#Ended up thinking about welcome back to Ohio

[penning-captain-underpantsff]

i have inadvertently made an idea for a dad! Melvin and Melvinborg one shot where they briefly discover each other and give themselves their opinion on each other

[starsinthesky5]

you belong with me III || joe burrow x reader

description: when date night ends with something more than just a goodnight kiss ;)

a/n: first off, can we talk about how delicious joe looks when he wears this specific jersey. it’s literally causing me to spiral. i can't. he’s so fine

anyway, welcome to part 3! yall have shown this little mini series so much love and it’s given me some great inspo to write a little more! i really love writing these fics <3 this turned out to be a lot longer then what I thought off which might explain why i struggled to finish it lol 

warnings: language, smut

word count: 11.6 k

part 1 part 2

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December

You and Joe have been dating for a few weeks now, and things couldn’t be going more perfectly for you both. Ever since your confession on Joe’s birthday, you both had been more attached at the hip than usual, but neither of you was complaining. Nothing really changed in the way you were acting around each other, everything pretty much stayed the same--other than the constant kissing & extra flirty conversations--which was another indication that you were already acting like a couple long before you made it official.

“Joeeee, come back over here I’m cold,” you whined as you looked up from the couch, watching Joe as he warmed up a bowl of popcorn.

“Just a sec, Baby,” he said as he pulled out two cans of Sprite from your fridge. 

Baby. You blushed at the pet name, which was becoming increasingly common for you two. If you had told your freshman year Ohio State self that her best friend, Joe Burrow, would be in her apartment warming up a bowl of popcorn for them to watch the latest episode of ��Love Island’ together, and was calling her Baby, she would for sure punch you in the face for lying. But the sweetest part was, you wouldn’t be lying because it was reality. 

A few moments later, he walked over with the snacks, placing them on your coffee table and plopping down on the couch next to you. 

“I can’t believe you have me watching trashy reality TV,” he laughs as he wraps his arm around your shoulder, pulling you into his chest. 

“Honestly, me either,” you giggle, kissing his neck. “But I love hearing your commentary,”.

He lets out a chuckle and says, “Thanks, but I mean, these people are wildin’. If you’re actually looking for love, you would never go on a dating show because that shit will never end right,”.

“Oh for sure,” you nod, grabbing some popcorn.

“Like what happened to being a genuine friend? These girls just steal each other’s man like it’s nothing and the guys are absolute airheads and go along with it,” Joe expresses, taking it a little too seriously. 

“Calm down, Joe,” you giggle. “Remember, we watch for the entertainment value not for the ethics,” you say as you rub his arm.

He lets out a sigh and then grabs a handful of popcorn, stuffing his face with the buttery snack. “I just think these people really don’t know real love when they see it,”.

“Luckily, we aren’t them,” you smile, grabbing his hand and pressing a soft kiss to the back of his palm. 

“Ohhh yeah,” he says, moving his other arm around your leg, gently sliding his hand up and down your calf. “I have real love and I am never letting go of it,”.

“You better not,” you tease, moving your head up and pressing a few kisses to his lips, tasting the buttery popcorn on them. 

“We still good for tomorrow night?” he asks, referring to the little date night he had planned at his house. 

“Mhm, I can’t wait to see what you have planned,” you say as you grab some more popcorn. 

“I think you’ll love it,” he smirks, pressing soft kisses all over your forehead. He had decorated his backyard with fairy lights, making sure to hang them all around his patio set up so that there was no darkness in sight. He had bought your favorite flowers and decorated his backyard with them, got his chef to prepare all your favorite foods, and even got you a little gift. 

He had his jeweler custom make you a ring that had your birthstones in an alternating pattern all around the ring with diamonds in between each stone. The ring was kind of like a promise ring, but mostly something that he got for you to show that you were it for him. Even though it was way too early to think about that, Joe could envision spending the rest of his life with you. So it was kind of like a mini engagement ring, just without the whole marriage detail, for now. 

“What should I wear? Something laid back orrrr..” you ask.

“Wear what you want to wear,” he smirks. “You look Sexy and Beautiful in everything,”. 

A blush rises on your cheeks and you feel your belly filling with butterflies again. It was amazing to hear him say those things about you. He already made you feel like the most beautiful girl in the world, but his endless compliments just made everything better. 

“God, it feels so great to finally be able to say that to you,” he adds, throwing his head back against the pillow. 

“You’re so cute,” you laugh, moving your legs so that you are now sitting in his lap, pressing kisses all over his face. His hands run across your thighs, then eventually move up to your waist. His fingers softly scratch against the fabric of your shirt, and then make their way inside so that you can feel them against your bare skin. 

“But seriously, what should I wear?” you ask.

“Hmm, maybe that lacy black dress you wore to your sister’s engagement party,” he sighs, his hands now sliding higher up your body.

“Why that particular dress?” you smirk, knowing exactly why he wanted you to wear that dress. You took him to her engagement party as your plus 1 and his reaction when he saw you in the dress for the first time should have been a dead giveaway about how he felt about you.

“Because,” he says, his fingers teasing the band of your bra, increasing the tension around you. “The first time I saw you in that dress is still burned into my mind and I would love a repeat of it,”. You feel his fingers slide into the cup of your bra, giving your breast a soft squeeze. 

“Oh really?” you smirk, moving both your hands to each of his shoulders. “What did you think when you first saw me in the dress?”.

“Other than that you looked heavenly,” he starts off, causing you to blush again. “Like I wanted to kiss my way up your arm,” he says, removing his hands from underneath your shirt, then moving his lips to your arm and doing what he was saying. You closed your eyes and let out a few short breaths as you felt him pressing wet kisses along your arm. 

“Then, I wanted to leave a few pretty purple marks around your neck so that people could see you were mine,” he says, moving to your neck and sucking on the soft skin.

“Joe,” you breathe out, a warm feeling now replacing the butterflies in your belly. You move your hand into his hair, pulling at the strands and relishing his touch. 

“And then, I wanted to rip the dress off your perfect body and show you how much I loved you,” he says, moving up from your neck and meeting your eyes. 

“Damn, I didn’t think you felt so..” you trail off, trying to find the right word.

“Horny?” he says, causing a laugh to leave your lips.

“I was gonna say passionate but horny works too,” you finish. “Who knew Joey B could have such impure thoughts about his so-called bestie,” you tease. 

“That’s just 1 occasion out of a million others in which I felt like ripping your clothes off,” he whispered in your ear, sending shivers down your body.

You felt like you were about to pass out from the heat rising up your body because of your boyfriend’s alluring words & thoughts. Who knew that Joe could ever be capable of thinking that way about you? And who knew he was capable of making you feel like this? You wanted nothing more than to rip off his clothes right now and have your way with him.

“I could list even more occasions in which I wanted to rip that Jersey off your body and take you for a spin after every game,” you wink.

“Oh yeah?” he smirks. “Why didn’t you do anything about it then?” he says while rubbing your ass.

“Hmm, maybe because you were spoken for at the time and I didn’t want to be the other woman,” you joke, moving his bangs out of his eyes. 

“Please, if you gave me ‘fuck me’ eyes for even a second, I wouldn’t have hesitated to make you the woman,” he said. 

“I feel like I’m committing a crime saying all these things to you,” you blink, feeling like you were doing something forbidden by acting like this with Joe. 

“Oh me too. If our Ohio State selves walked in through the door right now, they would probably be traumatized for the rest of their lives,” Joe chuckles, your eyes wandering to his perfectly soft pink lips that you had been obsessed with for the past few weeks. With Joe, you were acting like you were a teenage girl who had just gotten her first boyfriend, all of the childish yet insatiable feelings were rising to the surface. 

“Then they would for sure be missing out,” you mumble as you push yourself closer to his body, capturing his lips in a messy kiss, taking him by surprise. His hands grip your waist as he pulls you even closer, your crotch right on top of his, and a feeling of hardness underneath you that makes you pull away from the kiss. 

You meet his eyes which are now dark with lust, “Joe I-,”.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he soothes as he rubs your thigh to comfort you. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to,”.

 “I know it’s a lot even though we’re like, adults now” he laughs, softening the air around you. 

“Could you be any more perfect,” you whisper out loud. 

“Hm?” he questions.

“You didn’t even know what I was going to say,” you mumble as you start pressing kisses on his jaw, trailing down to his neck as you can feel him move around underneath you, trying to find pleasure in just sitting there. You pull your head back up and meet his eyes again, “I was going to say that I need you,”. 

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Absolutely,” you say as you kiss his right cheek. “Positively,” you say as you kiss his left cheek. “Sure,” you say as you press a big kiss on his lips, hearing Joe let out a soft groan into the kiss and feeling him melt into you as you suck on his bottom lip. 

Your kisses became more urgent and needy as Joe’s hands wandered down to your ass and then back up to your waist. His grip on you tightens, prompting you to moan into the kiss. He gets up from the couch, still holding you while you were attacking his lips, and walks you both over to your bedroom. 

He kicks your door shut as you pull away from the kiss to look at him for a few seconds. You press your forehead against his and whisper, “I love you,” with the biggest smile on your face. 

“I love you even more,” he replies, softly placing you down on your bed before climbing on top of you; you open up your legs to accommodate his large body before going back to kissing him.

He moves down to your neck, kissing and sucking on the skin as you start to realize what was happening. Yeah, you were insinuating that you wanted to go there but that was purely coming from your heart. Now, your brain was awake. 

You were about to have sex with Joe. 

Yes, you had been dating for a few weeks now and this was bound to happen considering how you two couldn’t keep your hands off of each other, but it was actually happening for real this time and you were freaking out. But it wasn’t like you were afraid; you knew he would be the most gentle and considerate person ever. You were feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness. What if he didn’t like it? What if it wasn’t as good as what he might have been used to with other girls?

Other girls. The thought of other girls being in this position with your boyfriend made you want to rip your eyelashes out. Was he feeling the same way about you though? The same feeling of bitterness at the thought of you being like this with other guys?

Oh, the things you would do to just get your brain to turn off for a few hours. You were pulled out of your trance, letting out a moan as Joe had seemingly just found your sweet spot.

“There it is,” he smiled as he continued to nip and suck at the skin, surely leaving a purple spot there like he wanted to. His left hand gripped your jaw, pushing your head to the side to expose the skin of your neck a little more. 

“Fuck,” you whimpered at the increased pressure on your neck and the gush of wetness pooling your core. 

He began to slip his fingers into your sweatpants, but before he could get too far, a blaring & piercing sound filled your bedroom. You looked down and saw the noise was coming from Joe’s pocket, probably from his phone. Then you looked over to the clock on your nightstand, the time reading 7:30, which made you let out an internal sigh of relief. 

But why were you relieved? You wanted this to happen.

“Joe,” you say, trying to get his attention but he was still spending time on your neck. “It’s time to go, Baby,”.

“Mmm, I can be late by an hour,” he mumbles, kissing up your neck and to your jaw. 

“Uhhh,” you say as you place your hands around his head and move it back up to your view. “You have practice tomorrow morning and we both know how cranky you get when you don’t get enough sleep during the season. And it’s December football so you cannot miss a single practice,”. 

“But–,” he starts to say.

“I know, I know,” you giggle. “But I’ll make it up to you soon, I swear,” you say, sealing your promise with a kiss.

He stares into your eyes for a few seconds before sighing, “Fine,”.

“But I expect to be compensated for this sooner rather than later,” he says as he moves off of you, reaching out to help you off the bed.

“Trust me, you will,” you say as you move your messy hair out of your face. You walk over to your vanity to grab a hairclip while Joe fixes his clothes and some other things. You look into the mirror, a shriek leaving your lips as you examine your neck. 

Joe flips his head around to you, “What’s wrong?” he asks.

“Joseph Lee!” you yell. “My neck!”.

He walks over and leans his head to look at your neck, laughing at what you were screaming about. “I told you. Pretty purple marks to show people you’re mine,” he winks before opening up your bedroom door, leaving you speechless at your mirror. Seeing this side of Joe for the first time was so weird for you since for years the relationship between you two had just barely grazed over the zone you were in now, so all this was unexplored. 

Even though it was strange and new, you loved every single part of it. He was making you feel things that no other guy could make you feel; feelings that had yet to be brought out, but now were because of him. 

A few minutes later, you help Joe gather his things before walking him to your apartment door. His hands wrap around your waist as yours loop around his neck, holding each other in a hug for a few moments. 

“I don’t want to go,” he mumbles against your head. 

“Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow night at least,” you say, rubbing the nape of his neck. 

“Mmm, I just wish we could always be near each other. 9 years of waiting plus not being able to wake up to your pretty face and kiss you goodnight every day is killing me,” he sighs. 

“I told you that my lease is up in 2 months,” you say, meeting his eyes. 

“2 months is so long,” he pouts. Joe had casually asked you a week ago what your thoughts were about living together at his house. He said that you both had already gotten comfy around each other since you have known each other for so long, so living together wouldn’t be so bad, but he also didn’t want to move things along too fast if you weren’t ready. You quickly shut down that thought and told him that you’d been waiting for nearly a decade, so you were definitely not rushing into anything. So naturally, you said yes. The thought of living with him felt like a dream, and now you were a step away from it being a reality. 

“They’ll pass by faster than you think,” you smile, pressing a kiss to his lips to make him feel better. 

“They better,” he says, returning your kiss with two more kisses. His lips were always so soft and felt like clouds against yours. There were so many times you didn’t want to stop kissing him because it felt like heaven and as if you were floating.  

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Okay?” You say, pressing your head against his chest and going back to the hug.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he replied, pressing another kiss to your head. 

“I love you,” you say, moving your head up to press a kiss to his chin.

“Babe, I’m not gonna leave if you keep kissing me,” he laughed.

You move your head out from his chest again and say, “If you don’t leave, we’re going to be doing a lot more than just kissing and I do not feel like having the entire team on my ass for making you skip practice,”. 

“Fair enough,” he sighs as he lets go of you. “I love you,” he says back, pressing a final kiss to your lips before opening up the door and exiting your apartment.

“Good night,” he says softly as his eyes twinkle in the light of the hallway. 

“Night, Joey,” you smile back, slowly closing the door as the smile on your face stays. You turn around and press your back to the door as that feeling of giddiness, caused by Joe, remains in your body. 

The Next Day

You finish applying the last bit of your lipgloss before grabbing your car keys and heading for your door. You took one final glance in the entryway mirror, making sure that everything was perfect. 

You were wearing the dress Joe had wanted you to wear which hugged your body in all the right places, especially around your breasts. You had the tennis bracelet he gave you on your left wrist and a small diamond chain around your neck, which still had purple marks around it that you didn’t bother to hide. You also grabbed a black cardigan to wear on top of the dress since it was pretty chilly out tonight. The red lipgloss you had put on pulled the whole look together, and you looked hot. You smiled at your appearance and sent Joe a text telling him you were on your way before grabbing your purse and heading out the door. 

Meanwhile, Joe was out in his backyard making sure that everything was perfect for his little date night. 

He had started a fire at the fire pit, hoping the warmth would find its way over the dining table a few feet away. Pots of flowers he had gotten--pink and white carnations--were scattered around the corners of the deck and his chef had prepared a delicious dinner for you both. Joe had requested that he make chicken potstickers, kung pao chicken with fried rice, spicy garlic noodles, and red velvet cupcakes for dessert. Everything was your favorite, and he made sure that it was flawless. The ring he had gotten made for you was sitting in his pocket, and he couldn’t wait to give it to you. 

The fairy lights he hung up a few days ago were still going strong and the entire backyard was now covered by a warm glow, no darkness in sight, just like he had wanted. That’s how Joe felt with you in his life. You were the fairy lights. You filled his world with light, getting rid of all the darkness and emptiness that was there before. 

“Shit, need music,” Joe mumbled under his breath as he realized he was forgetting something. He walked back inside the house and grabbed his speaker from the living room, hooking his phone up to it and bringing it back outside. He decided to put on your playlist, smiling as he scrolled through the songs and saw all the new ones you two had added over the last few weeks. Joe had added “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” by Elvin Bishop, “Head Over Heels” by Tears for Fears, and “Heavenly” by Cigarettes After Sex. You had added “My Love Mine All Mine” by Mitski, “Margaret” by Lana Del Rey, and “Dress” by Taylor Swift. 

Although Joe wasn’t the biggest fan of Taylor Swift’s music--because it wasn’t his particular taste--he had grown fond of her love songs, particularly “Dress”. The song lyrics were just a little too relatable for both of you. 

The sound of his doorbell snapped him out of his daze, looking at his messages and realizing you were here. He tapped shuffle, threw his phone onto the couch outside, and ran over to the main door to let you in.

While you were waiting at the door, you pulled out your phone to get another look at yourself, making sure that everything was perfect. Your eyes moved to your cardigan that was covering the dress, the dress that Joe had specially asked you to wear. 

You put your phone away and shrugged off the cardigan as it was ruining the vibe you were going for. You looked hot, and the cardigan did not emphasize that. “A little cold didn’t hurt anyone,” you muttered as you heard the door lock click and open. 

Joe opened the door, his heart skipping a beat as he laid his eyes on you. You looked absolutely desirable and angelic, and he was definitely feeling a repeat of how he felt when he first saw you in this dress. The same feeling of attraction and need.

“Hey,” you smiled as you straightened out your dress.

“Hey,” he smiled back. “Come in, it’s cold out there,” he says as he stretches his hand out to lead you inside the house. 

You place your hand in his as he leads you inside, and then you put your stuff on the kitchen island before turning around to face him again. You watch as his eyes move from your feet to your bare legs, to your hips, to your chest which was covered by black lace from the dress, to your neck that still has purple marks from yesterday, and up to your beautiful face. Although the dress you had on was made for you, it was making him want to rip it off right now. He wanted to skip dinner and get straight to dessert, and he was not talking about the red velvet cupcakes. 

“Like what you see?” you giggle as you pull him closer.

“You look fucking incredible, Y/N,” he whispers, his hands sliding across the silk fabric of your dress. 

“All for you,” you say before you press a kiss to his lips, but quickly pull away as you smell something delicious. 

“What is that?” you say as your eyes light up.

He lets out a soft laugh before grabbing your hand and leading you out to the backyard, “Our Date,”.

“Our date’s outside?” you wonder as he pulls you out the patio door, stopping you at the bottom of the steps. Your mouth falls open as your eyes move up to the lights hanging all around the deck, brightening his usually dark backyard. 

“Holy shit,” you whisper as you let go of his hand and walk further onto the deck. Your eyes move to the corners of the deck, noticing pots of your favorite flowers all around. Your eyes then navigate to the lit fire pit and the dining table a few feet away, which had all of your favorite foods on it. 

You flip around to face Joe, who is standing on the steps with his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face. “Joe, did you do all this?” you asked him.

“Maaayyybee,” he blushes as he looks at the sky and bounces back and forth on his feet. 

You run back over to him and leap into his arms, pulling him in for a big hug as you press kisses on his cheek. “I love you so so so much. This is so perfect,” you beam. 

“I’m so glad you like it,” he says as he sways you back and forth. His hand sliding down to your ass, giving it a soft squeeze, sending electricity throughout your body. 

“Nobody’s ever done this much for me for a date,” you say as you pull away from the hug, cupping his face with your hands and rubbing his soft skin. 

“Well, like I said before. I’m setting the standards in the boyfriend department,” he smiles as he moves his hand around your back and leads you over to the dining table. 

“Please, you are the standard,” you laugh as he pulls out your chair for you. Joe helps you settle in your chair before walking over and dragging his chair closer to yours and then sitting in it. 

“This food looks beyond amazing,” you say as you look at all the delicious foods as Joe starts to fill your plate.

“You have good taste,” he smiles.

“Oh, I know,” you wink as you take the plate from him. Joe grabs his water, taking a sip to hopefully calm down the impure thoughts he was feeling at the sight of you. “Not just in food though,” you add as you give Joe a loaded look, making him almost choke on his water.  

“Oh really? What else do you have good taste in?” he teases as he places his water back down.

“Hmmm, I think I have pretty good taste in NFL Quarterbacks too,” you wink. 

“Quarterbacks plural?” he says as he raises his eyebrow.

“Yeah, I think that guy from Kansas is pretty cute too,” you lie as you take a bite of the spicy noodles. 

Joe’s face drops as if he just saw a ghost and he feels his heart stop for a second, making you burst out laughing. “Oh my god, you should see your face,” you laugh as you put down your fork and throw your head back, your entire body shaking from his reaction.

“That is not funny,” he says with a straight face. 

“Aww, poor baby got a little jelly?” you giggle as you come back forward and grab his hand. 

“You don’t have to worry. The only Quarterback I have my eyes on is 6’3, has dirty blonde hair, is from Ohio, plays for the superior Ohio football team, and can plan a killer date night for his girlfriend,” you say as you lean over to kiss his cheek. 

