#(so I think there are conversations to be had and it's actually a pretty complicated subject that can get VERY VERY messy)

[stlllle]

Seong Gi-hun Fluff Headcanon — Introducing You to His Daughter

Requested by: @cutecat2005

Pairing: Seong Gi-hun x GN!Reader

Genre: Fluff, Comfort

Warnings: None, just pure sweetness

Word Count: ~3k

Note: Thank you so much for this lovely request! I absolutely adored writing this soft scenario for our sweet, chaotic Gi-hun. Hope it warms your heart 💖

[main list]

Masterlist squid game

How you met:

You met Gi-hun at a small, quiet coffee shop near his workplace.

He was having the worst day of his life: missed his bus, spilled coffee on his shirt, and forgot his wallet at home.

You, being the absolute angel you are, noticed him fumbling and offered to pay for his drink without a second thought.

That single moment led to casual conversations every time you both showed up at the same place.

He fell for you slowly, through the easy way you laughed, the way you’d scold him when he gambled away his last coins on the claw machine outside the shop, and how you genuinely cared about his well-being.

Gi-hun couldn’t remember the last time someone looked at him like you did — like he mattered.

Dating Gi-hun:

Dating him was chaotic but heartwarming.

He was a little clumsy with affection at first — awkward, shy, but incredibly sweet.

He’d bring you random little things he found that reminded him of you: a pretty stone, a keychain shaped like a bunny, cheap hair clips from a claw machine.

Gi-hun was protective in a soft, nervous kind of way. He worried about you constantly, always checking if you’d eaten or if you got home safe.

He adored physical touch but was bashful about initiating it. You usually had to grab his hand or cuddle up to him first.

The man absolutely loved it when you played with his hair or kissed the tip of his nose, though he’d get all flustered and pretend to hate it.

About his daughter:

Gi-hun’s relationship with his daughter, Ga-yeong, was precious but complicated.

He loved her with his whole heart, but his life circumstances made it hard for them to spend quality time together.

Every time he saw her, it felt like a miracle — he’d cherish every second, trying to make her laugh, buying her favorite snacks, and listening to her stories like she was the most important person in the world.

You knew about Ga-yeong early into the relationship. He spoke of her often, with a soft ache in his voice and a gentle smile on his lips.

You could tell she was the anchor in his stormy life.

The day he told her about you:

It took Gi-hun a while to bring it up.

He was terrified she might not like the idea, afraid of complicating her world or disappointing her in some way.

But one sunny afternoon at the park, while sharing ice cream and sitting on a bench, she asked if he was lonely when she wasn’t around.

The question hit him like a brick wall. He hesitated before smiling softly and saying,

“There’s someone… someone really kind. I think you’d like them.”

Ga-yeong’s face lit up immediately.

“Really? Are they nice to you, Dad?”

“The nicest.”

From that moment, she was curious about you, asking questions like:

Do they like ice cream? What color is their favorite? Can they ride a bike? Do they like cartoons?

Planning the meeting:

Gi-hun was a nervous wreck leading up to the day.

He wanted everything to be perfect — cleaned his tiny apartment twice, bought extra snacks, even tried (and failed) to cook something special.

You, on the other hand, were excited but equally anxious. You knew how important this was to him.

He kept sending you nervous texts like:

“What if she doesn’t like me being with someone else?”

“What if she thinks you’re boring?”

“Do kids these days like stuffed animals or comics?”

You calmed him down with a simple reply:

“She’s your daughter, Gi-hun. If she’s anything like you, we’ll be just fine.”

The actual meeting:

It was at a quiet park with a playground and a little picnic area.

Gi-hun arrived first with Ga-yeong, who was clinging to his arm, wearing a cute sunhat and carrying a tiny backpack full of toys.

You showed up a few minutes later, holding a small bag of sweets you knew she liked.

Gi-hun’s face lit up the moment he saw you, a rare, soft look of relief washing over him.

He knelt down beside his daughter and whispered,

“That’s them. Wanna say hi?”

Ga-yeong peeked at you from behind his arm, then took a brave step forward.

“Hi… are you really nice to my dad?”

You crouched down to her level, smiling.

“I try my best. But you can let me know if I need to do better, okay?”

She grinned, already warming up to you.

The rest of the afternoon:

You three sat together, sharing snacks and stories.

Ga-yeong was surprisingly chatty, telling you about her favorite cartoons and how her dad couldn’t cook ramen without burning it.

Gi-hun blushed hard at that, trying to defend himself.

You brought along a small plush toy you’d picked out for her — a tiny bunny in a dress — and the little girl adored it.

She named it after you within five minutes.

The three of you played on the swings, took turns chasing each other around, and even built a tiny rock tower near the sandbox.

At one point, you caught Gi-hun watching you two with this tender, almost teary-eyed smile.

After the day ended:

Ga-yeong hugged you tightly before leaving, whispering,

“You can stay with my dad if you want. He needs someone nice.”

Gi-hun nearly cried on the spot.

When you two were finally alone, he pulled you into a long, warm embrace, resting his chin on your shoulder.

“Thank you… for today, for her, for… everything.”

You told him you loved him for the first time right then.

And he didn’t hesitate for a second before whispering it back.

Final thoughts:

Gi-hun’s love for you deepened tenfold after that day.

He kept photos from that afternoon in his wallet and on his fridge.

Ga-yeong would ask about you every time she saw him, demanding to know when she could visit again.

It became a tradition: little family outings at parks, cheap street food, shared laughter.

You never pushed to replace anyone in her life — you simply became someone she trusted and adored in your own way.

And Gi-hun?

He finally felt like maybe… just maybe… he was worth loving after all.

[freedelusionshere]

Syd has never mentioned a cleaver before (also, symbolic) and then I realized, she was using it to open the scallop shells! And she specifically says it’s hers.

And Carmy has her scrunchie, too, on top of Mikey’s prayer card on his dresser.

We learn this season, Carmy did go to Mikey’s funeral, but left before anyone could see him (Richie didn’t even believe him at first), and that he was ashamed of it, because it’s connected to his inability to deal with his deepest feelings.

He also had that dusty green sweatshirt of Claire’s and she seems to have known he had that for all of this time. Which possibly explains why she wasn’t dissuaded by him giving her the fake phone number (I guess, whatever, all of this is in service of Sydcarmy).

And in Fishes, when Mikey and Richie (and Stevie) were trying to get him to just talk to Claire, he was embarrassed and overwhelmed, and he mentioned that they had made fun of him for drawing Claire when he was a teen, and they knew he definitely had a crush on her.

Carmy may or may not have some Syd drawings. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does or will now, but he started drawing food instead of people to sublimate his feelings about wanting love into something else.

But it’s pretty fascinating that he was up drawing the chaos menu Syd wanted to do with him while he was with Claire and then brought it in the next day and showed it to Syd and basically told her point blank what he did and expected her to like it.

I’m now questioning if Syd doesn’t possibly understand all of this! Just like when he makes these plates in front of Syd with the lamb, that looks like what she’s wearing. He’s done it twice in front of her, and it’s very obvious this season; and she actually takes a photo of the one that matches the outfit she wore to the wedding.

Maybe she’s too far gone down the rabbit hole to see it, or maybe, like she tells him in their fight in the alley, that it’s not enough and she needs him to explain himself (and he can’t).

So, to do the math here; Carmy is definitely not even remotely cool or chill about his feelings about Syd, and is embarrassed by his inabilty to be able to express his feelings directly to her (which is why he has the scrunchie).

Syd, in the same way, gets all weird and flustered in her conversation with TJ (and TJ eventually will tell her mom everything, because they have a healthy relationship.)

Carmy took her cleaver because he doesn’t want her to give him the chop, and decides that he will do it to himself rather than deal with the pain of knowing she will leave him or doesn’t need him anymore.

And that scallop dish is complicated. It started as her Seven Fishes (which, ask why she made that to begin with, or the cola ribs risotto dish which is like the two of them on a plate).

Her dish was served at Friends & Family, and when he got out of the walk-in, he changed it and subtracted and made it his scallop dish (shades of Chef David doing that to his blood orange hamachi dish).

But that scallop dish still had Syd’s flavors in it; because Shapiro wanted that dish on his new menu and Syd says to him in S3 that it is “their” dish.

And she “fixes” it in S4 and makes it even better than his version of her version, with even fewer ingredients. She is even better than him at all of this fine dining bullshit and he knows her days of thinking Empire Carmy is the shit are done. It goes viral, he even thinks it’s good enough to get her an award, but it turns out it’s Marcus’ dessert that wins.

Another possibility, as I’m writing and thinking about this, LOL at myself, is that Tina is the one who hid her cleaver, like she did Carmy’s knife in S1, because Syd could beat that 3-minute bullshit timer, and now Tina feels like she’s in competition with Syd again. Which is terrible and sad (she’s becoming like Syd was to Carmy) and maybe more important to consider why Tina feels this way all over again and what is really being accomplished here.

Tina gets great and then the goalposts get moved yet again. I’m still unpacking all of that because what is happening to everyone is, very frankly, upsetting me a lot, and makes me uneasy because there are a lot of signs people are changing and not in good ways.

Going to tag in @whenmemorydies about this because she’s posted stuff recently about Syd and Tina.

Carmy stole Syd's cleaver

She was using it to open the scallop shells.

He's such a little bitch!

[rawliverandgoronspice]

genuinely bewildered at how it's just g@merg@te again. like it's just exactly the same strategy, except now it's a cabal of dark and sinister narrative designers instead of "there are women near my games" but it's like the same fucking thing and I'm so tired honestly

[exopelagic]

okay I severely misjudged spaghetti guy he’s actually just really cool

[coern]

ok au scenario where the tenmas are country kids (sort of) (in a "grew up in a moderately sized farming village" way) (rare fantasy-esque au setup where the tenmas arent royalty lol) (probably still rich tho) which you can tell if you look close enough. would they call their parents some shit like mother/father or something like mama/papa. this is a very important question

[drewsephrry]

Love Island - Episode 3: Dear Stranger

series masterlist

pairings: rafe cameron x fem!reader

words: 4k

warnings: cuss words

The next day, after the recoupling, the lights flicker on, making the islanders groan.

“Good morning!” Kiara exclaims cheerfully, stretching.

“Oh, girl, shut up!” Cleo replies, burying her head back in her pillow, making everyone laugh. Y/N adjusts her hoodie and looks around tiredly, her eyes landing on Rafe chatting with Topper and Alyssa staring down at her phone.

“Hey, you okay?” Maddy asks, crawling under the covers of Y/N's bed and snuggling up to her. Y/N nods.

“It’s okay not to be.” Maddy adds, gently rubbing her back.

“I’m okay, Mads. Truly. I don’t wanna hold any grudges against her and I don’t care if they’re sleeping in the same bed. I’m not worried.” Y/N responds.

“I wish I was as fuckless as you.” Maddy murmurs, adjusting her glasses.

“Fuckless?” Y/N chuckles, raising her eyebrows.

“Yeah. ‘Cause you don’t give a fuck, girl. You know what you want and you’re gonna get it. You don’t let anything get in the way. Or anyone.” Maddy explains, making Y/N laugh again.

“Believe me, I am far from being ‘fuckless’.” She says, shaking her head.

“Good for you, girl!” Sarah smiles, sitting on the other side of the bed. “I haven’t had sex in…months. I probably got cobwebs and shit down there by now.” She says, leaning her head on Y/N's shoulder as she and Maddy burst into laughter.

“That was definitely not what we were talking about, Sar!” Maddy exclaims.

“Oh!” Sarah giggles. “Okay, fill me in.”

“Maddy thinks I don’t give a damn about what happened. Which isn’t true. And before you ask too, I’m okay. Truly.” Y/N explains and Sarah nods.

“That's good. So, what's your plan for today?” She asks, twiddling with the string of her sleep shorts.

“I think I'm gonna talk to her.” She murmurs and Sarah raises her head from her shoulder as Maddy widens her eyes.

“Talk to her? After what she did?” Maddy asks, raising a brow.

“I told you, I'm not holding any grudges against her.” Y/N repeats herself making Sarah scoff and lean back on the headboard.

“I wish I was like that.” Sarah mutters and Y/N gives her a reassuring pat on the head. The girls rise from their seats and head to the makeup room, chatting as they start getting ready. They slip into their swimsuits, fix their hair and apply makeup before heading downstairs to the kitchen.

It's noon before anyone realizes it. Cleo and Pope are splashing around in the pool, laughing over some science fact Pope just dropped. Sarah, Kiara and Maddie are snacking in the kitchen, while JJ, John B and Rafe lounge by the firepit, deep in conversation. Y/N, still groggy from a much needed nap, steps outside, scanning the villa. Her eyes land on Alyssa sitting at the daybed, chatting with Topper. She hesitates for a moment before approaching with a small smile.

“Hey, guys.” She greets warmly.

“Y/N/N, what's up?” Topper grins, immediately making space for her. Alyssa, on the other hand, barely acknowledges her, twirling a piece of hair around her finger.

“Actually.” Y/N starts, shifting her gaze to Alyssa. “I wanted to talk to you.” Alyssa raises an eyebrow, caught off guard. Topper glances between them before nodding.

“I'll give you guys a minute.” As he passes Y/N, he squeezes her shoulder lightly before walking away. Y/N takes a seat beside Alyssa and clears her throat.

