#Family Fun: A great video for the whole family to enjoy together.

[babynest80]

Kitty Cat O Kitty Cat Mewo Mewo, Cat tik tok, Fun and Cat news, #Babynest80 #catnews, #cattiktok

[maggotzombie]

the day/night we met ; henry cavill

PAIRING — Henry Cavill x Reader (fem) SUMMARY — On your wedding day, your Maid of Honor prepares a special gift to which you and Henry have distinct responses. WORDS — 1,8k TW — nothing really just a lot of fluff, emotions (I cried a bit writing it), Henry in a suit 😈. A/N — Hi! I'm not dead, just quit the most toxic job ever so I'm getting back here lol Here's a short but very dear fic to me that I wrote last year but never posted. I'm so happy to finally post this! This story has been in my head for two years now and it came out better than I thought.

Song insp.: Eu Me Lembro by Clarice Falcão feat. Silva

— 𝕸𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙

“ALRIGHT,” YOUR MAID OF HONOR smiles, carefully wiping her tears with a napkin. “After making you cry and potentially ruining some makeup,” The room laughs. “I’ve prepared something different to end this on a high note.”

This is one of the dearest moments of your life: your wedding. You’re marrying your soulmate. Your heart could burst with love and happiness whenever.

Everything’s perfect, from your dress to the lights of the venue. Henry – your newly proclaimed spouse – has an arm around you as you listen to your family and friends' speeches about you and your love.

You found it strange when your Maid of Honor wasn’t the first to speak, but it seems she has a reason for it. Immediately, you feel anxious, but in a good way.

“When these two told me they were getting married, I knew I wanted to do something special for them,” Your best friend starts. “I just didn’t know what, but I knew it had to be something remarkable, something for them to look back and have a good laugh,” She looks at the both of you with tears in her eyes, chuckling.

You also wipe tears off your eyes, smiling back at her, and Henry tightens his embrace around you.

“So I sat down with these two, separately, and started to ask a few questions,” She smiles and wiggles her eyebrows, which is an expression you know very well.

‘Oh my,’ You think. ‘What is she up to?’

“Things started to get really interesting from the start, and I decided to make a video out of it,” Your best friend winks at you. “Without further ado, enjoy it.”

With a pleasant smile, she sits down. The attention turns to the screens set around the venue.

You remember sitting with your Maid of Honor to chat about your relationship. You didn’t really understand why she wanted to do that. However, it always has been effortless talking about Henry, and you brushed it off as having something to do with the wedding.

You recall having a great time answering her questions – drinks might have been involved beforehand, but the whole process was surprisingly professional.

Your friend’s face pops up on the screen as she introduces herself. “In this little video, I wanted to talk about our lovely couple’s amazing and fun story, especially the day they met,” She explains. “Newlyweds, I love you very much, and I hope you like this little something I put together for you.”

She blows a kiss and waves. Then in fancy lettering, “A love story” is scribbled on the top-left corner of the screen, and “A story of love” on the bottom right corner. You wonder why both phrases – which convey the same thing – are on the video, but the thought quickly slips your mind when your smiling face appears on the screen.

“State your name and occupation, please,” Your friend prompts on the video, but she’s out of the shot.

You roll your eyes amusedly. “What’s this, a trial? I’m innocent, your honor!” You giggle, making everybody at the venue laugh.

You answer the question anyway, and your name also appears written on the video.

“For the purpose of… this, I’m the bride?” It sounds like a question, and you make a face, unsure of yourself.

She never explained what the video was for, in your defense.

Right after you, Henry appears. “I’m Henry, and I am the lucky groom,” He smiles brightly, looking as handsome as always.

“So, tell me, how did you meet Henry?” Your friend asks, and your smile is instant as you remember that exact day as if it was yesterday. “How did you meet Y/N?” She asks him in the next scene, and his reaction is the same.

“I was hosting a brunch,” You start, your eyes unfocused as the vivid memory plays in your mind. “And it was morning when Henry arrived.”

When he reapers, you can tell it’ll cut back and forth between you. “I was throwing a party, and she was the one that came around. I think it was three in the afternoon,” Henry replies, quite differently from you.

You scoff mockingly, looking at him by your side. He chuckles, brushing it off with a shoulder tic before you turn back to the screen.

“And I said: ‘Hi, come on in, make yourself at home,’ You know, something of the sorts,” You shrug off.

Your betrothed chuckles in the video, scratching his chin in thought. “I was the one that said hello, but she didn’t hear.”

His comment makes the venue erupt in laughter. You meet Henry’s loving gaze again and squeeze his hand, making him bring yours up to press a kiss on your knuckles.

If your shared story had different and entertaining versions until now, it’d just get better!

After being asked about first impressions of one another, he replies: “She thought I was hilarious,” He says with such confidence that is endearing.

In your turn, you laugh and cover your mouth as if what you are about to say it’s an embarrassing secret.

“Oh my god, he wouldn’t stop talking! Like a lot!” You emphasize. “And I pretended to laugh the entire time,” You say very sheepishly before throwing your head back in laughter again. “That’s terrible. I feel like I need to apologize,” You add after your fit.

“Oh, I just remembered something,” He suddenly announces, and his smile is wide as the memory toy around in his head. “Her blouse was inside out,” He chuckles, eyes focused on a spot. “She’s so adorable and such a goof, isn’t she?” He looks back at the camera.

“He loved the way I was dressed,” You giggle, visibly shivering as you physically remember the feeling of him truly looking at you for the first time.

Your friend asks another question, changing the subject slightly, but Henry shakes his head.

“Yeah, the party was great! Everybody was having a good time, but I only remember searching for her when she wasn’t near me. Trying to get another look, you know?” He says.

In turn, you scoff. “No one was dancing! I don’t remember who was taking care of the music, but it was terrible!” Your genuine response makes the room fills with laughter another time. “At least everyone had a drink in hand and ate something.”

“Oh, yes. The food was wonderful. Everything homemade,” Your partner assures with a proud nod naively.

“I bought everything off Tesco,” You rushedly confess, throwing your head back in laughter again.

Back to the present moment, you’re wiping the new tears from the corners of your eyes due to laughter. You love the good energy around the room as your guests and yourself enjoy the video your Maid of Honor made.

Now you understand both phases in the beginning, and although you and Henry have very distinct versions of the day you met, you love both of them and the feelings they bring you.

However, something changes in the next second of the video. For the first time, on a split-screen, you two appear together.

“When I saw him, I knew it (When I saw her, I knew it),” You both say simultaneously. “She (He) was the person I’d spend the rest of my life with,” You continue.

Glancing at him, you’re surprised to see he’s already looking at you. Then you exchange a knowing look. It seems like you got on the same page in this part of the video.

“And that’s how I realized that life put him (her) in my life,” You say in unison. “On that Tuesday (Thursday) of September (December),” Your responses overlap with each other, drawing amused reactions from people.

“That’s why I remember everything, of every second,” Both of you state, which is downright ironic at this point. “Ask me anything that I remember.”

“I remember,” You proudly declare with a grin but, this time, by yourself.

And so does Henry. “I remember,” He nods with a beam.

The video ends there, and the room erupts in applause, whistles, and hollered praises.

Words couldn’t describe the dazzling feelings you’re experiencing if you wanted to. You can’t be more grateful to your friend for this treat either. And, of course, the man you now get to call your husband.

The spotlight of attention returns to you as you’re exchanging the most enamored gaze ever. Henry leans in and presses his lips to your forehead, making you close your eyes. Slowly, you allow all those remarkable sensations to wash over you.

When you reopen your eyes, you smile at him before looking at your Maid of Honor. “Thank you so much for this extremely thoughtful gift. We both loved it a lot.”

Henry confirms with a head gesture.

“Words won’t do justice to how much you’re special to me. I’m just so grateful I get to share such a special and meaningful moment of my life, like this one, with you,” Your voice cracks at the end, and you smile, trying to hold your tears at bay as you can see she’s doing the same. “So I can’t thank you enough.”

As the room gets loud with another round of applause and cheers, she smiles, mouthing an “I love you too” to you. Wiping your tears carefully one more time, you chuckle.

“Although, I only have one question,” You announce, making the room pipe down. “Was my blouse really inside out?” You giggle as you look back at Henry.

Your husband starts to laugh. “Yeah,” He confirms bashfully. “Yeah, it was,” He nods as your guests join you in laughter.

“Oh, God. I can’t believe it,” You shake your head in embarrassment. “I also would like to point out that my husband clearly has a lot of experience with interviews,” You remark, addressing the room. “I feel kinda bad after saying I was pretending to laugh at his jokes when he’s all loving and caring,” You rejoin your friends and family in fun.

“I do tell bad jokes,” Henry concedes in your defense. “I love how genuine you are, and you’re loving and caring to me, too,” You nearly melt at his famous Hollywood-star smile.

The sound of ‘aww’s’ fills the room. “You see what I’m dealing with?” You joke, making everybody chuckle.

You give him a chaste but affectionate peck on the lips. Your wedding coordinator decides it’s time for the first dance to open the floor to make your guests burn some energy after the buffet.

