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brainrattlers · 2 years ago

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Play It Cool - Tyson Jost (30/n)

Pairing: Tyson Jost x OFC (AJ)

Word Count: 4,237

Warnings: Language, and lots of anxiety, stress about the unknown.

Chapter 29 is at https://brainrattlers.tumblr.com/post/700974148357390336/play-it-cool-tyson-jost-29n

Need to start from the beginning? Here you go: https://brainrattlers.tumblr.com/post/684079731435552768/play-it-cool-tyson-jost-1n

Author's notes: Holy crap, in light of Tyson's *amazing* night earlier, I'm excited to post, but it isn't to the point of tonight (er, last night's) game yet. That will definitely be next week. I gotta say, seeing Tyson play over eighteen minutes (where three weeks ago he was playing eight, if he was even playing), taking faceoffs... and THAT GOAL... I'm inspired. (Good grief my fingers just typed sinspired, but hey, who knows what is coming up next week? 😉 But seriously it's nearly 2am, my fingers have a mind of their own.) I am so glad that Buffalo has taken a chance on him. The team and the coaching staff have awakened something in him and I cannot wait to see how the rest of this season plays out. Also, holy hell, how is this chapter 30 already?

With that... let's find out how exactly Tyson and AJ ended up in Buffalo.

The next few weeks were not easy for Tyson. It seemed like no matter what he did, it just wasn’t right. He had a meeting with Evason for a couple minutes, and came out looking dejected, like a kicked dog. He went to every practice, all optionals, and took extra time to work on things he was feeling weak in. It was a lot of long nights sitting in the pressbox while he was a healthy scratch. Through it all, he kept his “I’m okay” face on.

An article came out in The Athletic that pointed out how Shaw was getting his chance with the Wild, and how Guerin told him he was staying. Of course they were lavishing praise on Shaw - he really did deserve it - however it seemed quite callous to point out Tyson’s flaws. In the same article, an odd situation was described, a very much he said/she said, but more of Evason Said/Jost Said.

The coach described the situation as having met repeatedly with Jost, talking and working on things, watching video. They were wanting to build him up. Tyson’s side of things was that he had the one five-minute long meeting with the head coach and that was really it. Whether Tyson was misquoted, as maybe he had been working with other coaching staff, it sounded like someone was not telling the truth.

But it was clear as day - Tyson Jost was the Wild’s whipping boy.

Even the new guys that were sluggish and playing mediocre to poor were getting more accolades than he was. Even on the nights he was scratched and the Wild lost, the garbage fans on social media still called him out. He wasn’t born into the organization, and was merely adopted, thus… the whipping boy.

The pressure was getting to AJ too, and not just because Tyson was struggling once he got home. The nagging feeling she had before the trade to Minnesota was back. Similar anxiety hit when he got scratched. And it was hitting her HARD this time around. AJ was trying to keep her brave face on, she didn’t want to make Tyson feel worse because she was struggling too. Mentally, she was preparing for the worst, wondering where he was going to end up. Sending him down to Iowa would be a huge blow to his already fragile ego.

The day that Tyson actually got to play again, he met with the media after morning skate. It was blatant to her that the smile that graced his face was not a typical one. AJ was used to seeing the smiles that caused the corners of Tyson’s eyes to crinkle. It may have looked good to most who saw the guy who was just happy to be playing again, but to AJ, this one very much stopped mid-nose heading up to his curls. That smile never made it to his eyes.

He played, and it was even LESS time than the last few games - less than eight minutes total.

That night, Tyson got home and couldn’t sleep. His mind was wound up, replaying what all he did in the game. Fearing he’d wake up AJ, he just laid there, eyes closed, as the thoughts kept looping. What he soon figured out though was that AJ was having a restless night too, tossing and turning. He tried to ease both of their minds by curling up with her, but much to his chagrin, he just couldn’t catch the sleep he was chasing.

Silently, Tyson got up around 6am, finding that AJ was finally asleep, soundly. It was going to be a long day with the lack of sleep, but he was going to do what he could to make it good. Before making a small breakfast, he started a load of laundry, making sure he pulled out delicates from everything else. A bowl of cereal, some eggs and turkey bacon found their way into his stomach as he just stared out the sliding glass doors that opened up to Minneapolis. Something broke his trance, and looking at his watch, he realized he needed to get to TRIA rink for morning skate.

AJ was still asleep, but he leaned over and kissed her temple.

“Love you so much,” he whispered, “I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

Hearing the front door latch, AJ woke up, smelling the faintest memory of Tyson’s shampoo and conditioner. Her stomach absolutely was in knots. It got worse an hour or so later when she saw the tweet from Michael Russo, correcting what lines were on the ice at practice.

The original tweet said it was Dewar/Jost. It was corrected to just Dewar.

AJ’s heart sank into her feet. She wanted to throw up.

Immediately, she started working on the laundry in the dryer, doing more still. While that was running, AJ pulled some empty tubs from the closet, and started grabbing clothes from the bureau in the corner of the room. She was seemingly on autopilot, until it hit her like a ton of bricks and the tears started falling down her cheeks.

Tyson quietly unlocked the door to their apartment, finding AJ on the sofa curled up with her knees to her chest, tears silently streaming. His heart ripped in half at the sight of her surrounded by the tubs that they had just unloaded not 5 months ago. Feet with a mind of their own, he found himself already surrounding AJ, holding her tightly in his arms.

“How did you know? It hasn’t been announced yet…” Tyson trailed off as both of their phones started buzzing incessantly.

UPDATE: TYSON JOST (MINNESOTA WILD) WILL BE PLACED ON WAIVERS AT 1:00PM CST.

Shakily, the words slipped out. “I didn’t, but that feeling I had before you got traded here… and… I’ve had it for weeks now. It was really bad yesterday.” AJ couldn’t stop the tears. “I didn’t want to say anything to upset you.”

Tyson couldn’t stop his own tears at that point either. “You wouldn’t have upset me, I’m already upset with myself. With the coaching staff. Mainly with me.” He looked around at the tubs on the floor. “Are you leaving? Where are you going?”

AJ whipped her head up to look at Tyson as the words stabbed like knives in her heart.

“I’m going where you’re going, right?” AJ whispered, “If you clear waivers, we’re going to Des Moines. If you don’t… we’re going… somewhere else?”

It was in those few seconds, hearing AJ say “we’re going” stitched Tyson’s heart whole again. There were still tears, but it was of relief that she wasn’t leaving him. The tears slowed and stopped, but the two stayed put, clinging to each other as they themselves seemed to be the only stable things in each other’s lives right then.

Tyson didn’t ask what caused AJ to start panic packing, but he was in awe that she even had the intuition that this was happening (again).

The constant buzzing of his watch made him realize that his mom was calling. Putting Laura on speakerphone, the three talked about things and what may and may not happen. Despite being miles upon miles away, she was still the voice of reason, the voice of calm.

“You just have to see what’s going to happen. I know you hate it, but it’s just hurry up and wait. It’s going to be the longest 23 hours, but we’re all going to get through it. We’re a family, and this is what families do, we stick together and make things work. Do you need me to come down to help with anything?”

This was the first time AJ saw Tyson’s face have any sort of happiness.

“While you’re welcome to… I came home and AJ was already packing. She hadn’t even heard the news yet and she’s got like 3 weeks of clothes packed for both of us. I think we’re okay, AJ’s got this under control.”

While it stung a little that Laura’s baby didn’t need her help, she was also very relieved that Tyson had AJ right now.

The three eventually closed out the call, and an eerie calm fell upon the apartment as AJ sat folding laundry, and Tyson kept checking his phone to make sure he didn’t miss any calls. With all the laundry folded, and what might be needed put into a couple bins, AJ wasn’t sure what to do either.

To quote Tom Petty, “the waiting is the hardest part.”

AJ finally started getting to texts from everyone, Jess, Nate, Laura (when she couldn’t get Tyson to answer earlier), Danielle, Mel (that one was a little surprising, but they were still friends, all things considered), and a few others including her parents. Apparently someone told them the news.

2:00PM

Laura had been right, it truly was hurry up and wait. AJ swapped laundry again and brought the basket of warm clothes from the dryer to the coffee table, to mindlessly fold. She didn’t know really what to say or do, so she prepared… for Des Moines, or somewhere else.

Tyson just laid on the sofa, eyes pointed at the ceiling. Everything was out of his hands at the moment and he was trying to accept it.

3:00PM

Tyson grabbed his suitcase from the closet, trying to keep emotions in check. AJ had already pulled out some of his favorite things to wear to put in it. He smiled as he put the stacked clothes in the luggage, noticing her favorite Wizard World hoodie on top.

“You realize that’s your hoodie in my stack, right?” Tyson was curious as to what she was up to.

“Yep, but I think you’ve worn it more in the last six months than I have. Just in case something happens and we’re separated for a bit, I think it’ll do you more good than me.” AJ was trying to keep the feelings from spilling out from her eyes onto her cheeks. “Besides, you look better in it than I do.”

4:00PM

AJ was getting antsy, she took her anxiety out on the elliptical at the gym in their building. Her eyes started getting watery realizing this may be the last time she got to use the gym there, not that she particularly liked going to the gym to begin with. Blasting some tunes on her earbuds, she tried to forget the outside world for a bit.

Somehow in all this, Tyson fell asleep on the sofa, but made sure the ringer on his phone was extra loud. He didn’t want to miss anything important. He woke up to the sound of a very sweaty AJ coming back from working out.

She was kicking herself because she JUST did the laundry, and wasn’t thinking about this entirely clearly.

5:00PM

AJ got out of the shower, throwing on a hoodie and jeans. After starting the washing machine AGAIN, she found herself sitting at the sliding glass door, staring out over Minneapolis’ skyline. It was getting more difficult to keep her brave face on. A lot of texts were sent between her and Jess trying to make sense of the last 6 hours.

Tyson strummed away on his ukulele, trying to cheer up AJ by stumbling through some of the chords to “My Funny Valentine.”

6:00PM

“Did you eat lunch earlier?” Tyson questioned AJ, who sat on the sofa as she rubbed her temples and sighed.

AJ closed her eyes. “No. As soon as I saw Russo’s tweet… I just started packing.”

“Babe, you need to eat.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Put your shoes on, we’re getting dinner.”

AJ grudgingly put on a pair of Chucks, and Tyson grabbed her hand, hauling her down the hallway toward the elevator. After pressing the garage floor button, Tyson wrapped his arms around her holding her tight. A little bit of stress left AJ when she felt his lips against her temple.

The two hit the road, but some of that stress came back as they neared Xcel.

“Remember where I first took you to dinner after you moved in? That’s how we started here, that’s how we’re going out. Also I know how much you love the Marsala.”

Tyson parked the Grand Cherokee in the garage just off of 7th. They walked hand in hand, and he opened the door to Cossetta for AJ.

7:00PM

Tyson ordered the Lasagna Al Forno, and AJ indeed ordered the Marsala Chicken. Trays in hand, they found a quiet corner to eat in. He even picked up a cannoli for them to share, just like their first dinner out as newly minted residents of Minneapolis.

“You know things are going to be alright, yeah?”

AJ picked at the mushrooms on her plate and grimaced.

“I mean it. I’m nervous too, fuck I still feel like shit it even got to this point. But… maybe it’s good. I go to Iowa, maybe they can figure out where I’m struggling. And you said you have friends in Des Moines?”

She cringed at the idea of Des Moines, but Tyson was indeed correct. “Yeah, I do, Andrew and Tina are there… Ryan and Emily… have a little US Air Guitar reunion I guess.”

“Hold up, what?” Tyson was confused by what he just heard. He knew those words, just not necessarily in that order. “US… Air… Guitar?”

Whether Tyson meant to or not, AJ was out of her thoughts and suddenly was excited.

“Wait, wait, have… I… never told you I’m a professional air guitarist?” AJ giggled at the blank stare of disbelief on Tyson’s face. “It’s a thing. There’s an Air Guitar Canada even. I’ve been doing it for years, although after the knee issues I had to sit back, but I still help out with regional qualifiers and stuff. Oh yeah, there are regionals. And then if you win at Regionals, you go onto Nationals. But there is also a Dark Horse competition to get to Nationals! And if you win Nationals, you go onto the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!!! It’s in Oulu Finland, end of August. Huge deal.”

AJ went on and on about how the competitions work, how they score like figure skating or gymnastics on a scale of 4.0 to 6.0, how you can only have your air guitar because a prop used as a guitar will get you disqualified. How everyone has their own persona, alter ego if you will.

“How did I not know this about you? That’s kinda…” Tyson trailed off.

AJ got worried to hear what he was about to say.

“... badass.”

The laugh couldn’t be contained, and AJ was relieved to hear what he finished his sentence with.

“I’ll have to show you some moves sometime. Just… don’t look me up on YouTube. Not that there are videos of my performances or anything…”

“Oh I’m looking them up. And you said there is an Air Guitar Canada? Maybe when you have dual citizenship,” Tyson’s eyes were nearly twinkling at the thought, “You can compete for Canada!”

AJ rolled her eyes and smiled.

Happy that AJ was out of her funk, if only for a few minutes, Tyson watched her dunk her breadstick in the marsala sauce and eat the remainder of the mushrooms. And being gag-inducingly cute, he fed her bites of the cannoli, alternating with himself.

After dropping off their trays, they walked back to the garage in much better spirits than they had arrived in. AJ still was a little wistful, realizing that they weren’t going to go back there again anytime soon. Tyson held her hand as he drove back, squeezing it when her mind seemed to drift too far away.

9:00PM

With how mentally draining the day was, the two brushed their teeth, and crawled into bed. Nervous and hopeful were pretty much the two emotions that were hitting the hardest. AJ was getting used to the idea of Des Moines though. And who knows, he could get called back up.

Tyson was focused on simply breathing. Again, it was completely out of his hands, there was no sense in dwelling on it when he had no idea what was going to happen. His mental approach was so much stronger than it was just a few months earlier. He was absolutely AJ’s rock at that point. Knowing that she was still a little frazzled, instead of little/big spoons, Tyson simply hugged AJ in bed until it was uncomfortable for them.

He cracked first - mainly because somehow AJ fell asleep first. Tyson carefully pulled his arm out from under her, trying to keep her from waking.

It was pretty much too late for news to come in, so he turned down the volume of his phone. The intention was to wake up early though, as something big could happen once the sun came up.

6:22AM

Tyson gave up on sleeping. He had dozed off and on all night. The calm, cool exterior he had earlier was fading, and showed the anxiety underneath as he woke up every couple hours. Grabbing his running shoes, he left a note for AJ in case he wasn’t back yet when she woke up.

8:00AM

AJ groggily looked around and found the note on her nightstand.

Be back soon Eggo. Running to clear my head. XOXO

Her stomach was in knots.

Why hadn’t any teams claimed Tyson yet?

AJ got up and took a quick shower, followed by making some tea and toast in the kitchen. Tyson returned home, smelling the toast as he entered the living room. She peeked out of the kitchen, and tossed him a banana.

“Eat up, we gotta get rid of a few things before… whatever happens… just in case.”

With the banana eaten, Tyson hit the shower. Still no news. He himself was resigning to the idea he was going to Des Moines. The team was playing that night, but he obviously was not at morning practice. It stung.

9:00AM (Four hours until the 24 hours were up.)

The two curled up on the sofa to watch some Yellowstone, not really knowing what else to do.

10:00AM

AJ cooked some waffles to share. Tyson had his with the remaining almond butter in the fridge, and another banana. AJ slathered hers in maple syrup.

11:00AM

Tyson shut off Yellowstone, noticing that AJ was not really paying attention and just fidgeting.

“Hey… let’s make a playbook,” Tyson was trying to come up with anything to make time pass and also get AJ’s focus back, “What are you going to do if it’s Des Moines?”

The two talked about how Tyson would likely just make the 3-4 hour drive down I-35 with a few things, and AJ would follow shortly in her own vehicle with more stuff. She might split her time because most of her clients were obviously in the Twin Cities area, but most of the Iowa Wild games were on the weekends, so she could make the trip down until they figured out how to work it all out.

AJ had a look of concern on her face.

“What if it isn’t Des Moines? We’ve been talking it up so much… what if you do get picked up?”

Tyson thought about it for a moment. “There aren’t too many teams nearby… I’d probably end up flying. Would you be up for driving? That way we have at least one vehicle still wherever we end up?”

12:00PM (One hour remaining.)

Both were straight up pacing. With every buzz of his phone, AJ felt more doom and gloom that it was still going to be Des Moines. She understood that it was a chance to get that development that he missed out on as an Avalanche player. But it still felt like such a huge demotion.

12:30PM

AJ sat on the sofa, chewing her nails. She had Laura on speakerphone, to not tie up Tyson’s phone in case something happened.

With just MINUTES to spare, Tyson’s phone rang just before 1:00PM.

AJ and Laura got quiet.

“Yes, I understand. Okay. Let’s do this.” Tyson hung up the phone, finding AJ literally on the edge of her seat, white-knuckling the pillow she was holding onto.

Laura wasn’t even in the room but she could feel the intensity through her own phone, on pins and needles waiting to know as well.

“It’s Buffalo.”

AJ’s phone started buzzing with tweet notifications that Tyson had been claimed. Notifications of texts started shortly after that.

Thinking about the waiver priority list, it was figured out that Anaheim, Columbus, Arizona, and Ottawa (which there were rumblings on Twitter about) all passed. But Buffalo saw something in him, and made it official.

Tyson was going to be a Sabre.

But there was a major issue at that very moment. Buffalo was in the middle of a severe winter storm, expecting to dump upwards of six feet of snow. And Tyson was supposed to get there the next day, supposedly.

Laura exited the conversation to let him and AJ figure out what the next steps were.

“Tys, Buffalo is a two day drive. They think they can get you flown out though?”

It was quickly figured out that AJ was indeed going to drive that afternoon, and arrive the next day. The plan was to stop probably in Indiana, and then make the rest of the trip, weather permitting. But then the discussion of the vehicle came into play.

“I don’t want you driving your Soul… especially if the weather is bad.”

“You know it’s stick, right? And I’ve driven it in Denver, and here, right? And at home in bad weather?”

Insistent, Tyson was trying to make a point. “I’d feel much safer if you took the Cherokee. Please, I mean it. It can hold more too.”

AJ got a smile on her face. “This isn’t about safety at all - you’re nervous about driving stick in Buffalo in my car aren’t you? I told you we should have practiced more this summer.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Tyson gave a sheepish grin. “Maybe. But I mean it, take my car.”

The two filled up the vehicle with luggage and tubs, leaving Tyson with his backpack and toiletry kit he took on roadies. It was figured out that AJ would fly back the next time Tyson was on an extended roadie to pack up the rest and get stuff ready to be moved.

“Text me when you stop? And check in…” Tyson bit his lip, holding back tears, even though he would hopefully be seeing AJ the next day in Buffalo. “Is this what you feel like when I leave for roadies? This is awful!”

AJ laughed and hugged Tyson tightly.

“Yeah, a little bit. But I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Tyson handed AJ the keys through the window as she climbed into the driver’s seat, adjusting the mirrors and seat position. He also stole another kiss before she put the key in the ignition, heading out on a new adventure.

As she promised, AJ texted when she stopped for gas, and her stopping point for the night, South Bend, Indiana. Finding a hotel, she barely was in the door when she sent a quick text before passing out for the night.

AJ: Little over halfway there. Roads are fine. Love you so much Tyson, can’t wait to start this new chapter tomorrow in Buffalo.

AJ was snoring hard as it was an even more draining day than the previous, missing the text from Tyson.

Tyson: Flying out hopefully tomorrow afternoon. Snow has stopped. Team is in Toronto tonight, flying back tomorrow too. Should have hotel info and address soon, will send. Sleep well, sweet dreams Eggo. Thank you for trusting the process, even though this isn’t what I’d planned. Love you.

AJ woke up, and checked the roads. It wasn’t going to be great getting into Buffalo, but she had hoped by the time she arrived, a lot of the snow would be plowed. And hopefully Tyson could get into town too. Another six and a half hours to go, AJ snagged breakfast at the hotel before hitting the road again. Doing the math from the info Tyson gave her, he would beat her there by an hour or so and at least could hopefully check in at the hotel.