“Look, I get it. You might not want to talk to me and that’s fine.” She begins, voice steady. “But I want to be upfront with you. We had a pretty rocky start and I hate that. I never wanted you to feel unwelcome here. And the whole situation with Rafe…it’s complicated.” Alyssa sighs, her fingers still fidgeting with her hair.

“I know you said you weren’t looking to make friends here and that’s your choice. But the thought of us spending the whole summer together with you having no one to confide in? That doesn’t sit right with me.” Alyssa is quiet for a moment before exhaling slowly.

“I shouldn’t have said that.” She admits.

“I guess…I do want to be friends with you. And with the rest of the girls, too. So, I’m sorry for how I acted. It wasn’t your fault or anyone’s. I’ve just always been kind of a loner. It’s easier that way.” She pauses, then adds. “But you’re right. We’re all stuck here together and eventually, I’m going to want someone in my corner.” Y/N nods, understanding and Alyssa shifts uncomfortably.

“About Rafe…”

“Can I just say something?” Y/N interrupts gently. “You did the right thing.”

“What?” Alyssa blinks in surprise.

“You came in here looking for a real connection. You found Rafe attractive, he made you feel comfortable and you went for it. That’s exactly what you were supposed to do.” Y/N explains. “Me and Rafe? We’re having fun, sure. We like each other…yeah. But it’s early. Nothing is set in stone. And I would never want to be the reason he or you held back from exploring something real.” Alyssa stares at her, eyes narrowing slightly.

“Why aren’t you mad?” She asks making Y/N laugh under her breath.

“What do you mean?”

“I basically stole your guy.” Alyssa says bluntly. “And I was kind of a bitch about it. If I were you, I’d be avoiding me, not trying to make peace.”

“Everyone deserves a second chance.” She shrugs. “Besides, I suck at holding grudges.” Alyssa studies her for a second before breaking into a smile. She opens her arms slowly.

“Come on, then…friend.”

Y/N chuckles before leaning in to hug her.

Confessional - Y/N “She’s not wrong for following her heart." She shrugs softly, trying to keep her voice steady. "I can’t be mad at someone for that...even if it hurts.”

John B chuckles at something JJ says, shaking his head before his gaze shifts toward the daybed. His laughter falters as he catches an unexpected sight.

“Dude…” He smacks Rafe’s arm, eyes widening. “Are Alyssa and Y/N hugging?” JJ lifts his sunglasses on his head and squints.

“Oh my god!” He rubs his eyes dramatically. “Either that or Alyssa is strangling her.” Rafe, who had been half-listening, immediately sits up straighter, his brows furrowing. His gaze locks onto the two girls, watching as Y/N pulls away from the hug with a small smile while Alyssa seems genuine.

“What the hell did I miss?” Rafe mutters, still processing and JJ shakes his head in disbelief.

“Man, this villa moves too fast. One minute it’s war, the next, it’s…this.”

“So, should we be worried?” John B smirks, nudging him.

Rafe doesn’t answer immediately, his jaw tightening slightly as he watches Y/N interact with Alyssa. Just yesterday, Alyssa had thrown herself at him and now she was cozying up to Y/N. His gut twists, but he forces a nonchalant shrug.

“I don’t know.” He replies. “But I feel like that hug just made things a whole lot more complicated.”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely.” JJ snorts.

The villa buzzes with energy as everyone settles into their glammed up looks for the night. Laughter and music fills the air, but Rafe isn’t paying attention to any of it. His gaze has been following Y/N for a while now, his thoughts circling back to what he saw earlier. Her and Alyssa, laughing and hugging. Like they hadn’t just been caught in a messy triangle hours before.

He needs to know what is going on.

So when he finally finds an opening, he reaches for her hand, his fingers brushing against hers as he leads her away. The warmth of the firepit flickers against their skin as they settle onto the bench, away from the noise of the villa.

“Hey.” Rafe starts, his voice lower now that it was just the two of them. “You good?” Y/N nods, crossing her legs, the slit of her dress shifting just enough to reveal more of her thigh. Rafe's gaze flickers downward before he catches himself, clearing his throat as he looks away.

“Are you?” She asks in return, tilting her head slightly. Rafe hesitates before exhaling.

“Yeah. I mean…yeah. Just-” He runs a hand through his hair. “What happened with Alyssa?”

“What do you mean?” Y/N raises a brow, questionably.

“I saw you two earlier.” His tone is casual, but there is something underneath it. Something tense. “The whole hug thing.”

“I wasn’t expecting that.” He adds, shaking his head slightly. Y/N lets out a soft chuckle, twisting her ring absently.

“We talked.” She reveals.

“About?” Rafe presses, leaning forward slightly. “Me?” She rolls her eyes, but the small smile tugging at her lips doesn’t go unnoticed.

“A little. Mostly about the whole situation. I told her how it's still early, how we’re both keeping our options open.” She starts.

“Right.” Rafe clenches his jaw, but Y/N doesn't realize it.

“And how I want to be her friend.” She adds, making his head snap toward her.

“Be her friend?” He repeats, incredulous. “After what she pulled?”

“It wasn’t that bad.” Y/N shrugs.

“You're joking.” Rafe exclaims, letting out a dry laugh, before shaking his head.

“She liked how you acted toward her, Rafe.” Y/N’s voice was patient, but firm. “She felt attracted to you. Can you really blame her? If we were in her shoes, we’d probably do the same thing.” Rafe scoffs, shifting in his seat.

“I wouldn’t have gone after someone else’s person two days in.” He says nonchalantly.

“Maybe not, but she didn’t do anything wrong. She saw an opportunity and took it.” Y/N meets his stare evenly, while Rafe exhales sharply, dragging a hand down his face.

“Why are you defending her?” He asks, clearly confused.

“I’m not.” Y/N replied simply. “I’m just not blaming her, either.”

“Nah. You’re way too forgiving.” He comments and she smirks.

“And you’re way too not.”

Silence settles between them for a beat, the firelight flickering in their eyes.

“You don’t get why I’m upset?” Rafe finally asks, his voice quieter now. Y/N tilts her head, studying him.

“No, I don’t.” She admitted. “You told me you weren’t interested in her, right? You told her that too. So, what does it matter if I want to be friends with her?” Rafe opens his mouth, then closes it, his frustration evident.

“It’s not about that.” He mutters, shifting in his seat. “I just…I don’t trust her.” His voice is low now, serious. Y/N meets his gaze, her expression steady.

“But you trust me, right?” She asks, her tone quiet but direct. Rafe hesitates, searching her face for a moment before responding.

“Yeah…I trust you. But I don’t know about her. She’s smart, Y/N. If she wants something, she’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”

“You think I’m that easy to manipulate?” She asks, smiling softly to ease the tension and Rafe quickly shakes his head.

“No. But you’re too nice.” He admits. Y/N exhales, leaning back slightly, her voice calming but firm.

“Look, I get that you want to protect me and I appreciate it. But Alyssa’s not the enemy here.” She pauses, making sure he’s listening. “She didn’t mean for any of this to happen. She just followed what felt right to her. I’m not gonna blame her for that or hold a grudge against her.” Rafe frowns, clearly still not convinced.

“As for her manipulating me, I would never let anyone do that. I may seem too nice or maybe even a little naive, but I know the difference between someone trying to use me and someone just figuring things out. Alyssa's not trying to hurt anyone she's just...lost.” Rafe watches her for a moment, absorbing her words. His gaze shifts toward the firepit, a flicker of understanding crossing his face as the tension starts to fade.

For a moment, neither of them speak. The fire crackles, the distant sound of the villa buzzing behind them. But right here, in their own little bubble, the tension has shifted into something lighter.

“Are we good?” She finally asks. Rafe studies her, then nods.

“Yeah. We’re good.” He admits, making Y/N smile softly and shift closer to him, the space between them shrinking with each move.

“Good.” She says, her voice gentle but firm. “Because I don't want to spend the time we have, arguing over stupid villa drama.” Rafe smirks, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

Confessional - Rafe “I just don’t trust Alyssa. Not after what she pulled.” He shakes his head. “She’s not fooling me.”

He pulls her even closer, his hand snaking around her waist, causing her to let out a surprised squeal. He chuckles, clearly enjoying her reaction, as he tightens his hold, looking at her with an intense focus. His eyes trace her features. Her lips, the way her hair falls around her face, the light in her eyes.

“I don’t like not sharing a bed with you.” He admits, his voice low, almost vulnerable, though his smirk never fully fades. Y/N laughs lightly, rolling her eyes.

“We shared a bed for two nights, Rafe.” She teases, nudging him with her shoulder. Rafe nods, his expression playful but sincere.

“Two nights where I slept like a baby.” He says, his other hand lifting to gently rest on her cheek, his thumb brushing along the soft skin. Y/N's cheeks flush slightly, her heart beating a little faster at the intimacy of the moment. She instinctively turns her head away, her smile shy.

“Rafe…” She murmurs, almost as if trying to hide the warmth in her face. He’s quick to turn her head back toward him, his fingers grazing her jaw gently. He leans in close, his lips nearly brushing hers. His voice drops to a whisper.

“Can I?” He asks, his eyes darting to her glossy lips, a question hanging between them. Y/N can feel the tension in the air. She closes her eyes briefly, trying to steady her breath before speaking softly.

“Don’t even ask.”

Without another word, she closes the space between them, pressing her lips against his with a force that surprises both of them. It’s messy, wild and different from their usual gentle kisses. Rafe groans against her lips, his hands tightening around her.

“Fuck, I like that.” He says, his voice thick with desire, before pulling her back in, his lips crashing against hers once again.

The kiss lingers, unrestrained and full of unspoken feelings, until they finally pull apart, both of them breathless. Y/N giggles, wiping his lips gently.

“I probably should stop wearing lip gloss around you.” She admits, shaking her head with a playful smile. Rafe grins, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Yeah, I’ll mess it up every time.” He replies, his lips curling into a smirk. “And I am not sorry for that.” Y/N smacks him playfully, making them both chuckle.

The next day, the sun rises over the villa, casting a golden hue on the sparkling water below. Upstairs, the girls are already busy, each doing their own thing. Maddy is curling her hair, Kiara is applying her makeup and Sarah is pacing back and forth, trying to decide what to wear for the day. Meanwhile, the boys are scattered around the villa. Some working out, others chatting casually over breakfast and JJ is still struggling to get out of bed, his messy hair poking out from under the covers.

As the girls chat and laugh while getting ready, talking about their plans for the day, a sudden ping cuts through the noise. Everyone pauses, glancing at each other in surprise as Maddy grabs her phone.

“Oh my God!” Maddy mutters, her voice filled with disbelief.

“What? What is it?” Sarah asks, walking over, her curiosity piqued.

“Tell us!” Kiara insists, practically jumping up and down, eager to know. Cleo tries to grab the phone out of Maddy’s hand, but Y/N playfully holds Cleo back, shaking her head.

“Let her read it!” Y/N laughs.Maddy takes a deep breath and reads aloud, her voice trembling with excitement.

“Girls, today a hot new bombshell is entering the villa.” She starts, causing the others to widen their eyes, their attention fully on her. “Kelce was given the choice to go on dates with two very lucky girls.” She continues, and the room grows tense as they hang on her every word. Another ping sounds from Maddy’s phone and her eyes widen once more.

“Maddy and Cleo, get ready for your dates. Bring your A-game and make Kelce feel welcome. #newbabeintown #brunchdatebuddies.”

The moment the message is read, the room erupts in excitement. Cleo and Maddy jump up and down, squealing with joy, as the other girls clap and cheer for them.

“Oh my god, this is huge!” Kiara exclaims, grinning widely.

“Fuck, I can’t wear this!” Cleo suddenly exclaims, looking down at her plain black one-piece swimsuit. The girls all nod, immediately gathering around her.

“We’ve got you.” Y/N assures her, already heading toward the closet to pick out a few outfits.

“You know, I had an ex named Kelce.” Y/N says casually as she pulls out a bikini for Cleo. The girls pause, intrigued.

“When was this?” Sarah asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Like…a year ago? Maybe a little more.” Y/N says, tossing the first bikini aside. She pulls out another, but Cleo shakes her head at the choice.

“Really?” Y/N scoffs, her tone playful, as she digs through the swimsuits again.

“What happened? Why did you two break up?” Alyssa asks, brushing out Maddy’s hair as the conversation flows naturally. Y/N sighs, pulling out a red bikini that Cleo can’t help but admire.

“It wasn’t a bad breakup or anything. We just wanted different things. I loved him, though. I still have a lot of love for him.”

“Ooooh, that sounds like unfinished business.” Kiara says, sipping the smoothie Pope brought her earlier, as she watches the interaction. Y/N shrugs, glancing up at the bikini she’s holding.

“Maybe. I don’t know. If the timing was right…maybe we could try again.” She hands Cleo the red bikini with a soft smile and Cleo holds it up with a grin.

“Finally!” Cleo whispers, grinning wide as she heads off to change.

“My ex used to hook up with Kendall Jenner.” Sarah suddenly reveals, causing the room to go silent for a beat. The girls stare at her in shock.

“What?!” Maddy gasps.

“Tell us everything!” Kiara says, her eyes wide with curiosity. Sarah just shrugs, a small smile playing at her lips.

“It’s not a big deal, really.” She says, though her tone suggests otherwise. The room erupts in questions as the girls demand more details, laughing and gossiping.

Confessional - Sarah “I should’ve told them about the time I shared an Uber with Shawn Mendes.” She grins.