“Good, because I heard that QB only has eyes for 1 girl as well,” he smiles.

“Hm, I wonder who she is?” you say as you bat your eyelashes.

“Well from what I heard, she’s suuuper funny, gorgeous, loves trashy reality TV, is a big football girl, and knows exactly how to make a guy fall head over heels in love with her,” he says before taking a bite of the kung pao chicken. 

“Did you say that last part because of the song that’s playing right now?” you laugh as you hear the melody of “Head over Heels” in the background. 

“Now that’s just a beautiful coincidence because I meant that for real,”.

“Well, I have a good feeling that the girl feels the same way about the Quarterback,” you say as you move your foot to touch his.

“Perfect, I know he’ll be happy to hear that,” he smiles. 

A little later, you both are digging into the yummy dinner as you talk about upcoming games, your schedules, and your sister’s wedding.

“So, you’re good to go with me to Kaylee’s wedding in a couple weeks right?” you ask as you shove another spoonful of rice into your mouth. 

“Mhm,” Joe nods as he finishes chewing the chicken. “I think I have a few suits I can pick from that can match your dress,”.

“Great, I’ll text her tomorrow,” you say as you finish up the last bit of food on your plate. “They’ll be so excited to see you and you know Kaylee will be on our asses for finally making a move on each other,”.

“Oh I am well aware,” he says as he takes one final bite before grabbing your plates and stacking them up to take inside. “I can only imagine how many people we’ll get bombarded by at the wedding,”.

“Bring some edibles or something. I don’t think I’ll be able to sit through the reception without something to take off the edge,” you say as you reach down to unstrap your heels. 

“You got it,” he smiles. “It’s getting pretty cold so why don’t you move over to the day bed by the fire pit and I’ll bring the cupcakes out over there. I’m sure it’s warmer there anyways,” he says as he gets up and starts to clean up the table.

“You don’t want any help?” you ask as you get up from your chair. 

“I’m good,” he smiles. “You just sit over there and look pretty like you always do,”. 

“I love you,” you yell as make grabby hands towards him and you walk backward to the day bed.

“I love you more,” he echoes as he walks inside. 

You hop onto the daybed, feeling the warmth of the fire pit gravitate toward you which was the best feeling since you were pretty cold now, especially since your dress wasn't really helping.  You leaned back against the pillows as you looked up at the fairy lights, humming along to the music playing in the background; a smile appeared on your face as you realized the song that was playing. 

“Say my name and everything just stops, I don’t want you like a best friend,” you mumble, reciting the song lyrics. “Only bought this dress so you could take it off, take it off–”. 

“Oh, I will be,” Joe winks, snapping you out of your daze. 

You look back straight and see Joe standing in front of you, holding a plate with 2 red velvet cupcakes. 

“Hello, again,” you say as you sit up straight and scooch over to make room for Joe. 

“You warm enough?” Joe asks as he settles in next to you, his body warmth making you even more warmer.

“Now that you’re here, absolutely,” you say as you press a kiss on his cheek while you grab a cupcake from the plate. You take a bite of the cupcake, Joe, attentively watching you as you close your eyes and let out a groan because of how good it is. 

“Mmmm, that’s the best thing I’ve ever had,” you open your eyes as you wipe your lips with the back of your hand. You look at Joe, who seems to still be staring at you, not saying a single word. He was thinking about how this was his life. How you were his life and he still hadn’t processed that this was real yet. He felt like he was dreaming and he was 1 moment away from waking up and all this being over. 

“Hey, you okay?” you ask as you put the cupcake back down on the plate.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says while running his fingers through his hair.

“You were staring,” you say as you tilt your head to the side, the purple marks on your neck now fully visible because of the light shining on you from above.

“Just thinking,” he says, giving you a reassuring smile.

“Care to let me in?” you ask as you sit on your knees. “Just because we’re a couple doesn’t mean we still can’t talk about how we’re feeling,”.

He lets out a soft laugh before placing his hand on your knee, “It’s nothing bad. Just thinking about us,” he says. 

“Oh?” you say as you look up at him. 

“Again, nothing bad. I just can’t believe that this is real life and I know that sounds dumb, but it’s true. Having you with me was already the best part of doing what I’m doing, but now having you with me as my girlfriend, as my partner, just feels–,”.

“Unreal?” you interrupt, letting out a laugh when you see Joe shaking his head with a grin on his face. 

“Very Unreal,” he says, reaching for something in his pocket. 

“I feel the same way. I know it's only been a few weeks, but I already know this is everything I’ve been waiting for,” you grin. 

“We’re always on the same page about everything aren’t we?” he says as he pulls out a little box from his pocket.

“My favorite thing about us,” you say as you look down at the box. Before you could ask him what that was, he said something else.

“I just want you to know that you are the most important person in the world to me, and I love you more than words can describe. Everything about you just works for me, it always has and it always will. You light up my life, just like how these lights are lighting up the backyard,” he says as he opens the box. “You’re it for me, Y/N. My best friend, my twin flame, my girlfriend, and the person that I want with me for as long as we’re on this planet. Or any other planet if we end up going to Mars or something in the future,”. 

You feel like you’re slowly melting away at his words and then you look down at what was in the box, now feeling tears pool in your eyes. “Sooo, to show you that, I got you a little something,” he says as he takes the ring out of the box. 

“Joe, I- I,” you barely say before the tears fall from your eyes. He looks up and notices the tears falling from your eyes, puts the ring down, and starts to wipe your cheeks. 

“Hey, why are you crying?” he softly asks.

“Because,” you laugh through the tears. “You’re perfect. Everything about you is fucking perfect,” you say as you stuff your face into his neck. 

He wraps his arm around your waist and moves your hair to the side, “I hope that’s a good thing?” he asks.

“It’s a great thing” you giggle before pulling your face out from his neck. “Can I see it?” you ask as you wipe your eyes and nose.

“Duhh,” he smiles as he picks up the ring again. “Both of our birthstones in an alternating pattern, 9 diamonds to represent the 9 years we’ve known each other, and the date we met plus the date we became an official couple engraved on the inside,”. 

“How do you think of these things?” you ask as you feel fireworks setting off in your heart at how much detail he put into designing the ring. The ring was gorgeous, and it was definitely a pretty penny. “But this was probably really expensive,” you say.

“We’re not doing that again. You said the same thing when I got you this bracelet,” he says as he touches the tennis bracelet on your wrist. “And what did I say?”.

“In case you forgot, I am a millionaire now, and you never wanna upset a millionaire,” you say, recalling his words from a few years ago. 

“Exactly,” he says as he eyes your hands, trying to decide which finger to put it on. 

You watch as his eyes dart from one hand to the other, then eventually setting on your right hand, slipping the ring onto your 4th finger. 

“Why that finger specifically?” you ask.

“It’s your right hand’s ring finger,” he shrugs.

“Soooo,” you say, expecting more for the reasoning behind it.

“Your left hand’s ring finger is being saved for another ring that I’ll give you later on, so this was the next best thing,” he says so casually. He was talking about your ring finger, the ring finger. He wanted to put that ring on it. 

You lean forward and pull him in for a kiss, not needing to say anything else to him because he already knows how you feel. You feel his hands travel down to your waist, gently picking you up and placing you in his lap. His hands travel up and down your sides, and then you feel him pull away from the kiss which makes you let out a little groan. 

“Have I told you how Sexy you look tonight?” he says, his lips all glossy from yours. 

“Ohh yeah," you nod. "Have I told you how great of a Boyfriend you are?” you ask him as you slide your hands up and down his chest.

“Yeah, a couple of times,” he teases. “But seriously, you look hot. Like incomprehensibly hot,”.

“You still thinking those same thoughts you felt when you first saw me in this dress?” you ask as you move your face closer to his, pressing feather-light kisses on his jaw. 

His hands move down to cup your ass and his head shifts so that his mouth was right by your ear, “Those thoughts plus maybe a few more. Why don’t I show you in my room?” he whispers, setting off that warm feeling in your stomach again. 

“Sounds perfect,” you say as you kiss around his neck, hoping to leave a purple spot there just like he did for you yesterday. 

He holds your waist tightly as he slides off the daybed, your legs wrapping around his as his hands slide to your ass again. You hide your face in his neck as he quickly closes the fire pit and unplugs all the lights before walking back inside. 

Once you’re back inside his warm house, you move your head out of his neck and go back to kissing him. You were so lost in his lips that you didn’t even realize you had made it up to his room until you heard him close the door. Your eyes looked to your left towards his bed, stopping at his bookshelf and at the photo of you two that Joe said was his favorite a few weeks ago. You smiled at the thought of how things had changed from then to now, still not quite believing that this was real. 

He places you down on his bed before crawling on top of you, the same position as yesterday before you got interrupted by his alarm. You feel his lips travel from your jaw down to your neck again, slightly sucking on the already bruised spots, making you let out a whimper. 

“Joe,” you blubbered at the slight sting you felt. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll leave your neck alone,” he chuckles as he moves down to your chest. Your chest was lined with the lacy part of the dress, and Joe felt like a kid in a candy store. He started to press kisses along your soft skin, moving one hand to the strap of the dress and pulling it down slowly. You closed your eyes, feeling desire building inside your body with every touch and kiss from Joe. He pulls down the straps of the dress, his eyes widening at the fact that you weren’t wearing a bra and this was his first time seeing you naked. 

“No Bra?” he asks as he looks up. 

You feel shy all of a sudden and open your eyes, remembering you didn’t put one on since the dress held them pretty well. You move your hands to cover your chest, but Joe stops them before you can. 

“You are beautiful, Y/N. No need to hide,” he says as he presses a kiss to your chest again, getting rid of all your shy thoughts. “Absolutely gorgeous,”. 

“But, no bra makes it seem like you came over with an agenda tonight,” he laughs as he kisses down to your nipple.

“I told you that you’d be compensated sooner rather than–,” you smile before you feel Joe wrap his lips around your nipple and swirl his tongue around the bud. “Oh my god,” you moan at the contact. His tongue continues to work its magic around your sensitive bud, prompting a few gasps and whimpers to leave your lips as you play with his hair. 

“Joe,” you moan as you squirm underneath him, feeling him move from your chest and down your body. He moves down your body, pressing wet open-mouthed kisses along the way as he pulls the dress down with him.

“God, you’re so pretty,” he mumbles as he kisses your stomach. “And your skin is so soft,”.

You smile as you hear him continue to praise you while pleasuring you, making sure that you feel good about yourself in every way possible, physically & internally. 

He moves to your arm, “Absolutely stunning,” he says as he presses a kiss to your forearm. He then moves back to your stomach, “Drop dead gorgeous,” he says as he presses a kiss to your hips. “Hottest girl I’ve ever come across,” he says as he presses a kiss to your belly button. “And all mine,” he says as his lips graze over the sensitive spot on your belly close to your heat, feeling a gush of wetness pool at your core. 

“Shit,” you moan and pull on his hair as you feel him kiss that spot on your stomach, feeling butterflies flying through your stomach. He was so sweet, even in the most heated moments, and that was another thing you adored about Joe. 

“Found another sweet spot I guess,” he chuckles as he presses another kiss to it before moving down to your core. He pulls your dress all the way down your body, now leaving you in nothing but your panties. He looks at you for a few moments, seeing you in your most natural form in front of him, and it makes him feel like he is on cloud 9. The fact that you were so comfortable around him, especially like this, was another reason why he is absolutely obsessed with you. You felt comfortable with him emotionally & physically, and he felt the same with you. 

“You good?” He asks before going further.

“I’m great,” you smile as you make grabby hands towards him.

“Tell me if you want to stop,” he says.

“That’ll never happen, but okay,” you smile. 

He comes back over you, pushing his lips against yours in a messy kiss that has you both gasping for air and feeling more needy than before. You feel his hand travel down to your thigh, his fingers massaging the plush skin before he pulls away and goes back down to your core. 

You feel your brain click, just like it did last night, as you realize what was going to happen. You feel his hands teasing the band of your panties before you feel his lips on your inner thigh. You feel him suck and nip at the skin, definitely leaving another mark.

“You love marking me up don’t you?” You laugh.

“People gotta know that you’re mine,” he says as he sucks on the skin of your inner thigh. The words coming out of his mouth were still new to you. The thought of Joe, your Joe, doing this to you and saying these words to you was something you never thought would be possible. 

Before you could say something else, you feel him ghost his fingers over your slit, feeling your wetness seeping out of your panties. “So wet for me,” he chuckles before he pulls down your panties and throws them to the side. 

You start to feel those nerves again, so you close your eyes, hoping rid of those thoughts. The cool air of the room hits your core at the same time as you feel Joe’s mouth lick a long stripe from your folds to your clit, sending the first waves of pleasure throughout your body. “Mmm,” you whimper as you throw your head to the side, your fingers twirling the strands of his hair as his mouth starts to go unhinged on your core.

Wet slurping sounds fill the room along with your breaths that are coming out in short gasps. Joe’s mouth was magic, pure magic, and you were mad at yourself for missing out on this for all those years you stayed away. 

“Joey, fuck don’t stop,” you shamelessly moan as you push his head closer to your core, feeling him groan into you as he continues to lap at your folds. You could feel his soft scruff rubbing against your lower half, the real feeling of it better than what you had imagined it felt like. 

“You taste like heaven,” he says as he presses kisses around your skin before attaching his lips to your sensitive clit, sending intense shocks of pleasure throughout your body.

“Fuck, Joe,” you moan as you start to arch your back, but he gently pushes you back down before moving his hand to cup your breast, his thumb sliding across your nipple while his mouth continues to send you to heaven. “God, you’re so good,” you whined. You were melting under his touch, letting him do whatever he wanted to you, and it felt so right. The way his mouth was worshipping you was sending you into overdrive, his soft lips caressing every part and making you lose all control, but you were trying to keep it together. 

He looked up for a few seconds, watching you struggle to hold it together as the sounds coming from your mouth were absolutely unhinged, a juxtaposition to your facial expression. He watched as your free hand was gripping the sheets, your knuckles losing color at the tight grip you had on them. Every time you moaned his name, it felt like everything would just stop, and he loved it. 

His hand slides down from your breast to your thigh, gripping the back of it to throw your leg over his shoulder, opening you up even more. You feel his tongue thrust into your core, just as you start to feel your pleasure building up while his thumb was rubbing circles around your clit. 

“I’m so close,” you whisper as you open up your eyes and look down at him, feeling incredibly dazed at the sight of him doing what he is doing right now. He moves his lips from your core up to your clit, rhythmically sucking and swirling the bud before you let out another moan. 

“Oh my god,” you whine as you feel your pleasure begging to be released. You let go of the sheets, stuffing both your hands into Joe’s hair and grinding against his mouth. The combination of his tongue and your movements push you towards your orgasm as you feel the band in your belly snap hard, seeing stars for the first time in a long time; almost feeling like you had just fallen into a cloud of pink dust and the room had just gotten 10 times brighter, and it was all because of the man in front of you. 

“Joe,” you whimper as you throw your head to the side and smile into the pillow, waves of pleasure crashing over you as he continues to lap at your folds, softly rubbing your shaking thighs and milking every last drop of your orgasm. He continued to lap at your folds, a little more delicately than before. Then he moved back up to your face, he watched as you continued to grin into the pillow, soft moans and whimpers still leaving your lips as you came down from your high. A few moments later, you open up your eyes, panting from the aftermath of your orgasm, seeing Joe’s face just inches from yours. 

His lips and chin were coated with your wetness, his cheeks were flushed, and his hair was all messy. He wiped his chin with his hand before bringing it to his mouth to clean your wetness off of him. 

“How was it?” he pants, praying that you enjoyed it and felt good. He wanted nothing more than to make you, the love of his life, feel good. It’s all he has ever wanted. 

“You’re really fucking good at that,” you breathe out before you pull him closer and kiss him again. You could taste yourself on his lips and that made the kiss even more sweeter. Your tongues tangled in each other's mouths as you moved your hands to his back, stuffing them underneath his shirt and tracing his torso with your freshly manicured nails. You pulled his shirt higher, signaling that you wanted it off. He pulled away from your lips for a few seconds and took his shirt off before going back to you, his lips sucking on your top lip, almost biting it at the feeling of your hands finding themselves inside his pants.

Before you got lost in his lips again, you pulled away, leaving him a little breathless and very needy. “Mm, come back,” he whispered as he moved to kiss you again.

“I think you forgot to take something else off too,” you say as hold his face just inches from your mouth while you look down at his pants.

“Damn, straight to it?” He laughed as he got off of you and started to take his pants off.

“We’ve been waiting for way too long for us to not get straight to it,” you say as you watch him take them off. The nerves only get stronger as your brain starts to fully wake up, and the thoughts of last night come right back. You were about to see him fully naked and have sex, and there was a very real possibility that he wouldn’t enjoy it. But at the same time, why wouldn’t he? He loves you, and he made it very clear that you were the one for him; you both wanted this to happen, and you even said it to each other’s faces many times. 

“No, No No. Stop it Y/N. He loves you,” you think to yourself, trying to get out of your head again. You watch as he is just left in his boxers, expecting him to pull them down any second, but he just stands there with a straight face. 

“Everything alright?” you ask him.

“I don’t have any condoms,” he says as he rubs the back of his neck. 

You stay silent for a few seconds, “I’m on the pill,” you tell him, feeling even more nervous at the thought of him fucking you without any barriers. 

“Are you sure? I don’t wanna force you into doing something if you don’t feel comfortable,” he asks.

“Joe, I promise you that it’s fine,” you say as you give him a sincere smile. 

He nods his head before he pulls down his boxers, your breath hitching as you look down and see him fully bare for the first time. You felt like you were back in high school and hooking up with a guy for the first time since you were feeling all of the same feelings again; excitement, hesitation, desire, and tension. 

“Are you still good?” He asks as he moves onto the bed, pumping his cock as he gets in between your legs.

“You’re just so-,”.

“I know,” he laughs. “But I promise, you can handle it,”.

“Oh really? What makes you so sure?” You tease.

“Because I know you and you never back down from a challenge,” he winks. 

You let out a soft laugh as you looked down again. Your smile faltered as the thoughts in your head only got louder and now your face was showing it, and he was noticing. 

“Hey, you okay?” he asked as he stopped and cupped your face.

“I’m fine,” you sigh.

“Talk to me, Y/N. I know you’re not fine,”.

You let out another sigh, knowing you could never lie to him, “Just nervous I guess,”.

“Am I making you nervous?” He asks as he moves a few strands of hair out of your face.

“No, no. God no. It’s just that I keep thinking you won’t like it, and then I think about the other girls that have been in this position before,” you confess.

He stares deeply into your eyes for a few seconds, his heart dropping at the thought of you feeling like this because you were thinking about other girls.

“You’re crazy if you think I won’t like this. And stop thinking about other girls,” he says. “Look around. You’re the only girl in my bed, you’re the only girl that will be in my bed, and you’re the only girl that gets to have me like this,” he reassures you. 

It felt as if your brain had just gotten a soft blanket and pillow, preparing itself to take a nap and finally turn off for the night, and it was because of Joe. He always got you out of your head when you were too far gone and this was just another example of it. 

“I love you,” you say as you look into his baby blue eyes, filled with desire for you. 

“I love you more than anything in the world. Will you finally let me show you?” He asks as he presses a kiss to your nose. 

“Of course,” you say as you press a deep and passion-filled kiss onto his lips.

He pulls away and says, “Let me know if you want to stop, let me know if it hurts, and let me know if it’s too much,”.

“Joe,” you blink.

“What?” he asks.

“I’ve had sex before,” you laugh.

“Okay, but you haven’t had sex with me before,” he says as he raises his brow.

“Fair point,” You giggle.

“Just know that I'm here and that you’re safe,” he says before you start to feel pressure down below, his cock slowly sliding through your drenched folds.

“Okay,” you whimper as you throw your head to the side, feeling a slight sting at the sensation of him stretching you out. A few gasps leave your lips at the fullness you felt, and then a whine when you feel him stop. “Don’t stop,” you said 

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he groans as he slides in all the way, feeling your cushiony walls wrap around him for the first time. 

“Joe,” you whisper, moving your face so that you are looking into each other's eyes. He starts to thrust into you, setting a slow pace so that you can get used to the feeling. The slow rhythmic pace he set made your toes curl, the feeling of him inside of you was unlike anything you’d ever felt before and you loved it. The way he held you close to him, the sounds leaving his lips, and the feeling of being fucked by him was all too much for you. 

Faint sounds of skin hitting skin filled the room as he moved deeper inside of you with each well-placed thrust. He grabbed your leg, cupping the back of your knee and placing it around his waist, opening you up even more for him to go deeper. 

“Yeah,” you moan as you feel him moving closer to your G-spot. The new angle allows him to move deeper into you, reaching new territory each time he pushes into you. 

“Does it feel good?” He pants as he presses kisses around your jaw.

