#( and 6) in the next four months we have weeks off work )

[clochanamarc]

i need to vent in the tags abt the housemate, and i need to find a new word for this person bc "mate" is much too friendly rn.

[orchidyoonkook]

To What We Were Before, And All The Things After | JJK | Ch. 7

Title: Hard Goodbyes and Favourite Colours

Pairing: Prince!College Student!JK x Fine Arts Major!(F)!Reader

Series Rating//Genre: (M) | College AU, Mild Royalty AU, Smut, Angst, Fluff, S2F2L, Indiffernce to lovers, sloooowwww ass burn

Summary: Nel flies home, Yuri flies back, Jungkook can't stop thinking about the other night. And you? Gods, don't even get me started.

Warnings: T, language, fluff (?), angst, reader is ~not~ okay for a chunk of this, bye bye Nel! it was nice to meet you, Yuri being the bestie she is, playful antagonism, JK thinking a lot, some photography technical words but nothing scary, reader is painting again, shocker.

Word Count: 4,463

Release Date: July 9, 2024. 2:00PM

A/N 1: Hi this was supposed to be released like a month and a half ago but then i went to europe and my brain was anywhere but near electronics. Anywhooo here she is, as always thanks for waiting and I'll try to be more consistent now that post vacation depression has kicked in.

Series: Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six

Sometimes life works out incredibly conveniently for you, like when Nel’s flight leaves a half hour before Yuri’s gets in at the same airport. 

But then it sucks again as your week with Nel flies by so quickly it feels like you’ve had no time at all while also having so much because of all the new memories you’ve both made. 

Currently in a rideshare and airport bound, because you will be in no way okay to drive back, your grip on Nel’s hand is strangling as you take in every last second of time you can get with him. He keeps giving kisses to your forehead, nose, cheeks, mouth; anywhere he can get access to really. 

He doesn't want this week to end just as much as you don’t. Fuck this fucking sucks so much.

The driver pulls up to the terminal drop off, and you both exit. Nel grabs his bag from the trunk, now filled with little mementos from your week as well as his clothes. A pressed flower from the greenhouse, museum postcards, a doodle you did for him while he was sketching, and more, all tucked away for safekeeping. All the only physical things he can hold onto until he sees you next. 

Walking into the airport, you make your way up to the check in desk, paperwork already in hand. Nel checks in and you request an escort pass, determined to spend every last moment together. 

There’s a lump forming in your throat that you’re trying to swallow. It’s thick, like a ball of unending peanut butter you can’t get down. And your chest feels like a black hole has opened inside of it, right where your heart is supposed to be. Every second that ticks away allowing another drop of the warmth you have with him to be sucked right out of your sternum.

Painful doesn’t even begin to describe this feeling. 

As beautiful as your week was, the reality of the present is setting in, and the closer you get to his gate, the closer you are to tears. You’re trying your best to blink them away, but you won’t be seeing him until winter break, and even then, that’ll only be for a day or two at most before you have to wait till summer to see him again. So it might as well be goodbye for those full 6 months.

It hurts. It hurts so bad to have to go through this over and over again, to have this separation from the one you love, even if it’s only temporary. Funny how temporary can sometimes feel like forever when you’re in the middle of it. 

Funny how the concept of temporary doesn’t make the gash in your heart open any less.

You don’t want him to go, but you know he has too. The faster he goes, the faster he can come back to you. 

You hate that he has to go in the first place. You just want him to stay. Please, just stay.

But he can’t. 

You reach his gate and before you know it, his flight’s being called to board and your tears refuse to stay inside any longer, the lump succeeding in its plot of victory. They spill down your cheeks in silent rivers, wet splotches on the neckline of your shirt forming as they flow. 

Maybe they’ll create a little lake in the hole he’s leaving you with. There’s certainly enough of them to fill it. Something to fill the void a little until you can see him again.

Nel takes one look before scooping you into a crushing hug, a desperate echo of the one from a week ago. His own tears now staining.

“I love you so much,” he says. You don’t see his eyes squeeze shut, nor do you see him memorizing your smell, as he kisses the top of your head. And his voice wobbles as he whispers, “It’s not forever, it’s just for now.” 

He says those words every time you two part, whether it was for a day or a year. Never goodbye or so long. Never see you later. 

They’ve always been a small comfort in otherwise shitty situations. 

“Just for now,” you get out through quiet sobs, gripping onto him even tighter as you shake. 

It takes you a couple deep breaths before you can say anything without breaking. “I love you too. Please be safe, message me when you land, and do well on your final exams.”

He smiles at that last bit, and your tears free themselves again. You’re going to miss seeing that smile in person.

Nel pulls you in once more, tighter. “It’s always harder when my good luck charm is halfway across the world, but I’ll manage.” Your sobs stutter with a broken laugh, and you’re pretty sure his sweater is going to have tear stains on it. “I promise I’ll message as soon as I can. And I’d wish you luck but you never need it. You always do well.”

The announcement for final boarding calls and both of you freeze in each other's arms. You don’t want him to go. He doesn’t want to go.

But he has too. 

You separate only enough to kiss. It’s messy and wet and gross, but you don’t care. It’s the last one you’ll have for a while and you never want it to end. 

But it does. 

Nel pulls away, and you reluctantly let him. He grabs his bag with one hand, the other holding onto both of yours as he backs away until he can no longer reach. Your arms drop to your sides with the traces of his warmth on your skin.

You watch as the boarding crew welcomes him on, and he takes one look back at you. 

You wave, mouthing ‘I love you.’

He mouths ‘I love you’ right back, and turns the corner.

You waited for Yuri at her terminal after dropping off Nel and taking five—okay ten—minutes to violently sob in the bathroom. 

She took one look at your half smile and puffy eyes and smothered you in a hug. Smelling like sunshine and ocean water, it was exactly what you needed. 

“It’s okay Sweets, you’ll see him again before you know it. This year will pass by so fast, just you see,” she tells you through your whimpers, the tears having returned the second her arms were around you.

They dry sometime on the way home. It was a thirty minute ride back to school, and they fell silently for a solid twenty before you even got in.

You hate goodbyes. 

But Yuri’s seen this three times now, and she always knew that a warm drink and junk food were in your immediate shared futures when she did. Screw healthy coping methods. It may be 9:30pm on a Sunday night, but that won’t stop you from downing a pint as you drown your sorrows in sweet, sweet cookies n cream. 

Yuri also knows you need a distraction, so she doesn’t hold back on telling you every detail of her vacation. 

The duke from a few weeks ago had been a dud. ‘Shit personality and even shittier sex’ according to Yuri. No consultation needed. 

But this new guy from the Ilcalos Islands sounds promising. He’s a Count of something she can’t remember but in her words, “big heart and even bigger dick.” 

That makes you giggle. And you’re happy for her. 

“Bitch, the second night he did this thing with his tongue and an ice cube and oh. my. god. I think I’m in love. That man could do whatever he wanted to me and I’d still say thank you afterwards,” she’s rambling at this point and you’re mentally apologizing to the driver for having to hear all of it. 

You, on the other hand, don’t mind at all; gladly welcome it actually. You want your mind anywhere other than the present right now. 

You don’t want to start crying all over again. By the morning you’ll be fine, you’ll have let out everything you needed too. But between then and now, it’s a matter of mentioning the wrong words or seeing an intriguingly designed building that could trigger those pesky tear ducts.

So you listen to Yuri go on and on about this guy, all his techniques and what she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about since she last saw him. His number is already saved in her phone under a very inappropriate name, but you expect nothing less from her. 

You love her for it. For this. 

For knowing what you need to stay afloat right now and not allowing you to throw the anchor overboard with your leg chained to the end.

You really fucking hate goodbyes. 

You’re staring at him. 

Like, full on, no bars held, staring at him. 

And Jungkook’s pretending he doesn’t notice.

You’re sitting in your chair and he’s back in his beside you at greenhouse cafe. Your half done painting of pink flowers sits in front of you, his laptop screen’s filled with this week's newly assigned ‘Studio Portrait Techniques 1’ homework. 

His half finished coffee on his table. An empty pastry bag on yours.

His hands on his keyboard, yours gripping a brush.

And you’re staring at him. 

He’s hoping it’s because this is the first time you’ve seen him since Nel left. 

But it’s probably to do with the fact that he hasn’t looked at you once today. Or the fact that he’s barely spoken at all when he usually can’t seem to shut up when it’s been more than 48 hours since he last saw you. 

Because it’s also the first time he’s seen you since he was with Adaline, imaging she wasn’t Adaline.

“You’re acting weird,” you say.

“No I’m not,” he responds a little too quickly, eyes still focused on his computer.

Yes he is. He really, totally is. 

“Yes you are, you won't look at me and you’ve barely said two words since I got here.” Well your knack for observancy is still intact.

Normally that's a good thing, but right now?

“Did I do something wrong?”

No. No you didn’t.

He did.

He let his emotions get the best of him in a moment of weakness. He let himself become so overwhelmed with feelings he isn’t allowed to have. He let them win for a single night.

And now if he isn’t paying the goddamned consequences. 

After that night with Adaline, Jungkook had woken up filled with regret. He’d crossed a line he didn’t even know he should have drawn in very dark, very permanent ink.

For letting himself, just for one moment, imagine what it would be like to be with…

And things are harder than ever to shove down now. He can’t look even look at you without thinking about it. About what he did. What he wanted. 

Wants.

Fuck, he’s in over his head.

Jungkook forces himself to look at you, putting his years of social training and emotional masking to good use. It sure as hell came in handy during times like this.

Because you can never know. 

He can’t lose you because he's unable to get his shit together. It’s not your fault he feels like this. 

So he lies. Both to you and to himself, hoping it might help him believe it.

“Nothing’s wrong Dali, just focused on my work is all. We got assigned a big project on Monday and I’m planning out all my shoots.”

You look hesitant, like you can see right through his bullshit excuse that was only a half excuse because this project is massive. 

“If you say so,” your tone implying you don’t believe him, but thankfully, you let it go and lean closer to him to see. He pretends his breathing doesn’t hitch, “What’s the project?”

“It’s my final assignment for a class, I have to do a series of five portraits. Each one with a different style, capturing a different emotion, and they all have to be of the same subject to show the true versatility of my work. It’s easy to make things look different when it’s different people being photographed,” he explains.

Therefore, this assignment, and all of its working parts, is huge. He’s glad it’s due in the middle of December because it’s going to take him almost a month of planning to get it all together; backdrops, concepts, costumes, previsualization, focal lengths, props, equipment, lighting setups, etc. And then when the planning is over: to shoot, narrow down and edit. 

But that’s the point of it. To have the students demonstrate they know how to effectively expand on the definition of a ‘portrait’ instead of having one concept in mind and sticking to it. 

‘To broaden your creative approaches to seemingly simple constructs,’ as his professor would say.

He loves the way this professor does assignments. How she layers them so that not only does he learn how to shoot multi-concept ideas for the same project type, allowing him to add to his creative portfolio, but they also force him to break out of the expected conclusions for an idea and think outside the box. 

“Oh wow, that is a lot,” you say. Because you understand long running projects. 50 hour paintings don’t just happen in a day. “Do you have any ideas yet?”

“Yeah! I have them all already, actually,” he turns his computer towards you and you see a point by point list of summarized ideas.

- Bright and bold - happy, bright smile, colourful gels - Black and white, soft light: gel or bounce? Silk diffuser  - profile with water falling on face - relieved - Focused on passion - candid, regular colour. Diffuser? Or silk flag? - Normal colour profile, stark lighting - serious, front facing body, profile facing left, no visible clothing, “regal” _|(_*-*)>_. Flag.  - Mysterious - black background, white smoke, barely visible model, lower half of face painted black, upper half white, striking purple eyes (contacts?). Flags. Gels? 

“I’m really excited for this project,” he says, “it’s just the prep that’s going to take a while. Getting it all mapped and planned out. It’s mostly concepts right now.”

You nod, understanding once again. Though very different mediums, visual arts and photography are similar in many ways. 

“Adaline going to be your model?”

It doesn’t surprise him you think that, but he has no intentions of ever using Adaline for assignments or homework. 

“Actually, I… uhh…” he trails off. Jungkook’s trying to get the words out, he is. But they’re surprisingly difficult for some reason, and getting caught in his throat. 

Which makes his earlier anxious state come back in full force. 

It shouldn't be this difficult. It won’t be the first, second or fifth time he’s asked you.

Get the words out Jeon. Put on your professional face, this is nothing new.

He fails, instead, his voice comes out barely above a whisper as he says, “I was going to ask you if you would.”

You somehow hear him. 

“Me?” you look dumbfounded. 

“Yes, you.” He’s always used you for homework assignments before, so he’s not sure why all of a sudden this is surprising. Maybe because it’s a final assignment versus a weekly one? The effort will be greater? 

“But you have Adaline? I assumed that she would take up the position of model when you guys started going out.”

Oh. That makes more sense. 

But that is one mistake he won’t be making again, because he did ask Adaline. 

Once.

It was recent, Nel was still here and he didn’t want to disturb you because of that. Plus Jungkook was just trying to get a jump on his upcoming assignments anyway, taking a page from your book.

So he asked Adaline. And she leapt at the opportunity, like he expected.

What he didn’t expect, was when she essentially directed, staged, lit and posed every. single. shot. so that she would look her best. 

All he did was click the capture image button when she said too. 

And after the shoot, before he could even think to look at the pictures, Adaline was already there, holding his camera, going through them and deleting any picture she deemed ‘ugly.’

He was left with less than 20 images from the shoot where he was ordered to take over 200. And she even made him switch out one of the three he narrowed down for one she liked better. 

So no, he would not be asking Adaline to model. 

Ever again.

“Nah. You’re a lot easier to work with because you don't care how the pictures turn out, and let me do my thing. Adaline cares a bit too much, and has to have approval on all of them before I submit.”

You snort. “Seriously? Is she that self absorbed?” a quirked brow places itself on your face to match the smirk now on your mouth.

That’s new.

Your tone towards Adaline has always been neutral, if not a bit sharp when he talks about her. 

But this one? It’s like you know her, and knew she was like that, but didn’t know it was this severe. 

Adaline is very popular...maybe you two met and it didn't go well?

It certainly sounds like you don’t like her, if those six words were anything to go by. Which, he guesses they shouldn’t, but he knows you well enough by now to know the difference.

And if he’s honest, that wouldn’t shock him in the slightest. You two are nothing alike, and thank god for that. 

He covers for Adaline, like any boyfriend would. Though it stings a little bit.

“She’s just careful about what images could be leaked to the press. Can’t really blame her for that.”

Your face changes minutely, as if a second of understanding passes through before you turn to go back to your painting, and mutter, “no, you can’t,” placing a splash of pink on a flower. 

He returns to his work as well, switching the portrait assignment out for a different one. He needs to get his mind off it for a while before circling back. 

And the fact that you didn’t answer him. 

Deciding on a Design and Visual Culture assignment due next week, he dives in head first, resuming his earlier state of focus and avoidance.

Jungkook’s editing a picture when you stretch. 

You often hunch over your work, so you try to stretch every 30 minutes or so. Your arms are in the air and he catches a peek at the nearly finished floral study. 

They’re some kind of vibrant pink dangling flowers, and you’ve captured the likeness of them quite well, to no surprise of his, so he goes to compliment it but you beat him to the punch.

“Shots blurry.”

Jungkook does a double take at his laptop screen. He’d spent the better part of 40 minutes editing the image and hadn’t noticed that.

Because it’s not. It’s perfectly crisp and clear.

When he looks back to you, you have a shit eating grin on your face. 

Ah, he knows that look. 

You love to tease him about little things like that, giving him mini heart attacks. ‘Pay back for that first day,’ you claim. 

Well…

Two can play this game, so he plays off your comment.

“Oh, you're right. Thanks,” and he switches to another image. 

Your grin falters but you recover quickly.

“No problem.”

See, while you know how to playfully harass him about his pictures, Jungkook knows how…particular you are about your colours. How they need to be labelled correctly instead of by their umbrella terms like ‘blue’ or ‘red.’ Because blue or red could mean any one of the dozens of ‘sub colours.’

‘It’s not blue, it’s cerulean,’ you’d remark. 

‘That’s not red, it’s burgundy,’ you’d correct him.

You’re always correcting him, and it makes his pants tighten a little bit every time. But that’s on the other side of the line he does not cross anymore. A nice, big, fat, permanent, protective line. 

Jungkook settles for a more subtle method of attack. Using this little fact and your ridiculously extensive knowledge of flowers against you. 

He never thought the defense and attack lessons his father put him through would come in handy like this. But he’s glad for them now. It was the only time he could ever outsmart you.

He gestures to your canvas. “Those pink flowers are pretty, what are they called?” 

“Their common name is Lady’s Eardrop. And they’re magenta.”

Hook, line, sinker. 

He doesn’t even have to try, you walk right into it every time.

“Lady’s eardrop? That’s a weird name…do they come in other colours besides pink?”

You don’t look up as you reply. 

“Magenta, and yeah. Some are plum and magenta, some are a buttery white and magenta, and then some have this like, almost dark tangerine hue, but they’re a different type, longer. Not the same as those,” you point with the end of your brush to the greenhouse, where the fully magenta lady’s eardrop sits in the window. 

“And are these pink ones your favourite?” he’s really trying his best to keep a straight face as yours contorts with an eye twitch at every use of the word.

“They’re. Magenta. And sure, but the plum ones are pretty too.”

“Noted, the pink lady's eardrop are your favourite among eardrops.”

You break, turning to him, voice raising in minor annoyance. Jungkook bites his cheeks to keep a smile at bay.

“They are magenta. Not pink. Pink entails a lighter hue, there’s more titanium white in pink. That,” you point again, “is very clearly, magenta.”

He has to. 

He can’t help it. 

You’re sexy when you're assertive, he thinks. Tip toeing on that nice, big line.

But also hilarious. 

“Same difference.”

He can see the fire in your eyes blaze.

“No, not ‘same difference,’ they’re magenta!”

He’s leaning in. “Pink,” eyeing your lips as you speak. 

You lean in too, enunciating every syllable to prove your point. “Ma-gen-ta.”

Your noses are mere inches from touching. 

“They’re pink, Van Gogh,” he backs off before he does something stupid that he’ll regret, “Don’t get so invested.”

You back off too, sass still very evident when you reply, “They’re fucking magenta, asshat. Two completely different colours and you’ll label them as such around me.”

You’ve always had a mouth on you. One you aren’t scared to use when necessary, especially around him. So he doesn’t push any farther, knowing he’s already gotten what he wanted and then some. 

But also because sitting has become slightly uncomfortable. There was a stiff breeze, he tells himself.

Thank god for baggy, oversized hoodies. 

Returning once again to his work, he puts an elbow on the table and places his hand on the left side of his face to hide the massive smile that’s trying its best to turn into a smothered laugh.

Unfortunately for him, he lets his Princely guard down around you and so he forgets to force it down to an uncomfortable degree like he would at the palace. His laugh slipping out as a strangled noise and he quickly turns it into a cough, hoping you don't notice. 

But you do, because it’s you. Of course you do.

And the look on your face is priceless.

“You did that on purpose!”

“What?” he says way too high pitched. “Nooo, I would never, one hundred percent intentionally, say pink just to get back at you for pointing out the non-existent blur in my perfectly clear picture.”

He can see you trying to control your features, can see you failing and giving up by facing your canvas again, smiling to yourself.

“I was wondering how many times I could get you to say it. I think that was somewhere around ten? Gotta be a new record.”

You roll your eyes at him, but your quirked mouth remains. 

“You’re such a dick,” you quip.

“Yet, you like me anyways.”

You mumble something incoherent.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“Awe, c’mon now. Fess up.”

A pause, before, “I said I just remembered I don’t know your favourite colour.”

No you most certainly did not, but he’ll let it slide.

“Black.”

“Ugh, boring.”

“What?”

“Boring,” you say again with absolutely no hesitation and proceed to grace his eyes with your own. “And technically not a colour. Black’s a shade.”

Jungkook offers up a non-smothered chuckle, saving his throat from further shenanigans.

“Whatever, Seurat, it’s still black. What about you? What’s Miss High and Mighty All Knowing of Colours’ favorite?”

“It’s still a shade,” you repeat.

“It’s still my favourite. Answer the question,” he presses. 

You give him an unimpressed stare. 

“Violet. Royal violet. The one your dad wears a lot,” your expression softens to one of wonder as you continue. Like you didn't just refer to the King of the nation you live in as ‘his dad’ so casually. “And when it’s not that, it’s this bright yellow. Like sunflowers or daffodils. Or the colour leaves turn in the fall when the light hits them from above just right.”

It’s Jungkook's turn to stare now. You look lost in your own head, envisioning the colours you describe, seeing them dancing in your eyes. And he can’t help himself, you glow when you speak about something you're passionate about.

“Why two?” 

“Why not?” you answer, still dreaming, colours swimming in oceans of thought. Your voice is almost whimsical. “Don’t you get bored of one colour for too long? It’s nice to switch things up every now and then.”

His reply brings you back down to earth, albeit slowly.

“Red.”

“Hmm?” you touch ground.

“If you won’t accept black, then red. The rich dark one, like blood.” He chose the first colour that came into mind, not really caring which one. 

He did like red. Red looked good in many ways. On cars, clothes, lips...

But he chose the first one that popped into mind because after hearing your favourite colours and the reasons why, he started to like them more than all the others too.

“Red’s a great choice, strong,” you say, allowing him the blanket term just this once.

“Thanks.”

There’s a moment of comfortable quiet between you before you break it.

“When do you need me for the shoot?”

Jungkook’s eyebrows find his hairline. 

That was a yes, right? You’re saying yes?

“Uhm…soon, I’ll let you know the specifics when I do.”

“Sounds good.”

He was going to leave it at that, but adds, “Thanks, Y/N.”

He hasn’t said your name since the assembly. 

Always nicknames when talking to you. Always. 

Never your name. 

Not once in two months. Almost three.

You—

An inhale.

You…like it.

The way it sounds coming from his lips.

Exhale.

Chapter Eight: Photo Shoots and Blasphemous Discoveries

A/N 2: She's shorter but chapter 8 is like 11k so far, so I hope that makes up for it!

A/N 3: As always, Thank you for reading, loves. Xoxo - Yoon <3

<- Back

[charminglyantiquated]

Nautilus update! I’ve written more in-depth about all of this on the gofundme page and our social media, so I won’t get into the nitty gritty detail here as well, but I wanted to share the news here, for anyone wondering how things are going! Under a cut because it’s long, but tl:dr is we're moving forward, and we'll be okay.

Good news first: The owner of another local sailing company had put one of their boats up for sale the same week as the accident, and after the surveyors told us to expect the worst, he got in touch. She’s now ours, and we’ll be sailing again next summer! We were lucky enough to work on her in the past, and her previous owner wanted has told us he’d initially meant to offer her to us at the end of this season. With a working boat, we can keep our company going, which in turn means we have a means of making money that still allows us the flexibility to work on repairs, and deal with matters in the shipyard as they arise. (The marina also had a multi-year wait for commercial boats, so we were worried about what would happen if we had to bow out for a few years!) We're extraordinarily lucky and so, so grateful - this literally would not have been possible without the fundraiser, and the safety net it gave us, and the way our whole community has supported us. Without exaggeration, it changed our lives. I will never be able to fully express how grateful I am.

Nautilus is written off as a loss, which we've been expecting. They offered us the chance to buy her as salvage, which we obviously accepted. So insurance wrote us a payout for what she’s insured for, plus reimbursement for getting her hauled and towed, less the value of her as salvage. Because she’s a loss, we have to pay off the loan that we took out this spring to buy her. After that's done, we'll have enough left over from the payout check to launch the new boat next spring (insurance/marina fees/haul and tow) which in turn leaves us free to use the proceeds of the fundraiser to make a start on repairs this winter! In the meantime our insurance is pursuing subrogation: essentially (as I understand it) after paying us out of their pocket, they are going after the other insurance for reimbursement. If we do see any lost income, it would be through this process, but we’ve been told several times it will take months - we don’t know if that means ‘december’ or ‘next august’, and don’t know how much, so we’re crossing our fingers but not making any plans around it. The crisis point was these last two months, and honestly the fundraiser got us through it - now we have our feet under us again, it would definitely be welcome but our stability and livelihood isn't hanging on it, so we can afford to wait.

Repairs - rough estimate from the survey is $83k, but half of that is labor costs. We can do much of the labor ourselves, which should lower it a bit. There are obviously areas where we'll need experts (welding!!), but we have the skills for a lot of what has to be done. Right now we’re getting the boats covered for cold weather, picking up some odd jobs around the shipyard, and clearing room in the woodshop to build a new main mast - that’s the project this winter! We are also going to start tearing up the teak deck to access the damaged fiberglass below, and figure out what, if anything, can be salvaged from the wreck of the mast/rigging (the jib furler sheared in half, but the sail itself made it out with only four small, easily patched punctures! Which is frankly a miracle, given how it was literally jammed through the mast). Anything that seems sound will be checked over by an expert, and a lot of it might still be too stressed to safely use, but after months of looking at the wreck of the thing, it’s honestly just a relief to be able to go through and start taking pieces apart.

Tl:dr is we’re going to be okay. Money is tight, we’re living with family and working 6 days a week, but we’ll be on the water sailing again in May, our company will survive, and we’re hoping to have Nautilus fixed in two or three years. Just wanted to share that with you all; I'm really glad to finally have some good news to offer. It's not easy but it's better, and we're going to get through it, pretty much 100% because of everyone who has been so kind to us both. Thank you all so, so much for every single kind word and share and donation. I am never going to be able to say how much it has meant to me, and what a difference it has made. I won’t be posting much more about it on here now that we're back on our feet, but if anyone wants to keep updated, detailed news about Nautilus repairs will go on the gofundme page, and our instagram will have lighter posts about both boats, repairs, and the 2025 season.

[ladykailitha]

Of Butterflies and Backstrokes Part 11

Hey guys! We're back!! It is feeling like this story is almost done, but every time I finish a chapter I go "This has two more chapters in it, I'm almost done!" and I've done that for the last three chapters. So I have given up trying to figure out when it's going to end. Hopefully the answer is sometime before the next Olympics.

In this we have a silly Eddie, Steve and Max are sneaky, and Max and Eddie have their first competition.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

~

Steve continued to have good days and bad days, but always Eddie and Robin were there to help him work through the bad. And then he would spill it all out to Dr. Hughes.

Today he had been able to wade out to Max in the main pool to correct her foot work. The water had come up to his chest, just like it did in the kiddie pool.

“All right,” Steve said gently. “I’m going to touch your leg. If you feel uncomfortable in anyway, I’ll have Robin do it instead, okay?”

Max thought about it for a moment. “But just my leg right?”

“Just your ankle even,” he assured her. “Ready?”

Max waded over to the side of the pool and started kicking her feet to level out her body. Steve gently grabbed her ankle and repositioned her foot so it was more like an extension of her leg.

“Whoa!”

“That’s right,” he said, “now keep it like that.”

Robin and Eddie who had been working in the endless pool came back to the main pool just as Steve was pulling his shirt back on.

Eddie eyed the wet swim trunks and the happily kicking Max and a sly smile spread over his face. “Stevie... you wouldn’t have happened to have gotten into the pool with Max would you have?”

Steve batted his eyelashes innocently. “Who me?” He turned to Max. “Did you see me get into the pool?”

“Nope!”

Eddie knelt on the side of the pool and said, “I’ll buy you ice cream for the next month if you tell me if he got in the pool.”

Robin sneaked up behind him and with Max’s help pulled him into the water as gently as they could, as to not trigger Steve.

It must have worked because when they all came up for air, Steve was doubled over with laughter.

“Absolute menaces the lot of you,” he said once he caught his breath. “I got the competition schedule for next week. Max is in beginner and Eddie in intermediate. I tried to argue for higher, but they because you’ve been out for so long, they want you in there first to see if you have room to grow.”

Eddie wiped the water off of his face. “That’s fair. I don’t think I’m ready for higher yet anyway.”

Steve gave him a fond look. “And then that’s what we’ll do. If you don’t feel comfortable competing at above intermediate yet, then I won’t force you. I just worry they’ll accuse of you of deliberately choosing lower to spank fifteen and sixteen year olds.”

Eddie blinked at him for a moment.

“Oh.”

He went to go shove his hair in front of his face, but it was all tucked away in his cap, so he started to sink into the water.

Steve, Robin, and Max all watched as he held his breath under water.

“So how long do you think he can hold his breath?” Max asked after about a minute. “Because I think cell death happens after three minutes.”

“Eh...” Robin said waving her hand back and forth, “about four to five, actually.”

Just then Eddie burst through the water, gasping for air. He wiped the water away and looked around. “So is anyone going to be nice and completely forget that happened?”

All three of them shared glances with each other and then said together, “No.”

Eddie buried his head in his hands. He slunk off to his lane with a sigh. “Woe! Woe is me! For I have been forsaken by my own team. Woe!”

Steve and Max shared a glance.

“Is he always this dramatic?” Max asked, eyeing Eddie splashing about and moaning about his fate or some shit.

Robin scoffed as she pulled herself out of the pool and rotated to sit on its edge. “This is tame for him, if I’m being honest.”

Eddie stopped his sputtering and turned to her quickly. “I? I am dramatic?” Then he made a sweeping bow, nearly face planting into the water. “Why thank you!”

Everyone giggled but Max and Eddie got back into their lanes and started practicing again. Robin got up and went to go stand by Steve.

“I’m glad you were able to help Max on your own,” she murmured. “But just remember, if you can’t, call and I’ll coming running, okay?”

“Okay.”

~

It was their first swim meet and Robin wasn’t sure who was more nervous, Max and Eddie or Steve.

She was sure that that pen lid would be a mangled, tangled up mess by the time this was over with.

She looked around the room, spotting a few friends, the Hell Squad from their own facility, and one very unfriendly face indeed.

Billy Hargrove.

Billy Hargrove was a swimmer from California and he thought living on the coast instantly made you a better swimmer. He even had that bit of surfer boy charm. You’d expect this blond haired, blued eyed, tan Adonis to start singing Beach Boys or some shit, but no.

Billy Hargrove was an ass. And he hated all the comparisons between him and Steve at the last Olympics. Dude went on to barely win bronze in two of five events and not medal in any of the others.

Today he was wearing a red and gold coach’s jacket with HARGROVE emblazoned on the back with two blonds standing next him as he talked them in low voices. One was a girl with strawberry blonde hair, green eyes, and bright smile. The other was a guy that looked about the same age as the girl. He looked like he had walked out the pages of Good Christians R Us. Hair neatly cut, blue eyes, chiseled jaw and washboard abs.

Robin hated them both on sight.

She was about to steer Steve away from all that when Billy looked up immediately clocked Steve, who promptly stiffened.

Max and Eddie who were talking to him noticed the sudden change in Steve’s demeanor. And unlike the locker room with Andy, Eddie could tell that this was a different breed of shark coming their way.

“Stevie...” Billy greeted. “When I saw the name Harrington I was wondering if that was you and then here you are. Such a pleasant surprise.”

Robin and Steve shared a bitchy glance. “Pleasant isn’t the word I would use,” Steve scoffed.

“You actually getting in the water, Harrington, or are you going to bitch out again?” Billy went on as if Steve hadn’t said a word.

Steve seethed. Billy had been present the first time he tried to get into the pool after his accident and started screaming.