As they finish up their preparations, Y/N realizes she left her water bottle downstairs. She heads down to grab it from her bedside table and as she enters the room, she sees JJ sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes, clearly contemplating whether he’s ready to start his day.

“Oh! Hi, J!” Y/N says brightly, walking over to her bedside table and grabbing the bottle. As she leans over, her hoodie rides up slightly, revealing a sliver of her waist. JJ clears his throat and looks up, his eyes lingering on the small reveal.

“H-hi.” He stammers and then glances at her outfit. “Wait, why aren’t you dressed yet?” Y/N chuckles, looking down at herself.

“We were too busy getting Maddy and Cleo ready for their dates and-” She cuts herself off, her eyes widening in realization. “Oh crap, I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

“Wait, Cleo and Maddy have dates?” JJ asks, widening his eyes. Y/N rushes to him, a pleading look in her eyes.

“Please don’t tell the guys. I wasn’t supposed to say anything.” She tugs at his sleeve, giving him her best puppy-dog eyes. JJ grins mischievously, moving towards the door.

“Nope. I’m telling everyone.” He murmurs.

“No! JJ!” Y/N yells, racing after him. Her short legs try to catch up, but JJ is too quick. Just as he’s about to make it out the door, Y/N launches herself at him, throwing her arms around his shoulders and trying to cover his mouth with her hand. The boys, hearing the commotion, rush over to see what’s going on.

JJ stumbles slightly as Y/N clings to him, nearly losing his balance. Before he can topple over, Rafe appears out of nowhere and grabs Y/N, pulling her off of JJ and setting her down gently.

“What’s going on here?” Rafe asks, his voice calm but curious, his skin glistening with the glow of a recent workout. JJ rubs his arm where Y/N’s nails left red marks.

“Did you scratch me?” He asks, looking at his bicep with a furrowed brow.

“Sorry.” Y/N mutters, slightly embarrassed.

“Okay, what happened?” John B asks as he adjusts his hat.

“Maddy and Cleo have dates!” JJ says triumphantly, turning to Y/N with a mockingly smug look. Y/N narrows her eyes at him.

“I’m going to kill you.” She murmurs, making JJ laugh loudly.

“I’d love to see you try.” He challenges as Y/N struggles to break free of Rafe’s arms to get to him. Rafe sighs, tightening his grip to keep her calm.

“What dates? What are you talking about?” Rafe asks, rubbing Y/N’s arm comfortingly as she tries to escape his hold. Y/N sighs, realizing she can’t avoid it.

“We got a text.” She says quietly, her eyes flicking to the guys. “It said a new guy is entering today, and he chose Maddy and Cleo to go on a brunch date.” The boys exchange glances, nodding, but Rafe’s grip on Y/N loosens as the information settles in.

“I probably shouldn’t say this either.” Y/N continues in a hushed voice. “But the girls and I are gonna spy on them from the balcony. If you guys…wanna join.” She looks around at the group, her gaze lingering on Rafe.

“Now, can I go back upstairs?” She asks, her tone soft.

“Ye-yeah.” Rafe murmurs, a faint smile tugging at his lips. He releases her from his arms and Y/N grins, pecking him quickly on the cheek before heading back upstairs.

Some time has passed now, Maddy and Cleo are making their way to the backyard, which has been transformed. Two tables are set up in the center, surrounded by an array of flowers and a delicious-looking brunch spread. The girls squeal in excitement as they take their seats, occasionally glancing up at the terrace where the rest of the group is gathered.

“Can’t believe you told them.” Sarah murmurs to Y/N, nodding toward the boys sitting behind them on the couch.

“I’m sorry, Sarah. It just slipped out.” Y/N apologizes again, her gaze drifting through the railing toward the girls.

“Hey, Cleo! Push up the girls!” Kiara calls out and Cleo responds with a nod, adjusting her swim top as everyone laughs.

A moment later, Maddy's eyes widen and she looks up toward the terrace, silently mouthing something.

“He’s here!” She whispers. Cleo turns to shush her and the girls exchange thumbs-up for good luck. They watch as JJ and John B walk toward them. Y/N moves aside to make room for them, settling next to Rafe and Topper on the couch. Rafe instinctively wraps an arm around her waist as he talks with Topper.

“Woah!” Kiara exclaims as JJ tries to peer over her shoulder.

“Not another black guy!” Pope groans.

“John B, my toes!” Alyssa shrieks and John B apologizes as he ducks down to avoid stepping on her.

“Y/N! You need to see him!” Sarah whispers urgently, gesturing for her to come over. Y/N rolls her eyes but stands up and walks toward the railing, crouching down to avoid being seen by Kelce below.

“Shit!” She exclaims, causing Kiara to quickly shush her.

“Girl!” Kiara scolds quietly. Y/N pulls back from the railing, her face pale as though she’s seen a ghost.

“Whoa, you okay?” Rafe asks, noticing her blank stare. He rises from the couch and moves toward her, the others gathering around to check on her. Sarah rubs her back, concerned.

“Did you get dizzy again? I’ve told you, you can’t skip breakfast.” She begins.

“Is that Kelce?” Y/N asks and the group nods. Rafe and Topper head off toward him. Rafe shrugs.

“He’s not…bad-looking.” He admits. “But he’s not all that either.”

“That’s Kelce.” Y/N repeats, her voice shaking. Sarah looks at her, nodding.

“Yeah, we know.”

“No, no, no, Sarah.” Y/N starts, her voice trembling. “That’s Kelce…my ex.” Sarah's eyes widen in shock.

“What the fuck?” Rafe's voice cuts through the tension as he looks up at Y/N, equally stunned.

to be continued...

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A/N: sorry for the long wait, but i really struggled with this one. i wrote half of it when i had time after work when i was very tired and finished it really late last night, it's proofread but i cannot promise it's good so very sorry for that!!

[sqgeism]

𐙚 𓏵𓏵𓏵 𐙚 i'll say a hundred and fourty times, | various hsr men x gender neutral reader reader

💌 — ; i think about you or something like that ! you remember your first date with your husband like it was yesterday, what exactly did they do to convince you that they were the one?

love mail — these vary in length cus bless my heart i js cant 💔 i picked the characters who are super popular on this account + mutuals faves so if urs isnt on here am sorry (ノ´Д｀)ノ posting this early hi i love u guys!!!! thank you for so much love and a platform to write as a other yr passes 4 me and i turn 17!!! this is actually so long im going BANANAS 🩷 proper post tmr ! (anaxa, mydei, phainon, caelus, dan heng, boothill, sampo, blade, ratio, jing yuan, gallagher, sunday in that order)

what anaxa had done to seal the deal was fairly simple; he asked for a second date. the professor had somewhat of a reputation, many saw him as a cold man, soulless when it comes to romance. but what you didn't know was that anaxa had been thinking about what to wear the night prior, something he saw as 'trivial' and 'not an important thing to consider'. or how your hand lingered a bit too long after he gave you your favorite coffee/tea/drink (his treat), little and seemingly insignificant details were becoming more and more important to him as the day of the date was building up, and he wasn't sure why.

it wasn't until after the long date—you grabbed his hand, told him that everything he arranged was perfect, and smiled at him so sweetly he was sure he'd wake up with a toothache. the gesture was unfamiliar yet not unwelcomed, it was then he realized that he didn't want to let this go, that he wanted this.. for the rest of his life.

and he got it <3 hooray!

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

what intrigued you about mydei was his idea of masculinity. it wasn't toxic, you were VERY relieved at that... he was surprisingly a very gentle man despite his intimidating appearance! his first date being at his place was a bit off putting, but he just wanted to bake you a fresh batch of cookies. he's halfway through the process when you suddenly ask; "what's your favorite thing?" it seems you've brought the crown prince of kremnos into a bit of thought, as he thought long and hard of what to answer. "butterflies, i like butterflies. i don't remember if i've ever seen one before i escaped the river of souls. they're beautiful.. delicate, something i'll never really get to be."

the night goes on and you've gotten close enough to lean on his shoulders while you sit on the couch, enjoying a series in silence with a plate of warm cookies on the coffee table. the lack of conversation isn't awkward, rather welcomed, then it was interrupted by what has been probably the sweetest thing ever told to you. "you uh.. remind me of a butterfly. you possess beauty that is.. otherworldly to me, you're someone i've never seen before and i'd be honored if you.. gave me some more time to bask in your existence. let me be gifted with your ethereal charm."

100% spent the night cuddling together, made you laugh at how nervous mydei was to hold you since he didn't wanna mess up 🙏

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

before real dates became a thing, phainon's FAAAVORITE excuse to spend one on one time with you was study dates. was there any actual studying going on? yes, but was phainon listening? absolutely not! how could he? not when you're trying your best to tutor him yet he still fails this one specific class (enrolled cause you were in it) despite your teaching.

you didn't mind the fact he kept coming to your door, he was your best friend before your 'student'. but it was getting to a point that if you explain a complicated concept one more time, only to see him staring at you and absolutely not listening you're about to pull his pretty blue hair off.

which you did tell him. hair ripping threat and all, and naturally the nameless hero—who dominates battlefields and comes out victorious, is quick to confess his true motive for these frequent visits to your dorm. he just likes looking at you when you're focused, passionately discussing your favorite topic from your favorite subject and he gets to be a part of that experience for you.

he wants to emphasize; he gets to be a PART of something greater that you're DEEPLY passionate about, and understand you more as a person. (when he should be understanding the class but wtv)

taking you out on a date-but-never-officially-called-that date as an apology, which worked in his favor. it turned out so good that you told him you wanted to go out again, which he was ecstatic about by the way!!! super gratful he almost failed that class if it meant you two got together 🩷

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

caelus is a big eater at heart, so of course it felt only right to take you out to a nice dinner, all on him! welt even got him a nice outfit to go along with it, very classy and formal.

and while you two ate, drank, and laughed the night away—caelus was quick to notice that you were getting full. you and him had chosen the same meal (he wanted to try to understand and adjust to your food palette in case of a second date), but you felt bad that you couldn't finish it with so much still on the plate.

the trailblazer, who had already bulldozed almost the entire meal, laughs at your frown. only to switch the meals around, where there was only a little left and he had the bigger portion. "don't want anything to go to waste, y'know?" he flashed that charming smile at you, and it made you chuckle. not for such a sweet gesture, which you really did appreciate, but he had a piece of leaf stuck in between his teeth. it gave off the whole charm he had, effortlessly kind and unintentionally funny. you liked that.. liked that a lot, actually. (enough to spend the rest of ur lives tgt <3)

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

for a portion of your childhood life, you found it hard to be heard. your voice was never loud enough to stand out from a crowd, and you felt ignored. that you weren't good enough to be listened to.

so going on a date was extremely nerve-wracking. you decided to make sure to never try to assert yourself too much in a conversation, just let them take the lead and not try to disturb with your 'uninteresting' input.

halfway through the date, holding hands and talking about your favorite place to visit-you are very quick to realize that you've taken up most of the conversation. and it isn't in a bad way either, since dan heng was adding his own little comments.. adding his ideas in the conversation. but he hasn't.. stopped you. he let you speak comfortably, let you be heard. "sorry, did i give you a weird look? i didn't mean to.. i just.. i really like listening to you. please don't ever stop talking."

your now husband loves to tell the people that said his quietness would never get him someone.. that he has a ring now and a very lovely spouse that has a matching one !

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

boothill doesn't usually have time for dates, always moving on the road and hopping around penacony. but when robin set him up with a good friend of hers, he didn't want to decline. the cowboy was quick to realize you were really cute and interesting, so he didn't mind taking a day off... until it wasn't a day off.. and had to handle a quick bounty a couple of hours before your date.

"don'tgetdistractedandthinkofthemdon'tgetdistractedandthinkofthemdon'tgetdistractedandthinkofthem" is what he repeats to himself before he gets distracted, imagines how you smiled at him yesterday and expressed how excited you were about the date.

got his shit rocked :-( but he still trudged his malfunctioning arm and scarred face to your place. "sorry." he strained a smile as he falls into your arms, grunting. "didn't mean to make ya wait. darlin'.. would never try to leave ya alone on such a pretty night."

his selflessness made your heart soften. he was so uncaring for his wounds, and he was even muttering that he was sorry for getting so much of his bleeding oil on your clothes. the date didn't end up pulling through, at least not properly. since you brought him in to care for him, and honestly just ended up to you flirting all night.

you're more than happy to have a real date when he's all fixed up.

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

sampo had finally gotten one upped. HE got scammed by YOU in an exchange of information. it wasn't even anything out of harsh feelings, you had always been his informant, giving him what he needs for a good pay and go. but tonight, you decided to mess with him a bit. after receiving the money you charged to find whatever he needed on some random, you never sent it. left him waiting at his laptop and blinking at his camera, knowing damn well you were watching.

this became a normal thing, the back and fourth 'scams'. and soon your time together became less for a transaction, more just wanting to spend time with each other. which you told him from the very first day that you couldn't care less about anything as long as he had money (you didn't know his name till 3 months of working together).

so one night, expecting the usual "oops! sent it to the wrong number!" or "hehe, maybe i forgot a few zeroes and sent you like 5 coins!" you get an actual message.

"what a coincidence, i'm paying in full but it all went towards a restaurant near your place with the best table for two and your favorite food. it would really be a shame to let it go to waste.."

you agreed. and this went on long enough where one day his payment became a ring and a promise to love you forevermore.