“Feels fucking amazing,” you say as you open your eyes and move your other leg around his waist. You move your hand into his hair again and push his face closer to yours, soft moans leaving your mouth against his lips before he moves closer and captures your lips in a gentle kiss. 

A few seconds later, a well-placed thrust causes you to pull away, his cock grazing your G-spot.  “Joe, holy fuck,” you moan as you throw your head back against the pillow. You had him so close to you, but you wanted him closer. His pace was fulfilling, but you wanted more. “Joe,” you moan again as you open your eyes. 

“What, Baby?” he breathes out as he continues to thrust into your slick core.

“Fuck me,” you moan. “Fuck me harder, please,”.

He looked into your eyes for a few seconds, smiling at the sight of you begging for more and feeling like this because of him. You felt comfortable with him, and that’s all he wanted. You were the only girl that he wanted like this, and now that he had you, he felt like he was on top of the world. 

“I never thought I’d hear you say that, fuck, that’s hot,” he pants as he begins to thrust into you harder. He picked up the pace of his thrusts, the feeling of him pounding into your core with no barriers was too good and neither of you could get enough of it. 

“You feel so good,” he moaned at the feeling of his cock pumping into your core. You started to buck your hips against him, matching the pace of his rough thrusts and pushing you both into another realm of satisfaction. The sound of skin hitting skin only got louder, just like the sounds escaping both your mouths. One of his hands traveled to your chest, cupping your breast and teasing your nipple with his thumb. 

Hearing Joe like this was sending chills down your body, again thinking about how quickly things changed from innocent to whatever the hell this was between you two. It was pure passion, love, and desire that had built up between you both for years, and it was finally coming out in the best way possible. 

“Yeah,” you groan as you move further up the bed, his cock slamming into your cervix with each snap of his hips. You moved your hands to cup his back, helping him move against you as every stroke hit your pleasure point. 

“J- Joe,” you struggle to moan, his lips move down to your neck again, but this time nestled against the spot by your ear.

“You. Are. Un. Fucking. Real,” he whispers into your ear, punctuating each word with a rough thrust before dropping his head into the crook of your neck. He felt himself getting lost in your touch, the way you felt around him was unlike anything he had ever felt before with any other girl. The sounds escaping your lips, the smile on your face, the softness of your touch, it was all unreal. 

Joe continued to fuck you senseless, your pleasure building inside of you with every thrust. “Right there,” you smile as you feel him find another pleasure point inside of you, your breath coming out in short gasps again as you feel him slam into you harder, making sure he hits that spot just right. 

“Fuck, Y/N,” he moaned as he felt your walls start to clench his cock. 

“Mmph, I’m close,” you whimper as you press a kiss to his forehead, prompting him to come out of your neck.

“Fuck,” he pants as his thrusts start to become more erratic. He could never get enough of you, the feeling of being balls deep inside of you was something he needed to feel all the time. He’d never felt this good with another girl before, you were something special. 

You felt your legs start to burn and a thin layer of sweat formed on your body. He moves one hand to grip your waist, his lips find their way to your mouth again, and his other hand starts to navigate down to your clit. The way he was touching you sent electricity through your veins. 

He starts to toy with your clit as his mouth crashes against yours, and a few rough thrusts later, you were clamping down on his cock. “I- I’m cumming,” you moan as you break away from the kiss, digging your head into the pillow again, feeling the band in your stomach tighten.

“I’ve got you,” he says as he presses a kiss to your cheek. Your arms wrapped around his back, drawing him closer to you as you felt the world stop.

“Joe!” you screamed as you felt your orgasm wash over you, your walls clenching his cock in a rhythmic manner making him groan. It felt like a rush of dopamine, a breath of fresh air, and like you were going down a big drop on a rollercoaster. All of which created a feeling of euphoria.

You whimpered and moaned at the feeling of your high; it was a feeling of raw satisfaction. You’d never felt like this with another guy before. Those thoughts and doubts you had were long gone as all you could focus on was the pleasure you were feeling at the man who made it happen. He managed to make you feel like the most extraordinary girl in the world earlier with everything he said to you, and now he just showed you that he meant everything he said. 

He was still moving, but not as strongly as he was before. You didn’t feel him reach his high yet, which made you a little nervous, so you were determined to get him there. You opened your eyes, seeing a content smile on his face as he slowly pumped into you.

“Don’t stop,” you said, maybe for the 50th time, your voice raspy from how fucked out you were. 

“Are you sure? I don’t wanna push you too much,” he said as he pressed a kiss on your nose. 

“Keep going, it’s perfect,” you whispered as you closed your eyes and let go of all your thoughts and feelings, letting him do whatever he wanted. You felt his pace pick back up, feeling him move closer and closer to his release. 

“Shit, I’m close,” he moaned as his thrusts became rougher. The soreness down below was setting in, but you didn’t care. All that mattered was that you wanted him to feel good, just like how he made you feel good. A few seconds later, you felt him still inside you and hot spurts of his release coating your walls, just as he gently pressed down onto your body, whispering sweet nothings into your ear as he felt his high. The feeling of him inside you was magical, and something you could never get enough of.

“You’re so good, Y/N. Fuck, I love you,” he whispered into your ear, causing you to grin. You both lay there for a few moments, basking in the afterglow of what had just happened, your breaths steadying out. You thought about how exciting this was, getting to finally do this with Joe. Finally getting to be his girlfriend, finally being able to do what couples did. It was all you had ever wanted. 

He moved his face back to your view, seeing your flushed cheeks and messy hair along with the grin on your face. “H- How was it?” he asked as he slowly slid out of you, a hiss leaving your lips at the sensation. 

“I don’t think I can even begin to express how much I loved that,” you said as you pulled his face back down to yours, pressing a big kiss to his lips. “Wait, did you like it?” You asked him as you suddenly pulled away. 

“Does this answer your question?” He laughs as he moves back down and kisses you like he has never kissed you before in his life. “That was the best. You are amazing,” he said against your lips. 

He gets off of you a few moments later, walking into the bathroom to grab a washcloth to clean you up. Then, he walks into his closet and finds a t-shirt for you to slip on, as well as some fresh clothes for him. 

“Here,” he says, handing you one of his Bengals t-shirts. 

“I hope you know that you’re not getting this back,” you giggle as you sit up and slip the shirt on.

“Fine by me,” he shrugged as he put on shorts and clean boxers before sliding back into the bed.

“I should probably change these sheets,” he realized, starting to get back up but feeling your hand wrap around his arm, pulling him back down.

You toss your leg over him, holding him down to the bed. “Later,” you say as you move closer to his chest, his arm wrapping around your waist. 

“Someone’s feeling clingy,” he teased as he kissed your forehead. 

“Clingy, glowy, infatuated, in love. Whatever you want to call it,” you smile up at him. 

“How are you feeling?” He asked you as he rubbed your belly.

“Like I’ve just had the best sex of my life with the love of my life. I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on that,” you shake your head. 

“I feel the same way,” he chuckles. 

“Thank you for tonight,” you say as you press a kiss to his bare chest. “This was really special,”.

“Don’t thank me,” he says. “You deserve this. Only the best treatment for the girl of my dreams,” he smiles.

“I love you so much that it literally hurts,” you giggle as you hide your face in his chest.

His hand slides up and down your back, his heart bursting at the thought of you both together in this moment. “I loved you then, I love you now, and I’ll love you forever,” he whispered into your ear, making your cheeks turn another shade of crimson. You slide your hand up his chest, softly grazing your fingers over his muscular body and admiring the ring on your finger, having a moment of realization. 

“Hey, I just noticed something,” you say as you bring your hand to your face, admiring your ring. 

“What?” Joe asks as he looks down at you.

“I know you said there’s 9 diamonds for the 9 years we’ve known each other, but you know what else is 9?” you say as you look up at him, your words laced with love.

“What?” Joe asks, not catching on to what you were saying.

“You, silly,” you say as you pat his chest. “You’re number 9 and the ring has 9 diamonds. I’ll always have you with me even if we’re not always in the same place,” you giggle. 

“That’s actually really sweet and wasn’t even on purpose,” he cheeses. “But trust me, we’ll always be in the same place,”.

“Hmm, what about when you have to go to the team hotel the night before games? Or away games since I wouldn’t see you until after the game?”

“I’ll sneak you in. Show up in the mascot’s uniform, and just the uniform,” he winks. “I'm sure you’ll make it up to our floor if you make a good excuse,”

“Oh, I’ll make it up to your floor, I have spy-like reflexes, but I think they’ll realize that there’s a girl in your room once they hear us going at it,” you laugh into his chest. 

“Hey, they should appreciate that I’m letting my built-up tension and nerves out in a healthy way,” he shrugged. “Having your star QB all tensed and nervous before a game is a recipe for disaster,”. 

“You’re too much,” you blush.

“But you still love me,” he laughed, looking down at you.

You crane your head to his face, meeting his ocean-blue eyes that never fail to send butterflies into your body. “That I do,” you say as you shift your body so that you're on top of him, feeling a wet spot on the bed as you were doing so.

He watches as your face scrunches up, looking a little uncomfortable. “You good?” He asked.

“Hit a wet spot,” you laughed. “There’s a lot of body fluids on me and this bed right now,”.

“Do you want to shower?” He asked as the pads of his fingers massaged the plush skin of your thighs. 

“As long as we get to repeat this,” you mumble as you move your face closer to his.

“Already?” He asks as he raises his brow, stunned at your stamina.

“9 years Joey. 9 fucking years,” you laughed.

“Fair enough,” he says as he presses his lips against yours, sliding off the bed with your legs wrapped around his. 

“You might need some Advil after this,” he says as he opens the bathroom door. “I have a lot of energy,” he winks.

“I’d be mad if you didn’t,” you smiled against his shoulder, your entire body sizzling with anticipation. This was going to become a regular thing for you both, and that made your heart soar. He was perfect, your relationship was perfect, everything was perfect.

--The End--

[betterthanburrow]

New Year’s Eve Reunion - Joe Burrow

Summary: As the end of the year is approaching, an email from an old friend from Athens High School has you considering to go back to the city that you haven’t had a reason to visit in over 8 years… but going back to the place you used to call home means being reunited with the boy who had been searching for the answer as to why you mysteriously left the city after your high school graduation without saying goodbye.

Genre: Fluff and Angst

There was no feeling that could compare to how you feel walking around the city you used to call home… The city that welcomed you with open arms when you were the new girl from out of state. The city where some of the best people and worse people that you’ve ever known lived that shaped you into the person that you are today. The city that changed you in more ways than you’ll ever realize.

It’s been almost 10 years since you’ve been in Athens, Ohio. It was a beautiful city that you had lived in after your mom married your step-mom right during the summer before High School… but there was never any reason for you to return back to the city of Athens after your mom had divorced your step-mom right after you moved out of the house to go to Stanford University.

After moving out of Athens, Ohio you had never thought there would be any reason for you to return… There was no family for you to come back to visit, or amazing job opportunity that you couldn’t pass up, and you had assumed that you didn’t have any best friends from high school that you would ever visit.

Which is why at the beginning of December, as you were working from home in your New York City Apartment… While checking your work emails on your computer, an old email account that you hadn’t seen in years showed up at the top of the screen with an interesting Subject Title.

To: yourfirstname.yourlastname@gmail.com

From: DakotaJohnson740@gmail.com

Subject: New Year’s Eve Reunion!

Hi Y/N! It’s Dakota Johnson from Athens High School.

I hope that you remember me, we had multiple classes through High School and became close friends from freshman year until the end of senior year. Unfortunately we never stayed in touch after our graduation but every once in a while for the past few years, you cross my mind and I always what you have been up too. The only thing that I know about you is that you left Athens to go to Stanford University and never came back home.

Hopefully you don’t find it to strange that I emailed you but I wouldn’t have any other way to send a message to you because I don’t have social media… and I found your email account from searching through thousands of old emails just to find your email address.

The reason why I’m messaging you is because I am planning a New Year’s Eve Reunion with a bunch of our old friends from Athens High School and I was wondering if there’s is any chance that you could come to the get-together?! … Over the past few years, many of our old friends and I have made plans with each other to spend time in Athens just like in High School but, there was always someone missing during those get-together plans and that person is you.

Please respond back to my email as soon as possible if you’re interested in coming to Athens for the New Year’s eve Reunion… So many of our old friends would love to see you again Autumn Reynolds, Eleanor Coleman, Charles Wood, and Joe Burrow because they miss you just as much as I miss you.

Sincerely,

Dakota Johnson.

You read the email that Dakota Johnson has sent to you multiple times, to make sure that it was a real email and not something that you were imagining in your head… It had been years since you’ve heard anything from any one of your old friends from Athens. You had assumed that they all forgot about the new girl in freshman year after you moved away from the city.

It made you emotional to think about how your old friends missed you… and for the first time ever, you hated yourself for never keeping contact with any of your old friends back in Athens.

You didn’t know much about what Dakota Johnson, Autumn Reynolds, Eleanor Coleman, Charles Wood were doing with their lives after graduating High School… but you did know what Joe Burrow has been doing the past couple of years, not because you’re a creepy stalker that keeps up with the boy you had a crush on from freshman year to senior year, but because his name is known across America.

The shy boy from your science class in freshman year has become one of the greatest Quarterbacks in the NFL right now… you have never been a fan of football; but the Cincinnati Bengals are the football team you’ll always root for to win, even if they’re against a NFL Team from New York.

You told yourself that after you finished your work for the day, that you would respond to the email from Dakota Johnson… but maybe that was a bad idea because for the rest of your work day, your mind was distracted by the email to the point where every couple of minutes you had to go back and check that the email was real.

Even after your work day was officially over, you still were sat at your desk staring at your computer screen that had a blank email page opened… not because you didn’t want to go back to Athens, but because you didn’t know what to say to your old friend.

What do you say to someone that you haven’t spoke to since High School Graduation?! You had assumed that all your old friends had forgotten about you, it was kinda hard for you to believe that they still think about you and miss you after being apart all of these years.

To: DakotaJohnson740@gmail.com

From: yourfirstname.yourlastname@gmail.com

Subject: New Year’s Eve Reunion

Hi Dakota Johnson!

Of course I remember you! how could I ever forget about the first friend that I made in the homeroom class during our freshman year of high school and stayed by my side all throughout high school!

I apologize for not staying in touch with you and our other friends after our high school graduation and I’m sorry for never visiting Athens, for the longest time I had just assumed that everyone that did know me at some point had just forgotten about my existence…

With that being said; I would love to come to the New Year’s Eve Reunion in Athens! I live in New York City now but, I’ve experienced the way that New Yorkers ring in the New Year so it’ll be nice to celebrate the New Year with old friends.

my phone number is (929) 101-0009 so you can message me all of the details about the New Year’s Eve Reunion!

i’m looking forwards to seeing you and all of our old friends in Athens for the first time in almost 10 years! There aren’t enough words for me to describe how excited i am for the NYE Reunion!

Sincerely,

YourFirstName YourLastName

For many weeks since you sent the email back to Dakota Johnson, the two of you had been messaging back and forth catching up on each other lives’ on what has been going on the past 8 years.

Other than Joe Burrow’s life, which was changing in front of everyone’s eyes, you didn’t realize how much your other old friends’ lives had changed since you left Athens… Autumn and Charles had gotten together during their freshman year of University and are planning on getting married next Summer, Eleanor had moved out of Ohio after college to California to work as a background dancer for music artists, and Dakota recently earned their Master of Science in Nursing and works at one of the best hospitals in Ohio.

You had told Dakota that after you graduated from Stanford University with your Master’s Degree in Creative Writing and Literature that you moved to New Yorks and are currently working on your first book that will be published next year in the Fall.

December felt like the slowest month of your life, you loved living in New York but you’ve never been so excited to get out of the state and go back to Ohio… You weren’t counting down to Christmas, you were counting down to your flight to Ohio.

As the days of December slowly went by, Christmas was here and you celebrated the Holiday in your apartment by yourself with a glass of red wine and watching all of your favorite classic Christmas movie.

But finally; it was the day before the New Year, it was the day before the New Year’s Eve Reunion, it was the day that you’ll be in Athens for the first time in 8 years… Dakota had offered to pick you up from the airport in Cincinnati so that you wouldn’t be lost in Ohio, which was such a thoughtful gesture from them.

You didn’t realize how emotional you would be returning to the state that you once called home until you heard your name being called by a voice you recognized after all of these years.

“Y/N! I’M OVER HERE!” the voice yelled over the loud noises throughout the airport. You turn your head looking around after you had grabbed your luggage and saw someone waving their hands in the air.

You’re searching for them through the crowd and when you see your old friend for the first time in almost 10 years… The tears from your eyes start to fall, and you don’t waste anymore time to run towards them and pull them into the tightest hug. You could just about imagine how emotional your reunion with your other old friends from Athens will be tomorrow after not seeing them since high school graduation.

“It’s so good to see you again after all of these years.” Dakota whispers. “I missed you so much.”

“I miss you too…” you say with your voice cracking.

“You’re never allowed to spend eight years away from Athens ever again!” Dakota says, causing you to laugh.

“I won’t spend 8 years away from Ohio ever again.” you promised.

After the reunion at the airport, the two of you walked to the front parking lot entrance where Dakota had parked their car and helped you put your luggage suitcases in their car... and it was finally time to start the drive from the airport in Cincinnati to Athens.

Dakota lives in an apartment in Cincinnati where the reunion will be hosted… but the two of you had planned to spend the day in Athens since it’s been 8 years since you’ve visited the beautiful city.

You were scared that things would’ve been awkward between the two of you, it had been so long since you’ve seen them in person… but the two of you conversed with each other as if you hadn’t been apart from each other for the past 8 years.

From talking about old high school gossip to singing along to the old cds’ in Dakota’s car that he had since high school… This is the happiest that you’ve felt all year after being feeling stuck in New York City.

It almost made you feel guilty that you left Athens, but you knew that you wouldn’t have been able to achieve your dreams if you just stayed in the small city in Ohio.

But, you should’ve kept in contact with your old friends… that was a mistake you made that you can’t go back in time to undo, maybe keeping in contact with your old friends would’ve give you a reason to come back to Athens or move back to the place you used to call home.

You were thankful that Dakota let you stay with them in his apartment, where the New Year’s eve Reunion would be hosted along with the rooftop of the apartment complex… but you had to promise them that you would help them decorate the apartment.

After arriving in Athens, Dakota took you all around the city to some of your old favorite places that you couldn’t believe that you had forgotten about… You never would’ve thought that after all those years away, that you would feel like you were home again.

The two of you were sat inside D.P Dough’s restaurant, it was busier than you expected it to be since it was the day before New Year’s Eve and you assumed that most people in Athens would’ve been out of town… You were so hungry after the long morning with the flight, that you didn’t wait a second longer to eat after ordering your food.

“So… Can I ask you question?” you say, after taking a sip of your drink and crossing your arms on the table.

“You just asked me a question.” Dakota sarcastically replied.

You rolled your eyes and chuckled before speaking again, “Who knows that I’m in Athens for the New Year’s Eve Reunion?!”

“Everyone that is invited knows.” Dakota answers, “I know we really only talked about our old mutuals friends these past few weeks… but other people from Athens High School are coming to the reunion too.”

“Oh really?!” you asked, you had just assumed this was a small get-together and not a small party.

“Yeah! Daniel says. “There’s like 30 of our old classmates coming to the New Year’s Eve Reunion!”

You respond, “It’s going to be so weird seeing everyone again after so long.”

“You’re not alone feeling that way.” Dakota states, which causing you to raise an eyebrow at them. “Other than Autumn and Charles who still live in Athens, I hadn’t seen much of anyone from Athens these past few years… The only time I see our old friends is when they come home to visit, so that’s why I wanted to plan this reunion because I know it’s been a long time since most people had seen each other.”

You nodded along to what they said, but didn’t have the courage to respond immediately… because while your old friends had came back to Athens after moving away from the city, you left and never came back.

“Thank you for going out of your way to reach out to me.” you say. “Honestly, I didn’t think anyone from Athens remembered me… so it really did surprise me to see that email from you inviting me to the reunion.”

“Trust me, no one in Athens has forgotten about you.” Dakota assured, “It was actually Joe that had asked me to try and reach out to you whenever I started planning the New Year’s Eve Reunion.”

To say you were surprised would be an understatement... Out of all the people from Athens you didn’t expect Joe Burrow to remember you and be the reason why Dakota had tried to reach out to you.

“Joe asked you to reach out to me?” you asked.

“Yeah… it’s that hard to believe?” They asked and you shrugged your shoulders. “Why is it hard to believe?”

“Because you know who Joe is now right?!” you exclaim. “He’s a quarterback in the NFL, I didn’t think that he would have time to remember some random girl that he used to know from Athens.”

“The Joe you remember from High School is the same Joe now… even with all his success and fame, he’s still the same Joe.” Dakota states. “And he’s had a lot of time to think since he’s not playing football right now.”

