostofviperwrites]

Tumblr Trouble

Pairing: Chris Brookes/FC

Category:  Angst/Smut

Hearing the footsteps of your best friend Chris Brookes’ returning from the kitchen you hurriedly closed the Tumblr app on your phone and tried to school your expression into something passably normal.  You didn’t know why you had chosen to read that fic you had requested when he was just in the other room, but the second the notification had popped up you couldn’t help it.  You had been waiting for this and you knew it would be incredible.  It didn’t disappointment, leaving you with ache between your legs.  You had just commented and reblogged it to your dashboard when you had heard Chris returning.  You pasted a smile on your face, thanking him as he handed you a beer and sat down next to you with the big bowl of popcorn he had been making.

It was hard sitting next to him with echoes of that fic floating through your mind, finding it hard to concentrate on the game you were supposed to be watching with him, but unable to help giving him side-eye glances through the evening.  You really couldn’t stop.  He was just too damn good-looking.  And of course you had to do the idiot thing and fall in love with your best friend. You were like a walking cliché.   Biting your lip to contain your sigh you stiffened when he put his arm around his shoulder.   It was nothing he hadn’t done hundreds of times, Chris was a very touchy man, but with what was on your mind and the feelings you were experiencing at the moment you pulled away as if you had been scaled.  

“Uh, I have to use the bathroom,” You hurriedly made an excuse practically running down the hallway towards the bathroom.  Locking the door behind you, you sank onto the toilet seat and put your head in your hands giving yourself a mental pep talk.

Chris frowned as he watched your quickly retreating form. You were acting a bit strange tonight.  Not quite your normal cheerful self.  With a shrug he leaned forward to grab his beer of the coffee table at the same time a notification flashed on your phone.  He didn’t mean to invade your privacy, but he couldn’t help but read the Tumblr notification that popped up.  He couldn’t look away as the first thing he saw was his name followed by the words requested smut.   Darting a glance down the hallway Chris picked up your phone and entered your code and quickly opening the Tumblr app.   His eyes widened as he saw all the Chris Brookes’ stories and pictures covering your dash and got even bigger as he saw the asks you had sent requesting some very dirty stories starring him and a character with your name.   Hearing the creaking of the bathroom door Chris hurriedly set your phone door and leaned back pretending to be captivated by the ball game on the television.  

Chris didn’t attempt to put his arm back, his mind racing as he thought about what he had discovered.  Suddenly a lot of little things started falling into place and he realized you had feelings for him.  On his part Chris wasn’t sure how he felt or what to do with the information.  He stayed a little longer before making his excuses and heading home.  He needed to think and he wasn’t going to be able to do so with you right next to him.

A week past and Chris decided he needed to talk to you about it.  He couldn’t let this hang over your heads and ruin your friendship.  Get it out in the open and go from there.  He still wasn’t sure what he thought, but he was sure talking with you was the way to go.  That maybe it would clear his head and help him figure out his own feelings.  

“Hey Y/N,” Chris said stepping back to allow you into his house later that evening.  The two of you were supposed to hang out and watch a movie, but Chris has decided this was the time to have that little talk.  

“Hey Chris,” You said hugging him tightly before stepping back with a bright smile.  “What are we watching tonight?”  You asked heading towards the living room.

“Actually Y/N, I kind of need to talk to you.”  Chris said stopping your progress. You turned to look at him confusion growing to worry at the expression on his face.  

“What’s going on?”  You asked worriedly.  

“I saw your Tumblr.”  He blurted out, mistaking his brash approach when all color drained from your face. “I didn’t mean to, it’s just I saw a notification with my name on it last week and I got curious.  I saw what you had been requesting and all your posts about me.”  

“Oh my god, oh my god,” You said shakily, blindly pushing past Chris and out his front door.  “I have to get out of here.”  You ignored his pleas for you to stop rushing to your car and quickly driving away.   Your worst nightmare had just come true and you had no idea what to do.  Your phone started blaring out with Chris’ ring tone and you hurriedly hit the ignore button your Bluetooth screen.   You were not ready to speak with him.  You didn’t know if you would ever be able to.  