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

two stellaron hunters slowly growing to be interested in each other is a rather entertaining sight. kafka was quick to catch on, the lingering glances and subtle touches of affection that would slip the average persons gaze. what was unexpected-was blade's initiation of these gestures. how he'd have a protective stance over you during battle, despite your capabilities likely being on par with his. how he allows his hand to be taken into yours, treating his calloused hands gently after a long day of fighting with his sword, or even just the way he looks at you. it's soft, warm, with a hint of tenderness and admiration. despite his nonchalant face.

this becomes more obvious when he finally asks you out, and he's genuinely caring the whole time. he's interested in your discussions about life, entertains him when he asks you for any other details, and you don't make him feel alone. that's the most important thing. and he makes it clear how much he appreciates you with how he tucks your hair behind your ear, murmuring if he could have the blessing to kiss you. it isn't on the lips-he's not pushing his luck.. but just the cheek. it was something small, but for him? an absolutely huge step.

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

the date with the ever so well known dr. veritas ratio had gone well enough that you agreed to go home with him. he was quick to clarify that this wasn't to sleep with him, he wasn't that kind of man to push something so early on in what he described to be: "a relationship that may be something greater than i could ever imagine" but instead to take care of you. it seemed as if you were exhausted from the travel during the date, and a nice bath would usually help.

nice bath was an understatement, the guy had scented candles, soft music, the right ratio from bubbles to water, snacks for you to enjoy and had a whole selection of books to choose from.

your fate was sealed the moment you walked into his bathroom because a man who can care for himself and still have the room to care for others is FOR SURE a keeper. even invited him to stay in the bath w u but he wanted to be respectful 🙏 (caved eventually)

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

jing yuan was the whole reason you got back into dating. after your first relationship fell apart, you found it hard to want to start things from scratch, learning favorite colors and life dreams all over again. but jing yuan swayed you, something that wasn't easy but he always makes sure to tell you he doesn't regret.

he was introduced to you through yanqing, your former apprentice before he was taken in by the cloud knights. he found out you and jing yuan were around the same age, so the blondie tested out his luck playing cupid <3 so even if it wasn't an immediate yes to his shenanigans, jing yuan started slowly. he could see you had walls and he wanted them to go down upon your own hearts decision, rather than bulldoze through them.

that care never went away. not even years later when he tears up at how far he's come, watching you walk down that aisle and knowing you're his forever.

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

gallagher's wasn't even a first date. but you were on one, or supposed to be. till you got stood up and wanted to drink your worries away.

you've been in the bar from the very first hour it opened till now.. aka 3am. and the bartender himself was growing a little drowsy. but you were going strong, probably your 8th bottle of the night, which was starting to be a concern.

one of many, really. for one, gallagher was wondering who could ditch such a person. you clearly fixed yourself up nicely, your outfit was gorgeous and you were so friendly to him up until you realized you were stood up, and the pretty face that made his bar a little brighter went quiet. he couldn't have that.

by the time his shift ended, he slid a drink to you with a napkin. "take care of yourself, alright? come by tomorrow night, and you'll get yourself a real man to go on a date with."

he leaves and the napkin (cliche enough) has his number and name. "gallagher." you say to yourself, making a note in your drunken state to return same time tomorrow.

⏜︵♡︵⏜︵୨୧︵⏜︵♡︵⏜

sunday totally took you out with vip seats to robins concert. did he have to do a LIIIITTLE bit of pursuading to have robin hand over these tickets? no.. but she did tease him for finally catching a date after all this time! and as much as he is a big admirer for his sisters work, the whole concert he couldn't take his eyes off of you. how you effortlessly glowed in a sea of people, how your passion for something as simple as music could rival his dream for eternal rest to penacony. he has dreamed of you, he's sure of it. someone so carefree and kind, a soul opposite to his, yet perfectly fills the other half of his empty heart.

he wrote poetry about you, robin found it, turned it into a song and had to awkwardly explain why robin's song that she specifically clarified to be written about someone he liked included descriptions of your physical appearance and hints of your personality.

found it very sweet, and insisted your next date should be something more personal so you can learn more about him the way he's learned so much about you without even needing to talk to you to do so. (was just happy to go on a second date)

© sqgeism or wtv (^_^;)

[sbcdh]

Professor Imanaga was scared. I don’t think he really understood what he saw. 

Was he prone to visions? 

No, not at all. I mean, not that I know of. I worked with him back in the 90s, when he was still writing The Final Republic. I did hypnoregulatory work for like half my professors, but I didn’t become friends with them. Professor Imanaga was different. He was always such a friendly, level-headed guy. You know, I don’t think he really understood what his book would do. 

What it would do?

You know, all of it. Intellectuals don’t get attention like that. You might publish something that gets cited in congress. If you’re lucky, you might get interviewed on the news, but you don’t stick around. I don’t think Professor Imanaga was expecting to be –I dunno– elected? As the representative for Equilibralism. 

Public attention can be stressful. How did he handle it?

I think he liked it, in his own way. He was used to talking in front of people, and he could handle an interview. Even back in the 90s he was the type of guy to answer “I don’t know” or “let me think about it.” He would start every conversation with “well, let us define our terms-” that sorta thing. He’s always had that whole thoughtful grandpa vibe. I think that’s part of why he handled the success of Final Republic so well.

I imagine the professor has a complicated relationship to his work. 

Eh. I think he stands by the thesis. You gotta remember, he wrote Final Republic back in 94. The wall just fell. Everyone was liberalizing. Liberalizing and hypnoeconomizing. Before that, damn near every intellectual was saying that some system would eclipse liberal democracy. It really did seem like the future was gonna be liberal democracy hooked up to a hypnoeconomy. I don’t think he was wrong. The world is still mostly equilibral systems. Most people seemed to agree.

It must have been a strange time for him, getting so much attention as a professor. 

Maybe? It was kinda sweet. He would call me every weekend and tell me stories of all the talk shows and panels and dinners he was asked to be on. Half the time I already saw them on TV, but it was nice to hear him talk. He was so excited! Sometimes he would even invite me as a plus-one when he needed a hypnoregulatory specialist. He was always more interested in the sociological side of things. He left the nitty-gritty of hypnoregulation to the doctorate students. 

Dinners?

Oh yeah. People were always inviting him to stuff. You know one time, we were in Cambridge, just wandering around looking for a bite to eat. So we walked into some restaurant. Waiter asks if we have a reservation. We say no we don’t have a reservation. Hes about to turn us away when –get this– Henry fucking Kissinger walks up to professor Imanaga, shakes his hand, and invites him to come sit down for dinner with the owner of the restaurant! The whole time we just kept looking at each other like we just got a free ticket to Disneyland. Food was great too. Thats where he met Krauthammer. 

That is journalist Charles Krauthammer? 

Yeah. Pretty soon he was hanging out with all those guys. Kept inviting the professor to state dinners. Lotta country clubs. All that stuff. Every friday I’d get weekend updates about the people he met and who he was talking to. It was like getting a whole second education in American politics. He’d tell me how many politicians loved his book, how popular it was. 

If I recall correctly, professor Imanaga has attempted to distance himself from Equilibralism as an ideology. 

Oh he hates the term. He never used it himself. It was some columnist from the New Left Review who actually came up with it. The principle is more or less the same; liberal democracy hooked up to a hypnoregulated economy. Actually…no. Now that I think about it, he wouldn’t use the word hate. He would always say he “strongly disliked” stuff. He’d say equilibralism is imprecise. It implies a see-saw relationship rather than symbiotic relationship.

I see. What would you say turned the professor away from contemporary Equilibralism?

Iraq. 

You sound very sure. 

Iraq. He called me up one night. I think it was 2004. I think he had been crying. Like, he wasn’t crying on the phone, but he had been crying earlier. I’d never heard him like that before. Not until, well, you know. He told me about this dinner. He told me “They were all cheering.” you know, cheering for the war, for the whole new “unipolar” world. He said it was all one big blunder. He hasn’t talked to Wolfowitz or Cheney or any of those guys since. 

I see. 

I think it was, I dunno, sudden for him. It was a surprise. He sounded like he just learned an old friend had fallen off the wagon. Or like- Nah I dunno. I dunno. I can’t tell you what was in his mind. But he felt confused and betrayed. He said he was gonna head out to- Oh my god. Oh my god he said he was gonna go to his house in Reno. 

Reno?

Yeah. He had a little desert ranch way out in Reno. He’d go out there in winter when he needed to relax. You know, I think- yeah. Yeah he invited me out for Christmas that year. I remember he didn’t seem 100%, but having people around seemed to help his mood. I remember it was late and we’d been drinking wine. Once the sun had set he asked me about religion. 

Was he religious? 

Well, thats the thing. He didn’t really go to church but his father was a minister. I was just surprised because he never talked about it. He never seemed remotely interested in religion. He never brought it up again I just- I think thats when he had his vision. He didn’t tell me until years later but I think thats when it happened. Oh my god, that’s when he must’ve wrecked his car too. It has to be. He told me he wrecked his car on the way to Reno. 

Slow down. Start at the beginning.

Okay. Okay. I think, in February of 2004, Professor Imanaga goes to this dinner. It upsets him, and he wants to go out to his house in Reno to calm down. He totals his car and has a near-death experience. He sees something, but he keeps it quiet. Later he invites me to Christmas, and he tries to tell me but hes nervous about –I dunno– being seen as crazy? Then a few days ago, he left me a voicemail where he tells me the story. So I come to you people.

He didn’t tell his children? His wife?

No. I think…I think he was worried he would come off as crazy. And you know, I was his touchstone for hypnoeconomic matters. Its kinda intimate, doing someones taxes, its kinda like being in their brain. 

Do you have the voicemail with you?

Yes, here give me a moment. Here.

“-eant to tell you a long time ago. It was early in the morning. The sun hadn’t come up yet. I was driving in from Tahoe and there was something in my headlights. It was some sort of reptile, a big fat iguana or something like that. I swerved to avoid it, and rolled the car bad. 

I think I was thrown. The next thing I know, I was lying facedown in the dirt. I couldn’t feel a thing. To- to tell you the truth I thought I might’ve died. I could’ve sworn I wore my seatbelt. That was my first thought, honest. I could’ve sworn I wore my seatbelt. I never drive without it, but I was thrown clear. I think I was in shock. I couldn’t move, or speak, or call for help. All I could do was lay there and watch the car burn. But then- 

I wasn’t thinking straight. I couldn’t have. But I remember it so clearly. Sitting there on the burning undercarriage. It was a lamb. It had a little golden bell around its neck like they have in cartoons, and it- I swear on my life it was smoking a cigarette. Just…balanced there in its little hoof. I remember it so clearly, like it’s still right there in front of me. Everything else is so hazy and the lamb just, isn’t. 

It talked to me. It said –and I remember this clearly– It said “A storm is blowing from Las Vegas, Thomas. It’s blowing so hard the planes can only fly one way.” And it kept looking over its shoulder. I could see over its shoulder. There was nothing there! So I asked it. I asked “What are you looking at? What is back there?” And the lamb looked at me. I think it was crying. It looked at me and took a long drag on the cigarette and it said “Everything, Thomas.”

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Good god, its like I’m back there again. I’ve never told anyone about this. Not one. But I have to tell someone. The next thing I remember is the ambulance. The lamb was there. One of the paramedics was holding it like a child. It said “Don’t worry Thomas. You’ve done nothing wrong.” I- I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. Have I done something wrong? I just don’t understand. 

I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I thought this sort of thing would fade with age. But it hasn’t. It just hasn’t. I swear on my life this was the first and only time. That morning in the ambulance. That was the last time I ever dreamed like this.”

That’s where it ends. 

Have you spoken with Professor Imanaga about this? 

That’s part of why I came to you. Probably hasn’t hit the news yet. I went over to Thomas’s house just this morning. He passed last night. Peacefully, in his sleep. 

[neiptune]

a simple complication

cw: 1.6k wc, female reader, miscommunication my beloved, you have no idea how to confess your feelings to the one miya twin who doesn't remember what happened at suna's party

You’ve never once felt uncomfortable in a Miya household but, as you stand frozen by the doorstep, you realize that just might be about to change.

As you take a deep breath, relentless inner monologue giving its best shot at calming you down, Osamu suddenly swings the door open and you find yourself taking a wobbly step back, surprised. One garbage bag in hand, he looks equally startled.

“Hey”, he smiles after a moment, “what are ya doing?”.

You can barely look him in the eye, which only confuses him more.

“Nothing. I mean, I wanted to see you. Was hoping we could talk?”.

“Uh, sure. Come in, I’ll be right back”.

You quickly do as you’re told, take your shoes off by the door and gingerly shuffle to the couch before your brain decides you may in fact be too much of a coward to initiate the conversation at all.

The apartment seems empty, which indicates that Atsumu is either sleeping or simply not home. You try to remember how many drinks he had the previous evening, at Suna’s halloween party, but the entire night is still such a blur. Except from one specific detail that still makes heat crawl from your throat up to the roots of your hair.

God, how could you be so stupid? It’d be easy to blame it all on the stupid drinks Rintaro kept bringing you, liquid courage, a dumb wink sent your way as he casually suggested it was time you stopped being a pussy. No, it wasn’t entirely his fault, although you should’ve guessed nothing good would come out of a halloween party thrown in the middle of January.

You were in a pretty low effort costume, clown makeup, black dress. You’re all adults now, which made you think no one would actually commit to the bit as much as they did back in high school or during college, but were soon enough proved wrong as soon as you saw Aran and Rintaro respectively in a Daphne and Velma costume. They looked ridiculous and spectacular at the same time.