And so, feeling the most secure and happy while pressed against your husband’s chest with his arms around you, you swing slowly. By sharing the same air, the same space, and the same feelings, you can’t think of anything better.

It all started on a Tuesday morning in September for you. But for him, it was a Thursday afternoon in December. Now, it is a Saturday evening in November that you’ll never forget.

You will remember. Everything. Of every second.

[astermath]

pairing: robin buckley x fem!reader

summary: robin falls head over heels for the cool girl renting horror movies at family video. steve can’t believe her awkward shyness is actually landing her a date, but he’s happy for her nonetheless.

word count: idk kinda short lol under 1K

notes: just wanted to write a little blurb, then it turned into something else, so enjoy this short little meet cute with robin ♡

normal sized font below!

Robin really is that love at first sight kinda girl.

She’s the type of girl to be busy sorting tapes at family video, when you walk in, all pretty femininity and mysterious aura around you. And suddenly she doesn’t know what to do with herself. She doesn’t know where she is, why she’s there, hell, she probably wouldn’t be able to tell you her name if she asked.

She doesn’t stop staring at you, not when you enter and not when you walk over to the horror section to pick something out. Only when Steve nudges her in her side, she snaps out of it, looking more flustered than ever.

“Dude, can you not?”

“Sorry man, it just— looked like you were falling asleep with your eyes open! What’s with you anyways?”

Robin doesn’t respond, simply averting her eyes to the cash register and hoping Steve doesn’t pry any further.

Which would have worked, if you weren’t talking to her right now.

“I’m sorry, can I—“

“Yes! Yes, absolutely, you can…” Robin trails off, realising she hasn’t even let you finish your request. Her own eagerness embarrasses her to no end, her face heating up and her cheeks now closely resembling the colour of a tomato.

To her surprise, you giggle. You’re not awkward about it at all, which somehow makes her fall for you even harder.

“I was gonna ask what the latest time would be when I’d be able to return this.” you smile, and the blonde girl is certain it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.

“Oh! Yeah, totally, no problem! It’s uh— a great choice, by the way. I love friday the 13th, sooo good, all that horror stuff, a huge fan—“

“A week.” Steve interrupts her rambling.

“Huh?” Robin turns to her friend.

“To answer her question, since you’re too busy being head over heels over here.”

You chuckle again, and Robin genuinely thinks her head is going to explode. Not only is her best friend making fun of her in front of you, but you’re not even making her feel bad about it. It’s like you find it cute or something. How crazy is that?

“Cool, I’ll just uh,” you hold up the tape, “rent this one then.”

Robin rings you up, her hands moving faster than her mind, and she hopes you don’t notice the slight shakiness in them. It’s not every day the prettiest girl in the whole world shows up at her job, so she’s not exactly prepared.

“Thanks,” you take the tape from her along with the receipt, your fingers touching slightly when she slides them over. Now you’re the one who’s getting the butterflies.

“So, you said you were a fan of horror movies?”

Robin nods enthusiastically, while Steve has to bite his tongue to hold back from saying that that’s the biggest lie ever. Robin isn’t a coward, not at all, but she’s the worst at scary movies. She’s just saying all this to impress you. She doubts it’s working though.

“Well, I was gonna watch this alone, but…” you grab a pen off the counter and scribble down your number on the receipt. “If you feel like watching it together, give me a call…” you pause to read her name tag. “Robin.” You smile again. “Nice name.”

“T-Thanks! You uh, you too!”

“Thanks, even though I… Haven’t told you yet.” You write your name down next to the number. “Now you know.”

“Huh…” She reads it over, not being able to keep herself from smiling like she’s sunshine incarnate. “That is a really nice name though.”

You grin, grabbing the tape off the counter and stuffing it in your bag. “Well, Robin, I’m free this Friday, if you wanna take me up on the offer.” You start walking backwards and give her a quick wave. “See y’around.”

She waves back, although more hesitant. Frankly, she’s still processing the entire encounter, and the fact that you’re real. Someone as beautiful as you exists, talked to her, even gave her your number. She didn’t know a reality like that was possible.

“I can’t believe that worked.” Steve scoffs in disbelief, though he’s pretty stoked for Robin all in all. He wants his friend to find her special person as much as he does for himself.

“Yeah,” she stares as you walk off, “me too.”

The freckled girl groans loudly and drops her head into her hands. “Why the fuck did I say any of that? Why do I always just keep talking?”

“I don’t see the big deal Buckley,” her coworker leans against the counter, “you got your date, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but then what? Then what do I do? I might have been able to charm her with my awkward idiocy this time, but what if we watch the movie and she finds out I’m a huge wuss!” She gestures around wildly with her hands, earning a confused stare from one of the older customers.

“This is going to sound so stupid, and I can’t believe I’m saying this,” he runs his hand through his brown locks, “but just like, be yourself? She seems nice enough, I’m sure she won’t judge you for being a total scaredy cat.”

“Not helping, Harrington.” She gives him a defeated look.

“Sorry, you know what I mean.”

“But what if she does?”

“What?”

“What if she does judge me? I mean jesus Steve, I wouldn’t blame her! She’s like— way out of my coolness league! She’s practically doing charity work watching a movie with me.”

Steve scoffs. “Don’t sell yourself short, Buckley, you’re plenty cool. Besides, if she does judge you, then clearly she’s not worth it. But again, I think you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah,” she sighs, already picturing her holding onto you in fear of a completely fictional serial killer. “I guess you’re right.” She goes quiet for a moment, before she’s back to daydreaming about the whole scenario. The two of you on your couch, shoulders touching, maybe an arm around her, hands brushing when you reach for the popcorn, all that sappy stuff…

“Buckley?”

Maybe you’d find it cute that she gets scared. Maybe you’d wanna protect her. She gets that vibe from you, that you’d keep her safe from all the Freddy Kruegers and Jason Voorhees of the world.

“Robin!”

Steve snaps her out of her daydreaming, gesturing towards Keith who’s about to enter the store.

“You two organise those tapes like I asked you to?” Their manager isn’t even looking at them, struggling with putting away his car keys.

Robin swipes the tapes off the counter and stuffs them randomly into the two boxes. That’s a problem for later.

“Yup! All sorted! Good thing I love organising stuff!” She laughs awkwardly, and Steve is fighting for his life trying not to laugh.

She’s got bigger things to worry about right now. Like what to wear for her date with you. And what kind of snacks you like to eat with your movies. And how she’s going to explain that the scariest thing she can handle is Frankenweenie.

comments and reblogs are highly appreciated!

[gravityfallsreaderinsert]

Mr. and Mx. Mystery

S1E1 - Tourist Trapped

MasterList

The sun was shining in the clear blue sky as a family were having a fun day outside.

‘Ah, summer break-‘ Hank was grilling burgers for his family and his two kids Shmipper and Smabble were laughing and chasing one another, while the rest of the family sat at a picnic table. "You want cheese on that, hon?" Hank asked his wife, flipping a burger. "Sure, Hank."

‘A time for leisure, recreation, and takin' 'er easy... Unless you're me.’ 

A golf cart crashes through the "Welcome to Gravity Falls" sign with Dipper and Mabel screaming as they drove thorugh the woods. The ground shakes as something large makes it way pass trees, knocking them down. Mabel looks back toward the forest, "Aaaah!!! It's getting closer!" A giant hand tries to reach for the cart but missies as the cart files off a rock and lands as the kids swerve.

‘My name is Dipper. The girl about to puke is my sister Mabel. You may be wondering what we're doing in a golf cart fleeing from a creature of unimaginable horror.’

 "Look out!" Mabel screamed as Dipper turns the wheel to the left hard, almost knocking the cart over, leaving both them screaming.

'Rest assured, there's a perfectly logical explanation.'

'Let's rewind. It all began when our parents decided we could use some fresh air.' Mabel gets their pet cat taken out of her hands while a video game console gets taken out of her brothers. In replace they were both given packed bags and sunscreen on their noses.

“They shipped us up north to a sleepy town called Gravity Falls, Oregon, to stay at our great-uncle and auncle's place in the woods.”

Mabel begun to put up all kinds of boy band and cute posters on her side of the room. "This attic is amazing! Check out all my splinters!" Mabel holds out her hand which is covered in, all places that shouldn’t be, with splinters. Dipper walks backwards toward his bed as he gets a good look at the room they’ll staying in for the whole summer. As he does he gets jump scared by Gompers who's standing behind him, "Baaa!”

“And there's a goat on my bed."

Mabel walks over to them has she holds out her hand trying to be friendly toward the goat but he ended up chewing on her sweater sleeve, "Hey, friend. Oh! Yes, you can keep chewing on my sweater. Ha ha ha ha ha!"

'My sister tended to look on the bright side of things.'

"Yay! Grass," Mabel exclaimed as she rolled down the small hill, having the "time of her life".

A woodpecker starts to peck the top of Dipper's hat. Y/N makes a gently shooing motion to make the bird fly away without looking from their book.