“He’s not playing football right now… Why?!” you curiously asked. You didn’t keep up with any sports news so you were surprised to hear this news.

“Joe injured his wrist over a month ago during a game, he’s out for the rest of the season.” Dakota responds. “So he’s had a lot of time to think about other things than football these past few weeks… and I guess you crossed his mind more than once.”

“That’s interesting to know.” you say under your breathe. “Out of all the people from Athens, I didn’t expect him to be the one to want to reach out to me.”

“He’s talked about you a lot throughout these past few months, even before I had emailed you.” Dakota says. “I don’t know why he’s been thinking so much about the people from Athens, but he was the one to give me the idea of hosting this New Year’s Eve Reunion.”

You chuckle, “Maybe it’s because of the new contract he signed with The Bengals… I heard about how he’s going to earn a lot of money over the next few years.”

“Yeah, he will be earning a lot of money but he deserves it after everything he’s been through over the past few years.” Dakota responds, “But even after all that he’s been through, he’s still the same Joe.”

“That’s good to hear… he didn’t let fame go straight to his head unlike some other football players.” you say.

“Same old Joe, just richer with a worse sense of style.” Dakota says which causes the two of you to laugh.

The two of you spend the rest of your time at D.P Dough eating the rest of the delicious food that you order as well as continuing to gossip about old friends… You thought you would’ve been more nervous to see people that you haven’t seen in 8 years again, but you couldn’t be more excited because of how much everyone’s lives have changed.

There was so much that you and Dakota would have to do to prepare for the reunion at his apartment tomorrow, including going last minute shopping for New Year’s Eve decorations and order enough catering to last throughout the entire night.

But just for right now, you were happier than you expected to be in Athens for the first time in 8 years… For the first time in years, you wouldn’t be spending New Year’s Eve by yourself in your apartment in New York, instead you will be home with your old friends.

—

Tonight will be a night that you’ll remember forever… As the clock is ticking closer to midnight and the countdown to the New Year begins, you couldn’t imagine celebrating the end of 2023 in any other way.

The apartment was decorated in Black, Silver, and Gold decorations from Party City that the two of you had picked up yesterday afternoon… You and Dakota had spent all morning decorating their apartment and getting everything prepared for when all of your old friends would arrive at the reunion.

As you finished setting up all the dishes of food that the two of you ordered from one of the most popular restaurants in Cincinnati, BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, the kitchen counter and kitchen table… you watched as Dakota went through their check-list for the twentieth time in the past 30 minutes.

Dakota walked around the apartment, checking items off their list as they mumbled under their breathe. “We have the balloons set up over there and the banner set up as well as the the bucket of decorations for the photo booth…”

“Dakota, I think everything is ready!” you exclaim, interrupting them. “Everything is perfect, just the way that you planned!”

“Are you sure?” Dakota asked, “Or is it all just a bit too much to celebrate the New Year?!”

“No Dakota, it’s perfect!” you exclaim. “This will definitely be the best New Year’s Eve Reunion ever!”

They wanted this New Year’s Eve Reunion to be perfect. It was the first time in so long that many of their close friendds from Athens High School would be getting together since High School Graduation.

After convincing Dakota that everything for the New Year’s Eve Reunion was perfect, they explained to you that they told everyone to arrive at his apartment around 4pm… Which had you a little confused on why people would be arriving at the apartment so early?!

“It’s because of the football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals. This is one of the most important games of the year because of the rivalry between the two teams for the past two years, everyone will be watching this game.” Dakota explains.

“Oh okay… but you said Joe was injured, so he’s not going to the football game?!” you asked.

“The football game is in Kansas City, and he’s been traveling with the football team to games even though he’s not playing on the field.” Dakota says.

“Joe is still going to be at the New Year’s Eve Reunion or will he not be able to make it because he’ll be stuck in Kansas City?!” you ask.

“If luck is on our side… Joe will be here before midnight.” Dakota answers. “I talked to him this morning and he’s going to do anything he can to make it here after the game.”

“That’s good to know, I’m excited to see him.” you say.

A cheeky smile appears on Dakota’s face, “Oh I know… and I promise that he’s excited to see you too!”

The time was going by fast and before you realized how fast the time was going by… The guests had finally started to arrive at Dakota’s apartment right before the football game between Kansas City vs Cincinnati.

This was Dakota’s New Year’s Eve Reunion that they had been planning for weeks, and you tried your hardest to remember that as guests walked through the door… You didn’t want to make this all just about you reuniting with your old friends that you hadn’t seen since High School Graduation, because most of these people were just seeing each for the first time in a long time as well. It was a reunion for everyone.

It was an emotional reunion seeing your old friends from Athens just like you had expected it to be. You didn’t realize how much you missed your old friends until now, and it made you feel guilty again for leaving Athens and not caring to continue communications.

Everyone had changed, everyone was all grown up. You don’t understand how you never realized that there had been so much change between those 8 years that you were gone from Athens… but while things changed, the love your old friends have for you never changed.

Even your old classmates that you weren’t really close to during High School but were still apart of the mutual friend group were excited to see you… Just like when you had moved to Athens when you were 14 years old, everyone had welcomed you with opens arms.

You learned so much about your old friends’ new lives since High School Graduation, it’s crazy to think that the old friends you used to sit next to at lunch and partner up with for projects are living their dreams.

The celebrations of the night began once the football game started, Dakota popped a bottle of champagne and filled everyone’s glasses to the top right at kick-off.

Some people were watching the game in the living room, while other people were in the kitchen but still paying attention every now and then. You assume that most people are huge fans of the Cincinnati Bengals or were just cheering for the team because of Joe… even though he was playing because every now and then the camera would pan over to Joe and show his reaction to whatever was happening in the game.

This was the first time you had seen Joe in a long time, there was so much about him that was different but at the same time he still looked like the young boy that you had a crush on during High School.

“Are you excited to see Joe later?” Eleanor asked as she sits right next to you on the sofa with a paper plate of food in her lap. “I haven’t seen Joe in over a year, I think the last time I saw him was when the Bengals played in the Super Bowl at Sofa Stadium… He invited me to the football game since I live in California.”

“I’m excited to see him.” you answer, “I haven’t seen him since our High School Graduation.”

“It’s been that long since you’ve seen Joe?!” Autumn asked, interrupting the conversation.

You nod your head, “Yeah… it’s been 8 long years.”

“I’m kinda surprised Joe never went to try and find you just because of how much he talks about you when we hang out.” Autumn stated, which causes you to raise an eyebrow at her. “I don’t know if Dakota told you, but Joe is the reason why they reached out to you.”

“Dakota told me, but I didn’t think it was a big deal.” you say. “Joe talks about me that much to where you thought he was going to try and find me in New York?”

“He talks about you in a ‘the girl that got away’ way” Charles answers. “Did something happen between the two of you in high school that we don’t know about.”

You shake your head, “No… Nothing happened between us. We were always just friends from freshman year to senior year.”

“And then you left Athens after graduation.” Eleanor says and you nod your head, because you couldn’t lie.

The conversation stopped as everyone went back to paying attention to the football game on TV, cheering when the Bengals team did something good and yelling at the team through the TV when they were not doing a good job as people expected from them.

For the past few weeks, you always had been the most excited to see Joe out of everyone that you knew would be coming to the reunion just because Joe and you were always close since freshman year of High School… and you feel the most guilty about never continuing to communicate with him after graduation not because of the fame and success he has now but because he was the definition of a true friend.

You’re not stupid, you realize that Joe must’ve said some things to your old friends over the past few years since you’ve been gone that has sparked curiosity into their minds that something had happened between the two of you during high school… but as far as you remember, nothing had ever happened.

But maybe that’s the reason why Joe talked about in the “girl that got away” way to your old friends, maybe because nothing had happened between the two of you is the reason why you’re still on his mind after all of these years… No matter how many girls he had been rumored to be hooking up with or dating and the many instagram models that slide into his Instagram Direct Messages with a terribly sexual pick-up line, the girl that he knew from Athens is the only girl on his mind.

It was hard for you to sit and watch the football game with all of these thoughts running through your mind. Once the game went to halftime, you got up from your spot next to Eleanor on the couch and used the excuse of “needing a drink refill” to go over to the kitchen.

You walked into the kitchen to see Dakota and a few other of your old classmates from Athens talking amongst each other while snacking on the appetizers.

“You got tired of watching the game already?!” Dakota asks as they walk over to you away from the group after noticing you in the kitchen.

You shake your head, “I needed a drink refill… I never imagine myself getting so stressed out over football.”

“Are you stressed about the football game… or are you stressed about seeing Joe later tonight?” Dakota whispers over your shoulder.

Your eyes go wide and turn around to face them, “What?! I’m not stressed about seeing Joe… Why would I get stressed about that?!”

“I would be stressed out to if I was seeing my high school crush for the first time in 8 years… especially if they’re as attractive as Joe.” Dakota states.

You roll your eyes as you take a sip of champagne, “A high school crush is just that… a high school crush.”

“You could say that if Joe grew up to be ugly and I was laughing at you for having a crush on a guy that turned out that way… but, you thought Joe was cute back then and I can tell just from the way your eyes light up when he shows up on TV that you find him hot now. You can’t lie to me, I know the only reason you’re paying attention to go the game is to watch for when Joe shows up on the TV.” Dakota defensively says.

A blush appears on your face as you take another sip of champagne, not knowing how to respond to Dakota… you’re not saying that they’re right, but they’re not wrong about observations because Joe was the only reason you were paying attention to the game.

After pouring another refill of champagne and conversing with some of your old classmates from high school for the rest of halftime… You walked back into the living room to sit back on the couch just as the 3rd quarter of the football game was about to start.

At first it was just a few people sitting around in the living room watching the game, but after a while everyone was sitting around in the living room paying close attention to what was happening on the TV.

Honestly, you didn’t know what was going on a majority of the time during the game but you acted like you knew what was happening when everyone around you would clap or shout at the TV.

If you thought the first half of the game was going by slow, then you weren’t prepared for how slow the second half of the game was going… Once the sun had set you could hear fireworks in the distance from people already starting to celebrate the New Year even though it was still a few hours from midnight.

You had learned through all of your old friends talking throughout the game that this was a very important game for The Bengals, not just because it was against one of their rival teams… but because if The Bengals lose the game, they’re out of the runnings for the playoffs and their last game of the season is next week.

Also, you learned how hard of a season it had been for The Bengals even before the season started. Joe had suffered a calf injury during the second day of training camp that affected The Bengals during their first 6 games, losing some of their best players from last season during the off-season, signing players that didn’t add anything special to the team, and other players had suffered injuries throughout the season… overall their had been this glooming cloud over their heads that just got darker after Joe suffered his wrist injury even with the small light that the back-up quarterback brought back for the team.

As the football game was coming to an end, the chances of The Bengals winning against The Chiefs was going down… you may have not understood everything that was happening, but from your friends’ reactions you could tell that something wasn’t going right whether it was the players not playing as well as expected or if it was referees doing their dirty work.

The final score of the game appeared on the screen as a signal that it was over. Not just that the game was over but that the season was over for The Bengals after next week’s game… Your heart broke for your friends who were sad about the end results of the seasons, but also you felt sad for Joe and his team that looked heartbroken at the end of the game.

“I hope Joe is still going to want to attend the reunion even after the end of the terrible game.” Eleanor says.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes home to his new house after they arrive home.” one of your old classmates, Cindy says. “We know what he can be like after The Bengals lose a game.”

“It’s a 2 hour flight from Kansas City to Cincinnati… so he’ll have plenty of time to think about whether or not he wants to hang out with his old friends from Athens.” Daniel, another one of your old classmates, states.

“I hope he doesn’t bail on us like last time a bunch of us tried to get together.” Charles says.

“Joe’s not going to bail on us… Y/N is here with us!” Dakota exclaims. “They’re the reason why this reunion is happening in the first place!”

As the pre-show for the Sunday Night Football game started… everyone split off into their own groups whether they were making their dinner plates to go out on the balcony watch the fireworks, starting to get the photo-booth set up for pictures to post on social media at Midnight, or staying in their spot on the couch with a new beer drink in their hand to watch the pre-show.

You had gotten up from your spot on the couch and walked around the apartment, trying to find your place amongst the people you used to know… You didn’t contribute much to their conversations, just listening to your old friends talk about their new lives whether they still live in Ohio or if they moved out of the state. But the difference is that they continued to keep in contact with people from Athens while you didn’t keep in contact at all.

In an apartment full of people that you used to know, you felt lonelier than you have ever felt before with the glass of champagne in your hand… and you are starting to wonder if the person you were most excited to see tonight was even going to show up at all.

—

The New Year’s Eve Reunion moved from Dakota’s apartment to the rooftop of his apartment complex. Everyone has a glass of champagne in their hands as they watched the fireworks from all around the city being exposed into the sky.

Everyone in the city of Cincinnati were counting down the minutes until Midnight, but you were wishing that time would slow down… not because you didn’t want to go into a new year, but because the one person that you wanted to celebrate the New Year with wasn’t here.

“Are you excited for 2024?” Dakota asked as the walked up to you. “I remember you mentioning yesterday you’ll be publishing your first book this year.”

“I am excited for the new year!” you answer, then taking a sip of your champagne. “Yeah, I hope that 2024 is going to be a memorable year.”

Dakota nodded their head, “You haven’t given up on Joe showing up yet right?! Everyone else is just assuming that he’s not showing up cause he should’ve been here by now.”

You shrug your shoulders, “Like you said… he should’ve been here by now, so who knows what’s going on. Maybe some people were right about him not wanting to come here after the terrible football game.”

“Remember what we were talking about yesterday. Joe will always be the same Joe that we knew from high school… There was only one time that he bailed on us to hang out as a group and it was for an important reason, he didn’t just bail on us because he doesn’t want to hang out with us anymore.” Dakota explains.

Their words about Joe makes you smile, it’s always good to hear that the boy you knew from Athens High School grew up into the nice man that his friends praise him to be.

You don’t have any doubts that Joe would be able to make it. You trust Dakota’s words more than anyone else who is doubting his arrival… and Dakota wouldn’t lie to you, so if they said that Joe is coming then he is.

There was still just about 20 minutes to midnight, but people around you were already getting a little too tipsy off the champagne as if the clock had already struck midnight. Another glass of champagne might help you get through the rest of the night if …

The man of the hour, the man that everyone from Athens High School had been looking forward to seeing again… Joe Burrow is standing right in front of everyone with his hand in the pockets of his long black coat and a beanie with his curls falling out.

“Hey everyone!” a voice exclaimed, that had everyone turning their heads towards the rooftop entrance.

There’s noise all around you but you felt frozen in place as you watched Joe and your old classmate greet each other with hugs, wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

“I told you he was going to be here.” Dakota whisper in your ear and patting your back before walking over to Joe to greet him for the first time in a few weeks.

You took a gulp of champagne as you continue to watch Joe, who is now talking to Dakota and another one of your old classmates that you didn’t recognize.

Joe leans closer to whisper something to Dakora before you seem them smile and point towards your direction… When Joe looks over to where Dakota was pointing, a smile appears on his face when he finally notices you standing across the rooftop from him.

You shyly wave towards them as you watch Dakota whisper something to Joe that causes him to laugh as he’s still looking at you… Your mind couldn’t help but wander off into trying to figure out what they could be laughing at.

Were they laughing at you… or laughing about you?!

Before your mind had any chance to theorize about what they could be laughing at, you saw Joe and Dakota walking towards your direction… After taking one last sip of champagne, you place your glass into the rooftop railing that is right next to you and try to act as natural as possible without giving any sign of you freaking out on the inside.

“Hello Y/N! Long time no see!” Joe exclaims right as he and Dakota are walking right in front of you.

“Hey Joe! It’s so good to see you again.” you say, when you see him open arms to give you a hug. You walk towards him to accept his hug.

Joe’s arms wrap around your waist as your arms wrap around his neck and the two of you sway for just a few seconds… When you glance over Joe’s shoulder, you can see Dakota standing a little farther back with a smile on his face.

The hug lasted only just a few seconds longer before the two of you pulled away from each other with matching smiles on your faces and putting your hands in your coat pockets as the breezes goes by.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Joe exclaims. “It’s been 8 years since you’ve been in Ohio… That’s a long time.”

“Yeah it is has been that long… and I can’t believe you’re here too!” you say. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been… fine.” Joe answers. “Things haven’t gone the way I wished the last few weeks… but things will get better next year, that’s what we’re all wishing for.”

“Yeah I heard about some of those things… I’m sorry about your wrist injury, I can’t imagine what it’s like going through something like that.” you respond.

“It’s alright, I don’t need sympathy…” Joe says, “How have you been? Dakota told me you’re going to be publishing your first book in 2024?!”

You nod, “Yeah, I’ve been working on the book for almost two years so I’m ready for it to be publish.”

“I hope I get a signed copy from the author!” Joe cheekily says which causes you to laugh and agree to give him a signed copy when your book is published.

For a few seconds, Joe just stares at you which causes you to raise an eyebrow. “Do I have something on my face?” you ask as you start touching around your mouth to see if there was any crumbs from the food.

“No! No! There’s nothing on your face.” Joe exclaims as he shook his head. “I just… I just can’t believe you’re home for the first time in 8 years.”

“I can’t believe it either.” you say, as you reach for your empty glass from the rooftop railing just to have something to fidget with in your hands.

“I missed you.” Joe confessed, stepping closer to you.

“That’s what I’ve heard.” you say, with a smirk on your face as you make eye contact with Joe.

He furrows his brows, “What have you heard?”

“Nothing bad I promise!” you exclaim. “Dakota has just told me a few things. You know they love to gossip.”

Joe laughs, “Of course… So I’m assuming that you were told that I’m the reason Dakota reached out to you to invite you to this reunion.”

You nod your head as you lean back against the rooftop railing, “That’s one of the things I heard… who would’ve know the Cincinnati Quarterback thinks alot about a girl he used to know from Athens High School.”

Joe steps closer to you as he leans against the rooftop railing, resting his arm on top of the railing. “Why wouldn’t I think about the girl from Athens High School who just mysteriously left the state without saying good-bye and never returned until 8 years later… this is what the kids’ these days call ‘My Roman Empire’.”

You sighed and look to the ground as your crossed your arms over your chest… you knew Joe was just making a joke out of the situation but once again you couldn’t help but feel guilty at your past actions.

“I didn’t mean to be gone for so long…” you respond, “I just never felt like there was a good enough reason to come back until now.”

Once again Joe furrows his brows, but this time you didn’t notice, “What do you mean there wasn’t a good enough reason to come back?”

You didn’t verbally answer, you didn’t know how to verbally answer him… so you shrugged your shoulders.

“I know your mom and step-mom had divorced right after High School Graduation… but was your friends not a good enough reason to come back, was Dakota not a good enough reason? Was I not a good enough reason?” Joe frustratedly asked.

You look up at Joe and immediately start shaking your head, “That’s not… That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what do you mean when you said that there wasn’t a good enough reason to come back?” he asks.

“Athens was the closest thing to home that I ever experienced in my life… I hope you remember the many stories I had told you about how my mom and I moved around the country because my mom’s family didn’t accept her after she came out as a Lesbian and she was always scared that they would find her to try and take me away from her.” you stated. “And then my mom met my step-mom and they fell in love, so we moved to Athens. I finally had a place to call home and I didn’t have to worry about always keeping a suitcase full of clothes packed and wondering which city I would wake up in… but 4 years later right before high school graduation they told me that they were getting a divorce because my step-mom had an affair with my mom’s boss. I was planning on leaving Athens to go to Stanford University but also, I planned on coming home if my mom was living in the city but she moved far away from Ohio and I could never build up courage to visit the city because I left everything behind.”

It took a couple of seconds for Joe to respond, you could see the gears turning in his head as he processed all of the information that you had just given him.

The silence between the two of you was so loud that you could hear someone shout in the distance that it was 10 minutes until Midnight… which means that it’s so close to the start of the New Year, it was so close to celebrating with the people who are the closest thing that you ever had to a real family.

“I’m sorry you went through all of that…” Joe whispers. “I remember the stories that you had told me when we were younger, all of the struggled that you and your mom had faced for so many years… and that’s one of the reasons why I’ve always thought about you over the past few years.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m very thankful that you were there for me by my side and being a person that I could trust.” you say. “And I wish I would’ve trusted you enough to be a person to have been the person to keep me coming back to Athens.”

“I don’t blame you for leaving… you had to do what you needed to do after what your step-mom did to you and your mom.” Joe says. “I just wish we could’ve stayed in contract with each other, even if it was just to check up on each other every couple of days.”

You nod your head in agreement, “This visit to Athens has really made me feel guilty about keeping contact with the people that cared about me… Everyone else that moved away was able to do it, but I couldn’t.”