The twins were the only ones proving your theory, they both arrived to the party in casual clothes and not one bit of makeup on. A shame, the opportunity to see them wear mascara or eyeliner is rare but when they do men and women are affected all the same. You clearly remember once catching Rintaro himself staring at Osamu for a little too long.

“What’s up? Are ya hungry? Brought back some leftovers from the shop, we can have lunch if ‘Tsumu didn’t gobble those down”, his voice makes you jump and your friend stops by the couch, brows suddenly furrowed. “Or not. Are you okay?”.

“Yes!”, you should be relieved, honestly, he’s acting normal. Which means that maybe you didn’t ruin anything. Are you about to? Perhaps coming was a mistake-

“What did you want to talk about?”, Osamu has always been way too good at sensing other people’s emotions, he quickly forgets the lunch proposal and sits next to you instead, close enough for your legs to be pressed against each other. You feel like you may be about to combust.

You’ve known him almost all your life, high school feels like a century ago. The Miyas came as a package deal back then, one couldn’t exist without the other, but as time passed and adulthood shaped their lives in different ways, most people thought each finally got to exist as his own person. Those people were wrong: at least to you, they always held their own individuality. It’s what made them special. It’s what made you fall in love with Samu when he was still a hotheaded teenager, parts of that immature youth still flashing through his grown up demeanor, especially when he’s put in a room with his brother.

“I just wanted to tell you I really value our friendship. You know that, right?”, it feels like you might be about to cry, the way your voice is wavering. He cocks his head.

“Why are ya being so formal?”, Osamu offers a warm chuckle.

“You know that, right?”, you insist.

“I do”, his features soften, “not sure what I’d do without you, honestly”.

You only realize you’re tormenting your fingers when he covers your nervous hands with his own, warm and solid and so much bigger. Once more, it reminds you of the previous night and suddenly you’re worried you might truly cry. The twins don’t do well with tears, every single time they’ve seen you cry throughout the years, they always comically panicked as they awkwardly tried to offer some comfort. It never worked. You wish Kita was here to save the day, just like he always did back then.

“Samu, I’m sorry”, you murmur.

“For what? Now you’re worrying me”, he squeezes your hands in his and you look up from your lap to meet his perturbed gaze.

Like a slap in the face, it hits you. He doesn’t remember. Now, this is a scenario you didn’t prepare yourself to face.

Osamu gently bumps his forehead against yours and you almost throw up on the spot.

“Hey? Care to let me in that pretty little head of yours?”.

“You don’t remember?”, you don’t mean for it to come out in such an accusing pitch but it’s inevitable.

“Don’t remember what?”.

Incredulous, you stare back at him. The front door opens once more and this time you both jump. You’re too shocked to pay attention to Atsumu entering the living room, back from a run and dripping with sweat. Samu’s hands on yours can only remind you of how it felt having them briefly take your face in them as he clumsily tried to kiss you back, or maybe push you away, who can tell? You were too drunk and clearly he was too. You basically jumped his bones in Suna’s hallway, thank god no one walked by to witness the way you ran away right after. You wish you were drunk enough to forget that too.

“Hi”, Atsumu says and you’re too absorbed by the vortex of your mortifying thoughts to notice how he awkwardly clears his throat.

“Hey, ‘Tsumu”, you say back distractedly, gaze kept on Samu’s coffee table.

“Go take a shower, you’re dripping on my counter”, Osamu barks as his brother casually opens the fridge to take out a protein shake.

“What’s for lunch?”, Atsumu ignores the order and flashes him a grin instead.

“My elbow in yer ribs if ya don’t go take a shower right now”.

“Jeez, fine. I’ll leave you both to it”.

Osamu furrows his brows as he watches Atsumu disappear upstairs with his shake and an amused grin he’s unable to interpret. It dawns on him that you barely talked to each other, which is usually not what happens. You’re disgustingly close, always have been walking the line between being siblings and something else he’s never really been able to pinpoint. He remembers once asking Atsumu if he liked you and he knows his brother well enough to be sure he was being sincere when he scrunched his face and shook his head no. Not like that.

Osamu would lie if he said he never wondered whether you could like him like that. But you’ve never been as… relaxed with him. It feels like Atsumu is the brother you’re most comfortable with and all these years he’s patiently waited for the news to drop, the relationship to start. Except it never did. He still wonders if ‘Tsumu had to friendly turn you down at some point. He still wonders if you could ever like the Miya you’re clearly less relaxed with, instead.

“What did I forget?”, Osamu gently grabs your chin to make sure you look up and meet his gaze once more. Your mouth feels dry.

“We…”, no, you can’t just say that. We kissed. Incorrect. More like you jumped him in a clearly drunken state and he was too much of a gentleman to fully push you away. It’s a faint memory, his hands on your face, and you can’t recall at all if his lips moved along with yours at some point. They most likely didn’t. And now, if you tell him, you’ll ruin everything. Maybe you should just keep quiet, be a coward and bury the whole thing in a place within your chest, inaccessible to anyone but your sense of guilt.

“We what?”, for a moment, Osamu’s exceptionally gentle tone, paired with his proximity, is inebriating enough to make you want to kiss him again. Then, something odd catches your attention and you blink a few times, surprised.

“What’s this?”, you reach to slightly pinch part of his dark hair between your thumb and pointer finger, to remove what looks like a gold grain. It’s dry and barely visible on your fingertip.

He follows your gaze and lets you go, slightly pulling back with a smile.

“Ah, that. I thought I washed it all off”, Osamu casually runs a hand through his hair a few times, “it’s temporary color spray”.

“You’re gonna dye your hair again?”.

“Nah. ‘Tsumu thought it’d be hilarious if we came to the party with a costume no one would notice. I think only Shinsuke guessed it by the end of the night and even he wasn’t so sure”, he offers a handsome grin but you feel petrified.

“What costume?”.

“We went as each other! Ya couldn’t tell us apart, could ya?”.

His amused smile slowly melts away as he takes in your horrified expression, eyes growing bigger by the second.

“Are you oka-”

“Oh my god”.

[samzzarella]

Closer 😩

~pairing: se-mi / player 380 x fem!reader

~ fluff, drunk se-mi, confessions

Se-mi still hadn’t called you back. You sighed, tucking your phone away. Unwilling to chase her, you hadn’t gone further than a missed call and a few texts. But you couldn’t get her out of your mind, couldn’t stop thinking about the things you’d overheard her saying to Min-su

°°••....••°°

The night before, you’d gone to hang out at Nam-gyu’s with a couple of friends. Se-mi had been acting weird for the past few days, distant. She hadn’t been spending any time with you, or looking you in the eye. She was your best friend, and you had hardly spoken to her properly in a week. You decided not to confront her and cause a scene in front of everyone, and instead did your best to distract yourself. You chatted with Thanos, because at the very least conversations with him were pretty entertaining. You drank and laughed, letting all thoughts of your best friend seep out of your mind.

But of course, it didn’t last long. You were helping Nam-gyu refill everyone’s drinks when he asked you, “Where did Se-mi go? Could you find her and ask her if she wants a refill? Yeah and that Min-su too”. You really didn’t want to, but if you refused, you knew he would start asking questions that you did not have the energy to answer.

You begrudgingly headed up the stairs to find them, eventually seeing them having a tense conversation in the darkened hallway. You could’nt hear the words she was saying, but it didn't seem like they were fighting. You stayed out of sight, creeping a bit closernto hear what they were saying, figuring that the conversation must be about you.

“I just, ugh I don't know what to do? I mean, she’s my best friend, you know, and these stupid feelings just make things too complicated. If she knew how I felt I’m sure she would hate me. She would never talk to me again. I can't risk that. You know I’m not a coward. Telling her… would just make things worse. But I just can’t bear to be around her knowing that she won’t ever feel the same. I mean, have you seen the way she looks at that co-worker friend of hers. That stupid guy, I just hate him”, she was speaking faster than you could keep up with. What was she talking about? She liked you? You could hardly believe it, someone like her having feelings for you and being so overwhelmed by those feelings that she hadn’t even realized yours. The only reason you had brought a friend from work for a gathering was to make her jealous, but it seemed to have worked too well. She thought you actually liked him?

You couldn’t keep listening to this. “Se-mi?”, you couldn’t keep the surprise out of your voice. She spun around when she heard you, her expression painted with horror. “Did you hear all that?”, her jaw clenched, her piercing gaze shattering any will you had to confront her. In this situation, how were you supposed to tell her that you too had feelings for her? Before any words could come out of your mouth, Min-su interjected, “What’s up? Are the others calling us?” You sputtered out a yes, and Min-su hurriedly pulled Se-mi with him down the stairs, unwilling to be in the middle of whatever was brewing between you too. You stood there stunned for a few minutes before heading downstairs youself.

Se-mi was pulling on her jacket. “I’m leaving. I’ll see you guys later”, she didn’t meet your gaze as she slammed the door shut behind her. Ever clueless, Thanos asked you, “What happened?”

“Um, nothing. I dunno”. You were grateful that Min-su didn’t say anything either.

You couldn’t bear to be there a second longer and decided to just head home. When you reached your apartment, you immediately called Se-mi, but she hadn’t picked up. She’d even ignored your texts. There was nothing you could do but wait for her to reach out.

°°••....••°°

Your phone ringing shook you out of your thoughts. She finally called you back! And you could tell her everything and… nope it was just Thanos. Rolling your eyes, you picked up, your tone uninterested when you answered. But upon hearing the worry in his voice you were instantly on high alert. “Listen, you have to get here right now. I don’t know what you did to my girl Se-mi, but she’s turnt. I legit have never seen her like this”, he was, for some reason, almost rapping this information to you, and your brain was struggling to keep up with how fast he was talking. “What? Where are you?”, you questioned.

“Oh, we’re at my place”.

“Ok, I’ll be there in a bit”.

You were getting more worried every minute that passed by as you drove to Thanos’ apartment. Se-mi never got drunk. She didn’t like being vulnerable around others, in public. And especially not if it was with Thanos and Nam-gyu, because even though they were your close friends, you would definitely say they weren’t the most responsible guys. You pulled up to the building, nearly jumping out of your car.

°°••....••°°

She-mi rubbed her temples with a groan. It was such a stupid fucking idea to come here, knowing that the only advice Thanos would give in this situation was to get shit-faced. And of course, being a heartbroken idiot, she listened.

God, you’d overheard everything, all the feelings she had tried too hard to hide from you. In the end, all she could do was run away, and now your friendship was ruined.

The doorbell rang, practically drilling a hole in her head. Nam-gyu nibbled over to the door, pulling it open to reveal you standing there. “Se-mi, c’mon I’m taking you back home, you’re staying with me”. Even in her inebriated state, she knew there was no fighting it, and she wasn’t in any position to anyway. She obliged, letting you loop your arm around hers and pull her up. Saying a quick goodbye to the others, you led her to your car, setting her in the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelts before she had a chance to fall over. As you drove home, you kept checking to make sure she was alright as she began to doze off.

°°••....••°°

You held Se-mi up as you entered your apartment. She was held so close to you that you could smell the alcohol, as well as her own scent lingering underneath. Setting her down on the sofa, you filled a glass of water, bringing it to her. “Finish all of it okay?”, your voice was gentle. She emptied the glass and set it down, turning to face you. She looked up at you with wide, vulnerable eyes, her expression making your insides melt.

“Why are you taking care of me?”.

Your eyebrows furrowed, “You're my best fr- you're the most important person to me. Of course I'll take care of you”.

“Even after what you heard? Do I not… make you feel weird?”, she looked away, unable to meet your eyes. With a gentle hand on her chin, you pulled her gaze up to yours.

“I don’t feel weird because… I feel the same way Se-mi. I always have”. You didn’t even realize what was happening when, the next moment, her lips were on yours, soft and sweet. Instinctively, your hands reached up to grip her hair, hers cupping your jaw. Heat flared through your entire body as her tongue pushed into your mouth, the kisses becoming deep and hungry. You pulled away from her, both of you breathless.

Unable to read the expression on your face, she began to stutter out an apology. “I’m sorry… that was sudden and I didn't even ask or anyth-” “It’s okay Se-mi, I..uh…I wanted to kiss you too. But you’re drunk and I don't want to take advantage of you or something so…” “Hmm”, was all she replied, her eyelids dropping, and you could sense the exhaustion setting over her. You chuckled, “Let’s get you to bed alright?”. You helped her to your room, getting her settled with whatever she needed. As you were turning around, Se-mi grabbed onto your hand, grumbling sleepily, “Where are you going?”

“Oh I was gonna go sleep on the sofa…”

“Just c’mere”, she pulled you onto the bed. With a small laugh you settled in next to her, rubbing little circle on her arm. Wrapping her arms around you, snuggling her face into your hair. She let out a content smile, immediately falling asleep.

She looked so peaceful in her sleep, calm and relaxed, and you couldn't believe she was here with you, bundled up in your arms. Slowly, you too followed into the realm of sleep, chest rising and falling along with hers.

p.s. pls send requests for other squid game characters (especially headcanons), or even for any of the other fandoms I write for. <3

pt. 2…smut…? ;)

[savanir]

I found your missing cat

It had taken a lot of work but about a month ago Danny finally got deep enough into A.R.G.U.S to be allowed into its Black Room. and my, what a treasure trove it is.