‘But I was having a hard time getting used to our new surroundings, our great-auncle, (Y/N), was trying to make things better by trying to bond with us and to get me to see the brighter side of things.’ 

Dipper and Y/N were sitting under a tree together, Dipper writing in a journal and Y/N reading. Y/N lightly slapped the insides of the book with the back of their fingers.

"Ok, now I think you might enjoy this book, sweet pea.” Next thing Dipper knew, his great-uncle jumped behind the tree he and his auncle were sitting under on wearing a mask, "Boo!"

Both Dipper and Y/N scream at the top of their lungs, dropping the books in their hands as Dipper falls over.

"Aha ha ha ha!" Stan laugh as he takes the mask off.

 'And then was our great-uncle Stan.' Stan slaps his knee has he takes the mask off of his head.

'That guy.'

"Aha ha ha ha, ow!" Stan started hitting his chest from laughing so hard, then he doubled over in pain as his partner punched him in the stomach.

"Stop doing that!" Y/n picked Dipper up, fixing his hat and made sure he was ok.

"It was worth it."

'Our uncle and auncle had transformed their house into a tourist trap they called the Mystery Shack. The real mystery was why anyone came.'

A coward follows the Pines couple through out the museum, their arms linked together as Stan points to attractions with his 8-ball cane, "Ladies and gentlemen, behold! The Sascrotch!"

‘And guess who had to work there.’

“Oh," Mabel reaches to touch a giant eyeball, when Stan comes over to smack her hand away.

"No touching the merchandise!"

'It looked like it was gonna be the same boring routine all summer, until one fateful day...'

Dipper was wiping down some merchandise sweeping while his Graunkle was sweeping. His sister, Mabel, was too busy stalking her latest boy target behind selves of Stan and Y/N bobble head figures.

"He's looking at it. He's looking at it!"

The boy opened the note reading it out loud, "Uh...'Do you like me? Yes. Definitely. Absolutely?'” He started looking around, trying to find the source of where the note could have come from.

"I rigged it!" She uttered excitedly has she placed her hands on her cheeks.

Dipper stopped cleaning and rolled his eyes, “Mabel, I know you're going through your whole "boy crazy" phase, but I think you're kind of overdoing it with the "crazy" part."

Mabel turned towards her brother with a disbelieve look on her face and blows a raspberry, "What?! Come on, Dipper! This is our first summer away from home. It's my big chance to have an epic summer romance."

"I agree with Dipper on his, Hon, don’t you think you're moving too fast?" (Y/N) asked, "I mean...how many boy does make now?”

"I bet she doesn't even know, she flirts with every guy she meets!" Dipper said, shrugging.

Mabel is standing next to a boy in the mystery shack, fluttering her eyes, "My name is Mabel, but you can call me the girl of your dreams. I'm joking! Ha ha ha ha!" She exclaims pushing the boy into the greeting cards display knocking him and the stand over.

Mabel then pops up from behind a bench, that has a guy sitting with his turtle in his hands, "Oh, my gosh, you like turtles? I like turtles too. What is happening here?"

Inside the mattress store, a boy dressed as the mattress king is working, "Come one, come all, to the mattress prince's kingdom of savings!"

Mabel pops out from behind a set of colorful balloons and she whispers, Take me with you..." Causing the boy to run away screaming.

"Mock all you want, brother and Graunkle, but I got a good feeling about this summer. I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now." Mabel said confidently has she pointed toward the mystery shack exhibit door.

Stan walks through the door holding signs under his arm and a pitt cola in his hand. Using his other, he clutched his stomach as a burp gets caught in his throat, "Oh! Oh. Not good. Ow." 

Mabel looks at Stan in disgust, "Oh, why?!"

Dipper and Y/N laughed, high fiving each other as they do.

"All right, look alive, people. I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest." Stan said as he holds out the signs toward Y/N and the twins.

"Not it!" Dipper and Mabel say at the same time, behind them Soos raised his hand while he drilled a shelf with his other.

"Uh, also not it."

"Nobody asked you, Soos."

"I know, and I'm comfortable with that." He pulled out a chocolate bar and took a bite out of it.

Y/N can see Stan giving them a side eyed look, “No, Stan. I’m not doing the job that I told you to do!”

Stan rolls his eyes as he sighed in annoyance, he then turns towards the teenage red head, who’s relaxing on the job with her feet on the counter, reading a magazine. "Wendy! I need you to put up this sign!"

Wendy tries to reach for the signs from where she's sitting, with a bored expression on her face not looking up from her magazine, "I would, but I, ugh, can't, ugh, reach it, ugh..."

"I'd fire all of you if I could. All right, let's make it eeny-meeny-miney..." Stan then points his finger at Dipper, "You."

"Aw, what? Grunkle Stan, whenever I'm in those woods, I feel like I'm being watched."

"Ahh, this again." Stand begins to rub the corners of his eyes as Y/N gave him a light hit on his shoulder.

"I'm telling you, something weird is going on in this town. Just today, my mosquito bites spelled out "BEWARE." Stan and Y/N leaned in closer to Dipper’s arm, both squinting their eyes. After looking at it for a couple of seconds Stan leaned back up, looking at Dipper, confused.

"That says 'bewarb.’” As he said this, Y/N gently grabbed Dipper’s arm and examined the bites. “Do you believe me, Graunkle Y/N?” Y/N shook their head, letting go of his arm.

”Oh, Sorry. I was just seeing if that needed to have cream put in it. It’s looks bad, Sweet pea.” Dipper then lowers his arm in embarrassment and rubs the bites.

“Anyway, look, kid.” Stan voices, “The whole "monsters in the forest" thing is just local legend drummed up by guys like us to sell merch to guys like that," Stan pointed to a man sweating like there was no tomorrow laughing at a bobble head Stan doll in his hands. "So, quit being so paranoid!" He then threw the signs into Dipper's arms. Fumbling with them, Dipper looked up at his uncle in annoyance.

Watching Stan leave through employees only door, Y/N sighed. Crouching down to meet Dipper’s height, Y/N placed a hand on Dipper’s shoulder. Dipper didn't make eye-contact with them.

”Hey, don’t let Stan get under your skin, alright? If you say there’s something going on, maybe, you could look for evidence to rub in his mean face."

Dipper sighed and nodded his head, "Yeah...Yeah! Grunkle Stan might not know it but this town had some weird stuff going on and I'm gonna prove it!" Dipper grips the signs tighter has he marches out of the shack toward the woods. Y/N stood back up, cracking their back, "Oof! Stupid old body." Taking a look around they noticed that Mabel was no where to be found, signing again they crossed their arms over their chest and walking through the employee only door. In there, they found Stan in the kitchen finishing his Pitt soda.

"He's gonna found out about this place eventually, you do know that right?" Stan groaned, taking a long drink from the can. He waved his finger in 'no' motion, bringing the can down from his mouth. "You don't think I know that, toots? Boy seems too smart for his age," he leans on the kitchen table muttering the last part of his sentence under his breathe. "Almost like someone else we know."

Y/N slowing walked over to the table and leaned on it next to Stan, rubbing his back. "I know, that's why I think we should be honest with them. To protect them from all this crazy stuff this place has going on. If we keep lying-" Stan cuts Y/N off.

"If we keep lying, we can keep them away from it." Stan gets up and walks out the kitchen to go upstairs, you turn your gaze to your feet. Thinking about how you could tell the kids about everything in this town, but a part of you didn't. It felt too soon, so you decided to wait until maybe they trusted you and Stan a little more. You groaned in annoyance, rolling your eyes. Opening the freezer, you grabbed a popsicle walking out of the kitchen to sit on the couch outside.

Some time passed, but you don’t know how long as you were sitting there lost in thought, until the front door slammed next to you. It was Mabel and she looks excited as ever.

“Hey Graunkle! I’m going to see if I can find Dipper, ok bye!" Mabel screamed as she started running toward the woods, you didn't even get a chance to understand what she was saying. And you didn’t have to think about it because pulling up to the front of the shack was a tour bus, you stood up, crushing the stick of the popsicle in your mouth.

After Y/N and Stan finished the tour, you two went upstairs. You rubbed the back of your neck, "Hey, you're not like mad about earlier, right?" Stan chuckled under his breath, turning to face you.

"Why would I be mad at ya? You just care for those rascals." You smiled, you both turned toward the stairs having heard the twins return. You walked over to Stan as you wrapped an arm around his waist and he wrapped his around your shoulder, hip to hip. “Now, let’s go see what those two are up too.”

You gave him a hard kiss on his cheek, giggling. Stan laughed, “Ugh, gross.” You both walked done the stairs laughing. As you got closer, you could hear the twins talking about something. Then you see Mabel rush to the door as you and Stan stood at the door way of the living room.

”What you readin' there, slick?”

Dipper quickly hides the journal under the cushion he was sitting under and grabs the nearest thing he can find. ”Oh! I was just catchin' up on, uh… gold chains for old men magazine?”

“Dipper don't read that, it'll rotten you.” Stan playfully pushed Y/N, laughing. They both walked over to stand behind the love sofa. “What?! That’s a good issue and you like my gold chains!”