Tyson: At the airport. (Hotel info) See you in a couple hours babe. DRIVE SAFE. (heart emoji)

AJ: Safe travels, tell the pilot to be careful! (kiss emoji)

After several more hours of driving, which of course was a bit longer due to the weather, AJ finally arrived in Buffalo. Google Maps wasn’t the greatest getting her to the hotel due to some streets not being fully plowed yet, but finally, she arrived and pulled into the parking lot.

Tyson was in the lobby, waiting impatiently, much like in St. Louis months earlier. He almost knocked AJ over rushing to her, hugging her tight. Grabbing a luggage cart, the two unloaded the Grand Cherokee, heading upstairs on the elevator. Opening the door to the room on the 3rd floor, he ushered her in. A load of weight had been lifted from both of their shoulders as AJ let the door close behind her.

“Welcome to Buffalo, Eggo. Welcome home.” Chapter 31 can be found at https://at.tumblr.com/brainrattlers/play-it-cool-tyson-jost-31n/43faeobb8w2p

#Tyson Jost #Josty #Tyson Jost x OFC #TysonTuesday #Play It Cool #NHL #Buffalo Sabres

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lovejustforaday · 2 years ago

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2022 Year End List - #3

Blue Rev - Alvvays

Main Genres: Shoegaze, Indie Pop

A decent sampling of: Noise Pop, Twee Pop, Dream Pop, Jangle Pop, Indietronica, Surf Rock, Neo-Psych

One of my most anticipated records of the year was the long-awaited return of Alvvays, the Canadian indie darlings fronted by Molly Rankin who hails from my own home province of Nova Scotia.

Debuting with their 2014 self-titled Alvvays, the band started off as staunch revivalists of that uber-hip late 1980s U.K. C86 jangly twee sound, with a nice splash of surf rock added in. All in all, a cute record with one very clear winner “Archie, Marry Me” which greatly overshadowed every other song on the record by comparison (Okay, “Next of Kin” was pretty great too).

2017′s Antisocialites expanded on the debut by venturing into more dreamy territory, and upping the songwriting significantly. The record definitely also left a lasting impression on the North American indie scene, as the band’s new record was definitely one of the most talked about upcoming releases in all of the music nerd spaces that I frequented this year.

In those five years of waiting, Alvvays have matured as artists. They also apparently went through development hell based on what I read about in the interviews leading up to this. But what to make of the end result?

Well, after teasing at it for years on their previous LPs, Alvvays has finally delivered with Blue Rev a full-on shoegaze record, a hazy montage of indie pop instant classics with hooks approaching Asobi Seksu levels of melodic gazing, and a cool, aqueous sound that brings it all together. With 14 tracks and a run-time of only 38 minutes, this record is a rapid-fire of a ‘best of indie 2022’ compilation — except it’s just one band.

I’m struck throughout by the feeling of playing cozy 2D indie games in your bedroom, looking out of your window only to see that you are actually in a submarine as you watch a beautiful 16-bit mermaid swim by. (Note - I just want it on record that I drafted this particular observation before the concernedape music video was released, and holy crap it’s like they read my mind with the cozy 2D indie game aesthetics)

There's also something beautifully East Coast, or at the very least, coastal about Alvvays' sound. The band has always (hehe) reminded me of my local bustling waterfront during the summer season, and this album is certainly no exception. Indeed, this is a record that could just as easily soundtrack the crashing of waves, making big splashes off of lakeside wharfs, cotton candy and Ferris wheels, or even just holding hands by the campfire as much as it would suit your cozy bedroom.

“After The Earthquake” is jangle pop on steroids, with a disruptive adrenaline force and scattering guitar riffs that create an odd mix of upbeat urgency. Like many Alvvays songs, it is about the death of a relationship, only this time in a more literal sense with regards to the lyrics.

“Many Mirrors” is gorgeously drenched feel-good shoegaze, akin to psychedelic deep-sea diving in slow-motion, and designed to soundtrack a mental reel of all the best memories you made over the last year. Everything about this song radiates that feeling of home that a really great close friend brings you. My personal favourite cut off the record.

This bleeds right into “Very Online Guy”, a quirky, hauntological electro-gaze ballad, with a story about the life of a modern internet savant in our hyper-digital age contrasted by retro synths begging to be compared to the Commodore 64. It’s more than a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t one of the most aesthetically cool and clever songs of the year. The bridge is also godlike; there’s just so much sound going on in so many layers and it gives me euphoric chills.

Following that is “Velveteen”, a piece of delectably bittersweet indie pop displaying Molly Rankin’s unique talents for, as she once put it herself, “the pathetic perspective”, wherein this time she sings some of the loveliest lyrics about a woman who knows her lover has fallen in love with someone else by the signs of him putting more effort into himself. Tragicomedy at its finest.

Together, the aforementioned three songs earn my personal award for best consecutive three-track-run of the year. Gem after gem.

“Pomeranian Spinster” is a punky cuddlecore throwback circa. Heavenly with a delightful deceleration of spinsterhood. It is the most manic the band has ever sounded and I, like many others have already said, would love to hear what a full Alvvays record of this style would be like.

Compositionally speaking, “Belinda Says” is very much a companion piece to Antisocialite’s “In Undertow”. Both songs start of with a fuzzy, humble little synth jingle before erupting into a shower off pedal-heavy guitars and Rankin’s most sweetly and lackadaisically cynical vocals. Last time the lyrics were confronting a relationship that was on its last leg, but this time it is about the much more daunting task of confronting an unplanned pregnancy and choosing your life’s path.

I confess that “In Undertow” still remains my all-time favourite Alvvays cut (a tough act to live up to), but I do appreciate the continuity and sense of evolution from that song’s concerns to this one, and it is certainly up there as another one of the band’s greatest tracks.

Now, there are one or two moments where I experience some record fatigue from the rapid fire pop approach, where not everything ends up sticking. But that is very much the exception to the rule here.

It is evident that Alvvays continues to be on a very clean upward trajectory from their first full length record. They have gone from a solid 2010s jangle pop band, to bar-setting 2020s indie pop veterans.

And Blue Rev does everything the band already did best even better, with more sugary riffs and playfully self-aware, occasionally despondent lyrics for all of you fellow hipsters out there who love some poetic irony. These folks are keeping the flame of amazing 21st century Canadian indie rock alive, and to that I say hell yeah!

9/10

Highlights: “Many Mirrors”, “Very Online Guy”, “Belinda Says”, “After The Earthquake”, “Velveteen”, “Pomeranian Spinster”, “Fourth Figure”, "Pharmacist"

#alvvays #2022 #blue rev #indie pop #shoegaze #aoty #album review #music review #year end list #list #best music

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bbs-backlog-challenge · 11 months ago

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Games of 2023

(2022)

I barely played anything last year. Tears Of The Kingdom so wholly swallowed my attention that, once I finally brought it to a close, I just fell of playing video games for a long time, and still haven't quite picked my way back into the hobby. I'll get into it during the write-up below, but it's OBVIOUSLY going to be my Game Of The Year (and in a rare change of pace, it actually came out this year!) so I will be nominating another game as GOTY instead.

This is also the year I became a car mechanic in my spare time after crashing and totalling my beloved Beetle and instead of getting a new car like a sensible person, I decided "well, I can probably fix it". 12 months later, still driving it! And also, still fixing it.

August brought with it an incredible depression out of nowhere during which I lost the plot a bit, but I did write an awful lot of words towards my novel, so I guess that evens things out. Regardless, a combination of all of the above resulted in very few games being played this year! My count is 23, compared to recent years being in the 70-80 range. Makes this an easier read, anyway. To the games!

Jumpgrid

Hold over from last year, I played a little further but the final few levels are less reactive and more memory tests, which is a real shame. Just remembering which direction to move and trying to time it right isn't anywhere near as fun as frenetically dashing all around the grid. Soundtrack is still legit though.

Absolute Drift

We gave this one quite the pasting in our livestream chat- safe to say it's not for me. In the hour I gave it, I didn't get even the slightest grip on how the controls work, which seems to be the intent. I'm sure there's a moment where, if you are persistent, everything -clicks- and suddenly it all makes perfect sense, but it didn't come close to happening and the game itself wasn't compelling me enough to keep blindly headbutting it until we got there.

Thirty Flights

Wendy's no longer offers the 4 for $4 deal. I would still argue their $5 Biggie Bag is a better deal than this, despite technically being more expensive.

Metroid Prime Remaster

And what a remaster it is! I'd argue the original Prime still looks and plays fantastic and didn't need remastering, but this is sublime and if you missed out the first time around (holy crap it was 20 years ago augugahguaghuhgh) this is a fine way to get caught up. Surely Primes 2 and 3 are on their way as well?

Black Mesa

Interesting juxtaposition with MP:R here, another remaster of a classic game. This is similarly excellent despite my own cognitive dissonance as described in my BBLC entry. Unfortunately let down by the end sequence- the original's Xen chapter is pretty universally regarded as an awful blight on an otherwise great game and Black Mesa's approach was to... make it five times longer? They actually reworked the whole set up but it still just wasn't quite enough to polish that turd. It does look absolutely beautiful and the soundtrack is breath-taking, but I do wish they had let the environment breathe a little instead of filling it with enemy encounters. Still well worth a look, and a monumental achievement to finally have this game in a fully complete playable state after so long in development.

Tears Of The Kingdom

I'm sure I don't need to say much here. Game so good I stopped playing games. Masterpiece. Every aspect of it- gameplay, visuals, music, story- masterpiece. Minor spoilers, the music during the final approach towards the final boss' arena had me so worked up I needed 5 minutes to get my head back into focus. It's a fairly common thing for the actual boss fight to feel badass, but I cannot recall any other time previous that just the *approach* made me feel like a hero, bringing to an end a story that had gone on for far, far too long. I don't need to tell you any of this. It's a masterpiece beyond masterpiece.

Time Gentlemen Please

Adventure game sequel to Ben There Dan That, which I enjoyed oh-so-many moons past, but I couldn't get far here. There's an intolerable lag between every action and movement that drove me spare, which I'm not sure if it's an engine issue or a game issue. I don't enjoy adventure games enough to put up with things like that unfortunately, though I do remember enjoying the first game a lot.

Final Fantasy 2 (Pixel Remaster) (PC)

Oh man. Without speaking hyperbolically, I think this might be the worst game I've ever played that is technically competent. The game runs nicely, the graphics are lovely, the music is just as fantastic this early in the series as it came to be known for, but by the nine divines, what an absolute pile of stink the actual gameplay experience is. I finished the game with 100% of achievements solely so I never, ever had to pick it up again. An abysmal and frustrating mess of a game that had some interesting ideas and had no clue what to do with any of them.

[20:26] Beebs: You should all buy Final Fantasy 2 on the sale [20:26] spookiott: didn't you hate it [20:26] Beebs: I did and still do and always will [20:26] Beebs: I just don't think I should suffer alone [20:27] Beebs: I'm going for 100% achievements just so I never ever have to play it ever again [20:27] spookiott: yeah, that'll show 'em! [20:33] Beebs: I do not know how they ever got to make a Final Fantasy 3, by rights they shouldn't have [20:34] Beebs: The series should have ended here and everyone involved with it should have been arrested [20:34] Beebs: please buy it.

Endless Space

As a space-based 4x that isn't Master Of Orion 2, Endless Space caught my attention better than most, but I only played to the end of my first galaxy before moving onto

Endless Space Two: Endlesser Space

which I think hooked me a lot stronger. I found the conquer mechanics too opaque for my liking, with my invading army of millions somehow being annihilated by a defending force that had literally been reduced to zero remaining soldiers, and no explanation of how that could happen or how I could have done it better. I think modern 4x games have leaned away from conquest being the predominant means of victory and as such it's a way to make that victory type less appealing? I don't know. It's a good game, it's just not Orion.

Fortnite

I played Fartbutt pretty much every day all year, it is honestly a fun game, and if you are resistant to the predatory business practices of the parent company you’ll have a good time. Don’t have much else to say here- getting down to the last 5 players alive and scanning the horizon for any sign of activity is thrilling and it’s a huge adrenaline rush to trade shots with the last one standing and secure the win.

Diddy Kong Racing

Had a few attempts at this in recent years, this is the one that finally stuck thanks to the Deck. It’s a good racer with some total BS (I literally cheated the final boss with save states to race perfectly and still couldn’t beat him with one character lol) and adds a lot of fun single player content missing from the Mario flavoured rivals. Flying around exploring the hub island is just fun and I’d love to see the concept return in a future MK game. Wizpig theme is legit.

Master Of Orion 2

You know it and you love it. This year I tried a no-expansion game where I could only settle planets in my home system. I actually won but there was a fun challenge towards the end where two enemy systems were behind black holes that I couldn’t reach- had to manipulate them into a war with each other so they would destroy those systems for me, but also keep one from defeating the other before they had finished the job. It worked out!

Fire Emblem N-gage

A lot of people really loved this entry. I thought it was fine. Hard mode is way overtuned IMO, mostly because of the bosses, but Normal mode is conversely far too easy. Wish there was some middle ground between the two. The Somniel stuff felt REALLY tacked on, too, like they just put it there so people who had only played Three Houses had something familiar to the monastery, but the dialogue is all repeated and it feels a bit soulless. I thought for sure I was going to marry Celine because, I mean, look at her- but she drinks floral tea which is unforgivable so I married big tiddy goth GF Ivy instead, who already told me she loved me and worshipped me like a god in just our B rank support. Healthy!

Team Fortress 2

I only played the fun halloween maps this year (surprisingly few of them are fun) and skipped the terrible ones, resulting in significantly less playtime this year than previous. Still didn’t get my thrice-damned hat. I also spent some time earlier in the year trying the Dragon’s Fury, a weapon I never previously bothered with, and it was quite refreshing.

Star Fox 64

Really weird that they never made another Star Fox game after this one.

Neopets

It is absolutely WILD that this site is still running, and many parts of it unchanged since 1999. I come back every so often- it's sort of my internet birthplace. "can't take the country out of the girl", so they say. They were giving away childhood dream-item Illusen's Staff essentially for free so I had to get it, and then I just kept sticking around for a bit. It's fun but I think only nostalgia keeps these servers running any more.

Touhou 19

It's a Vs shooter, so even though you can play as Ran I pretty much bounced off once I had seen the new girls and heard the new music. It's a shame, but vs mode simply isn't what I play touhou for. Looking forward to 20, hopefully next year but probably 2025. New Ran lore though!

Age Of Empires 2 Ultra Mega Edition

There really is simply no reason at all AoE2 needed to be made into a live service game, but ignoring that festering boil this is otherwise the ultimate way to play a very old and still very good game, with a whole slew of QoL features that I'll never be able to live without now I have them (visible tower range!). It's also compatible with all custom scenarios made in the original so we can still re-live the majesty of JUSTIN TIMBERLAR.sco and all the other very-good-actually scenarios I made as a clueless 14 year old.

Ys 8: Lacrimosa Of Dana

An unexpected late entry takes this year's GOTY (That Isn't Zelda). The incredible lull I felt after TotK didn't clear for a long time, but at the end of November I fired this up and remembered why I love games generally and Ys specifically. Falcom is an established company that still somehow feels like a doujin circle, and I’m not sure how to explain what I mean by that but I mean it positively. This one’s actually telling a pretty neat story so far too, though I haven’t finished it yet. Can a game I haven’t finished truly be named GOTY? Yes. It’s my blog and I can do what I want. One year there were three winners!

That’s all for 2023. 2024 doesn’t look to have any big hitters, but the JPRGs are accumulating on my backlog and I’m at roughly the halfway point in writing my book, so time will tell if I manage to beat this year’s meager score.

#games #gaming #retrospective #2023 retrospective #video games

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xsilver-wings · 3 years ago

Video

youtube

➤ devil’s on your shoulder. strangers in your head. as if you don’t remember; as if you can’t forget. it’s only been a moment. it’s only been a lifetime. but tonight, you’re a stranger.

@dionsblood oops i did a thing~ .3.

So, I couldn't help myself from vidding Lex and Xia again because damn. I just love them so much. This doesn't follow the same timeline as the other video I made for them, as that was an arranged marriage au. This follows more along with their main verses.

So, Xia and Lex obviously knew each other as children. Their parents were close and thus they were close as well. They were basically as best of friends as they could be for being long-distance friends. Then, Xia's kingdom got invaded. Her father and sister disappeared (presumed dead). Her mother died in front of her eyes, and Xia was shipped off to Daggerfall, paid to be their Prince's bride. On her sixteenth birthday, however, she faked her death by drinking a potion that stilled her heart.

Xia ran from her past, living a new life under a new name. Later, in Skyrim, she was revealed to be the Dragonborn. She doesn't handle this great, hating the thought of being a hero, and soon finds herself entangled with the Dark Brotherhood. Not only is she the Dragonborn, though, she is also the Listener. This, however, she finds more peace in being. She feels this is more fitting for her, for who she thinks she has become.

When she is tasked with killing Emperor Titus Mede II, she has no qualms. She confronts him, blaming him for not coming to save her mother — to save her. She kills him because she has been contracted to (and Titus urges her to do it), but also because she holds so much resentment inside of her. The only inkling of regret she has is that she took away Lex's father and forced him into an early role as the emperor.

Then, one day, Xia gets another contract. Date, location, and appearance are all she is given. When she arrives, she follows the description she was given and almost follows through with it — her blade already digging into his throat — until she realizes that it was Lex that she was contracted to kill. She drops her dagger and lets him live — something that she is afraid will have bad ramifications, but how could she kill her childhood friend?

So, Lex and Xia sit down and talk. They learn about each other all over again, as many years have passed in between. The memories, both good and bad.

Who is to say, then, what their future holds. Who is to say that they don't become close once more? I do imagine, though, that if anyone were to convince Xia to take an army to Daggerfall and to also reclaim Wayrest, it would be Lex. This is why I included a part where they reclaim the ruined kingdom. What Barynia is doing during this time is a ~mystery~ as I didn't work that out looool. I will eventually tho because that sounds just as angsty and fun.

Who is Xia talking about when she says "He loved me?" Idk. Someone. Anyone. lol. But Xia has always had a hard time with love. She has always feared losing the people she gets close to because of what happened to her family and her kingdom. She can never admit that she loves someone. But Lex? Shit, maybe she's always loved him. I imagine that being a hard realization for her. Eventually, though, she would admit it. She wouldn't be able to keep it in any longer. But she'd still be afraid (which makes their potential end even more angsty like omg).

I'll leave it up to Gumball as to whether or not that ending bit where Lex is saying "You gave me peace in a lifetime of war" is when Lex dies~ (: Because that happens in the main verse and it is ANGSTY.

Also, I imagine the part with the quote "Devil's on my shoulder. Stranger's in my head. I don't want to remember. I want to forget." is what Xia is saying, that she wants to forget all of the horrible things that happened in her childhood. Then the part with the quote "Devil's on my shoulder. Stranger's in my head. I want to remember. I don't want to forget." is Lex, saying he doesn't want to forget all the great parts of their shared experiences prior to the invasion.

And yes, the video doesn't go in order. Because it didn't work out that way with the lyrics. So, just bear that in mind.

#☾✦ ❝i must be cruel to be kind❞ ➤ videos ✦☽#☾❂ alexandros mede i ❂☽#☾✦ xia silver-wing ✦☽#☾♡ ❝Love comforeth like sunshine after rain❞ ➤ lex & xia ♡☽#(holy crap this video is over five minutes long)#(that's such a long video!)#(and tbh i probably could have kept going)#(which just means i'll have to make many more videos of them lol)#(i'm glad i managed to make it because i was staring at the blank project file for like hours)

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saltydumplings · 2 years ago

Note

Hero who somehow finds out Villain is touch starved and then teases them. Lol my fav tbh. Fluffy request

Request #18

"Aww...What, you want a hug or something?" the hero asked jokingly.

Across from them the villain simply glared, mouth pinched downwards in a frown as they continued to rub their head. "Shut up," they snapped.

The hero held back a laugh, almost shaking with the effort it took them. It had just happened so fast - they couldn't get the image out of their head: the villain, mid-monologue, pacing about before them, talking of destruction and the hero's doom and their own incredible, unbeatable power, and then...and then--

The hero snorted. Loudly. They slapped a hand over their mouth as the villain shot them a look that said they'd tear them in two, but the hero couldn't help it! It had just been so funny - it had happened so fast, so freaking funny, holy crap they couldn't breathe.

Obviously, the villain didn't find tripping over an empty beer bottle and slamming their head against a brick wall as funny as the hero did - and the hero had tried their best to empathise: they really, truly had - but the other couldn't help the small bouts of laughter that kept breaking through. Oh god, if they could have recorded it... They would have. They would have favourited the video and watched it every night before going to bed.