“Well it’s never too late to keep in contact with us now.” Joe says, reaching in the pocket of his coat and pulling out his phone. He quickly unlocks it before handing it to you. “Put your phone number in the phone, I’m taking you out tomorrow in Athens.”

You smile as you type your phone number into a brand new contact, and then you give him back his phone. “An area code from New York City?!” he asks.

“Yeah, I live in New York City!” you answer.

“Wow… Really?” he says and you nod your head. “Okay… you might think that I sound crazy but a few months ago, I was in New York for this Charity Partnership and I swear when I went to get lunch that I saw you but, I had thought that I was imagining but, I don’t think I was imagining anymore. The woman that I saw was you!”

“If you went get lunch at Cafe Manhattan then it was probably me because I go and eat there for lunch almost everyday when I’m in New York.” you respond.

“It was Cafe Manhattan!” Joe exclaims which causes you to laugh. “I swear I was going crazy for months thinking if I had seen you or not… I told Dakota about it which led to our conversation about doing this New Year’s Eve Reunion with a bunch of our old friends from Athens.”

“Yeah they had told me yesterday that this New Year’s Eve Reunion was your idea.” you say.

“We were just talking about how it had been so long since all our friends from Athens had got together to hang out like we did in high school… and most people are in their hometowns for the Holidsys, so Dakota just took the chance to plan the event and to invite people and now here we are on New Year’s Eve!” Joe stated.

“I can’t believe it’s almost the new year.” you say.

“I’m so ready for this year to be over…” Joe whispers as he looks at the ground.

“In less than 5 minutes it’s going to be a new year and you’ll never have to experience a day in 2023 ever again!” you exclaim, after checking your watch.

“Thank God… this was a rough year.” Joe states. “Everything that could’ve gone wrong, went wrong.”

You place a hand on his shoulder to give him some comfort. “Don’t think about the bad things that happened this year… Tell me one good thing that happened this year.”

Joe looked up from the ground to you and smiled, “The girl that mysteriously left Athens came home.”

Maybe the redness that appeared on your cheeks was because of the wind… or maybe the redness that appeared on your cheeks is because you’re blushing.

“I’m flattered… but there has to be some other good thing that had happened to you this year.” you say.

Joe shakes his head, “No… nothing is better than this.” he says as he wraps his arm around your shoulder to smoothly pull you close to him and you wrap your arms around his waist.

The two of you watch the fireworks explode in the night sky, as the clock was ticking closer to midnight more fireworks appeared across the sky… You’ve spent the past few years watching the New Years fireworks celebrations from your balcony in New York City, but the sight of fireworks have never been so beautiful.

From the corner of your eye, you can see Dakota watching you and Joe with a smile on their face as they raise their glass to “toast” towards the two of you when you make eye contact with them.

When you turn back to focus on the night sky full of fireworks, you had assumed that Joe was continuing to watch the fireworks show… but when you took a quick glance in his direction, he was staring at you.

“What’s on your mind?” you ask him.

Joe thinks for a few seconds then asks, “Can I ask you a question?”

“You just asked me a question.” you answer which caused Joe to laugh. “But yes, you can ask me a question.”

He takes a sip of champagne and places his glass on the rooftop railing before turning his attention back to you. “Will you be my New Year’s Kiss?”

You let out a laugh, “You didn’t want to ask any other of your old classmates from Athens High School to be your New Year’s Kiss?”

Joe makes a face and shakes his head, “There’s only one girl from Athens High School that I want to kiss.”

The people around you always started the countdown, there was just one minute until the New Year… but you and Joe were stuck a bubble in your own world.

“Can I ask you another question?” Joe asks, you laugh.

“You have alot of questions for me tonight!” you exclaim. “But yes you can ask me another question.”

“I don’t know when you’re leaving Ohio… but will you come back to Athens with me before you leave?” he asked. “I’m going visit my parents just for two days before having to go back to work, and I would love for you to join me.”

“I’m staying in Ohio until January 10th… so I definitely would love to spend a few days with you in Athens.” you answer.

“That good information to know…” Joe says with a smirk on his face that you just wanted to kiss so bad.

“I can tell by the look on your face that you’re already planning out what we’re going to do in Athens.” you say.

Joe nods his head, “I’m going back to Athens tomorrow and Tuesday, then I’ll be in Cincinnati until Sunday for The Bengals last game of the season… then I’ll be back in Athens for a couple of more days. So you’re going to be stuck with me the entire time!”

You laugh at the last part of Joe’s plans, “I guess it’s fair for me to be stuck with you for the next couple of days since I was gone for 8 years.”

“Let’s not talk about the past, let’s focus on the future.” Joe says. “The New Year is so close upon us.”

“TEN!”

The two of you look at the sky and see the fireworks…

“NINE!”

Joe lifts up his glass of champagne and takes a sip…

“EIGHT!”

He places his empty glass on the rooftop railing…

“SEVEN!”

Joe looks at you and smiles…

“SIX!”

You look at Joe and smiles…

“FIVE”

“Are you ready for 2024?” Joe asks in a whisper.

“FOUR!”

You nod your head, “I’m ready for 2024!”

“THREE!”

You lean closer to Joe…

“TWO!”

Joe places his left hand on your cheek…

“ONE!”

Joe leans closer to you…

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

And he kisses you…

There’s an explosion of fireworks in the night sky as people cheer on the beginning on the New Year. You didn’t want to pull away from Joe, you’ve waited much longer than 8 years for this first kiss with him.

The two of you had to pull away, not only just to breathe but so that people wouldn’t be staring at how of their old classmates making out in the corner of the rooftop.

He smiles as he leans his forehead against yours, “Happy New Year!” he whispers to you.

“Happy New Year!” you whisper back to him.

Joe leans back against the rooftop railing and pulls you closer to him as you rest your body against him. The two of you watched the fireworks in the sky and said “Happy New Year!” to your old friends that passed by.

For the rest of the night, you stayed by Joe’s side. After feeling a little bit lonely throughout the night, not being able to find your place amongst your old friends… You finally had someone to stay by your side for the night.

You grateful that your old friends from Athens High School never forgot about you and gave you a reason to visit Athens after being gone for years… You’re happy you accepted Dakota’s New Year’s Eve Reunion invitation, because otherwise you would’ve been stuck all by yourself in your apartment in New York City.

The future year looks to be so exciting; your first book was going to be published this year, you’re rebuilding friendships with your old friends, the boy from Athens High School that you had a crush on is now wrapped around your finger, and you’re already planning your next future visits to Athens, Ohio.

It felt so good to be back to the first place you called home. Surrounded by the people that welcomed you into the city with open arms, the people that were some of the best people in high school or the worse people in high school that shaped you into the person that you are today, and the people that changed you in more ways than you’ll ever realize.

Author’s Note:

Happy New Year! and Happy First Joe Burrow Fanfiction of 2024! I’m very excited for this year and I can’t wait to see what happens in the future!

thank you for all the love and support! 🤍

[yelenasdiary]

For flufftober: Middle sibling reader x older sister natasha and younger sister yelena. Reader was recently released from the subjugation of the red room and so theyre throwing a little welcome home party for reader. With cake and streamers and a polaroid camera. Some terrible music playing that they all jam too as they down too many bottles of vodka?

New Memories

Pairing:  Older Siblings! Natasha & Yelena x Younger Sibling! GN! Reader

Summary:  After a little over a year of therapy, your older sisters throw you a welcome home party.

Warnings:  Fluff/Comfort, Mentions of Red Room, Subjugation, Drinking, Language Warning | 1.3K

Translations: Sestra (Sister), 

AC: Thank you for requesting this, as I mentioned, I have combined with request with another, I hope you enjoy! x

October Special Masterlist

"Sestra, it'll be fun" Yelena argued with her Russian accent coming in thick. It was Halloween and your sisters, Natasha and Yelena planned a little party for you with the help of the other Avengers, Alexei and Melina. It's been a few short months since your year of therapy had gone from three sessions a week to weekly appointments, your therapist was proud of how far you'd come since your sisters saved you from the subjugation of Red Room and freed you from the control of General Dreykov. You hated that they wanted to throw a party in your honor, you never liked the fuss being about you. 

"Lena, I know you and Nat are happy for me and trust me, I am proud of myself as well but I just don't think I want to have a party thrown to celebrate" you replied before letting your eyes fall back down to the book in your hands. 

"It is not just to celebrate how far you have come" Yelena spoke as she took a seat at the end of your bed, forcing you to put your book down once more. "It's about making new memories, ones that are real, ones we get to keep and talk about in years to come. Natasha won't admit it but I know she would love to fill the photo album she has on her bookcase and I would like an updated photo of the three of us" your older sister by 2 years went on. 

She had a point and that made it hard for you to turn her down. Looking back on the memories you had with your sisters, it was hard to remember. You were only 4 when the mission in Ohio was completed and you were ripped from Natasha's arms. After that, it was blurred moments of fake Christmases, thanksgivings and other holidays just to give you three a moment of something that felt somewhat normal. 

"Fine" you playfully rolled your eyes at the blonde, "will Kate and Wanda be there?" you asked with hope. Yelena nodded, "who do you think were the first to jump at the idea of baking a cake" she replied. 

"A cake? Really?" you asked with a slight frown, of course your family were going to make this a big deal and honestly, for Yelena to say this would be fun was a comment you never thought she would say about a party. 

----

Music mixed with laughter and chatter filled the room, Kate wandered around taking polaroid photos of everybody and placed them in a small box for you to look back on at a later date. Eventually the room became quiet, around midnight people called it a night and headed to bed leaving you, Yelena and Natasha still up. 

"Now we can really party" Natasha smiled as she placed a bottle of vodka on the table along with three shot glasses. "Amen to that!" you replied in a sigh of relief, too much socializing and now you were finally going to have the party you truly wanted with your sisters. 

Yelena poured three shots as you and Natasha threw streamers at one another, you started it of course. "Stop acting like children, lets drink!" Yelena announced as she carefully yet skilfully sliding the shot glasses down the table to you and Nat without spilling a drop. You downed your shot the moment it hit your hand, the burn of the alcohol in the back of your throat reminding you why you loved vodka so much. 

It was long before the bottle of vodka was finished, and another was placed on the table. Crumbs of cake slices littered the wooden table while the three of you made new memories, jokes and brought up old, good memories. 

"SO BYE BYE MISS AMERICAN PIE, DROVE MY CHEVY TO THE LEVEE, BUT THE LEVEE WAS DRY" the three of you sung in sync, now each holding a bottle of vodka. Wanda and Kate had come down from upstairs and watched the drunk mess unfold. You were laughing, when Yelena pushed you to the floor for standing on her foot for the 5th time. Natasha had the polaroid camera in her hand taking very drunken and blurry photos of you and Yelena before turning the camera on herself to snap a selfie. 

"Do you think Tony would get made if we stole one of his suits? I mean come on! those things look so fucking sick!" You looked between your sisters. Yelena turned to Nat, "I'm with Y/n, let's do it!" she said before taking another mouthful of vodka from the bottle. 

"Should we stop them?" Kate whispered to Wanda who shook her head, "no, let them have their fun" the Sokovian replied before gesturing her head towards the stairs as a way to say let's go back to bed. "I kind of want to be awake early to see Tony's reaction" Kate whispered once more as she followed Wanda up the stairs. 

"Alright but you gotta be quiet!" Natasha said, bringing her index finger to her lips in a shush motion. 

Cheeky smiles tugged at the lips of you and your sister as Natasha led you both down the hall to the elevator, pressing the basement button. 

----

"Can somebody tell me why the fuck I found 3 of my suits scattered around the damn compound?!" Tony asked with pure anger in his voice. Your head was pounding, it had clearly been a while since you got drunk as much as you did last night. 

"Tony, shhhh!" you looked up at him before taking a sip of your coffee. 

"Nothing is broken, nothing to stress about" Natasha tuned in, taking her hang over a lot better than you were. She looked as though she didn't even drink last night. 

"That's not the point Romanoff and you know it!" Tony snapped, "the three of you are suspended until further notice so I suggest you start thinking about cleaning up the mess you made!" he added before storming out of the room. 

"What mess?" you asked with a frown as Natasha sat down across from you at the dining table, peanut butter toast in her hand. "Oh, that is on you and Yelena to clean" she replied with a light chuckle as you rested your head on the table to catch a few extra minutes of shut eye. 

Yelena came into the kitchen just how Natasha did, as if a hangover was non-existent. "HA! Looks like somebody needs a little more practice on how keep their vodka down" she spoke, her loud voice making your head pound harder than before. Slowly, you lifted your head to look up at your sister, giving her a look of death has she stole Natasha's mug of coffee, "please shut up" you replied before letting your head drop to the table once again. 

"You and Y/n have to go clean up the yard today" Natasha said after swallowing a mouthful of her toast. "Yeah, I figured" Yelena chuckled, bringing the mug to her lips, "you better go take a shower sestra" she encouraged you only to earn a mumble and grumble in return as you took yourself to the showers. 

"Another round tonight and they will be fine" Yelena looked at Natasha before taking another sip of Nat's coffee, Nat just chuckled, "I don't think they could handle another round" she replied as Wanda walked into the kitchen. 

"You three had fun last night" she smiled softly as she placed a rather large handful of polaroid on the table in front of the two Russian sisters. Natasha reached for the small photos and flicked through them while Yelena watched, a smile tugging at both sisters lips as they saw how happy they looked, how much fun they had and how finally they had photos with real moments, real emotions and real love. 

"Yeah, one of the best nights" Natasha spoke softly.

Taglist: @red1culous | @sayah13 | @charl-lally | @when-wolves-howl | @bentleywolf29 | @fxckmiup | @natasha-belova | @blackwidow-3 | @lissaaaa145 | @high--power | @parkerdaramitzzzz | @mmmmokdok | @wackymcstupid | @kiwiana145 | @observeowl | @nattyolw | @ripofflizzie | @goofy-goonie | @makegoodchoices | @apollo2907 | @wandaroman0ff | @dumb-fawkin-bitch | @lovelyy-moonlight | @santana1437 | @ahintofchaos | @fluffyblanketgecko | @puta1 | @inluvwithfictionalwomen | @tintedrose12 | @jaymieflorissssssss | @tita001 | @youralphawolf72 | @donnietarantino | @randomnessbecausewhynot | @natashamaximoff69 | @hehehehannahthings | @pandaemonium111 | @imnotslouching | @secrettoallofyou | @romantic-slaps-on-the-asss | @marvel-fan-2021 | @mmmmokdok | @riveramorylunar | @ripofflizzie | @marvel-madnessx | @scarsw1fe | @toldthatdevil | @itsmv3 | @natashaswife4125 | @katiemay-025 | @aphrcdtes | @romanoffs-widow | @natsxwife | @maria-403 | @boredandneedfanfics | @wandamaximoffspuppup | @xox-little-troublemaker-xox | @shibugs | @music-4ever | @hyper-fixated-delusions | 

[chasedeys]

some shit i have to say about this particular thing from the frankly insane ass article sorry:

GH: Why Miami? JC: I love it. Just for me to get away sometimes. That's where I was working out when I came out of college. I don't see myself living there, but it's a nice spot to stay sometimes. GH: You seem to be New Orleans through and though. That's where you would live, I imagine. JC: I don't know. I haven't really decided on what I want to do when it comes to living in places, yet. GH: Do you see yourself being with him the rest of your career or a good part of your career? JC: I see it for a long time right now. We've been together for a long time. We enjoy each other's company. I don't see anybody leaving.

not to be an insane joemarr girlie YET AGAIN but -> ja'marr adores the shit out of nola that much is obvious: choosing to stay in nola for lsu, the way he speaks of it and how he never lets go of his accent even if people struggle to understand him, the shout outs, the fleur-de-lis pads tattoo big ass new chain etc etc so loud in his love AND YET he doesn't say that there's where he would end up in the end. he hauled his ass to cincy, stayed there and made it clear he doesn't plan on leaving (cincy and joe), has a condo in miami with all the beaches and waters he loves but he doesn't see himself living there, etc et-fucking-c AND JUST!!! not to be insane its like he knows that joe is for ohio. joe always comes back to his roots–wanting to go to nebraska like his fam, choosing osu, leaving osu to lsu and choosing to go back to ohio in cincinnati and just not leaving he has shit to prove there he loves it there it's where his family is it's where he grew up it's where he's loyal to and ja'marr just. follows him. 'i don't know' on whether he'd stay in nola where he spent his childhood and college years. 'haven't decided' like there's a place in his mind but he's unsure if he should or if his welcome is for forever or what the boundaries and lines of that forever is and if it's just a wolf-howling-at-moon-never-to-meet shooting-himself-in-the-foot kind of situation. like do you feel me??? i feel crazy like do you get what I'm trying to word out 😭

and like ugh if i can just mention about joe's fondness and love for all the things he's been a part of is so 😔❤️ still wearing all those silicone bracelets to this day the lsu one, covid days bengals one, etc. his ohio state, geuax tigers, athens etc sweatshirts and hoodies that he wears to this day that are in near pristine condition but also looking worn in a way that shows he wears them often and cares for them deeply so they last to this day. showing his love and appreciation in such in your face ways like the burreaux senior day name change, ja’marr’s jersey, etc other examples i can't think of bc my brain is fried :(((((( and so it's like.......maybe that is something that ja'marr notices and wants him to keep you know?? so if he stays in ohio for joe it isn't even remotely a hardship because the city has embraced him so readily and lovingly and he's repeatedly said that he loves the city even if the chili is shit so :(((( just incredibly loyal to a fault these two aaaaa

[letsgetrowdy43]

The big (preseason) game—

Request: Sunny going to Adam's first game with the boys. When Luca posted it on his story. She surprised him. Adam got super excited when he saw her.

Au Masterlist!!

It started with a simple phone call, "Ohio preseason starts this week," Luca said, Sunny could practically hear the smile on his face as he scrolled through his laptop for tickets. "Gavo and I are thinking about going, I'm driving, He knows we will be there, but maybe wanna come with and surprise Adam?" his grin grew as the question rolled off his tongue. "Of course, I wanna go," she grinned widely. "I'll send you the details once I figure them out."

That's how she ended up contently in the passenger seat of Luca's car, Gavin and Rutger crammed in the back seat due to Luca's adamant tone that the girl would be sat up front with him.

She couldn’t wipe the smirk off of her face as they got on the road, the entirety of the trip was spent with the boys loudly arguing over where they wanted to stop for lunch or the music that Luca played as she jotted down some notes in her book for her upcoming marketing midterm.

"You excited to see your brother?" The girl asked as she looked at the blonde. "I am, it's been weird without him for sure," he shrugged, his eyes stuck to the road as the girl looked up at him, "it's stupid," how words came out mumbled. "It's not stupid, I miss him too, he's one of my favourite people," she said as her hand reached out to reassuringly squeeze his arm, "he's your best friend, it's normal to feel sad that he's gone."

Luca hummed in appreciation as he looked over to see her staring out the window at the rain that ran down the glass, "how are you doing without Luke?" Luca asked as she shrugged and looked back at him. "I miss him a lot," her bottom lip wobbled as she stared down at her hands that lay clasped in her lap. Her brothers were always a sensitive topic for her, they were her partners in crime and biggest supporters, it sucked that she lived such a distant life from all of them now, but she was proud of the nonetheless. "I can't hold him back just cause I'm sad, he needs to be there with Jack, it's his dream," her eyes began to water as her hands wiped away and remnants of her little breakdown.

Luca nodded as he reached out to grab her hand, "Well if it makes you feel any better, you're stuck with me for the next three years," she laughed as she looked at him and his cheesy grin. "Thanks, Lu," she said as she looked at the big "Welcome to Ohio" sign on the side of the road as they continued driving on the highway.

ꕥꕥꕥ

After the rest of the drive, a little dinner, and a quick stop at the Bluejackets merchandise stand for some jerseys Sunny sat on the edge of her seat the entire night, the Blue Jackets and the Penguins were neck and neck the entire game and ended up going into overtime. Her hands were balled into tight fists as the Blue Jackets gained possession of the puck, a few passes later, the puck was in the back of Pittsburg's nets causing Sunny and Gavin to jump to their feet, hugging and screaming at the team piled into a hug.

"Let's go down and wait for him," Luca said taping the girl on the shoulder as she smiled and nodded, heading down to the spot where Adam told the group to wait.

Adam was one of the first ones out of the locker room, a grin on his face, adamant to see his older brother and friends as he searched the visitor's hall for familiar faces. His eyes caught a glimpse of Sunny, clad in his jersey, the big Fantilli patch and the number eleven stitched on the back made his grin even wider, and to top it all off he got sight of the addictive smile on her face as Gavin introduced her to some of the boys who we had met during rookie camp.

The boy walked up to the group and wrapped his arms around her, placing a kiss on her jaw as she gasped at the surprise contact. "You didn't tell me you were coming to watch," he mumbled into her neck as she turned around to hug him fully, "Wanted to surprise you," she said as she buried her face in his chest, "you played really well, I'm proud."