You wagged your finger at him, smirking, ”I don’t know who told you that lie.” Just as you said that Mabel came back but she was with someone. He was taller than her, wearing a back hoodie and his back was facing the room.

”Hey, family! Say hello to my new boyfriend!” Mabel presented him as he turned around. His hair was covering one of his eyes and he had some red substance dripping from his cheek. He waved his hand halfway up in a greeting. ”Sup?”

”Hey…” Dipper greeted him first then Stan and you both at the same time.

”How's it hangin'.” Stan threw up finger guns.

“Hello.” You lazily waved at him.

“We met at the cemetery. He's really deep.” She then placed an hand on his arm, squeezing it a bit. “Ooh! Little muscle there. That’s… what a surprise.” Dipper raised his eyebrows, examining this new guy his sister brought in, ”So, what's your name?”

Almost as if pains him to speak he answers the question, ”Uh Normal Man!”

“He means "Norman.” As Mabel corrects him, Y/N noticed the red substance on his check dripping to the floor.

“Are you bleeding, Norman? We could patch that cut up for you?” 

Norman’s eyes widened as he looks at the liquid on his face. ”It's jam.”

Mabel gasped has she lightly shoved him. “Oh! I love jam! Look at this!” She exclaimed moved her hands back and forth between them. Norman shrugged as he looked around, ”So, you wanna go hold hands or whatever?”

”Oh! Oh, my goodness. Don't wait up!” Mabel giggled, bouncing up and down. She then runs towards the door Norman shoot finger guns at the others in the room and followed Mabel, hitting the doorframe and other walls in the process.

Y/N looked around the room at the others, "Well, he was weird. Right?" You saw Dipper nodding his head slowly, gaze focused on where Norman stood.

"Yeah," Stan began, he than clapped his hands and started making his was to the gift shop, "Come on, angel cakes, we got a shack to run!" Y/N ruffled Dipper's hair through his hat and started making their way towards the door, before they opened it they turned to look at Dipper.

"Hey bud, you alright?" They didn't get an answer cause he was already making his way up the stairs. Y/N signed, made sure they looked presentable, fixing their suit and little butterfly pin, and went through the door.

~ TIME SKIP ~

Y/N was stocking inventory as Stan handled the last group of tourists, you hummed thinking to yourself on where the twins could be. Finishing up your task you walked over to where Stan was with the guest.

Stan holds up a swirly pattern on a stick, pulls the string and rotates into a continuous spiral, "Behold! The world's most distracting object!"

The group of tourist was amazed at the simple object, Y/N rolled their eyes at the crowd. Looking passed the all to look through the window seeing the twins and some kind of giant monster. You stood there, mouth agape, your gaze not leaving the the window. Y/N reached out to tap on Stan's shoulder.

"Just try to look away you can't! I can't even remember what I was talkin' about." You groaned and ran outside, seeing the kids about to get hit by a giant fist. You ran towards them and grabbed them. Resulting in you all rolling until you hit the wall of the shack. The twins landed safely but you rolled until you hit the wall with your back, knocking the air our of your lungs.

Dipper was able process what happened to them quickly, he shuffled over to Y/N. Shaking their shoulder, "Graunkle!? Are you ok?" Before you could catch your breath and answer, the monster, which you now see is made of tiny men, gets closer.

"It's the end of the line, kids and weird person that came out of nowhere. Mabel, marry us before we do something crazy!" The one sitting all the way at the top spoke out. The twins each take a side by you, Dipper holding your shoulder and Mabel holing your hand. Dipper turned his hard to look at his sister, "There's gotta be a way out of this!"

Mabel looked from you to her brother with a worried expression. She them closed her eyes and, sighed through her nose. Letting go of Y/N's hand, she stood up and walked towards the gnomes. "I gotta do it."

Dipper's eyes widen, he stood and walked over to his sister, "What?! Mabel, don't do this! Are you crazy?"

Mabel looks back with a determined look on her face, "Trust me." Dipper shook his head and threw his arms up.

"What?!"

"Dipper, just this once Trust me."

You grabbed Dipper by his shoulder, making him turn towards you, "Dipper, I don't know what the hell is going on, but your sister seems like she knows what to do..." Dipper looked back and forth between you, his sister and the pile of gnomes. Walking backward toward the wall, he nodded.

"All right, Jeff, I'll marry you."

"Hot dog! Help me down there, Jason!" Jeff starts to climb down using the other gnomes as a ladder. "Thanks. Andy, left foot, there we go, watch those fingers, Mike." When he makes it to stand in front of Mabel, he pulls out a diamond ring from his back pocket. "Ehh? Ehh?" Mabel's eyes flutter as she presents her hand towards Jeff, he then puts the ring on her finger and does a little jig. "Bada-Bing, bada-bam! Now let's get you back into the forest, honey!"

"You may now kiss the bride." Mabel says as she examined the ring on her finger.

"Well, uh, don't mind if I do." Before he could so anything, he gets sucked into the nozzle of a leaf blower that's Mabel picked up without him seeing.

"Aah! Hey, wait a minute! Ahh-aahh Whoa! Whoa! W-what's going on? Aah! Aaah!"

"That's for lying to me!" She then turned the know on the leaf blower, increasing the power. "That's for breaking my heart!"

"Ow! My face!"

"And this is for messing with my brother!" She then aims the leaf blower toward the gnome monster, Dipper coming to stand next to her. She turned to him, gesturing the leaf blower toward him.

"Wanna do the honors?" She asked Dipper, he came to her side grabbing half of the leaf blower, "On three."

"One, two, three!" They both counted, shifting the leaf blower from 'suck' to 'blow'. Blasting Jeff through the other gnomes and towards the forrest.

"I'll get you back for this!!!!!" He screams as he sails over the trees. Meanwhile the giant monster falls apart as the gnomes fall to the ground. They all start complaining until Mabel starts aiming the leaf blower at them, making them all run away.

"Anyone else wants some?" Mabel screams, the twins laugh for a bit until the turn around, hearing their Graunkle trying to get up. They both run to take one of your sides, helping you up. "Thanks, kids. I don't know you two got in a mess like this but I'm just glad its over."

Mabel rubs you back looking up at you, "Are you gonna be ok Y/N." You chuckled, ruffling both of their heads, "Just peachy, gonna need my pillow though. Are you two alright?" They looked at each other smiling then back up to you, nodded. You smiled and started making your way towards the gift shop door, looking behind you, you called out towards the twins. "You coming?"

Dipper was about to answer, but Mabel stopped him, "We'll be there soon, I gotta talk to Dip-stick real quick." You nodded once more, not having the strength to speak again and went inside.

Inside you found Stan who was counted some of the earnings for the day. Y/N walked over and place their hands on the counter.

"Whoa?! The hell happened to you?" You mouthed, 'I'll you later' as the twins came dragging themselves in. Y/N nodded their head towards the beaten up looking twins, eyeing Stan.

"Sheesh! You two get hit by a bus or somethin'?" Not paying Stan too much attention they continued towards the employee only door.

"Aha! Uh, hey! W-wouldn't you know it? Um, Y/N accidentally overstocked some inventory, so how's about each of you take one item from the gift shop on the house?"

Mabel spun around with a twinkle in her eyes, "Really?

"What's the catch?" Dipper asked as he folded his arms and raised his eyebrow, staring his Uncle down.

“The catch is do it before I change my mind. Now take something.” Stan exclaims has he elbows the cash register placing the money inside, rolling his eyes playfully at you as you laughed. You walked over to stand next to Stan, him taking one of your arms and helping you lean on him. You both watched the kids look around the ship. Dipper chose one of the merch hats, slipping it on his head and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Hmm. That oughta do the trick."

“And I will have a Grappling hook!” Digging into box Mabel pulls out the grappling hook and holds it over her head in excitement. “Yes!”

You smile and gently clap your hands, encouraging her, while Stan and Dipper look at her then each other in disbelief and confusion. As they look back at her again Stan ask, “Wouldn't you rather have a doll or something?”

She then proceeds to launch the hook toward the ceiling, the hook then wraps around a beam, pulling her up in the process, “Grappling hook!”

Stan shrugged, "Fair enough."

Y/N knocked on the attic door, waiting until the twins gave permission for them to enter. You opened the door, peeking inside, you notice Mabel jumping on her bed and Dipper with his knees up a book or something laying on them.

"You two ready for bed?" Dipper nodded as Mabel shouted a 'Yes', not stopping her jumping. You laughed, "Well, I hope you too had a good day today."

"It was awesome, Graunkle," Mabel yelled. She stopped jumping and began to aim her grappling hook all around the room, trying to see where to shoot. "Ok, just be careful with that, sweetie."

She nodded as you were about to close the door, Dipper called out to you.

"Wait, um, don't you want like... I don't know some kind of explanation after what happened today?" You chuckled, shaking you head.

"Dipper, I've lived in this weird town for many years. I don't really need one." The expression on his face lighten up, looking as happy as can be. "Well, if that's the case, maybe..." He stops him self looking over to his sister who's nodding at him.