"It's not funny," the villain hissed, scalding the hero for what had to be at least the tenth time in the past five minutes.

"I know, I know," the hero said, but still they continued to giggle.

The villain turned away from them with a huff. "You always were immature..." they commented.

"Oh, come on, you have to admit it was just a little funny."

"It wasn't funny at all!"

"Just, the timing of it though--"

"It hurt!" the villain snapped back. As far as they were concerned, they were lucky they weren't concussed. If they'd hit the wall any harder the hero might be spending less time laughing and more time flying them to the damn hospital!

Behind them, the hero tried to sober themself once more, putting a hand upon the villain's shoulder to gain their attention back. "I know, I'm sorry, do you - do you want me to help make it better?" they offered.

The villain shrugged them off but turned around all the same. "And how exactly would you do that?" they asked.

The hero smiled at them, bringing both of their hands up slowly to cradle the villain's head - almost as though they were inspecting the damage. The villain froze up but let them continue, figuring that if the hero really did have some magical cure for their headache then they may as well--

The hero leaned forward and pressed a kiss right on their forehead.

They paused.

Every coherent thought in their mind just seemed to dissipate, a warm fuzziness taking over instead. Their skin almost tingled where the hero had touched them - was still touching them, with their hands holding the villain's head gently, their fingers carding ever so slightly through their hair.

The villain didn't even think - if they'd have thought they wouldn't have done it - they just leaned forwards into the hero's hold and sighed, the headache long forgotten by now.

A moment passed. Then another.

When the villain finally started coming back to their senses they turned their gaze upwards, one look at the hero's smug grin enough to send them flinching back - a bright flush covering their cheeks as they pulled away and immediately cursed, the movement too fast for their poor injured head to handle.

"Aw, Villain, no: you don't have to--"

"Get away from me," the villain snapped, their own hands pressed against their temple once more as that horrible, throbbing pain returned.

"No, really, it's alright--"

"Get away from me, Hero!" When the other moved closer the villain growled, trying to escape quickly only to be caught by the waist and pulled back against the hero's chest.

"A little touch starved, huh?" the hero asked, continuing to hug them even as the villain struggled - kicking up a fuss within their arms. "It's okay, we can fix that pretty easily."

"I am not touch starved. Let me go you- you fiend!" The villain was practically seething, face completely red as they tried to free themself of the hero's embrace.

The hero chuckled. "Fiend?"

"Yes, fiend! I would call you a villain but that seemed too ironic," they said, huffing slightly as their struggling came to a halt. It was clearly futile: they might as well just accept their terrible fate now before the throbbing in their head could get any worse.

Naturally, the hero took their sudden stillness as a compliment, turning them around and hugging them properly.

Idiot, the villain thought. They did eventually hug them back though, the hero reaching up with one hand to stroke through their hair and the villain all but melted. The hero hummed as if they'd expected that - holding the villain closer still and starting to rock them back and forth a little, the other hiding their face in the crook of the hero's neck.

"Huh, so you really did want a hug," the hero mused.

The villain merely scoffed, snuggling in a little closer. "Shut up," they snapped.

Their headache was easing, and their body felt more relaxed than it had been in the past six months. They reasoned with themself, deciding that they could enjoy it while it lasted and, after that, they'd never have to even think about it again...

Or, at least, that was what they hoped. Little did they know that the hero was already cooking up a plan of their own that would go directly against that.

#writing snippet #heroxvillain snippet #heroxvillain #hero x villain #hero #villain

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suituuup · 3 years ago

Photo

comme une idylle

Beca gets an odd request from a stranger while in Paris

rating: G

word count: 2801

happy birthday @green-eyed-weirdo 🥰 I hope you like it!

moodboard and beta by the lovely @snowonebutyou

ao3 link

“Dude, is this really necessary?”

Stacie hums. “It’s French fashion.”

Beca rolls her eyes. “I feel like if that were true, we would have seen some people wearing it by now. This just screams ‘I’m an American tourist’ to me.”

Stacie ignores her, adjusting the beret over her head as she stands in front of the mirror. “I think I look sexy with this. Very… chic.”

“Great. If you decide to walk around with that and a baguette under your arm I’m going solo on our tour.”

Stacie plucks another beret from the shelf and screws it over Beca’s head. “Aw, you look like Gavroche.”

“Fuck you, dude,” Beca mutters, taking it off and flattening her hair with her palm as she places the hat back in its initial spot. “I’m hungry.”

“You’re always hungry,” Stacie points out, and Beca can’t really contradict her.

Once Stacie has finally picked one of those ridiculous hats, they head up the cobblestone street and find themselves a brasserie (one of those restaurants where you can get just a drink or have a full meal) for lunch. It’s pretty hot (a bit too hot for Beca’s taste, but she’s hopefully applied enough sunscreen not to resemble a lobster by the end of the day) in Paris that day, but they find shelter under one of those huge parasols, a gentle breeze sweeping in ever so often as they gaze at the food options.

Melodic giggles draw Beca’s focus away from the badly translated menu and towards two tables over to her left. They belong to a redhead, who just happens to be as radiant as her laughter, and Beca finds herself staring a beat too long, catching Stacie’s attention.

“She’s cute.”

Beca’s cheeks heat up as soon as she realizes she’s been caught, and she looks back at her menu so quickly something in her neck twitches. She clears her throat. “What are you talking about?”

“Aww, you adorable baby bisexual. You should go talk to her. Or buy her a drink.”

“Dude, no,” Beca hisses.

Stacie is silent for a few beats, clearly listening in. “She’s American.”

Beca makes a noncommittal sound. “And?”

Stacie leans over, a smirk curving her lips. “Imagine how romantic it would be, you two meeting in Paris and finding each other again in the States. That’s Nicholas Sparks shit right here.”

Beca finds Stacie’s eyes over the menu. “You seem to have forgotten a slight detail: I don’t know how to talk to women.”

Stacie’s eyes roll skyward. “Maybe you should try.”

The waiter thankfully puts a temporary end to the conversation, and once he’s gone with their orders, Beca sees that so is the redhead and her friend.

“Well, there goes your Parisian romance,” Stacie says, sighing softly.

Beca doesn’t really think about the stranger again, not until the end of the day. Stacie insists on heading to the Eiffel Tower to catch the sunset (and probably take a bunch of pictures for her influencer Instagram account), and Beca ignores her aching feet, feeling like she’s already been complaining a lot today.

“Hi there.”

Beca twists her head to the left to find the stranger from the cafe. Her blue eyes nearly make her stumble. “Um, hi?”

“So this might sound really weird, but I’ve always wanted a romantic picture in front of the Eiffel Tower and my boyfriend just dumped me before this trip and well, I was wondering if you’d pose with me?”

That’s a lot of information in five seconds, and Beca blinks twice in slow succession. “Pose, as in…?”

“As in, kiss me?”

She hears Stacie gasp beside her and doesn’t even want to spare her a glance. Her ears feel like they just caught on fire and her voice is nowhere to be found.

It’s only when Stacie jabs her elbow into her ribs that Beca says something. “I, uh, I-- what?”

Well, close to saying something.

The other woman giggles. “You’re really cute. And I asked if you’d like to take a photo with me.”

“Kissing,” Beca echoes, just to make sure.

The redhead grimaces. “Sorry, you’re totes creeped out. I’ll find someone else.”

“She’ll do it,” Stacie announces before Beca can say anything else.

“What, dude,” Beca interjects.

“If you don’t I will,” Stacie mutters, and that shoves Beca into motion.

“Um yeah, sure,” she tells the stranger. A shaky nod. “I��ll do it.”

“Awes!” She hands Stacie her phone. “My friend Aubrey can take the pic.”

Beca notices the blonde standing off to the side and waves awkwardly before her friend slides her hand into hers and tugs her forward. Beca’s heart starts to race a little as they come to a stop at the top of the stairs splaying out over the Trocadero gardens.

“Wait, what’s your name?” The stranger asks, seemingly as an afterthought.

“Um, Beca,” Beca says.

“Nice to meet you, Beca. I’m Chloe.”

Beca nods, tongue poking out to wet her lips. “Cool. Cool, cool, cool. So um,” she wipes her hands over her jeans. “How should we…”

“I’ll just kiss you now,” Chloe says, amusement clear in her tone.

Beca wants to dig herself a hole. But that thought vanishes as soon as Chloe starts leaning in, and her eyes slam shut the moment those soft, full lips brush against hers in a gentle kiss. She hears herself humming as her head tilts forward to chase the remaining distance between them, pushing a firmer kiss against Chloe’s mouth. It’s Chloe’s turn to make a sound this time, and Beca nearly forgets her own name.

She instantly forgets about the photo, and the fact that Chloe is a stranger, too caught up in how good this feels to really care. She does, however, come to her senses when she starts to lack oxygen and pulls away with a sheepish smile, her cheeks flaming.

“Damn…” Chloe murmurs, eyes alight. “I picked well.”

Beca clears her throat and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, avoiding her eyes. “Glad I could be of service,” she mumbles with an awkward salute.

(yes, yes, a goddamn salute because she’s a fucking dork.)

Chloe giggles and Beca suddenly feels high on the sound. “Too bad my friend and I have to leave tonight. I could have definitely gone for an encore performance.”

Beca isn’t sure how redder her face can get before it matches the shade of her plaid shirt. “That’s uh, too bad.”

“Well thanks for doing it for me,” Chloe says with a wink, then kisses her cheek. “Bye, Beca.”

“Bye,” Beca murmurs, somewhat still in a kiss-induced daze as she watches her go.

“Holy crap, dude,” Stacie says when she catches up with her. “You totally made out with her.”

Beca chuckles, rubbing the back of her neck. “We um, got carried away?”

Stacie punches her arm. “Tell me you got her number.”

Beca shakes her head. “She probably lives like, in LA or something.”

“Oh my god, you’re such an idiot.”

Beca has to agree; she’s the biggest idiot in the world.

The rest of their trip goes smoothly. Beca only has to listen to Stacie having sex once, which is a wonder, considering it’s Stacie, and the two fly back to New York at the end of the week, heads filled with good memories of their trip abroad.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t ask for her number,” Stacie says as they walk out of the arrival gate at JFK.

“Oh my god, would you let it go?” Beca groans, tilting her head back.

“She was so hot.”

“I know,” Beca whines. “But I won’t find her again so let’s just not talk about it anymore.”

“Fine.”

It’s a few days later, as she’s aimlessly scrolling through TikTok as she does every night before bed, that Beca sees it. She almost scrolls past it because ugh, couples, but the yellow summer dress and red hair catch her attention and have her sitting up with a jolt. Her breathes hitches in her throat as she reads the caption:

I hope this cute girl I met in Paris and asked for a pic of us kissing so I could pretend I had a romantic time in France sees this so I can take her out on a date

The video blew up, counting over a million likes and fifteen thousand comments. Her trembling thumb presses on the comment section.

Okay, TikTok, do your thing, we need to find this girl!!

Omg they’re so cute

Imagine they find each other!!

Beca swallows, licking her suddenly dry lips. “Imagine…” she breathes out as she presses on Chloe’s profile picture, hits follow, and then taps Message.

Hey, so… it’s Beca. The girl from Paris?

She locks her phone right after hitting send and buries her face in her palms, emitting a low groan. Her phone pinging less than a minute later makes her heart pound against her ribs. She reaches for it and peeks at the screen with one eye.

omg, hi!! it’s really you?

She figures maybe a few people have sent Chloe a message because hello, who wouldn’t, pretending it was her. So Beca thinks proving it is really her could be a good thing.

If by me you mean the dork who freaking saluted you after our kiss, yep that’s me.

Beca bites down on her bottom lip as she watches the three dots pop up on the screen.

I can’t believe it worked! I’ve been thinking about you a lot since that day.

Butterflies go off in her belly, and before Beca can ponder on how cheesy this is, she’s typing something back.

Me too. That was um, a really good kiss. And you’re pretty.

Oh god, I’m facepalming so hard right now. Sorry I… don’t really know how to talk to girls.

To her surprise, Chloe doesn’t seem put off by it.

You’re very cute. May I ask where you live?

Beca doesn’t want to get her hopes up, because the States are fucking huge, and she doesn’t see herself jumping into a long-distance whatever.

NYC. You?

I go to vet school in Ithaca.

Ithaca. Beca knows it’s in the state, but she googles how close just to make sure. Another message from Chloe comes through.

I’m usually in the city once a month since my best friend lives there. Would you… like to go out on a date when I’m around?

“Dude, chill out,” she mutters to herself when she feels a wave of warmth encompass her entire being.

Sure, yeah. I’d like that.

They exchange numbers and end up texting for most of the evening until Chloe announces she has to head to bed because she has an early lecture the following morning.

Beca is about to turn off the lights too, that idiotic smile still stuck to her lips, when her phone buzzes with a text message from Stacie.

DUDE!!! Watch this NOW

A TikTok link follows, and Beca knows what it is before she even opens it.

Wow. This really blew up, huh.

Stacie’s reply comes through less than five seconds later. That’s all you have to say?! Tell me you’re going to message her. I got dibs on Maid of Honor at your wedding, btw.

Beca rolls her eyes. She ponders telling Stacie but decides to keep Chloe to herself for a while. I’ll think about it.

She’s a fidgeting mess the morning leading up to their date. Chloe told her to meet her by the River Cafe in Dumbo, and Beca has spent entirely too much time deciding on what to wear, which really never happens.

Chloe is already there when she makes it to the park, and Beca buries her hands into her jacket pockets to keep them from wringing together. Chloe doesn’t see her right away, gazing up at the Brooklyn Bridge instead.

“Do you have a thing for iconic iron monuments?” She teases as she approaches, catching Chloe’s attention. She narrows her eyes playfully. “Are you gonna try and kiss me again?” A gasp flies past her lips as she exaggeratedly lies a hand over her chest. “Are you just using me to go viral on TikTok?”

Chloe giggles. “You’re a dork,” she says, grinning. “Hi.”

“Hey,” Beca breathes out, relaxing her shoulders as she smiles back.

“You like ice cream?” Chloe asks, nodding towards the vendor across the grassy area.

“Sure,” Beca says, and they fall into a step towards it. She takes her brain for something to say before things get awkward, but Chloe beats her to it.

“So what’s it like being a TikTok sensation?”

Beca barks out a laugh. “Amazing. One of my life goals for sure,” she jokes, cutting Chloe an amused glance.

Chloe giggles. “I honestly didn’t think it would blow up. But I’m glad it did ‘cause not finding you would have sucked.”

Beca clears her throat, looking down for a second. “Me too. I was really beating myself up for not asking for your number back in Paris.”

Chloe’s lips curve in a small smile, and she looks like she’s about to say something, but it’s their turn to order.

Ice creams in hand, they settle down on the grass to enjoy them. The weather is nice, not too hot with a gentle breeze rolling by once in a while.

“So what are some of your life goals, then?” Chloe asks once they’ve sat down.

“Making a living out of music is the main one,” she says. “I work as assistant producer right now, but the job is pretty crappy.”

“I may or may not have stalked your Instagram,” Chloe admits next. “You have an amazing voice.”

“Oh,” Beca lets out, feeling her cheeks heat up. “Thanks.” She clears her throat. “You’re into music?” Strangely something that hadn’t come up during their texting.

Chloe nods, smiling. “I was in an acapella group in college.”

Beca’s eyebrows shoot up, and she laughs before she can help herself. “Wait, seriously? You’re an acapella nerd?”

Chloe shoves her shoulder, laughing as well. “Shut up.”

“I guess we all make questionable choices in college, huh?”

Chloe huffs, throwing Beca a glare. Beca spots a sprinkle of amusement in her eyes, so she doesn’t think Chloe is truly mad.

“I’m just messing with you,” she says, softening. “I think any kind of music is neat. And singing without instruments is actually pretty impressive.”

“Thanks,” Chloe says lightly. “There’s just… something about music, you know. It soothes the soul and makes you escape the real world for a few minutes.”

A genuine smile curves Beca’s lips. It’s exactly how she would describe what music does to her. “Yeah.”

She eyes Chloe’s profile, still a little bit struck over the fact that this gorgeous girl is on a date with her.

“What?” Chloe asks with curiosity swirling in her eyes when she catches Beca staring.

Beca blinks. “Nothing. I…” she clears her throat. “You’re just really pretty.” She scrunches up her nose. “See? I’m awkward as fuck.”

Chloe chuckles and slides her hand into Beca’s free one. “I think it’s cute.”

Beca grumbles. “I’m not cute, I’m badass.”

Their time together flies by as they learn more about one another, Beca even managing to convince Chloe to show her some acapella videos. The sun sets without either realizing and the park is near empty, save for a couple strolling by in the distance.

“I should head back to Aubrey’s,” Chloe says when it gets a bit chillier. “I said I’d be home for dinner.”

Beca is a bit disappointed, but she nods, smiling. “Okay.”

She pushes to her feet and helps Chloe to hers, her eyes dropping to Chloe’s lips once they’re both standing.

“You know… I didn’t really care about the video,” Chloe murmurs, stepping closer. “I saw you at the restaurant and thought you were really cute. When I spotted you again later, I had to think of something.”

Beca raises an eyebrow. “I noticed you at the restaurant, too.”

“I know. You weren’t being very subtle.”

Beca huffs. “Shut up.”

Chloe simply laughs, her eyes sweeping down to Beca’s lips before she leans in. Beca is a lot less nervous this time around, and she hums as those familiar lips glide over hers flawlessly, her hands bunching up in Chloe’s top as she holds her waist. It’s over way too soon for her liking, but she has to remind herself they’re in public, and how she’ll probably get to do that again very soon.

“See you soon?” Chloe murmurs when they part, brushing her nose against Beca’s.

Beca nods and squeezes her waist. “Yeah.”

With one last kiss, she watches Chloe go in a similar state of a daze as in Paris.

Something tells her this is the start of something amazing.

#bechloe #beca mitchell #Chloe beale #pitch perfect fanfiction

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orenjineki · 4 years ago

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Dabi the house-elf

Summary:When you don't get your Hogwarts letter at 11, you spam Hogwarts with letters until they get pissed of and send you a human Dabi who thinks he is a house-elf. And he's always naked and hung. Crap.

Warnings: Dub-Con, Dubious Consent, R18, Minors DNI

Notes: I am so sorry but I saw this tiktok by @savs_creates where Dabi is a house-elf and I just couldn't stop myself. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMerqQ5Dc/

I thank @mangospams who is my greatest inspo when it comes to Yandere Dabi.

You had a house-elf. As a muggle. A house-elf. The size of a grown, human!, man with a sizeable…erm, well size. Not only his frame was decently sized but also his private parts, as you liked to call them in your mind when you happened to accidentally see them from the corner of your eyes when the brown bedsheets you had given the man? elf? once again did a terrible job at covering him.

Which you did not want to see since you were still unsure about his race. To be fair, you were unsure about a lot of things since you turned eleven. Up until your 11th birthday you were convinced that you would get a letter from Hogwarts, be declared a witch and go on a great many adventure with your new, magical friends in a school that was essentially a death trap for children. (They have a forbidden forest with giant spiders, that can and will eat you, unless you raised the og spider because you thought it was a cute pet!). The thought that Hogwarts was not real, merely a product of fiction, did not occur to you. And why would it, since quirks were real, why shouldn't magic be?

And so you waited for your letter, standing on the doormat of your home, looking for owls. But none came. But they had to! And so you waited. And waited. With the interruption of school, food and sleep. But not a single bird, not even a pigeon, dropped a letter with a red wax seal in front on your feet. But you never gave up hope, maybe they just got lost on their way?

You waited so long that you eventually turned twelve. Angry about this unreliability and with a feeling of betrayal, you decided to take matters into your own hands and write them a letter instead, ha! And so you did, every day, complaining about the fact that this magical institute had the audacity to not send you your magical letter! Heck, even an email would have been fine! Your parents tried to stop you at first but since you were somewhat decent at school, they let you keep your paper intense hobby. When you had sent your 6666thletter, way past your 18th birthday, you finally got an answer!