In the following weeks Danny has spent a lot of time finding all the lost Infinite Realms artifacts he was supposed to locate and return, as was part of his kingly duties. The Observants had been constantly on his ass about this but now that the results of his efforts are actually visible they have finally shut up.

Today though something new has gotten brought in and he’s eager to take a proper look, he could feel the Tyrant king’s influence from a distance emanating from it after all.

While on his way he noticed one of his colleagues, Miss Barbara Minerva if he remembers correctly, talking to who looks to be Wonder Woman. Danny hasn’t had the chance to do so himself yet, he’d love to introduce himself properly but he’s also a little worried about all the knowledge he has on Amazons from Lady Pandora (which he very much shouldn’t have) coming out the moment he tries to have a proper conversation.

Still he hopes nothing bad comes from those two ladies being on friendly terms. Miss Barbara's vibes are all over the place, and most often nowhere good, but who knows, maybe her being around Wonder Woman more will fix that.

He gets to his little section in the compound with the big examination table all decked out and ready for whatever. Today he gets to look at one of Pariah's lost blades, the godslayer sword.

Danny is working on getting all the murderous enhancements off of it and depowering it into something nowhere near so dangerous and deadly when something perks up within the weapon. 

Sensing a kindred protection spirit it leaps up from the blade and into Danny, happily nestling around Danny's core and starts purring up a storm. 

Danny however is violently startled out of his work. It's hard not to notice the sudden claws he feels both on his hands and feet. The spotted fur that covers seemingly his whole body now, his shifted ears, eyes and nose. And the fact he's now sporting a tail of all things. 

The Cheetah may be pleased with this new development but Danny is certainly not. 

Footsteps thunder his way, followed by a shout, "what is wrong!? I heard sounds of distress and- oh!"

"Uuuhhmmm..." What does he say!? How is he supposed to explain all this to Wonder Woman!?

She marches forward and firmly grabs his clawed hands in her own, not worried in the slightest about his now razor sharp nails, "worry not, we shall break this beastly curse that has befallen you, you have my word" 

She gives him what he thinks must be a reassuring smile, "I am Diana of Themyscira and-"

Danny isn't really listening after that, she's probably just giving him more reassurances. It's nice but she's also pretty intense. And Danny is still freaking out a little. 

"- so no need to fret"

Danny blinks,"Uh thanks, I- I'm Danny Fenton" 

"It is most pleasant to meet you Danny Fenton, even if the circumstances are quite unfortunate"

"Yeah uhm, just Danny is fine"

"Very well you may call me Diana" She nods and lets go of his hands.

Diana then wishes to see the artifact that cursed him so, aka the blade (which didn’t curse him), Danny thankfully already fully depowered the damn thing safe for some minor traces of whatever Pariah saw fit to stuff in it. 

By now Steve as well as Barbara have come to take a look themselves and though they appear startled at his new catlike appearance they are mostly just worried once Diana tells them he's cursed. 

Which he's not, this isn't a curse at all. The big cat spirit still tightly curled around his core is clearly a blessing of some sort, that'll make dealing with it all so much more complicated...

But at least Danny got to meet wonder woman right? That's cool.

[the-librarby]

FANCY SEEING YOU HERE III

- DANTE SPARDA (DMC)

I heart girlhood and first kisses.

Part one Part two Part four

It had been a month since that eventful first day, and Dante had gotten very comfortable in your presence. He dropped by with seemingly no rhyme or reason, every time you tried to assign him a case he would just wave it off. Apparently busy with other work.

Not only did he physically disturb your work hours, but he somehow got ahold of your work number.

When the landline rings, you pick it up without thinking, “Devil May Cry,”

“That’s it?” The voice crackles due to the poor speaker, “No, this is Y/N speaking, how can I help you?” A familiar voice mocks.

You lean back in your chair with a grin, crossing your leg over the other— you better get comfortable this is going to be a long call — and squish the receiver between your cheek and shoulder.

You hum, “Maybe you should be a receptionist, you’ve got the voice for it,”

“Oh yeah? What else am I good at?” The cocky grin is apparent in his tone.

You roll your eyes, “Being a pain in my ass,” your eyes flick to the clock display on your computer, “Aren’t you on a mission right now?”

Dante hums in confirmation, “I found some downtime, just to check in on you,”

Check ins, that’s what Dante liked to call this.

“I’m just as fine as I was yesterday, Dante,” you reply, “If I didn’t know any better, it sounds like you care about me, sweetheart,”

The rumble of his laughter over the speaker makes you inhale just a bit deeper, “Yeah, yeah caught red handed.”

You found it hard to navigate this dynamic with Dante. You expected the flirtatious conversations to die down but as you got more acquainted, if anything, it’s just amped it up. You’re certain it’s just the demon hunter’s nature, and not anything personal, which is fine by you. The last thing you need is to complicate this working relationship even further.

“You there, darling?” He questions, snapping you out of your train of thought.

You lean forward in your seat, moving the computer mouse to wake the screen back up, “Yeah, here,” you respond, “How’s the mission going?”

“So boring,” he complains, “Don’t make me talk about it, any plans tonight? Tell me it’s something fun,”

You laugh, “Going out actually,” you choose to ignore Dante’s dramatic gasp, “Calendar finally lined up, so I’m getting some drinks with some friends,”

Dante lets out the most wounded sound you’ve ever heard, “What! You never go out—”

“Not true!” You interject.

“—The one time you’re doing something fun and I’m not even there to see it!”

You frown, “Who said you would be invited anyway?”

Dante scoffs, “Don’t be ridiculous, doll, of course I would be there,”

You hum in reluctance, “No, I don’t think so. Pretty sure I sent all the invites out already, guess yours got lost?”

“I find it funny that you think you could stop me from seeing you.” He assures.

You gaze up at the ceiling, shaking your head in disbelief. You turn in your office chair, now facing the window behind you, the cord follows and wraps around the chair.

“Guess you’ll just have to sit this one out then,” you sigh.

“I’ll find a way,” he hums, “Keep your phone on you.”

Even miles away you can’t shake the feeling that you’re being watched by him, a constant shadow over your shoulder. The sun is starting to set across the buildings outside, you search every rooftop and can’t find a single sign of a soul.

“Sure,” you spin back around to face your computer, “Better let you get back to your mission, I know you work so hard,” you coo.

Dante sighs, “Think of me when you go out tonight, alright doll? Because I’ll be thinking of you,”

“Goodbye Dante.” you fluster.

You hang the phone up with a click. In the silence of your office you groan, dragging your hands down your face is exasperation.

It was later in the evening when you stepped into the bar you were meeting your friends at. In the corner you can see them waving you over, a grin breaks out on your face. Cheers and greetings are shared, you can feel your shoulders relax. This was needed.

“I need a drink.”

Resounding agreements are met with your statement.

Time starts flying by, and you’re starting to forget what drink number you’re on but it’s fine, you got it handled. When you approach the bar, a guy next to you starts chatting. It’s polite and civil, he’s definitely cute, but when he starts pulling his phone out your mouth opens on autopilot.

“Oh, thank you, but no thanks,” you raise your hand placating.

The guy looks a little wounded— you grit your teeth in embarrassment— but doesn’t comment. Your friend punches your arm as he walks off, her eyes are widened.

“Why did you ditch him? He was so cute!”

You shrug, making your way back to your table, “I don’t know, wasn’t feeling it,”

Another girl chimes in as you sit down, “Wasn’t feeling what?”

“This cute ass guy just asked for her number and she shot him down!”

“Politely!” You interject.

The table is looking in your direction, one girl hums conspiratorially, “Someone we don’t know about?”

You choke on your drink, “No!” It’s not convincing, “No, there’s not,”

“Bullshit, your face is red! Who is it? Someone from work?”

The girl beside you tilts her head, “Your shady receptionist job? That would be interesting.”

Okay, so maybe your friends don’t know the full details of your job. It’s not because you don’t trust them, it’s just because this job is meant to be temporary, and honestly you don’t want them to worry about the people you work with.

Like Dante. Your heart pangs for a second at the thought of his name. That makes you pause.

“Oh my god, it’s definitely someone from her shady receptionist job,”

You automatically become defensive, “There’s nothing going on at work,” it doesn’t feel like you mean it, “I mean, nothing can happen anyway, it’s work,”

You shove down the sadness you feel saying that out loud, it’s not something you can deal with right now. When you look around the table you can see the sympathetic looks from everyone.

You groan and chug the rest of your drink, “Another round?”

You’ve definitely lost track of the amount of drinks you’ve had now. You’re laughing at every little amusing thing that comes across your path, and your friends laugh at how slurred your speech is. You’re just about to enter a different bar when your pocket starts to buzz.

“Wait,” you take a wobbly step back and dig into your pocket, “I gotta take this,” you murmur distractedly.

When your friends start to protest you wave your hand at them, “No s’fine, go in, I’ll be like, five minutes?”

You turn your back to them as they walk in, the phone in your hands looks a bit blurry and it takes you a couple tries to hit the accept button but eventually you get it.

“Hello?” You chime cheerily.

A chuckle rumbles through, “Just how drunk are you, doll?”

You frown, “Don’t,” you reply accusingly, “Don’t call me that, only Dante calls me that,”

“Really? He your boyfriend or something?” The voices teases.

You pout, “No, he’s—” you hum in thought, “Uh, a friend,”

Really, how else could you explain Dante to a stranger?

“You don’t sound convinced,”

His voice is deep, you muse, “What are you? A therapist?” A frown creases your eyebrows, “I definitely can’t afford that,”

The voice over the line laughs, it makes you feel warm, “Where are you?”

You scoff, “M’not giving my address to a stranger!”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet, sweetheart?”

“Sweethea—” you gasp loudly suddenly, “Dante?”

“Bingo,” Dante laughs, it’s so familiar how could you not recognise it?

“Dante!” You repeat, in disbelief, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You are so gone,” he comments amusedly.

“Yeah,” you sigh in agreement. Slowly, on unsure legs you walk over to the edge of the pavement to sit on the curb outside of the bar, “I miss you, where are you?”

Dante is going to tease the fuck out of you tomorrow for this. But right now you are not sound of mind to care, or even realise what you are saying. Sitting on the concrete beside a parked car, you watch as other drunken groups stumble and laugh up and down the street.

“On a mission remember?” He muses.

“Oh yeah,” you respond, fingers loosely holding your phone, “How is the mission?”

“That really what you want to talk about right now?”

Your response comes out quick, “If it keeps you on the line,”

The a brief choked noise and pause, you think you hear a quiet curse— fucking hell— in the background, but it’s drowned out by the traffic.

“Where are you?” Dante repeats.

“Huh?” You swing your head around, squinting your eyes at the bar sign out front, “Some bar, Night lounge or somethin’”

“I’ll meet you there,”

You laugh, “What? You’re like—” you wave your hand in gesture, “Somewhere far away,”

“Don’t move, got it?” He ignores your comment, “See you soon, doll.”

You barely say goodbye before the line ends. You stare at your phone in confusion for a moment, what did he mean? Your sluggish mind can’t fit the pieces together, so you shrug it off. Standing up, you dust off your outfit and make your way inside the bar. The girls are urging you to catch up, having missed out on a few rounds.

You completely forget about the phone call.

Hours later, you blearily look at your phone. The clock displays 2:00am. You push your way off the dance floor, leaving your friends behind. Everything is becoming stuffy and you need space, it’s a clumsy exit but you manage to shove your way out. Skirting the edge of the dance floor, you make one last shove this time accidentally hitting someone square in the chest.

“Sorry,” you slur, hands up in defence.

A bigger hand circle your wrist, the other hooking under your chin to tilt your head up, “Just the person I was looking for,”

Slowly you blink to take the man in, black fitted top, broad shoulders, and long silver hair. A grin breaks out on your face, “Dante!” You cheer drunkenly, wriggling your hands out of his grasp and wrap them around his neck. You feel his arms curl around your waist.

Your cheek is smooshed against the juncture of his shoulder and neck, “You made it,” your murmur, “How did you find me?”

Dante looks down at you quizzically, about to respond when you’re suddenly tugged back by your shirt.

“Y/N!” Your friend shouts, “You can’t just run off like that!”

She starts to apologise to Dante on your behalf, “I’m so sorry, she’s drank a lot tonight—”

You hiccup on your laugh, “Don’t apologise,” you poke hard at Dante’s chest, “This is Dante,”

Your friend frowns, “Dante…?”

“From work,” he supplies.

Your friend frowns, looking between the two of you. Dante’s hand is resting comfortably on the small of your back, your hand turning from an accusing point to a splayed hand on his chest.

She raises her eyebrow, “Dante,” she repeats, “From work,”

“That’s me, Dante from work,” he nods.

Another girl from your group comes up, “What’s going on?” She shouts.

She jabs a thumb in your direction, a grin now on her face, “This is Dante from Y/N’s work,”

She gasps, “The Dante?”

Dante’s now starting to feel confused, the two girls in front of him are scrutinising him in his spot. He smiles politely, and lets them look. You on the other hand, are completely taken by a wave of sleepiness. Unaware of the looks exchanged, you slump into Dante’s side.

“Need home,” you murmur.

Dante leans down, hovering closer to your face to hear better, “What?”

You groan at the movement, every shift welcomes a new wave of dizziness, “Need to go home,” you force out.

“Well, Dante from work,” your friend interjects, “Think you can handle this one?”