You successfully evaded Chris for two weeks before he had enough. You ignored his phone calls and texts and practically ran the other way when you saw him coming.  Your friends had even stepped in to help with the evasive actions causing him no small amount of consternation. Finally he had enough.  Since he couldn’t catch you at home he would have to get you where you worked.  You were a creature of habit, so he had that on his side.  Every night before a show you would go to the arena you were performing in and get a late night work out in the ring in.  You loved it when it was quiet and empty, giving you the chance to get a feel for the ring before stepping in it in front of an audience.  

You were in the zone and didn’t even notice Chris until he was right up on you, catching you in his arms on a rebound off the ropes and trapping you in the corner between his arms.  

“You’re going to stop running and you’re going to listen to me, do you understand?”  He growled at you.

“Please just leave me alone Chris.  I’m already thoroughly humiliated.”  You begged eyes fixed firmly to the ground.  You realized you had no escape unless Chris decided to let you free.  

“If you would stop running for two seconds you would realize you don’t have to be embarrassed.”  Chris said, voice softening dramatically.  “I’ll admit I was shocked at first.  I had no idea you felt that way.  And I’ll admit I didn’t know how I felt at first.  But not having you around the past few weeks have made me realize exactly how much you mean to me.  It made me understand that my feelings for you go a lot deeper than simple friendship.”

Your eyes flew up, hope warring with fear as you met his eyes.  You could see the absolute sincerity shining brightly and a tremulous smile came to your lips.  

“You really mean that?”  You asked quietly, scared if you spoke too loudly his feelings may disappear.  

“I do Y/N.  I love you.” Chris said chuckling when you jumped, wrapping your arms tightly around his neck.   Pulling back Chris pressed his lips to yours, fire flaming through you at the first contact making you gasp.  Chris took the opportunity to slide his tongue into your mouth, stroking it along yours as his hands moved down your body to grab your hips as he maneuvered you back against the ring post.  

“Now, I think I saw something on your board about getting fucked in the ring,” He murmured against your lips.  “Feel like making that a realty?”  

“Yes,”  You said breathlessly gasping as Chris easily pushed your shorts down your legs, leaving your bottom half bare to him as he lifted your legs up to wrap around his waist. Sliding down his own sweats Chris rubbed the head of his cock along your slit gathering your juices before easing his dick into you.  

“Fuck baby, you feel so good,” He moaned thrusting up into you his hand moving to rub at your clit as he fucked you.  

“You too Chris, please don’t stop.”  You moaned pulling him closer as you rocked against him.   It wasn’t long before the excitement caught up to both of you, the two of you falling apart together as Chris stilled inside you, air filling with your heavy breaths.

“I love you.”  You said kissing his neck as you recovered.

“I love you too, Y/N” Chris smiled hugging you tightly.  

[disparais]

without them, there wouldn't be any of this

started this post whilst in the car, with my mother’s careless words ringing in my ears, but i later found the time to expound upon some other things. started off rambly, but i realized there was still a certain flow to my thoughts, so i threw in headers wherever appropriate during editing.

also. i was so upset when i first posted this pre-edit/organization (i left the post hanging while i was having lunch with my parents and then the worst stomachache of 2017 after - no idea what the pathophysiology was behind that one) that i forgot to format the post under a cut help

why i hate staying at home: (aka the catalyst for this post)

words have consequences hadghxnsb how can you say things like “i always cringe when people tell me i must be proud that my daughter’s in medical school because i think you’re going to flunk out” fuuuuck why am i even still surprised

scheduling and plans:

also a little unhappy with people who flake on plans. casual plans may be casual but i still take them as binding as long as a date has been set. and i don't appreciate clearing my schedule, especially where j is involved, only to be told that they've been cancelled. especially when it's because the people involved have knowingly made plans with other people. (double-booking is different, i guess, since it's unintentional. plus i’m guilty sometimes since my social calendar is nuts sometimes, so it would be hypocritical of me to be mad about that.)