''Dear Ms. …,

We have received your thousands upon thousands of letters, demanding to be announced a witch and allowed into our school. However, we are glad to inform you that you are, through and through, a muggle. Usually we would ignore such profligate attempts at gaining something which you do not deserve but the amount of paper you have wasted for your letters poses a threat to the environment which muggle folk already treat with so much disrespect. Therefore, as a reimbursement, and a desperate attempt to get you to stop writing us, we will send you a human who thinks he is also a magical being without a trace of magic in his veins. In this case it is a human man who got hit with a confundus charm as a child and is convinced that he is a house-elf. When you finish reading this letter, you will find him standing in your kitchen, awaiting your orders.

Sincerely, the secretary of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.''

Wait, so Hogwarts is real? And you have a house-elf/human now? What? You drop the letter and rush into the kitchen to see a man, with white hair, piercing blue eyes and piercings on…anyway. You couldn't decide what was more confusing about the situation. The fact that he appeared out of nowhere, the fact that large parts of his body were burned or the fact that he was naked. You decided to accept this new version of reality by staring at him incredulously for a good five minutes, in which he did not blink once, staring back at you.

Since he didn't say anything and you started to feel a little drowsy from this… revelation, you decided to end the day early and go to sleep in your one-room apartment. Sadly, your apartment was too small to hide in another room, hoping that he would be gone, only a really weird dream, when you woke up and entered the living room the next morning. Sadly, your living room was also your bedroom and your kitchen and so you could only turn around and stare at the wall incredulously until you fell asleep. The next morning you woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed, since your apartment was always too cold to catch a good night's sleep. But somehow you felt really warm, as if you had shared the bed with another, very warm body.

…

Was that breathing you heard near your ear, right behind you? You turned around in a millisecond and went right back to incredulously staring at your house-elf-human. Holy shit, he was still there. And naked. And now he spoke, making it even harder to ignore his existence. ''Is master mad at Dabi? Should Dabi burn himself as punishment?'' He raised a hand and a very hot and very scary looking blue flame emerged from it. Great, so you had a crazy human who was convinced to be a house-elf with a fire quirk in your very small and very expensive apartment. Just great. You decided to pretend this was real. Maybe if you went along with it, he would be revealed to be a figment of your imagination and someone would send you to a mental hospital where live might be a bit more normal than this. ''N…n…no, please don't! I'm just confused, it's fine, you did nothing wrong.''

And so you had a human house-elf. You tried really hard to convince him that he wasn't an elf, but his believe in his magicalness was as unyielding as 11 year old you's. You decided to just treat him like a really confused roommate. Very, very confused. He kept standing or laying as close to you as possible, staring at you so hard you worried he would set you ablaze with his eyes. Those eyes…

They were always on you. If it wasn't such a weird situation, he might have been your type, though more ''normal'' in his speech patterns preferably. The scars didn't look ugly, just saddening when you wondered about the pain his quirk must have caught him. In order to give him and you more privacy, you gave him an old brown bedsheet as clothing since he refused anything that was new and without holes. He was actually quite helpful around the household, watching you doing daily chores and picking them up immediately the next day until all you had left to do yourself was work and grocery shopping.

He did however always manage to make you slightly uncomfortable with the way he would stare at you whenever he had nothing to do but you had to write a paper or watch a cat video. And he was absolutely horrible when he interacted with other people, other men to be exact. One time, when you forgot to tell him to hide under the blanket when the doorbell rang, the delivery man had been visible from the kitchen unit and he stared at him, an eerie smile on his face, and a blue flame in one hand. You decided to push the delivery man out of his view, grabbed the package and slammed the door shut. After that you had a serious discussion about ''politeness'' with Dabi and he just kept insisting that ''Master doesn't need anyone else, only Dabi''.

You tried to talk him out of this worldview, but every time you even remotely disagreed with him, the room suddenly got very hot and smoke poured out of his ears and you decided to drop it. Maybe you should get a post office box instead.

From that day on everything seemed mostly fine, until you came home from work, very exhausted, with a sore neck. You yawned a lot more than usual when you tapped away on your phone and stretched your arms and moved your head around in a desperate attempt to ease the pain. Suddenly, two very warm hands found their way on your shoulders and a very hard and apparently large cock pressed into you from behind.

You gasped in shock, your breath stopping. Soft, white hair tickled your neck when your ''house-elf'' whispered into your ear: ''Does master need help relaxing? Dabi saw some of those massage videos master always watches at night on her phone. The humans in the videos look very calm after the massage.''

Your eyes widened in realization and horror, your ''house-elf'' had found your browser history. Great…

You tried to wriggle free from his hold, but only managed to rub your ass into his hard, and pierced, member, making the ''house-elf'' groan softly. The deep noise made your legs quiver and pulled a pathetic whimper from your lips. To your own shame, the most recent ''massage video'' you saw came to your mind and you wondered if he would really go this far. Before you could form another coherent thought, he let go of you to grab a glass of coconut oil from the fridge, melting it's content in his hands.

Then, his oily hands wandered, one under your shirt to softly massage your left nipple and make you whimper, the other under your waistband, inside your panties, to softly rub at your clit. Apparently, he had seen one of the more ''romantic'' videos, because you also felt his lips press soft kisses all over your neck and collarbone. Maybe he was really a magical creature, since the way he played with your admittedly very single body wiped all coherent thought from your mind. He kept rubbing and rubbing your clit until you came with a very embarrassing, very high-pitched moan.

''Don't worry master, Dabi will make you feel even better''. Before you could really grasp what he meant, something warm, hard and big was slowly pressed into your now soaked pussy. An even bigger, even more pathetic whimper left your lips. At your very audible reaction to his actions your ''house-elf'' stilled inside you once he bottomed out and laid his chin on your shoulder, looking at you with the widest eyes you ever saw on him. ''Is Master in pain?''.

You shook your head, bit down on your lip, and realized that you desperately needed him to pound you against the kitchen counter. ''I'm…I'm fine, please just move''. The desperation was very audible in your voice and the look of concern disappeared from Dabi's face. Instead, he licked your ear and whispered:'' Only if you Master admits that master belongs to Dabi''.

''W…what?!''

''Say it or Dabi will burn the next man that tries to sneak into master's home with a package.''

''O..ok, whatever. Master belongs to Dabi''.

The reaction where a dark chuckle and a kiss to your ear before he pulled out of you completely to thrust back in. When you didn't protest and your moans only grew in volume, his hands wandered and he started to squeeze each breast with a very large and warm hand. For the second time that night you wondered whether he actually was magical, since this felt like a very ''magical'' experience. Definitely fantastic with the way the various piercings battered into your g-spot and your clit, making you moan and whine just as loud as the women in your ''massage videos''. When Dabi saw your head fall back on his shoulder and your tongue roll out, he decided to make sure that everyone could see you were his and bit down on your neck, hard. You yowled out in pain but he compensated for it by rubbing your clit and thrusting so hard that you came on his cock half a minute later. The sensation of your walls squeezing him tightly and your cute whines also pushed him over the edge and you could feel his warm seed trickle out of you once he slowly retreated.

The house-human picked you up and held you bridal style in his arms before you could collapse. You still groaned softly from the overstimulation and he carried you to your very small shared bed. After carefully tucking you into bed and pulling you into his naked chest, he softly pushed your hair out of your face and gave you a number of soft kisses all over you face, on your nose, cheeks and mouth.

Before you managed to fall asleep, completely exhausted, you could hear him whisper into your hair after kissing your head:

''Now Master is Dabi's mate. I love you master, but if I ever see another man at the door I will turn him into a pile of ash''.

#dabi #dabi x reader #dabi smut #mha smut #mha crack #dabi crack #yandere dabi #yandere dabi x reader #mha yandere #yandere mha #dubcon #dub-con #tw dubcon

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5-seconds-of-bucky · 4 years ago

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December (Part 1)

A/N: Here’s my fic for @wondershawns winter writing challenge! It’s kinda Christmasy but not like a ton so do what you will with that information. Anyways, happy reading! Please let me know your thoughts! There will be a part two (and maybe three 🤭)

Summery: Shawn’s in love with you, his best friend. When Connor starts giving you the same looks he does, Shawn worries that he might lose you to someone else.

Word count: 3.9k+

Warnings: Swearing, angst

Prompts: The smell of freshly baked cookies and “You know you’re in love with her, right?”

Shawn lit another candle as he waited for everyone to show up at his condo. It set the perfect comfy mood for the small gathering he was hosting. There was a batch of cookies in the oven, the lights on the Christmas tree were on, and various holiday decor was strewn throughout the condo. It was the first day of December, his favorite day of the year: cookie night.

Every year, Shawn hosted a small party where everyone exchanged cookies and hung out until they ate so much they couldn’t move. It was one of his favorite Christmas traditions and he looked forward to the day all year long.

He was getting snacks out when there was a sharp knock at the door. He couldn’t even put down the bag of pretzels he was pouring into a bowl before the door was slammed shut and Brian appeared from around the corner.

“Good lord, how many candles do you own?” he asked, vaguely gesturing to the numerous candles scattered around the kitchen.

“Not enough to keep away that stench of whatever you brought in. What is that?” Shawn replied, scrunching up his face.

“Deviled eggs.”

“Gross.”

“You said to bring food to share. This is my food in a shareable size.” Brian insisted, sliding the plate of cookies Shawn made out of the way so the platter could be in the center of the counter.

“First of all, get that disgusting thing away from my cookies.” Shawn took the platter over to a far away corner of the kitchen. “And second of all, you’re the only one who likes that crap so there was no reason to bring so many.”

“You said shareable-” He was cut off by the ring of the doorbell, making Shawn laugh.

“Would you look at that. Someone has manners and rang the doorbell,” Shawn commented as he made his way to the door. “Y/N, great to see you! Thank you for using the doorbell like a decent person.”

“Hello!” you said from behind the tupperware containers piled in front of your face. “I brought cookies!”

Shawn chuckled as he took the top three containers from you, revealing a bright smile and the top of a Christmas themed sweater. You looked over his shoulder and saw Brian eating something while staring at you with a blank look on his face.

“Brian, what is that?” You stepped inside and Shawn closed the door behind you.

“Deviled eggs,” he said through a mouthful.

“Gross.” You made a face similar to the one Shawn made just minutes before.

“You’re gross.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him either,” Shawn said, nudging Brian out of the way with his shoulder and leading you to the kitchen.

“Holy shit, how many cookies did you make?” you asked, wide eyed as you took in sight of the insane amount of cookies covering the counter.

“Less than I was originally planning, actually,” he laughed. “Quality over quantity, right?” He turned around right as the cookie timer went off, grabbing some potholders and taking the tray out of the oven.

“I mean, I’m not complaining.” You put your tupperware down and reached for a snickerdoodle, knowing that if you were going to eat your weight in cookies, you might as well start early.

“Hands off. We have to wait until everyone’e here.”

“How did you even know I was grabbing one?”

“We’ve been friends for seven years. I’d be more surprised if I didn’t know you were grabbing one.” He turned off the oven and turned around to see that you had already eaten half a snickerdoodle.

“Brian’s eating eggs.” You pointed to Brian, who’d taken a seat at the table and was distracted by something on his phone.

“Nobody else is going to eat that shit though. The cookies are to share.” He gave you a knowing look that did absolutely nothing to make you feel bad about what you were doing.

“I guess I’ll just put it back on top of the pile then,” you teased as you slowly moved your arm to put the half-eaten delicacy back on the plate.

“Disgusting! Finish the damn cookie, would you?” Shawn rolled his eyes playfully and moved the plate away from you, knowing that you’d want to sneak more when he wasn’t looking.

The doorbell rang as you made a face at Shawn, who was busy trying not to laugh as he moved the cookies from the oven to a cooling rack.

“I’ll get it.” You shoved the last bite of cookie in your mouth and dusted your hands off on your jeans.

“Y/N!” Connor said once you opened the door, hands holding a small box of cookies he’d obviously bought at the store. He brought you in for a quick hug and shuffled into the condo. “Good to see you!”

“Good to see you, too! Long time, no see.” You followed him to the kitchen and stood back and he greeted Brian and Shawn.

“Store bought cookies?” Shawn looked at Connor with disbelief. “I said BYOBG. Bring your own baked goods.”

“At least he bought the good ones,” Brian said as he placed his plate in the sink.

“See, I put in some effort,” Connor said. “Ooh, deviled eggs!”

“Hey, those are mine!” Brian swatted his hand away from the plate.

“I thought they were to share,” Shawn said matter of factly.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think any of you actually liked them.”

“Sharing is caring,” was all Connor said before he popped one into his mouth. All Brian could do was grumble something about how much he hated it here.

----

Two hours went by before Shawn realized that he forgot to get goldfish: an essential snack of every gathering at his place.

“Shawn, how could you forget the fucking goldfish? It’s the second most important part of the cookie extravaganza!” You exclaimed, dramatically throwing an arm over your forehead as you huffed in frustration. “I just might pass away from this travesty.”

“Yeah, Shawn. How could you?” Connor asked jokingly from his spot next to you on the couch. He placed his arm around you and rubbed your shoulder comfortingly. Shawn’s eyes squinted the slightest bit at the sight of it, a sudden urge of protectiveness coming over him. Since when did Connor get to do that to you?

“I am simply devastated.” You leaned into Connor’s shoulder, pretending to cry.

“Don’t worry, Y/N. I’ll get you some goldfish.” Connor stood up and grabbed his keys off the coffee table.

“My hero!” You jumped up from the couch, a cheesy smile on your face.

“You sure you want to drive all the way to the store for goldfish?” Shawn asked, trying his best to mask the sudden jealousy he was feeling.

“I mean, the store’s five minutes away. It’s no big deal.” Connor shrugged, grabbing his coat and tossing yours to you. “We’ll be back in no time.”

You waved goodbye at Shawn and Brian as you walked out through the door Connor opened for you. You sent a wink to Shawn before closing it, making his cheeks go pinker than their usual tint.

“Smooth,” Brian commented once he heard the start of the car engine outside.

“Shut up.” Shawn chose to bury his face in his phone rather than walk into the conversation he knew was coming. It was the same one they had every time you made Shawn weak in the knees.

“You know you’re in love with her, right?”

Shawn kept his eyes on the game he was playing, knowing that this was going to end the same way it always did: Brian telling Shawn about every little thing that makes it obvious that he likes you and Shawn telling Brian about every little thing that made him think the exact opposite.

“She literally winked at you and you looked like you were about to pass out. Not to mention, you looked hella jealous once Connor got within a foot of her.”

“She called him her fucking hero for getting gooldfish. Since when are they even that close of friends?” Shawn grumbled.

“You could’ve offered to go get some.”

“I didn’t get the chance to before he did.”

“Well stop gumbling. Connor’s not gonna steal your not-so girlfriend so get over yourself and let the two responsible adults get their goldfish.”

Shawn mimicked the last part under his breath and Brian took it as a sign to stop talking and let Shawn sulk. He would realize sooner or later that you were just as in love with him as he was with you.

Twenty minutes passed and Shawn started to feel a tinge of worriedness seep into the back of his mind. The store was literally three and a half minutes away so was it really taking you 14 minutes to find goldfish?

Brian seemed completely unbothered by the amount of time the other half of the party had been out. Whatever video he was watching was apparently much more interesting than the whereabouts of Connor and Shawn’s not-so girlfriend.

23 minutes. Still nothing.

Shawn put his phone on the coffee table and ran a hand through his hair. “What’s taking them so long?” he asked, hoping that the concern in his head wasn’t as clear in his voice.

“They probably had to get gas or something.”

“That doesn’t take that long though. They’ve been gone for almost half an hour.” His foot started to bounce.

“They’re 20 years old. I’m sure they can handle themselves.”

“I’m gonna call Y/N.” His phone was pressed up to his ear in less than twenty seconds, anxiously waiting for you to pick up and laugh at him for being so worried. That’s all he needed: to hear your laugh.

“Yo,” you said as you picked up the phone, already knowing the exact reason as to why Shawn was calling.

“You guys are taking a while. You alright?” You could picture him pacing around the living room as Brian sat there and did nothing. Brian tended to be more rational in these kinds of situations (not that you minded Shawn calling, though).

“We’re fine,” you reassured him. “The store was out of goldfish so we had to go somewhere else. Guess they took a play outta your book.”

Shawn sighed in relief. “You almost back?”

“Turning onto your street right now. See you in a minute, Mr. Protective.”

“Alrighty.” He hung up to tease you, knowing how much you hated ending phone calls without saying goodbye. His phone rang almost immediately and he smiled to himself.

“You bitch. You didn’t say bye.”

“Bye.” He hung up again, laughing as he heard a car door slam shut.

The door to his condo opened to reveal you holding a giant tub of goldfish and a very pissed off look covering your features.

“You are the actual worst person ever.” You glared at him and sat down next to Brian, opening the tub and eating a handful before offering some to Brian, who stuck his hand in without a word. Your friendship with Brian was a strange one, but Shawn had to admit that your wordless communication when food was involved was impressive.

Connor appeared in the doorway, chuckling when he saw you staring straight ahead, like you were in a trance, as you ate the fish one by one. “Let’s get this party started for real this time!”

Shawn didn’t miss the look of adoration in Connor’s eyes as he looked at you.

---

The rest of the night felt off to Shawn. Maybe it was the twelve cookies he ate earlier or maybe it was the fact that he could not tear his eyes off of how close you were to Connor.

Usually, you and Shawn were attached at the hip. That’s just how your relationship was: heads on shoulders and hands on the smalls of backs; platonic. Seven years of friendship meant that you were quite comfortable around each other. Too comfortable, almost. The line between platonic and romantic was blurred for the two of you, and it only seemed to get blurrier as you spent more time together.

But tonight was different. Tonight, you were all over Connor and Connor was all over you. Not like how you and Shawn usually were, but more than what basic friends would be like. You were never like that with Brian. Why were you like it with Connor?

He kept his thoughts to himself until he was grabbing a glass of water when Brian came out of the bathroom.

“You alright?” Brian asked. “You look a little mad.”

“Yeah, I’m . . . I’m fine.” He stared straight ahead, watching as water filled the glass.

“You sure? You’ve been cold to Y/N all night. That’s pretty unusual.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not acting cold. I’m being room temperature”

“Okay.” Brian gave him a look as he walked away that made Shawn think that maybe he hadn’t been hiding his jealousy as well as he originally thought.

I’m not acting strange, he thought to himself as he took a sip from his glass. I’m not even jealous. It’s her life. What do I care who she hangs out with?

His thoughts were disproven as soon as he walked into the living room and almost spit out the water in his mouth. Jealousy and hurt surged through his body as he saw you lying asleep on Connor’s lap. Since when were you that close with Connor? And since when did Connor look at you like that? Why was he giving you the same longing look that Shawn gave you every time you turned around?

“You guys look tired,” he said, nodding to the clock that read 12:23 p.m. “We should probably call it a night.”

Brian and Connor hummed in agreement and Shawn tried his best not to stare as Connor softly shook you awake. He turned to go back to the kitchen and grab the tupperware full of leftover cookies you divided up earlier to take home.

You sleepily stumbled over to Shawn as Brian and Connor got their coats, leaning against his side for a second before taking the container from his hands.

“Thanks for the party. It was a lot of fun, even if you forgot the goldfish.”

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that,” he chuckled, wrapping an around you and squeezing you into him. “But I’m glad you had fun. I did too.”

“We need to hang out soon. I feel like it’s been a while since it was just us, you know?”

He nodded in agreement, already thinking of the next free day he had to do so. “You need a ride home? I don’t want you walking back by yourself this late.”

“Oh, Connor’s gonna take me so you don’t have to go out of your way. Thank you though.”

“Oh, okay.” Hard as he tried, he couldn’t hide the disappointment. Taking you back home was something he cherished, even if it was slightly inconvenient. “Text me when you get home, alright?”

“You know I will.” You pressed a kiss to his cheek. “See you later, alligator.”

“In a while, crocodile.” He forced a laugh. Just like that, what had been an okay night turned into one that would plague his mind for weeks.

---

It was three weeks before the two of you hung out after the party.

Three weeks of Shawn trying to distance himself in order to figure out his feelings: ignoring texts, staying off of social media, letting your calls go to voicemail. Three weeks for him to come to the conclusion that you didn’t have feelings for him in return. Three weeks for him to believe that you had feelings for Connor.

Three weeks of you trying to close the distance he was creating. Three weeks for you to worry that Shawn didn’t have feelings for you. Three weeks for you to decide that if he didn’t want to be around you anymore, he was going to have to say it to your face.