“Don’t worry, darlin’,” Eddie said with a grin, “Stevie here doesn’t need to get in the water to beat you. He has me.”

Billy looked him up and down and he looked impressed for all of two seconds before he scoffed. “I didn’t think they allowed boys with such pretty curls,” he said tugging on one of the strands. Eddie swatted his hand away. “Maybe you should be on the girls’ team.”

“Last time I checked,” Eddie huffed, “I have the balls for the men’s team. Can’t say the same for the asshole who came up and harassed a guy that had his Olympic dreams washed away because of faulty equipment that left him traumatized and hurt for life, but still loves to swim so much that he would rather coach then to walk away forever.”

Billy’s face twisted in rage and he opened his mouth to reply when the whistle sounded. He jabbed a finger in Eddie’s face. “We’re not done.”

He walked off and suddenly all the tension built up in Steve escaped like a deflated balloon.

“That guy is a dick,” Max hissed. “My mom used to date a guy just like him out in Cali. Wouldn’t surprise me if they were related.”

That made Steve laugh. “I’ll beat him where I’ve always beaten him, in the water. Now come on, it’s time for you two to hit the showers. The beginners are about to start. You’re in the third heat, Max, first podium.”

She nodded and her and Eddie took off their team shirts and hit the showers. Steve looked over at Billy and smirked. Billy was watching every inch of Eddie’s body as he padded over to the showers that were next to the pool.

Robin handed him his bobby pins and he deftly put his hair under the cap, making it as sleek as any of the other male contestants.

The first set of eight girls lined up and then they were off with the shot of the starting gun. Steve watched, looking out for the girls that would be Max’s competition. So far none of the girls showed real promise and that included the girl who won.

The next heat was the same. None of the other girls had the same spark Max did. He looked up to the stands where the families were supposed to there to cheer them on. Robin’s parents were there. Eddie’s uncle, too. Of course Steve’s parents wouldn’t be there. He hadn’t talked them in so long.

He didn’t see the woman that would come to pick up Max and it made Steve squirm a bit. Then just before Max’s heat, he saw her come rushing in. Her hair was wild as if she had been running and she looked out of breath. She leaned over to whisper something to Wayne. Wayne shook his head and pointed to where Max was getting ready to get up on her podium.

Steve went over to her and pointed up at the stands.

Max’s eyes lit up and she waved at her mom. Her mom waved back. Max got up on her podium and put her goggles in place over her eyes. Steve stepped back and gave the judge with the gun a nod, showing that he had moved back far enough. Then the gun went off.

Max easily kept pace with the other girls and managed to squeak out winning by an arms length, touching her pad first.

She pulled off her goggles and looked at her time. She had clearly won. She started jumping and shrieking in the water. She pulled herself out and ran up to give Steve the biggest hug.

“I told you, you could do it,” Steve murmured into her cap.

“Yeah, yeah,” she huffed. “Nerd.”

They went through the next few heats and Max came in third overall in the girls division. Which considering it was her first meet, was very impressive.

Then it was time for the intermediate and as they watched the girls, Eddie began bouncing up and down to warm up his muscles.

“You ready to blow these people out of the water?” Steve asked with a grin. “I gave the organizers one last chance to put you in masters, but they wouldn’t do it.”

Eddie chuckled. “I don’t have the confidence you do in me, but hell yeah, I’m ready.”

Steve slapped him on the shoulder and watched as Eddie got up to the podium. He pulled the goggles over his eyes and turned away from the water.

This is what he loved most of all about the backstroke. Not facing the water or seeing his competitors out of the corners of his eyes. It was just him and waiting for the sound of the gun.

BANG!

And then he was arching backwards into the water, as smooth as silk. His arms and body worked with the water, slicing through like a hot knife through butter. He could hear the splashing of the other competitors but they all seemed so distant to himself. Not that they were that far away. Only that he felt on whole other realm then they were.

He touched the pad and peeled off his googles to look up at the clock.

He was in first place.

He was in first place.

He was in first place.

He looked up at the stands to see Mrs. Mayfield and Uncle Wayne on their feet and cheering for him. He raised his fist and they waved back excitedly.

It came as no surprise that he won best overall.

He was standing next to Steve celebrating with his team, when the judges came up to them.

“We would like to talk to you about moving up to the masters,” the first judge said with a grimace.

Eddie and Steve shared a knowing grin.

“I think that could be arranged,” Steve said, smug. The ‘I told you so’ lingering in the humid air of the pool.

~

Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

Tag List: CLOSED

1- @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog @gloomysoup

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @cryptid-system

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji @eriquin

5- @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

7- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @beelze-the-bubkiss

9- @chameleonhair @sadisticaltarts @dreamercec @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @mac-attack19

10- @aol19 @tartarusknight @morallyundefined

[cher-rei]

afterglow- pt 1 [ T.A.A ]

pairings: trent alexander arnold x femreader

summary: young and aspiring marketing and business major jamie carter (you) is privileged with working alongside the liverpool marketing and public relations team while also getting entangled with their star player and right back, trent alexander arnold.

[wc: 2.6k] [part 2] [part 3 ] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [part 9] [part 10] [part 11] [part 12]

genre(s): friends?? to lovers, work romance, fluff

notes: I've had this idea on my mind for months but I had no idea how to execute it at all. also instead of using the y/n insert, I gave the character a name even though it is read from your pov. It just made it easier to write lmao

"ms carter?"

your heart dropped at the sound of your name being called by an unfamiliar voice, which was something you were going to have to get used to. nonetheless, you turned around to see an older man approaching you with a warm smile and something in his hand.

when he got close enough he put out his hand and you politely shook it as a greeting, still not sure who you were talking to. before you could speak up however, you were interrupted by something being put in your hand.

"this is your staff id," the older man said and you took a closer look at the lanyard in your hand. the picture you had taken less than a few weeks ago was set neatly inside with your name, and position.

carter, jaime

[public relations manager- social media and marketing department]

public relations manager. those three words were enough to make you feel light headed.

you liked to think that your employment on liverpool fc's marketing team was nothing but pure luck. from the moment you handed in your resume for your university final year internship out of pure whim, then to you getting accepted for whatever reason until you got the email no less than a month after graduation asking you to come in for an interview.

all that lead up to the moment you were currently in. standing in the middle of the empty anfield stadium that you had visited for nearly every home game since you were a child. it was nothing but pure luck.

you were broken out of your daze by the older man chuckling about something, which showed that you hadn't heard a single word he said during the past five minutes. you mustered up a smile regardless to play it off and proceeded to follow him for what you thought was a building tour.

"I just realised that I never properly introduced myself," he laughed dryly and gestured for you to step into the tunnel before him. "I'm billy hogan- chief executive officer and I'm ever so sorry for being in a rush right now but I'd like you to be at the training center within the next 30 minutes."

your eyes widened in shock, your feet absentmindedly picking up its pace while hogan continued to speed through the building tour, leaving no room for questions but you decided to make a mental note to ask someone else when you got the chance.

you were escorted to the black s.u.v along with hogan immediately, running through the hundreds of questions you had at the moment. you know you only had room for one though before he was on another phone call.

"uhm sir-"

"yes ms carter?" the older man addressed without trailing his gaze from his cellphone screen or the pile of documents in front of him.

oh gosh.

you managed to clear your throat. "I'm not too sure why I'll be needed at the training center. shouldn't I be in the office or..."

when he heard you start to trail off, hogan shut the folder in his lap and turned to look at you with an expression you couldn't quite read. there was a moment of awkward silence that passed between the two of you in the backseat of the s.u.v, the driver not paying any mind to the conversation.

"our last marketing manager had to be fired because we found out that he was leaking information out to reporters and news broadcasters along with four other employees."

oh shit.

you shuffled in your seat as you tried to think of a response to the news but whenever you parted your lips to say something hogan would raise his finger as a sign that he wasn't done talking. so you swallowed the bitter taste in your mouth along with any comments and listened intently.

did it sound like he was targeting you and bordelined threatening you? yes, yes it did. but you were sure he meant well and was only trying to bring his point across.

"we're low on staff and that's why you were handed two very crucial roles and are expected to make up for the losses. you'll be working alongside the team as you read in the contract," he began once again with a knowing look which made your stomach drop.

because you didn't read the contract. not fully at least. your older sister was the one who urged you to sign it the second it was sent to your house. hell, it could've stated that you were required to donate an organ and you wouldn't have known all because your were too excited and didn't spare anything a second glance.

"but why didn't you just promote people that were already in the department instead of giving me the position straight away?"

hogan let out a dry chuckle and tended to his phone once again, not looking back at you. "because nobody else wanted the position. it's dangerous up there ms carter. so you may feel important right now, but if you can't handle the workload and expectations it's going to get messy."

well this is news to me.

to sum up hogan's lecture and recital of the contract off by heart, you were in fact set up to be working alongside the team as a higher ranking media representative because there needed to be more field work done. no pun intended.

but the fact that nobody else was up for the position didn't sit right with you.

"just make sure they look good for the camera and keep everyone entertained. you're an influencer yourself, so I'm entrusting you to keep everything in order. you were hired because you are young and are in the game already. so keep yourself level-headed and do your best."

no pressure I guess??

deciding to wear sneakers instead of heels today was by the far the best decision you've made in weeks. the weather in liverpool during september was nothing short of horrid. when you stepped out of the car your face was immediately hit with the harsh and crisp air that reminded you why you spent majority of your time indoors.

"welcome to our axa training center," hogan gestured to the building in front of you, it's ceiling to floor windows having you gawking in awe. "this is where you'll be spending a good amount of your time, but it's not as bad as it seems I promise."

what's so bad about watching a bunch of professional football players train half naked?

unlike your last building tour, hogan actually took his time showing you around this time. from the lobby, breakroom, staff rooms, gym and finally to the field where the team was out practicing-- or at least that's what you thought was happening judging by all the screaming.

the second you stepped foot out onto the field, klopp turned to look at you with a welcoming smile.

did he just sense my presence??

you felt frozen in your spot, the world had practically stopped spinning the second he called you and hogan over. when you made it over he halted his conversation with the person beside him to shake your hand.

"it's lovely to finally meet you ms carter," the team's manager politely greeted and it took every single nerve in your body for you to not do something stupid.

you bashfully laughed and brushed his comment off, "if anything, the pleasure is mine. I am extremely honoured to be working in this position."

after a few moments of getting to know each other and klopp giving you a bit of an idea of what he expected media-wise, you realised that you had work cut out for you, judging by klopp saying, "think of this as your second family. the team needs something different, and you ms carter, are exactly the home improvement that we need."

you felt like the weight of the world had just been put on your shoulders again, and his tone of utter sincerity wasn't making it any less pressurising. of course you wanted to do well and give your all into this role but it was going to take a bit of time getting used to.

I should have read that damn contract.

"would you like to meet the team?" klopp asked with a smile and lightly patted your shoulder.

the gesture alone was enough to render you speechless, and you weren't quite sure if you heard him correctly. "would I like to do what?"

"boys!"

your eyes widened in shock as he called the team over. you didn't know what to do or say, your fight or flight mode had nearly been activated and you swore you were about to sprint out of the training center, all the way back home.

you anxiously fiddled with your fingers, not knowing what to do with your hands as you watched the group of soccer players head your way with little to no care to which klopp gave you a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "don't worry, they won't bite."

you mustered up an awkward laugh, muttering under your breath as you mentally prepared yourself for the moment. you obviously hadn't met any of them before, the closest you had gotten was going to the stadium to watch their matches.

the closest you had gotten to any interaction with any professional soccer player in general however, would be at the beginning of the year when jude bellingham followed you back on Instagram. which was still the best day of your life up to date.

you were awestruck, words unable to form as they all huddled up in front of you. you could see the sweat beading on their foreheads which caused a shiver to travel down your spine.

"boys this is ms jaime carter." klopp gestured to you and you managed a small wave, trying to ignore the sound of your heart beating in your ears. "she'll be working with us from now on, as manager of the pr manager for both the marketing and social media departments."

you were greeted with a choir of 'hello's' and listened to klopp give everyone the run-down and a little enlightenment into the situation regarding the last bundle of staff that had to be cut off so abruptly.

"pfft, snitches."

you head turned to look in the direction of the comment, that was immediately reprimanded.

"curtis," klopp started and the soccer player pursed his lips apologetically.

"sorry boss."

"aren't you a little too young to be the manager of two departments?"

your eyebrows raised at the question from harvey. klopp and hogan had to attend to a last minute call from the clubs directors so you were left with the team to "get to know each other", but most of them got back to training which left you with harvey, curtis and trent.

you shifted your weight to your right leg, your head tilting to the side challengingly as you eyed the boy. "well you're younger than i am and playing professional football. what does me being a pr manager make any difference?"

trent and curtis couldn't help but snicker at your counter, jokingly mocking their younger teammate until he got visibly irritated.

"you can't deny us the right to laugh at you," trent said jokingly and kicked the ball to harvey, who passed it to cutis again.

their banter went on for a few minutes as you watched the ball pass between the three of them until harvey spoke up again.

"you're straight out of university though so--"

his sentence was cut off by someone yelling, "ball!", to which you all instinctively looked up only to realise a little to late that it was headed in your direction.

shit.

you backed away just in time to get the ball before it hit the ground. the second it came into contact with your foot, you sent it back virgil's way to which he gave you a smile.

a familiar feeling stired up in your stomach after, but you pushed it aside and for back to your train of thought. "and you're straight out of high-school. so i rest my case."

a moment of silence took over, trent and curtis both shifting their gazes from you and all the way over to virgil who was over at the goal post.

harvey was taking the moment to recollect your high school comment. it was because he was short wasn't it? that's all people had to throw at him these days.

it was trent's turn to speak up, his eyebrows raised while curtis muttered to himself about the distance or something like that. "have you played before?"

before you could answer, your name was being called by hogan since it was time to get back to the office building. you huffed out a breath and sent the three boys a smile.

"looks like today's 'q and a' was cut short." you took a few steps back, stuffing your hands into the pockets of your puffer jacket. "you might as well stock them up for next time. I'll be more than happy to feed your curious minds."

[minnielvrr]

Skz at Hogwarts- Part 1

Lee: Seungmin Ler: Han Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: kinda intense tickles for Minnie~🤭😋hope you enjoy!🥰💞

Tags: @itzsana-kiddingmenow, @lajanaa, @bbybumblelee, @hearted-anon, @lunalattae,

@jungwon-is-the-one, @reginald-stay09

Thinking about how Skz would be at Hogwarts. Chan and Seungmin in Slytherin, Lino, Hyunjin, Changbin and Han in Gryffindor, Innie in Ravenclaw and Felix in Hufflepuff.

The reunion of childhood friends should have been a warm, nostalgic moment, but for Chan and Seungmin, it became an opportunity for mischief.

The pair took every chance to use their Slytherin cunning to annoy the rest of the group.

Just minor inconveniences, turning their stationary into bugs (that one always had Han and Hyunjin screeching in the middle of the night).

He enchanted Changbin’s mirror so it would distort his figure into all manner of funny poses —one moment Binnie's head would be the size of a pumpkin, the next, his legs stretched like vines.

Turned Jeongin’s hair a hideous shade of pink for a whole week (it had infuriated the youngest).

And gave Minho cat ears for a day (he threatened to hex Seungmin if he didn’t get it off him). The list was endless. And he'd kept this up for a whole semester.

But eventually it came to bite him in the ass when Han and Hyunjin, stumbled upon a rather...unique spell book on one of their excursions around the castle.

They brought it back to the Gryffindor common room and the four poured over it.

There were all sorts of spells for all manner of purposes but a couple of them were much more interesting than the rest.

Smug smiles bloomed on their faces. After 6 months of being basically terrorized (not really), they could taste the sweet taste of revenge on the tip of their tongue.

"Anyone know if the puppy's ticklish?" Hyunjin's eager voice sparked a heated debate, with the group exchanging playful theories about Seungmin’s sensitivity, but eventually, the debate ended with one clear decision: they'd take turns, and Han, ever eager for mischief, would go first.

“Minnie’s been far too bold with his pranks recently. I say we go all out on him, teach him not to mess with us!” Han proposed.

Hyunjin was grinning at how easily the tables had turned. "I want to see him squeal. I’m betting he’ll beg within two minutes."

Han laughed at that. “Two? No way, you’re being too generous. All I need to do is to find his death spot. I know he has one.”

With the plan set and excitement bubbling, Han’s gaze turned mischievous. He wasted no time, his eyes glinting as he set off to find his unsuspecting target.

Feigning nonchalance, he approached Seungmin with a casual air. "Hey Minnie, Lix just baked a new batch of brownies. Everyone’s in our common room, come on!”

Seungmin, always eager for Lixie's treats, didn’t suspect a thing. He bounded towards the Gryffindor common room, oblivious to the setup awaiting him.

As the puppy entered, a devious grin spread across Han’s face. The moment the door closed behind Seungmin; Han’s intentions were clear.

He watched in amusement as Seungmin’s excitement turn into wide-eyed surprise. The room being empty short for the two of them.

“H-Han where’s everyone else? You—NO!” He yelped when Han swished his wand, making Seungmin’s wand fly out of his hands and his knees to buckle until he collapsed on the floor in a heap.

And then there were scribbling hands and nails clawing all over his sensitive spots, sending little shockwaves that had the little prankster squealing.

“Whahahaht ahahare youhu dohohohing?! Nahahahaha whyhyhy mehehe?”

A sadistic smile lit up Han's face, as Seungmin’s bright giggles quickly filled the room as Han expertly worked his wand, making the cheeky little puppy writhe and beg through hysterical laughter.

He mentally cursed himself for not seeing through Han’s trap.

“Coochie coochie coo Seungminie~” Han teased, his voice dripping with mock sympathy. “What's wrong? Can’t think of anything smart to say?”

Seungmin let out a breathless, wheezing laugh, managing to choke out between fits of giggles: "I... Ihihi'll geHEHET yohuu... back for... thiHIHIs!"

Han’s smirk grew wider and he directed his wand to the younger’s navel. Seungmin’s hands flew to his belly, fingers twitching helplessly as if trying to grasp the phantom feathers.

His legs kicked wildly, shoes thudding against the wooden floor, eyes watering and a wide smile painting his flushed cheeks.

It felt like dozens of phantom feathers were sweeping over his skin, tracing his ribs, swirling around his belly button, making him squirm helplessly.

The harder he fought, the more intense the tickling grew, as if the magic was reading his resistance.

“Hahahahahahan hyuhuhuhung nohohoho noHOT THEHEHEHERE!! SHIHIT!”

Han's eyes lit up with fascination as he guided the wand, watching the way Seungmin's body jerked and writhed under the spell.

The closer he pointed toward Seungmin’s belly, the more frenzied the laughter became.

To test this theory, Han pointed the wand at the puppy's sides, observing the way his laughter died down to bubbly giggles.

Han’s grin widened. ‘Interesting...’ he muttered to himself, inching the wand closer to Seungmin’s navel, eager to see just how much more the younger boy could take.

It was as though every nerve in his body was on fire, sending him into fits of frantic, uncontrollable giggles.

Han couldn’t help but smirk, relishing every breathless laugh that escaped Seungmin.

He marveled at how effective the spell was, mentally filing away its details for future pranks.

Maybe he’d use it on Minho next time—or better yet, use it with a levitation spell and watch Hyunjin float helplessly, laughing his head off mid-air. The thought almost made him laugh out loud.

“gohohohods thihis ihis tohohorture ahAHAHAHA!! Hannihihie! hyuhuhung! nohohoHOH—AHH!!”

A burning curiosity propelled Han to point his wand around where he assumed the puppy like boy's navel was. He was immediately rewarded with the loudest laughter he'd heard yet.

It felt like Minho’s electric toothbrush had come to life, buzzing mercilessly around his navel, it wasn't a feeling he'd experienced in years.

No matter how tightly Seungmin clamped his hands over the spot, the relentless ticklish sensations seemed to slip right through, making him writhe and scream with laughter.

"PLEHEHEHEHEASE PLEHEASE HAN I CAHAHAHAN'T AHAHAHAHAHA FAHAHAHA—"

Seungmin went ballistic, scream laughs echoing off the walls as his flailing grew weaker and more desperate.

"Should have considered that when you decided to pester me all semester hm? What, you aren't even gonna apologize to me yet you expect mercy?"

The poor boy couldn't even form words at this point, fragments of speech getting jumbled amongst long bouts of laughter. Seeing how desperate he was, Han decided to slow down.

He moved the top of the wand over to the boy’s neck, watching in fascination as the first tears escaped.

As Seungmin lay writhing on the floor, Han’s relentless tickling spell leaving him in a fit of helpless laughter, the door to the Gryffindor common room creaked open.

Changbin, drawn by the sounds of the chaos, peeked his head in. A slow grin spread across his face as he took in the scene: Seungmin’s desperate kicks, flushed face, and the bright squeals escaping his lips.

"Ah, Seungmin-ah, you look like you're having so much fun," Changbin drawled, stepping fully into the room and leaning against the wall.

His smirk grew as Seungmin glared weakly at him through watery eyes. "Maybe we should invite Professor McGonagall to watch."

"NO! Ahahahare youhu ihihinsAHAHAne?! GeHEHEt lohohost, youhUHU IDIHIHIOT!!" Seungmin cried, his voice strained with laughter, his legs still kicking helplessly as Han’s spell refused to relent.

The tickles came about in waves as the older toyed with him, twirling his wand lazily, almost as though he were bored.

Hyunjin followed behind Changbin, arms crossed and shaking his head in mock pity.

"We should have recorded this," he taunted, chuckling as he observed Seungmin’s feeble attempts to fend off Han’s magic. "Puppy’s first Hogwarts meltdown."

"ShuHUHUhut... HAHAHAHA... uhup!" Seungmin wheezed between giggles, but the boys only laughed harder.

Dissolving into incoherence, his laughter ringing through the Gryffindor common room.

“ahaHAHAHAHA SAHAHA—sorry iHI’M soHOHOrry!! nahAHAHAHA PLEHEASE!!”

“Sorry won’t cut it Seungmin-ah. I want to see you suffer~” Han flicked the wand, upping the intensity of the tickles, relishing in the way Minnie’s body shook with laughter.

He couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if they all cast the same magic on the pup, seeing how much his single spell was already affecting him...maybe the boy actually wouldn't survive. It would probably be torture.

Not entirely undeserving though it might cross some lines. So, for now, it was off the table.

Instead, he turned his attention back to the cackling mess on the floor, reveling in the teary pleas he got and after 20 straight minutes of it, he let up.

Seungmin slumped to the floor, his body trembling from the lingering ticklish sensations.

Gasping for air, he shot a weak, watery glare at Han, cheeks burning red from embarrassment.

The sight pulled a genuine laugh out of Han. Seungmin looked adorable like this; messy hair, crooked glasses, flushed cheeks and nothing sarcastic to say for once.

“What’re you laughing at?” Seungmin grumbled, his voice cracking embarrassingly, which only made him blush harder.

Han only laughed louder at that, moving to help him up and fetch some water. "Here, drink this. It'll make your throat feel better."

Seungmin reluctantly accepted the bottle, a sulky 'thanks' leaving his lips as he turned away from Han.

"Wow you are crazy sensitive. I tried this spell on a friend of mine (poor unwilling Minho) but even he didn't laugh as loud as you did. Must be a special talent of yours."

Seungmin choked at the words, folding over as coughs wracked his body. "Shut the hell up!" He yelled, throwing the now empty bottle at Han before picking up his wand and running off, leaving the older smirking after him.

Han had already cast a tiny spell on him, and as Seungmin stumbled and wiggled down the hallway, he couldn’t help the sudden bursts of laughter that escaped.

His legs buckled mid-step, sending him tripping and giggling as he shot Han a glare over his shoulder, the sound of his helpless giggles echoing down the hallway.

‘I hate you’ mouthed, eyes widening when Han quirked a brow and raised his wand again. Seungmin poked his tongue out, his frown dissolving into a smile as another burst set of at his neck.

All day long, the spell kept Minnie on edge, sending bursts of ticklish sensations at the worst possible moments, ensuring Seungmin’s day was filled with giggles—much to Han’s (and the other victims of Seungmin’s) amusement.

Suddenly their shared classes didn’t seem all that bad—especially when Seungmin had to read aloud in Charms class.

The professor, oblivious to the subtle flicks of Han’s wand, watched in confusion as Seungmin’s voice wavered between his words, muted squeals mixing with his words as his body wriggled uncontrollably.

The classroom erupted in laughter as the poor puppy tried, and failed, to hide his giggles while attempting  the simplest spell.

Even Hyunjin, who had initially been on the fence about the spell, couldn’t suppress his grin as Seungmin let out another helpless shriek.

"This is better than Quidditch," he muttered, earning a snort from Changbin.

[gartenofbanny]

Overture is the first official episode for Hazbin Hotel, and after nearly four years of waiting, somehow, this episode is very bad. I'm not going to provide a summary of the episode but instead I'm going to provide what I liked and what I didn't like. So let's get started.

Positives

The animation for this episode is pretty good. While it isn't really as smooth as Helluva's and has some noticeable errors, it's still well animated for the most part.

Adam's part if the song is honestly a fucking bop and thankfully the genre is different from most Helluva songs.

Lute is my favorite character in this episode. She's a cold, stern Exorcist who hates demons. I have no clue why she isn't the leader, but Adam is considering how seriously she takes being an Exorcist and how professional she is for the most part.

This little bit with Niffty having stage fright is pretty funny.

And that's it for the positives now onto the negatives.

Negatives

One of the things I really hate about this episode is that it reveals WAY too much so early on. In this episode, it's revealed that Adam and the other Exorcists like killing Demons essentially doing it for sport, rendering Charlie's redemption useless, Exorcists are able to fucking die, and Adam has moved his schedule from another year to 6 months for the next Cleanse.

I honestly expected the first episode to show Charlie trying to redeem demons, a twist like that would've worked if it was like halfway through the season.

This episode, for some reason, has two plotlines when it would've been better if it just stuck with Charlie meeting the Exorcist one. We spent some minutes of this episode with Vaggie trying to make a TV commercial for the Hotel, however we never get to see the commercial itself, so what was the point?

Secondly, why would Vaggie and Charlie ask Alastor to make a television commercial for them? His entire thing is radios. It's like having a powerlifter do a track video. They're both completely different skill sets with their own benefits.

Also, if Alastor really does hate televisions THAT much, then why was he entertained when Katie and Charlie fought in the pilot by watching Televison?

I'm honestly unsure whether or not the pilot for Hazbin Hotel is canon. Adam states that it has been a week since the cleanse, Vaggie states that they recruited Alastor for the hotel last week, and the pilot takes place some time after the Cleanse. While the Helluva Boss pilot isn't canon anymore, it's up in the air whether or not the Hazbin Pilot is.

This fucking cat is still confusing. It literally just appeared in this episode with no explanation of how it was made or came to be or what it even does.

Adam, as a character, is one of the most irritating I've ever seen. He embodies those "If this was written by Vivziepop" memes, his singing voice is top notch, but as a character, he doesn't act any different from the demons he's supposed to kill. So it makes me question what's even the difference between Angels and Demons.

Last but not least, Adam says that there won't be a Demon left alive to kill another Exorcist.

And right off the bat does Adam know that killing every Demon in Hell is literally impossible? As long as humans die, Sinners are going to keep existing. Unless if Heaven decides to make everyone into angels, which is highly unlikely. And Lute says herself that Charlie and her family are exempt from the yearly cleansing, so they're not truly getting rid of every possible threat in Hell.

Overall, I'd give this episode a 5/10. It's a very rough start, especially since Vivziepop and her writers had nearly 4 years to write this out, but it's just very messy.

[bluegalaxygirl]

Canvas (Zosan X Reader)

Thanks to @mrstrafalgardwater24 for the request on the first part. again i'm sorry for the wait.

Plot: Kuina and the crew paint your baby bump.

Warning: Bad language, extreme Fluff, Violence and Pregnancy stuff.

Reader is Female, Zoro X Sanji x Reader, Poly relationship, established relationship. Kuina is 5ish and has blonde hair, your eye's and skin color. Reader is about 6 to 7 months along.

You have no idea where Kuina got this idea but now that it's happening its hard to complain about it, you know the crew already loves your daughter and the baby still growing inside you but once the little girl mentioned painting on your stomach suddenly everyone wanted to do it all having different ideas of how to show their love and care for the baby. Its turned into more of a competition between a few of the crew member's so to stop any fighting and to let everyone have some fun Kuina decided to make into a contest lasting over the next week. Sitting on the deck of the sunny you can't help but smile as your daughter stands in front of you with several large tubes of different colored body paints, paintbrushes, plastic plates, pencils and paper all laid out on the grassy deck "Alright so the teams are, Luffy and Us opp, Robin and Nami, Chopper and Jibe, Franky and Brook and of course me and my dads" Kuina gives a big smile turning to her farther's who are next to her both giving her a confirming nod, Zoro can't help but smirk at his daughter taking charge as he sits cross-legged in grass facing his little girl while Sanji stands behind him mainly leaning on the swordsman's shoulder with hearts in his eyes. "Everyone will put their deigns down on paper and tomorrow we'll draw straws to see who goes first, i don't want anyone changing their designs after seeing anyone else's. We'll try and do one a day and if Mama needs a break then she gets a break" Kuina puffs out her cheeks making you giggle as Luffy, Usopp and Franky all bow their heads "Yes ma'am" the three say in unison making some of the other crew laugh seeing the hold the young girl has over her uncles. With a big smile your daughter starts handing out the pencils and paper letting the groups start to plan their designs and choosing their color scheme, "Hay wait a minute, who's going to judge?" Nami asks suddenly realizing, Usopp and Luffy are quick to look up from the paper their both sitting with to look at Kuina both realizing there isn't one.

Your daughter giggles taking a pencil and paper before rushing over to the bench your sitting soon followed by Sanji and Zoro "Mama of course" She states sitting down to you as you place a hand on her head and ruffle her hair "Hay thats not fair, of course Y/n is going to pick your design since your her daughter and partners" Usopp jumps up pointing his hand out at the four of you, Zoro lets out a chuckle letting a cheeky grin form on his face "Too bad for you long nose, just try your best then" Before an argument can break out you lightly slap the swordsman's arm then turn to the sniper "Your right, i would be biased so maybe we should have a point's system. Like 1 to 5 stars, I'll count them up so only i can see" You elbow Sanji slightly as he sits down next you his smile growing at the food reference you made "Oh my love thats so sweet" The cook sways slightly a blush appearing on his face making you giggle, Usopp sighs feeling more relaxed about things and nods his head along with Kuina who's happy that everything seems to be going well. Through the day the teams worked on their deigns most of the either measured your belly to work out proportions while others dragged you off to have a privet chat, it made you more curious about their designs since Chopper pulled you into the medical room and with the help of Jinbe placed a strange snail device on your stomach, they secretly talked before saying you could go while Brook and Franky did a lot of measurements even going as far as to get a drawing compass, a proctor and a drafter tool. None of them let you see their designs not even your own family who did most of their work in the kitchen discussing and some times arguing on what to do and coming up with an idea they could actually do instead of something big and complicated.