"Maybe, we can show yo-" Before he could finish his sentence you all heard Stan calling out your name, you signed.

"Don't worry about him, I'll get to him later. Now, what were you saying, Dipper." You looked back at him, his expression full with concern. He looked down at his lap, "Never mind... It's nothing."

Y/N frowned looking at the ground, "Ok, sweeties, hope you have a goodnight." And with that you closed their room door.

As you started to make your way down the stairs you heard a crash and laughing come from the twins room. You straighten out your PJs, decided not to question what they were up too. Crossing the final step, you made it back downstairs into the living room. You started humming some tune you couldn't remember as you made your way to the vending machine. You hit the side a couple of times, making the door of it pop open, grabbing a bag of chips.

A light came from outside the gift shop, until the door opened reveling Stan carrying a lantern. "You better pay for that," He nudged Y/N joking. You rolled your eyes, as he typed on the vending machines keypad. The machine slides open like a door, Stan walked in with you following behind him.

Before you closed it behind you, you turned and looked around to making sure you were alone. Seeing that you both were, Y/N closed the machine with a soft click.

Episode 2 ->

[shuuuuush]

LET ME LOVE YOU 【SHARKY】

【Summary】 ; Finding yourself dragged in to join a video with the beta squad, you meet Sharky. You've promised before that you wouldn't fall for anyone anymore after all you've been through. But now that he's popped up in your life, maybe you're slowly breaking your promise.

【Warnings】 ; slow build, reader has a description of a past abusive (more toxic than abusive) relationship and insecurity, mentions of trauma from it, slow brains to comprehend feelings, words: "damn", "bastard", "Shit" are used, Sharky being a jokeman.

【Pairing】 ; Sharky x f!Reader

【Word Count】; hehe 15k !!

【A/N】 ;Hope you all enjoy this, and it did take a while, so please let me know what you all think about it ! @vctrvn-ls thank u so much for scenario ideas and motivation when I felt like my brain was fried, and @allygatcr for hyping me up for this fic 🫶🫶 and all my mutuals who have long awaited this fic I love u all !

Masterlist

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The cold, cool air of the summer breeze hit your face as you stared out the window of the moving car.

Chin leaning on your hand as you watched houses and landscapes moved past your eyes in a speedy manner.

You didn't know what to expect in this upcoming event you were attending, well not a big event but a video that was shooting.

It was your first collaboration with other youtubers as you yourself was an upcoming one. Well you were more a guest than a collaboration but that's what you liked to call it.

Being nervous was an understatement, you didn't know what to expect but all you could do was hope for the best. Knowing the Internet could do anything after the video was posted was what made you more nervous, you hope things go your way and all but is that really realistic?

"You better not be over there being worried about the whole thing Y/N." A voice spoke beside you, one who was driving the car you were in.

Turning to roll your eyes at him, Aj just shook his head, hand still on the steering wheel as he continued speaking, since you didn't say anything.

"Cmon, I told you it's all good. These guys are my trusted friends and good collabs too. It'll help you a lot. And maybe get over your fear of…" He trailed off, glancing to your side as he faked a cough to quickly recover from what he was originally going to say, "You know what I mean. I'm telling you right now it's all good."

"It better be." You mumbled, still staring out the window of the car trying to calm your nerves down. Sure, Aj tried giving you a pep talk, but right now, it wasn't really working. Still, you appreciated what he did for you.

Aj was one of your family friends, you both have known each other since you were really young and both grew up together. He was the older brother that you never had. Throughout your childhood, you would be able to count on his triangle head.

Even though you'd both insult and tease each other, you still cared and were thankful.

And being the good friend Aj was, he saw how you were trying to become a bigger youtuber. But he knew you were afraid to expand and get to know more people than your small circle of ones you already knew.

So, he told you about the beta squad and how he and his friends created this group, where they make videos together and live in the same house. They do collabs with others too to make their videos more fun and interesting when there's guests.

He invited you, despite you saying you were fine by yourself, he insisted that it would be fun. And now here you are, on your way to the beta squad house to film a video with some people you don't know.

Except the short triangle head.

"If things don't go great, I'm heading straight back to this car, Aj." Sitting up straight and turning your head to him as you spoke.

You could tell he was contemplating whether or not to say some insult or snappy remark back, but in the end, he just nodded and said alright.

The driving came to a slow as the car approached the driveway of the house. The house itself was actually impressive. You thought maybe it would not be the best-looking house you'd seen with Aj living in it, but clearly, you're wrong.

I mean, what did you expect? They live in a mansion for crying out loud. You thought to yourself, as if hearing you, Aj laughed and commented on that thought.

"Yep, this place cost a sh' ton of money, but it's worth it." He spoke as he parked the car and turned off the engine. Looking for his keys to open the front door.

You laughed, finding the key on the front window of the car and handing it to him "Okayy mind reader shabeel. Thanks for the info."

He rolled his eyes in response and exited the car, causing a laugh to escape you again. Taking your phone out of your pocket, you looked at the time as it read, 4:30pm. The video was scheduled to start preparing to shoot at 5:00pm.

You got out of the car and shut the door, following Aj to the front of the house as he unlocked the door with some passcode at which he told you to "look away I don't want you breaking into this house"

And then proceeding to use the key to unlock the front door.

Stepping inside the house, it was cooler than outside, probably because of the air conditioning, and the mansion was huge, bigger inside than what it looked like outside.

Cold marble flooring that matched the white of the walls. Taking a look around the house, you noticed posters of all the beta squad, sitting on their thrones and wearing royal king crowns, following with their names beneath the poster.

You admit this place is starting to look really cool, and the fact that all of them are still quite young and can afford a house like this amazes you. Perhaps one day you'd be able to do the same.

Sniffing, you smelt a savoury aroma enter the room, you guessed, coming from the kitchen as you imagined the delicious food being cooked.

But your attention to food was taken away when you heard a ringtone coming from Aj's phone.

Glancing at it, he started to speak, "I gotta take this sorry, you can go ahead and sit on the couch or take a look around. Sharky might be at home right now, too."

Before you could question further where the sitting room was, he already was on the call, speaking to someone and walking out the door outside to the carpark.

You sighed, putting a hand on your hips, guess you had to explore now.

Thankfully, you found the giant couch without too much effort. As there was a glass door in front of you, beside the posters you were looking at earlier.

Speed walking up to the couch and plopping onto it, you felt the comfort of it instantly sink in, you felt like you were in your own bed that's how comfortable it was.

You pulled your airpods out of your pocket and connected it to your phone as you put them into your ears to listen to some music to pass the time a bit.

Going into Spotify to find your most trusted thing, your music playlists.

Pressing shuffle, you were glad one of your favourite songs popped up, "Thinkin' bout you." By Frank Ocean.

You listened to a lot of music artists and you never really had a favourite, but whenever you did listen to Frank Ocean it's just something about the lyrics that always touched you. Either they were too real or too sad and it made the songs more enjoyable. Or they were also just a good beat to be honest.

Humming along to the song, you foot tapped to the beat, following along with your head in sync. As you scrolled through your phone to find something to do, quietly singing the song that played through your airpods.

Cause I been thinking 'bout forever, ooh

Most of the time, you could almost dance to the music when you were alone but here, you were content with just tapping your foot along with the beat.

No, I don't like you, I just thought you were cool enough to kick it

You started humming along to the words, enjoying the beat of the music.

Got a beach house I could sell you in Idaho, since you think

Now the music had taken over and you were singing along to the music, not singing too loud but enough to not classify it as a whisper.

I don't love you I just thought you were cute, that's why I kissed you

Got a fighter jet, I don't get to fly it though I'm lying down

Too lost in the music, you failed to hear the footsteps approaching beside you. You jumped slightly as a hand tapped your shoulder, causing you to remove one of your airpods and look up to see who it was.

"Hey, sorry for startling you. I just wanted to come over and say hi, You're Y/N, right? The guest today?"

You were greeted by dark chocolate eyes that were connected with a smile. A pretty face, you'll be honest. And he was tall. Damn, he was tall. Like 6 foot something, definitely. He had a good sense of style, wearing a grey backwards hat and matching hoodie and joggers that had a logo, Primo on it.

Still hooked on the fact that this beautiful man was standing in front of you. Were you daydreaming again?

Maybe you were observing him for too long, as he waved a hand in front of your face with a small chuckle.

"Oh! sorry, yes, I'm Y/N, I didn't mean to stare.." You internally punched yourself in the brain. He didn't have to know you were staring. Why did you say that out loud? You frickin idiot. You still haven't even turned off your music yet.

You paused the music on your phone and it caused an excited gasp to escape from the man in front of you, confused you looked back up at him to see him smiling with excitement as he was looking at your phone.

"Oh my days, you listen to Frank Ocean? Do you like his music?" He came over to sit beside you, still excited like a little kid who just made a friend for the first time.

You gave a slight giggle as you nodded, "I don't just like his music, I love his music. It's just something about the way his songs are always so real."

"Yeah, it's so relatable, and the way his lyrics are raw, it just makes it more enjoyable, you know?" He added, nodding while he talked and listening to you intently.