Truth was, you thought you had made it very clear that you wanted more than the friendship you had. For years, you watched as Shawn brushed off every flirtatious comment and relative approach to something more than platonic. You were even sure that he wanted more too; That he didn’t want to sit on the line between platonic and romantic any longer. But now, you weren’t so sure.

So you showed up unannounced at his door, praying that once he opened it, he wouldn’t slam it right back in your face.

Shawn was definitely surprised when he opened the white piece of wood and saw you standing there, a bag of goldfish in your hands and an apprehensive look covering your face, but he didn’t slam it back in your face.

“Hey,” you said nervously, glancing up at the beautiful brown eyes you knew so well. “You wanna, uh, hang out?”

“Yeah. I . . . uh . . . sure.” He stepped out of the way to let you in, closing the door softly behind you and following you to the couch.

“Your house still smells like cookies right out of the oven,” you laughed.

“I’m making some right now, actually. I ate all the leftovers from the party.”

“Me too. They were gone in like three days.”

“Wanna help make the next batch?”

“Yes!”

And just like that, the awkwardness that filled the space of the last three weeks evaporated into thin air.

---

The hours flew by and before you knew it, it was seven o’clock and you needed to be getting home. As much as you wanted to keep talking, your assignments weren’t going to complete themselves.

“Alright,” you put your mug of hot chocolate down and took the Christmas llama blanket you gave him for Christmas last year off your lap. “I should probably head on home.”

“Let me grab my keys.” He knew you’d deny his request to drive you home, but it was cold outside and there was no way he was letting you walk home alone at night either.

“I am perfectly capable of walking home.”

“And it’s December in Canada. No fucking way am I letting you walk home.”

“Oh come on, it’s not even that cold.”

“Y/N.”

“We can look at Christmas lights!”

“We can do that in the car.”

“It’s more of an experience when you’re walking.”

He sighed and begrudgingly grabbed his thickest coat from the closet, causing you to jump up with glee.

“You owe me.” He grabbed a hoodie off the chair next to the door and passed it to you, giving you a look that said you needed to put it on.

“You’re the bestest friend ever!”

His smile faltered at ‘friend’.

“You could say that.”

After forcing a few more layers on you and making sure he had his phone and keys, you were out the door and starting the five minute walk to your apartment.

Maybe the cold was numbing his common sense or maybe it was the number of cookies he ate earlier, but it felt like the right time to tell you how he felt. It felt like the right time but there was one thing plaguing his mind that told him to stop:

Connor.

“So . . .” You tore your eyes from the house to your left at the sound of his voice, eyes just as bright as the lights displayed in front of it. “I see that you’ve been hanging out with Connor a lot more.”

“Yeah. We haven’t really hung out that much before but after cookie night he asked if I wanted to go around the city with him while he took some photos and I was like ‘why not?’ and we became pretty good friends.”

“You’re not into him?”

“Pfft, no,” you laughed, thinking he just made a joke. “No, I’m not into Connor. We’re just friends.”

“You sure?” he pushed, images from the party flashing through his mind. His tone wasn’t joking but that’s all you seemed to hear. “You can tell me, you know.”

“There’s nothing going on between Connor and I. I promise.” You nudged his shoulder with a grin and kicked at the snow on the sidewalk. As infectious as your smile was, Shawn couldn’t bring himself to turn the corners of his lips upwards even the slightest bit.

“Sure as hell looks like it,” he muttered under his breath. He kept his eyes on the ground but he could feel your head snap up at the comment.

“Shawn,” You stopped walking, grabbing his arm and forcing him to look at you. “I am not into Connor, okay? Never have been, never will be.”

“Really?” Shawn gently pulled his arm from your grasp. “Because he’s obviously in love with you.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Connor is not in love with me! And even if he was, how would you know?”

“I’ve seen the looks he gives you, Y/N. I’m not blind.”

“What look, Shawn? What look does Connor give me that just absolutely gives it away that he’s in love with me, huh? What obvious looks have I failed to notice for all this time?”

“I know because they’re the exact same looks I give you!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in frustration. “And the looks you give him and not the same ones you give me.”

You bit your lip, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to escape your eyes. No, they weren’t the same looks. You looked at Connor like your friend. You looked at Shawn like the love of your life.

“I can’t do this,” you whispered, shaking your head. “I . . . I can’t do this.” You unzipped the coat he made you put on before you left and tossed it at his feet before removing his hoodie, leaving you in just your sweater and light jacket.

You met his eyes one last time, the pain in his mirroring the devastation in yours. With that, you spun on the heel of your boot and started walking home, leaving Shawn standing there, stunned in the snow.

You didn’t get far before Shawn snapped out of his trance, realizing that you were out in the Canada cold without nearly enough protection against it.

“Y/N, wait! You’re going to get sick, or freeze, or worse!” he called out, hoping you would at least come back for the coat and he could look at you one last time. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m an idiot and I didn’t mean it!”

You didn’t turn around so he decided to go to you, picking the now snow covered hoodie off the ground and jogging towards you.

Your patience wore thinner with every step of his you hear getting closer to you.

“Stop following me!” You turned around and all Shawn saw was the absolute heartbreak held by your eyes. “How dare you accuse me of this shit when I’m obviously in love with you!”

Shawn stumbled and stopped, mere steps away from taking your arm leading you back inside where it was warm and you were safe.

“Merry fucking Christmas, Shawn,” you spat, giving him the dirtiest look you could muster and bolting away.

He knew that he messed up. He knew you were beyond angry and hurt. That you wouldn’t text when you got home. That there was no saving this.

December is a month for hope and love, but hope as he might, Shawn knew that you had no love left for him.

December was almost over, but his mind would be stuck in it forever.

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@fallinallincurls @lonelyreputation @yourstrulyamour @aelingalthynius @voguesir @shawnsreputation @drayshadow @otaculo @mendesficsxbombay @particularnarry @shawnaus @friendlyneighborhood-mendes

Additional tags: @wondershawns

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obeiii-mee · 4 years ago

Note

Hi there! If its okay, could i ask for headcannons of the brothers finding out MC is an Artist? Something like, finding there sketchbook or napkins w doodles on them jfjdjs Or maybe they catch MC glancing at them alot while trying to draw them? hfjd Ty!! Your writing is really good~

Of course it’s OK! I’ve always liked the idea of MC having a really interesting hobby and teaching the brothers about it. I feel like all the brothers would be very supportive of them, even if they all had various reactions to their hobby but I really love writing wholesome moments like that. Sorry this took longer to come out, I made them really long to make up for it!

Also thank you. Your compliment means a lot :)

————————————-

The Brothers’ reactions to MC being an artist:

Lucifer:

-Well if you’re going to glance at him every two minutes, he’s bound to notice

-I mean, you’re pretty damn obvious

-Lucifer got pretty used to you whipping out your sketchbook whenever you could

-So for you to start doodling in his office while he worked wasn’t exactly unheard of

-He caught you staring at him before looking back down at your drawing, continuing your series of furious scribbles

-Now you piqued his interest

-“You seem very focused there love. What are you drawing?”

-Scared the crap out of you because he rarely ever talks when he’s working

-You were reluctant to show him but Lucifer has his insisting face on

-When you passed him the sketchbook, he momentarily froze

-Your drawing was so detailed and full of emotion, capturing him slumped over his desk, exhausted but determined to finish the work he’s been assigned

-He was so surprised and stunned, for a second, he forgot to breathe

-“It’s not exactly one of my best drawings yet but-“

-“You never fail to impress me MC.”

-He suspected you were drawing him but he wasn’t expecting this much effort to be put into it

-He would definitely keep all your drawings of him

-Loves all your work but secretly adores your sketches of him best

-Lucifer would occasionally look over your shoulder while you sketch, taking a peek at what you’re drawing and smile to himself

-He’s never felt this much pride for someone else before

Mammon:

-Was pissed you would rather spend time with an object rather than him

-It annoyed him at first because he couldn’t tell if you were listening to him or not while you had your nose stuck in your sketchbook

-Basically, he was jealous of a sketchbook

-You can’t do that Mammon, that’s Levi’s thing

-So one day he decided to see what the fuck was so great about that giant notebook you always have with you

-He turned your entire room upside down searching for the damn thing before finding it

-He flipped through it and I’m sure the entire House of Lamentation could hear his gasp

-You drew him for pages and pages in all sorts of positions and styles and he was a flustered tomato going through them

-You willingly drew him? The scum of a demon who could never do anything right unless it involved money? You put your time and effort into these sketches and doodles despite him being condescending and a dick at times?

-Excuse me but this man is already head over heels in love with you, you can’t keep giving him reasons to fall for you

-He was so engrossed into your work that he didn’t notice you behind him

-“Mammon why is there a mess in my room-“

-“HOLY SHI-AHHH!!!”

-Too embarrassed to even think of an excuse for going through your shit

-“Ah those...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have drawn you without your permission Mammon-“

-“Are ya kiddin’ me? MC, I feel insulted that you didn’t tell me about this sooner. Can...Can I keep some of ‘em??”

-Now he insists that you draw him as often as possible and would even pose for you (he loves the attention let’s be real)

-He wants to see all of your drawings and will endlessly support you

-Thought about using your skill as a way to make money because art can be very expensive

-But in the end, he dropped the idea

-Why would he sell something so precious to him??

Levi:

-He probably has a sketchbook too

-You guys draw Ruri-chan together in your own styles

-Levi always insists that you’re much better at drawing than him tho

-Your talent makes him a little jealous but at the same time he’s fascinated

-Was so surprised when he found out you were into sketching

-Levi was even more surprised when you showed him all the drawings you’ve worked on for your favourite anime and video game characters

-OK but how come you’re so perfect? Not only are you a lovely person that is willing to watch anime with him without insulting his opinions but you can draw? W...h...a...t...?

-He requests several sketches of ‘The Tale of the Seven Lords’ characters and will actually tape them to his wall

-Some of them are right on his Ruri-chan shelf

-“Hey normie, do you...do you mind teaching me how to draw? I want to learn.”

-Is 100% determined to learn how to properly sketch from you

-You started drawing him as well, usually while he games

-You better stop, he’ll have a nosebleed if you keep being so nice to him!

-Draw him as an anime character and he will start fangirling

-“Phew. OK I’m finished.”

-“What did you draw?”

-“Hentai.”

-“This. Is. A. Masterpiece.”

-Will proudly show your work to his brothers (usually the same drawing more than five times)

-What did an otaku like him do to deserve you??

Satan:

-He found out you were an artist fairly quickly

-I meant he found tissues with doodles you left behind everywhere

-He kept all of them

-It was so refreshing for him to see you so invested in your drawings the same way he is in his reading

-You’re still under the impression you’re being sneaky by drawing him while he has his nose in his books

-You ended up finally gathering enough courage to show him one of your portraits of him

-He had a reaction similar to Lucifer’s really

-Praise!

-He made your drawing into a bookmark

-Idk how but he did

-You leave him a few doodles of you and him being all lovey dovey and he absolutely adores them

-Will lose his marbles if anyone says anything remotely negative about your style or talent

-Draw him fluffy animals pls he will literally have them framed and fixed up in his room

-Also if you draw any of his brothers (specifically Lucifer let’s be real) in a silly way he will actually start snorting with laughter

-You sketch him pretty damn often and he can’t really complain

-It’s really peaceful when you two are in the library and you’re working on your doodling while he reads aloud to you

-Buys you equipment like pens and pencils and even sketchbooks when he knows you’re running out

-He’s really delighted when you come over to show him your drawings

-Once he caught you staring at a cat as you started sketching it

-He actually didn’t think it was possible to love someone this much

Asmo:

-Noisy little fucker that he is and in need of drama, he looked through your sketchbook

-Thought it was a diary at first but nope

-Imagine his surprise when he found pages upon pages of drawings of his brothers and him

-Except his weren’t really a surprise

-He’s gorgeous of course you would want to draw him

-But oh my God, do you realise how much he values art??

-I know he looks as if he only thinks about sex but he definitely has a thing for creativity and art like painting and photography

-“MC darliiiing~? Why didn’t you tell me you can draw?”

-He actually shrieks at how well you’ve captured his beauty

-He insists that they look like actual pictures of him

-Takes several pictures of all of them and posts them on DevilGram

-A bit salty when you drawing anything else but him

-However, he can’t deny that you’re one of the most talented individuals he ever met

-He comes up to you every day and lractically begs you to draw him

-One time you came in your room to find him naked and asking you to draw him

-Is actually kinda good at drawing himself

-Specifically people

-He has enough experience exploring the human body so he surprisingly enough, knows a thing or two when it comes to body proportions

-“MC draw me like one of your french girls~”

-I’m sorry I had to do that

-He also likes the attention he’s getting when he poses for you

-He may think he’s the most beautiful being in all three realms but he definitely thinks you’re the second

-So he often offers to draw you too

-He likes having cozy chats with you while you draw

Beel:

-You left your sketchbook behind in the kitchen with him

-Mammon needed your assistance to get down from where Lucifer hanged him after one of his failed money schemes

-He knocked a glass of milk nearby it and had a panic attack for a minute

-Legitimately thought he ruined the whole thing

-Was actually about ready to cry because he knew how important your sketchbook was to you

-Looked through it just to make sure there were no splotches or anything

-To say he was relieved when he realised it was fine would be an understatement

-He was kinda drawn to your sketches, most of them carefully drawn and expressive, even some of the ones you scribbled out

-One specific drawing caught his eye though

-You drew him and Belphie together, with his twin brother’s head resting on his shoulder while Beel ate

-He was mesmerised by your talent and by your thoughtfulness

-Beel felt bad about it but he kept looking through your sketches, enchanted by everything in it

-You drew him and his brothers several times

-It’s safe to say the discovery of your drawings brightened his day

-Gave back your sketchbook later

-He apologised for going through it without your permission more than he needed to

-You had to accept his apology because he looked like a kicked puppy

-Feels very honoured whenever you let him look at your work

-Is more than happy to pose for you!

-But that might be a bit of a problem seeing as he tends to move around a lot

-“Whoa, that looks just like me! The food I’m eating looks really realistic too...which is making me hungry. Let’s go to Hell’s Kitchen, you can finish this there!”

-Supportive bean

-You gave him a family sketch of him and all of his brothers once

-Normally, he only likes gifts he can eat

-But he treasures that drawing more than food at times

-“This...this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me! Thank you MC! But uh, someone’s missing in this drawing.”

-“Ah shit, who did I miss?”

-“You.”

-If anything ever happens to Beel or his happiness I swear to Lord Diavolo-

Belphie:

-OK but you left your notebook just sitting there right next to him???

-How do you expect him not to look through it?

-Belphie doesn’t care much for privacy

-And he doesn’t exactly have morals either

-He didn’t even know you were into drawing

-Which to be fair, wasn’t scandalous considering he sleeps 20 hours a day

-But he wants to be more involved in your interests so that’s why he took initiative with your sketchbook

-Idk what he was expecting but definitely not a sketch of him staring back at him

-His heart skipped a beat but I don’t even know if demons have hearts

-The cheeky little shit took pictures and may or may not have made on your drawings of him his wallpaper

-Most of the drawings were of him sleeping, surprising...absolutely no one

-“So that’s what you’re up to whenever I go to sleep huh? So cute~”

-But besides all that, he is really touched

-I mean, if there’s anyone undeserving of your love and respect is the piece of shit of who tried to kill you

-Yet here you are, continuously showering him with affection and now this

-Probably spent hours looking at your sketchbook while you were at R.A.D

-Didn’t say anything to you when you came back except handing your notebook back to you

-Though he was less of a smartass and more affectionate for the rest of the day

-Next morning, you took the liberty of waking up before him and sketching him again

-He grabbed your arm halfway through your doodling and grinned at you from under the covers

-“Drawing me again huh? You won’t mind me doing this while you’re at it then right?”

-Now he’s sleeping in your lap

-Whenever you show him your work, he makes a small approving noise but he’s seriously impressed

-Draw Lucifer or Lord Diavolo in any offensive manner and he will actually start giggling

-Gets all huffy puffy when you draw his brothers instead of him (we all know Beel is the exception)

-I may have a thing for Belphegour

Al~

#obey me #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me imagines #obey me leviathan #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me satan #⭐️ requests #☂️ demon brothers #🕯 general

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fitzs-trained-monkey · 3 years ago

Text

Chapter Three: If We Have Each Other.

~When the world's not perfect When the world's not kind If we have each other then we'll both be fine. I will be your brother and I'll hold your hand. You should know I'll be there for you. I will always be there for you~

"Dude, we are in some serious jelly," I proclaimed as I paced around the small perimeter of the tree house.

"And that jam!" Isaac added from where he remained sitting at the table.

"Tight spot."

"Indeed!"

"Up a tree!" I supplied.

"Lost in the grass!" He offered. I swung around, shaking my finger at him.

"I'll tell ya what's grass, our- AAH FRACKLES!" I had stepped on a stray nail in one of the floorboards. Hobbling my way back into my chair, I thunked my head against the table.

"But look at the bright side." Isaac leaned back in his chair. "Seeing as how our grand-theft-hairbrush is going viral and all, there is still a chance that me flipping the camera off could become a meme!" He pointed out. Slowly, I raised my head to stare at him.

"Are you kidding me right now?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Consider it, Marty! All it took was five years being dead and now I'm finally fulfilling my life-long dream! If I'd known it was this easy, I would have killed myself a long time ago and spared me all that drama and emotional damage," Isaac smirked. I shook my head, my gaze drifted back to the Vader figure and snow globe sitting side-by-side on the shelf.

"Please don't talk like that Isaac," I sighed. Isaac's face fell.

"Sorry, I-I wasn't thinking," He apologized. I nodded.

"It's okay." It wasn't, but what more could be said when you didn't want to speak?

"Hey," Isaac spoke softly, ducking his head to get me to look at him, "Even if things go sour, I'm gonna be here for you. Just like I promised. Through thick and thin, remember?"

"Through thick and thin."

Smiling weakly, I repeated our life long mantra. I took a deep breath and focused back in on the problem.

"Alright, man. We gotta figure out a game plan. That video is gonna bring every hunter and their mom up here to ice our, or my, gluteus maximus. And if they know about the minimart then they know about the hospital. So, what's our play?"

"Well, I say you use your Sweet-Talkin' thing and talk any o'those alcoholic weirdos out of it," Isaac suggested. I shook my head.

"Isaac, you know how much I hate doing that."

Although it was a tempting idea, that wasn't something I wanted to mess with. If you start playing with the dark things, the dark things start playing with you. That wasn't a concept I liked, but Isaac would never understand that.

"I'm just saying it’s an option! And an easy one at that," Isaac pushed. I glared at him.

"I'm not doing that."

"It might come to it, Marty. I'm just saying as a plan C it-"

"The answer is no! Moving on." My tone killed and buried the subject. Isaac raised his hands in surrender.

"Fine. But misinformation is still our strongest tool. We should use it. Tell anybody who asks that it was all done on a computer," He conceded.

"Alright, that's plan A. What's plan B?" Isaac's face twisted in thought. I let him do any and all planning when it came to telling a lie because he was so much better at making it convincing than I was. Isaac was the king of spouting believable bull crap. In fact, he would have made and excellent demon. That guy could probably get an angel to sell its soul for a box of holy doughnuts. When the idea hit Isaac's brain, I could almost see a light bulb light up above his head. He leaned forward, exited.

"Okay, I got it. We make up some BS story about a gay black dude who got chopped up by the ferry or something and the hospital wouldn't help him because all the doctors were racist homophobes, and it was the 50's." He nodded at me very seriously. Like I said, Isaac was king.

"That's is the worst, most ridiculous and stupid story I have ever heard," I told him. Isaac's nodding grew more excited. "It's perfect. They'll buy every word. Just one thing though, what about the mini-mart?" I pointed out.

Isaac opened his mouth before closing it again. Then he opened it. Then he closed it. Open. Closed. Open. Closed. This happened several more times before he finally came up with something good.

"So, our gay black guy was also a nice hobo dude and after he died he started stealing crap to give to his hobo buddies." Isaac gave me a thumbs up. I nodded.

"Okay, sounds good, sounds good. How do we explain me?" I splayed my hands. Isaac huffed and rolled his eyes, leaning back again and tucking his hands behind his head.

"Well, that’s easy. The camera never even caught a glimpse of your face, so you're his anonymous theft buddy slash item distributer!" He explained. I grinned at my fantastic phantasmal co-conspirator.