[update: moments after mentioning double-booking, i realized i was supposed to do zumba with a for fc sigh this is why i said double-booking is unintentional.]

this cancellation just stings so much because it plays into my deepest insecurity, i guess, that i'm overinvested in the friendship and i just. care too much. i mean, why else would our plans matter so much to me and not to them?

and why does reciprocity matter so much to me, anyway? g said it best when she said that God’s love for us is unconditional and we should be striving to love others freely. logically i don’t think i impose any expectations on others in terms of gestures. it’s a scorpio thing to love deeply and jealously, and i need to learn to not be affected by others’ apathy/ignorance.

overly-full social calendar:

i don’t get how i can feel like i don’t have that many friends, even though my social calendar is frequently packed. i guess i really hardly see my close old friends like f, ly, l, h, m, a etc. these days. not forgetting assorted people like the lower-maintenance guys like j and j, and other people like d and k (who slept over recently! it was cool). also truly pleased with the direction suitefam is heading in (see section below).

was actually really pleasantly surprised when d realized i was in school last term (when i was on the way to meeting j) and wanted to meet me spontaneously, even if just for 15 mins (she dropped whatever she was doing and ran over). she said, amongst other things, that meeting me was grounding and calming. a clear 受宠若惊 moment for me, which gave me hope - maybe i do have something apart from sensible advice to offer people (gotta learn to curb my instinct to dispense it when unsolicited, though).

limited social energy:

(i only get to my point in the 4th paragraph tbh) increasingly annoyed with qx sometimes because i genuinely don’t care that much when he cancels on me (beginning to think sometimes that he’s not as important to me as everyone, myself included, thinks he is) bad thoughts stop here but i do care that he tries to foist me onto the next available person. i get that he flakes on people for family because he’s separated from them by a goddamn ocean and he clings onto them. i don’t get how he thinks forcing me to interact one-on-one with someone i’m not really close to is supposed to help my social reserves.

and that’s not even it - the day before, i asked if he wanted to do lunch after anat tutorial, and when he suggested la nonna and i agreed, he began scanning the place to determine who to ask along. what happened to the guy who ditched house lunches because he couldn’t be bothered to wait for them to eat and because he hated sitting on the floor? i’m beginning to think true as those excuses were, they were just flimsy cover-ups for his initial loneliness whilst he was trying to fit in.

honestly happy with the way i am right now in uni - no longer fomo with regards to most things (apart from suitefam HAHA), and far more fiercely independent than before. just a little disappointed in qx in terms of how susceptible to peer pressure in terms of wanting to fit in and all he turned out to be, though i guess it’s sort of understandable since these are truly all the people he has. i probably take my social network for granted sometimes.

after all of this rambling, i mostly wanted to say that i am bone-tired dealing with people from medicine. i hardly find deep/stimulating discussion with these people (my immediate peers) and instead i have to put up with banter and it is. so tiRING

the difficult part is dealing with people like qx who inadvertently worsen the situation by open-jioing people to most things we do. it already costs me to initiate an interaction with someone regardless of whether or not we’re close, and unless you know you’re jio-ing someone else i’m close to, you should know that your “inclusiveness” comes at a relatively hefty cost to me.

and the worst part is when i explicitly expressed my exhaustion (rare, unless my walls are down - suitefam sees me at my most tired and vulnerable tbh) and he said “yeah, yeah, i understand” and i disagreed and HE INSISTED HE DID, and still wanted to invite someone. WHAT EVEN I CAN’T he should have seen me the night of my 5.30am htht with kt. i bet i looked like a complete wreck at 1+ when i showed up at her doorstep but thank goodness for people like 2/5 of suitefam around whom i am comfortable ♥

tl;dr introvert invisibility is real extroverts please don’t pretend to be introverts just because it’s cool and counterculture kthxbai.

suitefam:

truly pleased with the direction suitefam is heading in - definitely getting closer to g + kt every day, and this week we even got to hear from c and s.

suddenly realized that suitefam has opened up a whole host of opportunities for me to indulge my love language in terms of gifts as i’m now able to grab something simple on the way back to share with the suite/drop things in peoples’ buckets/run into my room to calligraph a quick thank-you note. didn’t use to think i was really into gift-giving as a gesture of love as compared with the other 4 love languages, but suitefam is really challenging that self-perception. always good to develop another love language, anyway.

also being reminded very keenly on how much touch is a love language for me, in the sense that if my walls come down far enough for me to be comfortable with personal touch (2/5 of suitefam - naturally, since they’re the people i’m closer to), it is a very rare and precious and lovely thing; touch, even unintentional, is so inexplicably comforting and comfortable for me.