"I know, right? Honestly, one of the best music artists I know." You agreed, a small smile dusting your face as you talk about the one thing you enjoy, music.

He chuckled, "The greatest of all time," he stopped for a bit before asking, "What's your favourite song of his?"

"Ohh, it's hard to say because I love them all." You looked away to ponder for a minute, trying to differentiate which of his songs you would classify as a 'favourite.' No one really asked that before, too, so you never really had to think about it. "Honestly, I can't choose."

"Cmon, you have to have one that you could listen to forever."

You thought for a bit, "Hm, but if I had to have one, I'd say this song I'm listening to right now, Thinkin Bout You."

"Ohh, that song is so good, I'd say mine is Pink and White, only because I've been listening to it a lot." He admitted, one hand in the air as he said that last statement with a grin.

It's been a while since you've been able to connect and talk to someone about interesting topics you enjoy. You felt so welcomed, and something about him just warmed your heart, always managing to put a smile on your face every next sentence he spoke.

You could tell he was an open person, someone you could trust. This feeling you get of trust and instant friendship is rare and hard to find, and when you do find it, you've heard that you shouldn't lose it. It's a once in a lifetime chance.

Suddenly, he face palmed and mumbled an 'I'm so dumb,' "Sorry I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Sharky." He held a hand out to you to shake. You took it automatically and with a smile.

"Y/N L/N." Wait, you didn't even register what his name was for a second, and then it just clicked. "Sharky? Like a shark? Is that a nickname?"

"Aha, yeah, that's what I'm nicknamed as my actual name is Sharmarke. It's just that's what I'm better known as." He scratched the back of his neck while looking to the side, a small pink dusting his cheeks.

You were about to ask more on that before you heard more voices enter the room. Both of you turned your heads to see what you assumed was the beta squad, and some camera crew entered.

Sharky turned to you and smiled, "We can talk after, I think we're about to start. These are the rest of the beta squad." He said, standing up and pointing to the four guys. You followed his line of sight and saw them waving at the both of you.

Getting up and coming over to greet them all, you introduced yourself to the three and got their names as Niko, Kenny, and Chunkz. You were about to comment on the last one's name before he put up a hand and pointed to all of himself as his explanation to which he gave a laugh.

The camera crew set up everyone, placing mics on them and doing sound checks on everyone. Putting cameras in two rooms, one for the main video and the other for another part of the video, the part where an individual talks to the camera themselves.

Now you saw that everyone had put on their silly costumes and understood why Aj had asked you previously to bring something too.

You had brought a red riding outfit since it was the only costume-like thing that you had owned. You changed into that, and you went to check out everyone's costumes, or if you didn't know what it was, you asked them.

Kenny was dressed as bigfoot, Chunkz as "Prince of Saudi Arabia", Niko as Sharky, well more specifically a Shark biting him, Sharky as a black viking and Aj a sheep. Quite accurate, you thought with a small giggle.

The lighting in each room took a while to set up as it had to change throughout the video. Green and red lights were the two colours. While getting mic'd up, Niko explained to you the video they were shooting.

A game called Mafia.

"So basically, there's 6 players, 6 cards, 2 for the mafia, 4 for the civilians. The cards are picked at random by all players. The mafia share their identity with each other, while the others close their eyes and are left in the dark. All players open their eyes, and the game is on." Niko spoke as they finished up the sound and led you all to the mafia game room upstairs. He continued to explain the game to you while also showing you a clip of the previous videos on how to play.

"The civilian's job is to find the mafias and get them out. They need to work together in catching these two and not letting them take over. The only problem is they don't know what card everyone else has. The mafia's job is to make all the civilians turn on each other and eventually vote each other out, making them the only remaining players."

"And at the end of every round, one person will be voted out and punished by being dunked into a tank of freezing water, the victim will then reveal their card showing the rest of the players whether they made the right choice or not." Aj laughed as he told you that this was his favourite part of the game. He just hoped he wasn't the one being dunked in the tank.

Everyone sat down in their respective places on the couch. You sat down next to Aj, obviously because he was the closest to you, following Chunkz beside Aj, Niko, and Kenny beside him. Leaving one space beside you, Sharky took that place with a smile on him.

"So the game ends when either both mafias are caught or all civilians are outnumbered and voted out, right?" You asked no one in particular, but they all nodded and that you now understood how the game was played.

You'll admit it does sound fun. You've never heard of this game before, but if it's as fun as it sounds, it probably would end up being one of your favourite games. And as Aj told you before your chance to get over your fear. You don't like being reminded about it, but just for a while, you didn't have to remember.

Looking around the grey but well lit room, you noticed an LED light sign that read "Mafia" in blue, and playing cards that had each beta squad member on it as a king or joker etc.

The camera director told you all it was starting in 1 minute, causing the chatter to cease as quickly so that they could start filming. You glanced to your side as Aj nudged you, giving you a thumbs up and mouthing an "you'll do great," to which you whispered a thanks.

Seeing this interaction, Sharky leaned in towards you but respecting your space and also whispered, "Don't worry, Y/N, it'll be fun." He smiled at you when he saw that the nerves in your face calmed down a little after both of the reassurance you've gotten.

"Camera rolling!" The cameraman shouted.

Aj was the first to speak, "Welcome to another game of Mafia! Please welcome our new guest, drum roll, please!" Everyone was hitting the table to sound a drum roll as they then all pointed at you, "Y/N L/N!" You waved at the camera and thanked everyone.

"Now that we've introduced her, it's time to pick the cards." Sharky glanced at you for a split second when he spoke, before reaching to grab the cards, everyone following suit to do the same.

If the cameras didn't pick it up, then you surely did when you both made eye contact with each other after looking at your card, which was the mafia card. The King. Why did you look at Sharky first after looking at your own card? You really don't know the reason for it. But you couldn't ponder any longer as you had to win this game.

Chunkz did the honour of telling everyone to put down their cards and close their eyes.

"Mafias! Open your eyes." Chunkz said cheekily while dragging out the 'eyes.'

Slowly, you opened your eyes and looked around, trying not to make any noise when you turned as you were still wearing your hood over your head.

Looking towards your right, not Aj, not any of the other boys so that must mean, as you turned your head to the left, you met eyes with Sharky, who smiled instantly and slowly nodded his head while you gave him a smile back.

"Mafias, close your eyes." Chunkz shouted, which caused the both of you to turn your heads back and shut your eyes. "Everyone, open your eyes."

When you opened your eyes, for some reason, you just couldn't hold in your smile. You were excited, genuinely. This already seems fun.

Aj must have caught on to this because he instantly went to attack you on that. "Nah, why you smiling Y/N, are you Mafia?"

"What? Can I not smile?" Damn it, where you about to get caught already? The game just started ain't no way you're letting them think you're mafia.

"Smiling is a bit suspicious, you know? I'm getting mafia vibes from Y/N." Aj turned around to the rest of the guys and pointed at you, who faked being shocked and hurt.

"Wow Aje, you know, you thinking I'm mafia without any other grounds other than me smiling is suspicious in itself. I'm thinking you're targeting me because you're mafia." You stated as a matter of fact, to which the others nodded.

"That does sound like Aj when he's mafia." Kenny said, rubbing his chin while looking at Aj with distrust.

"Yo HOW blud. She's trying to trick you all against me." Aj shouted as he threw both of his arms in the air to prove his point.

"Yeah, I think we should just vote Aj out. Personally, I don't like mafia infested rats." Niko laughed as he looked at the camera saying those last words.

"So all in favour of voting out, Aj?" Sharky spoke now, looking around the room as he raised his hand to see who would follow, and everyone did but Aj, causing the shorter man to stand up and leave, mumbling an "I hate you guys" making the rest of you laugh.

All of you were led outside and were about to watch Aj be dunked into a tank of freezing water. You laugh as you remember Aj saying earlier that the forfeits were his favourite part of the video, oh how the tables have turned for him.

Niko was the one to throw at the dart target board for Aj, he missed the first few times but when he finally made it, seeing Aj's face as he dropped in the water was one that made everyone burst into laughter and excitement.

As he got out of the tank, the boys shouted "Show your card" And when he did, it showed a 5 of spades. Everyone just groaned in disappointment.

"YOU LOT WASTED YOUR TIME, MAFIAS STILL OUT THERE." Aj yelled as he ran back into the house to change out of his now freezing cold clothes.

Obviously everyone knew Aj wasn't the mafia but if he was that would've been great, 1 out. But realistically they just wanted the rat gone. Kenny pointing a suspicious finger at you after Aj showed his card to everyone.

You glanced at Sharky, sending him a quick, worried look as you saw Kenny tell Niko his suspicions. And you both knew what you had to do in the next round.

As everyone sat down, Chunkz was the first to speak, "Now automatically I'm smelling Niko vibes." He giggled afterwards as a shocked and confused look went on Nikos face.

"What? I've not done anything? You can't always target me because you don't like me."

"Okay so Niko, who do you think is the mafia?" Sharky asked, because he knew that once Niko thought that one of you was the mafia, he would stop at no costs to prove his point and he might even end up winning the game.