"Excellent, and of course nobody knows who the thief is. Especially not, innocent little me!" I chuckled at his brilliance.

"Exactly!" Isaac smirked.

"It's perfect! Except one last thing. We're gonna need some eyes and ears in on this. Someone to alert us when someone fishy comes lurking about," I said. Isaac nodded seriously.

"You're right. But who can we trust around here?" He asked. I could feel the smile split across my face.

"I can think of only one man for this job. A man as trustworthy as he is slimy. A man scrubbed clean by his own filth. A man so wonderful, words do him no justice!" I declared dramatically. Isaac was confused for a moment before realization dawned. His face fell.

"Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."

"I think I am." I grinned. Isaac just sighed.

"Marty, no."

"Marty, yes!"

- 45 minutes later-

"Yo! Danny, my man! How's life?" I called out. Dan-the-Dope-Man looked up from...whatever it was he was doing outside Copper Harbor's one and only pharmacy. The pharmacy which he, in fact, owned. Honestly, I didn't want to know exactly what he had been doing behind the pile of cardboard boxes that were stacked up against the moldy brick. I figured it was better if I didn't. Dan smiled a grin that was missing two teeth.

"Marty! My worst customer and only friend! Life's good!" He greeted me, kicking a few of the boxes over to hide whatever suspicious activity it was that he had been up to. He winked and walked over to me, pushing his absolutely disgusting blond hair out of his face. "But, you know, business is betta'," He concluded.

I could never tell how tall Dan was, in this form especially. See, Dan-the-Dope-Man was a shapeshifter, though of course, no one else in the town knew that. That's how he was the owner of the pharmacy as well as a drug dealer. His other form, Jonathan De’ Santos, was the tall, 40-year-old, honest-looking Hawaiian man that ran the pharmacy. In this form, however, Dan was a somewhere-in-the-upper-five-foot-range Caucasian guy from Brooklyn with a thing against bathing. He said that the grungy, sewer-rat look was better for his side business. I wasn't sure how much of that I bought, but then again, who's gonna buy drugs from the guy who's supposed to make sure you don't destroy yourself with them.

"I bet it is!" I said, taking a step back when he reached me because, like I said, the guy had a thing against hygiene.

"This is a terrible, terrible idea," Isaac muttered, leaning on the wall to my left. I couldn't reply to him because although Dan knew what I was he didn't know about Isaac. So all I could do was give him a rude gesture behind my back. He saw it and stuck his tongue out at me.

"What can I do fo' ya, Marty?" Dan always pronounced my name as 'Mawty' at least in this form as it had a Brooklyn accent.

"Well, o' Danny boy, I have some rather bad news to deliver," I continued, "There might be some hunters coming to town soon."

Dan frowned; his eyes narrowed at me as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Well, that ain't good. Whatt'id ya do, Marty?" He asked. Sometimes Dan could be like my older brother, even if he didn't realize it.

"Woah, woah, woah! Who said I did anything?!" I defended. Dan just raised an eyebrow.

"You're always showin' off and ya know it," He said simply.

"He's right, you know," Isaac interjected. I wished I could tell him to shut his eidolic cake hole. It wouldn't have made much of a difference if I could, as he would still have continued talking, but the principle remained the same. Isaac was annoying. He needed to shut his mouth now and again. But I couldn't say that right now because he was a flipping ghost and ghosts are invisible. Mostly.

Ignoring Isaac, I opened my mouth to try to argue with Dan but quickly closed it again when found that I couldn't, because he was absolutely right. Now, I couldn’t admit that to him because Isaac was right here and that would be saying that he was right about something, and that was a thing I would never hear the end of.

"In regards," I started again.

"You'd just say 'regardless'," Isaac chimed in. I had to physically bite my tongue to keep from screaming at him to shut up.

"Regardless," I corrected. Isaac chuckled. I really needed to get myself some iron gauntlets or something so I could give his apparitional arse an involuntary appendectomy. Or just an iron ring so I could punch him in the face.

"Regardless, it wasn't me. This time. It was some attention seeking moron with a computer. That combined with my little hospital trips and you get something fishy looking." I finally managed to finish my sentence without Isaac chiming in.

"Well then ya betta' keep ya head down, Marty. I don' wan' ya gettin hurt." A dark look crossed over Dan's usually upbeat face. "Or worse," He finished.

"I know Danny, which is why I need you to do something for me," I said. Isaac sighed and face palmed but I ignored it.

"What?" Dan asked.

"I need you to watch out for any newcomers asking weird questions. I've got a plan if any hunters get too close to us, I just need to know who and where they are," I told him.

See, the pharmacy, the mini-mart, the bar, and the barber shop all sat across from each other at a four way intersection. Thus, Dan would have an excellent view of any hunter's first two targets. The origin of the supernatural activity, in this case the mini-mart, and the bar. He would be the perfect spy. Dan looked at me strangely.

"Say, Marty, you ain't plannin' on gankin' any a' dose' suckas' now are ya?" He asked, caution evident in his voice. I sighed, shaking my head internally. This was just another downside of being what I was. Everybody thinks you're a murderer. Though I knew I was far from innocent, I had never killed anyone. At least, anyone who didn't deserve it.

"Come on, Danny. In all the time you've known me, have I ever, er, ganked anyone?" I asked him, spreading my hands as if to catch the obvious answer.

"Well, no. But people can change," Dan pointed out. I rolled my eyes.

"Dan, I'm not gonna kill anyone. There, ya happy?" I said, only mildly aggravated. Isaac decided it was time to speak up again.

"You may not. But I will. If it comes to that. I won't let anybody hurt you, Marty. Not again. Not when I can do something about it."

I knew he was saying this now so I wouldn't be able to argue with him. Then I would forget and if he did kill someone Isaac would say he'd said he would. I ground my teeth together and reminded myself that it wasn't going to come to that. I wouldn't let it.

Meanwhile, Dan thought about what I'd spoken aloud.

"Yeah okay, but if anybody comes sniffin' I'm skippin', kay?" He agreed. I nodded.

"Okay, take care of yourself, Danny."

"You too, Marty." I smiled at him and began to walk away. Isaac pushed himself off the wall and trudged behind me, complaining loudly.

"Make sure you take care of yourself too, Issac! I'd hate myself if anything happened to you, Isaac! I wouldn't be able to survive without you, Isaac! Thanks Marty, your friendship means everything to me!" He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Ugh! Why do I even bother?"

I smirked giving him the sign for 'I love you' behind my back.

"Aw shut up!"

But I knew he was smiling.

~So, I'm thankful for my sister even though sometimes we fight When high school wasn't easy, she's the reason I survived. I know she'd never leave me and I hate to see her cry. I just wanna tell her that I'm always by her side. I just wanna tell her that...

The worlds not perfect, but it’s not that bad. If we've got each other and that’s all we have I will be your brother and I'll hold your hand You should know I'll be there for you When the world's not perfect When the world's not kind If we have each other then we'll both be fine I will be your brother and I'll hold your hand You should know I'll be there for you.

I will always be there for you.~

Lyrics from: If We Have Each Other by Alec Benjamin

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demonfox38 · 4 years ago

Text

Completed - Baba is You

I can't believe this is the first game I've perfected on Steam.

Like, I don't like achievement systems in video games, okay? I prefer to set my own goals. Sure, there are some achievements that are interesting, like learning to use a certain mechanic in a cool or efficient manner, visiting hidden rooms, or even running around with nothing but my character's default busted sword just to prove a point. Mostly, I just want to finish them. I don't go jumping through flaming hoops because I want people to think I'm cool. I'm from Iowa. I'm critically uncool by design.

If a game is good, I will put in the extra work. Like, getting 100% souls in "Castlevania: Aria of Souls" and 200.6% map completion in "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" is now just routine for me. With "Baba is You"? Well, circumstances are just a teeny bit different.

"Baba is You" is a puzzle game from independent developer Arvi Teikari. Your primary goal in the game is to create statements out of nouns, verbs, and conditions and use those generated rules to complete levels. It's basically catnip to programmers. These puzzles are packaged in cute, scribbly animations and gentle music. Ultimately, its soft presentation is the figurative sheep's clothing under which the wolf of this game lives, dragging its players through increasingly more complex situations, sitting there, laughing, its whole world wiggling in its adolescent mockery of you and your sluggish brain.

You're not always even Baba. I know. The absolute betrayal.

I originally saw this game being streamed back in 2019. A frustrating feeling overtook me as I watched the player work through the puzzles. I could feel myself solving them before she could, and it was making me itch. I didn't want to have any more spoiled without giving it a shot myself, so I purchased the game, put in a few hours, and then dropped it for two years. Hell, the major reason I came back to it was that I was babysitting my mom's very needy poodle, and I was more or less trapped on the couch with her during her entire stay. Had to do something. So, I decided this was it.

"Baba is You" really is the ultimate "Yeah, I'll get back to this" game. You know what I mean? There's always a handful of games that you make a little headway into, and then you think, "Yeah, I'll get back to this" and then drop it. I try not to be this way. Video games are expensive, and I want to get as much value as I can out of them. But man, does this game get overwhelming.

I mean, the TAS for a 100% run is currently around an hour and forty-five minutes. That's for 226 puzzles. That is a lot.

Granted, you don't have to finish every puzzle if you don't want to. The game can let you slide free with your first ending after completing only three subworlds on the main map. You know how many people get to that first ending? Like, we're talking maybe getting through 3 hours of gameplay or so. As of this posting, it's around 7.8% of all players on Steam. In comparison, here are first time ending numbers from other games I own on Steam:

"Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon" – 38% (Cleave the Moon)

"Trine" – 29.6% (Completed!)

"Dust: An Elysian Tale" – 23.9% (…And the Dust Settles)

"Fez" – 14.7% (Kill Screen)

"Psychonauts" – 13.2% (I Thought That Was Unbeatable!)

"Typing of the Dead" – 12.9% (Experimental Fiction)

"Final Fantasy VII" – 9.4% (End of Game)

That's right. From a percentage point of view, more players will put 80 hours into a 20+ year old RPG than 3 hours in this game. So, what's up with that?

At first, I wasn't struggling terribly with the game. I was making a pretty steady clip through it, stopping occasionally to check out the game's wiki. (BTW—view that on a laptop browser, not a mobile one. The background makes it hard to read some of the verbs and conditions.) My first tap-out in 2019 happened around the "Forest of Fall" block, when the game started introducing teleporting puzzles. My second brain-snap happened about 18 hours in the game when I accidentally created the phrase "Level is Key" in the puzzle "Fragile Existence," and then I realized that I could both create this level as Baba and had to create another level as a flag to win the overworld map.

And then there was a submap.

And another.

Holy crap, my brain was not ready for the mess that was Depths and Meta.

At one point, I stopped myself and reviewed why I was overcome with despair at my own stupidity. A part of it is yes, the game looks very cute, and the language used in the puzzles is very simple. So, when you don't get it, it's like saying you don't get "Sesame Street." And hey, maybe you wouldn't if it was in Mandarin and you only speak English. But, I did want to beat myself up for my sluggish responses and my growing feeling of helplessness. Why couldn't I beat the simple sheep game for babies? Was I really that stupid?

I think it helped to know what troubles I had my playthrough harder. This included:

Using text to push objects past barriers. (Yes, text exists in the world, and unless it's floating, you can use that text to move objects around. It's like hitting a car with a stop sign.)

Assuming attributes on an object that weren't actually assigned (i.e., assuming a door was locked or a wall would prevent me from moving through it, even if that wasn't the case.)

Manipulating text to double-layer nouns or break up commands by wedging an inactive/non-solid object in them. (See: Prison.)

Realizing that "you" doesn't always have to go to a certain destination. Sometimes, "you" just need to have something move over there or push something into where you want to go.

Remembering to use the "Wait" button to let moving objects finish their paths.

"Defeat" is a condition that applies only to "you", not objects in your possession. (They may instead be destroyed by "Sink").

Some rules need to be created and destroyed in the same turn.

Things that move on their own can be used to carry commands through obstacles.

Sometimes, you've just got to count your steps when you're taking an action and see if you can reduce them.

And granted, despite my stupidity, there were some puzzles that really clicked! I particularly enjoyed using the "Word" condition, as it allowed for me to treat both words and objects as a noun to make assignments. There were also times where I had to spell out the commands I wanted from letters left on the map. Fun! Natural! And hell, who doesn't enjoy a good block pushing puzzle, now and again? Super easy. Makes sense. Key is push, door is open. Of course!

Ass is Hot! Of course! (Wait, that wasn’t the solution...)

I tended to lock up more when the "Defeat" piece was on screen. I mean, you can always undo your mistakes, and there's no life limit or anything like that. But, hearing your player character go splat when you mess up is flinch-worthy. Additionally, I hated having to build complex paths for objects to follow. Like, screw the entirety of Adventurers. Also, learning what the "Lonely" condition meant felt very unnatural. It was hard to even tell why I was splatting until I read up on what it meant.

Interestingly, changing the language of the game only affects the menu's language, not the game itself. (I was wondering if adding a layer of comprehension to objects would stop me from auto-assigning properties to them or not. Makes sense that it's all in English, considering the "form objects from letters" puzzles.)

I felt bad when I finally gave up on putting effort into solving the puzzles on my own. I did. But, I was also 18 hours deep into my file in a single week, and I wanted to get back to my other hobbies. I felt that if I gave up on "Baba is You" again, I wouldn't finish it ever. And then, those 18 hours truly would be wasted. Also, I felt sick that only 7.8% of people had gotten to the first ending screen. The game isn't bad! It's hard, but not bad! I wanted to at least give it enough dignity to finish it off, even if I was more or less reading what I needed to build with one eyeball and building it with the other.

And hell. Given all of the version differences of this game and the amount of time that has passed since its release, it is a teeny bit YouTube proof. Not completely invulnerable, but I did catch a difference or two here and there. And it's not like the wiki's the clearest with what you need to do, even when they're telling you exactly what to do. You've got to mind your space with your words. At the very least, don't push anything aside or wreck it until you absolutely must.

I can't emphasize how much I felt bad about giving up. I mean, it's one thing to look at guides for other game types. You can get knowledge on how to beat a boss or level, but you've physically got to develop the skills needed to vault through that goal. With puzzle games, knowledge is 99% of what you need to accomplish your task. The rest is just putting in the solution as elegantly as possible.

92.2% of players didn't bother to do even that.

I won't pretend to say I know enough about puzzles to make an excellent puzzle game. However, I do think brevity would have helped this game. Like, think of puzzle games people like. "Tetris," right? Even a long game of "Tetris 64" lasts me a couple of hours at most. "Portal"? That's a handful of hours supported by plot and fun dialogue. So is the sequel. "Panel de Pon" / "Tetris Attack" / "Puyo Puyo"? Those are like "Street Fighter" arcade campaigns. Like, 15-20 minutes. To have a puzzle game go on for hours and hours without any character motivation or plot in sight? Yeah. That's going to burn a lot of people out.

Like, this game could have just the over world, a single hidden world, and then the Center portion, and that would have been more than enough. And then you know what could have been done with the rest of the puzzles? Put them in a new game! "Baba is More!" Bam! A second game, now with extra "Inception"-styled mind screws! Twice the money earned! (Yeah, okay. This plan might stink of capitalism.)

Making 226 puzzles is impressive. However, brevity is the soul of wit. Sometimes, design can be contradictory like that.

But, its achievements? Perfectly laid out. Truly finishing the game is likely to net you everything. I only had to put in a couple of hours after the true ending, and really, only fifteen minutes of that was solving the puzzles. The rest was just finding what I had missed. (I've heard rumors that "Baba is Baba" is bugged, but I think you just need to look up how to get the Level is Win solution in Meta figured out. The rest is elbow grease.)

I don't know if I can recommend this game. Again, having a case of the bad feels over that statement, especially since it seems like the developer has his heart in the right place. I'm hesitant to recommend this because when I was playing it, I had a migraine that lasted three days straight. Granted, there were possibly some external factors to why I had that. A fat polar vortex. Stress from work. Some hormonal influences. Not enough caffeine or water. Just generally living in the United States in the early 2020s. Plenty of things to crush my skull. I don't think it's in good taste to recommend something that will cause others physical pain. I mean, I'm used to games cracking my hands, but that's not exactly healthy behavior. I certainly wouldn't want to give someone an epileptic attack. Why would I want to drive a nail through their skulls, either?

I do think the game is solidly designed. It's a smart little cookie. But, it is unintentionally discouraging to get through, especially if you feel like you can't ask for help. Like getting a clue or an explanation is cheating.

Look. Try. Try hard. Be as honest and earnest as you can be. Just don't expect to do everything in your life alone, okay? I mean, there are times you've got to get an external perspective. I frequently had to crash after school with mathematics teachers and badger professors to explain topics outside of class. You think I was going to come up with how there are different kinds of infinities on my own? Hell no. I'm not creative in terms of mathematical proofs. But, I sure as hell can explain how different infinities work now! Even post-schooling, I still research topics, particularly when building or fixing things. I wouldn't have learned half of the things I've learned about maintaining game cartridges or building dollhouses without suggestions from professionals and enthusiasts. It's just part of life. You ask for help so you don't burn resources—especially something as valuable as time!

#post game evaluation #baba is you #demon is purge

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andinewton · 4 years ago

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Based on this post by @acrispyapple, just a little something I threw together! Thanks for the idea! I hope you like it! (as always, I’m too lazy to edit it right now, so I hope it all makes sense!)

Give me a Break! - A Victor oneshot

Victor continued with his work, his phone face down on the desk, awaiting the vibration to signal your next reply. It never took you long to come around to his way of thinking, even though you seemed to be really riled at his reply this time. He could picture you now, brow furrowed delicately with a cute little pout on your lips. His face curved into a smirk before he put his fountain pen back to paper and carried on working.

***

You glared at your phone. You had taken five minutes out of today’s incredibly busy schedule to try and invite Victor on a trip. Sending him a message, fishing for whether he might be interested or not, only to have him shoot you down in flames by questioning your work ethic! Okay, well, fine. If he wanted to be your boss and nothing else, then that was what he would get.

***

Later that evening, as you tucked into a very basic but still tasty microwave dinner at your tiny kitchen table, your phone beeped a new message. Glancing at the display you could see a notification from Victor, asking where you were. On the other side of you was a copy of your latest proposal which you were skimming over to double check it made sense. Time to launch operation business only.

Taking a picture of the file you attached a short message, simply stating; very busy, boss. Before putting the phone back down and continuing to eat, your desire to work suddenly fired up by his query.

Another beep. You were meant to be at Souvenir.

Actually, sir, you said you would take me to Souvenir later. As no time nor date for said meeting was confirmed with myself or my office, I assumed it was tentative. Apologies if I misunderstood.

Wow, that felt soooooo good! It was professional, made your point, even to the degree of apologising to draw attention to the fact it was his fault. Now for stage two of your plan.

You opened a new text message and sent a brief note to Kiro. Weirdly, he was the one who supported your not-quite-a-relationship with Victor, and was more than happy to be your venting buddy as well as constant co-conspirator. You knew Kiro “shipped” the two of you, as he assured you the internet said these days, and he wanted to make it his mission to bring you together. You admitted you weren’t exactly averse to the idea, and making Victor jealous just might help. Just minutes later you got a stream of excited emojis from Kiro, followed by the simple phrase; I know just what to do, so go with it!

You were sure whatever it was would get Victor’s attention in no time, the real test would be how he reacted.

***

Victor threw his phone down on the countertop, the metal surface reverberating with the clash. You were taking it this far, seriously? Making out your relationship was nothing more than professional? He would make you pay for that in some not so subtle way. He started to pack away the ingredients he had bought to make you a special meal, knowing you weren’t coming. It was a shame to let it go to waste and while he wanted to share this recipe with you he could be just as petty as you were. Probably even more so.

His phone vibrated the counter as he came back from the refrigerator, glancing at the screen to see it was from Goldman, and a screenshot no less. Opening it he stared for a good ten seconds before his anger rose to a near impossible level.

Kiro had apparently made a post that Goldman thought should be brought to Victor’s attention immediately. And he could see why.

Kiro: Looking forward to a weekend away with my bestie! Just the two of us, sun, sea, swimsuits, sand, sweet treats, and sangria!

And you were tagged in it.