The next day came quickly and everyone was back outside eager to draw the straws and see what order they would be in, the plan was they would have the whole afternoon to do their work and then a photo would be taken before showing everyone who will then each secretly write down on a slip of paper how many stars which you would then count up and keep in a small book. Of course, you would be voting too but you made a mental note to not add your scores until the end as not to be tempted to add more or less to other peoples scores, with your pregnancy brain you will mostly likely forget what ever you wrote down the day before, last night you forgot what chapter you were up too in your book even though there was a bookmark on the page. "Ok, on three. One, Two… Three" Kuina yells as a member from each team pulls a straw out of your hand each a different length "Yessss" Luffy yells while holding the longest straw out of the bunch soon followed by Usopp who lifts his captain into the air as if they've won the whole contest "Calm down you two, geez" Nami sighs while pinching the bridge of her nose waiting for Robin to compare her straw with that of Chopper's and Brooks who were all the middle people "Looks like were going last" Kuina states holding the smallest straw, you thought she would be sad about it but instead she has a massive smile on her face while looking up at you and her two dads, Zoro nods sitting next to you on the bench and placing an arm around your shoulder "It'll give us more time to practice painting" the swordsman leans forward ruffling his daughters hair who groans and shoves his hand off earning a chuckle form her farther.

Sanji shakes his head while taking a seat on your work side placing his hand on your large stomach "If you ever need a break love just say so… I'll kick their asses out if i have too" The cook smirks, turning to face him you place your hand over his feeling your heart swell with love, you couldn't ask for better partners, the two are always so caring and eager to help you out when ever you need "Thanks darling" You whisper leaning in to place a light kiss on his lips which he happily leans into. "Alright gets get going, come on" Luffy and Usopp run over holding out their hands for you to take, in the past they would have just grabbed you and ran off but the first time that happened while you were pregnant with Kuina your two boys almost kicked them both off the ship and into the ocean then made them do all the chores and heavy lifting on the ship for a week, safe to say they learned their lesson. Standing up with the help of Zoro and Sanji you kiss the two goodbye before turning to your daughter who hands you your book and pen, placing a light kiss on Kuina's head you take the book and give her a looking look while running your hand over her cheek "See you later sweetie" With a wave to the others you head off with Luffy and Usopp who have already gathered what they needed and guided you to the aquarium bar. The once dim room was now light making it easier to see, a section of the large sofa lining the long fish tang was covered in a white sheet that flowed down onto the floor being held in place with white tape and two old tables on either side.

Luffy helps you get comfortable while Usopp sets up the paints and the paper they used to draw on, sitting down you sigh relaxing into the soft cuisines of the sofa "Do you need more cuisines? Water? Food?" Luffy asks hovering a little seeming a little nervous for some reason, taking his hand you give him a smile "A bottle of water would be nice but are you ok captain?" You look up at him with concern, Luffy gulps while rubbing the back of his neck "W-well, while Sanji and Zoro aren't here it's my job to look after you and.. I don't know what i'm doing, Usopp's here but.." The captain sighs looking over to his friend who is loft in thought while mixing colors together to get the right shade. Patting the captains hand you give him a big smile feeling your chest warm up at how much he cares for you and your health "Your doing great, if i need something I'll tell you, ok?" You ask getting Luffy to look at you, his eyes search yours before giving you a nod knowing your not lying to him, a large smile starts to from on his face before quick to rushing off to the bar area letting his arm stretch as to not pull you along. Letting out a little snort you can't help but start to laugh, your hand grips onto your belly as you lean forward finding the starching arm still holding your hand unbelievably funny, Luffy soon finds a bottle of water and rushes back over watching you wipe tears from your eyes before taking the bottle off him "T-thanks Lu" You giggle managing to calm from your laughing fit and let go of his hand, Usopp soon snaps out of his own little world and turns around going to speak when he see's the tears in your eyes, his body goes stiff in panic before lunging at Luffy grabbing his captain by the collar and shaking him "What did you do? Why is she gonna cry?" The captain raises an eyebrow at his friend letting his body be shaken back and forth "Usopp it's ok, Luffy made me laugh thats all" You reach out managing to stop the sniper from panicking.

With the room much calmer and Usopp apologizing to his captain the two get started on painting your belly, at first you have no idea what their making other than it being food related since Luffy kept saying how yummy it was going to look only to be hit by Usopp stating they can't eat it. The two kept you entertained or the next hour with banter, food jokes which lead Luffy to rush off for a few minutes to get snacks and the snipers adventure stories, it was so sweet seeing the long nosed man telling his obviously fake stories to your baby, It was also sweet to see Luffy look after you in a way he's never done so before, always checking if you needed anything, asking if your comfortable and helping you up if you ever needed to stretch. Two hours later they were done, after taking a photo and letting you have a look first they let the rest of the crew in to see the finished product "The great captain Usopp has created another fine master piece" Usopp smirks while pointing a thumb at himself clearly proud of his work, Kuina smiles wide while running up her uncle with big sparkling eyes "Wow, it looks so good" Chopper soon joins in on your daughters praising boosting the snipers ego more much to Nami and Zoro's dismay who both let out an annoyed sigh. Luffy groans with a pout some drool forming at the side of his mouth while laying on the floor his arm and head propped up onto the sofa next to you "It looks so yummy, now i really want cupcakes… Sanji" The captain whines while turning to look at the cook with puppy dog eyes only to be hit over the head by the cook "Don't you dare look at her like that and you can't have anything else, you've already had snacks" The blonde huff crossing his arms over his chest.

Letting out a giggle you look down at your tummy seeing the massive cupcake the two have done, the blue icing with sprinkles and a red cherry really does look yummy, the bow was also a very cute idea even though the two were slightly reluctant to use pink, no one knows what the gender is but the two are convinced it's going to be a boy. "Alright thats enough, lets vote so the two of you can get cleaned up, your both a mess" Nami sighs crossing her arms and handing out pieces of paper and pens letting each person write down how many stars "It really does look good Uncle Lu" Kuina gives the captain a big smile while handing you her piece of folded up paper "Thanks, it really does look yummy…. Quick let raid the fridge before your daddy finds out" Luffy whispers quickly passing you his piece of paper before picking your giggling daughter up and running to the kitchen, with a small laugh you watch as the cook makes his way over to you with a raised eyebrow handing you his piece of paper, all it took was one sorry look from you to know what was going on, in an instant the blonde goes from confused, to shock and then anger "Luffy, get your ass back here" Sanji yells with fury running off to stop his captain from raiding his kitchen and teaching his daughter bad habit's, with a chuckle Zoro plots down next to you and places his arm around your shoulders, the swordsman places his piece of paper on your lap before kissing your head which you lean into.

----- Team 2, Robin and Nami -----

The next day was Robin's and Nami's turn, again the aquarium bar was cleaned and set up so you could sit while they paint, luckily the paint was easy to wash off in the shower last night and didn't leave any residue so your stomach was a clean canvas for the two girls. Sitting down on the sofa you watch the two girls work together while chatting and filling you in on gossip you may have missed, it's a much calmer experience than yesterday which your glad for since after yesterdays antics your a little tired. As the two girls pause to get more paint you shift a little to rub your lower back only to feel two hands start to rub it for you, turning in surprise you see two hands attached to the sofa rubbing your lower back for you, knowing right away its robins doing you turn to the black haired woman and flash a thankful smile grateful for her kindness "We can take a break if you want" Robin smiles back putting down her paint and paint brush to clean her hands on a wet cloth, Nami quickly turns with slight concern not noticing you were unconformable but you don't blame her since you tried not to show it until now "Yes please" Pushing yourself up Nami is quick to rush over and take your arm helping you stand straight up "Do you want me to ask Sanji for some snack?" The navigator asks but you shake your head not feeling the need for food right now, starting to walk around Nami sticks next to you holding your arm while Robin continues with the paints and cleaning any mess they have made "I'm not an old lady Nam" You giggle taking the orange haired girls hand in yours happy to walk with her without assistance, Nami sighs before letting out a laugh gladly taking your hand and letting your arm go "Sorry"

Looking Nami over you let out a sigh wondering why she's so tense all of a sudden, before you can ask the navigator sighs seeing your giving her questioning eyes "I've never been in charge of looking after you while pregnant, i'm just… nervous that I'll do something wrong" Looking away from you Nami refuses to look you in the eyes even when you stop and take her chin bringing her face to look at you "Nami, your not doing anything wrong and i know you feel like you have too but you don't need to look after me, just because i'm pregnant doesn't mean i can't do things or tell you if i need something… Just having you around is helping me, your so caring and quick to jump to my aid either physically or verbally… mainly physically, i can't ask for anything else" You can't help but laugh at the last bit remembering how if someone made you cry or angry even by accident Nami would be so quick to hit who ever it is and make them apologies. The navigator looks up at you as you squeeze her hand in reassurance noticing the soft thankful look on your face, a small smile starts to spread across her lips while squeezing your hand back "I'll always come to your aid, if anyone hurts my girls their going to feel my wrath" The two of you laugh at her statement even though its true, all the girls on the ship feel the need to protect each other no matter what "I'm in safe hands" You hug the orange haired girls arm and lay your head on her shoulder as the two of you start walking again letting laughter fill the air.

Your greeted by Robin as the two of you get back to the sofa, the black haired woman sitting with one leg over the other while patting the place next to her for you to sit "Unfortunately were no where near done yet so to relieve your back pain i thought of an idea" Sitting down next to the woman you suddenly feel something press against your back that isn't the sofa, with a squeak you turn seeing 5 rows of hands with no wrists pressed into the sofa so you could lean back with comfort while so getting any benefits of a message. Letting out a laugh of relief you lean back against the hands, it's a strange feeling but as they start to lightly run circles over your back and shoulders you forget all about it "Thanks Robin, this is amazing but are you sure? i don't want you over working yourself" Robins sweet smile growls wider as she stands taking a plate of paint from Nami who has grabbed her own and kneels down to start working again " Thank you for your concern but I'll be fine, it's the least i can do for letting us do this" The black haired woman kneels down beside Nami starting her work again as you relax into the light massage revealing your back pain. Once the girls are done Robin takes a photo while Nami heads off to get the others, its clear now what the painting is and it brings a big smile to your face seeing the birds nest with flowers around it and three little eggs in the middle "Its so cute, my girls did so well" Sanji smiles wide while swaying from side to side, hearts appearing in his eyes making Robin giggle and Nami crosses her arms with pride "Three Egg's? Does that mean something?" Jinbe asks directing his question at Robin.

The black haired woman looks to Nami with a closed eye'd smile making the navigator blush and turn away "There were supposed to be five, one for each member of the family but… it would have been too small" Luffy is quick to run over and wrap his arms around the navigator trying to cheer her up with the help of Chopper and Kuina all telling her how good of an idea it was and that it's ok that it didn't work out that way. "Ah i see, so one for each parent" Franky states leaning down to look over the work, Brook stands behind him tilting his head to look around the cyborgs head "Its a lovely design, i'm starting to think ours is too sim-" Before the skeleton can finish his sentence Franky whips his head around an intense look on his face "Our's isn't simple" Zoro gives the two a cocky smile as he walks past them to sit next to you and wrap an arm around your shoulders "It doesn't matter if its simple or not" With a sigh you lightly hit the swordsman's secretly telling him to stop since you know where this was going, but he ignores you since Franky and Brook both turn to him with puzzled looks taking the bait with ease "Your not going to be the ones to win… I'm gonna win and there's nothing you can do about it… I have the judge on my side" That cocky smile gets bigger as the two growl at him, the swordsman's arm pulls you closer, so he can place a kiss on your head all while keeping his eyes on the two "That's not how this works" Franky yells with anger stepping a little closer, you would be scared it you didn't know he wasn't going to hurt Zoro, your too close to the green haired man so Franky won't risk it. Brook on the other hand tries to calm the situation down to the best of his ability soon having to get help from Robin and Sanji.

----- Team 3, Brook and Franky -----

Sitting once again in the aquarium bar you try not to laugh as Franky kneels in front of your talking to your stomach while Brook sets up everything on the floor, so they don't have to keep standing up. "This is very important little dude or dudette, were going to create the greatest masterpiece anyone has laid their eyes on but for this to work you have to keep as still as possible. I don't mind you moving around but please… i beg and plead with you to not push or kick towards us.. Ok?" The cyborg taps your exposed belly with his finger as if he's giving your baby a head pat before looking up at you with a big smile "Think they understand?" Letting out a laugh you place a hand on your belly and nod, with a sigh Franky leans back crossing his arms over his chest "And none of that either, you can't laugh or cough, this is delicate work" a pout forms on the cyborgs face making you throw your head back in laughter soon joined by a chuckle from Brook. After you manage to calm down and get comfortable the two start working on your stomach painting fine lines, Franky works on one said with Brook works on the other, its clear the two have been practicing in their spare time since their lines match each other perfectly, once in a while you would feel the baby shift so to stop the cyborg from panicking you would tell him about the slightest movement which he's quite thankful for.

Half an hour later you feel the baby getting fussy, its foot starting to press into your side, it doesn't hurt much its just a little uncomfortable and its probably best you get up and walk mainly to see if that will help the baby settle "Can we take a break?" You ask looking down at the two, Franky is lost on concentration his tongue peeking out the side of his mouth while Brook quickly look up at you and nods putting his stuff down before tapping the cyborg on the shoulder to get his attention "Of course, are you ok?" Brook asks standing up and offering his hand to you, taking his hand he helps you to your feet while Franky moves things out of the way for you "Yea, just a little uncomfortable, sorry the baby's being fussy" Brook shakes his head and links your arm with his while walking with you, its only now you realize someone always seems instant on walking with you, it makes you wonder if Sanji or Zoro said something or if your crew is just that concerned. "Don't be, its natural and you and your baby's comfort is more important… just don't tell Franky that" The skeleton whispers getting you to let out a little giggle, you know the cyborg cares but when he sets his mind to something its almost impossible to stop him, no wonder him and the captain get on so well. "So tiny" Brook whispers before a blush forms in his face realizing he said it out loud, raising an eyebrow you look between him and your belly noticing the tiny foot pressing into your side is now more visible than before.

Taking the Skeletons boney you lay his fingers over the foot knowing it won't move away now that the baby seems comfortable in this perspiration "I know right, its weird to think that one day they might be taller than me, stronger than me… i often wonder what adventures they might go on or what they will inspire to be, they have a lot of options and a lot of good teachers" A large smile forms on your face while looking up at the slightly teary eye'd skeleton as his fingers lightly run over the baby's foot "What ever they will be i know they will be amazing at it." Brook looks back to you with his smile getting bigger only for the moment to be interrupted by Franky "Hay be careful don't smug our work" The cyborg yells earning a sigh from the both of you, brooks hand is no where near the art work, but he removes his hand anyway and holds it up in the air in surrender. "The baby's settled now so hopefully it will be easier for you" You state walking back over to the sofa followed closely by the musician and being helped back down onto the sofa by Franky. Despite the design looking simple it takes almost three hours to do but once's its done and your handed the photo to see painting better your shocked at the thought and effort put into it. "I see you went for a mandala theme, it works perfect on her round stomach and the design also has pieces of each parent" Robin ponders once everyone has entered the room to have a look, Luffy and Chopper tilt their head in amazement and slight confusion while Usopp steps closer to get a better look "Its amazing, i can't tell whose work is who's and there's not a line out of place, no wonder this took almost four hours" The sniper states in amazement.

Raising an eyebrow at robins words you take another look at the photo before gasping in shock, Zoro is quick to rush to your side about to ask what's wrong but you turn to Brook and Franky with a giant grin that starts to hurt your face "Oh my gods, you didn't" A giggle leaves your lips getting the two to blush slightly and shy away a little, Zoro sighs in relief while placing a hand on your head "Don't do that to me" after shooting the swordsman a sorry look you see Kuina walk over to you and look over your belly also giving a gasp "Oh i see it now, Daddy your eyebrows are there and Dad so are your swords" Kuina pointing them out without touching the design, the two take a closer look noticing it too, Sanji's cheeks turn red as a smile forms on his face while Zoro flashes Brook and Franky a grin seeming to boost the two's ego's "Wait you said all the parents so where's Y/N?" Nami asks looking to the two artist's, Brook lets out a small chuckle since he did tell the cyborg that it was too subtle to notice, with a sigh Franky walks over to you and bends down while holding his palm out, the tiny hand inside his large one springs out before tracing over the image in different area's "We'll all the large curves mean hidden and the small circles surrounding them mean strength, so in other words hidden strength. The large flower like pattern means truth and these small things sticking out the stops mean joy, add that all together and its Y/n in a nut shell"

Your eyes tear up with his words as Kuina looks at him with stars in her eyes "You are such a sap" Nami giggle with a large smile on her face, Franky quickly turns to her blushing at her comment but doesn't have time to speak when you tackle him with a side hug "Oh Franky that is so sweet, i love it so much and thank you too Brook, you boys did an amazing job" You start to cry out of joy shocking the cyborg who puts an arm around you to try and comfort you, while holding his head back trying not to cry himself at your words, Sanji lets out a chuckle while taking Zoro's hand shooting his partner a cheeky grin which earns a cunning one from the swordsman both knowing there going to tease the cyborg about this later. Kuina giggles while rubbing your back happy to see how much love her mother is getting, she's soon pulled into the hug when you wave brook over wanting to thank him as well.

----- Team 4, Chopper and Jinbe -----

You took a day off from all the painting before letting the next two have their turn, as much as your enjoying all the love and care your baby is getting it made you tired so you spent most of the day sleeping, only waking up to eat. When ever you woke up you weren't alone either Zoro was sleeping next to you his arm around your waist and head on your chest or Sanji was reading with his arm around you letting you cuddle into his side as he quietly reads, sometimes whispering parts of his book he thinks the baby will like, then theirs Kuina who would be either drawing or reading a children's book to your baby while laying as close as possible to your belly. After your rest day it was finally time for Chopper and Jinbe to start their work, this was one of the most confusing to figure out from the start, that strange device they used on your belly days before along with only picking black and white as their color's made it hard to figure out what they were going to do. During the process you kept looking at your belly seeing them paint a big black area and then start adding strokes white "You ok? You look uncomfortable" Chopper asks with a concerned tone not liking the strange face your pulling, snapping out of your thoughts you look to the doctor, your facial expression instantly softens at seeing white and black paint spots on his cheek and blue nose "No i'm ok, just can't make out what your design is, with most of the others i could make it out at least half-way through" You giggle grabbing a damp cloth and leaning forward slightly wipe the paint of Choppers face.

Jinbe returns from the table with a cleaned off brush and more white paint going back to kneeling in front of you "I'm actually glad you can't tell what it is" You raise an eyebrow at the fish man who lets out a small chuckle with a large smile, Chopper lets out a small laugh too letting you whip the paint off his nose before speaking "Don't worry, it's going to be great, i don't know if we'll win but i know it will make you, Zoro, Sanji and Kuina happy" Putting the damp cloth down you lean back into the sofa, being kept in the dark leaves you a little anxious but you trust the two and know that they mean what they say "We would like the family to come into the room before showing the rest of the crew, i feel the reveal should be shared with the parents and sibling" Jinbe rubs your arm giving you a comforting smile, letting out a breath you relax and nod deciding to watch the fish swimming around in the tank while the two get back to work, the fish man is somehow amazing at calming you down even when your partners can't, you don't know if it's his experiences that make him that way or the fact that you see him as the jolly and kind uncle figure. Their deign was simple but still took about an hour and a half the two constantly looking at the sheet of paper in front of them along with a photo they kept out of your sight but you tried not to pry thinking it would be best to wait until your partners and daughter are in the room before looking.

Kuina runs up to you with a large smile seeming super excited to see what is so special that only the four of you get to see first, Sanji and Zoro walk in behind her both giving you a smile before looking down at your belly, all their smiles drop making anxiety well up inside. Zoro tilts his head in confusion along with Kuina who squint her eyes trying to figure out what it is but Sanji slaps a hand over his mouth, his eyes welling up with tears. Jinbe lets out a jolly laugh before handing you the photo they took of the painting along with the photo they have been hiding from you, your jaw drops tears welling up in your eyes at the first image of your baby, while the painting on your belly was enlarged only showing the head and chest, the scan of your baby was a full body one showing off his little hands and feet. "Oh, Jinbe, Chopper… Thank you" Tears fall down your cheeks as you look to the two who both have big smiles on their faces, Sanji suddenly breaks seeing you cry, tears fall down his cheeks as he rushes over to you, standing as quickly as your can the two of you hug each other "Oh my love, their beautiful" The two of you happily cry into each the cooks arms around your waist rubbing your back and crying into your shoulder while your arms wrap around his neck, one hand running through his hair. The scene makes Zoro and Kuina even more confused, seeing this Chopper walks over taking both their hands and pulling the two over to you "I managed to find a all ultrasound machine, it lets you see inside a person's body and maps out organs and stuff, but we used it to see the baby inside" Pulling away from Sanji you look to the two and hand over the photo in your hands but its only Kuina who takes it in slight shock.

Zoro wraps his arms around you placing kisses on your cheek down to your neck and to your shoulder before pulling away to cup your face "Sanji's right, their beautiful, I love you so much" the swordsman's voice is shaky, but he holds back the tears "I love you all so much" You whisper back placing a kiss on his lips before turning to Sanji who pulls the two of you in for a quick three-way kisses "You're amazing my love, I love you and Zoro, thank you both for another beautiful gift" The cook starts to cry again getting a small chuckle out of the swordsman who pulls the two of you back in for a hug. The three of you can't help but grin like idiots feeling giddy and overly excited about seeing your baby before its even born. "So.. thats my baby brother or sister?" Kuina asks still in slight shock as Chopper points out things for her on the photo helping her see the baby better, placing a hand on your stomach being careful of the slightly smudged art work Zoro moves out-of-the-way so Kuina can have another look "Sorry about your work" The swordsman looks to Chopper and Jinbe feeling a little bad at ruining their work but the big fish man chuckles walking over to pat the green haired man on the back "Its fine, we knew this would happen, were just glad you all love it" Chopper nods at his friends words watching as your daughter walks up to your belly with a smile placing her hands either side of the art work "Hello, it so weird seeing you before your here"

Placing a hand on her head you lightly stroke her hair feeling your heart swell with warmth at seeing how excited she is "We have one more surprise if you want to hear it" Jinbe smirks moving to stand next to Chopper who's still holding the photo in his hand "We know the gender of the baby, do you want to know?" Chopper asks with a large smile slightly bouncing on his feet in excitement, Kuina looks up at you silently begging to know if it's a boy or a girl while you look to your boys, Zoro places a hand around your waist while his other hand goes of Kuina's on your stomach giving you a slight nod while Sanji places his hand over his daughter other hand, his other hand going through your hair before resting on your shoulder "Its up to you love but.. i would like to know" The cook whispers his giddy smile getting even bigger, "Ok.. Yea, we'd like to know" You state looking back to Chopper who jumps a little with joy "You're having a boy" Kuina lets out a loud gasp before hugging your waist not caring that the paint will smudge on her face "Your so cute baby brother" Your heart swell once again as tears from in your eyes, Sanji is quick to kiss your cheek wrapping his arms around you and Kuina, he honestly didn't care if it was a boy or a girl but at least now he can start calling the baby his little prince, Zoro finally lets a tear fall but shoves his head into your neck while rubbing his daughters back hoping to hide it, he didn't mind having another girl but now they would have one of each, for some reason it made him feel like the family is complete.

It took a while for the four of you to calm down enough to thank Chopper in Jinbe, you couldn't help but pull the two into a hug, Chopper let you keep the ultrasound photo while he kept the photo of the art work knowing now he needed to show it to the crew. Unfortunately with all the hugging, crying and touching the once beautiful artwork was now nothing more than a gray patch, you felt bad but the two artist were just happy that they could do this for you. As Chopper and Jinbe let the others in you sit down on the sofa next to Zoro who grabs wipes ready to get rid of the large patch while Sanji pulls Kuina onto his lap next to you wiping off the paint thats covering almost half her face. "That's it? a gray blob" Usopp comments looking thoroughly disappointed after all the hype it got while Robin lets out a chuckle already seeming to know what has happened "Judging by everyone covered in gray paint i think it just got smudged right?" The black haired woman smiles walking up to Chopper who hands her the photo of the finished painting before bringing it back to the others, Nami and Brook are quick to gasp already knowing what it is while the others tilt their heads in confusion. Letting out a laugh you lay your head on Zoro's shoulder as he continues to clean the gray mess on your belly "You two were right, it's a boy" Luffy and Usopp quickly look over at you then back to the photo letting their gears turn until it finally clicks "I told you so" The captain happily cheers hugging the sniper who happily hugs back while cheering as well.

----- Team 5, Kuina, Sanji and Zoro -----

Its the last day and even though your excited to see what your family has planned your also kinda sad its over so soon, the art work everyone has done has been amazing and the experience has been a whirlwind of emotions but above all you've felt so much love, seeing your crew so happy and invested in your children and family life has made any doubts about bringing another child into this world completely fade away. Walking into the aquarium bar with Zoro at your side your greeted by a sweet sight, Kuina and Sanji are mixing paints hoping to get the perfect shade of the color they want and testing it on each others skin, your daughter dips her finger into the light blue paint she's made and rubs it on the cooks cheek who lets out a small laugh as she examines it. The blondes cheeks are full of different shades of Pink's, blue's and light purple's making you hold back a laugh as to not disturb the moment, Zoro wraps an arm around your waist while shoving his head into your shoulder trying to hold back his own laugh "Perfect, we have all the shades now" Kuina gives a big smile while grabbing a damp cloth to help her daddy clean on his face "If i didn't know what you were doing i would say you look sick" Zoro chuckles walking you over to the two earning a growl and a glare from Sanji "Shut it moss head, i don't see you helping" The cook snaps but his expression softens when his daughter finishes cleaning his face for him giving her a thankful look and a small kiss on the cheek before glaring back at Zoro who helps you sit down on the sofa "Helping? While your getting your makeup done, i'm helping our girl get comfortable"

Quickly standing Sanji grabs the grinning swordsman by the Kimono pulling him closer to growl at it, the two bicker back and forth while Kuina hops off her chair and makes her way over with a piece of paper in her hands completely ignoring her two dads. "Even though we know it's a boy know i did say that no one can change their deigns so i hope it's ok that we're using pink" Your daughter looks down at the paper on her hands unsure of how to feel about this but you place a hand on her head giving her beautiful blonde hair a few strokes "What ever you make will be amazing, your so talented plus colors don't have to be gender specific." A smile forms on your daughters face as you pat the seat next to you, placing the paper aside so you can't see it the little girl hops up next to you as you grab a hair tie and start tying her hair up not wanting it to get to messy "Thanks Mama". After tying her hair up Kuina gives you a smile before wrapping her arms around you, hugging her back you place a tender kiss on her head while rubbing her back, the two of you stay like that for a while enjoying each others company and warmth all while Sanji and Zoro are still bickering, the two grabbing onto each other but soon turns flirtatious, both picking on each other while making cocky complements. With a sigh you pat Kuina's back before letter her go knowing you have to stop your partners before their cocky comments turn sexual "Sanji, Zoro, come on already i can't wait any longer" Your laugh and voice gets the two to look at you, Zoro's grip that was firmly around the cooks tie loosens while Sanji lets go of the swordsman's Kimono.

The cook glances at Zoro looking from the man to his tie then back to the man giving him a glare since the green haired man hasn't let go yet, with a cocky smile the swordsman leans closer placing a light kiss on the blondes lips before moving to his ear "We'll finish this later" Zoro whispers slowly pulling away and letting go of Sanji's tie before making his way over to you "I'll get the paints" Kuina happily cheers rushing over to the table and grabbing the plate of mixed paints and some paint brushes while Zoro leans over you running his hands over your clothed stomach before starting to lift up your shirt exposing the skin underneath "So beautiful" He whispers while bending down to place his lips on yours, reaching up you place a hand on his cheek letting your thumb run across his skin as his lips move with yours, Zoro's hands move your shirt up and under your breasts tucking it into the underside of your bar so it won't get paint on it. Slowly pulling away from the kiss the swordsman gives you a loving smile before looking down at your stomach letting his hands run over it while bending down further to place a kiss just above your belly button, the sight makes your heart pound in your chest while tears well up in your eyes knowing how much he loves you and his unborn baby boy. Sanji is snapped out of his flustered shock by Kuina who giggles while pulling on the arm of his jacket "You should really take this off dad, you'll get it dirty" The cook quickly looks down at his daughter than to his jacket managing to come back to reality "Thanks sweetie"

Taking off his jacket and putting it aside Sanji starts turning up the sleeves of his white button down shirt, it doesn't bother him it gets paint on it but it would mean less washing later. Kuina happily makes her way back over to the sofa sitting down next to you as Zoro steps away to take off the top part of his kimono, the little girl can't help but let out a laugh at your flustered face that goes much redder when Sanji walks over taking his black tie off "You two will be the death of me" It slips out before you can stop it causing a squeak to leave your lips as you slap a hand over your mouth, your partners let their grins widen while looking you over with loving and mischievous eyes while your daughter throws her head back on laughter. Throwing his tie to the side making it land on top of his jacket Sanji steps closer letting his hand run over your stomach "Oh my love, you flatter us too much" leaning down to your ear the cook places a kiss just under it as your body stiffens knowing he's going to say something that will make you even more flustered "But if that does happen, i will be more than happy to give you mouth-to-mouth" Your face blows up red as you slap his arm starting to stutter but unable to form a sentence trying to tell the cook to shut up, Sanji laugh while kissing your burning hot cheeks ignoring your halfhearted protests and light hits on his chest and arms. Luckily Kuina couldn't here what was said mainly because she's laughing too hard, it's always a joy to see you so flustered since it's a rare sight and its something over her farther's can achieve.

Zoro lets out a chuckle with a shake of his head while grabbing a plate of paints and a paint brush "Alright, lets get started" The swordsman states getting the rest of his family to calm down enough to start, using Kuina's drawing as a guide your daughter paints on your side while Sanji and Zoro work on the rest, the outline made it every clear what their making bringing a smile to your face, a giant ribbon and down cutting diagonal across your belly leaving a big gap on one side, your daughter kept stepping away once in a while to look at it from a different angle and some times going up to Zoro asking him to redo a line. The swordsman didn't mind since he knows he's not that good at drawing but would often grumble under his breath having to redo a line several times to get it the right way mainly being mad at himself, reaching your hand down while trying not to move too much you run your hand through his green hair helping to calm him down which he gives you a thankful look for. Sanji's lines are neat and tidy, but he would always have a damp cloth wrapped around one finger, so he can run it under the line he's made making sure its perfect. With the three focused on their work there isn't any kind of conversation leaving the room in a comfortable and relaxing silence other than a few words here and there and at least one of them checking to see if you need a break. It didn't take long for them to finish all three stepping back to admire their work "Its almost done" Kuina jumps a little with glee happy to see it looking just the way she wants it too.

A look of surprise crosses your face since it looks down to you "Really? It's already amazing" Your comment gets your daughter shaking her head while running over to the table and grabbing four different pastel colored paints, green, yellow, orange and purple. "Were gonna need your help for this one love" Sanji smirks holding his hands out for you to take as Zoro comes to your side the two helping you stand up, the swordsman stands behind you placing his chin on your shoulder placing kisses on your neck "Ok Dad is green and Daddy is yellow. Ready?" Kuina lifts up a paint brush covered in green paint, Zoro holds out one of his hands letting his daughter paint the palm of his hand as Sanji moves to stand behind you as well placing his chin on your other shoulder "What is going on?" You whisper but only earn a small laugh and a kiss on the cheek in response, once Zoro's hand is painted your daughter takes a different brush with yellow paint and starts painting Sanji's palm that the cook holds out for her "Don't worry baby, i know you'll love this" Zoro whispers placing a few more kisses on your neck which you lean into enjoying his touch "Ok make a heart" Kuina states putting the plate down before helping her farther's make a heart with their joined hands, she adjusts the thumbs to make it perfect before standing back to have a look. Leaning back into the two you can't help but smile now knowing what their doing, Zoro's other arm goes around Sanji's waist keeping you snug in between their arms all while trying not to smug their work since his arm is hovering over the painting on your belly.