"Well, earlier, Kenny told me that it could be Y/N. But I mean, you haven't really done anything that would be mafia suspicious in my eyes. But Chunkz keeps targeting me, so now he's my suspect."

You sighed quietly, hoping no one heard that. At least Niko didn't think you or Sharky were mafia.

"Yeah, actually," you started to speak, turning to Chunkz, "Why are you thinking Niko's mafia?"

"Nah, it's because every Mafia, I go for Niko, I just try to show from early that he's not my friend. There's like no coalition."

They all went back and forth with the banter and hurling suspicions left and right and each other, but surprisingly, no one thought you or Sharky were mafia. The only suspects were Niko, Kenny, or Chunkz.

Sure, they suspected you both a few times, but really, they didn't think much of it, as everyone was already pinning it against themselves they didn't have time to suspect you both fully.

Until the last round, Chunkz had been voted off and seeing as his card wasn't a king card the suspicions now turned to you again. Kenny was the first to pounce again on the argument.

"Listen, Niko, I'm thinking Y/N is mafia. One hundred percent, no doubt. But I think Sharky might be the other mafia. I'm not too sure about that."

"Niko, don't listen to him, I promise you, I am not Mafia." You looked at Niko and put on your best innocent face.

"I don't know, to be honest, I'm baffed." Niko threw his hands in the air in confusion and placed a hand over his mouth to think. "Then again, big foot here isn't really giving me much evidence to question on."

"Yeah, but it's not about evidence!" Kenny shouted, and it caused the rest of you to laugh at how serious he's being, even if he was telling the truth, you were a mafia. "Oh my days, Niko, can't you see? They literally are both mafia!"

"Niko man, vote out, Kenny, because clearly he is mafia by trying to lure you in and win. There is one other mafia. I think it's Y/N if not you. At least get one of them out." You turned your head as Sharky spoke those words. You thought he was supposed to work together with you?

But then he sent a sly wink and smile towards your way, if you blinked you would've missed it and then it hit you, if Niko voted our Kenny here, you and Sharky would've won, both the mafias would be left standing winners.

And so when it came to the vote, it started with Kenny voting for you, then it was up to Niko, who looked back and forth between you and Kenny, you pleaded one last time with him.

"Look Niko, if I was mafia I would've been out by now, this is my first time playing. If you think it's me, vote for me by all means but if you just use your brain you could clearly see Kenny is mafia."

And with that, Niko agreed and voted Kenny, leaving you and Sharky to vote for him as well. Instantly after the votes were complete, Kenny stood up and left yelling at the camera as he didn't want to get dunked in water.

But as soon as he did, and when he showed his card making him a civilian, you and Sharky both shouted and jumped with joy, while Niko just stood there mouth agape as he slowly went to cover his mouth still being shocked and the rest of the boys yelled at Niko for being an idiot.

While you and Sharky celebrated, he went up to wrap his arms around you while yelling "We did it!!"

And you laughed along, hugging him back. When you did, it instantly felt comfortable, being in his arms felt safe. You didn't know what it was, why did it make you feel all fuzzy?

It reminded you of your mother's hugs when you were a kid, and you won something, the genuine happiness and excitement you found in that hug reflected Sharky's hug. It felt familiar and you wouldn't admit it if anyone asked you but you could stay in that hug forever.

Maybe you lingered in that hug for a second too long as the others started teasing Sharky, saying ooo, and Chunkz started singing, causing him to let go of you as quick.

After they calmed down a bit, they filmed the outro, and thanked you as their guest, and they allowed you to do the honors of saying, "play the trailer."

After they finished the filming, you grabbed your belongings, and headed towards the bathroom to change out of your red riding outfit.

Just as you were about to enter, you heard your name being called, you turned your head to see Sharky running up to you with a wave.

When he finally reached you, you gave him a small smile to which he returned it and then rubbed the back of his neck while looking away.

"Hey, I just wanted to ask if you'd like to hang out sometime?" Sharky asked, a small cough erupting out of him at the end of his sentence. As he gazed back at you with those same soft brown eyes.

You were about to say sure, but then you hesitate. Why did he want to hang out with you? Did he mean romantically or platonically? And if you were about to fall in love again, you didn't know how you would feel about it. The last relationship you had, let's say … didn't end nicely.

But you were thinking too far ahead, for now you could make friends. And you always stick to the same branch of people that you hang out with, and these guys all seem really nice, and Sharky did have the same interest as you in music so why not?

"Sure, I'd, uh, I'd like that." You hated that against your own will. Your cheeks started to burn a little. You just hoped it wasn't noticeable to him.

"Yes!" He did a mini punch in the air but then realised what he did and scratched his head and cleared his throat, "I mean, that's great. Could I get your number? If you're okay with that, that is?"

Nodding, he quickly took out his phone and handed it to you, and you typed in your number, putting your contact name in too. He waited patiently as you did and when you handed it back to him, he called the number and the phone in your pocket buzzed.

He smiled and thanked you, "Hey, you know we make a good team. You actually did really well for your first mafia game."

"We do," You laughed, "you guys should invite me more on your mafia videos."

Sharky was about to say something when Aj yelled, "Hey lovebirds! I gotta drop Y/N back off so be quick and finish your conversation!"

Your eyes widened, Lovebirds?? Oh hell no, Aj's not getting away with that, you mumbled under your breath. Glancing up at Sharky to see his reaction he had the same reaction as you, but he just rolled his eyes and smiled at you saying that he'll leave you to it and pointed at the clothes you were holding. He waved as left to head towards the group.

Going into the bathroom and shutting the door, you looked at the mirror. Damn it, you were blushing. Shaking your head, this was gonna be a long car ride.

When you were done changing, you walked towards the door, where Aj was standing, waiting for you on his phone, when he looked up at you he rolled his eyes and said finally.

"Alright, I'm gonna drop Y/N off. See you guys later!" He yelled into the house, causing the boys to yell out a bye to you, and Niko popped around the corner to shake your hand and say bye to you.

"By the way, Y/N, all that banter that we said earlier, that was just for the video, so don't mind it." Niko admitted, waving a hand off towards Aj, who just laughed as he agreed with him, and then you both left to head to the car.

"So, what was that all about, ay?" Aj teased, as he had a smug grin on his face. As he glanced over at you, who was there looking straight ahead on the road, trying to avoid this conversation.

"I don't know what you're talking about." You shrugged, crossing your arms over your chest.

"Y/N, cmon, don't think I didn't see that idiot Sharks flirt with you."

"Flirt? I don't think he was flirting, he was just being friendly. We just met after all."

"Nah, he definitely was. Knowing Sharks, he just sucks at flirting. Actually," he started as he turned into the street you lived in. "Yeah, maybe he might just be friendly. But I'll be honest, it looked like flirting to me, Y/N. So just be careful. Don't want him breaking your heart or vice versa aight?"

You scoffed. Aj was definitely overreacting with this. But it did make you think, was he really flirting with you? Or was he just being overly friendly. You hoped it was the latter, though. You don't think you could handle a relationship right now.

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He watched as the car drove away, and when he turned around, he was frightened to see Chunkz looking at him with a sly smirk on his face. He just rolled his eyes as he made his way towards the couch, Chunkz following him as he continued to pester the other Somali.

"Oh my days, I know I made it so awkward. You know how awkward that was? I'm not good with girls at all." Sharky covered his face with hands as he slouched down onto the couch and sighed.

"You seemed fine when you hugged her." Chunkz did his famous laugh, as he went to sit beside Sharky.

"Stop, man, that was just -" Sharky cut himself off. What was that hug actually? Shaking his head, he cleared his throat as he pulled out his phone to ignore looking at Chunkz. "A winning hug. Like I hug all of you when we win a game."

"A winning hug? Sharky, you're a joke man. I know you fell in love instantly, bruva." He elbowed his friend as he laughed in his face. Causing the fellow Somali to pull over his hood to cover his face, which started to warm up.

Fell in love instantly? Sharky's not like that. Or was he? He didn't know at this point, just the very thought of you got his face heating up and the flutter of wings in his stomach grew out of nowhere. You've got him second-guessing himself. Usually, he's a confident guy, but now.

Now, he's definitely not.

Sharky was in the kitchen when he first saw you, he was making something to eat while waiting for the guys to arrive back at the house, but that's when he saw you walk toward the couch and sit there like you owned the place.

He was about to ask who you were, but then he remembered there was a guest for today's video. Normally, he would just call out loud and make his presence known, but he was caught off guard by your singing or, well, whispering the words to a song.

A song to which he also listened to.

He started to smile after hearing the words to the song you were singing. He leaned back against the counter to listen, but he then decided it would be a bit weird if he just stood there listening to you without you knowing, and that's how he decided to confront you.

As he moved closer to you, he realised how pretty you were. Like genuinely pretty, stunning even. The way your face smiled in that look of content as you listened to the music and-

Oh no. Maybe Chunkz was right.

You head down the stairs to make your breakfast. It was about a week since you met the beta squad. And you were currently at home. You just finished getting ready to go on your morning run.