It was no secret that the two of you were friends, completely platonic yet irritatingly friends who had the press eating out of your hands at the far too many not-dates you went on. Was this what he had blown off by reminding you that work was important? A chance to enjoy a tropical vacation with you wearing very little clothing and…he cleared his throat and shook his head, trying to dislodge the image. Two could play this game. If she was trying to make him jealous she was not going to succeed. No. He would take the high ground and let her go waste her time with the blond pretty boy.

At least that was what he thought. Until Goldman’s second image came through. That of your reply.

MC: Can you believe we get the entire island to ourselves? Thanks #romanticgetaways for the amazing prize!

She won a private island getaway and she was going with…with…with him?! Oh, he didn’t think so! Victor slapped off the lights and headed for the door, grabbing his jacket as he passed.

***

‘Do you think this will work?’ You asked Kiro when he video called you after he posted. He had talked you through your reply and it made sense. He knew about the prize you had won, how excited you had been at the prospect of inviting Victor on what you hope might be a romantic little getaway, and he knew the CEO wasn’t keen on your friendship with the star.

‘With that reply it’s guaranteed!’ You could almost feel Kiro’s excitement through the screen. ‘You are totally going to get him demanding you go with him instead of me!’

‘I mean demanding does sound like him.’ You agreed. ‘But I can’t see it. He was obviously put out that I switched to all business and we both know how stubborn he is.’

‘Psshh.’ Kiro made a dismissive noise. ‘You’ll have him eating out of the palm of your hand.’

‘He’ll probably say that’s unsanitary.’

Kiro’s bubbly laugh echoed through the tiny speaker. ‘I bet he’s actually okay with the idea of a little food play.’ The wink he gave you was enough to bring a blush to your cheeks.

‘You’re worse than me, I swear.’ You shook your head. ‘I don’t imagine I’ll hear from him, but if I do I’ll let you…’

You were interrupted by a knock on your door, your head jerking around to look at it.

‘It’s him! Oh my God, just leave me here on the table so I can listen in!’

‘Nope.’ You waved and cut the call, placing the phone face down on the table before heading over and going up on tiptoes to look through the peephole. Holy crap, it was actually him!

You glanced down at yourself, still wearing your skirt and blouse from work but barefoot and hair down. You’d have to do. Opening the door you looked at Victor, leaning against the wall beside the door with his forearm, glaring at you the moment his eyes found you.

‘Good evening, Mr Li. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?’ Your tone was clipped and professional but his stern expression didn’t slip.

‘Do you always open your door at this time of night to strangers?’

‘I wouldn’t call us strangers, Mr Li. And I checked through the peephole first.’ You waved a hand towards it in demonstration.

He straightened from his leaning pose and tugged his jacket so it sat right. ‘Quit calling me that.’

‘Mr Li?’ You asked, and he gave a brisk nod. ‘But that’s your name.’

‘We have been on a first name basis for as long as we have been in business.’

‘And I apologise for my lack of professionalism in that regard.’ You bowed your head briefly. ‘Now, what can I do for you? It must be important for you to have come all this way at this hour.’

‘I want to know what this is about.’ He thrust his phone in your face just as your neighbour’s door opened, Lucien poking his head around the frame.

‘Is everything alright, MC? I heard raised voices.’

You smiled pleasantly before emphasising his name. ‘Everything is fine, Lucien. Some last minute business that couldn’t wait until morning, that’s all.’

He gave Victor a none too friendly glance. ‘Shout if you need anything.’

‘I will. Thank you, Lucien.’

After a final look Victor’s way he closed the door again and you turned your attention back to the man in front of you, who seemed even angrier now than he had a moment before.

‘What can I do for you, Mr Li? It is, after all, very late. Is there some sort of emergency?’

‘No, there’s no emergency!’ His tone became exasperated. ‘I want to know…’

‘This is well out of business hours so I assumed it was urgent.’

‘Are you just going to leave me on the doorstep all night?’ He finally snapped.

‘With that attitude I think I might.’ You begun to close the door but he put his hand against it and held it there, not that you put up much of a fight. ‘Mr Li, this is very unprofessional.’

‘Enough with the Mr Li, and enough with the professionalism!’ His nostrils flared, you thought in an attempt to stop himself from really yelling, but you just continued to looked at him with a confused expression on your face. ‘I want you to tell me what this means?’

Again he held out the phone and you leant forward slightly, examining it carefully. ‘I believe that is a post from the idol Kiro regarding to his plans for this weekend.’

‘His plans this weekend with you.’ He specified.

‘That’s right.’

‘Quit playing dumb, MC.’

‘I don’t know what you’re alluding to, Mr Li, but dumb is the last thing I am playing.’

The sigh he let out was more of a huff. ‘Are you really going to spend the weekend on a private island with him?’

You shrugged. ‘I had no one else to ask. My first choice was unavailable therefore I went with my backup. If that’s all, sir, I was in the middle of eating.’

‘You said you were working.’

‘I’m multitasking.’ For the first time your irritation slipped through into your voice and you had to take a calming breath before continuing.

He glared at you but you glared right back. He was in the wrong here and if he were really jealous, as Kiro suspected, he had to do something about it, not you. You were not caving.

‘This trip? It was what you wanted to ask me on?’

‘I thought to. Until you stated you couldn’t possibly find the time and that my workload shouldn’t afford me the time either. However, I happen to believe in a healthy work/life balance and this short break will be most welcome.’

‘I would have gone with you.’

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that?’ You leaned forward with your ear turned slightly towards him.

‘I said if you had come out and asked me in the first place I would have gone with you!’

‘Asking if you would like a spur of the moment trip wasn’t to the point enough for you?’ You finally snapped back at him. ‘Your cue then would have been to ask me where to, not to have dismissed me like you have so many other times! I am tired of trying to be perfect for you, Victor, I mean Mr Li! I know in future not to bother asking you to anything you would obviously feel is a complete waste of your valuable time. I’m sorry I bothered you with it in the first place and you will be pleased to hear that from this point on our relationship will be nothing but professional!’

‘You can’t just…’

‘I can’t just what? Tell you a few home truths?’

‘No!’

‘Decide not to allow you to antagonise me any more?’

‘No!’

‘Go on vacation with Kiro?’

That was evidently the last straw for Victor as he shoved his phone in his pocket, stepped forward, and pulled you to him for a bruising kiss.

You couldn’t lie, it was everything you could ever have dreamed of and more. You swore you saw fireworks behind your eyelids, your nerve endings tingling throughout your entire body as his lips forcefully took yours, his hands cupping your face as though afraid you might move. Moving was the last thing on your mind, though, and you made a small satisfied murmur as he drew back from you just enough to allow you to focus on him.

‘Try asking me again.’ He all but growled, the noise making you shiver in such close confines.

‘Would…’ you swallowed, ‘would you like a spur of the moment trip?’

A smile curved the edge of his lips. ‘With you? Any time.’

#mlqc victor #mr love victor #oneshot #mlqc oneshot #kinda fluffy #jealous victor #kiro guest stars

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atlafan · 5 years ago

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Take it Slow - Part Seventy-Three

a/n: okay this is my first shot at a harry:y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. y/n had a bad experience with an ex over a year ago, and finally accepts her coworker and good friend Niall’s invitation to go on a blind date with his friend Harry.

Warnings: smut, and FLUFF SO MUCH FLUFF I SOBBED WHILE WRITING

Masterpost (all previous parts can be found in the masterpost)

You were stressed to the max, and to top it all off you had your period. Harry’s studio opening was just a couple of days away. He was stressing too, working late getting all these little last minute touches together. You were spending all your free time promoting the opening on social media, watching the analytics, responding to comments as they came in. It was like you were working two jobs, but it was all worth it to see him happy and put him at ease for a bit. The website you designed was immaculate. Harry was incredibly impressed with what you put together.

“Babe!” He calls for you from the bedroom. You and Buster come running in.

“What is it…holy shit! What happened in here?!”

Your bedroom was in complete shambles. Harry’a clothes were all over the place. His hair was a mess from tugging at it.

“I have no idea what to wear tomorrow, and I’m freaking out!”

“Oh, Harry.”

“I mean, I feel like a suit is like too fancy, cause like, the place is going to be really chill, but I don’t want to wear jeans, even the black ones, that’s like too chill for a party, and then there’s the shirts! I have silk shirts, button ups, polos-“

“Harry, Harry!” You put your hands on his shoulders. “Please, take a deep breath.” He looks at you and sighs. “We’ll find you something to wear.”

You go through the piles of shirts first. Pants would be easy enough to pair later.

“Do you want to be covered up, or unbuttoned?”

“Think I’d be more comfortable unbuttoned, you know, so everyone can see my necklaces, and the tattoos. I really wanna look like myself.”

“Okay.”

“But like…also cool.”

“Cool?”

“Yes! I want to cool, collected.”

“Harry…you could wear a paper sack and you’d still look cool.” He smirks at you and shakes his head. “Oh! How about this one?” You hold up a black button up with white polka dots on it. “This would look really nice.”

“You think so?”

“Sure! You could dress it up with a blazer if you want for when you first get there, and then take it off later.”

“Yeah, actually, I could see that, let me grab my black suit jacket.” Harry digs it out of the pile and puts them together. “What about pants?”

“I really think your good black jeans, like the really nice pair, would look fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah! I know you haven’t really been doing the skinny jean thing lately, but I think if you wear that, and your beige Chelsea boots, you’d have a whole ensemble going.”

“I don’t know what I would do without you.” He smiles with ease. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Stop worrying, it’s going to be great. So many people are excited to come celebrate you.”

“WhaT are you goin’ to wear?”

“Not sure yet. I was thinking of my yellow dress, you know the one with the short sleeves and the open back? Know how much you like yellow.” He wraps his arms around you.

“Can we have sex?”

“M’all bloody…” You whine. “Can you put all these clothes away?”

“On it.” Harry rushes around hanging all of his things back up, and putting other pieces back in his drawers. He turns to see you walk into the bathroom. “Shower?”

“Yeah, just give me a couple minutes to like…clean up.”

After about five minutes you call for Harry. He comes in, already naked, and gets under the water.

“All set, angel?” He asks, kissing on your neck.

“Mhm.”

“M’just so stressed, need to take my mind off things.” He starts kneading your breasts. “That okay?” You nod your head yes. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” You wrap your arms around his neck. “Now fuck me.”

“Okay, great, You’re the best! Seriously, thanks again. We’ll see you guys soon.” You hang your phone up, and put it down on the sink counter. You put some red lipstick on and smooth out your dress. You were thankful it wasn’t a humid evening so you could wear your hair down. “Buster!” You yell as you walk out of the bedroom. He comes running to you. “Come on, we gotta go meet daddy before everyone arrives.”

You leash him up and get him down the stairs. Mariah and Isaac weren’t there yet. Harry was upstairs getting dressed in his office, He nearly spent the entire day making sure everything was perfect. You and Buster greet the waiters that had started to set up. You go upstairs and knock on his door.

“Babe, it’s us!”

He opens the door immediately and yanks you inside, closing and locking the door.

“Oh my god, you look stunning.” He smiles. “How do I look?” He turns around for you.

“Absolutely incredible.” Buster sniffs at his feet.

“Hey buddy.” He pets the top of his head. “I’m freakin’ out, Y/N, and I never freak out. Okay, I do, but not like this!”

“Harry.” You tug at his suit jacket. “Look at me. It’s going to be great. You have prints available for purchase, a ton of booklets for people to look through, and Isaac is going to be walking around with a tablet to book appointments with people. We have a geotag set up through snapchat and insta, and we have a hashtag ready to go. I’m going to be taking pictures and videos all night. Everyone here is here to su-“

He cups your cheeks in his hands and kisses you, smearing your lipstick. Your tongues mold together and you pull him closer to you. He lets go of you just for a second to get some air.

“Sorry, I-“

“Sit down.”

“What?”

“We have like fifteen minutes before Mariah and Isaac are going to get here. Sit down.” Harry sits in his desk chair, and you grab the throw pillow on the little couch he has in his office, putting it on the floor.

“What’s happening right now?”

“I’m going to give you something you’ve been asking for, for a long time.” You get on your knees in front of him.

“Buster, go sit on the couch.” He does as Harry says and looks away from the two of you. “You’re serious?”

“Yes. I want you to be as relaxed as possible. And I know how much you love it when my lipstick gets all of your cock.” You smirk.

You undo his pants and tug his hardening cock out. You pump it a few times, and rub your thumb over his tip. You lean forward and lick the underside of his shaft. You lick of his tip, flicking back and forth on his slit.

“Shit.” He breathes, gripping the armrests of his chair.

You suckle on his tip before taking more of him. You bob up and down slowly, and he bucks his hips up. You let him hit the back of your throat. You’re desperately hoping your eyes don’t water so your makeup doesn’t get fucked up. You swallow against him, making him grit his teeth. He’s trying so hard to be quiet, how cute. You bob up and down on him faster, hollowing your cheeks.

“Fuck, Y/N, I’m gonna come.” He feels his stomach tighten.

You groan against him as it shoots into your mouth. You take all of it, careful not to make a mess. You swallow and slowly stand up. He looks at you and tucks himself back in.

“Do you have any water?” You ask, wiping the corners of your mouth. He points to the bottle on the side table next to the couch.

You grab it and sip on some, swishing it around in your mouth before you swallow. You grab your lipstick out of your purse and touch up your mouth. Harry slowly stands up. You straighten out his clothes and smile.

“Well?”

“I feel…much better. Thank you.” He presses his forehead to yours.

“My pleasure.” You smirk. “Buster, come on, we need to go downstairs now.” He hops off the couch and goes to your side.

Harry follows you out of his office, and perks up even more when he sees all of the food and drinks set up. Mariah and Isaac just walk in as you and Harry come down the stairs.

“It looks amazing in here!” Mariah says as she gives Harry a hug.

“Let me take a picture of you three, it’ll kickstart my posts.”

The line up and all make pouty faces.

“Jesus, you all should just be models.”

“Y/N, let’s get one of you and Harry.” Isaac snatches your phone. Harry hooks an arm around your waist and you place a hand on the exposed part of his chest. “You two are so cute, it’s ridiculous.”

“When’s Rach getting here?” You ask Mariah.

“She’s coming with Niall and Sarah.” She smiles.

A little while later, the party gets started. Niall, Sarah and Rachel all walk in. They each hug Harry and Mariah and start walking around to check the space out. More and more people trickle in. Past and current clients of Harry’s. He mingles with a ton of people, nursing a glass of wine. You go around taking pictures, monitoring mentions. Erica, your mom, Bridget, and Kyle all show up to support as well.

Your eyes keep watching the door. You needed Louis and El to get here before Harry made his speech. People were starting to circle up as it was starting to be that time. Just as Mariah was starting to clink her glass, the doors fly open, catching everyone’s attention.

“Mum?! Gem?!” Harry’s eyes become glossy.

“Harry!” They both say in unison. Louis and El walk in behind them and you feel a giant wave of relief.

The three of them all run towards each other and hug. You squeeze Louis’ shoulder and smile.

“Sorry, they insisted on freshening up, and it took them way longer than we thought.”

“I tried rushin’ ‘em…but they wanted to look around the place too.��

“Of course they did.” You sigh. “It’s okay, they’re here now.”

“You two suck! You said you couldn’t make it!”

“We lied!” Gemma says. “Y/N arranged the whole thing.” Harry looks over to you. Before he can come over Mariah clinks her glass.

“So sorry to break up the family moment, but in order to enjoy the entire evening, we have to get this crap out of the way.” The crowd laughs. You were grateful you thought of microphones. You start filming Mariah for a live video. “Three years ago I started working at this great place where I got to take pictures of plants. About a month in they hired another photographer. This guy who kept to himself. Once in a while he’s laugh or even talk. We later found out he was from the U.K.” The crowd laughs. “Little did I know that not only would this guy become one of my best friends, introduce me to my girlfriend, hey babe,” Rachel blows her a kiss. “But what I really wasn’t expecting was for him to ask me to leave the comfort of my job to come work with him.” She looks at Harry. The two are glossy eyed. “Thank you for being one of the most amazing people I know. I’m honored to do be in this with you. Ladies and gentlemen, Harry Styles.”

The crowd claps as Harry hugs Mariah, and takes the mic from her.

“Thanks, Mariah. I never thought I’d need a work partner, especially since I think my way is the right way.” The crowd makes noises in agreement at Harry’s arrogance. “Yeah, yeah, thanks. Anyways, I wouldn’t be able to do this without you, so thanks.” He clears his throat. “I wanna thank you all for comin’. It means a lot to be supported by so many familiar faces, and some new ones. I love taking pictures, I always have. I’ve been there during some really beautiful moments for a lot of you, and I’m excited to be able to continue doing it full time. I want to thank Isaac Matthews for also leavin’ his comfortable job.” The crowd claps for Isaac. “There’s no one else I’d trust to book appointments for me. Speakin’ of which, he’ll be goin’ around all night with that tablet he’s holdin’, so you know, don’t be shy.” He smirks. “I want to thank my friends for bein’ here tonight to support me, as always. I’m fuckin’ annoying, I don’t know why you all put up with me, but I’m grateful.” They all laugh. “Mum, Gem, this is the best surprise ever. I’m so glad you both are here. Wouldn’t have felt right without you.”

“We love you, honey!” Anne shouts.

“Lastly…” Harry looks over aT you, who was intently filming him. “Y/N.” You look up from your phone as you continue to film. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you, I mean it. I never would’ve found the guts to finally build my business up. You make me better every day.”

“Oh my god, do you think he’s going to propose?” Sarah whispers to Niall.

“No way, he wouldn’t do that tonight.”

“But her family’s here.” She points to your mom and siblings.

“No…he…has a plan. He wouldn’t…”

“Can you com here?”

You shakily pass your phone to Louis so he can keep filming the live video. Harry wraps an arm around your shoulders.

“Not many people know this, but Y/N is really good at social media marketing. She planned this entire event so I could focus on renovatin’ this place. She got her dad and brother to help me out with that. She built the website so many of you have started to use, and she’s been postin’ pictures all night.” The crowd cheers for you. “Y/N, I cannot say thank you enough. You’re the love of my life, and I couldn’t feel more lucky.” He kisses you and everyone cheers. You beam at him and wipe a few tears from your eyes. “Alright, enough of that. We have prints of sale and lots of booklets to go through. So please, keep supportin’ me and spend some money.” Everyone claps and Harry hands the mic to a waiter. The crowd goes back to mingling and checking everything out. “You got my mum and sister here.”

“I got your mum and sister here.”

“You got them to lie to me.”

“I got them to lie to you.” He hugs you and kisses you again.

“You’re amazing, I love you so much.”

“I love you too. I’m so proud of you.”

“Harry?” A woman asks. “Do you take senior photos? My daughter is graduating this year, and we don’t care for the photographer the school provides.”

“Yeah! Let me show you some samples, actually.” He walks with the woman over to one of the booklets.

You go over to Louis to take your phone back.

“I stopped the livestream, but didn’t post anything.”

“Thanks! I wasn’t expecting him to do that.” You giggle. You walk away and Louis turns to Niall.

“Thought he was goin’ t’bloody propose.”

“So did I for a second there.” Niall says.

“Wait, you said he has a plan for that.” Sarah says.

“When exactly is he planning to do it?” Rachel asks.

“Girls, would you like to come with me the loo?” El asks.

“Oh sure!” Sarah says. El winks at the boys as the girls follow her to the bathroom.

“We can’t tell them what he told us. I don’t want any of it to be spoiled.” Niall says.

“Agreed.”

“Niall!” Erica says to him.

“Hey!” He gives her a light hug. “Hey guys, glad you could make it. Lou, this is Y/N’s sister Erica, her brother Kyle, her other sister Bridget, and her mum.”

They all introduce themselves to Louis.

“Thought he was going to ask her to marry him for a second there.” Your mom says.

“Yeah, that would’ve been crazy.” Louis laughs.

“They’ve been together, what? Almost ten months? He said she was the love of his life, that’s wild.” Bridget says.

“Well…not totally wild. I mean, we’ve both known Harry a long time, he’s never said that about anyone he’s ever dated.” Louis says. “And didja see how happy they were? They have this little life together.”

“Yeah, and what would know anyways?” Niall says. Both of Bridget’s eyebrows raise and Kyle nearly bursts out laughing. Erica’s jaw drops, and your mom bites the inside of her cheek. “You should be happy your baby sister is with someone that cares about her so much.”

“Especially by someone as great as that lad over there.”

“And had he proposed tonight, she would have said yes without hesitation.”

They all look at Niall and Louis.