Kuina moves her farther's hands into the perfect position before giving them a nod, In perfect unison your partners press their hands onto your belly and hold it there while peppering your cheeks and neck with kisses, lifting your hands up cup their cheeks pulling the two closer to you "You boys are too sweet" You giggle turning to look at Sanji who gives you a sweet loving look "Anything for you Mi Amour" The cook whispers his lips brushing against yours before locking fully, letting out a happy hum you lean into the kiss while stroking his cheek, after a few short kisses you turn to Zoro who has a smirk plastered on his face "I told you'd like it" Leaning in the two of you share a short kiss before fully locking lips hoping to draw the feeling of his lips against yours, as another happy hum leaves your lips the swordsman lets out a needy groan wanting more so you open your mouth a little, Zoro's tongue is quick to enter your mouth roaming around as your hand moves up to hair. Kuina lets out a sigh, she's glad that her parents are in love, but she doesn't want the art work to get ruined, the swordsman's arm is perfectly still but that might change if this goes on "You can move your hands now" Your daughter states managing to brake you and the green haired man apart giving the young girl a sorry look, slowly your partners lift their hands up and off your belly leaving perfect hand prints with their thumb and fingers making a heart in the middle, in the middle a strip of green and yellow meets blending together a little and making a very light lime color.

Zoro and Sanji give you one last Kiss on the cheek before stepping away to clean their hands while Kuina walks up to you getting a better look at the hand prints "This is an amazing idea, I'm guessing the next to paints are for me and you?" You ask getting your daughter to look up at you and nod "I know my hands a lot smaller, but we can make it work. I picked Purple for you and orange for me" The young girl picks up her plate again and grabs two more paint brushes showing you the colors, placing your hand on her head you ruffle her hair before offering your hand to her letting her paint your hand. As she paints you look over to your body's seeing Zoro cleaning up Sanji's hand with a damp cloth, the two don't speck but do share an intense loving look, the cooks the first to step closer placing a light kiss on the corner of the swordsman's lip earning a groan of annoyance from the man, with both their hands clean Zoro throws the cloth down on the table then grabs Sanji's shirt pulling him in before the blonde can react. Crashing his lips onto his partners the swordsman lets out a satisfied moan forcing his tongue into the cooks mouth who instantly gives up and melts into the kiss, his hands run up Zoro's arm and take the hand that is holding his shirt managing to pull it off and interlock their fingers. Your brought back to your daughter when she puts the paint brush down and turns to her dads going to ask for help painting her hand only to see the two kissing.

With another sigh she shakes her head "Dads please… Art first, kissing later" Letting out a laugh you watch your partners pull away and slightly pout at being scolded by their daughter, it's hard to say no to Kuina when she's so determined, so the two pull away from each other and walk over, Zoro takes the plate from his daughter and starts painting her hand while Sanji looks over your purple palm flashing you a sweet smile "That color suits you mi amour" The cook tucks some hair behind your ear while leaning in to give you a light kiss, you happily return it before looking back at Kuina who has now moves to your side, with the help of Zoro and Sanji you manage to make a heart despite the size difference, placing your hands on your stomach your daughter follows along as you wrap your arm around her shoulder keeping the little girl pressed to your side "Thank you sweetie, this was a great idea, I've had so much fun" The two of you smile at each other while pulling your hands off your belly leaving the art work complete. Kuina leaves your side to look at her work her smile bigger then ever as she bounces on her feet in happiness "It looks so good" She praises as Zoro chuckles lifting her up into the air and holding her close "Heck yea it is, my little artist" The swordsman nuzzles his daughters cheek before kissing it not caring that she's trying to push him away with a paint covered hand all while giggling her little head off. Sanji quickly grabs the camera taking a photo of your belly and placing it back on the side, so he can hold you, being careful of the arm work the cook holds you from the side wrapping his arms around your waist and under your belly while your hand comes up to meet his cheek so you can pull him into a kiss.

Zoro smirks at seeing the moment your having with the blonde cook so puts his daughter down and takes her hand "Come on lets get you cleaned up and then show the others" The swordsman states pulling her over to the painting table and grabbing another cloth to clean her hand off all while praising her work. With your lips locked with Sanji's you tilt your head back a little to get a better angle letting his tongue push into your mouth with no resistance, your tongues dance around each other as light hums and moans of happiness leave your lips, it warms your heart to feel how much love your family has for each other and the unborn baby boy they haven't even met yet, you can't ask for anything more. As you pull away Kuina flings the door open and yells out for the others that their finished, of course the first people to rush in are Chopper, Luffy and Usopp, your not sure if their excited to see the art or find out the results of the contest but it doesn't seem to both Kuina. "Arrr thats so cute" Chopper smiles looking up at your belly admiring your families work "I like the hand idea" Usopp comments patting your daughter on the head as she beams up with pride at the sniper. "Its simple but beautiful" Nami smiles walking in with the rest of the crew, Jinbe walks up to Kuina placing a hand on her shoulder with a proud smile "you have an amazing talent young lady, keep it up" His praise makes her eyes sparkle with glee her pride in her and her parents work growing by the second. "Perfectly gift wrapped, how thoughtful" Robin giggles making some of the others laugh too including you and Zoro, the swordsman grabs your book and pen handing it over to you while Kuina hands out pieces of paper and pens to the crew "I can't believe this is the last one, its gone so quick" Franky chuckles after writing on his paper and handing it to Sanji as Zoro helps you sit back down.

Once everyone has scored the last piece of work you add it all together in your book before pulling out a small envelope from another page "Do we get a prize?" Luffy, Usopp and Franky all yell their eyes shining like starts making you giggle even though your feeling a little bad "No, I'm sorry, there's are just my scores, I've been writing them down and put them in here so i'm not tempted to change my own scores, I've forgotten what I've put down already" The three pout only to be slapped across the head by Nami, placing her hands on her hips the navigator scolds them for not noticing, you never told anyone what you were doing but the others could guess since you didn't hide it. With all your scores down and Robin calming Nami down the crew looks to you for the verdict, reading through the scores you can't help but let out a laugh at how things ended up "The winners are Chopper and Jinbe while the rest of you all come in second" A large smile grows on your face as you turn your book around to show them the page, everyone is tied expect for the winner who won by 4 point. There's a collective "What?" full of different emotions, happiness, disbelief and confusion "I can't believe we won" Chopper cheers as Kuina tackles him in a hug the two laughing and cheering as Zoro picks the two up kissing the tops of their heads "Great Job Chopper and thanks again.. Thanks you too Jinbe" The swordsman puts the two down before turning to the large fish man who rubs the back of his head "Oh it was all Choppers idea" Sanji shakes his head placing a hand on Jinbe's shoulder "Still thank you, it means a lot"

Nodding you give Jinbe a smile agreeing with your boys, what they did was beyond sweet and thoughtful, you got to see your baby before it was even born and find out the gender something you couldn't do with Kuina, speaking of the young girl she walks over to you her hand gripping onto Choppers "I'm glad you liked it but i'm sorry you guys didn't win" The doctor gulps feeling a little bad about it but Kuina shakes her head and takes your hand with a big smile "I didn't really care if we won or not, it was really fun and made this week at sea go bay really fast… Did you enjoy it mama, it wasn't too much was it?" Your daughter asks with sudden concern, squeezing her hand you lean closer placing a kiss on her head "I loved every second of it and even though your baby brother was a little fussy at times i think he enjoyed it too" Patting the seats next to you the two hop up cuddling into your sides, your arms wrap around them holding the two close as Kuina places her hand over her hand print on your belly "I'm glad, i can't wait to meet him" Your little girl whispers, kissing the top of her head you nuzzle into her feeling your heart swell with happiness and love only for the moment to be broken by Luffy's loud yelling "I want a rematch" Zoro, Sanji and a slightly stressed out Franky who's going over your scores are quick to look at their captain with a glare "No way" The three yell in unison making Luffy groan with a big pout before flopping onto the sofa away from you, he looks up at the three with puppy dog eyes trying his best to get them to agree like how they do with Kuina, letting out a laugh your soon joined by the two at your sides and a few other crew members as the three groan trying to ignore their pouting captain.

[rainintheevening]

The day 19-year-old Peter Pevensie ships out for the Mediterranean, lieutenant's commission and a COs commendation in hand, he's all tall, golden boy in British khaki with a soft smile and a merry laugh and oddly old eyes.

His socks are hand-knitted, with his initials PWP worked in around the top. He wears a small golden lion on a leather string around his neck, tucked under his shirt alongside his dogtags.

In his kit bag he carries a Bible, new, brown leather, not too big to be jammed in a pocket. The writing on the first page is tidy, a little squared off, no blots: June 1943, Peter, my brother, my captain, my king. We are all held safe between the paws of the Lion. Ephesians 6:10-18.

Tucked in beside that is a small, chunky book of Spurgeon's sermons, with Prof. Digory Kirke in the corner of the flyleaf, and a loose-leaf of paper that Peter uses for a bookmark, precious though it is, covered in his father's barely legible scratch.

There's a hand-bound book of poems, copied by Lucy and collected with several of Susan's watercolours, all trees like old friends and flowers like stars and rolling English hills. It will take months for those pages to stop smelling like home.

Next to that is tucked a sturdy little journal, pencil attached and fat with empty cream-coloured pages. It will take only a week for it to lose its clean smell, and the many words scribbled there will make it fatter still.

Three others are piled in around those—a beat-up hardback novel stripped of its dust jacket and stamped as White Fang, a bright new George MacDonald novel with Be brave, my son, and may the adventure always bring you safely home. Mother penned inside, and another naked hardback identified along its spine as The Aeneid.

Some eyebrows get raised at the extra weight of that library, but Peter is charming and humble, and he'll be the only one to suffer from it anyway.

A little more than two years later Peter Pevensie will return with a captain’s epaulets on his shoulders, and the same soft smile on a leaner, browner face.

He will be wearing an entirely different pair of socks, but still ones that have PWP worked into the stripes along the top.

The leather string will be gone, and so will the little gold lion, folded into a shaking hand, given with a murmured prayer and a kiss pressed to salty fevered forehead, somewhere on the side of an Italian mountain.

The books will be nearly all there. The Bible, wrinkled with water damage, fingerprinted with little dark smears, it's cover scored with a smokey black streak. The poetry, cared for so carefully; the sermons, well earmarked and notated; the MacDonald novel now sans dust jacket, spine cracked, and with grit worked into its creases.

The Aeneid will still be there, though greatly altered thanks to the bullet buried in the upper half of it.

White Fang will be missing, left in the hands of a wildly curious, dream-eyed Arab boy, who will pick up English like a starving man picks up food, and will cry when the Fighting Fifth gets shipped back to Italy. There will be a black and white photograph tucked into its pages— four soldiers surrounding a tall, fair-haired one with a thin dark-headed boy standing high atop his shoulders, arms raised as if he would fall forward into flight, all smiling.

Peter will carry the journal home in his pocket, all muddy and smoky, all smeared with pencil lead and sweat, bloody fingerprints on a few pages, heavy with a thousand and one thoughts, the unburdening of his heart, all ready to be placed in his brother’s hands.

Peter Pevensie will return like his books, with dirt in the creases, a little worn, a little tattered, a little scarred. But his wise old (kingly) eyes... they shine the same way when he smiles, sun in his golden hair.

[fishenjoyer1]

Fish of the Day

Today's fish of the day is the Southern blue ring octopus!

The Southern blue ring octopus, also known by scientific name Hapalochlaena maculosa, is well known for how venomous they are, and the vivid colorations that warn of it! The Southern blue ring octopus is one of the four species of blue ring octopi on this earth, the Southern blue ring octopus in particular is the only lesser blue ring octopi, as opposed to the other greater octopi, which are smaller in size but have far larger blue rings when threatened. Despite the differences between the Southern blue ring and the other, greater blue ring, they all live in the same general area. With the entirety of their genus spread out across the Eastern Pacific and Indian oceans, the Southern blue ring is no different, living along the Southern coast of Australia. In this environment, the octopus lives and hides within the crevasses and cracks of the rocky Australian reef.

Camouflage is very important to blue ring octopi, and this is the same thing that allows them the bright colors to warn off predators. Like many other species of cephalopods, blue ring octopi take advantage of dermal chromatophore cells, which respond to stimuli to create different colors on the skin of the animal. When threatened, the octopus will make an average of 60 bright blue rings across its form, taking as little of a third of a second. This is done by the relaxing and tensing of muscles around the shape of the ring. In greater blue ring octopi this muscle contraction also has layers of iridophores light reflectors, allowing for the blue marks to be projected further in the water. These are the only warning of the great venom these animals contain, tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin which binds to voltage-gated sodium channels, preventing action signals from the brain to be transmitted to the body. This is because the body uses many cells which contain a certain voltage to them, and when sodium enters the cell in large amounts (as happens anytime you voluntarily move) when the voltage in the cell rises to the correct level, it triggers for the sodium channels to open in the cell next to it. This is how signals travel in the body, and how tetrodotoxin paralyzes by binding the chanels. We still don't fully understand how the poisoning works fully, as this toxin is stored in a small salivary gland in the octopus and is present in the bloodstream, this is either injected into the water or transmitted via bite. At this time there is no antivenom, but it is relatively easy to not be injured by this squid! So long as you leave them alone, they do not attack!

With all the coolest features of this animal covered, let's discuss the more mundane things. The diet of the Southern blue ring is made up of various curseceans and small fish, many of which they can hunt when the greater blue ring can not. This is because the Southern blue ring is the largest blue ring, with a whopping size of 5cm long mantle and 20cm arm-arm, a full 5-10cm larger than all other blue rings! Hunting is done by releasing the venom as a mist into the water, paralyzing prey before eating it. Their lifespan is incredibly short, lasting only 7 months on average, and mating only once in their lifetimes. The first 6 weeks of their lives will be spent growing rapidly, already nekton, as unlike most invertebrates blue rings have no planktonic stage. After these 6 weeks the blue rings can begin appearing when threatened, but the venomous trait is there from birth even without the rings presence. Mating will begin sometime with 3-5 months, and females will collect and store sperm from several partners, later choosing which male she will fertilize her eggs with. Then, there is a two month long period where she carries the eggs with her constantly, spending most of her time hiding, and moving only with 2 tentacles across the sea bed. Once these eggs hatch, the mother will pass away, leaving only her children behind to begin the cycle anew.

That's the Southern blue ring octopus, everybody! Have a wonderful day!

[eclairfromleclerc]

Hello people! It’s been a while since my last chapter but the writer’s block was humongous and I kept pushing myself to write the next chapter. It is another long one, almost 25K words. Please excuse me for my long ass absence and stay with me for the rest of the story! I hope you’ll enjoy the newest part and I can’t wait to see your opinion and comments on it. Take care. Until the next one <3 xx

All’s Fair

(Toto Wolff x Reader!Horner) Chapter 9

chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4 chapter 5 chapter 6 chapter 7 chapter 8

Monaco has the best sunny days in the whole world. You’ve loved going out under the Mediterranean sun every time your family visited Monaco when you were young. Now laying on the couch that you’ve spent almost all of your summers on, you see the light entering the apartment. Music plays in the background as your friend Sara is making coffee in the kitchen and you are laying in her living room as you’ve always done. 

After the victory celebrations on Sunday you left the track and flew straight back to Nice. Your childhood friend Sara picked you up and you’ve been staying in her family’s house in Monaco for the past 2 days. Those days passed by with your usual activities. Having coffee in the casino square, going out clubbing, cooking, gossiping and in general doing girly things. As soon as you arrived in Monaco you visited the apartment that Sara proposed and booked it right away as you had already asked for your belongings to be moved to Monte Carlo. The only thing left for you to do is to move all of those things to the apartment. The thing about being in Monaco is that now you are able to show the world where you are. During the past weekend there was just speculation about where you actually were. You had managed to place yourself in Monaco with some instagram posts but no one knew (well except for Toto and Lewis) that you still were in Jeddah.

“Sweetheart coffee is ready.” Sara yells from the kitchen 

“Bitch I don’t drink coffee” you answer “You haven’t seen me in a month and you already forgot?” 

“Shut up, I made you your Earl Grey just how you like to drink it” she says and you’ve already made your way to the kitchen 

“Thank you idiot” you tell her

“You’re welcome, your majesty,” she says, mocking you for your tea preferences. You sit down opposite to her and start drinking your tea. “So” she interrupts the silence “Do you remember Marc?” she asks 

“Marc who?” you ask

“Marc Taylor.”

“S, are you serious? Are you asking me if I remember the guy I had a crush on for ages?” you ask her

“Well you’ve met a lot of people since you started working in F1 and I genuinely thought you forgot him” she says “Anyways, he saw the story I reposted from yesterday night  at Jimmy’z and replied to it. He asked me if we wanted to join him today.” 

“Join him where?” you ask intrigued

“He will be having a brunch party at his yacht.” she says trying to hype it up 

“Ugh, I’m not sure I want to see so many people.” you say 

“Come on Horner, it’s going to be so great. We haven’t had a brunch party at a yacht in ages, the last time we did was when you graduated.” she pauses “Plus he told me not to hype it up, the only people there will be his friend group.” 

“Marc’s friend group is 15 people. I am only willing to see 5.” 

“Why are you acting like a 65 year old with depression, come onnn.”

“Because my job drains me to the point that I just want to stay at home with a cup of tea and read a good book. I am with people every day and during the weekend I am chased by cameras and fans.” you tell her as she looks at you mockingly “I know, I know. I chose this life and to be frank I love the whole fame,chase and clout that comes with it. But during my non-race weekends, I need to have a detox.”

“You had your whole week off, enough paddock detox, enough people detox. What were you doing in Jeddah? Meditating, visiting the four seasons’ spa, drinking coffee, eating expensive meals. That’s enough, now we get to party.” 

Little does she know that you weren’t actually meditating, not visiting spas, not even staying at a four seasons’ but at a Ritz. You take a look at your best friend as she puts on her puppy eyes. 

“Pretty please.” she says and she crosses her hands as if she’s begging “Do it for me Horner, it’s going to be fun. It’s part of your new life after all. People here in Monaco have brunch yacht parties really often, so you better get your ass ready. We are going.” she says.

You shrug in response, but actually get up from the chair and go to the guest room where all of your belongings currently are. You open your suitcase and take out the sundress you wore the day you and Toto went for coffee together and match it with a pair of Hermes sandals. The weather is now sunny in Monaco and you actually love how it is a great mix of sun, breeze and heat. You put on some makeup and style your hair as loosely as you can, you’re going to be in the sea after all. Later both you and Sara leave the house and go to the location that Marc dropped a pin on. You can hear people talking from the other side of the yacht, the one that faces the Mediterranean. You quickly jump on the platform on the back of the yacht and walk up to the place where everyone’s sitting. 

“Hello everyone.” you say and you see Marc standing up approaching you. Sara is just behind and she waves everyone but doesn’t get any closer to you. Marc comes to your side and hugs you. 

“Miss Horner.” he says in awe “It’s been a long long time hasn’t it?” he asks 

“It has. Thank you for the invitation.” you say “We brought a little something.” you say and you hand him the bottle of Dom that you’ve been holding. 

“It’s really no big deal, I wanted to see you and Sara so I just texted. Thanks for the Champagne.” 

By the time both of you stop interacting, Sara is already sitting on the table and speaking to everyone. You take a seat, far from her in the only two empty chairs and Marc emerges shortly after to take the seat next to you. Without asking he starts filling your plate. 

“You should definitely try the Croque Madame, it’s a miracle.” he says and you smile at him 

“I will, thanks.” you reply as you register his existence next to you. He’s the most charming guy you’ve met, well less than Toto but to be frank, you can see why you were heads over heels with him. At that moment you decide to snap a photo and text Toto.

You 

[Photo]

Much earned gift for my last week’s performance

Wolff

You better recharge, I want you on your A level in Baku. 

[Photo] 

The weather here is freaking awful, I miss Monaco. 

You 

Wait, you actually know how to send pictures? Monaco is amazing today. You should have been here.

Wolff

Replying: Remember who gives you access to the paddock. 

If I were there you wouldn’t be in that yacht right now.

You 

Toto behave, you’re at work. 

Wolff

I’m at a business meeting and I hate those so why not distract myself with some other thought. 

You 

Because I’m so hot you’re going to embarrass yourself. Gotta go now, I've got a whole yacht waiting for me

Wolff

I don't blame them. Have fun, just not too much ;)

You laugh at Toto’s texts as Marc watches you at the same time 

"Are you bored of us" he asks

"No, I just have to text someone" you reply 

"Red Bull keeps getting you busy I see?" he asks 

"Actually, I am not in Red Bull for the time being, I am just enjoying myself  and I am actually moving here next week" 

"Great decision to be honest. Monaco could use a distraction." He says 

"So I've been told" you tell him

"By whom?" he asks and you realize you cannot possibly talk about Toto with him 

"Just a good friend" you laugh 

“ah one of those best friends, I get it" he says and you nod not showing any emotion at all over what it meant

“Are you enjoying yourself in F1?” he asks trying to start conversation with you

“I am. It is a space I’ve grown up in and I already knew everyone as well as everyone knew me. There’s nothing different as to what I’ve lived up to now except for the fact that I have a little bit more screen time than I used to have 5 years ago.” 

“Well 5 years ago I used to see you almost every week and now I have to watch F1 to see you.” he says

“You watch F1 now?” 

“I always watched F1.” he says 

“I’m pretty sure you’ve only watched the Monaco Grand Prix.” 

“Until this year.” he replies “Plus I have a really good reason.” 

“What’s the reason? Max’s racecraft?” 

“Nah, you are” he says and you freeze temporarily

“I’m flattered.” 

“I meant it as a compliment so you should be.” he tells you and he looks at you with a flirty look and you turn to look at Sara who is already too invested in her conversation with Marc’s friend, Tristan. 

The rest of the brunch party goes on in a pretty similar way. Marc keeps flirting with you and Sara is way too busy to come to your rescue. At some point the yacht leaves Monaco and sails in the Mediterranean for two or three hours while all of you party on the deck. Now the sun is setting down the horizon and you return back to the harbor of Monaco and the party has already winded down so you find yourself sitting on a chair sipping your last glass of champagne. Sara is nowhere to be seen, probably too busy making out with Tristan on the inside of Marc’s yacht since they’ve been missing for the last 45 minutes or so. The chair opposite to you is empty but not for long. As soon as Marc spots you he leaves his friends and comes to your company. 

“Did you enjoy the party?” he asks

“It’s been a while since I partied like this but I loved it. Now relaxing with a glass of champagne is the must thing to do.” 

“There’s plenty of space inside if you want to lay down for a while.” he tells you

“I think the space might be occupied by our friends and as close as I am with Sara today isn’t the day that I want to listen to her having sex with your best friend.” you laugh

“The yacht has 6 cabins. I very much doubt all 6 of them are taken.”

“6 cabins huh? The Taylors really have given it some thought before spending money on this yacht.”

“Yeah, my mom insisted. But hey, that’s why we’re working our asses off every day. To spend on things like this.” 

“So you are working?” you ask him

“Yeah, I’ve taken over some of my dad’s companies and I’ve been living between Monaco and Switzerland for a while.” 

“And how is it?” 

“You know how it is. We’ve learnt to live in this world. I love the job but really that’s all I focus on. Thank god all these fuckers are around and remind me that I need to have a work life balance.”

“Oh my god. Marc Taylor is a workaholic?” you say surprised “You need people to remind you to live for a while instead of working?” 

“My mom is so afraid that I won’t even have a wife that she’s trying to get me to meet eligible bachelorettes.”

“Lisa is actually doing this?” you ask shocked

“Lisa has been asking me to ask you on a date for months” he tells you and you laugh hysterically.

“Well tell Lisa that I am twice the workaholic that you are. I am not working and living, I am living my life at work. I am constantly working.”

“How does it feel?”

“It does get a little lonely at times. But as you’ve said I’ve learnt to live like this ever since I was a baby. Sometimes I just wish I had someone to support me.” you tell him and what he does next surprises you. 

He leans closer and puts a hand on your cheek and kisses you. You don’t react. Partly because you were caught completely off guard and partly because your 19 year old self would die for this kiss but the only thing in your head that played over and over again is “You can’t do this to Toto” .  He pulls away from the kiss and you smile but he’s looking for something more and you know it. 

“Marc,  look I am so flattered that you actually like me. My 19 year old self would be dead right now. But as much as I used to like you then, I cannot do it now.”

“You’re not into it huh?” he asks partly heartbroken partly surprised

“It’s not that. It’s that there’s someone else in my life right now and the things with me and him aren’t that simple so I wouldn’t want to further complicate it.”

“I understand.” he says “Although Lisa would be thrilled to have you as her daughter in law, I have to destroy her dreams.” he laughs

“I am so sad. Tell her I love her regardless and if I end up alone you’ll be the first one I will flirt with.” 

“Bold way to tell me I am the second option.” 

“Oh god no that’s not how I meant it. It’s just that you never know how life will play out. We might end up married managing the Taylor Group and Red Bull Racing, but we might just end up as two workaholic friends who push each other out of their working space.”

“That’s true.” he says 

For the next 10 minutes you discuss and when the yacht finally arrives at the harbor you leave the yacht before thanking everyone. You and Sara walk back home and she keeps talking about her and Tristan during the whole way to her house. You keep quiet about the whole thing with Marc and let her vent about what happened for the rest of the day. Late at night just when you’re ready to go to sleep, her in her bed and you on an inflatable mattress Sara is still talking about Tristan. 

“He actually texted me like 5 minutes ago, I can’t believe it.” she says “We are plann-” 

“Marc kissed me.” you say interrupting her mid sentence

“WHAT?” she screams and jumps on her bed

“Yeah, you were too busy screwing Tristan on those cabins but when we arrived at the harbor, he sat down next to me and kissed me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” she asks completely shocked

“Because you were venting about Tristan and I knew you would react this way.” you answer

“Well why aren’t you reacting in this way? You’ve had a crush on him since forever.”  she asks

“Had. Past tense.” 

“Well, do you have someone better than Marc to hook up with? His father is a freaking billionaire and he’s about to inherit all this. He’s handsome and kind and he’s everything you’ve ever dreamed of.” 

“Yeah, now he’s not the one I am dreaming of. Plus, believe it or not, it’s not always about the money.”

“Are you out of your mind? Who is possibly a better option than Marc for you right now? Well, to be frank Charles Leclerc is. You’re not sleeping with Charles Leclerc are you?” she asks and you laugh 

“If you actually knew who the guy who is the better option you’d definitely think I’m out of my mind. And no, I am not sleeping with Charles Leclerc, sadly.” you tell her

“If you don’t spill, I will kick you out.” 

“I most definitely cannot tell you.” 

“Come on, we’ve known each other since we were in the womb, your family is my family, what tells you that I could possibly say anything to anyone?” 

“Okay, I will tell you, just because you actually are my best friend. But don’t you dare say anything to anyone or I will be destroyed. Oh, tell me your wildest prediction.”

“Just so that I have a clear target group, he is from F1 right?” she asks and you nod “Omg, is it Max? Because if it is Max it will be the most iconic friends to lovers boo-” she starts ranting and you interrupt to shock her once again

“It’s Toto Wolff” 

“WHO?” she looks at you like you are a lunatic. 

“It’s freaking Toto Wolff, Team Principal of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1” you tell her and she looks absolutely shocked

“You are definitely out of your freaking mind. Since when are you into older guys and how the hell did that happen?”

“I always thought he was attractive but was blindsided by Christian’s hate for him. But long story short, I got drunk once and we hooked up and it’s only been going downhill from there. I’ll have to explain it to you when I get to my new apartment.”

“I am absolutely shocked.” she says “Is he at least treating you right?” she asks

“We are just hanging out but he’s been decent I’d say.” 

“Now that I am thinking about it,  he kind of is the better option.” she says and she visibly loses herself in thought 

“Just so you know, the only people who know about all this are you and Lewis.” 

“I have a common secret with Lewis Hamilton?” she asks, showing her clear preference for him. 

Your answer is to just laugh and then say goodnight to her. 

The next day you are being woken up by the light entering the room from the window that you forgot to close. It’s the day that you will finally move to your new apartment in Monaco. You grab your phone first thing and you see millions of notifications, more than usual. Your first thought? Something bad happened. And indeed something had happened, not exactly bad, but the headlines from the news, tweets and tags are somewhere in between the tone of

“Red Bull Racing’s newest management addition shows her love with a billionaire’s son in Monaco.”

The first article wrote: Miss Horner and Mr. Marc Taylor were spotted getting cozy at the latter’s yacht party in Monaco harbor yesterday. The pair shared a kiss and they seemed to exchange some fond words. We are excited about this new romance blooming in the streets and seas of Monaco. Are we going to see the Taylor Group entering F1 alongside Miss Horner’s Red Bull Racing? It’s only a matter of time to see.  

“Shit, shit, shit” you keep saying and Sara who has only woken up looks at you like you’re crazy

“What?” she asks

“It’s all over the freaking internet.” 

“You and Wolff?” she asks nervously

“No, god, it’s me and Marc” 

“Wait, how did that happen?”

“Someone must have snapped a picture of us while we were kissing when the yacht was in the harbor. God this is a disaster.” 

“Why is it a disaster?” she asks. Well sometimes you really doubt about her having a brain

“If Toto sees this he’s going to be feral.” you say “Oh god, I should text him right now to let him know that the whole thing is a lie.”  You open the iMessage app

Wolff 

[Photo] 

Flying to Nice from the UK, I’ll be in Monaco for the rest of the week. 

You check the time that this was sent. Yesterday afternoon. You were probably at the party then and you accidentally deleted the notification so you didn’t see the message afterwards but now you decide to reply. 

You

I hope that you have arrived in Monaco safely. I am sure I will see you somewhere here before we get the chance to meet all alone. Sorry I didn’t reply earlier but I must have accidentally deleted the notification while I was at that yacht party yesterday. Speaking of which, I need to talk to you about the whole thing going around on the internet. 

You see that your messages are being instantly read but you get no reply. 

“The moving truck will be arriving at the apartment in 20 minutes, we must get going. Come on, get ready.” Sara says

“S, Toto is leaving me on read, do you think he’s mad at me?”

“No, he’s probably too busy in those company meetings back at Brackley.” she tries to reassure you 

“Toto flew to Monaco yesterday afternoon, he’s not at Brackley.” you tell her

“Well, he’s still working from Monaco so he might reply to  you later. Girl, we really don’t have time for this. It’s moving dayyy.” she says trying to hype you up. “Up, up, up” she says trying to grab you “The moving guys will be at the apartment and you will be lying here all day? Let’s get ready to move in. You’ll worry about Wolff later. And at the end you told me that you’re just hanging out, it's not anything serious so you’re free to do whatever you want. And if he’s sure that you want him he won’t even believe those things.” 

You stand up before replying and put on a pair of sweats and a Red Bull t-shirt to be comfortable while moving in. “I know that we’re just hanging out at the moment. It’s just that the things are confusing as it is now, I don’t want Marc Taylor confusing them more than that.” 