If you were sober, you’d be more aware of the current stare down that was happening. It’s more than a simple question, Dante was facing a test of loyalty right now, and honestly, it was kinda terrifying.

He answers without doubt, “Yes, I can handle her,”

You crack your eyes open when you feel warmth wrap around you, “Bye Y/N,” kisses are pressed to your cheeks, “Get home safe, and text me!”

You mumble your goodbyes, lots of I love you’s are exchanged before Dante wraps his arm around your waist and leads you outside. Once you step out into fresh air, you sigh. It feels so good to be outside.

“Alright, let’s get you home,”

You slump your head against his shoulder, letting Dante lead the way because your legs are not working right now.

“I wanna take my shoes off,”

“You can’t take your shoes off,”

You cry worriedly, “Are they glued to my feet?”

Dante looks down at your frantic face, shaking his head, “No, we’re walking home, you can’t take your shoes off right now,” he clarifies.

You sigh in genuine relief, the split second reality of not being able to take your shoes off outweighs the minor pain they’re giving you for now.

“Would you cut my feet off if they were actually stuck?” You wonder aloud.

Dante frowns, “No, I would not cut your feet off,”

You tilt your head, “How would you get them off then?”

Dante is unsure of the direction of this conversation, he knows you’re just rambling but the accusing look in your eye makes him think you’re not going to let this go.

He sighs, “Cut them?”

You gasp, “But these are my favourite!” You kick your feet up as to show them off, but you start to topple backwards from the sudden weight shift.

Dante easily swings forward until you’re straightened up again, “I don’t know,” he hums, “Guess I would have to force them off, they’d have to unstick at some point.”

You smile, satisfied at his answer. The streets are starting to get a little quieter as you walk away from the bars, it’s nicer like this, you can hear the cars driving past and a quiet ringing in your ears from the loud music earlier.

Dante’s mind floats back to what your friends said, “Do your friends know me?”

You hum questioningly, thinking back over the blurry events of tonight. After the phone call you went back in the bar, your friends were sitting at the table urging you to catch up on drinks. No wait, something before that.

“Who were you talking to out there?”

“Dante,” you answer simply.

“Dante?” They emphasise, “Who is Dante?”

You shrug, “From work? He’s so annoying,” you roll your eyes, “Keeps calling me all sorts of names, doll, sweetheart, my love,”

While you’re rambling your friends eyes widen, the whole table shocked at the revelation you’ve just spilled.

“Y/N, my darling,” you scrunch your nose, “You know he likes you, right?”

“What?” You scoff, “That’s impossible,”

“Why?”

That made you pause. Why was it impossible again? Something about boundaries and lines interfering.

“Oh my god!” Hands slam on the table, “It’s him! The guy that nothing can happen with!”

Gasps resound around the table, but your head is spinning. Before they can ask you anymore questions you head for the bar.

“You’re the guy,” you say.

“The guy?”

You huff, waving your hand, “The guy,” you emphasise, “From work, where nothing can happen, because you’re from work,” you tag on the end, in case it wasn’t obvious.

Now Dante can read between the lines. In this case, the line is very obvious in your oversharing confidence. A line that should not be discussed right now. He knows. Your apartment building is coming into view, Dante recognises the familiar entrance steps and railing.

“Something you want to say to me, darling?” It’s cruel to ask in your state, but he can’t help it.

You stop abruptly in your path, Dante looks down at you as you turn to him, a determined look pinning your facial expression.

“Yes,” you accuse, stepping closer, “How dare you,”

Dante smirks, “How dare I what?”

You point a finger waving it between him and yourself, “Act like this,” you gesture, “You’re not my partner,”

The drunken words are not eloquently said, but he understands. He steps closer, you tilt your head up to continue facing him.

“Do you want me to stop?” He murmurs, suddenly serious.

You frown, “This is so not fair,” you reach your hands up to cup his face, “You can’t look at me like that,”

Dante would put money down to see what you see in him right now, “What do I look like?” He whispers.

Your thumb grazes gently under his eye, “Not how a friend should look at me,”

He glances down at your lips, “Will you forgive me in the morning?”

His abrupt question confuses you, “For what?” You smile in amusement.

Without warning he leans down, causing your hands to slide down to the back of his neck. Your eyes widen in anticipation, he pauses close to your face, giving you a chance to back off.

“I swear if this is a sick joke, I’ll kill you Dante.” you promise.

Hands grasp your hips, tugging you flush against chest. Seconds later, Dante’s lips are on yours. It’s gentle, is what your foggy mind can comment on. Your hands reach up into his hair, gently curling into the strands, him groans in response with deepened the kiss. One of your hands travels down his chest, feeling for the hem.

Before you can get your fingers underneath, you feel the world spin before your back hits something hard. The kiss breaks, and when you open your eyes and look around you can see you’re leaning against the brick all of your apartment building.

Dante’s heavy breathing matches your own, he shakes his head with a smile, “It’s time for you to go to bed,”

You ignore him, tugging him closer by the loops of his belt. He moves forward without a fight, you lean up to kiss him once more. Dante feels weak in this moment, he can’t say no, not when your fingers are curled around his pants like that. When your fingers reach for the hem of his shirt, there’s only a warning hum. A cautionary, don’t. With a smile against his lips, you breach under, letting your finger tips glide over his hipbone. You don’t get much further until a hand grasps your wrist.

“You’re breaching out of bounds territory,” Dante warns.

You grin, wriggling your fingers that are still trapped under his shirt, “Let me in,”

Dante smiles in amusement at your boldness, “No,” he counters.

Your mouth drops in shock, as if not expecting that response, “You’re so mean,”

His hand drags yours out, “You already knew that,” he winks.

You pout, glancing up at him through your eyelashes. Your slightly smudged mascara affects Dante in a way he didn’t know could, his thoughts are starting to drift too far. Thoughts of you in this outfit, on your knees on your bedroom floor, choking around—

He blinks the thoughts away. He needs to stop this.

Gently he tugs you off the brick wall, guiding you up the stairs to your apartment entrance. Getting the hint, you fish out your keys.

You look at him one last time, “This is real right? I’m not imagining it,”

Dante chuckles, “I would be a fucking fool to pass you up,” he leans forward for one more chaste kiss, his hand cups your face, “Text your friends that you’re home, before they think I killed you,��

You laugh, “I will,”

He leans again, finding it hard to part from your lips but he manages to pull away one last time, “Call me in the morning?”

You hum, leaning against his hand as you peek your eyes open, “Afternoon okay? I’ll definitely feel like shit tomorrow morning,”

Dante smiles, “Deal.”

[authenticbunni]

There is no mental fighting/struggle

Girl you is lost. Manifesting is not that complicated at all. You just have to simply decide.

Before you scroll, I know you’ve seen people say that all the time, and it just never wrapped around your complexed mind. I used to have that problem too, I feel you. I have a complexed mind, and even though most people say you don’t have to know everything, I did so I can wrap it around my mind and knowing more actually helped me de-complex my mind. Now that I understand it I’m going to explain some reason as to maybe why you’ve been struggling to just decide.

I’ve put it into two parts if you don’t feel like you need to read everything. Accountability and 4D = 3D NOT 3D = 4D

Accountability

I think where you go wrong is not realizing everything in your life that you’ve ever interacted with or did is from your thoughts. You’re still in a mindset of “how could this have happened? This is not my fault? This is not my doing?” Now that’s human, people always try to blame, don’t beat yourself up. But when you’re trying to manifest and blame every single thing in your life on everyone else, you’re never going to manifest because you can’t take accountability. If you can’t take accountability of your own life, how can you even have full control over your own life.

That was a really hard pill for me to swallow, when it came to taking accountability for the doings in my life. TRUST ME! When I had to move away from Florida, when I had a brutal falling out with my bf. I had to realize that was my fault. Both of those were not in my favor or desires, but I thought so much about those outcomes that it eventually happened.

Once you take accountability you realize the only thing you’ve been struggling with is you. The only thing you’ve been fighting off is you. The only struggle you’ve been going through is you. You have accepted those thoughts into your mind, and now you’ve become them. Now, don’t get panicky or feel like you gotta do a whole bunch of stuff to get past this. Just simply let them pass. Know that these are just thoughts and you have the power to accept and decline them with ease, because you’re subconscious mind always follows your lead without thinking twice.

4D = 3D NOT 3D = 4D

What I mean by the equation is. Your imagination controls/creates your reflection. Your mind is your true reality, and your 3D reflects that. Your 3D does not make you, you make you

4D = reality

3D = reflection (of your 4D)

Stop separating the two, they are always in the same equation. Your 3D is as changeable and flexible as your imagination. I didn’t realize this until I actually saw it happen.

Back to the brutal falling out with my bf. Prior we were just friends but he was pretty regular, talking here, having conversations. But due to dwelling in negative thoughts, in less than I think 1 or 2 days he completely took a 180 and flipped the switch. He hated me, and never wanted to talk to me. During this is completely shock on why this would happened because “I thought I was doing everything right” after a few I realize I was more strong on thinking he hated me, saw me as a nuisance. (Okay that’s enough, I don’t wanna talk about it tm cuz I’m manifesting him back) but that was the work of my manifestation.

As of right now that’s all I can think of, I might make another post or add on to this post. But yeah, those are the reasons I think people have a hard time with. If you feel like this wasn’t enough details for you, that’s fine I’m glad I at least helped u a lil bit 😋.

[magicalmanhattanproject]

man im just like. thinking about egg signs and how they've evolved over the course of the qsmp and how the qsmp has evolved over the course of the qsmp and just feeling so much love and affection for every part of the project. i dont have any grand overarching point with this just. like. here's a history of egg comms bc of the kind of person that i am

so wayyyy back ten months ago now at the start of the short and sweet egg event that was planned to last maybe a month at most, the eggs had their own custom, decorated signs!

[ID: Leo with a pink sign with an egg on the bottom corner that reads "hello" in all caps. Her nametag reads Leonardo. End ID]

They were extremely simple, single word signs. There was hello, hola, story, feed, sleep, and maybe one or two more and each was its own separate sign. The eggs could only communicate the most basic needs in words and everything else was through minecraft body language or just hoping their parents guessed right.

But obviously, there was a lot more that parents wanted to hear from their children. I'm not sure who was actually first, but the earliest departure from this system I know about is BadBoyHalo giving Dapper a simple oak sign so he could name his pet slime. (Screenshot from @/lxrd-ren)

[ID: Dapper wearing a diver's helmet standing next to a tiny slime in a boat with an oak sign reading "Bouncy (slmecicle but better)" End ID]

Parents quickly realized how much more convenient this was and pretty soon every single egg had stacks of signs to communicate with.

The next innovation came from Vegetta, who was the resident mod knower at the time. He knew about colored canvas signs and gave Leo signs in her favorite color purple because he loved her and gave her everything she wanted.

[ID: Leo's bed in her room under some Fooligetta fanart with a purple sign reading "<3" End ID]

Colored signs obviously had a lot of advantages. Being able to tell at a glance which egg placed which sign was a huge step forward in eggs being able to have long, complicated conversations as well as leaving obvious marks of their personality everywhere they went. It took a little while for them to be standard for every egg though. Bobby never stopped using oak signs even after Richas and Pomme both showed up with colored signs.

[ID: Two signs reading from right to left a red Pomme sign reading "we already started working on a guillotine factory" and a dark grey Dapper sign reading "thats the most french u have said so far pomme" End ID]

And this was the system for a while! And it worked pretty well for most people! The biggest struggle most people had was egg signs not being translated, but streamers adjusted to that by reading signs out loud so the translators would pick up on them. This also lead to adorable and fascinating dynamics like Richas swearing in signs he wrote for Bad and then warning Bad not to read them out. There was also the genuinely phenomenal development of Leolingo where Leo writes only in Spanish to Foolish because it's easier for her to write and he takes his time to puzzle his way through it and learn in a way that's super cool to watch someone else do onscreen.

Then Tubbo joined the server. And Tubbo himself had no problems at all with the system, but he is dyslexic and he casually mentioned offhand that it was getting kind of annoying to read signs after a ten hour long stream and the admin team Fucking Cooked.

Within 24 hours, they had TTS working on the signs. Within 48 hours, it was working on books too. I can't remember how long it took to get translation working, but it was definitely under a week.

And this opened up a whole new world of possibilities for the entire QSMP. The admin team has been on top of capitalizing on it for story purposes, but also just allowing the egg admins to speak in their native languages to everyone whenever they want has been so enriching for everyone involved. Leolingo is awesome but Foolish has been learning Spanish insanely fast and his process is a lot slower and more frustrating than most people can do in front of an audience of thousands of people without feeling discouraged. That's also one language. We've had everything from Foolish being able to check his work a bit more faster to Phil insisting on his eggs taking a day to speak to him in their native languages to Ramón writing a book for Fit in Cantonese, a language we haven't even seen on the server in any other context!

And all of it is fully understood and fully communicated! Sometimes the translators mess up but no one expects them to be perfect and people ask for clarification if the translator says something that doesn't sound right. It's not only a massive step forward in communication technology, but it's a great demonstration of how to use it and when you can and can't rely on it.

And finally, the most recent innovation! One of BBH's viewers sent him a dono saying they had trouble reading certain signs because they were too low-contrast. Bad, Richas, and Pomme just. Took it upon themselves to fix the problem right there and then. Based on One (1) bringing up their own personal struggle, those three came up with new signs that innovate tremendously on the originals.