j’s birthday:

i was not mentally prepared to have to celebrate with j on monday and now i need to whip something up asap omG I AM FREAKING OUT HERE what am i even supposed to get him?? (update: that’s right i got him pretty much the same thing i got for my ex previously. smh why am i so goddamn practical and uncreative)

going to ilight with him tomorrow though so that’s a plus - self-reminder to pick a suitable outfit and i guess tomorrow’s going to be burnt on making his card. i sometimes wonder whether we’re truly a good match for each other or not aaa the low-maintenance thing is definitely a pro in friendships but i’m beginning to wonder if it’s okay for us or not since we aren’t just friends after all.

conclusion:

i just want to study for pros and not have to deal with all this omg i swear after tmr i'm just going to buckle down and study because life and socialization is so not worth it sometimes really a little hurt and not ready to deal with the people mentioned in this post for now but it's hard because i do love them (love is not a word i use lightly) but all this is making me wonder if i’m equally loved i guess  

[ghostofviperwrites]

Ringside

Requested by: @lclb13

Pairing:  Evil/FC

Category:  Smut

Warnings:  Sex, language

8.            Do you want me to fuck you while everyone’s watching? And 21.            You’re such a dirty girl.  Of course this excites you

You had been watching them for a while now.  They had no idea you were in here, hidden in the farthest upper corner of the bleachers, covered by darkness.  By the surreptitious way they were behaving you had a feeling they weren’t supposed to be in here.  Two were serving as lookouts.  One with a mask, sitting on the railing by one entrance while another with long hair holding a stuffed cat sat against the wall by the other door.  Inside the ring were three men.   One was sitting on top of the ring post watching the other two lock up in the center.   You had no idea watching attractive men beat each other up could be so erotic, yet here you were practically panting watching them. 

You were a new photographer hired by New Japan and had come in here to get some different and interesting angles on the ring, shooting it from all different areas of the arena.  Then you had gotten the idea to shoot it in the dark, with just the one light illuminating the middle of the ring.  You didn’t know why you hadn’t announced your presence when they had come in, instead you had ducked down and hidden in the corner.  Many of the photos you were taking weren’t meant for anyone but you.  You couldn’t help but take a few for your own personal pleasure.  But you also had a plan for some extra money.  Once again raising your camera you snapped shots of the men, making sure to capture the in ring action and getting clear shots of their faces a small smile on your face.  These could be big money shots.  Obviously the men in the ring weren’t supposed to be there, or at least the one in the ring with the protective mask.   Might be worth some extra cash in your pocket to them for those pictures not to get out.  

If the men in the ring wouldn’t pay, you were sure New Japan would probably throw some money your way to prevent the pictures from seeing the light of day.  The last thing a big company like them would want is bad press about letting injured wrestlers work.   And as long as you had those photos, they couldn’t exactly fire you.  Raising the camera to your eye you snapped another quick succession of photos before lowering it and focusing on the ring.   You wished you were a bit closer to get a better view, because they sure were nice to look at.  You were looking forward to your first night of in ring action when you got to be ringside snapping photos.    

Returning your attention to your camera you pulled up the album on your screen and looked through all the photos, making sure you had good enough shots to get what you were seeking.   Taking your time to slowly look through your personal favorites, featuring shots of body parts you couldn’t help but want a closer view of. 

Unfortunately for you, your movements had caught the attention of one of men by the doors and he was slowly circling around the arena, stalking you like prey.   You carried on obvious to the danger you were in until your camera was yanked from your hands and the culprit was skipping down the stairs towards the ring.  

“Give that back!” You shouted rising to your feet and hurrying after the long haired man, uncomfortably aware you now had the attention of every single one of the men.   You stopped midway down the stairs, hand on the railing mouth wide with horror as your camera as thrown through the air.  You cringed as you waited for it to shatter on the ground only to see the man with the long orangish hair sitting on the ring post had caught it and was now looking through your pictures.

“Hey,” You said anger making you resume your trek to the ring. “Get out of my camera.  Those are my pictures.”  You stood near the apron, glaring at the man who had stolen the camera, who was now sitting on the ledge smiling at you with the stuffed cat tucked under his arm.  The masked man from the door had also made his way over jumping up to stand next to the man on the post. 

“What did Hiromu bring us Naito?”  The masked man asked.  “Besides the pretty woman.”  