“He won’t. But you’ll have to worry about it from your new bedroom so, shoes on, grab your bag and let’s go to the apartment. 

You do as she says and 20 minutes later you are outside your newest home getting the keys from the owner while the guys are removing boxes and furniture from the truck. 

“Well, you are here.” Sara says. “I have to confess it looks really pretty and modern.”

“Sara, it’s just the outside of the building.” 

“But still it’s pretty. The actual apartment is prettier though” she says and she instructs all of the boxes with your belongings and furniture to be moved to the 6th floor. For the first time in your life you will be living at the top of a building. You and Sara take the elevator to the apartment. You unlock the door while the guys are waiting for you and you enter using your right foot first.

 “It’s for good luck.” you say to Sara and she smiles doing the same 

For the next 5 hours you and Sara assemble your furniture and unpack the boxes with all of your stuff. You show her your ideas on how to put everything into place as you’ve imagined it and as you’ve seen it on your pinterest moodboards. At some point both of you try to settle the bed in your master bedroom. A new queen sized bed that you bought after seeing how big the room is. The one side of the loft is covered in full length glass windows that have a great view to the mediterranean with a huge balcony just in front of them that you will probably enjoy your morning tea in, during the non race weeks. The light enters every room, giving them a great coziness and openness. While you two are trying to move the bed just in the right place you remember that now you happen to have neighbors. 

“Shit S, are we making too much noise?” you ask

“Well, if you know another way that we can move this monster bed and not make a sound, let me know.”

“What if the neighbors are annoyed?”

“They can fuck themselves, it’s not even quiet hours yet.” she says and you help her do the job.

After the bed gets in the right place you lay there for a second

“Horner, come on, what are you doing?” 

“I am too overwhelmed by this, we’ve been working for 5 hours nonstop and this thing isn’t anywhere close to a living apartment.” you tell her

“Oh and wait till I leave you to go to the gym.” she says

“Come on Sara, you are working out here can’t you just skip the gym today and help me a little with those boxes?” 

“I’ve been doing it for the past 5 hours if that says something to you. I will be leaving in half an hour though. And don’t worry. You can take it one step at a time and after some time you will manage to unpack your whole stuff.” she says smiling

“I hate you.” you tell her and you go back to work. 

You set your new office in the living room,  just in front of the large window so that you get enough light and inspiration from the views outside. You also set the couch and the coffee table in front, as well as your new TV. Half an hour later Sara leaves indeed for the gym, leaving you all alone for the first time in your newest apartment. That’s when it hits you and you grab your phone. The messages you sent to Toto, still unanswered and it’s been a long time since he’s read them. You decide to give him a call. You press his phone number and wait for him to pick up. You hear one, then two, then three rings and then it goes straight to voicemail. You hear his voice that you haven’t heard since Sunday. The phone rang but it went to voicemail which means that he’s declining your call. You try once again, the same thing. You get it, he’s probably angry with the whole thing but if he doesn’t want to talk to you nor do you. Instead of overthinking it you throw yourself back at moving. You blast some Taylor Swift on the speakers that you connected first thing as you entered the loft, and drop a huge box of books in front of you which you put on the built-in shelves in the living room. You use your ladder to fill the upper shelves that you cannot reach by yourself. You keep dancing, moving things, chairs, couches and tables. At some point you hear the door knocking. You turn the music off and run to the door. 

“Who is it?” you ask and you hear a voice from the outside of the door

“I live downstairs and I wanted to let you know that it’s quiet time now, you are annoying us with all that music and moving things.” the voice says. You feel very embarrassed about what you did and the last thing you want is to piss your neighbor off so you decide to open the door and apologize. But when you do you freeze. 

“Toto?” you say and he looks at you, his eyes wide as if he just saw something unbelievable 

“What are you doing here ?” he asks

“This is my new apartment in Monaco, I was just moving in.”

“You’re joking.” he says

“Do you actually live downstairs?” you ask thrilled

“I do yeah, I live on the fifth floor loft.” he says 

“How was England?” you ask and he looks at you. 

“Fine.” he replies, obviously bothered.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you, I texted you this morning but you didn’t reply.” you say “I also tried calling but it went to voicemail.”

“Talk to me about what?” he asks acting like he doesn’t know

“About Marc Taylor. Toto, I know you’ve seen it, it’s all over the internet.” 

“I mean what would you possibly have to say about Marc Taylor? It’s a shared secret that you’ve been wanting him since high school, everyone in Monaco knows it. You must be over the moon though. Handsome, rich, young and charming. Everything you’re looking for.” 

“You have to believe me Toto.” 

“Believe you about what? You clearly wanted the guy since forever so why not give in?”

“You fucking know that the whole thing is fake.”

“There are pictures,” he says, keeping calm. 

“You know how it fucking is Toto, those reporters only take whatever they think will make people engage more with their stories. They only caught the kiss but after that I told him that there is someone else in my life.”

“I wouldn’t know. I am not the one going around boat parties in Monaco and kissing strangers.”

“Just admit you are jealous.” you say

“Now you know what? I find it really pretentious that you get to be angry with the whole Cynthia thing and I am suddenly overreacting to seeing you kiss other guys.”

“It is not the same.” 

“No, it is exactly the same and your position is way worse than mine because me and Cynthia haven’t seen each other since this thing started.” he says

“Well, it’s not like this “thing” is something exclusive so I can see and kiss whomever I want.” you say 

Toto turns and looks at you and this is the first time you see a kind of hurt in his eyes

“Do you ever shut up Horner?” he asks

“I’ve told you before, only if I am made.” you say and look at him 

Hearing these words probably makes a bell in Toto’s head ring because the next thing he does is to grab you by both hands and pin you against the wall like he did the first time he kissed you. He looks down at you as you look up at him and he leans in to kiss you but you push him just a little and grab his hand. You put it against your neck and once he gets the memo he applies a little pressure that makes you go crazy. He kisses you slowly and you kiss him back in enjoyment. A few seconds later he grabs you and runs into the hallway searching for your bedroom. Once he finds the bedroom with the queen size bed he rushes and pushes you to the bed. You lie on your back looking at him. The power that this man holds, you think. You slowly begin to undress him, freeing him of his gray sweatpants and leaving him only with his boxers on seeing him growing hard as he looks at you. 

“Is the bed new?” he asks and you nod

“What a way to use it for the first time huh?” you say and he laughs 

“Let me tell you something Horner, I don’t want you anywhere near me with a red bull shirt ever again” he says and he strips you off of the red bull shirt “It’s the biggest turn off.” 

“I can see it” you tease him. At first he seems pissed off but then he takes your sweats off and then he does the same with his T-Shirt. 

“Enough talking” he says and he leans in for a kiss which you deepen immediately. He leans in on you and you push him towards you from his neck as he stabilizes himself by putting one of his knees between your thighs. You feel the intrusive thought in your brain and you grind yourself on his knee

“Much needy I see ?" he asks and you do nothing but look at him 

“Can’t resist mister Wolff” you say 

“As you should miss Horner.” he replies and his hand moves to your chest while he starts kissing you on your neck. You feel him leaving hot trails of kisses on you as his hand cups your breast. Well he certainly has a way of doing things. His kisses leave you wanting more, needing more so to make yourself feel good you move your hips against him once again and you can feel him laugh against your skin as he moves his hand against your panties 

“So wet already” he whispers to your ear sending shivers down your spine “Does he also do that to you?” he asks clearly, talking about Marc. You shake your head as the words were kind of hard to come off your mouth 

“Use your words baby” he says 

“No, he does not” you say while your breathing is getting heavier

“Is he better?” he asks and you shake your head once again. 

“Toto please, I need you.” you say and he obeys to your plea.

He removes his briefs and pushes your panties to the side as he enters inside you. It feels good. Better than it had in Jeddah. You gasp at the move and you dig your nails on his back as he kisses you. He suddenly grabs your hands and removes them from his back while thrusting in and out in a slow but great way. 

“No touching today.” he says and holds your hands over your head with his strong grip. He keeps moving as you let small moans escape and you feel like you’re in another word. You want to touch him as well and right the time that he loosens his grip on you you try to move your hands but his grip gets stronger and smashes your hands back to the place they first were. You complain for a while but he makes you feel so good that this is the last thing you care about. 

“You’re so good love. Always feeling so good.” the pauses between his words are getting bigger, showing that he’s feeling as good as he does. “Good god.” he says once again and you laugh at him. He keeps going strong though, changing the tempo of his thrusts, hitting and touching all the correct places. You feel getting closer and closer to your climax but instead of laying calm you start leaving kisses on his chest. 

“You make me feel so good.” you say “Fuck Toto, you’re so good. God no you’re perfect.” 

“Are you close?” he asks 

“Yeah” you say and you gasp “You?”

“Very” he says in between his grunts. Some minutes later you come first and he follows you shortly after while repeating your name.

Right after that both of you lay naked on your new bed. Toto is caressing your hair as you are laying on his chest listening to his heartbeat. He breaks the silence first 

“Are we good?” he asks

“I am good” you reply

“I am talking about our fight.” he says

“Oh I thought that it was established when you were repeating my name while having sex with me.” 

 “You’re right.” he says and stares outside the window while the sun is setting. Both of you sit in silence for a minute or two until you break it

“He’s not better.” you say 

“Huh?” 

“Marc Taylor. He’s not better than you. It was nothing but a kiss, Toto.” you tell him “And yes, he might be a European billionaire’s son and he might as well be hot and charming but you are also all those things, which surprise, happen to be everything I seem to look for in a man. But I need you to know Toto, in my eyes you are more charming and hotter than him. I would give Marc Taylor up for you but I wouldn’t give up you for Marc Taylor.” you tell him and you look up at him while he’s staring at you, clearly paying attention to what you were telling him. 

“Thank you.” he says 

You keep laying there and by the time the sun sets you are already asleep. You wake up an hour later and you see Toto is also taking a nap. You nudge him and he wakes up. 

“What is it ?” he says being somewhere between asleep and awake

“Nothing, we just fell asleep here.” you say

“You’ve got a nice bed. Good choice.” he says

“I know but I have to get up to finish the rest of the apartment.”

“No one is helping you?” he asks

“Sara was here until she abandoned me to go to her gym session. Now I have to do this all by myself.” 

“You know you don’t have to do all of it today right? You are going to be exhausted. Plus I can also help you with unpacking.” 

“No, you probably have work to do. I’ll do them by myself and tomorrow Sara will be here to help me” 

“Who is Sara?”

“My best friend. She’s the one that found this apartment for me” you tell him

“So she’s the one that I have to thank?” he asks and you nod while laughing. 

“You will meet her as soon as I get back to Red Bull.” 

“Which is going to be when?” he asks

“I know you want to get rid of me but I don’t have any information yet. Beth usually sends me my schedule the week before each grand prix and judging by the fact that she didn’t send it until now, I think this won’t be the weekend you are looking forward to.” 

“Maybe you should start packing your things for Baku.” he says

“I don’t have anything to do there.”

“Come on, I told people Mindy Rosevelt will hang with us for a while longer.” 

“Second race at Mercedes?” you ask excitedly

“The Ritz in Baku has already been informed that we would like an extra suite.” 

“Toto, a suite? Again?” 

“You always need a suite, love.” 

“Do you have plans for Baku?” you ask

“How about we go to the paddock together, you sleep in my suite and you help us during the race?”

“So you only want me to be there to tell you about Red Bull’s strategies so you can win?” you say playing offended

“I only want you to be there because you make it easier for me to focus when you are next to me rather than in the garage next to ours. And because I want you in general.” he says

“That’s a good excuse.” you tell him 

“After all, even if it was only for the strategy part, you should remember that all’s fair in war.” 

“And love.” you say 

“That also” he replies 

“When are we leaving?” 

“Wednesday night, with my jet from Nice airport.” 

“Good.” you say

“Put some clothes on, we are going to unpack the rest of the boxes.” he says 

“Yes sir.” you say

“Sir huh? Remind me of that the next time I am laying in bed with you” he tells you and you laugh as you stand up to put some clothes on.  For the rest of the evening you and Toto unpack the boxes that you and Sara left. Both of you laugh as he makes fun of your music taste. He even dared to make fun of  Taylor Swift, which you did not take lightly but still forgave him when he danced with you in the living room of your new apartment and when you both watched the harbor from the balcony. It is almost midnight when he decides he has to go. 

“Why do you have to go now?” you ask

“The apartment is almost ready, Sara can help you set up the last box and I have to work tomorrow, unlike you.” 

“You are literally working from home and your home is downstairs, why can’t you stay for the night and leave tomorrow night?” you complain

“Because this is your apartment, your space. You have to spend the night alone to get used to the feeling.”

“I’ve lived alone before, I know how it is.”

“Yes but now it’s different, you'll see.”

“Can’t it be different with you here?” 

“It can, but I am positive you will be better off alone for this night.” he says “We won’t be lost after all, I will be downstairs, you can call me any time.” 

“Okay” you tell him “Can I kiss you goodnight?” you ask

“What happened to you? You are too expressive!” he says

“I know, you are not used to it.” 

“No, I am used to you being expressive, just not very emotional.” 

“Changed state of mind” you say 

“I like it.” he says “And to answer your question” he leans in and kisses you deeply “I was going to do it anyways.” 

You smile at the gesture “Goodnight Toto.” you say 

“Goodnight love.” he replies and he leaves. 

You close the door and walk straight to bed where you immediately fall asleep. 

The next day you text Sara and she drops by for a morning coffee in your new balcony. As soon as she enters the loft she looks around. 

“Wow Horner, did you get any sleep?” she asks

“I actually did.” 

“How did you unpack all of those boxes by yourself?” 

“I didn’t do it by myself” you tell her 

“Omg, who did you invite?” 

“No one, a neighbor helped me.” 

“Oh, you’ve already met your neighbors? That’s crazy. Are any of them hot?”

“Yeah I met one of them because he wanted to complain about the noise. And yeah, he was hot. In fact for me he is one of the hottest.” 

“What happened to Miss Toto Wolff is the hottest man on earth? Did she disappear?” 

“No she didn’t, because actually Toto Wolff IS the freaking neighbor.” 

“What the hell?” she asks “Girl I need coffee and Monte Carlo air STAT.”

You make her coffee and your tea and go to the balcony where you sit on a big white table. 

“Turns out Wolff is my freaking neighbor. He’s living downstairs and he heard the noise during quiet hours so he decided to give me a notice.” 

“But when he saw you he forgot what he noticed” she says

“No actually he did make the notice and then we pretty much fought for Marc, ended up having sex, had a nap and then unpacked all of my boxes. We danced together in the living room and then he left because he had to work today.” 

“You used the bed for the first time to have make up sex with Wolff?” she asks

“I pretty much did yeah” you tell her

“You are crazier than I thought you were.” she says 

“I am crazier than I thought I were” you say 

You tell her everything that happened yesterday night as both of you drink your beverages watching the view from your balcony. Later on Sara helps you unpack the last box and your apartment is finally set.  The next few days you pass your time by hanging out with Sara and your other best friends who happen to be in Monaco. Toto drops by some days and you two hang out for some hours until one day you finally ask him for a Mercedes project to work on so you can spend your time by being more productive. Days pass and it’s finally Wednesday morning when you are actually packing your clothes for Baku. You take mostly summer clothes even though you won’t be able to wear any of the to the paddock. You also take your extra Mercedes shirts and pants as well as Toto’s Mercedes shirt. You make sure everything is there. After that you call Sara to drop by so that you can say goodbye to her and spend the rest of the day alone at the apartment until Toto knocks the door to let you know that your driver has arrived and is ready to take you to Nice to finally fly to Baku.  A car ride and a flight later you and Toto land in Azerbaijan. Both of you wait in the jet until the car is ready to take you from the plane to the hotel. At that time the cockpit door opens and you take a look inside. The pilot who goes out of the cockpit is not Mike. You raise your eyebrow at this and you look at the door more intensely for Toto to notice.

“What are you looking at?” he asks looking up from his phone

“Our pilot.” you say 

“What about him, are you not satisfied?” he asks

“No, I am. But the question is, where is Mike?”

“He’s on leave, why?” 

“Just wondering”

“Why would you care about him?”

“Because I like him” 

“Noted” he says and turns back to his phone without speaking

“Are you jealous Wolff?” you ask

“No” 

“Are you sure?”

“End of discussion” he says and you laugh

“Okay sir.” you tell him 

After that the crew opens the door and you get off the plane. You already made sure that you have your mask on you so people won’t recognize you. Back to the same old ways. You take a ride to the hotel and you walk straight to your suite in which some other Mercedes employee checked you in before you arrived. Toto goes back to his own suite even though he asked you to hang out with him instead. You settle down in your suite and check Toto's schedule for the weekend

13:30-14:00: Press conference

14:10-14:50: F1 Team Principal Meeting

14:50-16:00: Coffee Break

16:00-17:00: Team Meeting

18:00-20:00: Business meeting

20:30: Dinner  

You open your phone and text Toto

You

I’ve been taking a look at your schedule, is everything to your agreement?

 Wolff

Yes, all is checked and approved 

You

Good to know. By what I'm seeing, it’s going to be a full day. I mean press, team meetings and business meetings

Wolff

Oh is it actually on my schedule?

You

The business meeting? Yeah it’s tabbed in from 18:00 to 20:00. Should I remove it, is it wrong?

Wolff

No, let them believe that I’m busy during that time.I have already planned something. It’s not a business meeting, it is supposed to be a meeting for us two but I told Brad that I will be busy so I guess he thought it was business related

You 

Oh, so I am busy  from 18:00 to 20:00 too? What are we going to do ?

Wolff

 I would let you be curious but we are supposed to go to a boat trip in the Caspian. I’ve chartered a boat for a couple of hours and then we will be having dinner too, so please do not wear high heels.

You 

Oh I love boat trips so no high heels 

It’s not like I could put heels on though, I will be dressed in the Merc gear all day long

Wolff

Well pack another outfit but still no high heels

You 

Okay then.  I guess I’ll see you later?

Wolff

Tomorrow

You switch your phone off and fall asleep for a few hours. It’s already early in the morning since you left Nice at night and the flight lasted a long time but thank god you didn’t have to be at the paddock until noon. You wake up at 11 and order some breakfast. You get ready and phone Toto to let him know you are ready. 10 minutes later you are on your way there in his black AMG SUV and you see the fans taking photos of the car. Well it’s Toto they’re taking pictures of since they have no idea about who you actually are. You get out of the car and go to Merc’s hospitality. You wave Toto goodbye and you go to your office while he’s off to his. Later on you hear a knock at your door. 

“Who is this?” you ask

“Mindy, it’s Lewis.” you hear a voice 

You stand up and put your mask on before opening the door. Better safe than sorry. When you open the door you see that it’s indeed Lewis so you welcome him in. You take off your mask and sit on the little couch

“How is it going?” he asks

“Everything’s good, thank you. How are you?” 

“Good. You know how it is. Just running around, trying to keep up with everything.”

“Lewis Hamilton trying to keep up? I am pretty sure everyone is trying to keep up with you, not you with them.”

“Well yeah, when it comes to F1 it’s pretty much how you say it is. But in real life I have so many things to keep up with.” 

“I bet you do. Like I am pretty sure you are flying to New York as soon as the race ends.”

“I am. Met Gala.” he says and you laugh

“So you won’t be here for post race celebrations if you win. I guess I should hand the win to George this time, or maybe let Red Bull win.” 

“Don’t you dare” 

“I won’t Lew, you know you’re my fav. But if you want to secure the win, I need to get in the Met next year.” “Deal.” he says

“Oh god Lewis, I was only joking.” 

“I know, but I am pretty sure that I can land you an invitation.”

“We’ll see until next year.” you tell him “Is Roscoes coming to the gala?” 

“No, I am actually sending him back to Monaco for the week and then he’ll be with me in Miami.”

“Where is he going to stay in Monaco?” 

“At the pet hotel.”

“Why don’t you leave him with me ?” 

“In Monaco?” he asks

“I live there now” 

“You do? I can leave him with you, of course.”

“If you don’t fully trust me I can ask Toto for his help. We live in the same building.” “I have so many questions about this but I have to go. It’s gym time.” he says

“We can figure out the logistics about Roscoe later. Have a good session Lewis.”  you tell him before he leaves the office 

For the next hour or so you hang out in your office all alone and when it is time you leave the hospitality center to accompany him to the press conference. Just when you are outside the press conference center you see Christian and by his side a really familiar face that you cannot remember. You take another look at her while Toto stops dead in his tracks. 

“What?” you ask him and he looks confused. You take a look for a third time. You see a familiar girl dressed in Red Bull gear talking to Christian. It’s then when it clicks. The girl is Cynthia. Cynthia Jones dressed in Red Bull speaking to Christian. What the heck is this about? You can feel the anger rising to your chest

“Breathe” you hear him say

“That’s too far” you tell him 

“It’s crazy.” he says “Go talk to her, find out what this is all about.” 

“I will" you say

“Just be careful not to reveal too many things" 

“Of course" 

Toto glances at his watch. 12:55 

“I should get going, press is starting in 5" 

“Okay, I'll see you later" you tell him and he nods “Do you wanna meet here?"

“I’ll be straight off to the TP meeting. I will see you during the coffee break, okay?”

“Okay” 

“Try to find out what Cynthia is doing here.” he says 

“I will” you tell him and you smile

“And if you are too angry about what you find out, I have some files you can take a look at while you’re waiting.”

“Okay” you say and you leave him. You spot Cynthia hanging out outside the press center and you decide to approach her

“Hello.” you tell her

“Hi” she replies and smiles “Oh, you’re Mindy right? The girl who gave us the Mercedes tour in Jeddah?” 

“Yup, that’s me.” maybe not “What are you doing here?” you ask her

“I landed a job in Red Bull Racing. Isn’t it crazy?” she says 

“Oh definitely. You went from visiting the paddock to actually working here, congrats!” you try to play excited when you are actually fuming

“It was meant to be. I landed the job when I was visiting the paddock in Jeddah.”

“How come?” 

“Christian Horner met us at the paddock club and he asked what we were doing. Once I told him about my studies in management he asked to see me in person and then he proposed this job.”

“What’s your position?” 

“For what I’ve understood, I am currently sort of  replacing Christian’s daughter while I am also acting like his PA.”

“Oh so management?” 

“It’s still too early for that title and I definitely don’t have that much freedom as an executive does. I am thinking it more like an internship in management while also being a personal assistant to Christian.” 

“Oh Christian” you say and you roll your eyes 

“He’s not as bad as everyone thinks he is.” she says “He might actually be better than Toto” 

“Yeah, nah” you tell her “Toto is actually definitely more human-ish than Christian.” 

“And how would you know? Have you ever worked with Christian?” she asks jokingly. If only she knew

“No but judging from the paddock rumors he seems to be a tough one to handle.”

“Absolutely not. He is really kind and funny. Really chill type. He made me call him by his name since day 1. It’s really like we’re friends.”

“That’s really good for you.” you say

“What about Toto?” she asks. As if she would let it go 

“Mr. Wolff is really nice.” 

“You’re not calling him Toto?”

“No, he prefers to keep things professional. He’s more into being formal and things.”

“Must be boring” she says

“It’s pretty good for now and I’m always guessing, familiarity might be a little too much at some point.” 

“Christian has been saying this about his daughter.”

“He has?” you ask slightly nervously

“Yeah, he said that working with family might be a little too overwhelming at some point.”

“Well he’s kinda right. Did he say why she left?”

“From what I’ve taken they decided that she should take a break and she’s currently hanging out in Monaco in her new apartment. He’s thinking of taking her back by the Monaco Grand Prix but he’s not sure yet.” she tells you 

“Oh, well. Whatever suits them best.” 

“Yeah, we are not the ones to judge.” 

“Definitely not.” 

“It was really fun talking to you again Mindy. We should hang out sometime.” 

“Yeah definitely.”  It’s not like you slept with the man I am sleeping with. you think 

You wave at her and leave the press center to wait until Toto finishes his morning tasks. You open the F1TV stream and watch his interview. When Will starts asking a question to Franz Tost you decide to text Toto about your findings. 

You

Turns out Cynthia Jones is staying in my life for good cause apparently Christian hired her in my position during the Saudi GP. And I wasn’t even out of the team for a week 

You see him holding his phone and taking a glance at it while Franz is speaking. He rolls his eyes and puts the phone back in his pocket. You stay once again in your office, going through Toto’s schedule for the weekend and looking at your socials. Some time later your phone rings 

Wolff

She’s going to make our lives hard but it's very typical of Christian to hire someone from the first day that you left 

You

She even proposed that we should hang out

Wolff

If only she knew 

You 

That’s what I said

Wolff

She was waiting outside the press center for Christian and now they’re both in front of me walking to the TP meeting. She’s talking and Christian is laughing like he’s having the time of his life

You 

I figured she’s that type of assistant cause according to her she and Christian are practically besties now. It’s going to be a good one when I get back to rb

Wolff

Remind me to mount a secret mic and camera on you when that happens cause I want to see the Horner-Jones fight. 

You

I bet you she’s going to regret the day she agreed to that position

Wolff

Whoa, too aggressive. How about checking some data before the coffee break cause rumor has it that you love reading data and commenting on them 

You 

Anything to get her off my mind and anything for you Mr. Wolff

Wolff

I’m flattered. There’s a file in your email waiting for your comments and questions. Bet Bono is going to be thrilled. I am off to the meeting, see you soon.

After Toto’s messages you check your email to take a look at the file he sent you. It’s full of data and details about this year’s rocketship. It is then when it hits you. The data are from the simulator and the track they’ve been using is Barcelona. In Red Bull you always used to run simulations in Barcelona so you have the exact same data from your ex team. You open them and start comparing them and finding where Mercedes lacks compared to Red Bull. You also open Adrian’s and GP’s essays on car performances and start noting any questions or things you’ve noticed. You really hope Toto will actually use them in his meeting with Bono and James. However, you keep all of the comparisons to yourself. You are not sure Toto is in favor of cheating so you will probably announce it to him later during the coffee break. You make a new file and email it to his account.  Later on you hear a knock on your door. 

“It’s Toto” you can hear him say and you unlock the door for him to enter. 

“Hey.” you say

“Hi, how are you feeling?” he asks

“I am good. I read all the data and I relaxed so much.” 

“Well, I, on the other hand, almost had a fight with Christian.” 

“Why?” you ask

“Because he was being a douchebag.” 

“Nah, he was just being Christian” you tell him and he laughs

“Was the data any good?” 

“Yeah, I also emailed you my questions and stuff.” 

“Oh, I will be forwarding them to James and Bono.” 

“Speaking of the data, I saw they were sim data from Barcelona.” 

“We use Barcelona almost every time for our simulations.” 

“Well, it turns out, Red Bull does too.” you tell him and he looks at you, suggests to keep talking “I have the comparisons fully made here. There’s also an excel file with all the lacks and the sections Red Bull might present an advantage.” 

“This is interesting.”

“I know Toto. But the thing is, I didn’t email those to you because I didn’t know if you wanted to have access to all that information.” 

“I totally get it.”

“You should understand that this is confidential, but if you decide you want it, it will be in your inbox right away.” 

“This file can affect the whole development path for us.” he says

“I know, that’s why I kept it.” 

“You should keep it for yourself.”

“I swear I won’t give this to Red Bull.”

“I trust that you won’t” he says

“I will always have it at hand if you want to use it though. Anything for Mr. Wolff” you say and both of you laugh

“Thank you.” he says “Do you want some coffee and a snack? It’s coffee break after all.” 

“No, thank you. You can leave this tiny office and enjoy your coffee in your office. I feel bad for keeping you here.” 

“I am only hanging out here because I want to.” he says “But I’ll leave you alone. We’ll have enough time tonight.” 

“Of course.” you smile at him

“Meet you after the team meeting ?”

“I will be waiting.” 

Once Toto leaves for his coffee break and the team meeting later you decide to go out and see the track. There are some bikes available at the hospitality center so you grab one and ride at the track of Baku. You see other people doing the same thing, some of the drivers are also doing their track walks. At some point you spot Max. It’s been a while since you talked considering the fact that you didn’t even see him in Jeddah but you kept texting during that time. When you spot him it is in your impulse that you almost yell at him to go and talk to him. When you remember that you are actually supposed to be an unbothered Mercedes employee you change your mind, and as you are caught up in your thoughts you almost lose your balance. Thankfully you save it before you find yourself in the ground or the barriers and you keep your direction and finish your lap. 6 km later you are back in your office, thankfully not sweaty since you took your time to circle the track, and you also have a cup of tea and a chocolate bun as a snack. You take a bite as you see today’s headlines from the Media day and you also take a look at some market news. After a while Toto texts again

Wolff

Just finished asking all of your questions to the mechanics and they were impressed to say the least because they managed to assess some really important things for the race

You 

Next time I should be present in those meetings

Wolff 

I will personally make sure of it. We will be done in 25, I’ll pick you up. Don’t be late

Those 25 minutes pass by quite fast and you don't realize until Toto is knocking at your door. Thankfully you packed your stuff earlier so Toto cannot complain about you being late. 

“I am impressed.” 

“I didn’t actually understand how fast the time passed. Thank god I had my things packed.”

“That’s why I texted you earlier.” he says

“Yeah but you cannot complain now.” you reply

“No, the truth is I cannot.”

“Are we going straight to the boat?” you ask

“Yes, that’s why I told you to pack another outfit. Tell me you didn’t forget”

“I did not” 

“Good. Now get your stuff, we are leaving.” After that both of you leave the track and go to the boat Toto has chartered for a couple of hours. He helps you hop on the boat and he does the same

“Are you going to drive this?” you ask

“Are you scared?” 

“It depends on whether you are driving this thing or not”

“I am driving” 

“Are you allowed to do this?” 

“You are shitting yourself” he laughs

“Yeah because if we drown, imagine the headlines people will write.”

“We’ll be the next Rose and Jack.” he says

“Yeah, almost.”

“Just so you know, I am fully capable of navigating the boat.” 

“For real?”

“I have a sailing license.”

“Is there anything you can’t do ?” 

“Think straight when you’re with me.”

“Very funny.”

“It’s true.” he says and you take a look around and see people walking up and down the harbor  “What about finally leaving? We’re going to miss the sunset if we take any longer.”

“Let’s go��� he sails and he undocks the boat. 

The two of you sail in the Caspian leaving the Baku port behind you. Toto is making sure that everything he does is safe, occasionally checking on the radar to see whether there are other boats in close proximity. You sit by his side and snap a couple of pictures of  him while he’s driving the boat. He looks absolutely stunning. It’s already late afternoon, 19:00-ish and the sky is starting to get sweeter, indicative of the sunset later on. When you are finally out of the waters in a space that is far enough from the shore but close enough so you can distinguish the structures of the city, Toto drops the anchor and stops the boat there. “That’s quite a nice view.” you say 

“I figured you would like it” he says and comes to your side 

“You can actually see the whole city from here.”

“I figured that since we are not able to see the city together on foot, maybe this is the second best option.”

“It is. Although I would have loved a nice walk and a tour of the old city.”

“I would have loved that too.” he says as you keep looking at the city behind you and puts his hand on your lower back. 

“This right here, is the Maiden Tower," Toto points at a tower and your gaze follows his finger

“Legend has it that a young princess jumped from the top and ended her life because her father wouldn’t accept the man she loved."