[ID: Two separate images of the before and after. The first is the egg signs in their original colors with the corresponding egg's name written on them to demonstrate the font color and the second is in the new, higher contrast colors with the same text. The new signs also have custom decorations for each egg. The second picture also has two signs from Pomme in all caps that read "Send all the love to Richas he spent a whole night making this he's the best <3" End ID]

There are three main innovations visible in the above pictures

1: Obviously, the colors are higher contrast. The signs with white text have darker colors and the signs with black text have lighter colors.

2: The colors themselves are lower saturation. Richas said this made it easier for him personally to read them so he corrected that way, but that's open to change if it causes difficulties for more people than it helps

3: The decorations are for accessibility reasons! People with various different forms of colorblindness will find different sets of colors easier or harder to distinguish, but any of them can look at the decorations and use them to identify whose sign is whose instead.

But! Those innovations are not why I made this post! It's these ones!

[ID: The backs of the new signs when placed on the ground. Most visible are Chayanne's with vines and a hardcore heart, Sunny's with shining sunglasses, and Pomme's with an apple and the Eiffel Tower. End ID]

Richas added distinguishing marks to the backs of the signs too! This is something that Bad brought up specifically as something he wanted because it was hard for him to tell who was talking when he was using TTS from behind signs and couldn't see the colors at all.

We went from custom egg signs (a hotbar or so of words and nothing else to communicate with) through a long journey of expanding communication and expanding who we're bringing along on the communication and how easily they can join in and we've circled all the way back around to custom egg signs (they can say anything they want in any language they want and anyone will know it's them saying it from any angle)

and i guess i have enough feelings abotu that to write All This about it

[inthelibrarybtw]

you want me to pretend? | eleven

SERIES MASTERLIST

pairing: college!basketball!captain!rafe x college!student!reader content: fluff, college au, smau/irl, alcohol, cursing, angst, suggestive, mentions of anxiety

summary: You were trying to make one problem disappear. You were tired, so you lied. That small lie led you to contact the last person you wanted to ask for help. It wasn’t that you didn’t like Rafe; only that you didn’t want to deal with his constant teasing more than you already did. Also, you two weren't that close, but this one lie was going to bring you two closer and maybe help some truths come to light.

word count: 1.5k

authors note: I'm finally back! I want to thank the amazing girls who helped me figure things out more clearly on this chapter. This one goes to @memoirofasparklemuff1n ily 💕 she basically beta read it.

10 | 11 | 12

Sophomore year - February 2023

Getting to know Jordan had been something unexpected. You kept lying to yourself, saying you didn't like him and that you were only friends. But the way he talked to you was confusing; none of your friends ever spoke to you like that. The only one who did was JJ, but it was different; JJ didn't mean it, and you knew he was joking. But Jordan? Jordan was confusing. You didn't know how he usually interacted with other people, whether he treated everyone like he treated you, or if he said the same things to other friends. So, as much as part of you believed that he liked you back, you weren't one hundred percent sure. You had been overthinking his every little move and word, and none of your friends knew him enough to form an actual opinion. Kelce didn't like him much, but he had told you on different occasions that he never liked Topper's friends because of how different their personalities were, so again, his opinion was not a big turning point.

You tried not to think too much about Jordan, but it was impossible when you two talked every day, all day. You didn’t spend much time together; he was usually very busy, and your schedules clashed, so you had to settle for texts and calls.

Rafe was sure he would talk to you. At least he thought he would until the time came. You walked in with Kie and Cleo while he spoke to Kelce. You said hi to both of them from a distance and followed your friends. He was relieved to see you with them and not with him. You looked pretty, but to him, you always did.

As the party continued, his resolve crumbled, and he no longer felt the need to talk to you. The more he thought about it, the more he accepted he wasn’t planning on doing it to move on; he wanted to do it in hopes of maybe seeing if something was there. “I thought she liked you,” was what Kelce had told him. That comment had haunted him for months, and selfishly, he wanted to see if something was still lingering there. If he were upfront with you about how he felt, maybe you would respond or rethink whatever was happening with Jordan. Either way, it was a selfish reason, and he didn’t want to disturb your peace or the dynamic of the friend group. Telling you about his feelings might complicate everything, and he didn’t want that for either of you, so he decided to stay put and do nothing about it.

He went to look for another drink, nothing strong, because he still had to drive back home. He wasn’t staying with Topper like he usually did when there was a party because Sarah was staying with him, and that was something he certainly didn’t want to hear. When he got to the drink table, he was shocked to see Sofia.  

“What are you doing here?” he asked her.  

“Rafe, hey! Long time no see,” she said.

—

Sofia and Rafe had gotten their drinks and stayed there for a while talking, but eventually moved to another place to chat because they were blocking the table for others who wanted to get their drinks. The conversation was mostly small talk and catching up since they hadn’t seen each other in a long time. She noticed how Rafe’s eyes darted around the room as if he were looking for someone.  

“Looking for someone?” she asked, intrigued.  

“Uh… no,” he replied, taking another sip of his drink and glancing around one more time.  

“Liar,” Sofia chuckled softly. “Who is the girl?” He sighed deeply.  

“Someone from college,” he admitted.  

“Are you two a thing?”  

“No,” he said, a bit annoyed.  

“Touchy subject, huh?” She sipped her drink. “Ex?”  

“I wish,” he scoffed. “She is just a girl I like.”  

“Doesn’t look like she is just a girl.”  

“I don’t want to talk about it, I would drink my thoughts away, but I have to drive.” He joked, then looked at her. 

“Look at you making good decisions. You have matured.” 

“College does that, apparently,” he chuckled.

—

You and Kelce had been talking for the past ten minutes, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t notice how long Rafe had been talking to a girl whose face was familiar, but you didn’t know from where. You were aware you shouldn’t care who he was with, but you did. You reminded yourself you liked Jordan, even if you were trying to deny it. But that was better than thinking about what was happening right in front of you. Your feelings were all over the place.  

It had been a while since you had thought about Rafe. Deep down, he was still in the back of your mind, but you were good at ignoring it… At least most days you were, but today was not one of those days. Today was one of the days when you wished he were talking to you, when he was sweet and not flirting with everything that moved. When you caught on to his flirtatiousness, everything that had happened before that became obsolete, just another one of his games. That was how it looked in your eyes, when the truth was far from that.  

You were dying to ask Kelce if he knew who the girl was, but you didn’t know how to ask without sounding jealous.  

“I think her face looks familiar, but I don’t know from where,” you said as you looked at Sofia and Rafe. Kelce followed your gaze before answering.  

“Probably because I went to high school with her; I have pictures on my Instagram with her, so that’s probably why you think you’ve seen her before.”  

“Makes sense,” Kelce looked at you, and you didn’t notice as you were still looking at them. He smirked.  

“Yeah…” he paused, “Topper, Sarah, Rafe, and I know her from high school; we were friends.”  

“Not anymore?” you turned to look back at Kelce.  

“High school friends who become acquaintances the moment you graduate.” Your eyes flickered back to Rafe and Sofia, but instead of seeing them talk, they were kissing—making out.  

“Oh… that doesn’t look like acquaintances,” you said to Kelce as casually as you could, even if you had just felt your stomach drop.  

“Oh shit…” Kelce whispered and then snickered, “The same thing happened at senior prom, but they both regretted it; it was so funny.”  

“So they dated?” Kelce noticed the hint of jealousy in your tone but pretended he didn’t hear it and answered your question.  

“No, they were just the type of friends who kissed sometimes.”  

That was all you needed to hear to make your decision. Rafe was just a silly crush that you had to move on from; you had other things to focus on, like your classes and, well, Jordan. Jordan, who was getting to know you, whom you talked to often, and whom you liked. It was time to stop trying to deny it and own it. You liked Jordan, and you were going to focus on him and forget about the little crush you had on Rafe.

A date. A date with Jordan. His saying that it was a date was all the confirmation you needed to know that he wasn’t only talking to you as a friend, and it brought peace to your mind. Choosing what to wear that day had required Ruthie and Sarah the day before, rummaging through your closet to find options. You tried everything until you found something you liked and felt comfortable in.

Paying attention in class that day was the hardest thing ever. You were extremely anxious about the date; your brain was racing ten times faster than usual, trying to think about the best and worst scenarios. Cleo and Pope noticed it, and they tried to calm you down. It worked for a while until it was time for the next class. Kelce just gave you a pack of gum and reassured you with words, knowing that’s what you needed at that moment.

When Jordan texted you that he was there, you felt your heart leap in your chest, and at the same time, you felt like you were about to faint. The class ended, you said your goodbyes, and walked to where he was waiting for you. When you saw him, you stopped and took a deep breath; you had forgotten how much taller he was than you.

“Hi,” you said as you walked closer.

“Hey, it’s so nice to finally see you again.”

He opened the door of his car and helped you in. After that, he walked around to get to the other side, got in the car, and drove to the restaurant while you two talked about everything. He brought up things you had told him a while back and asked you more questions. The conversation started, and it didn’t stop during the whole date.

taglist: @zyafics @maybankslover @niaunoffical @marleymarleymarleymarley @rafesbabygirlx @akobx @papercranesandinkstains @winterivory @my-name-is-baby @drunkinthemiddleoftheday @drewrry @ursogorgeous13 @pr3tty-pink @lmaowhatt @xoxosblogsblog @ayy1234567 @congratsloserr @moonywhisp3rs @iamheretoread1234 @rafesdrew @pogueprincesa @cokewithcameron @landososcar @drewstarkeyslover @wintersoldierslover @rafecqmeronslove @defnotayonna @wintercrows @letstryagaintomorrow @rafestoothbrush @angelicameron @dreamybabbyy @percysley @sideboobrry11 @diasnohibng @charchartumb-lr @mariamadison6-blog @drewstarkeyswife-7 @memoirofasparklemuff1n @wtfisastiles if you want to be added send an ask or comment! :) follow and turn on notifications on @inthelibrarybtw-notifs to get updates on everything I write

REBLOGS, COMMENTS AND LIKES ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED

INTHELIBRARYBTW ✧.

[lafleshlumpeater]

Hi babe!! I loved your Luke x Aphrodite reader and was wondering if you could do another?? If you alr have an idea go ahead with whatever you want but maybe something with protective Luke 🤭🤭

I’m on a new Luke obsession from the show

Thanks!!!

thanks for requesting<3 i hope you like this!!

warnings: fem!reader, unwanted flirting, protective/possessive behaviour (not in a toxic way though), mentions of drinks (unspecified whether it's alcohol or not), one word that i think can be classified as a swear word?? lmk if i missed any

requests are always open <3

luke castellan masterlist part one

“Hi.”

You jump slightly. “Hey. You scared me,” you breathe a nervous laugh through your nose. What was taking Luke so long?

You and your boyfriend had gone to the fourth of July bonfire- together, obviously- and he had disappeared, mentioning something vague about drinks and the Stoll twins (probably seeking their most recent stock of soda stash, smuggled, of course) when a slightly older camper approached you. You recognised him as an Apollo camper- you had seen him train with a bow and arrow; he was good.

He sits down next to you on the sand, slightly too close for you to be fully comfortable. Your eyes dart around frantically, looking for one of your siblings to save you- but Silena was cosied up with Beckendorf, foreheads pressed together and giggling whilst Lacy was chatting up a newer camper. You curse internally, the rest of your siblings either splashing around in the ocean or helping set up for the firework display. You offer the unfamiliar camper another strained smile in a futile attempt at breaking the awkward silence.

What was his name? Something starting with 'M', maybe?

“What’s a pretty girl like you doing alone?” the mystery boy asks- a bit too directly, in your opinion, for someone you hardly know.

You give a little giggle, hoping it sounds appreciative of the basic compliment. Even after being in this agonising situation on multiple occasions, you had gotten no better at handling them. You sigh wistfully. If only your mother had given you powers to deter unwanted attention as well as attracting it.

“Uh… I’m waiting. For my boyfriend.” You ensure to place extra emphasis on the title. He smirks, unfazed.

“Some shitty boyfriend, huh?” He says in satisfaction, completely misreading the situation to fancy his own whims, accompanied with the fakest sympathetic sigh. It makes you want to scream.

“No, actually-”

“Actually, the ‘shitty’ boyfriend’s right here.”

You can’t help but exhale in relief, muscles loosening at the mere sound of Luke’s voice. You stand up, turning around to face him. “Luke.”

“Hey, doll.” The glare etched in his sculpted features (directed at the obnoxious flirt) contrasts greatly with the gooey sweetness of his greeting. “Who’s your friend?”

You try not to snort. “Uh…”

He doesn’t wait for an answer, wrapping a fierce arm around your shoulders. You melt into him. “There a problem, buddy?”

An amused smirk creeps onto your face, and you have to bite the inside of your cheek to keep from laughing. Luke never calls anyone ‘buddy’.

“N- no, course not, I was just…” the Apollo camper stutters.

Luke raises a blond eyebrow. “Just?”

“Keeping her company!” he blurts out, already beginning to edge away from the conversation. 

Luke looks at the ground, lips curving upwards in a cold smirk. “Well, for next time, don’t worry. I’ll take you with me next time, sweet thing, if you feel lonely, ‘kay?” he simpers, half- joking for your entertainment, half in seriousness in wanting to ward off the unsuspected boy. By this time, he’s already gone and Luke leans down to whisper, hand tightening around your waist slightly as his lips brush the shell of your ear. “My girl,” he mutters.

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