She pulled away momentarily to peck him on the lips, but one kiss simply wasn't enough for the centerman, his hands cupped her cheeks as he deepened the kiss causing Rutger to let out a groan of disgust. "I for one didn't miss that," Rutger grimaced as Luca nudged him in the side. "Let them be in love, it's cute," he shrugged gaining a glare from Rut.

Sunny tapped his shoulder to get Adams's attention, motioning towards his brother who was patiently waiting his turn to hug his brother. To which Adam pecked her once more on the lips and then pulled away to see his brother and best friends who all hugged him while congratulating him on his win and two assists.

"Are you guys staying the night, or heading back to Mich soon?" he asked as he found his way back to Sunny's side, tucking her under his arm as she leaned up against his frame. "We got a hotel for the night," Luca shrugged, "thought you could show us around a bit," he grinned as Adam nodded and looked down at the girl who stared lovingly up at him. "I got my own room," she winked making Adam's cheeks turn pink, a fake gag left Rutger's lips as he shook his head and looked away from the loving couple.

Adam pulled her back into his chest, "I missed you," he said into the crown of her head as Gavin and Luca continued their conversations with some of the younger guys on the team. "I missed you too, but we have the next day to make up for time," she whispered as he kissed her hairline. "I think we should go check out that hotel room you were talking about," he said smugly, she could feel the smirk against the crown of her head as she nodded and placed a kiss on the knuckle of his hand.

-

-

-

[hotcryptidsinyourarea]

Falling for the Frogman of Loveland, Ohio

story synopsis: Molly is a 30-something cookbook editor who has decided to move from New York to Loveland, Ohio after a bad breakup and a desire for a fresh start. She is instantly attracted to her neighbor Jeremiah's midwestern charms, but this local guy is much more than meets the eye...

human (she/her) + interdimensional humanoid frogman (he/him) cw: social anxiety, existential pondering, negative self-talk

Chapter 3

My body and mind are so exhausted, I sleep in an hour later than I usually do. The fact that my new bed is very comfortable also facilitates this late start, but I don’t really have it in me to complain about that. I finally pry myself from between the sheets and get dressed for my first full day in my new home. First thing’s first: coffee. 

I do a quick search for the closest non-chain coffee shop to my place. Part of the appeal of moving to a smaller community is supporting the local business culture. Never again will I spend $10 on a tall, burnt-ass latte from the Bucks. There’s one on Loveland Madeira alongside all the other fast food chains, but I’m going to avoid it like the plague. It’s the weirdest thing in New York: everybody talks about how much they love their neighborhood coffee shops, but no matter when or how you see them in real life, there will always be that ubiquitous siren-logo’d cup planted firmly in hand. It’s like some grand delusion we all pretend we’re not a part of. 

No that I think people in a small town are paragons of virtue or anything. I know there is hypocrisy and assholes everywhere you go. But you spend enough time in one place and eventually you have the right to gripe about it as much as your little black heart desires! Or that’s what I tell myself, I guess. Part of me will always love New York and I truly look forward to going back and visiting. But the agitation I feel at just a passing reminder of the city tells me I made the right move leaving town. I just hope this place ends up being where I’m supposed to be. 

Well, what better way to get a feel for a new town than running a couple of normal, domestic errands? Namely: coffee. Let’s fucking gooooooo!

_____________________________________________________________

I’m loving the decor at the Blue Chip Roasters coffee shop. The amount of hearty wood furnishing and exposed burl fixtures gives it a Twin Peaks vibe without being derivative. It’s warm and homey and the scent of fresh coffee brewing makes my mouth water. There’s a huge wraparound counter that isolates the staff area behind the machines and cash register, which lines up with the doorway so you can walk right up to it. On the other side of the counter are bar stools occupied by various coffee drinkers who are all immersed in their books or laptops. It’s simple but welcoming. A satisfactory first impression, for sure. 

It’s a blessedly simple menu. They only have two types of milk, whole and oat, but I’ve never strayed from the classic whole milk-coffee combination anyways. Full fat means full flavor and that’s what I want. I order a double iced latte and a cinnamon roll for breakfast. As I drop in a dollar for tip, I notice the jar is covered in stickers and such all depicting some artists’ renditions of an anthropomorphic frog. In big block letters it reads: 

>> DON’T FROG-ET TO TIP! - LFM <<

“Who is LFM?” I ask the girl working the register. 

“Oh, it stands for Loveland Frogman. You’ve never heard of it?” 

“I can’t say that I have, but I’m new in town. Like, brand new.” 

“Oh, well it’s just a dumb local legend. Years ago, a couple cops saw a lizard standing on its hind legs and told everyone they saw a Frogman. Locals have kind of taken it on as a mascot of sorts even though it’s fake as fuck.” 

“It’s NOT fake,” says the kid behind the espresso machine pulling shots. “The Frogman is real. That lizard story is a cover-up ordered by the FBI. Ask anyone from around here and they’ll tell you a story about them or someone they know spotting him at some point.” 

“That’s ridiculous,” the cashier rolls her eyes. “The people that claim to see him are just dumbasses lying so they can be the center of attention for a moment. Either that or meth heads.” 

“It wasn’t a frog at all,” says a third worker sweeping something up behind the counter. “It was an alien. A being from another dimension. That’s why the FBI wanted to cover him up. No one cares about some overgrown science project.” 

The local color of it all has me stunned silent. I am not used to talking this much with strangers. Honestly, I felt like I was pushing it by asking the cashier in the first place. I was half expecting a snide fuck-if-I-know dismissal. And now after instigating the conversation, I find myself at a loss for words. Great! I have no idea how to get out of this in the correct, polite way. I’m a decade out of practice. Thankfully, a voice coming from a bar stool in my periphery offers me a blessed interjection to keep me from looking as dumb as I feel.  

“Don’t listen to them. They’re just messing with you because you said you’re new in town. We don’t get a lot of ‘new’ around here often. A lot of the same,” says the guy. I turn to look at him, remembering the most rudimentary of manners, but what I see doesn’t help my muteness because this dude is good looking. 

Very good looking, one might say. 

Ridiculously, if you’re so inclined. 

I get that feeling in my chest that makes me feel like I’m twelve years old again and my friend Jessica’s older brother Adam would walk in the room while we watched TV– like it’s suddenly difficult to to take a full, deep breath and a heat spreads across my shoulders and chest. I can’t remember the last time I felt this way. I am completely flustered. I break eye contact to fumble through my wallet for an extra couple dollars to throw in the tip jar. Fuck! I need to work on my spontaneous conversation skills. I wasn’t expecting to experience culture shock quite to this extent, but I guess even just one state away is a whole other place, isn’t it? 

“Where are you from?” asks the guy. A straightforward question that I am perfectly capable of answering… hopefully. 

“I moved here from New Yor–” I manage to croak out, stumbling over that last syllable. I clear my throat. “York. I moved here from New York.” 

“New York City?” 

“The very one.” 

“Why would you leave New York to come to Loveland of all places?” he asks. “Most people are doing everything in their power to make it out of here.” 

“Oh, you know, sometimes the place a person needs is the last place you’d expect,” I reply. Looking back at the cashier, they have an incredulous look on their face like I’m speaking crazy talk. 

“Whatever you say, lady.” They hand me my coffee, my transaction finally complete. I lift the cup in salute and give a tight mouthed smile to the hot guy at the bar. He lifts his cup in return, a good humored smile plastered on his face. 

As I leave the coffee shop and settle into the driver’s seat of my car, I’m suddenly hit with the realization that I answered that hot guy’s question with the kind of trite bullshit normally reserved for Pinterest quotes. 

“Sometimes the place a person needs is the last place you’d expect,” I repeat back to myself. “What the FUCK does that mean, you dumbass weirdo bitch?” The heat I felt across my chest has definitely spread across my face. Luckily, there’s no cute coffee guy to see my embarrassment as I drive back home. 

_____________________________________________________________

Once I’m back home with my coffee and cinnamon roll, I park it back outside on the iron patio set and enjoy my breakfast. With a little food and caffeine in my system, I realize I may have been overreacting to the little interaction at the coffee shop. It probably wasn’t as bad as it was in my head. I was just hungry and fatigued from moving. No big deal. 

I hear the doorbell and go to let the internet installation technician inside. I’m impressed that he showed up so early in the estimated service window. It wasn’t uncommon for me to wait all day for a tech in New York only for no one to show up when they said they would. The next day or so, I’d often get a call while out and about. 

“Hi ma’am it’s George from Concast. I’m here to install your internet. Can you let me in?” 

“Let you in? You were supposed to come yesterday. I didn’t get any notification that you’d come today– I’m not here.” 

“Well, I need to be let in to install your internet…”

“But I’m not there. We’ll just have to reschedule.” 

“Next availability is in two weeks.” 

“GODDAMMIT. Wait right there– I’ll be back as soon as possible!” 

But none of that rigamarole is happening now. At this moment, I am reading a book on my back patio with an iced coffee and a cinnamon bun while Lyle sets up my fiber internet at the exact time he was scheduled to do it. Life is good. 

Okay, I may be looking at everything with rose colored glasses, but I’ll allow myself to bask in my new home serenity for a little while longer. What can it hurt to take the time to enjoy the fact that things are going smoothly? Back in the city, it felt like I was constantly having to strive for things to work. They rarely did and any hint of them possibly doing so was dashed with such expedience I never allowed myself the luxury of thinking that I possibly deserved for things to be easier. 

There was no way for me to get to that point when stuck in constant survival mode. The city is a beast, constantly growing. So even if you get to a point where you’re realizing some sort of comfort, the beast will continue to expand and shift until your complacency gets you displaced. It’s exhausting! I guess the hustle gives you something to live for– that’s why you see so many 80-year old women wandering around the streets of Manhattan. But they’re a hard eighty. And you can’t help but think they’re not there because they want to bust their asses just to make it through a day, but because they simply don’t even know there are other ways to live. Humans are creatures of habit. We find comfort in conformity. We create these confines and then tell ourselves because we made them, we must also work within them. 

It’s logical: as animals, we are bound by evolutionary instinct to find and keep a lifestyle that enables us to be productive– namely, reproductive– so that drives us to make choices that are safe and keep us connected. But I don’t think it’s extreme to say we as humans can and should continue to evolve past base evolutionary drive. It’s not imperative for all of us to be constantly productive. We have machines and programs that help us do a lot of the heavy lifting so that we may spend more time enjoying the world we’ve been gifted. And just as these advancements further separate us from any quote/unquote “natural way” of existence, we should consider the possibility that breaking free from our patterns and choosing not to conform to the established expectations may serve us positively. 

Of course, it’s that “new is better” mindset that led Mark to breaking up with me. He saw moving in together as conforming to the established expectations of those around us and he couldn’t do it. So perhaps I’m a hypocrite waxing poetic on the evils of conformity. No ideology would’ve stopped me from moving in with him. I was dead set on doing the expected. 

Except, I didn’t see it as settling. I saw it as an exciting new experience that just happened to promise a bit of security alongside the novel. There is adventure to be found alongside someone you can rely on. I guess at the end of the day, we broke up over a difference of perspective. If you’re going to build a life with someone, you should both see your future from the same vantage point. 

_____________________________________________________________

With the internet working and full stomach, I’m ready to continue unpacking. It’s not so much the unboxing that’s taking up my time. But with every essential item I unwrap, I’m reminded of something I’ll need to buy in the process of turning this house into a home. It feels a little consumerist, but I fully intend to take my time in accumulating these items and purchase with quality in mind, so I don’t sweat it.

Well, I don’t sweat the prospective shopping. Unpacking boxes does work up quite the literal sweat, however. It’s almost 6 pm and I am in desperate need of an end-of-the-day shower. Before I hop in, I pull up a food app and find the best rated Thai restaurant in my delivery area. I put in an order for pad thai and spring rolls and receive an hour delivery estimate– plenty of time to get clean before dinner, so I hop in the shower. 

I’m right in the middle of rinsing the conditioner from my hair when I hear the doorbell. An hour was either an incredibly inaccurate delivery estimate or it took me much, much longer to wash my hair than it normally does. 

“WAIT!” I holler towards the door as I wrap myself in my favorite extra large, super fluffy bath towel. “I’M COMING! I’M COMING!” I scurry as fast as I can to the door, probably looking like a drowned rat. 

“I’m so sor–” I halt as soon as I see who’s on the other side of the door. It isn’t my Thai food at all. It’s the guy from the coffee shop– the hot one who rescued me from my social awkwardness. He has that charming smile on his face, but it fades a bit as he gets a good look at me. In a breath of realization, his eyes go up to the sky as a pink blush spreads across his face. It’s kind of adorable, to be honest. 

“I am so sorry,” he says. “I’m your… we’re neigh– I live a couple doors down,” he fumbles through. “I wanted to come over and welcome you to the neighborhood.” 

“We– we met earlier, right? At the coffee shop?” I find myself once again in a situation I haven’t experienced in quite some time. Fourteen years in New York and not once did I have a neighbor come to my door to introduce themselves. I’m not even certain if I’m expected to invite him in. I certainly don’t know how to proceed when I’ve opened the door but a single layer of terrycloth between my nude body and the– admittedly gorgeous– welcome wagon. Thankfully, the wagon in question seems steady on the trail. 

“Yes! Yeah, that was me. Hey– I can, you know, wait here a second if you want to…” he makes a vague gesture towards the towel. 

“Oh! That would be great, yes. But you don’t have to wait outside. Please, come on in.”

He gives me a wary look. “Are you sure? I don’t mind…” 

“Yeah, I guess it’s not exactly best practice to let some guy I just met into my home while I’m changing, huh? I’m sorry, I just don’t want to be rude.” 

“You’re not, I promise. Go ahead, I can wait here. I’m patient.” 

Now I’m the one who’s blushing. Blushing a nude in front of a strange man. Mother would be so proud. I give him a sheepish smile as I close the door then scurry back to my room to throw on the nearest clothes I can get my hands on. I make a pit stop to take a peek in the bathroom mirror, rub the smudged mascara from under my eyes, and run my fingers through my hair. It’s not much, I think looking at my sorry state, but it’s what I got. 

I head back to the front door and take a moment to compose myself to come off with a false air of nonchalance. Fake it til you make it, right? 

I open the door and see him leaning against the wall and looking through his phone casually. I notice for the first time he’s holding a bottle of wine in the other hand. He looks up and catches my eye. A smirk sprawls across his face. 

“Woah– that was quick!” he says. 

“Yeah, well, I don’t have a lot of things unpacked here at the moment, so I don’t have much to sift through. Cuts down on the decision fatigue when choosing what to wear, for sure.” 

His smile brightens and it puts my entire body on high alert. I may not be nearly naked anymore, but looking at this guy makes me feel so exposed, like he’s seeing things about me that I’m not even aware of. I’m a grown ass woman, but this guy has me feeling bashful for the first time in years. 

“Come on in,” I move aside and open the door completely to let him inside the house. “I think you’ve proven you’re trustworthy enough.” 

“Cool, yeah.. I mean, thanks.. Yeah.” His stammering is endearing. There’s something comforting in the shared awkwardness as if the meeting of two awkward nerds cancels us out into being normal. “I’m Jeremiah,” he introduces himself and holds his hand out to shake. 

“Molly,” I grasp his hand in return. “It’s nice to officially meet you.” 

“Yeha! I hope you don’t find this creepy, but earlier I noticed the internet guy in your driveway and realized someone had finally moved into this place. The for sale sign was taken down about a week ago and I was wondering when you’d show up. Then when you said you just moved here at the coffee shop earlier, I thought maybe the new owner could be you.”

“And it is!” I interrupt. “I mean, I am. That is to say… It's kismet.” Jesus Christ. Is that something people say? Can I even define “kismet?”  Am I just embarrassing myself here? 

“Exactly!” His smile breaks my shame spiral. “It’s always worth noting when we get to witness the stars aligning in real time.” He holds the bottle of wine up to eye level for me. “I brought you a housewarming gift. It’s nothing special– I wasn’t even certain if bringing wine to a stranger is appropriate. But it’s a pretty dry red. I thought if you don’t drink, you can use it for cooking.” 

“I do! I mean, I do drink. Thank you, you’re very kind and I feel quite welcome.” I take the bottle and scan the label. It’s a Chianti I’ve never tried before. “This looks beautiful. Would you like to have a glass with me?” 

“Um… sure! That sounds nice. Do you have glasses?” 

“I don’t have stemware, but I have a couple cups that will do. Plus,” I pause to rummage in the drawer where I stashed my well loved wine key the night before, “I have this!” I grab the water glasses I have from the cupboard and start working the corkscrew into the top of the bottle. 

“Please, allow me.” Jeremiah takes the wine and key from me and effortlessly drills deep into the cork, angling the bottle away from him. He looks me directly in the eye as he pushes the lever away from him and removes the cork with an muffled POP.

What in the actual fuck? How was that so… hot? 

He grabs the glasses and distributes even, modest pours in each of them before handing me one. “Cheers,” he says, lifting his own glass, “to your new home.” 

“And new neighbors,” I clink my cup against his, immediately questioning whether that was smooth or just pathetically thirsty. Either way, I take a sip. I notice his eyes darting around, taking in the details of the house. 

“This place is almost the exact same layout as my place, just reversed.” 

“Really?” I ask. “Is that unusual?” 

“Not really, no. These subdivisions are financed and built before they’re ever sold. Developers will have a handful of blueprints and rotate between them while building. I guess keeping everything as uniform as possible allows them to churn out houses quickly and reduces the risk of error. You build the same house over and over again, you can probably throw them up in your sleep.” 

“Or they get so overconfident and cocky, they begin to slack off and make mistakes.” 

“Oof. You’re telling me. Complacency can definitely lead to miscalculations.” He takes another sip before continuing. “Happens in my work all the time.” 

“Oh yeah? What do you do?”

He winces. “It’s kind of hard to explain– not that it’s beyond your understanding,” he reassures me and my heart melts ever so slightly. “But, basically, I track and predict rainfall.” 

“You’re a meteorologist?” 

“No. I don’t really know much about weather in general. It’s more like I use statistics to estimate which places will experience flood or drought in the near future. I then use those estimates to inform the purchase and sale of certain commodities.” 

“Commodities. Like food?” 

“Food is a big part of it, yes. But also a lot of precious metals and whatnot. And oil. There’s always oil.” 

“So you’re a gambler,” I tease. He grins in response. 

“An informed gambler, yes. But, you know– no risk, no reward.” 

“Well it does sound pretty interesting. More so than what I do.” 

“Which is?” 

“I am an editor for a publishing company that specializes in highly stylized cookbooks. A lot of Housewives for housewives kind of content. I basically make sure that what the authors– or, at least, their ghostwriters– put in their drafts all make sense. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve caught cups– multiple cups– of salt from being added to a dessert recipe.” 

“That sounds interesting to me,” he says, being polite. I appreciate it nonetheless. “So does that mean you know how to cook a lot of different things?” 

I guffaw. “In theory, at least. I’m not a talented chef by any means, but I can make a meal.” I realize that at every chance I get, I’m diminishing myself in this conversation. When did I fall into that little habit? But before I can think much more about it, my doorbell rings. “Speaking of meals, that would be the takeout I thought you were.” I answer the door and thank the delivery person after they hand me my order. When I come back, I see Jeremiah rinsing out his now empty glass of wine before gently placing it in the sink. 

“Well this seems like the perfect opening for me to make a graceful exit. I’ll leave you to enjoy your dinner.” He gives me a genuine smile and reaches out to shake my hand goodbye. “It was really great meeting you. I’m excited to have someone cool in the neighborhood. And if you need anything, anything,” he gives my hand a squeeze on the emphasis and while making some very effective eye contact, “don’t hesitate to ask.” 

Damn. My new neighbor is hot.

[lonelywretchjervistetch]

Thoughts on making the Mourning Dove the new State Bird in Ohio? Sorry if this isn't a good bird for Ohio, I'm not too good at birds.

Thanks for the question! And no worries; all suggestions are welcome, and nothing's off the table!

Y'know, it's funny. I've always loved Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura), personally. They're extremely common and recognizable (by sight and sound), they're found in urban and suburban environments, and they're generally charming. When I moved back to the continental USA as a kid, this was one of the first birds I recognized. But is it Ohio? At first blush, I would say that it's about as valid as the present state bird, the Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), in that it's a recognizable backyard bird that would probably be received positively by the public. So, hey, maybe it could work, but I'm not sure it's the best fit.

However. There is an argument to be made, in a very...odd way. Because if we want to use the state birds to tell a conservation story, and we want to tell a story in Ohio in particular...there is a story to be told for a different species. But to tell it, we would have to use the Mourning Dove. And that's because...