“Hope I won’t end up this way.”

“God, I hope not.” he laughs and you shift your gaze to the two largest towers in the scenery

“The flame towers.” 

“I know them Toto, I’ve been coming to Baku for a while.” 

“Let me give you a tour, Horner. Don’t be shit.” he says and you smile

“Go on then.”

“The flame towers were finished in 2012. The building is a little less than 200 meters and it has a double purpose. In the first tower there are a lot of offices and apartments and in the second tower there’s a hotel.”

“What are they supposed to mean?” 

“They are meant to symbolize the eternal spirit of Azerbaijan and the country's enduring strength and resilience. Plus the whole flame design idea came from an Ancient Azerbaijani tradition of fire worshiping.”

“I love them, they look so pretty.” 

“And right beside there’s the crystal hall.”

“Never heard of it” you say 

“Eurovision was hosted there in 2012.” 

“Wait, how do you know, are you a fan ?” you ask him 

“No, I hate Eurovision.” 

“What?!” you say surprised. “You’re European, you cannot hate eurovision.” 

“I can, and I do.” 

“But why?” 

“Because it’s kitsch”

“It’s not kitsch, it’s camp, everyone loves camp.”

“It’s kitsch and I hate it, move on.” he says

“I cannot wait for the day that I will make you watch it.”

“I’d rather Christian find out about us.” 

“That’s a bold one” you tell him

“Last but not least, the fortress.” he says ignoring you and points to it

“I’ve seen the fortress, I took a ride at the track today.” 

“How did you like it?” 

“It’s so pretty, but it’s prettier from the sea. And much more interesting when you talk to me about it.”

“Hm” he says and he puts an arm around you 

“How did you learn all those things?” you ask

“I read a lot, even if I don’t have time to see the sights, I like to read about them, get to know the story of the city that I am in.” 

“That’s fair. I was wondering because I’ve been here like five times and I’ve never gotten past the name of each sight here.” 

“That’s good because you can for once, not talk and let me show you around.”

“You’re the best tour guide I’ve ever had.” you smile at him and you leave a kiss on his cheek. 

During the next hour you stay on the boat in the Caspian and see the sun set on the horizon. You take a look at the flame towers which reflect the orange and pink lights of the sunset. You snap some pictures of the scenery as well as Toto who is sitting carelessly in the boat with his white linen shirt and his sunglasses on. He also snaps some pictures of you from both yours and his phone and you also take some selfies. You immediately set the best picture of him as his contact picture and once you are done with the whole photo thing you get back to where Toto is currently sitting and relax with him for a little while longer. You two soak in the views without talking much. As it starts to get darker Toto drives the boat back to the harbor where you dock and leave to get to the hotel. Both you and Toto enter the elevator to get to your suites

“You’re coming over for dinner right?” he asks

“Well, I was thinking of getting some sleep for tomorrow.” 

“Come on, I’ve already asked roomservice to have our table set.”

“Now I can’t say no.” you tell him and smile at him. When the elevator gets to your floor you walk out and follow him to the door of his suite. You enter first and he follows and the smell of food hits your senses.

“It smells fantastic.” you say

“It’s traditional Azerbaijani cuisine.”

“I love it. We should have tried the Saudi Arabian foods as well.”

“Well, nothing can go wrong with Italian.” he says

“Then why didn’t we order Italian” you tease him

“Because I wanted to immerse myself in the Azerbaijani culture today.”

“Is it a part of the guided tour?” 

“Well, couldn’t it be?” he says “Since I’ve already given you a sight tour, I am ready to give you a culinary tour as well” he tells you as he pulls the chair off the table so that you can take your seat

“Thank you.” you tell him and you sit down as he walks back to his side of the table and sits down

“This is called Dolma.” he says as he leaves one of them on your plate “It is grape leaves with a filling of minced lamb with rice and some herbs.” 

“Interesting” you say as you take a look at the plates on the table “Oh god, is this kebab?”

“You know kebab?” he asks

“Literally everyone knows what kebab is Toto, it’s not a secret. It’s actually one of my favorite street foods.” 

“It is really good.” he tells you as he grabs a bite of it “You should also try out the pilaf” 

You take a look at it “What is this?” 

“It’s something like a risotto I guess” 

“I thought you knew the exact recipe of every single plate” you tease him

“Apparently I don’t, I just took a look at the menu and chose what I thought was best.” 

“Everything looks delicious though.” you tell him

“Wait until Miami. We’re going to eat some great burgers there.” 

“Speaking of which, I am not sure that I will be in Miami”

“Why ?” 

“Because it was cringe enough last year, I won’t submit myself  to that whole cringe fest again.” 

“You will be coming.” 

“Says who?” 

“Me” he replies and you sit there taking another bite of your amazing food, slightly annoyed . When he realizes that what he said made you angry he talks again. “Look, it is really important that you should be there. It is supposed to be your home race, we’ve told everyone that you are American, if you are only staying for a few more races it will be weird if you are not present for the only time you will get to go to a race in your country with the team.”

“No one will remember Toto.”

“People will remember. We have a list of each race in which we note whose home race it is. And by what I’ve seen you are already on the list.” 

“I didn’t write my name anywhere.” 

“I am pretty sure Bradley did. He probably remembers that you are American and just added you in.”

“And what about the home race list?” 

“We are kind of celebrating it by giving them less time to work during the weekend, or allowing them to bring their families in.”

“That’s so sweet though.” you say 

“I mean, people are important to us, they are not just workers, they are our companions.”

“I hate this team” you say and you see Toto lifting one eyebrow at you “I mean, I hate how much I already love it. How am I supposed to go back to Red Bull?”

“You can just stay in Mercedes.” 

“And say what to Christian?” 

“Tell him that his team is shit, his management is also shit and that you cannot grow in that shitty environment.”  

“He’ll find out that you told me to say that and then you will find yourself on the cover of Corriere dello Sport.” 

“Won’t be the first time.” he laughs “ Jokes aside, would you ever consider leaving Red Bull?” 

“Now I certainly do. I mean, I hadn’t seen anything aside from how Red Bull worked as a team and the race weekend at Saudi was eye opening.”

“Is that a yes?”

“I am already considering it, yes.”

“Will be nice to have you here one day, without hiding I mean.”

“I wasn’t talking about Mercedes. I am considering an offer at Ferrari.” you tell him jokingly and he almost chokes at his wine

“Where?” 

“Ferrari. It’s a really great team with a great legacy.”

“Ask them for a paddock pass for tomorrow then.” he says and you burst out laughing

“I am only joking.” you tell him “I would consider it if I had an offer from another team though.”

“We will always have a position available for you if you ever decide to leave that shithole.”  

“I’ll tell you when this happens.”

“There’s a when, not an if, that’s good.” 

“I know what’s best for me and I am slowly convincing myself it’s not Red Bull”

“Good.” he says and you two keep eating until you hear someone knocking on his door .

“I’ll be right back” Toto tells you and answers the door. You can hear him talking with someone, his voice is quite familiar. 

“Shov?What are you doing here?” 

“Do you have some time to see tomorrow’s practice program?” you can hear him say

“Um, I am actually a little busy.” 

“It will only take a second, you should only check and approve it.” 

“I fully trust you Andrew, I approve of it.”

“Good.” he says and he almost leaves “Are you having dinner with someone?”

“Yes, with Lewis, we are discussing contract extensions.” 

“Has he been here a long time?”

“An hour or so.” Toto tells him

“That’s funny, because 20 minutes earlier I was at the gym with Lewis.”

“Um…” 

“It’s okay Wolff, I hope you are having a good time with whomever you are hanging out with right now” he says and laughs “Hello unknown person who is having dinner with Toto.”  You hold your laugh until Toto says goodnight to him and he leaves the room. When you see Toto entering the room with his ‘I fucked up’ face, you burst out laughing and he joins you seconds later. “I hope he was not angry” you tell him 

“No he wasn’t angry, I am pretty sure he was thrilled about the whole thing. He’s been trying to get me someone to hang out with for ages.” 

“You are good mates huh?”

“He’s one of my closest friends, yes.” 

“And he still asks for your approval for the program he wants the team to follow tomorrow?” 

“Yeah, I’ve told him millions of times that it’s not necessary but he insists.”

“That’s so sweet of him.”

“I am only taking a look at it before approving it, it’s not like I pay that much attention, I fully trust him.” he tells you and you keep eating

“When are we leaving for Miami?” you ask

“We? I thought you weren’t coming.”

“I am, I also have to bring Roscoe with me, I promised Lewis that I will take care of him from Sunday till we get to Miami so that he doesn’t have to while he’s in New York for the Met.” 

“You promised Lewis that you will carry Roscoe all the way from Monaco to Miami?”

“That we will carry him, yes.” 

“How did I get involved in this? I don’t remember having any conversation about a dog.”

“I told him that I would take care of him and then I promised that you will help me since you’re now my neighbor. I figured you would know him a little better than I do. I mean Lewis brings him to the paddock almost every week.”

“And have you ever seen me with a dog in the paddock?” he asks

“No, but I thought you had a good relationship with him.”

“Me and Roscoe’s relationship is nonexistent, Horner.”

“Oh god, tell me you are afraid of Roscoes” you make fun of him

“I am thinking of leaving Nice on Thursday morning.” he says

“You are changing the subject.” 

“I am not, you asked me when I plan on leaving for Miami and I answered.” 

“Thursday huh? What about Media day?” 

“I’ll have Shov or either one of the two James to do it and we will be present for the Free practice.”

“Cool.” you tell him 

For the rest of the night you hang out together until you decide to leave.

“Will we be going to the paddock together?” 

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning.”

“What’s the schedule for tomorrow? Hold up, let me check.” you tell him and grab your phone out of your pocket to take a look. “Oh you have a business meeting after FP1 which is supposed to last almost until the start of FP2. James is set to do the press.”

“I don’t remember having any business meetings. Who is it with?” 

You take a look at your phone reading the name which catches you completely off guard. You blink twice and take another look at it, still the same name. “Who planned this?” you ask

“I don’t know, I don’t remember planning anything for Saturday. Maybe Bradley did.” 

“This cannot be real.”

“It better not be Cynthia again.” 

“Who cares about her right now?” 

“Will you tell me who I am meeting tomorrow for whatever reason or am I going to this meeting unprepared?”

“The guy you hated last week, Marc Taylor?”

“Seriously?”  

“I am dead serious Toto, his name is here.” you tell him and show him the name on the schedule. “You are supposed to discuss sponsorship. Apparently the Taylor Group is interested in investing in F1” 

“This is going to be a hell of a meeting.” 

“This is going to be a disaster.” 

“Funny that both of the people from our past keep appearing in our ways.” 

“It’s not funny, it’s shit. Toto, promise me you will handle it gracefully.”

“Dear, I have nothing to be afraid of. You’ve proven to me who you’re always thinking of. It’s pure business. If he wants to invest and it favors the team then we shall cooperate.”  

You take a deep breath “That’s too much information and it’s already getting late. I am guessing I should get going.” 

“Won’t you stay for the night?”

“Nah, it’s quite early in the race weekend and I want you to focus tomorrow. Both for the testing sessions and the Marc thing.” 

“Okay, see you tomorrow?” 

“I am actually thinking that maybe I should skip FP1 since Marc will be around, I don’t want him finding out who I am.”

“Smart idea.”

“I am going to drive myself to the track and meet you for FP2” 

“Brunch at the track?” he asks

“Oh definitely.” you tell him and you kiss him goodbye as you go back to your suite. You don’t have anything to do so you decide to check your emails before going to sleep. You see a new message popping up the list From: Netflix, DTS

Miss Horner, we would like to schedule our next shooting with you for the newest season. Please let us know if and when you are available to be present at the track where the interviews take place.Kind Regards, The DTS Producers

You shrug and decide to answer From: Ms. Horner 

Hello and thank you for contacting me, I am currently taking some time off the team and I am not aware of which race weekend I will be back in the paddock. I  will however be happy to inform you as soon as I find out about my whereabouts within Red Bull. Regards, Miss Horner

You set your alarm at the same time Toto’s and Marc’s meeting is supposed to take place and then switch off your mobile and fall asleep. The next morning you wake up just in time to actually take a shower and get ready to go back to the track. You arrive there just in time for FP2. Everyone’s already in the garage so you decide to go there directly. As always, you see Toto sitting at the top of the fantasy island watching over the two garages. “Hello Mr. Wolff.”

“Oh, you’re here!” he says

“How did your meeting with Marco Barco go ?” you say and as soon as the words get out of your mouth you see Marc Taylor himself walking next to Toto with his headset on “How did you just call me?” he asks and you freeze, mainly because no one calls him like this except from you, the Horner you, not the Mindy Rosevelt you. “How did I call you?” 

“Did you call me Marco Barco?” he says and Toto looks at the both of you slightly confused

“I called you Marc. Just Marc.” you tell him

“Alright.” “Mindy, this is Marc Taylor, he’s the owner of our newest sponsor. We closed the deal earlier during our meeting.” 

“Mr. Taylor, I am so glad that we will have you around more from now on.”

“So am I, I am glad that I actually decided to go for my instinct and invest something in F1.”

“Absolutely.” 

A short minute after he asks

“Why are you still wearing a mask? Isn’t it bothering you?” 

“Oh no no, it does not. I am actually wearing it because I don’t want to catch any colds and lose my internship days.”

“I see. And where are you from? Mindy right?” By the questions he asks you are already sure that he is suspecting something

“Yes, I am from Boston, US and I ended up here as an intern from Daimler US.” you say and he answers “That’s really cool.” For the rest of the time you don’t interact, Toto isn’t involving in any of your talks and you know it’s because he fears that he’ll fuck this up more if he does. However, he still speaks to you and Marc separately and when he’s talking to Marc he shows off a little more confidence and certainty. It’s like he knows that he’s better than him, which he actually is and you’ve made it clear both that night in Monaco and yesterday after your dinner. The session finishes with the two red bulls on top, followed by the two Mercedes. “P3 and 4 isn’t bad but it’s not P1 and P2 either. I know we’re running similar engine mappings and we still need to be on top.” Toto says in his message to the mechanics.“I am sure we will be there by tomorrow.” you tell him “I should go grab some food because I haven’t eaten yet. I am sure I will see you around Mr. Taylor.” 

“I believe so.” 

“Marc and I are going to talk a little more and he’ll be off in a while. Talk to you later?” Toto says and winks on you while Marc is on his phone “Of course Mr Wolff. See you later.” you tell him and get back at the hospitality center where you get some food which you take to Toto’s office. You unlock the door with the set of keys he has given you and you set your tray at the table beside his office. You lock the door as you stay inside in order to surprise him. After some time you can hear footsteps approaching and the door handle moves but the door doesn’t open“Oh it is locked.” you can hear Toto say and the next thing you can hear is his keys on the lock. He opens the door and just as he enters the office you speak “I thought we should have brunch together.” The man who enters the room stops dead in his tracks. Of fucking course it’s Marc, followed by Toto who is gesturing something to someone in the hallway. Toto stops and looks at you. Marc speaks first “Horner, what are you doing there?” he asks “Shush Taylor, they’re going to hear you.”  

“Why are you sitting in Toto’s office dressed in Merc gear?” 

“Ummm” you say and you pause to think “F1 made us have team principal meetings like this in order to boost our relationship” you tell him, not a good excuse. In fact it’s a terrible excuse. “What kind of bullshit do you think you’re selling to me?” Marc asks. Toto is just behind him shaking his head “There’s no point in trying to lie to him.” 

“Isn’t there?” you ask and at the same time Marc is taking a look at you. “You’re Mindy? I figured something was wrong here.” 

“Look, I need you to shut your mouth about this. No one can know.” 

“Why are you here in the first place?” he asks “Christian shut her out of the team for an unknown period of time and she wanted to have access to the paddock without paying herself.” Toto says. “Why didn’t you ask Franz to take you in his team for a while?”

“Because I didn’t want Christian involved in anything.”

“So you two guys had a fight? And what about Mercedes Toto, how is the team going to be safe with all of this.” 

Toto tries to explain the situation to Marc “She has already signed NDAs about the team, and I wouldn’t even take her in if i didn’t trust her.” You take a deep breath and Toto understands the position you are in so he decides to leave you and Marc alone for a second “Should I go fetch us something to drink?” 

“Yes please.” you tell him

“Why did you end up out of the team in the first place?” 

“I was late to a business meeting. You know how Christian is with them.” 

“And he threw you out. How long has this been going on ?” 

“Not long ago, the GP in Jeddah was my first one with Merc.” you say. Marc stays quiet for a while and his eyes spark with realization a minute or two later. “Oh god, it’s him, isn’t he?” 

“What?” you ask him. “The guy you’re heads over heels with? The situationship man! That’s why he’s the one you turned to for the paddock access and that’s why he gave it to you. You two are dating right?”

“Well yeah, it is him but I told you before, no one can know okay?” 

“Of course. How long have you been together?” 

“We are not together yet, we are just spending time.”

“Yeah right and he took you in his team because he’s just spending time with you.” he tells you and you laugh “I might not know him for a long time but I can tell who I am making deals with. He’s a very direct guy.” 

“I know he is.” 

“If it’s not me, he’s the next best option.” 

“That’s what I’ve been saying since this has been happening.” 

“I am happy for you, really.” 

“Thank you Marc.” you tell him.  Later on Toto comes back with your drinks and the three of you discuss for sometime. Later on and only after you’ve completed your duties for the day you wave Toto and Marc goodbye and go back to your hotel. You sit in your room, have an extra long video call with Sara in which you tell her everything about today and all the days you’ve been missing from Monaco and she texts you a photo from her balcony in Monaco which you post in your official instagram story in order to make everyone believe that you are actually there and not in Azerbaijan. You watch a bunch of drive to survive episodes to prepare for your upcoming interviews and then take a long relaxing shower. Before you even realize it is time for dinner and just as you were thinking of it you get a text 

Wolff

Are you coming over for dinner?

You 

Nah, I am actually thinking that maybe I should get some rest before tomorrow. I will be ordering something here instead

Wolff

Okay. I hope you are alright 

You 

Yes, all good but I would like to be excluded from tomorrow’s practice session. Only if I am not needed that is

Wolff

You are always needed but you are always working hard and think you deserve to have the session off

You

Thank you Toto, I won’t forget that ;)

Wolff 

I hope you won’t 

After your chat with Toto you decide to order some dinner in your room and after that you spend some time on your socials before going to bed. The next day you wake up early as you hear someone knocking at your door. Well, it’s not just someone, in fact, it is Lewis who is at your door and right by his side is his best friend, Roscoe. You were expecting them since Lewis told you he would bring Roscoe over to your suite before hitting the track for FP3 and now you are supposed to take care of him and bring him back to the paddock just before qualifying, when Angela will take over from you. “Good Morning. Were you sleeping?”

“I was yeah but I was planning to wake up either way.”

“This is my good boy Roscoe” he says and he kneels and pats his back “Good boy” he says. “He is adorable.” you tell him and you also kneel to pet him. “He might be a little shy at first, he just wants a lot of cuddling and playing. I am sure he will love you though.” 

“I hope he will, we will have to spend some time together before Miami.” 

“Toto mentioned that you didn’t want to come, did  you decide otherwise?” 

“I did yeah, we are planning to come on Friday so Roscoe will be there by then. When are you flying from New York?” 

“Thursday morning, I have media duties, I am not like you.” he laughs

“Well, I am not going to the Met either so I guess we are even.”

“Yeah right. Am I going to see you at qualifying?” 

“Of course, I plan on coming, I will bring Roscoe to you later.” 

“Good, see you then I guess.” 

“Bye Lewis.” you say as you wave him goodbye.  Roscoe and you enter your suite and you can see him running in his tiny feet trying to take in the space around him. You decide to take a shower but you leave the door open and as soon as you come out of the tub you find Roscoe sitting there waiting for you. For the rest of the time you play with his favorite toy that Lewis left you and he lies on your side as you take a look at the morning news. When the time comes, you get ready and hit the track once again but this time with Roscoe Hamilton on your side. You can see photographers taking pictures of you but you remain completely calm as your face mask and your hair hide your real identity and enter the Mercedes hospitality. You drop Roscoe off to Lewis’ suite where Angela takes over, and text Toto who you can clearly see from the garage that you’re currently sitting in. Toto is just outside making statements to broadcasting channels and companies ahead of qualifying and you are sitting there on the right side of his chair waiting for him to come back as soon as the broadcast of qualifying begins. The session is pretty good for the team, meaning Mercedes and the drivers manage to get P2 and P3. Max is sitting in P1 for tomorrow’s start, a brilliant lap from him you think. “2nd and 3rd are pretty good positions.” Toto says. “The only thing that scares me is Max in P1.” 

“We’ve got him, the setup for the race will be even better, Mick has been running the data from the analysis the engineers made based on your comments on the simulator and we’ve seen impressive lap times. We’ll get this for sure.”

“I never doubted their skills, I am sure they can even make the Williams work.” 

“They are not doing miracles, they are just engineers.” Toto says and you laugh “They had some good guidance, we wouldn’t have found the exact setup if it wasn’t for you.” 

“It’s just Saturday though. We will see tomorrow.” 

“You’re right.” he tells you “About tonight, you don’t have any plans right?” 

“Except for laying in bed as soon as I get back and ordering dinner I don’t plan on doing anything else.” 

“Dinner and movie then?” he asks and you nod  “Hitting the track together ?” you ask and he blinks a couple of times. “How come?” 

“Well, won’t I be sleeping in your suite tonight?” 

“I am surprised that you’re even proposing that.” 

“Well if you don’t want to, I have plenty of space in my suite, I will be sleeping all alone again.” 

“Okay, dinner and sleepover in my suite for tonight.”

“Will you be doing press?” you ask.“Only for an hour or so, after that I need you with me in the post qualifying meeting with the mechanics.” he tells you. “Where?” you ask surprised. “I need someone to write some notes down for me during that meeting so I figured you would want to join.”

“But-” you hesitate and he interrupts you before you can finish up your sentence “I don’t have any issue with you, I fully trust you.”

“I know, you’ve been quite vocal about it.” 

“Well, best believe it. Also, you won’t be there just for note taking, you can partake to the whole meeting with your points or ideas” 

“You cannot be serious.” you tell him. “I am as serious as it gets Horner. Wait for me outside your office in an hour.” Toto says as he waves at you and disappears from your sight. After an hour you find him outside your office. Both of you attend the post-quali meeting where you participate with a lot of questions about the performance of the car. At some point you also hear praise from Bono about the setup that you proposed. Well, he didn’t exactly give credit to you, since for him it’s nowhere near your job to give mechanical input about a car set up but he did say that whoever came up with the insights on the setup was a great help. The car was flying compared to the free practice yesterday. It turns out that you actually helped them and you now, more than ever, feel a part of a team that embraces you even if it isn’t directly said to your face. As soon as the meeting is done you and Toto go back to the hotel, wasting no time in the paddock. You get directly back to Toto’s suite where food is already served. The both of you eat and then you relax for a while on the couch

“I am so exhausted from today.” you tell him 

“Do you want to sleep?” he asks

“How about we watch a movie?” 

“You are going to sleep in the first 5 minutes” 

“I promise you I won’t” you tell him “Not if the movie is good anyways” 

“How about La La Land?” he asks and you look at him and burst into laughter. “You want to watch La La Land? Are you serious?” 

“I just happen to know that you love it.”

“Yeah but do you actually like it?” you ask. Toto clears his voice“Um, I haven’t watched it.” and you answer surprised “You cannot be serious.”

“I am. Whether you believe it or not, I don't watch such movies. Or any movies at all.”

“You are traveling 300 days out of 365 and you don’t watch movies? What do you do on the plane?”

“Read the news, sleep. It’s not that I don’t watch movies, it’s just that it is not on a regular basis.”

“I will make you a cinema fan, I swear. La La Land was game changing for me. That’s what we are going to watch. I don’t care if you don’t like musicals.” you say and you navigate in the TV menu to find the movie stream “Oh and by the way, if you haven’t watched Mamma Mia yet, I will get my ass off this suite and not talk to you until you watch it.”

“I have watched it and I can say that I actually liked it.”

“Aren’t you ashamed to say it Mr. Perfect Image?” you ask him. “Not to you. You clearly watch that kitsch fest that is Eurovision and love musicals so I am not the one to be ashamed here.” he says. “Hey!” you yell at him.“Just press play Horner.” he says and you follow his instructions. During the whole movie you can see he watches with pure interest, even during the songs which he doesn’t know he seems like he’s having fun. You are doing your part to keep him entertained, singing all the songs since this is probably your 50th rewatch. You make all the fun and smart remarks that you’ve seen on socials from other fans of the movie to keep him engaged. When the movie ends, during the epilogue scene and towards the end you can see him tensing, kind of trying to cover his emotions up. As the credits roll you turn to him.  “So? What do we think about one of the most amazing musicals made to this day?” 

“The ending” he says and pauses. “The ending what?” you ask him. “The ending was weird. Like it really made you believe that this could work but it actually was the ‘What could have been’ moment. It was kind of brutal.”

“Well, that was the intention. To show that two people had to let go of each other to achieve their dreams. It’s because they loved each other that they decided to do this. Now that I am thinking of it, it kind of is brutal, but it’s realistic. Life is brutal sometimes.”

“Do you analyze every movie that you see like this?” 

“Well, yeah? That’s the point of watching a movie, it’s not looking at beautiful pictures for three hours straight and then going to sleep.” 

“So you’re really passionate about it then.” 

“I am yeah.”

“It’s kind of nice that you find things that you really like and are so passionate about them” 

“You can also do it, you know. Being that one guy who’s obsessed with managing a team, finance and racing isn’t all you can ever be. You can have hobbies and other interests. I just think you are scared to break that flawless facade, which is funny because I genuinely believe that you are a man that is full of passion and you want to show it to people. You are afraid that if anyone outside of your safety bubble finds that you are human and not a well programmed robot that performs at its peak day in day out, your life will end. I know you try to be open about things that concern you and people around you, like how you’ve been speaking out about your mental health, but showing your real self can be hard for you but you should really try.” you tell him and he sits there just listening “How about we make this a thing? Movie night, once a week. Or more if you have more recommendations.”

“Am I about to turn you into a cinema noob?”

“Shut up.” he says and checks his watch that is resting on the arm of the couch you are currently sitting on. “How about going to sleep? We have to be at the paddock tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah sure.” you say and both of you walk off to the bedroom where you sleep until Toto’s alarm goes off. “Good Morning.” he says, his voice deeper than usual, with that sleep raspiness standing out “Hello.” you tell him and you can feel him shifting next to you“It’s race day” 

“I am aware. I have a really good feeling about today.”

“Hm” he says “Do you sense a win?” he asks and he plants a kiss on your cheek. You could get used to it. “I actually do. I feel like we are going to do well.” and you can almost hear him laughing “Who’s we?” he asks you. “Mercedes?” you tell him and he laughs, content that you actually consider his team yours by now.You lay still on the bed for a few more minutes, sitting in complete silence but you can feel the two of you debating whether or not you should get off the bed. You and Toto are too lazy to do anything but like always he’s the one who takes the initiative and moves. “Come on, get yourself ready. We have to be down at the paddock in 45 minutes.”

“I don’t need 45 minutes.”

“Oh you’re sure about that?” he asks. “Positive. You can time me if you want.” you reply.“Yes?” he asks. “Yea. But I am not going to race myself to get ready without breakfast first.” 

“I thought you were smart enough to figure out that we are always having breakfast at the track.” You don’t reply, you just sit and stare outside the window while Toto is using his phone. With his serious voice he says “Hey Siri, call Jasmine.” and then his phone starts dialing. It’s not after a minute that a female voice answers the phone. “Hello Jasmine, this is Toto, can I have my full breakfast order done and served in 45 minutes in my office?” he asks and waits for a few seconds. “I also want two servings of the same order, that in my office too, same time.” he says and you smile at the chat he’s having with his employee. “Also, it is really important that you find Mr Lord and let him know that I will not be available for the next 2 hours and I don’t want any distraction while I am in my office. Yes. Yes. Thank you Jasmine.” he says and he ends the call. “Now that you know breakfast is waiting, go get ready. Now.” 

“Is this an order?” 

“I am already counting.” he says and you run to get ready.You start running around his suite grabbing all of the things you need for race day as Toto sits on the couch scrolling on his phone while he gives you some glances. 15 minutes later you are ready to go, bag on your shoulder, shoes on. “I’m ready” you say standing and looking at him. “You are quick.” he says, still scrolling. “I am. We could go now, although you are not ready.” 

“It won't take more than 5 minutes.” 

“Really?” you ask “Yes. I just put my clothes on, get my iPad and my computer in my bag and I’m ready to go.”

“Oh I thought you needed time to get your face ready for cameras.”

“Nope, I’m all natural, the one who needs to get her face ready is you.”

“I didn’t do anything on my face except from washing it and applying some sunscreen. I am 100% natural today.”

“I see. Although you cannot convince me that when you were at Red Bull you took less than 35 minutes to get ready.”

“Well yeah I needed like half an hour to get my hair and make up done. I have to get camera ready every day. I was always late and Christian yelled at me so many times. Now no one sees me so it really doesn’t matter if I look like shit.”

“You don’t look like shit, you are great.” he tells you “Aw thanks.” you say and you drop your bag on the floor and sit next to Toto on the couch and give him a peck on his cheek. He turns and looks at you and kisses you right on the lips, instantly deepening the kiss laying you on the couch. You smile in that kiss and keep going, tangling your fingers on his hair, pulling him closer. He puts his hand under your waist and pulls you closer and you can already feel a burning desire. “How about we get back to bed?” he asks. “We have to go Toto” you manage to say between kisses.“I don’t want to leave.” he says. “We can miss the race to be honest.” you tell him. “Yes we can.” he tells you “But we won’t. Plus you’ve already ordered us your breakfast”

“You’re better.” he says and you scoff when you hear his words. “Oh god, behave Wolff” you tell him and you push him away teasingly. You walk away from him and he sits there, resting his head on the back of the couch trying to calm himself. “You got to get ready now” 

“Okay.” he says unwillingly and stands up and starts getting ready. Half an hour later you take the walk from the hotel to the paddock which has already begun getting flooded with people. Both you and Toto take your breakfast at his office and then you follow him around in his pre race routine, from fan zones to debriefs, to interviews and finally to the grid. You spot Christian and Max many times during your time there but Toto doesn’t say anything more than a Hello to both of them. You watch Max get ready to hop in the car in front of both Lewis and George and can’t help but feel a bit of anger that he is sitting on pole. You know Mercedes’ car is fast, it’s more deserving to be in P1 than Max. You know you have to work hard to bring them in P1 and P2, because the Red Bull is not slow either, you know the car from inside out, and you know it’s capable of winning. It’s only a race’s time. When it is time you manage to greet Lewis in a flurry of cameras, fans and engineers at the grid and head back to the Mercedes garage. As you head towards the entrance of the garage you hear your (fake) name being called and you turn to see Cynthia outside the Red Bull garage as she shouts good luck to you and you yell back at her, wishing her good luck. You take your place at the fantasy island and watch the race start. Max launches off perfectly, at the right time and Lewis and George get a little left behind. As the race goes on, Max is still in front of the two Mercedes drivers, who are actually closely following him. You keep watching fully focused on the telemetry screens in front of you, and listening to the talks between team members about pace and strategy. Not long after the race start, you see both cars overtaking the Red Bull and launching off into the distance. The cars are quite quick but Max keeps following them, in DRS range. The rest of the field stays back as the two black and the one blue car fight to get the first place. As soon as it is time for strategy calls you can hear the team agreeing on a double stack for the pit stops, and so it happens, but as it is normal, double stacks can’t always be flawless. George’s stop is perfectly timed and great in duration so that the undercut will be strong enough but on the other hand, Lewis who has been really unlucky with some shitty stops has it again. The front right tire doesn’t come off as quick and the stop lasts a whooping 5.6 seconds, which makes Lewis lose a track position to Max and a whole 2 seconds to him as well. Toto gets so frustrated with the stop that he smashes the desk like he always does and the race continues. Toto is all the time on the radio with the strategists and the mechanics and as a result he has no time to talk to you. Lewis is chasing Max but failing. Max is much quicker than he is and when he does reach him he is not able to make a move on him. The race finishes with George in 1st place, Max in 2nd and Lewis in 3rd.  As always Toto reaches and presses the button to congratulate George and you can see the message being broadcasted on TV. George happily replies and celebrates, thanking Toto and the team. And then Toto moves on to congratulate Lewis. Lewis is much less excited than George was. He just thanks Toto and the team and switches his radio off. You realize from the first minute of the broadcast that Lewis is kinda pissed off and disappointed.