“Mom!” You yell. “Come here, I want you to meet Anne and Gemma.” You look at your siblings. “Well, I suppose you all can.” You wave them over and they walk towards you.

The girls come back over to Niall and Louis.

“Anne, Gemma, these are my siblings and my mom.” They all introduce themselves.

“You must be so proud of your son.” You mom says.

“Oh, I am. He never ceases to amaze us.”

You leave your family to get to know Anne and Gemma so you can continue doing your thing. The night goes really well. A lot of people buy prints, and Mariah and Harry’s calendars fill up with appointments. You were exhausted, and so was Buster. Harry had to carry him out to your car for you.

“I’ll see yeh at home. Mum’s gonna ride with me, and Gem said she’d go with you.”

“Sounds good, see you soon. So proud, tonight was amazing.” You kiss and get in your cars.

“Your mum is really nice.” Gemma says.

“Oh good, they weren't rude?”

“Not at all! They were lovely. It was so nice to meet all of them. The party was amazing. I can’t thank you enough for pushing him to finally do this. He’s so happy.”

“You know what the funny thing is? I never once asked him to do it, never told him to. One day he sort of just brought it up. I supported him on it.”

“That’s all he needed. That reassurance that he could do it. And you dove right in to help. That website you built is incredible.”

“Thanks, that means a lot.” You smile.

You put Buster over your shoulder and you and Gemma head up to the apartment.

“Harry…” Anne says on the ride back.

“Yeah, mum?”

“I’m so proud of you. So many people showed up for you tonight.”

“I’m still in shock. I’m really glad you were there.”

“You frightened me for a moment.”

“When?”

“When you gave your speech, and called Y/N over. My heart nearly stopped.”

“What?” He laughs. “Why?”

“I thought you were going to propose.”

“Mum…I would’ve told you if that was my plan.”

“Would you have?”

“Of course! I tell you everythin’ don’t I?” He sighs. “I am plannin’ on it though, but not for another few months.”

“Harry, you really think you’re ready for marriage?”

“Mum, I wanna spend the rest of my life with her. Why not get engaged?”

“She feels the same way?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve had that conversation?”

“Of course we have.”

“And what about children?”

“Talked about it.”

“How will you raise them? She’s Jewish, you’re not. Will you stay in the city for a few years? Move out to the suburbs? What would that mean for your business?”

“Mum, please!”

“I’m sorry honey, I just need to make sure you’ve thought these things through! This is a huge life decision!”

“Duh! And yeah we have talked about those things. We’d raise ‘em Jewish, but still have Christmas and Easter. Neither of us wanna move out of the city yet. She doesn’t even want to have kids for another couple of years anyways.”

“Good, the dog’s plenty for now.”

“I agree.”

“You really love her that much?”

“I really do, mum.”

“Alright, well not that you need it, but you have my blessin’.”

“Really?”

“Of course. She’s lovely, and I think she fits right in with us.”

“How was meetin’ her mum and siblings?”

“Oh it was great! I think her mum and I are gonna have lunch while Gem and I are here.”

You and Gemma were sipping on tea when Harry and Anne get up to the apartment.

“Well, I don’t know about you all, but I’m pooped. Breakfast tomorrow?”

“Yeah, mum. We’ll go to Rick’s.”

“Alright, goodnight sweet pea.” She looks at Gemma.

“I’m gonna stay up a bit, finish my tea.”

“Okay, goodnight, night Y/N.”

“Night, Anne.”

Harry plops down on the sofa next to you. Buster was in his bed fast asleep. The three of you stay up chatting for a bit until you all decide to call it a night.

“Is Aunt Flow still in town?” Harry whispers.

“No she left this morning.” You whisper back. “I can’t have sex with you. It’s one thing with friends, but your mom and sister?”

“Come on, we’ll be quiet.” You look at him. He looked so fucking good, and you were still riled up from giving him a blow job.

“Okay…in the bathroom, with the fan on.”

“Who did it, Professor Plum?”

“Harry!” You laugh and cup a hand over your mouth and shuffle into the bathroom.

He peals your dress off and it pools at your feet. He lifts you up onto the sink counter. It’s cold against you and you wince.

“Don’t worry baby, I’m gonna warm yeh up.” He takes all his clothes off. He reaches between your legs and slowly fingers you.

“Ugh, Harry.” Your head rolls back. You loved when he did this. Deep and slow. His fingers curl up inside you. “Shit.” You moan.

“I love you so fuckin’ much.” His lips connect to yours, and he swallows your moans as he pumps in and out of you, knuckles deep.

“Harry.” You groan. “I love you too.” You press your forehead to his shoulder. “Please, fuck me with your cock.”

He pulls his fingers out of you, and pumps himself a few times before lining up with you. He pulls you closer and thrusts into you. You wrap your legs around him and your arms go up under his so you can grip his back easier. He rocks in and out of you. His teeth sink into your shoulder so he won’t be too loud. One of his hands moves between the two of you so he can rub your clit.

“Fuck, oh my god.”

Harry crashes his mouth to yours. You knew you needed to be quiet and this was the only way to do it. You panted into his mouth and bite harshly on his bottom lip when you come. Once you catch your breath you bury your face in his neck. He fucks you hard and fast until he’s filling you up. You both stay there for a second, just holding each other. He pulls out and helps you down. You use the toilet while he brushes his teeth. You wash your face and brush your own teeth.

You both crawl into bed. He rests his head on your chest and you play with his hair.

“My mum said she’s going to have lunch with your mum sometime this week.”

“Wonderful.”

Harry looks up at you. You kiss each other again and he lays back down. The party was perfect. You knew Harry would start to get busier than ever. But right now, he was in your arms. Right now you were engulfed with each other. Right now, nothing else mattered.

#take it slow #harry styles #harry styles x reader #harry styles y/n #harry styles x y/n #harry styles imagine #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles fic #harry styles fluff fic #harry styles smut fic #sorry its so late #its a good one fam

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chameli · 3 years ago

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I watched Aadmi Khilona Hai (1993) and oh boy, was it a steaming pile of shit.

Read at your own risk.

This film is about two brothers, Sharad (Govinda) and Madan (Jeetendra). Sharad is an orphan who was raised by his older brother, whom he also kind of worships as a God. Madan is married to Ganga (Reena Roy) and they have a daughter, Guddi. Ganga is also pregnant, which we only know because she randomly ends up in the hospital to give birth.

Sharad meets Poonam (Meenakshi Seshadri) at college by - you guessed it - being a complete creep. She blows him off but they keep running into each other. They eventually fall in love. Poonam is poor and lives with her grandfather and sleazy uncle. Some random guy her uncle hangs around (played by Dalip Tahil) is in lust with Poonam and will stop at nothing to get her. The uncle helps this creepy old dude, but Poonam overhears and runs away.

***MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING*** While Poonam is trying to escape these goons, their jeep runs over two homeless old men sleeping in the street. They are then shown screaming in pain while their blankets are soaked in blood. WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU INCLUDE SOMETHING LIKE THIS? JUST WHY?! I know they were just acting, but that broke my heart and was really traumatizing to watch.

Anyway, Sharad magically happens to be there and saves Poonam in time. Dalip Tahil's character is never seen or mentioned again after this. Okay, literally what was the point of him anyway? Sharad and Poonam are quickly married.

Oh, and Ganga also has this really horrible aunt who always comes over for some reason. Bua (Sulabha Deshpande) is trying to get her daughter married to Sharad, but the daughter ends up falling for Sharad’s friend (played by Laxmikant Berde). However, their romantic subplot literally goes NOWHERE. This couple, for some reason, even have a weird song together. Anyway, Bua likes to talk mad shit about Poonam any chance she gets, despite being constantly told off by the entire family. Like...why are you even here, lady? Gtfo.

Poonam soon finds out that she can never have biological children. She goes on a huge spiel about woman who can't bare children are incomplete, how God made her a defective woman who can't even do the one thing she was made to do, blah blah blah. I was rolling my eyes so hard at this point.

Suddenly, Ganga gets this genius idea to GIVE HER SON AWAY WITHOUT EVEN ASKING HER HUSBAND ABOUT IT FIRST. Because who cares about the father, it’s not like it’s his child too or something. Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK? What kind of mother gives her child away to her sister-in-law, just because the SIL is unable to have her own? A child this woman carried, gave birth to, and is the actual mother of. This isn't even about being selfless, it's a very cruel thing to do to a little baby. Madan comes home and Ganga tells him what she's done. And guess what this mf does? He cries tears of joy and thanks God for blessing him with such an amazing partner. BRO THAT'S YOUR SON, WHAT THE HELL? DO YOU NOT EVEN CARE A BIT ABOUT YOUR CHILD?

I can't even at this point. That's like me telling my sister "Hey, I can't have kids so give me your baby!" I'm sure there are many orphaned kids out there Sharad and Poonam could have adopted, buuuut THEY ALL GO ALONG WITH IT BECAUSE BHABHI IS SO PURE AND SELFLESS. Who cares how much trauma and confusion this kid will have when he's older, right?

Five whole ass years later (aka the very next scene), the kid, Suraj aka Munna, grows up into the whitest looking child I’ve ever seen. Sharad and Poonam are visiting the older couple when Suraj shows off his brand new, expensive video game. Ganga chastises Poonam for wasting money. She then asks Sharad to give her about 10-15,000 rupees so she can replace the temple floor with marble. Sharad casually says it's a waste of money and Ganga is FURIOUS. Literally, she takes this soooo personally. Oh, and to make matters worse, Suraj somehow wins the lottery. This makes Ganga lose her shit even more.

That's when Bua starts to emotionally manipulate her by turning her against the family. Ganga starts acting like a huge bitch and even takes Suraj (her own son) away from Poonam and Sharad. Madan finds out and he’s angry. He tells her it's over, rips her mangalsutra off, and leaves with the kids. Ganga freaks out and starts destroying everything in sight. She tells Bua to fuck off, then injures herself and faints.

Madan arrives at Sharad-Poonam's house and tells them he's left his wife. Sharad's all, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? If you severed ties with your wife, then you've also broken our bond! Excuse me? Bros over hoes! They all quickly go back to the house where they find Ganga knocked out. After gaining consciousness, she apologizes to everyone and begs for their forgiveness. Of course, they instantly forgive her. Madan also arrives and takes her back, but I didn't bother to listen to whatever crap he had to say. Then everyone is happy again and the film ends.

THIS ENTIRE FAMILY NEEDS INTENSE THERAPY!!!

Govinda always plays the pure, holy, golden-hearted devar (younger brother/brother-in-law) in every single one of these campy family entertainers. I confess, these type of films are my guilty pleasure but sometimes they're too much. He played the same role in Bhabhi, another dumpster fire.

Meenakshi Seshadri is one of my favorite actresses, but she didn't have much to do except cry and look pretty. Reena Roy's bright green contacts were really distracting and Jeetendra was just there.

It didn't make sense how Ganga, who always told Bua to shut up, was suddenly so easily manipulated by her. And this was only about 30 minutes before the ending, so it made NO sense whatsoever. A more powerful actress like Aruna Irani or Bindu would have made this situation more believable.

The editing was terrible. We literally go from a scene where Suraj is a newborn baby to one where he's about a year old. And in that same scene, Madan comes back from a business trip...bro, how long were you gone? Outfits were repeated constantly. Reena Roy woke up and wore the same outfit/makeup/jewelry that she was sleeping in the night before. Some scenes end abruptly and random things happen which aren't mentioned again.

And now for the pros - the soundtrack was really good. I LOVED Bahot Jatate Ho & Mehndi Lagane Ki Raat. Those are such underrated gems.

If you read all of this, you may be entitled to financial compensation 🤭😂🤣

#bollywood #review

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lunarrwolf · 4 years ago

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black butterflies [colby brock]

fandom: sam and colby/traphouse

pairing: colby x self

word count: 1,963

part(s): one

summary: after a prank gone wrong, colby and his friends meet another youtuber during her meet and greet in hopes it will cheer her up

A/N: this is a self-insert because it’s a fic that was started for my own personal pleasure. it was supposed to be shared last year on my fan account after a poll was done but never was bc i ended up not feeling ready to do so. i figured since i‘m ready to share it now, it would be best to do it here since it’s pretty detailed

ONE

“What’s up guys?! It’s your girl Kirsy here, and today we’re going to be entering Freetown State Forest. Otherwise known as The Cursed Forest of Massachusetts.” The girl looked into her camera brightly, the excitement of finally being able to explore her home state’s most bizarre places setting in as she recorded.

“Wait - cursed? You didn’t say anything about that.” Her best friend and roommate exclaimed, red locks shaking as quickly as her head was. Casey had been interrupted during a well credited movie of theirs when her friend decided she wanted to go out and take advantage of the fact that neither of them had any plans for the weekend. And as usual in their two bedroom home, no morning schedules meant the freedom to explore the best-worst possible places and capture it all on film for both social network and personal use.

“Didn’t I?” Kirsy chimed, turning the camera toward her roommate who only glanced into the object before shooting her friend the middle finger. She laughed and followed the retreating figure toward the path that would eventually lead them into the actual forest. It was a widened road of dirt and rocks, causing the two of them to nearly trip every so often. The sun was just beginning to set, so the scenery on the other side of the camera was something the green haired girl was glad she was able to capture as she filmed. They continued to walk down the barren path for about forty-five minutes - trees starting to surround them after a half hour - and by then the sun had set quickly without notice and the night began. She could hear Casey muttering about how the place was significantly creepier, and an idea popped into her head. She turned the camera to herself and glanced up to make sure no attention was being brought to her before looking into the lens. “So we’ve been walking for nearly an hour. Casey is already kind of freaked out because of how dark it is, so as her best friend I thought it would be fun to do a little prank on her.”

“What are you doing?” She looked up to meet the narrowed eyes of the redhead that caught her speaking lowly to the camera.

Casey’s eyes didn’t falter from their current state as she continued to glare at the other girl. “Kirsy, I swear if you’re planning something-”

Kirsy scoffed, “What would I be planning out here? Your murder? No thanks - too much work.” She finished off, laughing lightly at the expression she received before the girl with reddish brown locks turned back to survey their surroundings. Kirsy did the same thing for the following ten minutes of their walk. The only sounds they heard so far were forest animals and the wind rustling through the loose leaves of the trees. There was the occasional crunch or branch snapping, which unnerved both of the girls until they would see some small critter scattering to another bush or inside a hole somewhere. She really wanted to pull a practical joke on her friend after not being able to do one on her the whole month she’d been gone on a trip prior to this night. It seemed to be quiet enough to where she wouldn’t really suspect a thing. As long as comments were made from behind her, Casey wouldn’t notice.

She took the opportunity when they were nearing a fork in the pathway and jokingly said something about the atmosphere of the place that would make her friend give her a knowing look. And that was just what happened. However, when Casey turned around, the main star of the channel the video would be posted on was nowhere to be seen. She turned in a full circle slowly, being even more aware and extremely careful where she stepped so she wouldn’t disrupt the sudden silence of the area. “Kirsy.. Kirsy.” She hissed out, moving toward the edge of the path. “I swear to god if this is one of your pranks-” A twig snapped from directly beside her once she got to the natural line that separated a way back to civilization from unpredictable darkness. Her heart was pounding, and tears were springing in her eyes. It had been too long of a time since her last appearance in one of her friend’s scary videos; she forgot how frightening things could get within minutes or hours of arriving somewhere.

There was an obnoxiously loud rustling coming from the same direction, and she approached the bushes to her right cautiously. Reaching a reluctant arm out, she started to move stuff away from her so she could peer behind the plant. As her face got closer, someone jumped out and screamed a scream that was deadly enough to be included in a horror film. “Shit!” Casey jumped back, almost falling to the ground if she hadn’t been able to balance herself.

She glared up at the girl who was trying hard to hold on to the camera as she held her stomach in laughter. “Holy crap, you should’ve seen your face!”

“Dude. What the fuck!” Casey stood back up and snatched the camera away from her friend, marching away as she ignored the calls of the hysterical girl running to catch up.

A small group of friends sat on the leather couch in the living room, watching a fellow YouTuber explore a haunted forest with only one other person. It was entertaining to say the least - the amount of times the media influencer messed with her friend was endless, and it only got better when payback would be put into order. One of the darker haired males shook his head, a smile on his face as he shared an amused look with his friends. “I need to marry this girl.”

“Marry who?”

Brennen looked up to see a brunette enter from upstairs, looking at the group of them with curiosity written all over their faces. “Kirsy, dude. Not only is she rocking the new hair, but she obviously knows how to have fun.” Colby didn’t hesitate to join the others on the couch once he heard the name. She was very well known in their industry; a skyrocketing vlogger who stuck to the same several categories of videos and never failed to deliver quality content. She was known to go above and beyond for her fans after having been one herself for years before deciding to dive into the world of explorations. At a recent milestone of 500,000 subscribers, she not only released new merch, she also scheduled a last minute meet and greet that had the sidewalks and almost half of the central park of Boston flooded with local fans of hers. She was someone the members and friends of the trap house admired, as she wasn’t afraid to be herself even when others put her down and criticized the way she behaved on camera.

“Guys, check it out. She added something at the end of this.” Jake brought the guys’ attention back to the computer from their phones. She wasn’t smiling and didn’t hold a bright aura like she usually did when adding bits recorded after her adventures. When she spoke it sounded normal, but after having watched her for the past three years, the boys knew when something was off. They watched the girl give the lens a wry smile before clearing her throat, glancing away as she dove right into the point of the additional bit.

“So this part was recorded a couple of nights after we went into the forest. Casey hasn’t been with me since we got back.” She started off. ��I did realize after the fact that she was genuinely mad at me, and I do feel really bad about it. She’d been gone for a month before then. Which meant she didn’t have to deal with abandoned houses, restless spirits, or me and my stupidity - so she wasn’t prepared to be brought back into the swing of things so quickly. I take full responsibility for any actual fear I caused her, and I want to apologize for doing this to her right as she got back from what I know was a good, relaxing trip for her. I did apologize off camera as soon as I caught up with her and she did say she forgave me. However, she uh- she won’t be in videos anymore. And I’m going to be honest with you guys...” She trailed off, and Colby’s heart lurched when he noticed the glossiness in her eyes, “I don’t know where our friendship stands. We know each other’s limits, and while I didn’t go too far, I think she just got tired of me doing all of this. So... yeah.” She gave a dry chuckle, tugging at the end of her sleeves.

“Damn.. she must be crushed right now.” Mike commented, glancing between his friends as they all gave their agreements.

“I can’t even imagine possibly losing you guys.” Sam added.

“And over a prank - Casey’s pretty cold.” Corey brought in, changing his position on the couch and leaning forward when the girl began to speak again.

“Anyway, I’m sure you guys didn’t keep watching just to see me get all emotional. So on to the good news!” The green haired girl continued, clapping her hands together and smiling brightly at the camera as if nothing happened. Still, they could see the look in her eyes, and it was unsettling to see the otherwise outgoing Dominican that way. “I'll be going to Los Angeles in a few days on business, and am happy to announce that I'll also be having a meetup at Santa Monica Pier. I haven't set the exact date in case my schedule goes out of whack, but I will be bringing along someone special. I expect that our family's policy of acceptance will be applied to him.”

“Wait wait wait - my girl's got a man?”

Mike rolled his eyes, smirking at Brennen. “If she was yours, wouldn't she know you exist?”

There was a short amount of silence while the targeted guy looked over with a playfully offended look on his face. “That was cold.” The guys laughed and chuckled, but deep down they still felt bad about what they just heard. The ginger had been by the brunette's side since the start of the channel. Though Casey was mostly the support and a guest in abandoned vlogs and some other types of videos, she would speak out as her friend's defense and help out in any way she could. Some would have figured that a month off would have her ecstatic in going back into working with her best friend. However, it sounded like that time away made her less for the type of content Kirsy had and more against it. The latter of the two must have been devastated at that moment.

“We should go meet her.” Sam announced. “Sounds like it's free - and Brennen could use an ego boost if she does know he exists.”

“You guys gotta give me a little credit here. My channel's pretty big.”

“Yes, but has she acknowledged it?” The dyed brunette questioned, laughing at the glare he received in return. It seemed like it was a unanimous agreement to take a short trip to the pier when she arrived, but everyone was vocal except for Colby. Sam shook his best friend's shoulder, and the young man blinked, switching his gaze over to the former blonde. “You alright?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, glancing back at the screen. “I agree. We should go meet her.”

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