...the Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) is very VERY extinct. OK, is this cheating? Kind of. Obviously, this isn't a species of conservation concern...anymore. BUT!!! It's an important story about how humanity can drive even an extremely common species into extinction. But why use this for Ohio? After all, some of the last wild individuals were reported in Indiana, not Ohio. However, the last Passenger Pigeon EVER was Martha, a pigeon living in the Cincinnati Zoo until 1914, when she passed away some years after her mate did in the same zoo. So, in a very real sense, the story of the Passenger Pigeon ends in Ohio, and her legacy can be carried out by the only native pigeon species that breeds in the state, the Mourning Dove.

So, hey, there's an argument there for the Mourning Dove to be Ohio's state bird, outside of its recognizability and status as a common backyard bird! Do I think it's the ideal choice? Well, I don't know, honestly. I have yet to look into Ohio in more detail, but it's not impossible! Plus, thank you for bringing this up to me, because I may not have thought of it otherwise! Oh, and for the record, if you're interested in Martha, you can still see her! After her death, she was sent to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., where she's currently on display in the Objects of Wonder exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History! But I'd go finder her there soon; the exhibit closes in 2025, and who knows when and where she'll go on exhibit again after that!

But I'll remember this question when I get to Ohio, and I'll bring this idea up! We'll see what others think about it; maybe they'll agree!

[snugglebug-92]

Dylan Duke x Wise Reader

If you told Dylan Duke 18 months ago that he would be dating the little sister of an Ohio State hockey player he would have laughed. He didn’t have a problem with Ohio. He was from there and his going to Michigan shocked some people. He made friends in the USNTDP that were going to Michigan so he decided to go there. His hockey season is good. He gets a goal in his first game. Everything is pretty good for him. 

Then he goes to play Ohio State. His whole family comes to watch him. They win the game and the boys go get dinner all high off their win. That’s when Dylan sees her. She’s the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. His eyes follow her to a table where he recognizes a few Ohio State players at the table and slumps into his seat. Of course, she had to go to his biggest rival school. 

After most of the boys go back to the hotel, Dylan decides to get ice cream with his family. That’s when he runs into her again. But this time literally. Thankfully he hadn’t got ice cream yet and her’s had a lid on it otherwise it would have been bad. The force ends up knocking her to the ground.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to run into you,” he says as he helps her up.

“It’s okay,” she says smiling. At that moment Dylan knows he’s a goner. 

“Is there anything I can do to make it up, do you?” he asks feeling bad.

“I need to get going but if you want to get coffee or something before your game tomorrow we could,” she smiles looking up at the boy. 

“Um yeah sure. Could I get your number?” he asks.

“Yeah of course give me your hand,”  she says to the boy. He holds his hand out and she writes her number on his hand before rushing out the door. He watches her leave as his brother laughs having watched the whole interaction go down right in front of him. The two boys order ice cream before going into the car where the rest of the family is. 

"Do you even know who that girl is?" Tyler whispers not knowing if Dylan wants the whole family to know. Dylan shakes his head no before handing everyone their ice cream. 

"Her brother just transferred this year. He used to play in Boston. She followed him to Ohio," he says before taking a bite of his ice cream.

"Does she have a name?" Dylan questions hoping to get more information out of his little brother.

"Y/N. Y/N Wise," Tyler says looking at his brother before grabbing his hand and looking at the number written on it. He grabs his brother's phone from the pocket of his suit jacket and shoves it in his face before typing the number in. He texts the girl before turning the phone off and placing it back in his brother's pocket.

"You really just texted her huh?" He questions.

"Like you were gonna. Don't get me wrong I'm proud of you for actually getting her number but that's the easy part. Plus she already knew who you were. So yeah I texted her. You're welcome," Tyler says before going back to eating his ice cream. Dylan goes back to his hotel about 20 minutes later and right as he steps into the shower his phone goes off. He reads the text and it's a time and place to meet. Thankfully all he will have to do is agree. He goes to bed that night with a smile on his face.

The next morning he goes to morning skate before quickly changing and going to the coffee shop. Thankfully it wasn't too far away. He spots her already sitting down and mentally curses himself for being late even if he's 10 minutes early. When she sees him she waves him over.

"Hi," she smiles as he sits down across from her.

"Hi. How are you?" He asks, looking at the girl. She's in an oversized Ohio State hockey sweatshirt with a messy bun but he still thinks she's beautiful.

"I'm good. Excited for the game. How are you, Dylan?" She asks.

"I’m good, wait you learned my name," he smiles.

"I already knew it. I'll watch Michigan when I want to annoy my brother. They talk about how good this Dylan Duke kid is so I looked him up," she laughed

"So I have a fangirl?"

"Maybe?" She shrugs.

"I won't complain if she's half as pretty as you are."

"You flirting Duke?"

"That depends. Would you ever date a guy at Michigan?" He asks, slightly shocked by how bold he's being.

"Maybe? Would you ever date a girl at Ohio State?"

"Yeah, I would. Now, do you want some coffee?"

"That sounds good," she says, taking his hand and leading him to the counter. The two get their coffee and Dylan pays to make up for last night. The two talk for hours and soon Luke is calling Dylan to ask where he is. 

"Do you need a ride?" She quietly questions as he frantically talks on the phone. He nods sheepishly before hanging up.

"If you don't mind, that would be nice," he says.

"Let's go," she says, grabbing his hand. They walk to her car and she quickly moves some stuff off her passenger seat before opening the door from the inside for the boy. He gets in and buckles up before giving her directions to the hotel off his phone. They park out front and she kisses him on the cheek before he leaves the car. He walks into the lobby to see Luke looking at him in shock.

"You were with a girl?" Luke says, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"Yeah. A pretty one," he says heading back up to the room.

"You're lucky I'm the only one who noticed you were gone," Luke says, bumping Dylan's shoulder.

"Thanks for not telling on me," he says as they enter their room. They change for the game before heading to the bus to leave. They ended up losing the game.

The two text every day for the next week and over Christmas break they meet up. He officially asks her to be his girlfriend when Ohio comes out to play Michigan. She says yes and wears one of his shirts even if she'd have to wear something for Ohio over it. Dylan watches as she sits next to his brother and he smiles to himself. He’s happy that at least one person can know about their relationship. Dylan gets a goal that night and points at her when he does his celly. The girl smiles at him.

“I still can’t believe you’re dating my brother,” Tyler says, shaking his head.

“He’s cute. Plus he has this weird charm to him,” she says smiling watching him skate back to the bench. 

“I can’t believe it took him a whole 2 months to ask you to be his girlfriend. I figured we were gonna be in-laws before the season was over with how much he talked about you,” he jokes watching the girl's facial expressions change as her boyfriend draws a penalty. 

“Ty we’ve only known each other for two months, we aren't getting married anytime soon,” she laughs watching as her boyfriend sits in the box.

“I know. It’s just your the first girl he’s liked enough to bring home. You’re the first girl he sent flowers to on Valentine's. He really likes you.”

“I really like him. But I don’t want to rush into anything. I just want to spend as much time with him as possible.”

And she does. She spends that night in his arms as well as the next. She texts him every day and she facetimes him every other. She spends her spring break in Michigan rather than with her friends on a beach in Mexico if that means she could get to spend 5 minutes with him. She drives there as soon as her class is done on Friday. She’s able to wear his jersey to his game without a care in the world when they play Notre Dame. When Dylan leaves the locker room on that night she runs into his arms and plants one on him. Thankfully he was one of the last guys to leave because the feeling of her lips against his was intoxicating. When they finally pull apart and untangle themselves from each other they are met with a few looks from shocked teammates.

“I didn’t even know you knew what a girl was, Duker,” one of his teammates says, wrapping his arm around the boy. Dylan grabs her hand before leading her out of Yost.

“This is Y/N. My girlfriend,” Dylan says proudly while kissing her hand. She smiles at the boy.

“Awe barf. You two are gross. I guess you aren’t going to the party then?” he questions.

“No, we aren’t. I just want to have some alone time with my girl,” Dylan says smiling.

“Be safe you two. I don’t want to be an uncle yet,” his teammate says, leaving the two alone.

“Whatever Briss,” he says, leading her to his dorm. The two get to his dorm and she sits on his bed as he grabs his stuff to go shower in his ensuite. She takes the time to take off her makeup and slip off the jersey before slipping on one of the sweatshirts she stole from his closet. She’s half asleep when he walks out of the bathroom towel still wrapped around his waist. He grabs his clothes before going back into the bathroom. She lies down getting comfortable before he comes into the room laying down next to her. She rests her head on his chest listening to the steady beat of his heart. His hand runs through her hair and their legs are a tangled mess. 

Sunday morning they slowly wake up before getting ready and going to get breakfast. Dylan clings to her, not letting her be more than 5 feet away from him unless one of them needs to go to the bathroom for the whole day. After breakfast, Dylan works on some homework while she reads a book. They get dinner together and then go back to his dorm so they can watch a movie. They fall asleep before the movie is even over.

Monday she goes to his bigger classes where the professor won’t notice an extra student. She sits next to him messing around on her computer while he takes notes. When he goes to practice she sits on the highest row of seats quietly watching him. The rest of the week is similar. They get breakfast and she’ll go with him to his bigger classes. She’ll watch practice and they will cuddle while watching a movie at night. They leave Friday to fly to Minnesota and she starts her drive. The boys end up winning the game and after a lot of convincing from the coach and phone calls to the Duke family the happy couple drives together from Minneapolis to Ann Arbor. She drops him off and the two share a long embrace before she leaves to go back to  Ohio.

Dylan’s phone rings as soon as he leaves the locker room after playing Quinnipiac. He already knows what she’s gonna say but she’s still happy she called. 

“You're going to the frozen four babies! I’m so proud of you!” she yells into the speaker.

“Thank you,” he smiles even though she can’t see him. The two talked on the phone for a little while before Dylan’s forced to hang up so the boys can leave. He sends her a text as soon as he’s back in his dorm letting her know he’s back safe and sound. 

The game against Denver is a hard one. They played like hell but still lost. The plane ride back was somber as half of the boys were not going to be in Michigan by the time the week was over. A few of the boys never even returned. They knew no matter the outcome of the game they were going pro. When the plane landed in Michigan Dylan called the girl hoping to talk but got a busy signal. He didn’t think much of it until he saw her in his sweatshirt with her arms wide open. He dropped everything and ran into her arms visibly slumping when she wrapped them around him. She pulled his face out of her neck and wiped away the few tears that had fallen. He rests his forehead against hers happy to be with his girl. They go to collect his stuff before driving back to his dorm. When they get there no words are said as he changes out of his suit and into a pair of sweats. She sits down on his bed before he comes over and curls into her side. She cups his face looking at the boy knowing that he’s going to break before long. She plus him into her chest as the tears spill.

“It’s okay baby. I got you. Let it all out,” she says, rubbing his back up and down.

“I just don’t want it to be over yet,” he says after he calms down.

“I know, baby. But you will come back next year and it will be even better. Plus these boys will always be with you. Even if you aren’t on the same team anymore,” she says as she wipes away his remaining years.

“I love you,” he says. He’s known it for a while but he’s never told her before.

“I love you too,” she says. He pulls her closer to him and the two lay down and cuddle on the bed. The two take a nap before he goes to get dinner with the boys and she goes back to Ohio. 

The rest of the school year goes by fast and they spend a week together at the Duke’s before she makes her way back home. She bonds with Alyssa and the two of them become good friends. Y/N and Dylan spend a lot of time with each other even with all of the other people around. Once the week is up she starts her drive home. They don’t see eachother until he has training camp with Tampa. He invites her down and the two spend every free second together until they both have to part ways to go back to college.

The first few weeks of college are good. Since Tyler goes to Ohio she can go home with him whenever Dylan is home to make it seem less obvious. Everything is going good until one day in mid-November when she gets a knock on her door from Scooter.

“Hi, Scooter, what's up?” She asks, a little confused, why her brother’s teammate is at her door.

“Look your brother might be too busy to notice his captain duties but don’t think it’s slipped past me young lady,” he says as he sits down on her couch.

“I’m sorry what?” she asks confused about what he’s even talking about.

“You and Duker,” he says smiling and watching as all the color drains from her face. How could he have found out? She and Dylan were very careful. He only gave her sweatshirts that could be mistaken for his brothers if anything happened. Both of them had a long talk over fall break and with Jake being captain they didn’t want to tell him just yet. She sits down on the bed and runs a hand through her hair.

“How did you figure it out?” she asks.

“Well, for one Ty’s always over here,” he says.

“Wait, Ty?”

“Yeah, Duker? Tyler Duke, who else could it be? Unless. You wouldn’t date someone from our rival school?”

“I um well you see.”

“You’re seriously dating Dylan Duke? Do I even want to know how you met?”

“Please don’t tell Jake. I’ve been trying to figure out when to tell him and I can never find a time when both me and Dylan are together.”

“How long?”

“Nine months.”

“So you’ve been dating since the last time we played them?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that was unexpected.”

“Please don’t tell Jake.”

“I won’t but you are gonna have to tell him sooner rather than later.”

“I know Scoot. I know.”

She calls Dylan that night and they agree the next time they play each other they are gonna tell Jake. That game comes faster than they would have liked it. By a lot. Dylan scores 2 goals but they still lose. They go to brunch the next day and they two have never felt more nervous in their lives than they did when Jake sits down at the table.

“Hey Dylan, nice goals last night but what are you doing with my sister?” Jake says looking between the two. He watches as the two engage in a wordless conversation before she looks at her brother.

“Okay. The two of us are dating,” she says looking at her brother.

“How?” he questions looking between the two.

“We met last season at an ice cream shop. I ran into her and she gave me her number so we could get coffee the next morning. I asked her to be my girlfriend when she came to my home game when you guys played us last year,” Dylan says, gripping her hand.

“You’ve been together for how long?” Jake asks.

“Just under 11 months,” she says.

“Okay so this was unexpected,” Jake sits back in his chair as his eyes dart between the two teenagers. 

“Look I’m sorry we waited so long to tell you. At first, we didn’t say anything because we didn’t know how long this was going to last. Then you got the ‘C’ and we both kinda freaked out. Ohio and Michigan hate each other,” she says.

“Yeah, I wish you told me sooner. I’m your big brother but I understand and I forgive you. But Duker you break her heart and you’re a dead man,” Jake says after a minute.

“If I ever hurt her I’ll turn myself in,” Dylan says.

“Now that that’s settled let’s eat. I’m hungry,” Jake says, opening up a menu. Dylan squeezes her hand under the table before letting go to look at the menu. After brunch, they go their separate ways and Dylan and Y/N take their pregame nap before she helps him get ready. She sends him on his way but not before she steals his extra jersey. She sits by some of the girlfriends of the Michigan player who all give her a look before she tells them she finally told her brother. They all laugh because they thought she was trying to get someone killed or something. Michigan ends up winning the game and she celebrates by getting ice cream with her boyfriend at the shop where they met. She drops him off at his hotel with the promise that she would pick him up as soon as room checks were done. Coach who was already way ahead of him just sends him on his way.

“So what do you want to do?” she asks her boyfriend.

“Honestly I just want to cuddle you,” he says sheepishly.

“Well good thing I have a whole room to myself plus a queen-sized bed,” she laughs as she drives to her house. They get there and change into more comfortable clothes before she lays down. She has about 5 seconds to breathe before the brunette boy jumps on top of her. He grabs her hand and places it on his head. She shakes her head before scratching his head. After a few minutes, the boy is sleeping. She gently shoves him off her body before she grabs the remote and turns her tv on. She falls asleep not long after.

The morning of the family skate is chaotic. First Dylan forgets to set their alarm then Y/N forgets her skates. Then to make things even worse Tyler misses the bus so he has to ride with the couple. They make it there in record time and everything goes just fine. The two make their way on the ice before she places a chaste kiss on his lips. She smiles at him before she makes her way to her family. She skates with them for a little while before making her to the Duke family. When she gets there Alyssa welcomes her with open arms before passing her off to the rest of the family. Dylan grabs her hand and leads her around the ice making a few laps before they stop for pictures. The two get a few pictures before she goes back to her family once again.

“Dude it’s not even funny how whipped you are for her,” Tyler says running into his brother.

“Tyler it’s called love and when you get a girlfriend you will understand,” Alyssa says as she shakes her head at her brother. After the family skate, Y/N gets lunch with her family and then goes to spend time with the Dukes. They get dinner and afterward, she goes to the hotel room she is sharing with Alyssa. The girls gossip for a little while before Alyssa admits that she hopes Y/N and Dylan stay together long-term. The next morning they all get and get ready for the face-off on the lake. Y/N gets ready with Alyssa wearing one of the beanies they made plus one of her brother's Ohio hockey sweatshirts. She spends some time with them before going back to sit with her family for the 2nd period. She sits with them until there are 10 minutes in the 3rd period and goes back to the Duke family crowd. She sits down and watches the rest of the game. She’s happy Ohio won but sad her boyfriend and his team lost. After the game, she gets dinner with her family before they leave to go back home. She rejoins the Dukes and spends the rest of the night in her boyfriend's arms.

When Ohio came to play Michigan everyone was expecting them to win. That didn’t stop Y/N from proudly wearing her boyfriend's jersey. She watched the game and it was clear after the 2nd period Michigan is miraculously going to win. What’s not clear is if her boyfriend is going back on this ice after the hit he took. She’s on the edge of her seat waiting for him to either start his next shift or go back to the locker room. Eventually, the game comes to an end and she jumps up cheering for Michigan. She watches as the boys skate around and the arena empties. She goes to the locker room to say goodbye to her brother and Tyler who are most likely going back tonight before she goes to find her boyfriend.

“Hi pretty girl,” Dylan says, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“Hi bubs. How are you feeling? That was a little bit of a rough hit you took?” she asks.

“The athletic trainer said I needed cuddles with my girlfriend to heal,” he smirks.

“Okay lover boy let’s get going,” she says, shaking her head at the boy. They go to his room and turn on the Minnesota vs MSU game. The two cuddle into each other before falling asleep happy to be with each other.

[ryeriy]

masterpiece

warnings: carving with knives (pumpkin carving)

navigation post

"Why are there pumpkins on the table?" Adam asked while walking over. "Because I bought them," I said. I was sitting in the living room watching TV. "Well obviously. But why did you buy them?" He asked. "For decor." He let out a laugh. "You realize pumpkins can't be house decor, right? They're gonna rot!" He exclaimed at me while laughing. He thinks I'm that dumb. "You seriously think I'm that dumb?" I got up from the kitchen to find Adam staring at the two pumpkins I had bought. Staring at what to do with them. "Well, of course not." He said. "Well maybe you shouldn't underestimate me then!" I exclaimed at him while laughing.

I'm a sophomore at Ohio State University. Adam recently got drafted to the Bluejackets this year. It worked out perfectly for us. I was already going to school here and he now works here. We'd been dating before I went to college. We started dating right before our freshman year of college. I was originally going to go to Michigan but Ohio had a better program for what I wanted to do than Michigan. Now that he's here it's better. Adam only moved here a few months ago. When I found out he got drafted to Columbus of course, I offered him to come live with me in my apartment. He'd been only living with me for a few months now but I've tried to make the most of it by making him feel welcomed. So having pumpkins to carve is a start. Especially with his season starting soon. I want to have some fun with him before we both get busy.

"We're going to carve them, dumbie," I said while grabbing the two knives I bought to carve the pumpkins. "This is going to get real messy then," Adam said while looking at me and letting out a laugh. "Well, I didn't think about that okay Albert Einstein," I said. We both couldn't stop laughing at each other. At this rate, the pumpkins would just become decor. We both pulled out our phones going onto Google and Pinterest. Searching for ideas of what to do. I decided on a basic Hello Kitty design while Adam chose the classic jack-o-lantern look.

Now, was the messy part. We both took off the top of the pumpkin. Adam went over to one of the cabinets and grabbed a big bowl. "We can put the guts in here." He said. Placing down the bowl in between the two of us. We both started to take out the guts and throw them into the bowl. "There's so much!" It felt like it was never going to end with the amount that was coming out. "Have you ever carved a pumpkin?" Adam said jokingly while laughing. "When I was little!" I laughed back at him. By now we were almost done with the guts and removing the seeds. "Are you almost done?" He asks. "Yeah, are you?" I asked back. "Mhmhm." He said back while taking the last few guts he had left out of the pumpkin.

The two of us started carving after twenty minutes. It took us so long to take out the guts. Too long. We both went in different directions on how we carved them. He was going the classic way, and I'm trying something harder. I think it's going to look cute though. Adam's is almost done and I'm not far behind him. I only had a few more things to do but he had to do less. "What are you even making?" I laugh for a moment. "It's hello kitty!" "Oh, now I see it! Sort of?" He said jokingly. "Oh my god, stop that!" I said while laughing as I playfully softly pushed him.