“We won” Toto turns and tells you with a smile on his face.  “Lewis is disappointed I’m sure. But yeah at least George won.” you tell him. “I know Lewis will be disappointed. We let him down today, he’s not going to be glad. He did everything he could but still the car just couldn’t work to get past Max.”. “I am really hoping he will be alright.” 

“It’s Lewis, he’s always bigger than this. A title got stolen from him and he kept on going. I am sure he’s going to come out of this car, go to press and celebrate with us even though he might feel bitter about the third position.”

“Yeah, you probably know him better than I do.” you say and then Toto leaves you in the garage while he’s walking around the paddock talking to journalists, Sky Sports, F1 TV. Later on there’s indeed a celebration with the team for George’s win and Lewis’ podium and everyone gathers there. There’s the usual team picture and then the champagne celebrations which everyone tries to avoid but gets caught up to. After the whole thing winds down you find Lewis sitting outside the garage and you sit with him “Congrats for today!” you tell him trying to cheer him up “Uhh, I don’t know man, this isn’t my best result, but thanks either way.”

“Come on Lewis, you know you did the best you could, and it’s okay, I was in the garage next to Toto and right after that mistake he kept on trying and asking on how you could get past Max and even George but I guess the stars didn’t align for you today but for George.”

“I guess you’re right. I feel like I am overreacting but you know I have to keep my head up, nothing comes out of complaining.” Lewis says. “You just somehow became your own therapist and you overcame the whole thing in like 5 minutes. I hate you.” you tell him laughing. “I’ll teach you how to do it, it seems like you will need it when you leave us.” he says reminding you of your situation in Red Bull. “Definitely” you tell him and you sit there in silence for a while until Toto comes by you. “We’ve got to get going, we only got one and a half  hour before the jet leaves”.

“You’re leaving now?” Lewis asks and Toto nods but some mechanic comes to talk to him 

“Will Roscoe be joining us?” you ask. “About that, I will be flying with Valtteri and will drop him to Nice before flying to NYC. I was thinking about spending a little more time with Roscoe before dropping him off to you. Is it okay if Valtteri drops him by your place later on?” 

“Oh no problem, give him my number so that he can text me once you are in Nice.” 

“Great!”

“Lewis I really gotta get going, I have to pack my things back at the hotel before leaving.”

“Of course. I’ll see you in Miami. Take good care of Roscoe.”

“I will” you tell him and you wave him goodbye. After that you leave the track alone since Toto is still busy at the track. You go back to your suite and pack your things and with 45 minutes still left you take your phone and ring Toto. “Are you in your room?” you ask. “No, still at the track.” he says and you reply slightly surprised “Wait, what are you still doing on track?”

“I am having a discussion with Stefano about technical directives and he can’t stop talking.”

“Are you sure you’re going to make it? Are your stuff packed?” 

“No they are not, I thought I would have enough time to do it now but he thinks we are having a meeting.”

“Why don’t you tell him that you have to catch your flight?”

“Because he will propose that we fly together” he answers “I keep checking my watch but he doesn’t get the message”

“Oh then try to get out of this discussion asap.” 

“Will do. See you in a while” he says and he hangs up. You check your bag and you find Toto’s suite card so you decide to go to his suite and pack his suitcase. You take everything off the closet and start folding them and placing them in his carry on, take his shoes as well as his stuff from the bathroom and place them in the suitcase. Lastly you take all of the chargers and laptops and stuff them into his bag. You take a seat on his couch now both of your suitcases fully packed and ready to go but he’s nowhere to be found. 20 minutes before the time that you have to be in the airport your phone rings and his name pops up on the screen. You accept the call. “Hey” you say. You “We are not going to make it on time. I only just got to the hotel.” he says and you hear footsteps outside his door. “And? We still have 20 minutes.” 

“Everything is unpacked. We are going to be late.”  he replies and the door opens. He sees you sitting on the couch and ends the call. He walks in the hallway with a confused expression“What are you doing here?” he says and you point at the suitcase and bag left in the middle of the living room area. “I packed.” you tell him and you smile. At this very moment you see a very anxious but happy Toto walking towards you and placing a kiss on your head. “Thank you” he says. “I had time to kill, a spare key card and I figured you might be late so I thought why not. I hope that I packed them in the right way. Oh and make sure that I got everything.”

“It’s perfect, thanks.” he says and he takes a look around the suite, looking for things he might have forgotten. Five minutes later you are ready to go, you leave the hotel, you drive to the airport and get there 10 minutes late but still the jet is ready to go. You board, take the seat opposite to Toto and get as comfortable as you can, he takes a book out of his bag and places it on the table in front of you. You take off from Baku and you start feeling slightly worn out. “Sleepy?” he asks. “Is that so obvious?”

“Yes.” 

“It’s just that races wear me out so much. In Red Bull it was easier but now I literally spent twice as much energy because of the whole hiding thing.”

“I get what you mean, I can’t get through it without a cup or two of coffee” 

“It is funny because the race is during the afternoon but it still drains me” 

“You should sleep.” he tells you. “I won’t.” you tell him and he hums “So, tell me about the technical directives you were discussing with Stefano.” Toto starts explaining what he and Domenicalli were discussing along with some other team principals and you try really hard to follow what he was telling you. You were asking him questions but you felt your eyes burning “I will just close my eyes because they hurt but I will keep listening.” you tell him. “Sure” he says and he laughs. “Hey, I won’t sleep.” and he teases you “I bet you won’t.”. You close your eyes and you follow Toto’s voice, keep asking him questions and discussing until you are less and less conscious and fall completely asleep. Almost 4 hours after, you wake up, feeling the plane descending into lower altitudes. You feel surprisingly warm and open your eyes only to see Toto’s jacket all over you. You slept through the whole flight. You move slightly and Toto, who is sitting just opposite to you reading his book lifts his eyes from the book to you.“Glad to see you didn’t sleep.” he tells you  “Hey, don’t make fun of me!” 

“I love it when you know you are not right and still try to convince others that you are.” You roll your eyes at his comment and take a look outside the window. “Where are we?” 

“Almost in Nice, we will be landing in 20” 

“Cool. I can’t wait to sleep in my bed.” 

“You’re not coming over?” 

“No, I’ve had enough of you during the past days.”

“Right.” 

“How’s your book?” you ask. “It is good.” Toto says 

“I’ll read it after you.”

“I’ll be happy to lend it to you.” 

“Oh and if I like it I will need access to that Wolff Reading List.” 

“I don’t have a reading list.”

“Oh god what?”

“It is not a competition Horner, I read for my pleasure.” 

“So do I but I have a reading list. I read reviews and I sometimes write them anonymously.”  

“Well, I don’t give a shit about reviews, I read the synopsis and if I find it interesting I read it. I am sure some of my favorite books have the shittiest reviews but I don’t care.” he says. “Wow, you are stronger than I am. If a review isn’t good I won’t even start the book.”

“That’s some of the shit people of your generation do”

“Oh yes I keep forgetting that you are a boomer.” you joke “We are not going to discuss this again.” he says in a strict tone “Okay sir.” you mock him. “Fuck off, go back to sleep.” he says and he turns back to his book. “Thanks for the blanket by the way.” you say but he gives you no answer and you laugh. “Are you going to drive me back to Monaco?” you ask. “No you should call Marc” he says. “I hate you Wolff.” you tell him. “I hate you too.” he laughs. A short time after you land in Nice and contrary to what he said earlier, Toto orders for all of your baggage to be loaded to his car. You take the drive back to Monaco while discussing  paddock gossip which Toto repeats isn’t a thing he does but he happily participates in the whole discourse. Half an hour later you arrive at home, Toto parks the car in the garage and you get your bags out of the car and take the lift to your apartment. You hug him goodbye and go to your apartment where you instantly unpack and get comfortable and sit in your bedroom where you binge watch gossip girl until it is late enough and Valtteri is calling you to drop Roscoe off. You text him your details and 5 minutes later he’s knocking your door.  “Hi Valtteri.” you greet him. “Hi” he says shyly, holding Roscoe’s leash on his one hand and a bag with Roscoe’s food and toys

“Lewis told me to drop those off. Including Roscoe.” 

“I will be taking care of him while Lewis is in New York For the Met Gala.”

“Oh yeah, I would take care of him but Tif and I have to go to a bike competition in France”

“Don’t worry, I will take care of him instead. Good to see you, did you have a nice flight?”

“Yes, it was pretty decent, you know how it is when traveling in private.”

“Yeah definitely.” you tell him. “We missed you in F1, when are you coming back?” he says and for a moment you freeze before you register that you supposingly weren’t in Baku this weekend. “I missed you guys too. I don’t know when I am coming back yet, I am still adapting to my new life here in Monaco.”

“You are right, we will be happy to see you back.” 

“Thank you for dropping Roscoe off for me”

“You’re welcome.” 

“Good luck for your competition.”

“Thanks, goodnight!” Valtteri says and leaves you with Roscoe.

Roscoe gets in and moves around the apartment trying to get used to it. You play a bit with him but at some point you are too tired and get to bed where Roscoe joins you and curls next to your feet and falls asleep. You do the same for the night. The next day you wake up in your new home, register the fact that now you have to take care of Roscoe. You take him out for his morning walk and you go back home where you decide to text Sara once again. 

You

I am back in Monaco. Are you up for some coffee?

Sara

Oh welcome back! Of course I am up for coffee. Your place or mine?

You 

Cafe de Paris in an hour?

Sara

Omg sounds perfect. Gotta go get ready.

You 

I will be bringing Roscoe over too

Sara

God I love this dog. Of course bring him over, the dog is a socialite

You shut your phone and start getting ready, dressing up appropriately for the Cafe de Paris. You feed Roscoe and get him ready and after an hour you are sitting in Cafe de Paris with Sara. You both enjoy your drinks while the bulldog is sitting by your side and you keep gossiping about people you know. Sara spills her work gossip and you keep discussing different bullshit. Time goes by and both of you get hungry so you propose cooking dinner at your place. You and Sara get back home and you start cooking a risotto while she drinks wine and you tell her all the paddock gossip. “So turns out Christian hired that bitch who was hooking up with Toto.”

“He did what?” 

“Yeah, he hired her during my first week off the team.”

“Oh my gosh. I might sound a bit harsh but don’t you think that your dad is a bit problematic?” Sara asks “I’ve been thinking that since I officially joined the team, S. I just don’t understand his logic” you say and you hear your phone ringing. When you check you see Christian’s face popping up.“Speak of the devil”.

“Hey dad” you say 

“What are you doing?” 

“I’m good you?”

“No, I mean, what are you doing outside with Hamilton’s dog?”

“Oh Roscoe? Lewis is flying to the Met Gala and he wants someone to take care of his dog.”

“And you suddenly became best friends with Hamilton that he trusts you with his dog? You have the audacity to walk him in Monaco’s most crowded places? There are pictures all over the internet.”

“I think you are overreacting.” you tell him 

“How did the dog end up in your hands? Were you in Baku yesterday?” 

“What the fuck dad? I was in Monaco, I had Valtteri drop him off.”

“Are you teaming up with them? Do you think it’s going to make me change my mind and take you back?” 

“Look, I have a risotto cooking up on my stove and I do not plan on burning this place down, so let me get it straight for you. I am just taking care of a dog that for some reason triggers you in a way that nothing ever has. I am doing a favor to a friend. Nothing to piss you off. I don’t know why you think everyone is constantly plotting against you but the reality is that we are not. Take a chill pill and get used to seeing pictures of me with Roscoe until Lewis takes him back. And for fuck’s shake, let me live my life.” you say and you turn off the call. “What was that about?” Sara asks. “There are pictures of us and Roscoe from today and Christian was pissed because of a freaking dog.” 

“Oh then you were right to speak to him like that” 

“Thanks” you say. As soon as the food is ready you and Sara enjoy your lunch at your balcony with a sea view and after a couple of hours she leaves you alone. You clean up the kitchen, do the dishes and get changed to a tracksuit and a pair of sneakers for Roscoe’s night walk. You enjoy a walk along the coast of Monte Carlo and later on you come back to your building. To your surprise you see Toto just outside, dressed in a suit while waiting for his car. “Hi” you tell him. “Hello. Out for a walk I see?” he asks. “Yes, Roscoe needed his night walk.” you say as Roscoe approaches him. Toto instantly takes two steps backwards looking at the bulldog “Where are you off to?” you ask. “I’m going to a business meeting.” you are interested about his day “With a sponsor ?” and he replies giving you all the information you ask for “No, it’s for one of my finance jobs.” 

“I see.” you say and you spot someone with a phone pointing to you two “We are being videotaped”

“It’s been a while since we’ve last seen you in the paddock miss Horner” he says “Oh yeah, I’ve been having some time off that’s why.”

“I’ve heard the rumors, met your substitute as well. When do you think you’re coming back ?” 

“I haven’t decided yet, I am still recharging to be honest.” 

“Good thing to do. Take your time” 

“Thank you Mr. Wolff, take care.” you tell him and leave him to go back to your apartment. You take Roscoe off his leash and he slowly walks to his bed where he falls asleep. You lay on your couch and check your socials. It’s the first Monday of May and your timelines have already been flooded with Met Gala content, from the setting of the red carpet to some of the celebrities and acquaintances getting ready for the event. You promised Lewis that you will stay awake to see him on the red carpet and for this reason you decide to take a nap. It’s not that late but since you have to wait for Lewis until later that night you chose to kill some time this way so you drift off to a sweet nap. In the middle of your sleep you hear the doorbell ringing and you walk half asleep to the door where you check through the peephole to see who it is and you see the one tall austrian outside your door dressed with the same clothes as earlier. You open the door and you let him in.“What are you doing here?” you tell him, voice sounding a bit hoarse so Toto gets the hint. “Have you been sleeping? Did I wake you up?” he asks a little worried, “Ummm, you kinda did” you tell him, “Oh sorry, I should go then, let you rest.” 

“I was going to wake up anyway.  I promised Lewis I will watch him on the red carpet today.” you tell him and he asks “What is it today?”. You laugh with his ignorance “Oh god we are never going to get an invite if you keep asking those questions.”

“Why do we need an invitation for this?”

“It’s one of the most exciting nights of the year Toto, the Met Gala, every relatable celebrity dresses up in custom designer pieces that match to a theme and they have a dinner or something.” 

“Prom for rich people?” 

“Kinda. I am surprised you aren’t aware of it, since Lewis has been going during the past 3-4 years if I’m not mistaken.”

“Pop culture isn’t my thing.” he says while he takes off his jacket and hangs it on a chair nearby. “I can see it” you reply. Toto joins you on the couch, he sits on the side, takes off his shoes and unbuttons the top button of his shirt. You grab your computer and sit close to him. You open the TV and you play the Vogue Livestream of the event while Toto sits bored next to you switching his gaze from the television to the ceiling, to your laptop, to you and then back to the television. As you are watching the event, Toto stands up and takes a look at your bookshelf and he picks a book which he starts reading while you are too busy waiting for Lewis. Toto speed reads the book as you text Lewis asking him to let you know when he will be joining the red carpet. At some point you distinctively hear Roscoe’s paws on the floor as he runs to the living room. He sits just below your feet which you have laid on the coffee table while Toto is laying on the long side of the couch. Roscoe takes a look at you and then at Toto, both of you too far absorbed to be paying attention to him and for this reason the poor dog decides to make you pay attention to him.  Roscoe starts barking and in a fraction of a second, Toto slams his book close and starts backing up and climbing on the back of the couch. When you notice him you burst out laughing. You should have been aware that Toto is afraid of Roscoe, that’s why he was skeptical about having the dog in the same place as him during a transatlantic flight. It seems so hilarious to you that a grown ass man such as Toto is afraid of an old bulldog, mainly because Toto is who he is. The intimidating boss, the scary rival. You immediately grab your phone and start recording. “Lewis, I know you’re in line for the red carpet and you probably won’t see this until tomorrow but you have to see this.” you say as you record yourself and then turn the rear camera on. “I don’t know if you are aware of it but it seems like Mr. Wolff here is afraid of your dog.” you say as you see Toto on the back of the couch and Roscoe staring at him. “Hey! It’s not funny, please get him to leave!” he says and just as he completes his sentence Roscoe continues barking at him, Toto’s expression is essentially pure panic at this point but you continue laughing. You know Roscoe just wants to play with him but he is not very much aware of it. “Please just stop recording and get him out of here” he says again, you are still recording. “He’s not going to hurt you” you tell him, “You don’t know it” Toto replies. “Okay Lew, I have to take care of this, we are still waiting for you here” you say and you show the Vogue Livestream on your TV “Have fun!”  you say and you stop recording, sending the video to Lewis. After that you leave your phone down, you grab Roscoe and bring him by your side, far from Toto, who seems like he lost 5 years of his life. The dog lays on the couch as you rub his belly and he seems happy. “See, that’s what he wanted. Just a bit of attention and love.” you tell him “Well, if he wanted that he shouldn't have barked at me. I was scared to death” 

“Toto Wolff is afraid of dogs.” you say “I am. You cannot imagine how many times I’ve managed to avoid any interaction with this dog during the past 8 years.”

“I was just wondering how Lewis didn’t have any idea of this.”

“Oh, did you send the video? Did I make a fool of myself on Lewis as well?”

“No, that’s not making a fool of yourself, that’s adorable” 

“Until Lewis posts it on his socials” 

“He won’t” you say 

“You don’t know Lewis, he loves making fun of me every chance he gets”

“I mean sometimes you’re hilarious so he’s right, you shouldn’t be angry.” you tell him 

“Most of the time I’m not actually angry, I am just acting like I am to make him feel bad” 

“You are crazy” you tell him and you turn to catch a glimpse of the screen when you see Lewis coming up the red carpet. “Oh there he goes!” you say and Toto turns his attention to the screen and so does Roscoe once he realizes that his dad is on the tv. “That’s a daring outfit.” Toto comments as he watches Lewis posing on the red carpet. “Oh you suddenly have an opinion on fashion?” 

“Why shouldn’t I? You think you’re the only one with a fashion sense?”

“Darling, at least I have more than 3 outfits in my wardrobe” you tell him and he rolls his eyes. He knows you’re right but he still focuses on the television. You see Roscoe staring at the screen and you snap a photo which you post on your instagram stories right after lewis leaves the red carpet. “Did we just sit here to watch Lewis pose on the red carpet for 3 minutes?” 

“No, I am hoping he will be back for an interview shortly after.” you say and he nods, going back to the last page of the book he was reading and 5 minutes later Lewis comes on the screen again and both of you watch the interview ss

“You’re an expert on this aren’t you?” he asks “I have been watching for the past 10 years, Toto. Plus, they do love Lewis a lot, it was almost certain that they would give him the interview.”

“They do seem to have a preference for Lewis though.” he says 

“The truth is, as much as Max is supposedly my friend, he’s not that relevant out of our little world.” 

“How can you do that?” 

“Do what?” 

“Hang out with him”

“Look, he isn’t as much of a dick as he seems, he’s actually a pretty decent company and he’s a kind soul but only if you are close to him and that’s why he comes off as an asshole to everyone else.” you say and you yawn. “Sleepy?” he asks

“Yeah, I am starting to get tired. Are you going to stay?” 

“I would but Roscoe will be here.”

“He can sleep in the guest room, please stay?”

“I will, although I have a meeting tomorrow morning. I’ll just wake up early.”

“Okay” you tell him and you stand up taking Roscoe in your arms “Wanna pet him?” you ask. “Only because you’re holding him” he says as he pets Roscoe who’s now sleepy. You leave your living room and head towards the guest room where you leave the dog, closing the door behind you. By the time you are out the door you see that the living room is already empty and you head to your room where Toto is already laying in your bed. You change into your pajamas and climb in your bed where you fall asleep. The next day you wake up and as Toto said, he has already left for his meeting. You check your phone and you see several texts, the first one from Toto reads a simple Text me when you wake up. The second one is from Marc, saying Parties ahead of the Cannes film festival are just starting, thought it would be nice for us to be seen together, to silence people about our whereabouts. Only as friends though. Accommodation in my yacht. Tristan will be here, bring Sara as well. RSVP. You give it a thought, thinking about how Christian made a scene about Roscoe, and how he asked you where you were. You text Toto first, to make sure it won’t be a problem. 

Woke up just fine although i would have liked you to be here and not in that stupid meeting of yours. Also, Marc just sent me an invitation about a party tomorrow and I think maybe I should go, do some pr job, give people something to talk about

Toto 

You should go just don’t get too wild

You 

I won’t,besides Sara will be probably coming as well.But the thing is it will be in Cannes, but I’ll make sure to be back to Nice on time for the flight

Toto 

No problem

You leave your phone on dnd and continue your tasks for the day, doing some light cleaning on your apartment when the doorbell rings. You open the door and you find a donut and a cup left on your doormat, the cup has a note on "Sorry for not being here for breakfast, consider this as my not so homemade breakfast." You smile and shut the door, immediately texting Sara, inviting her over for coffee and gossip. Once she comes over you share the news on the party for which she agrees immediately and she proposes a shopping spree for the party. You agree with her and shortly after you are off to the shops where you try on different outfits, occasionally texting Toto for his opinion on some of the outfits. At the end of the day, Sara ends up with 4 or 5 bags from the shops and you buy one simple black  dress  from Sandro to wear for the event. You grab a drink at the Blue Gin and you head back home where you pack your bags both for the party at Cannes and for the trip to Miami. Before you get back to bed you receive a text from Marc.

Marc Taylor

I will be waiting for you tomorrow morning for our trip to Cannes

You 

Where will we find you?

Marc Taylor

At the marina, we will be using my yacht obviously

You 

We will be there @ 10:30. Should we bring coffee?

Marc Taylor

We have a barista on board. Just get your bags. 

The next day you wake up, dressing up with a maxi sundress suitable for the yacht trip. You later meet Sara and her driver drops you off at the Monaco marina, right outside Marc’s yacht. You get on board as members of Marc’s staff get your bags on the yacht and into your rooms. You follow Marc straight ahead and join him and Tristan on the deck. You can see people with cameras taking pictures of you from the marina and you play along. You do want paparazzi to see where you are and who you are with, you are confident that they will be running the story before the party today. You greet Tristan and walk the deck, taking the sun in and gazing into the mediterranean. Sara snaps some pictures of you and then the yacht leaves Monaco and sails to Cannes.  “What time does the party start?” you ask,"At 8 I believe.” Tristan replies, “We have to start getting ready as soon as we arrive there” Sara tells you 

“We will arrive in Cannes in an hour, you will be needing 6 hours to get ready?” 

“Haven’t you met Horner? She takes at least two hours to get ready for a day at the paddock, you think she will be getting ready in sooner than 5 hours for a party in Cannes?” Sara answers and you laugh. As you sail to Cannes, the four of you sit on the deck sipping champagne and gossiping about old acquaintances of yours until one hour later you arrive and you dock at the marina. Tristan and Marc go out for a walk and you and Sara stay on board to relax and get settled to your rooms. You leave Sara in her cabin and you relax outside on the deck. You snap a photo and post it on your stories and then start reading your book until you start getting ready, while listening to music. Tristan and Marc come an hour later and Tristan waves at you. You take your headphones off. “There’s someone that has a package for you outside”

“What package?”

“It’s an order from a fashion brand I think. They said you made the order from Monaco and sent it here”

“Oh yeah that” you say “Marc can you please get this for me?”

“Of course” Marc replies and leaves you behind with Tristan. “What are you reading?” he asks, “The Goldfinch” you tell him.

“Oh I heard it’s nice.” 

“It is really good, I’ll give it to you when I finish it”

“Great! Um, by the way, have you seen Sara?” 

“She’s in her cabin, probably planning today’s look. She doesn’t wake up looking as good as you see her.”

“Bet she looks even better when she wakes up” Tristan says and you burst out laughing.“You really like her don’t you?” you ask 

“I do. Not as much as Marc likes you though.” 

“Tristan, Marc and I have already discussed this.”

“You know he’s still trying though” he tells you but he stops talking as he sees Marc coming up to the yacht. “This is your package Miss.” says Marc and kneels in front of you showing you the box.“Thank you mr. Taylor” you tell him “I gotta go try it on and plan my look for today, see ya later losers.”. You walk away from Marc and Tristan and into your cabin where you untie the black bow on top of the box and open it to reveal a green silk dress and in the box, a black handwritten card, a handwriting you recognize."Yesterday night I was watching Succession, saw this dress on Shiv and thought it would look nice on you. Bis Bald.". You smile in disbelief and try the dress on and you manage to fish out your emerald Manolo shoes which perfectly fit the color of the dress. You decide to wear this to the party instead of your new bought Sandro dress and you undress since lunch is about to be served. After your meal you return to your room, and start getting ready. You take a shower, use a face mask and then fix your hair in a low bun chignon. You apply some light makeup and some jewelry for the party. When you get out of your cabin you see Marc and Tristan in their party suits. “Wow Horner” says Tristan but Marc just sits there staring at you. “We should try to snap some pictures until Sara is ready” he says again and pushes both you and Marc at the front of the yacht where he takes pictures of you both with your phone and your polaroid camera but his phone rings so Marc becomes your photographer for the moment. “You look stunning, the color is amazing.”

“Thanks” you say and you keep posing. 

When the whole photoshoot is done you check your pictures and decide to post one of them on your story but first you want to check that everything is okay from Toto’s side 

You 

[Sent 2 photos]

Your wish is my command. The dress is perfect. Tristan and Marc were stunned

Wolff

I knew as soon as I saw it that it would be a perfect fit. Glad they liked it. Hope Marc keeps his hands to himself though

You 

He will! About that, is it okay if I post the picture of me and him ? 

Wolff

Everyone is going to talk about you two being a couple so why not feed the story to them? It’s okay by me after all ,at the end of the day only I know that you will be sleeping in my bed for the weekend 

20 minutes later Tristan is already yelling at Sara to hurry up and when she does show up at the deck she sees you and stares at you. “Horner!????? What are you wearing?” she asks “You look stunning but bestie this wasn’t the plan was it?” You approach her and you whisper to her ear “It was a surprise gift I couldn’t say no to”. She scoffs. “And he won’t even bring me flowers” she says as she points at Tristan. A couple of photos later the four of you are off to the party. At the party there are a lot more photos, dancing, drinking, mingling and socializing. Everyone is enjoying the wonderful night including Sara, Marc and Tristan. You get lost in a discussion with some movie producer who happens to be at the party and at some point you see Marc approaching you along with a blonde woman, which you happen to know. “Horner!” Marc says as you greet the producer “Marc, I lost you an hour ago, where were you?” 

“With this badass. I am not sure you’ve two met but, this is Francesca Scorcese” 

“Taylor, I’ve met Horner before. You always forget nepo babies always know each other” 

“Absolutely” you say “What have you been up to since I last saw you?” you ask. The three of you start discussing and later on partying. Late at night the party starts drifting off and your quartet returns happily to the yacht. You gather all the pictures from today, making sure there’s enough you and Marc on them so that people will start believing that you are in a relationship. You post them on your instagram captioning them as “What were your favorite nepo babies up to ?”  and you shut your phone before falling asleep. The next morning you wake up and make sure everything is packed. Sara’s sister who happens to have a job in Nice and was taking care of Roscoe in the meantime comes and picks you up from Cannes and drives you to the airport where you finally meet Toto. “Morning!” you tell him and give him a little hug. You are already in incognito mode so you’re making sure no one is watching you. “Hello. How was your party night?” 

“We had a lot of fun actually. You know how our events are? Not even close to that”

“At least on those events we get to be at the same place.” 

“But as long as I can remember the only thing we’ve managed to do was fight” you tell him “Thanks for the dress again. Everyone was impressed” 

“That is for you telling me that I don’t have any fashion sense.” he teases you “Mr Wolff, it is time to board.” the lady at the gate says. You take your stuff, carrying Roscoe in his cage as well and you board the jet. You get comfortable and get Roscoe out of his cage but you hold him on your lap, making sure that he won’t get close to Toto. The plane takes off and you drift off to sleep as the lack of sleep from your party night becomes apparent. After 3 hours you open your eyes and look out the window as you are flying mid Atlantic. It takes a minute before you realize that Roscoe isn’t on your lap anymore and you take a glance around you and you see the bulldog sleeping on Toto’s lap. You laugh at the sight, thinking how some days before Toto was afraid to death and how now he peacefully sleeps with him. You snap two or three photos and send one of them to Lewis. 

You 

[Photo]

Character growth! We are on our way to Miami. See you there 

Lewis Hamilton 

That is insane. Ah man, can’t wait to tease Toto for all of this. Thanks for the content, Horner. See you at the track!

Shortly after you drift back to sleep and you only wake up when you feel the ground below you shaking. You open your eyes and look out of the window again to see the airport of Miami. You don’t register that you have finally arrived until you hear “Miss Horner, Mister Wolff, Welcome to Miami”. Toto looks around and tells you “Let’s see what this race week brings us” and you nod, mentally preparing yourself for another week at the F1 circus. 

[vex-verlain]

In response to the reactions I’ve seen to #EndOTWRacism

Four things that can, actually, co-exist:

1.) being anti-censorship

2.) writing extremely kinky, fucked up idfic

3.) being a longtime lover and supporter of AO3

4.) supporting the End OTW Racism initiative

There are only four things the End OTW Racism initiative is asking for right now.

ASK ONE:

Harassment policies that can be regularly updated to address both on-site harassment and off-site coordinated harassment of AO3 users, with updated protocols for the Policy & Abuse Team to ensure consistent and informed resolutions of abuse claims

If the inclusion of “off-site coordinated harassment of AO3 users” upsets you, try one of the following:

1.) consider the idea that a person should be able to submit evidence of off-site harassment in conjunction with reports of on-site harassment, or

2.) go to the final thought at the bottom of this post.

ASK TWO:

A content policy on abusive (extremely racist and extremely bigoted) content; by abusive, we are talking about fanworks that are intentionally used to spread hate and harassment, not those that accidentally invoke racist or other bigoted stereotypes

Say it louder for the people in the back: “we are talking about fanworks that are intentionally used to spread hate and harassment, NOT those that accidentally invoke racist or other bigoted stereotypes.”