“Lots of pictures of us Bushi.”  Naito replied. “Looks like she really likes you Evil.  She’s got a lot of pictures of you on here.  Particularly of your ass.”  Your face flamed in humiliation as you recalled all the photos you had taken of the big man from behind.  You hadn’t been able to resist and never thought anyone but you would see them. 

“Just give me my camera so I can go.” You muttered looking everywhere but at the men in the ring.

“I don’t think you’re going anywhere until you tell us why you were hiding in the rafters taking pictures of us.”  Naito countered looking expectantly at you. 

“How about instead I tell your bosses that you stole my camera.”  You retorted. “Oh… and also that he,” Your finger pointed at Evil.  “Is practicing while he’s injured.  I’m sure that they’ll love that.”   You faced Naito, smirking triumphantly as his own smirk fell and he glared at you.  

“It’s never a good idea to threaten LIJ little girl.”  The deep voice sounding uncomfortably close making you spin around, finding yourself face to face with Evil.   You shuddered taking a step back, trying to gain some distance from his intimidating presence. 

Of course he just stepped closer to you, lifting the plastic shield mask off revealing his swollen and bruised eye as he tossed it on the ground at Naito’s feet.  When your back hit the ropes you were stuck watching warily as he clamped a hand on the rope on each side of your shoulder. 

“Why are you hiding in the shadows taking pictures of me?”  Evil asked his chest brushing up against yours, something you were acutely aware of as you tried to focus on his question, rather than his hot sweaty chest pressed to you. 

“I’m a photographer.  I take pictures.” You defended yourself looking up into his face.  A face that had no right to look so good half swollen and bruised.  It made him look more dark and dangerous and that was making your panties uncomfortably wet.  

“Is New Japan paying you to take pictures of my ass?”  Evil smirked moving his face closer until his lips were almost touching yours. 

“It’s a nice ass,” You whispered cursing yourself for not sounding more confident.   The sound of laughter reminded you that you weren’t alone making your cheeks flush again as you thought of your audience seeing you pinned to the ropes talking about Evil’s ass.      His hands dropped from the rope to grab yours, pulling them back up and making you grip the rope where he had been holding.  

“Do not let go of the rope.  Do you understand me?”  Evil said sharply and you immediately nodded in compliance.  You were startled by how quickly he moved his hand diving past your waistband and burying itself in your panties as his lips pressed against yours swallowing your gasp as his tongue pushed into your mouth.  His thick fingers pushed through your slick, sliding with ease to rub over your clit before he pulled his hand out and held it in front of your face, the digits glistening with your juices.  “Fucking slut is soaking wet.”  Evil told his friends with a smirk. 

“You like this huh?” Evil taunted wiping your juice on your cheek and over your lips.  “Turned on getting fingered by a stranger?  You’re such a dirty girl.  Of course this excites you.”  He leaned down tracing his tongue over your lips, clearing the juice he had just wiped there.  Evil’s hand moved to your hair, wrapping a handful around his fist and tilting your head back to look up at him as his free hand returned to your pants, unbuttoning the jeans and pushing them down your thighs.  Movement behind Evil caught your eye and you followed the figure as he took up residence on the opposite ring post as Naito. 

“Eyes on me.  Don’t worry about any of them,” Evil snapped.  “Or is that what turns you on?  Them standing here watching what I do to you.”  His fingers pushed into your panties once again, sliding along your slit and bumping over your clit, capturing it between two fingers making you moan loudly.  You couldn’t stop yourself from pushing your hips into his fingers seeking more friction from him.   “Do you want me to fuck you while everyone’s watching?” he asked, his voice a teasing whisper in your ear as he fingered you.  

“Yes,” You hissed before you even realized you were consenting, but there was no way you were taking it back.  The only thought in your mind at the moment was to get fucked by Evil, and the idea of being watched while doing it only excited you further.   The corner of his lip turned up in a satisfied smirk as he pulled his fingers free and stepped back, sliding down the shoulder straps of his singlet. 

“I want you to take your hands off the rope, take off your clothes and turn your ass to me.  Then put your hands right back where I had them.”  Evil said pushing out of his gear as you hurriedly stripped and got into the requested position.  You could see them all now.  Hiromu and Bushi had taken up seats on the ringside chairs while Naito and Sanada were still on their ring posts.   Your fingers tightened around the rope and your excitement rose as you felt Evil step up behind you, rubbing his cock through your juices before pushing inside you.  You moaned as he stretched you, pushing inside inch by inch until his hips were flush with your ass.  