Both of us continued to finish up our pumpkins we were getting ready to put the candle inside to glow it up. "Yours doesn't look too bad. It's cute." Adam said as he placed a kiss on my head. "Aw, you're so sweet," I said while smiling up at him. He smiled back as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket to take a photo of his pumpkin. "Here I want one with you and yours. Then we can do the opposite." He said. I walked next to my pumpkin, picked it up, and stood next to it smiling at the camera. I put it down as I grabbed my phone and did the same. Took a photo of mine followed by one of Adam and his. "These are going on Christmas cards for sure," I said jokingly. "100%" Adam replied.

31 days of Halloween

join my taglist

[ofalchemyy]

[ casey deidrick, cismale, he/him/his. ] — spotted in the streets of brooklyn, it’s AUSTIN WALKER. they have lived in the city for 5 YEARS, working as a FOOTBALL PLAYER. the THIRTY-FIVE year old will probably be seen around BROOKLYN HEIGHTS a lot, seeing as that’s where they live. people say they can be a bit COCKY and SELF-ABSORBED, but friends know them to be LOYAL and CHARISMATIC. you know for sure you’ve found them when you’ve come across EARLY MORNING RUNS, THE SMELL AFTER IT RAINS, AND PUMP-UP PLAYLISTS.

Basics.

full name: austin james walker. nicknames: aj to family. hometown: cleveland, oh current location: brooklyn, ny age: 35. birthday: 4/5. star sign: aries. pronouns: he/his/him sexuality: bisexual king personality: he's extroverted, likes to be the center of attention, a bit brash, and sort of cocky. think your high school qb all grown up. he's full of himself, proud, and stubborn. but he's also extremely welcoming, likes to make new friends, and ride or die for his friends. he's the team captain trying to make sure everyone is having a good time at the team bonding event but also sneaking drinks in the back of the bus because he's here for a good time. a jock all grown up. likes: sitcoms, horror movies karaoke, cats, late nights, breakfast food, dance parties, road trips, novelty/touristy t-shirts dislikes: cold weather, period pieces, music snobs, tequila (bad experiences/memories), black coffee, reality tv dating shows fears: not making anything of himself, his family not being proud of him, spiders (especially those Big ones), irrelevancy, death...but not the concept just like...the after? he's a failed catholic rip trivia: country music lover, owns about 100 ties, secret baker, youngest of three

Bio.

like most things austin does, he showed up to his own birthday nearly three weeks early: an omen of things to come.

he was an active kid, so his parents, already dealing with two older children, put him into pretty much every sport possible: baseball, football, and basketball.

by high school, he'd narrowed that down to baseball and football. he had offers from a number of schools for both, but ultimately decided to stay close to home and attended the university of cincinatti on full scholarship

austin was drafted by his hometown bengals the third round and played his first eight seasons with the team, setting several records in the process including: most pass yards gained by a tight end in a season, most touchdowns in a season, and climbed into 2nd place all time in the bengals' list of tight end touchdowns

he was in the middle of a contract year when the unthinkable happened. during a playoff game, he caught a long pass from his quarterback like it was nothing and broke to his left for yards after the catch...and then he felt it. his knee buckled. a non-contact injury. before he'd even gotten the mri, he knew he'd torn something.

he ended up tearing his acl, requiring surgery and a lot of physical therapy to make it back onto the field. after 8 long months, he did so, posting a personal best in yards.

and the bengals subsequently traded him at that year's trade deadline. he was sent packing to the giants for picks and a wide receiver.

instead of letting that weigh him down, though, austin put in the work with his new team: he trained well, put in extra time at practice, and got involved in the community. he found that he loved new york -there was so much to do!- and he played some of his best football after the trade.

austin's career was not without its scandals, though: in his early years, he was known as a partier. he's been in the tabloids for everything from a pregnancy scare with his ex (true) to steroid use (not true).

he's known as a bit of a player: he had a string of exes when he was in ohio and even in the first couple of years in new york...but the rumor is, he might be getting closer to settling down.

Wanted Connections!

teammates/giants employees! would love a bromance or two with another football player, but i also like the idea of austin being friends with the social media manager, photographer, trainer, etc.

siblings! i would love a jason to his travis...but he's also got a third, secret (not really, lol, just not famous probably?) older sibling. i think he and his brother would be very close, but i'd be intrigued by a more antagonistic dynamic too...maybe something where the other sibling just recently moved?

exes: i'd love the ex-gf who was pregnant (safi). up to you what happened there: did she actually get pregnant, was it just a scare? we can talk about it! he's also been involved with a string of lovers so i'd love some who are still friends with him, some who dislike him, some who recently moved from ohio...the possibilities are endless! (we've got: arthur ...so far lmfao)

fwb: exactly what it says on the tin: nothing serious, just buds who hook up sometimes!

younger sibling/found family vibes: would love to have something/someone who austin has kind of...taken under his wing. he's the youngest in his family but i could see him being an older sibling vibe. he might be a bad influence sometimes but he's loyal t a fault!

former roommates! he makes enough money that i think he lives in a brownstone or something now, but when austin first moved, i could see him just like renting with some randoms he found on craigslist. they'd probably still be close. think the gang from new girl. i want those friends for austin. (alex, tyler, eli! the boysss)

[fiona-frauenfell]

I posted a one-shot on Ao3 if anyone would like to read it! (Or it posted below the cut.)

*Minor mention of verbal abuse*

Staring into a map for hours on end wasn’t my cup of tea, but alas, here I was. Alongside my loop mates, I found myself looking through maps to help Noor find her mom.

I would rather be looking at maps to find Fiona, but I overheard Millard asking Enoch earlier if he could “make sure he stays on task.” He being myself I assume because ever since Fiona has gone missing Millard has treated me as though everything I do towards finding Fiona is pointless. He claims there are “other things to worry about,” like finding V.

I feel like that’s all I’ve been hearing about for days. “Have you found anything out about V?”, “Are you looking for V?”, “Keeping looking for V!” At this point, I never want to hear the twenty second letter of the alphabet again.

Though I don’t blame Noor at all, I empathize with her if anything. I understand what it’s like to have someone you care about ripped away from your grasp. And Noor hasn’t seen V in years, I can’t even imagine how that feels.

Time went on, I begrudgingly looked through maps and Enoch stopped looking to over to see what I was doing, so I soon swapped my atlas of Ohio for one of Ireland.

Ireland was the only home Fiona had besides Cairnholm, not that she’d want to go back there anyway. After all the people who cursed her name and warned to never return, I doubt she would felt welcome to make a return.

Even if I did find a loop that Fiona could be hiding at, I would never get permission to go there. Heck, I don’t even have the permission to look through the map without having to sneak a glance, what made me think any authority figure would let me go to Ireland? Of course, I could always escape, but my chances of success with that were also very slim.

The only other option was to agree with my loop mates that Fiona had passed, which was an obvious no for me. But much as I didn’t want to believe it, it was still possible. But it couldn’t be, she couldn’t be, right?

I didn’t have much time to dwell on that thought, as my friends closed their maps for a lunch break. All except for Noor, who encouraged us to go eat, while she stayed to look through more maps. With this, I overheard Millard praise her for her dedication.

That was it. Before I could think to hold my tongue, I slammed my atlas shut and muttered “If you all had only cared this bloody much about finding Fiona, we would’ve had her back by now.”

I stormed out and tried to find a place to cool off. I end up finding myself on a bench beside the back doors of the library. Not all that far, but just out of the public eye. With tears streaming, I sat down and put my face in my hands.

I walked out of the building to try and hide that reaction. I was kind of embarrassed of how I reacted; Not the anger, Millard definitely deserved that, but the crying scared me. It put me in a state of vulnerability that I thought I escaped centuries ago, but here I was.

That was my father’s doing. In that moment I felt like I was fifteen again when the famine first stuck. Many of my friends were dying for an unknown reason and I was scared I was next. It got particularly hard when my youngest sister had contracted a disease that eventually also took her life. She was young, a couple months or so; we knew she wouldn’t make it but we had to latch on to some sort of hope, for there wasn’t any more of it anywhere else.

When she did eventually pass, I cried my self to sleep for almost a week. ‘Why was this happening to me?’ I could help but ask. Everyone around me was dying and couldn’t help but think that somehow maybe, it was my fault? How could I do this?

One night, my father heard the commotion in my room and peaked in my door. With an aggitated look he kneeled in front of my bed and whispered from behind gritted teeth. “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.”

From there on out I equated my empathy with ‘the need to grow up’ or ‘the need to become a real man, because real men don’t cry.’

I no longer cried because I was empathetic, I cried because what happened to me because I was empathetic.

But I finally found people that made me feel okay, like I could be my true self around them, even if I did cry every now and again.

Now the same people are trying to tell me my girlfriend is dead and tell me I’m over reacting when I tell them she’s not. What’s friends I have. If you call them that.

For example, when Victor died, nobody shoved it down Bronwyn’s throat. When she cried, nobody told her stop overreacting. They would sit with her, make sure she had a shoulder to cry on. And you see what I get?

Nobody treated me like that. And when I went away to sulk nobody would come to get me. Or so I thought.

About two minutes later Emma sat beside him, but I was a bit too preoccupied to notice. He finally noticed her presence when she put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be crying” wiping his eyes with my shirt sleeve as he spoke.

“Don’t apologize. I understand what you’re going through, and I know it’s hard.” Emma was trying to hard to use her “polite lady” voice and I was over it.

“No, you don’t. How could you possibly know what this feels like?” I shouted at her without even thinking.

“Because when Abe passed away…” she said, and I sobbed even harder; to think that Fiona could really be dead, yes it’s something I’ve considered but I didn’t believe it, her saying it just made it much more real.

“No,” I muttered “No, she’s not...” I try to continue my sentence but I find myself at a loss for words, instead I find myself wrapped in Emma’s hug. If anything, it always felt good when Emma gave a hug because of her fire powers.

We were comfortable. We stayed like that for a little bit, me crying on her shoulder.

In an attempt to cheer me up, she asks “So, what about lunch?” My weak spot; food. Through the tears I managed a weak, sarcastic chuckle. “I guess.”

[the-peddito-and-doise-show]

YOUR PIZZERIAS IN ONE PLACE?!?! THATS AWESOME!!!!

-

Hesitant, Peddito enters his own pizzeria after several decades of abandonment. To him, it was like stepping into a whole another place instead of a familiar one. He couldn’t believe it himself, as his eyes which bore red devilish pupils darted around to see if it was real or not.

“My—my pizzeria…”

He walked a little more, seeing the front desk. Memories were slowly getting to him—although they strangely seemed a bit faded. The eyeless Italian demon frowned, as he stared at a now dusty tip jar that was full on empty. Not even one cent.

He walked a bit more further, as his footsteps echoed in the lonely silence more noticeably. There was a purple phone that seemed like it was put on hold. Peddito put the receiver to his ear… and then immediately pulled it back out, as if he had heard something that not he even could comprehend.

Finally, he stopped at the end of the pizzeria, where there was a pizza box that had a disgustingly rotting pizza inside—which obviously been eaten in the last decade or so (as said before). Peddito grimaced, before a malicious laugh came behind him.

“Huh?! Who’s-a there?!”

Peddito said, before turning around to see a shadowy figure that was the shape of a circle floating above him.

He just stood there, just staring at the shadowy figure. Although unlike his very own pizzeria, it seemed… familiar to him. Then the darkened circle opened up, as another figure jumped out.

Bizzahead: “If it isn’t Peddito himself! The one who took down my tower! That wasn’t skibidi toilet rizz of you to do that!”

“YOU?! I THOUGHT I WOULD-A NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN!”

Bizzahead: “Well, here I am, the ultimate sigma from Ohio of all time! Are ya happy to see me?”

“NO, I’M-A NOT! AND-A STOP TALKING WEIRD!”

Pisace: “Aw, c’mon! We’re just giving a warm welcome, that’s all!”

Bizzahead: “Yeah! And alsooo—do you really think you can hide forever in that false identity of yours?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Pisace: “I’m surprised that nobody even noticed yet! The different shade of pink, the lack of teeth, and occasionally the red pupils as well! You’re not as clever as you think, Fakey!”

“…”

Bizzahead: “Oh, what are you going to do? Cry?”

“…”

Both Bizzaface and Pisace exchanged looks for a moment, before standing back—and they were right to do so. Standing before them, their victim which they had targeted beforehand, Peddito(?) began to disturbingly contort several ways that they had never seen in their lifetime, one by one. Now, they were the victims.

…

CRACK.

[cementcornfield]

I’m new here and love jamarr and joes friendship don’t get me wrong! but isn’t he closer friends with sam hubbard? they’ve known eachother longer and go on vacations together. I’ve never seen jamarr and joe on one.

Hi and welcome!! Sam and Joe are definitely very close also and have for sure known each other longer. I don’t know if it’s fair to say that they're closer but I do think their lifestyles just tend to match up more for them to hang out in the offseason than Joe and Ja’Marr’s do.

Sam and Joe are both in serious relationships (I think Sam is? unlike many others on here, I do not care about the WAGs at all lmao), they’re both introverts, and they’re both Ohio boys. It’s a lot easier to go on vacation with someone with a significant other if you have one too. Plus they have a lot of mutual friends via OSU that they tend to vacation with as well.  And I think they’d both prefer more lowkey vacations, whereas Ja’Marr definitely likes to do a bit more partying. (I remember a story last season where all the guys went to a club together after a game, and Joe and Sam stayed like half an hour then shared an Uber home lmao). And again, they’re Ohio boys, so a lot of their friends and families are in Ohio, therefore they do spend a lot of their offseason there, as opposed to Ja’Marr who goes back to New Orleans and also just seems to enjoy traveling more. 

I think one of the main things I love about Joe and Ja’Marr’s friendship is that fact they are very different people in a lot of ways. BUT like their fathers say, at their cores and where it’s important, they’re the same. They’re both tough, smart, hard working, stubborn etc etc, and they care about each other a lot. I think they respect each others’ differences and are a good balance for each other. So yeah, they might have other friends they spend more time with (Tee and Ja’Marr spend a lot of time with each other too!) but their friendship is still one that is clearly very special to them. 

*Also Ja’Marr says that he’s the one that convinced Joe to go to Vegas at the end of last season. Because according to him he “never gets to enjoy his life” due to his fame, and Ja’Marr thinks he deserves to live his life to the fullest as much as he can 🥺 So you can count that a joint vacation if you like 🙂 

[charaznablescanontoyota]

lorcan comes back from the mints' last postseason game to find briskie and rosa sitting on opposite ends of the kitchen table, both staring intently, hands held palm-down against the wood.

"did you guys order dinner, or -" ey starts, and gets shushed by two voices in unison.

"are you a blaseball player?" briskie asks no one in particular. "once for yes, twice for no."

there's a knock on the table, plain as day, though neither rosa nor briskie's hands move.

"what the fuck," lorcan says.

"there's a ghost," rosa says, and doesn't elaborate. "how was your game?"

"we sucked," lorcan says, letting eir backpack of equipment fall to the floor, striding into the kitchen to take eir own seat at the table. "don't we have ghosts? i thought they just, like, stayed in the crawlspace. or they're arturo moving shit around in the fridge at night."

"it's something new," briskie says. "or - they are. probably not dead. the ones in the trench never did this. knock twice if you're dead."

another singular knock, right on the heels of the request. whoever it is must be right here, listening.

"knock once if you're alive but invisible?" lorcan ventures, and gets one more knock in response.

"interesting," rosa muses. she takes her hands from the table, evidently satisfied that it's none of them doing the knocking, and twists her hair up into a bun.

"probably one of the fallen players," briskie says. "hank said the ones who didn't join active play are somewhere we can't see. the garages have one and apparently xe can make phone calls out." he purses his lips. "why come here, though...i don't know."

"well, clearly they're here for a reason," rosa says. her eyebrows are furrowed together, her fingers still teasing at her hair like they do when she's mulling over a problem. "could you be...arturo's husband?"

two knocks.

"enid?" lorcan tries, hopefully.

two more knocks. damn.

"what if we put down a bunch of tlopps cards," lorcan says, "and they pick one?"

ey realizes the problem as soon as the suggestion leaves eir mouth - no hands to point with, and no evidence that the invisible player can hold a pen or move an object. nobody even has to say it, though briskie half-arches an eyebrow and it's clear he's thinking it. lorcan appreciates the discretion, anyway.

"this is the worst fuckin' game of twenty questions ever," ey mutters.

"are you..." rosa trails off, considering. "a former crab?"

one knock.

"who was in active play?" she continues.

one knock.

"in the discipline era."

two knocks. rosa pauses.

"the expansion era?"

one knock. lorcan imagines expansion era crabs lineups in eir mind's eye, tries to sift through them, separate the old-timers from the late arrivals. leave out everyone who's already playing for a team right now, and...

"were you on the team in season 24?" briskie asks.

one knock.

"alston," lorcan says suddenly, sitting bolt upright. ey laughs, and slaps eir hands over eir mouth like ey's trying to hold it in. "holy shit. it's alston."

"ah," briskie says. his face is carefully neutral - alston's who he was traded for, and he doesn't talk about it, but maybe he's never gotten over that. he'll be alright, though, lorcan thinks. he can compartmentalize.

"well, that's settled. welcome to ohio, alston," rosa says, glancing around the room. there's still no telling where alston actually is. they'll find workarounds, surely. "can you eat? are you hungry? i think we were just about to order dinner."

[alphaman99]

Creative Systems Thinking

In a long ago edition of the Paris Review, writer Ray Bradbury responded to a question about a mysterious character, Mr. Electrico, who appeared in "Something Wicked This Way Comes."

What an answer!

BRADBURY

Yes, but he was a real man. That was his real name. Circuses and carnivals were always passing through Illinois during my childhood and I was in love with their mystery. One autumn weekend in 1932, when I was twelve years old, the Dill Brothers Combined Shows came to town. One of the performers was Mr. Electrico. He sat in an electric chair. A stagehand pulled a switch and he was charged with fifty thousand volts of pure electricity. Lightning flashed in his eyes and his hair stood on end.

The next day, I had to go the funeral of one of my favorite uncles. Driving back from the graveyard with my family, I looked down the hill toward the shoreline of Lake Michigan and I saw the tents and the flags of the carnival and I said to my father, Stop the car. He said, What do you mean? And I said, I have to get out. My father was furious with me. He expected me to stay with the family to mourn, but I got out of the car anyway and I ran down the hill toward the carnival.

It didn’t occur to me at the time, but I was running away from death, wasn’t I? I was running toward life. And there was Mr. Electrico sitting on the platform out in front of the carnival and I didn’t know what to say. I was scared of making a fool of myself.

I had a magic trick in my pocket, one of those little ball-and-vase tricks—a little container that had a ball in it that you make disappear and reappear—and I got that out and asked, Can you show me how to do this? It was the right thing to do. It made a contact. He knew he was talking to a young magician. He took it, showed me how to do it, gave it back to me, then he looked at my face and said, Would you like to meet those people in that tent over there? Those strange people? And I said, Yes sir, I would. So he led me over there and he hit the tent with his cane and said, Clean up your language! Clean up your language! He took me in, and the first person I met was the illustrated man. Isn’t that wonderful? The Illustrated Man! He called himself the tattooed man, but I changed his name later for my book. I also met the strong man, the fat lady, the trapeze people, the dwarf, and the skeleton. They all became characters.

Mr. Electrico was a beautiful man, see, because he knew that he had a little weird kid there who was twelve years old and wanted lots of things. We walked along the shore of Lake Michigan and he treated me like a grown-up. I talked my big philosophies and he talked his little ones.

Then we went out and sat on the dunes near the lake and all of a sudden he leaned over and said, I’m glad you’re back in my life. I said, What do you mean? I don’t know you. He said, You were my best friend outside of Paris in 1918. You were wounded in the Ardennes and you died in my arms there. I’m glad you’re back in the world. You have a different face, a different name, but the soul shining out of your face is the same as my friend. Welcome back.

Now why did he say that? Explain that to me, why? Maybe he had a dead son, maybe he had no sons, maybe he was lonely, maybe he was an ironical jokester. Who knows? It could be that he saw the intensity with which I live. Every once in a while at a book signing I see young boys and girls who are so full of fire that it shines out of their face and you pay more attention to that. Maybe that’s what attracted him.

When I left the carnival that day I stood by the carousel and I watched the horses running around and around to the music of “Beautiful Ohio,” and I cried. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I knew something important had happened to me that day because of Mr. Electrico. I felt changed. He gave me importance, immortality, a mystical gift. My life was turned around completely. It makes me cold all over to think about it, but I went home and within days I started to write. I’ve never stopped.

Seventy-seven years ago, and I’ve remembered it perfectly. I went back and saw him that night. He sat in the chair with his sword, they pulled the switch, and his hair stood up. He reached out with his sword and touched everyone in the front row, boys and girls, men and women, with the electricity that sizzled from the sword. When he came to me, he touched me on the brow, and on the nose, and on the chin, and he said to me, in a whisper, “Live forever.” And I decided to.