(If you believe removing works that harass actual human beings is the same thing as censorship, you’ll need to engage with someone who has far more spoons than I do.)

ASK THREE:

Hiring a Diversity Consultant within the next 3-6 months

How is this controversial?  It’s been THREE YEARS.

ASK FOUR:

Committing to a policy of transparency on this topic, with quarterly updates on the progress of these projects including challenges and their plan for overcoming those challenges. These quarterly updates should be published on OTW News page and newsletters, not solely discussed in Board meetings

This is not a big ask.  This is an important enough topic that one should not be forced to either attend the Board meetings or read the published Board minutes in order to receive an update.

Final thought:

Your beliefs do not have to perfectly align with a movement (nor every person within that movement) in order to support that movement.

And if you think they do, please consider how that works in real life. (It doesn’t; that’s how movements get divided.)

And perhaps also take a moment to appreciate the purity culture/purity wank implications. (“I only support things that are absolutely perfect!”)

This post is from May 18, 2023.  The End OTW Racism initiative referred to here is the planned two weeks of action from May 17 through May 31, 2023.

[gingiesworld]

Family Is Forever

Chapter Three

Wanda Maximoff x GN! Reader

Warnings: Angst.

Taglist: @fxckmiup @ginnsbaker @gb12d @casquinhaa @angrywhisperslove @louxbloom @natashamaximoff-69 @wizardofstories @canvascoloredin

18+ MINORS DNI

The next day came around pretty fast, Y/N had already had the lawyers draw up the papers, not wanting to draw the divorce out any longer than it needed to.

"So, we're doing it here?" Wanda questioned as she sat on the sofa as Y/N stood before the mantel, looking over the pictures of the four of them.

"Yeah, I figured it won't be long." They told her honestly, picking up the picture of the two of them stood outside of Tony's cabin. "I love this photo, I always thought you were stunning even of you hated the wind in your hair."

"What are you doing?" Wanda snapped as Y/N put the picture back in it's place.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. That was never my intention." They told her just as the doorbell rang, Wanda just huffed as she got up to answer it. Allowing the divorce lawyer inside as the three soon moved to the dining table. Both Wanda and Y/N sat opposite each other.

"So, what is the reason for this divorce, is it infidelity?" The lawyer questioned as the two shook their heads no.

"I guess we just drifted apart." Y/N told them as they looked away from Wanda. Wanda hummed in agreement as the lawyer sighed.

"We won't be able to get this divorce finalised as fast as you both would like." He told the two as he placed his pen down. "You will need to be separated for at least 6 months before a divorce can be filed. Even then it's a trial separation and marriage counselling is advised."

Both Y/N and Wanda shared a look before Wanda looked away, leaving Y/N with the talking.

"I don't think that counselling is an option." Y/N told him. "This decision by the two of us is set in stone."

"So it will be a trial separation, then in 6 months we can revisit the divorce. If that is what you both really want." He said as the two nodded. "I understand you both have a prenup and you have children, yes?"

"Yes." Wanda answered. "We are going to split the custody."

"And I am moving out so Wanda and the boys have the house." They spoke up. "Also I am still going to be paying for the boys, providing for them. Whatever they need."

"I do suggest going through the court for the child support, just incase of unforseen circumstances." He told the two.

"You mean like if I don't pay it one month?" Y/N questioned, Wanda could see that they were getting irritated by the insinuation.

"Y/N isn't like that, they never ever let the boys down." Wanda defended them. "This marriage is ending, not because we don't love each other."

"But because I haven't really had the time to split between work, Wanda and the boys." Y/N admitted as they looked at Wanda. "And I can't make a promise of something that isn't really in my control as I do travel for work sometimes, and Wanda deserves more than what I can give her." Y/N looked at the lawyer as Wanda's gaze remained on her soon to be ex. "We're going to co-parent the boys and Wanda has my schedule and she will get any changes made to it too." Y/N informed them both. "I have also just made appointment to sign a lease at an apartment nearby."

"What about belongings?" He questioned as Y/N sat up straight.

"I already took everything of my own." They told him.

"You only took your clothes." Wanda told them as Y/N nodded.

"I did take everything of my own." They repeated. "All of the furniture and electrical gadgets are all yours and the twins, I won't take anything more than what I already have."

"Ok." The lawyer hummed. "It seems you have everything under control with this separation." He packed away his papers before bidding the two good luck.

"So." Wanda started as Y/N stood up, pushing their chair back in it's place.

"I best be off." They told her. "I've got these reports from last week that areway behind."

"Ok." Wanda whispered. "Do you maybe want to have dinner tonight? I'm sure the twins would love to see you." Y/N inhaled shakily as they looked at the woman who will always have their heart.

"Yeah." They nodded. "I'll be here at the usual time."

"Thank you." Wanda told them as she walked them to the door.

"Why don't you open a book shop." Y/N suggested as Wanda looked taken aback. "It was always a dream you had and you have more than enough money in your account to do it."

"I don't know the first thing about running a business." Wanda admitted as Y/N gave her a tender smile.

"The community college has a business course that you could do." They told her. "You could learn everything you need to."

"But I have the twins." Wanda told them.

"I can always have them on the nights you have classes." They told her honestly. "I know you can do this Wanda so please just, make your dream come true. Do it for yourself."

"You really think I can do it?" She whispered as Y/N just nodded.

"I know you can." With that, they left her as she watched them drive away from the house. She started to wonder amidst all of the separation, she forgot about the dream she had before the twins were even a thought. Maybe because when she had that dream, Y/N would be by her side as she opened.

Once Y/N had finally made into the office, Tony greeted them as he dragged them into his own office. Gesturing for them to take a seat as he closed the door.

"I hear that you are having some trouble at home." He stated as Y/N sighed.

"Wanda and I are going through a separation." They stated calmly.

"So that's the reason for the recent splurge in absences." He stated as Y/N nodded.

"I've had to move out and well, I have an appointment for an apartment near the house so I am still there for the twins." They rambled as Tony held his hand up for them to stop.

"I understand Y/N but we can't be behind on weekly reports. It's not a good sight, especially on me." Tony told them. "Maybe you should step down from your senior position."

"No. I don't need to." Y/N told him. "I only have one appointment left and then the rest I am going to be doing in my own time. It's just this is hard right now and well."

"Maybe you should take a sebatical?" He suggested as Y/N shook their head no.

"That isn't an option." They stated. "I can assure you that this will not happen again Mr Stark. I just have a small appointment this week which I can take out of my lunch break. It's just signing a lease and picking up the keys for my new place."

"I am trusting your word Y/N." He told them sternly as Y/N thanked him before heading back to their own office to get to work. Time passed fairly quickly as they sent the late reports of and started on the new. They had also completely lost track of time, so they soon raced to the house just in time for dinner to be served.

"O'PA!!!" The twins yelled once they entered the house.

"Hey boys." They beamed as they hugged the twins, kissing the top of their heads before seeing Wanda stood in the doorway. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"You're here, that's all that matters." Wanda stated indifferently. Although the sight of the three of them made her heart swell, she still felt the heartbreak that this is only brief.

The two listened as Tommy was telling them about an upcoming game he has this weekend to which both Y/N and Wanda stated they wouldn't miss it. That was something that Wanda could trust with Y/N, they never missed a chance to cheer on the boys.

"When's the decathlon meet?" Y/N asked Billy who smiled shyly, something he gets from his mom.

"In 4 months." He told them. "We're just studying for the possible subjects and questions we could be asked."

"That's awesome Billy." Wanda beamed at him.

"Be sure to save me a ticket for it." Y/N told him as he just nodded. Once dinner was over, the boys had disappeared to do their homework as Y/N helped Wanda clean.

"You don't have to do this." Wanda told them.

"I know." They said as they put the dishes away. "I guess I, never mind." Wanda turned to face them, seeing them troubled was something she never liked to see.

"Are you ok?" She asked them as they gave her a tight lipped smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine." They told her, although she didn't buy it. "I guess I am going to go."

"Yeah." Wanda nodded as she watched Y/N disappear to say goodbye to the twins before Wanda met them at the door. "Be careful." She told them as they nodded, already making their way back to the office to get up to date on the work that has been piling up on their desk. Their head in their hands as they let the tears slip through, wiping them away faster than they would fall.

[yourgentlegirlfriend]

i’ve been hiding the comeback of apple pie for- months.

FIVE more chapters in the works and this is only the first one.

Apple pie part 6

Warnings: Mentions of throw up, angst and depictions of panic attacks.

I’m so excited for you guys to read this.

————————————————————————

ding

That chirping noise of the bell above the front door of your shop that somehow still made you jump even if you’ve been here every single day for 12 hours.

Was it smart to use all of your savings to open up your own flower shop? Probably not. Yet you didn’t have a single care in the world. Moving to the city was probably the best decision you could’ve made for yourself. Trying to forget a life you once knew, that person you used to be.

Your flower shop was unique though. Yes you sell bouquets, but If people were having a hard time picking what they wanted, you would make them a bouquet of their own 12 flowers. And since it was spring, business was booming. Your eyes flicked up, a wide smile growing across your face as you watched a man walk in, his eyes scanning over all of the separate bouquets.

Your fingers held at the knife in your hand, picking the thorns off the white roses between your fingers. Your form finally focuses back onto the bouquet you were creating, the pink ribbon resting on the counter. 12pm and the store was still this dead.

Your body jolted as the man who walked in earlier was in front of the counter, your finger pushing up onto the thorn on the stem making you hiss as you quickly pressed your now bleeding finger into your jeans before you looked up at him.

“What can I help you with?”

Handsome. The scruff on his face shaped perfection to him, and his smile was even better, his dark brown hair and broad shoulders making you wonder if he would be able to tell if you were staring.

“Sorry to scare you, Is your finger okay?”

His voice was like butter too? You were sure you looked almost starstruck, your head shaking as you let out a short laugh.

“Please, I’m my only employee, I cut myself so many times a week.”

The man chuckled softly, his eyes gazing over the braid on your shoulder and the glasses on your face. Then it hit you, this is the same man who’s been passing by every week. You noticed he would peer in whenever you were moving new pots in, but the shop is right next to a bakery so you assumed maybe people just looked.

“Not to sound like a stalker but, I was wondering If you wanted to go out sometime”

Was he really asking you out? Your heart was beating in your ears as you accidentally let out a huff, your eyes flickered around the shop as his hand rested against the counter.

“You’re asking somebody out and we haven’t even exchanged names?”

Your sentence made him smile yet again and god, did you enjoy seeing it. He shrugged, putting his larger hand out across the counter.

“You’re right, how rude of me. Chris Redfield.”

Your bleeding finger suddenly stopped, allowing you to reach your hand up, grabbing at his and smiling widely as you both exchanged a firm handshake.

“Well, I would love to go out sometime, Chris.”

Anybody should be flattered when a handsome man asks them out, right?

Right.

The view from your apartment was gorgeous. Especially at night time. The air lingered with silence as you poured yourself a glass of red wine, your heater turning on as you began to walk towards the chair you had facing the big open window by your living area. You sat down with a soft sigh, your legs crossing as you took a long sip of the thick red liquid. How many bottles did you go through this week anyways.

Your other hand comes up to rub your bare arm, your body flinching as you quickly pull your fingers away. A loud sigh leaves you as tears quickly weld in your eyes, the wine glass in your hand tilting back as you suddenly gulped down the liquid, a thin red line of spilled wine running down your chin as you just watched the active city below you.

Where could he be? You wondered as you wiped your chin, four years is a long time right? He has definitely forgotten after four years.

Maybe he went back for you.

This is a mental battle you’ve had with yourself everyday for the last year since you left your hometown. Selling your house to a single mom, who had promised to keep your garden alive when you left. The thought of him showing up to not find you always left you broken. But he had all that time, there’s no way he showed up.

It’s why you moved. You couldn’t keep yourself there with the hope that one day he would appear again. You had this sick fantasy that he would come back and everything would go back to normal, knowing it wasn’t going to happen. It killed your mental health and it still does.

Yet here you were, going on a date with some man that you don’t even know. You could hear Leon in the back of your head lecturing you about how stupid it is to give strangers your number, let alone your apartment number. You snapped out of your thoughts at the sound of a knock at the door, the sound of your heels clicking filling the apartment as you walked to the front and swung it open to see Chris.

You blinked at him a few times then looked down at the bouquet of pink roses and daisies in his hands. His arm extends to hand them to you carefully.

“Wow, these are beautiful, thank you so much.”

Yet there was a heavy feeling in your throat at the sight of the daisies. You refused to grow them at your shop and there was a reason why. You swallowed the lump in your throat, quickly inviting the man into the apartment as you hurried to the kitchen to put them in a vase.

“Not as beautiful as you though, not to sound overly sappy or anything.”

You couldn’t help but laugh as you shook your head, tucking some hair behind your ear as you set the vase of flowers on your counter and looking at him.

“What, you talk to girls like this all the time?”

Chris shook his head as the two of you began to walk to the front door, his head shaking as he held it open for you and let you lock it.

“Personally, women don’t really talk to me”

—————————————————————-

There’s no way women don’t talk to Chris redfield.

The two of you have been at this fancy restaurant he took you to for hours, laughing up a storm over random jokes and old childhood embarrassing stories. Your eyes scanned over his arms and his shirt before you tilted your head leaning forward a bit.

“I can’t believe I've never asked, what do you do for work?”

It’s to forward a question.

What if he lies to you?

How can you know he’s being honest-

“Well my career started when I was very young. I enrolled in the United States air force. Then I got tired of it I guess, started working at this place called Racoon City Police Department for a special service squad. Now I work for a private government agency, sorry if that scared you away. I know it may seem like my job is dangerous but I guarantee I'm fine.”

His honesty hit you like a truck. You blinked at him a few times processing what he had told you before a bell very similar to the one in your store rang in your head..

“Racoon City?”

You spoke, your fingers stopped tapping at the table as you looked across at Chris who just slowly nodded.

Don’t bring it up.

“Well it doesn’t push me away. I like a man in uniform.”

Hitting him back with corny pickup lines was your perfect solution.

“I’m supposed to go to this big company party next week, I don’t have a plus one. You should come with me.”

Chris spoke as he glanced at you after taking a bite of his food.

Saying yes was definitely far out of your comfort zone but, you’ve known him for about a month now. What could possibly go wrong anyways

——————————————————————

“Grief isn't just the mourn of death. Grief can hit you in so many ways, and the way it processes in your brain makes it harder to heal.”

Hearing your therapist's words made a soft sigh leave your lips as you just nodded your head. staring at the wall behind her as she just looked at you.

“You can’t hold onto the fact that maybe he was going to come back, you’ll drive yourself crazy forever.”

Plus, you had Chris now. He was an angel, he treated you so right and even if you didn’t want to talk about your ex- who wasn’t even really your ex but you were in love with him. He never made you happy.

Yet the way Chris treats you makes you wonder if the two of you could’ve been like this, sometimes you close your eyes and imagine that simple life with Leon but it can never happen. Not now.

——————————————————————

The weather has been so bad. Pouring every single day and Chris knows how much storms scare you. So staying at his house was definitely a blessing. The two of you weren’t dating yet, It’s only been two months and he says he knows what he wants but you’re not sure you believe him yet.

He works these awfully long hours leaving you alone in his house laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The sound of the rain growing heavier gains your attention as you glance over at the window, your heart suddenly racing as you clear your throat sitting up.

——-

The memory is clear as day still.

Your eyes fixated on your window in your bedroom. Your head snapping as you hear Leon whistle walking into the room.

“I hate-“

“You hate storms, you bring it up everytime it rains you know.”

Leon spoke with a small smile as he sat down on the bed, his fingers gently grabbing at your wrist, frowning slightly to feel how elevated your heart beat is. He quickly pulls you to his chest, making sure you’re comfortable. He loves how soft your hair is, his fingers running through the strands of your hair as you both soak in the silence.

“If something ever happened. Like we were to get separated and I haven’t seen you in years- I bet you’d pretend like you never knew me.”

Leon let your sentence settle for a second, his eyebrows frowned as he shook his head, his eyes dancing over the odd pattern of your ceiling as he gently gripped your shoulder and looked down at you.

“I would never pretend to not know you.”

——-

You don’t know why but the thought makes you sick. Sprinting to Chris’ bathroom, holding onto your stomach as you throw up, your hands grabbing at the floor now as tears quickly spring to your eyes. Then you’re gasping for breath, shaking your head as you stand up, your shaking palms reaching for the sink.

Everything is dizzy, and almost cloudy. You turn the water on, quickly splashing your face. Your vision is still dancing when you look up into the mirror, the edges starting to clear as you let out a long breath.

It’s hard being in a hole.

———————-

“Chris can you please zip this up, i don’t have the patience.”

The words came out jumbled and stressed, your skin rising with goosebumps when Chris’ fingers brush against your back, zipping up the dress with ease before he leans down slightly. Kissing at your shoulder as he grips at your arms. His thumbs caressing over your soft skin.

“As beautiful as the day I first saw you.”

Chris was what you needed. In a time where you felt most alone he showed up. He looked so handsome in his suit, you lick at your thumb as you fix his eyebrows, smiling as he grabs at your waist.

“You ready? Or do you need more time.”

He always worked around you.

“I’m ready but- thank you.”

Chris always rambled on about how his work space was honestly great. You couldn’t tell if he was lying because you use to say the same thing when you worked at the diner. The drive was suppose to be almost half an hour but it felt like two minutes.

Chris always opened the car door for you, his hand holding onto yours tightly as you two walked through the parking lot.

Your palms were sweaty, a feeling of unease lingering in the air.Something just felt off- almost like you were scared but of what?

Its badges of honor. Of course Chris was getting one but he didn’t tell you who else. The two of you were standing in the lobby of this giant hall forever, when the sound of Chris name made your head turn.

It all made sense. It felt like the blood was drained from your body, Chris’ hand slipping off your lower back to hug him.

Him?

Chris finally turns back to you, a wide smile on his face.

“Can’t believe I've never mentioned him. This is my friend, Leon.”

Your eyes are wide. Your throat feels like it’s swelling .

Leon too of course. His face white and his gaze fixated on your visibly shaken form

All before he extends his hand out to you.

“Leon Kennedy, pleasure.”

[usmsgutterson]

Okay, five hours ago I was like "tim gutterson timeline where?? me make one" and now. we have this. a timeline is in the post but it's rough, and this is more of a post that has a lot of information and headcanons in a rambled out format because whenever something gets stuck in my head, I write how I talk and I don't feel like editing this to make it shorter, so. yeah.

OKAY SO!! Going off of the assumption that's part canon and part headcanon that Tim would've joined the military at least within the year he graduated, you can't just join the army ranger snipers on a whim. You usually start in a differing unit (typically something like infantry, as far as what google said) and then you join the rangers and then you have to either volunteer or be recommended for sniper school, and it is a whole fuckin process that I have so much in my little head about. this is 20 gallons of information in a 10 gallon head and I feel like I'm going to explode.

OKAY, SO!! I have this little thing in my brain that's telling me Tim would've worked for at least three or four years in infantry before completing the ranger assessment and selection program, then he'd spend at least another three or four years working in the rangers before getting himself into the army ranger sniper school in one way or the next. As for length of schooling I've seen anywhere from 4-8 weeks.

for deployments I've seen varying lengths, but commonly I've seen around 3-6 months with the max being twelve. Leave is also pretty short for army ranger snipers (2-4 weeks) for I'm assuming mental reasons--they're trained to keep sharp all the time and short amounts of time for leave before they're back in combat keep their minds as sharp as possible.

Doing the math on that so far, if Tim joined the military at 18-19 years old, he would've been working in infantry until he was 21-23, then went from infantry to working in the rangers and worked with them until he was 25-27 before going through the sniper training and becoming a sniper around the same age as he was when he would've been recommended for sniper school.

Say he leaves the military entirely after his three total tours as a sniper, he would've been discharged when he was around 26-29 and in the military for around a decade. My math might be wrong (I have a brain that likes to go weeeeeee every time something kicks my interest up so. often times my head moves faster than my fingers can type and math has never really been my strongest suit) but even then, even if it's wrong, I feel like the latest he would've left the military would've been around 30 years old.

Okay, so to put years and dates and shit to this timeline, here we have the roughened out timeline of Tim Gutterson:

1980: we'll say around 1980 for a birth year bc Jacob Pitts was born in late 1979 so 1980 isn't that far off. I feel in my chest that Tim was born somewhere between September and December because I know people born in between September and December (with the only exception being october, I do not know anyone with an october birthdate) and the ones born in September, particularly, are the same breed of sarcastic Tim turns into after he leaves the military, a.k.a the one we see in the show.

1998: tim graduates high school yay!! He takes the ASVAB and goes about the whole of the military recruitment process, joins infantry to start.

2002: okay so going with the four year thing, Tim would work in infantry until around 2002-ish, at which point he takes the RASP and joins the rangers.

2006: after working in the rangers for four years, he gets recommended to join the snipers yay!! yay for timothy!! he's around 26 at this point and after sniper school he joins the 75th ranger regiment.

also 2006: let's say his first deployment occurs in the same year as when he becomes a sniper. It lasts six months and he gets about a months worth of leave in the aftermath. for ease of purpose and also ease of math, let's say that this deployment begins in June of 2006, ends in December, and the leave takes him from december to january.

2007: he gets deployed again in late january, and the deployment lasts until around the middle to late middle of July. It's his second and final deployment to Afghanistan, and after two weeks of leave, he's deployed again in August.

2008: after being on deployment through his 27th birthday, he comes home in february of 2008.

The timeline for military stuff ends right there if you're following the loose canon that exists (I say loose because the wikipedia states that Art only indicated a t l e a s t three tours total as an army ranger sniper. At least is not an exact number but instead the absolute minimum number of tours he did as a sniper.) but for me?? personally, I don't. I feel like he'd have at least another tour or two under his belt because he seems the stubbornly dedicated type and he knows that leaving means going back home when there's not really a home to go back to I feel like he'd prolong it at least a little bit.

If you follow the shows canon, Tim kind of just fucks around a little bit until he goes to Glynco when he's around 33-34 years old. It's said in the show in the first season that Tim is the office newbie who's been there less than a year when Raylan comes in, but I subscribe to the headcanon that Tim would've worked for six or so months, if not a full year, in an office down in georgia before he was transfered to Kentucky.

OKAY, TIMELINE ASIDE, tim would've seen a lot of shit in the like, decade or so he worked in the military. I've been reading on reddit a little bit and the bond we see in season four during Tims scenes with Mark makes a lot of sense--it was a common theme in what I did read that the army ranger snipers had a lot of cameraderie with each other and from what the reading I did told me, a lot of them went on to miss it after they left.

I need to stop rambling now so I can focus on the fic i'm trying to write but like,, if anyone wants to blab at me about this, blabbing is encouraged because tim gutterson is not leaving my head until I go to sleep, and I'm not going to go to sleep for at least a little while yet.

[munsonfamilyband]

So, since my last post kind of popped off, I decided to continue it. Here’s part 2 of the Different Meeting AU:

Robin knew within a week of that first hangout that Steve was interested in someone. She ambushed him at their new job, demanding he fill her in. What follows is a very awkward coming out on Steve’s part (“Why didn’t you say anything when I came out to you??” “I was still drugged! I forgot!”) and then an even more awkward explanation of who he is interested in and how they met. Robin was unsurprisingly supportive and helps wingman from the background, which mostly consists of getting Steve in progressively tinier clothes for his and Eddie’s now biweekly smoke sessions.

When they finally do get together, Steve clears it with Eddie before telling her the next day at work. She jumps up and down from excitement and demands to meet him. And just like that, Steve had two best friends who also get along, and one of them was also his crazy hot boyfriend. The next six months pass in a haze of happiness, until it pops on a particular Saturday morning in late March.

Spring break has just started, and Steve is only a little grumpy. Eddie had called Family Video yesterday around lunch time to tell Steve he wouldn’t be able to come over right after the game that night because he had a client coming over. This didn’t upset Steve, what left him so grumpy was that Eddie had said he would call after the client left and he never did. Steve isn’t insecure, after 6 months he is very secure in his relationship. No, Steve isn’t insecure, but he is clingy so he always gets a little cranky when he hasn’t seen Eddie in a bit.

Robin picks up on his mood as soon as he picks her up, because of course she does, and she spends the next couple hours joking with him to try to bring up his mood. It actually starts working a bit before his mood crashes back down when he tunes into the news playing on the TV. On the screen, grainy as it is, is a trailer he knows just as well as his own house, with a very familiar van parker outside it. The words “murder” and “Hawkins High student” sink into his brain and the panic starts to set it.

“Robin.” Steve calls her name, but she’s still busy sorting movies, so he calls her name a couple more times before reaching out to grab her wrist without taking his eyes off the screen. “Robin, I need-“ The panic leaking into his tone finally gets her attention and she spins around to look at the TV just in time to hear the reporter say that Eddie is currently missing.

“Oh shit- okay, Steve, I need you to take a deep breath for me. Come on, deep breath.” She turns him toward her, holding his face between her hands. “They said he’s missing, so he might be okay, we don’t know right now-“

“But he might be hurt, whoever did this, they could have taken him-“

“Steve, you need to breathe-“ Her attempts at calming him are interrupted by the bell above the door, getting them both to turn around and face Dustin and Max. The four of them stare at each other for a beat before Dustin speaks.

“How many phones do you have?”

“What?” Steve manages to snap himself out of his panic in the face of Dustin’s own fear.

“How many phones do you have?”

“Uh, Two I think? Why-“ Steve is cut off by Dustin throwing his bag over the counter and leaping over it, knocking tapes onto the floor. “Hey, dude, no! My tapes! Can you explain why you need our phones?”

“I don’t have time for this, Max, could you..?” Max rolls her eyes but turns to Steve and Robin to explain.

“Last night I saw Eddie Munson come home with Chrissy Cunningham, and then 15 minutes later I heard screaming and I saw Eddie run like hell out of his trailer. I was able to see inside this morning and Chrissy was laying on the floor with her eyes sucked out of her head. Now, we’re trying to find Eddie.”

Steve feels like his stomach has disappeared, replaced entirely with a solid ball of fear. He thanks whatever is out there for Robin, because she speaks up before he has to try.

“You don’t think- is this another mall situation?” Steve can feel his knees shaking and Robin grabs his hand tightly to support him.

“I don’t know, but it seems like it might be.”

Steve takes a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and pull his shit together before speaking up.

“Dustin, grab your shit, let’s go.” Without even waiting for an answer, he grabs his keys and starts walking for the door. As he’s walking he turns to walk backwards, seeing no one moving. “Let’s go! Do you want to find Eddie or not?” Continuing his path out the doors he hears Dustin yelling questions at him, but he can also hear him scrambling to get his stuff together. By the time Steve reaches his car everyone has nearly reached him and he doesn’t hesitate when getting in his car, starting it as everyone gets inside.

Robin sits in the passenger’s seat and keeps shooting his worried glances. Dustin and Max keep asking questions, but Steve ignores them, only listening to Robin.

“Are you sure you know where he is?”

“Yeah, we’ve been here a bunch lately. Rick’s in prison right now so no one comes around the house but us.”

“Okay, if you’re sure, then I’ll trust you.”

“The only other place I can think he would go would be mine, but he would have shown up last night-“

“I’m sorry, do you and Eddie KNOW each other???” Dustin’s words manage to finally pierce the wall of focus in Steve’s head, but Max responds before he can answer.

“Duh, Steve is at Eddie’s all the time.” Dustin stares at Steve like he’s grown another head.

“And no one said anything, why???”

“It was funny.”

“It was FUNNY?!?! What the hell, Steve?!”

“Language, Henderson.”

“Oh my god, now is not the time-“ Steve pulls into the driveway of Reefer Rick’s house, slamming the car into park.

“Shut up, we’re here. If you’re coming, then get out.” Without waiting for any answers, Steve climbs out of the car, rushing over to the front door. “Eddie? Eddie, are you here?” Peering through the windows Steve can see the remnants of the picnic they had at the house the weekend before, but no sign of Eddie. Dustin, as tactful as ever, starts banging on the door and yelling. “Dude! He’s in hiding, be quiet!”

“He needs to know it’s us!” Steve groans, leaning against the siding of the house.

“Hey guys, look!” Max yells over from her spot in the driveway, and Steve suddenly remembers the other part of the property.

“The boat house, how did I forget the boat house.” Their group run over to the boat house, pushing inside with Dustin calling out Eddie’s name. Steve grabs an oar, carefully walking around the boat house. Knowing Eddie, he would be terrified and when he’s spooked he gets aggressive. With this knowledge, Steve should have been more prepared when Eddie jumps out of the boat and shoves Steve up against the wall, broken bottle held to his neck.

Steve watches Eddie’s eyes flit across his face, watches the recognition down across his features and he watches as Dustin’s words sink into Eddie’s head. Steve just grins shyly at Eddie with his head tilted back to avoid to sharp glass.

“Usually I wouldn’t be opposed to this, but there are children here.” His joke does what Steve had hoped, making Eddie huff a laugh and stumble backwards to sit down.

“What are you doing here?” Steve feels his heart crack at the fear still lacing Eddie’s voice, and he carefully slides over to Eddie’s side. He holds a hand out to stop Dustin as Steve settle in next to Eddie, prying the bottle out of his hand and gently laces their fingers together.

“I saw the news this morning, and then Henderson showed up at Family Video looking to find you. I figured that I could save us some time and just come right here.” Eddie manages to tilt one side of his mouth up in a small grin, clearly happy to see Steve despite the anxiety of this whole situation. “Eddie, what happened last night? You said you had work, what happened?”

Eddie grips Steve’s hand a little tighter, his other hand coming up to rest on the back of Steve’s neck and takes a deep breath to speak, but because he has no filter, Dustin interrupts him.

“Okay, what is happening right now? Before today I didn’t know you guys even knew each other, and now you’re holding hands? Why are you guys sitting like that? How do you even know each other? Why did Steve know you would be here?” They both glance at each other, making meaningful eye contact before coming to the same conclusion. Eddie simply shrugs.

“Me or you?” They had thankfully discussed this before, and Eddie worked some gay couples into his campaigns to see how the kids would react. They all seemed okay with it, so they weren’t terribly worried about telling the truth.

“Who do you think he’ll be more mad at?”

“You, probably.”

“Fair, you should say it then.” Eddie grins and turns to Dustin to speak.

“I’m dating your babysitter, surprise. Now can we get back to the cheerleader in my trailer?”

“Yes-“

“No! You’re DATING??!?! And you never said ANYTHING?”

“Dustin, now isn’t the time-“

“Henderson, we have a much bigger potential problem and we need to figure out if that is what’s happening.” Steve levels Dustin with a glare, which seems to knock some sense into him.

“Fine, but we are discussing this later.”

“Thank you. Go ahead, Eddie.” Eddie leans his forehead against Steve’s temple briefly to stabilize himself before he launches into his explanation of the previous night’s events. As he tells the story the dawning horror in Steve’s gut grows stronger, knowing with awful understanding that the upside down was, in fact, back, and the one person he wanted to protect was now part of it.

“Okay, Eds, remember how you asked about my nightmares and I told you that you wouldn’t believe me if I told you?” Steve can see Eddie beginning to put the dots together, the same fear Steve feels being reflected back at him now.

“Yeah, and I told you I would always believe you.”

“Well, I’m gonna hold you to that now. It all started on November 6th, 1983, the night Will Byers disappeared.”

————————

I do have more ideas about this so if you want more, let me know.