That was it for slow as he pulled out and quickly slammed right back in jarring you forward into the ropes repeatedly until his hand came to the back of your neck and pushed you forward, making you choke against the rope.   He held you in place for a bit before letting you up just long enough to get air and then right back you went, the rope pushing against your throat.   The next time he pulled you up until your back was flush with his chest.  

“Look at them. “  He growled.  “See them all watching you get fucked.  Wanting you.  I’m sure there all imagining getting their dick inside you.”  You moaned as you saw the attention focused on you, trying to push down on Evil as he held himself still inside you.  “Such a fucking dirty slut.  I bet you want them all to take their turn don’t you?”  

You weren’t given the chance to answer as he pushed you forward until your lips were pressed to the rope.  

“Bite the rope.”  He ordered and you reluctantly obeyed the vinyl tasting bitter as your lips wrapped around the rope cover.  You felt like your lips were going to split as he rammed violently into you, pushing you forward with every thrust as you kept your eyes on Bushi and Hiromu both of whom were watching you intently from their chairs.  You could see their hard-ons stretching against their wrestling tights and it only served to excite you more.   A sharp smack of Evil’s hand on your ass and you were done for, teeth grinding down on the rope as you came, muffling your scream as Evil pulled from you and squirted his seed all over your back.  

You fell to your knees breathing heavily, legs shuddering as you tried to regain your senses.  You couldn’t remember ever cumming that hard before.  

Evil threw your clothes to you and you hurriedly dressed, grabbing the offered camera from Naito as you hurried from the arena. 

It wasn’t until later when you were reviewing your film that you realized Naito had deleted every picture of them from your camera erasing all the evidence of them having been in that ring in the first place. 

[newstwitter-blog]

New Post has been published on News Twitter

New Post has been published on http://www.news-twitter.com/2017/03/21/la-times-a-football-translation-soccer-fans-guide-to-manchester-7/

La Times: A football (translation: soccer) fan's guide to Manchester

I’ve been a fan of the Liverpool Football Club fan since college, so I didn’t expect to be excited as I walked through the players’ tunnel at Old Trafford, holy ground for fans of rival Manchester United.

As the electric green grass of the pitch came into focus, I realized I had goosebumps. This is where George Best, Bobby Charlton, David Beckham and many other soccer greats played.

Don’t tell my fellow Liverpool fans, but I bought a souvenir at the gift shop.

If you grew up playing soccer in the United States and have followed the Premier League, the most prestigious British men’s soccer league, Manchester may be a winning destination.

The city, in central England, has thrived, successfully rebuilding its center destroyed in 1996 by a bomb detonated by the Irish Republican Army. It is also where you’ll find the stadiums of two storied football teams (Manchester City is the other) and the National Football Museum.

I put together a three-day football fan geek-out last summer that included a 45-minute train ride to Liverpool to have my own religious experience at Anfield stadium.

Hotel Football

For Manchester United fans, one of the perks of staying at the Hotel Football is being able to see the glass facade of Old Trafford just outside your window.

The hotel is part of GG Hospitality, owned by Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, former Manchester United greats. It is over the top, but that’s the point.

There’s the Old Trafford Supporters Club, a dedicated hotel floor where fans can watch the games. On another floor, you’ll find a faux pitch and small nets for a quick indoor game. Even the complimentary toiletries are packaged to resemble soccer jerseys.

And in Café Football, dishes and drinks are named after players.

For the not-so-into-football visitors, the hotel abuts Bridgewater Way, where you can walk or jog along the Bridgewater Canal. It’s also within walking distance of the Lowry arts complex and the Imperial War Museum North.

Info: 99 Sir Matt Busby Way, Stretford, Manchester; 011-44-161-751-0430, hotelfootball.com. Doubles from $143.

National Football Museum

The National Football Museum, a scalene triangle-shaped building that juts skyward, glimmers in the sunlight.

It’s home to the largest football museum in the world, with five floors of jerseys once worn by the football greats, trophies and soccer games you can actually play.

It’s also where I spent more than four hours roaming the exhibits and football paraphernalia.

I sat in George Best’s black Mini Cooper and stood in awe of the Women’s FA Cup Trophy from 1979. I held the Premiere League trophy and lifted it above my head as though I had just won it, and I brushed up on my soccer skills.

I felt like a kid again playing AYSO soccer, and I didn’t want to leave.

Even if you’re not a football fan, the museum should appeal to history buffs. There’s info on the history of the game and how the media cover it.

There’s even a health angle with information on how players keep in shape and what the game does to the body. If you go, give yourself at least a couple of hours to explore.

Info: Urbis Building, Cathedral Gardens, Manchester; 011-44-161-605-8200, nationalfootballmuseum.com. Admission is free.

Meal with a view at Selfridges

One of the best views of Manchester comes with Champagne and designer clothing.

The Selfridges & Co. department store towers over Exchange Square, which was built on the site of the 1996 IRA bombing and is a testament to Manchester’s resilience.

San Carlo Bottega, the top-floor restaurant, is an ideal place to grab lunch before an afternoon at the National Football Museum just down the road. The sunlit restaurant is full of marble, plush blue booths, cold bubbly and plenty of oysters.

Non-football fans can skip the museum and spend the afternoon shopping at designer stores around the square.

Info: 1 Exchange Square Central, Corporation Street, Manchester; 011-44-800-123-400, selfridges.com.

Old Trafford

Old Trafford is the largest football club stadium in Britain. And the people working here, from the person who sells you tour tickets to the tour guide, are Manchester United super fans.

Don Corker, my tour guide, is one of those fans. He has been leading tours at the stadium for the last 12 years. He walked us through the stands, into the players’ locker room, the press room, through the players’ tunnel and out to the pitch.

Then he left us at the club museum to explore on our own. That’s where I cried reading news articles about the Munich, Germany, air disaster of 1958, when a plane carrying the Manchester United team crashed, killing eight players.

Part of me became a Manchester United fan that day. It was impossible not to.

For non-football fans, the team has been around for 130 years, and there’s a lot of history there to digest besides the sport.

Info: Sir Matt Busby Way, Stretford, Manchester; 011-44-161-868-8000, manutd.com. Tour costs about $21, which includes admission to the museum.

Liverpool

When I arrived at Anfield stadium, my Liverpool FC team scarf wrapped tightly around my neck, I passed through the Paisley Gateway (named for Bob Paisley, who spent 50 years with the team as a player, coach and manager) and stared in awe at the towering brick building.

That feeling dissipated quickly when I learned the stadium was undergoing an expansion and I wouldn’t be able to take a tour or walk out to the stands. The museum and restaurant were still open, so I made the most of the visit.

After a quick lunch at the Boot Room, I made my way to the museum to see the Steven Gerrard exhibit (he’s the best Liverpool player ever) and learn more about the team I’ve been rooting for since college.

I also wanted to see Goodison Park, the stadium that houses rival team Everton.

I took Skerries Road, a residential street southeast of the stadium, and tried to imagine the chaos and excitement of game day and how all the roads leading to Anfield flood with fans.

As I walked, I saw houses with doors painted blue or red, perhaps a show of the team loyalty: blue for Everton, red for Liverpool. It felt good to be among fellow football fans in a city that’s been cheering for my team for more than a century.

For non-football fans, Liverpool is the hometown of the Beatles, and there are plenty of Beatles tours throughout the city. You can visit Penny Lane, Strawberry Field and the Liverpool College of Art, where John Lennon went to school.

Info: Anfield Road, Liverpool; 011-44-151-260-6677, liverpoolfc.com/stadium. Anfield stadium tour about $20.

If you go

THE BEST WAY TO MANCHESTER ENGLAND

From LAX, American, United, Delta, British, Aer Lingus, KLM, Lufthansa and Swiss offer connecting service (change of planes) to Manchester. Restricted round-trip airfares from $913, including taxes and fees. Liverpool is a 45-minute train ride from Manchester.

WHERE TO EAT

If you want to spot some football players off the field, or find a nice bowl of al dente pasta, try Rosso, an Italian restaurant co-owned by ex Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand. 43 Spring Gardens, Manchester; 011-44 161 832 1400.

TO LEARN MORE

Manchester Visitor Information Center, 1 Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester; 011-44-871-222-8223

Jenn.Harris@latimes.com

@Jenn_Harris_

This post has been harvested from the source link, and News-Twitter has no responsibility on its content. Source link