Usually, you don't go on runs in the morning as you'd sleep in, but for some reason, you had the urge to just get up and exercise.

As you were making your breakfast, a classic bowl of cereal and toast, your phone buzzed on the table. Turning your head, you stopped making the cereal and opened your phone, and checked the notifications.

A big smile cracked on your face against your will as you read the text from Sharky.

Message sent at 8:16 am

Sharky 🦈

Good morning 👋🏻

I was thinking, do you wanna … maybe hang out today?

IF YOU'RE NOT BUSY THAT IS😅

You 💟

Morning Sharky !

Nah I'm not busy, where do you wanna go?

Sharky 🦈

Hmm, wherever you want! I don't mind honestly 😁

You 💟

Ok, how about let's meet up in the park since I'm gonna go on a run there anyway and we'll see where it goes from there 😂

I'll see you at 9

Sharky 🦈

👍

See you then ❤️

࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚

You stared at the message he last sent, "See you then ❤️"

Oh my days, you're going nuts over a heart emoji? You thought, internally slapping yourself, but you can't help but look over the message, and then you shook your head. Get yourself together, you send hearts to everyone, why did it surprise you when he did?

Finally taking the pieces of toast, and finishing off your cereal. You ate as quickly as you could, as soon as you finished it you grabbed your house keys and headed out to the park.

Locking your door, you put on your headphones and play your music playlist. You start to jog towards the park. You were thinking of running, but maybe you'll save that last bit of energy when you're closer to the park.

It was a chilly morning, the cool, crisp air hitting your body, but not enough to make you freeze, especially since you were jogging.

You don't remember the last time you jogged, maybe a few weeks or months, who knows at this point. Perhaps the conversation you had with Aj last time slightly may have hinted that Sharky does like his runs in the morning.

Is that what motivated you to run? Or was it just the fact that you haven't been out in a while?

The warmth hit you as soon as you closed in near the park. It wasn't that far from your house, maybe about 20-24 minutes.

You reached the entrance of the park, the soft scent of the array of flowers surrounded the area, and the tall trees moved with the gentle breeze.

People walked around the park, and some kids played as they ran around the park, chasing each other and shouting with joy when they caught up.

Nearing a bench, you sat down and pulled out your phone, checking the time, 8:42 am.

Maybe he was here already?

You hesitated. Should you call or text him? You ended up calling Sharky to see if he was here already or not. The phone rang twice before he picked up the phone.

"Hey Y/N, I'm at the park where are you?" Sharky's voice spoke through the phone.

"Just near the entrance, I'm sitting at a bench, uh," looking around, you tried to describe your surroundings, "near this really tall tree."

You heard him laugh softly through the phone, instantly causing you to smile and ask, "What's so funny?"

"Nah, it's because you said you're near this really tall tree, but Y/N, there's trees everywhere." He laughed again, making you roll your eyes but still have a smile on your face.

You ended up sending him your location, and he followed it, finally making his way as he caught sight of you sitting on the bench.

He stood there for a split second because call him crazy if you will, but he swore he saw some light shine upon you as the trees moved their way to do so. He softened his gaze, as the scene in front of him seemed like a movie.

It was a chilly day, yes, but somehow the sun came around just as he arrived. And especially when he saw you, the trees, sunlight and wind might have been paid actors if it wasn't for the fact that they're not people.

"Is this seat taken?" A familiar voice spoke as you looked up and met eyes with Sharky, who smiled as soon as you did. You motioned for him to take the seat beside you, and he gladly did.

The sounds of the park all muffled out, no person walking past, the rustle of trees in the breeze or even the cars on the far side could be heard as you drowned out all noise to listen to the Somali in front of you.

As you both talked, you ended up deciding to head to a cafe nearby, just to grab a drink, to talk and get to know each other. The walk wasn't that far and it was a small cafe.

A blue and white awning hung over the entrance and window of the shop, the inside was decorated nicely with tables and chairs surrounding the room. The warmth from the coffee being made radiated throughout the cafe, and the smell of baked goods added to it.

Both of you waited in line to order your drinks and pastries if you were feeling like it. You stared at the menu board behind the counter, looking at what to order. They had a wide range of drinks and food. Checking the prices beside them surely they couldn't be-

Why the hell are they so expensive??? You thought a small cafe like this would surely have good prices, but this was insane. £6.80 for a coffee? Crazy. And that was the cheapest thing there.

"What ya thinking of getting?" Sharky asked, leaning down to ask while still keeping his eyes on the menu board. You looked up at him briefly and made eye contact, causing you to turn your head swiftly back to the menu and pretend to look at it.

"Hmm, I was thinking of getting just the coffee because it's the cheapest thing there." You scoffed, shaking your head at the insane prices of this place.

"Just coffee? You could get something else too. You know I'm paying right?" He blurted that out like you were supposed to know that already, a giant grin forming on his face. You raised your brows, surprised.

"No, it's alright," you waved him off, "I can pay for my own one."

"Cmon Y/N, I insist." He started to grab his wallet from back pocket, but you stopped him by pushing his hand away from reaching it.

"Well, then I insist back?? And I don't want you to waste your money."

"It's not a waste if it's for you, plus I asked to hang out with you today. It's the least I could do." He shrugged, finally managing to reach for his wallet without you stopping him.

You were about to argue on that until he shot you a look, and you ended up rolling your eyes and accepting. Inside, you were grateful. At least your wallet was saved.

"Fine." You sighed. When you looked back at him, he had a smug grin on his face. He looked as if he had achieved the impossible, but he laughed when he saw the frown on your face.

He ordered for the both of you, and you waited for about three minutes before you collected your coffee and a pastry.

Heading over to a table that had two free seats, you sat down across from each other. Sipping your drink as he started a conversation. Turning to face you as he put down his own cup of tea.

"You have a channel, right? What videos do you make?" Sharky asked, genuinely curious since he didn't actually know much about you being an influencer.

"Honestly, I haven't made many videos, just a few prank videos with Aj and some beauty videos. A mix of everything I'd say." Chuckling as you took another sip of your coffee. He nodded at your answer and smiled.

"What else do you like to do then? Do you have any hobbies?" Laying his hand on his chin as his soft eyes met your gaze.

"Um," you ponder for a bit, "I like music, and I sing," you hesitate, scratching the side of your head, "well sometimes."

"Ohh, of course!" He throws his hands up in realisation, "Frank Ocean! So you like singing, that's good to know."

"Maybe one day you could put on a show and sing for me." Sharky's lips curled into a small smile, creasing the outer corner of his eyes. And seeing your face get slightly warmer only made his smile grow wider.

It seemed as if you've talked forever, the way the conversations you've had with him flowed like honey. Almost as if you've known him your whole life, it was almost … comforting.

You don't know how you ended up talking about football, but it led to a conversation with him explaining the basic mechanics and how it's "so easy" even a baby could do it.

"You really don't know how to play football?"

Seeing you shake your head, must've lit a light bulb in his head, as his gaze turned from one of confusion to his sienna brown eyes widening.

"Unacceptable." He shook his head and stood up, taking your hand in his as he left you out of the cafe.

By the looks of the sky, it was evening already, the sun slowly setting as the sky painted a canvas of light orange hues and yellow rays.

You laughed, still holding on to his grasp, "Where are we going?" As he led you both down the street.

Your laugh rang in his ears, a small thing motivating him to stay by your side. It was angelic. You may not have thought so, but to him, if his heart had melted from it, he would fix it all up just to hear it again.

He brought you to a stadium, a football stadium. The grand entrance of the place staring you in the face as he entered in with some ID card and brought you to the pitch.

"I'm teaching you how to play football." Sharky spoke as he grabbed a nearby football that was lying in a basket full of other ones. Putting one hand on his hips as he beckoned you to come closer.

You were in awe of the stadium, it was huge, and it especially looked amazing in the evening, the peach coloured rays hitting the walls of the stadium emitting a soft hue around the pitch.

"How were you able to even get in?" You inquired of him, slowly walking closer to him as you looked around the stadium.

He led you to the middle of the huge pitch. The whole stadium was empty, except you thought you saw two cleaners, but other than them, it was just you and Sharky on the field.

He grinned, "Perks of being an ex-emirates stadium worker. Plus, I'm a youtuber, they know me." Putting a hand on his chest, as it was something that always deeply touched him.

"So," He started, as he kicked the football to go in front of him, "I'll show you how to kick the football first." He motioned for you to come closer, pointing at his right foot as he told you to kick it with the side of your foot instead of the tip.

He took a few steps back and sped up towards the ball and kicked it just as he showed you, evidently making a goal.

Earning a cheer from you, to which he gave a small bow, running up to get the ball back and placing it in front of you. "Now you try." He placed his hands on his hips as he waited for you. You looked at him as your face contorted into one of confusion.

"Uh, I don't think I'll be able to score a goal just like that? "

"Well, try it first then you can complain." He laughed, ushering you forward towards the ball, you looked at him and then back at the ball.

'Well here goes nothing' you thought and tried to kick as Sharky showed you, but you ended up only kicking it more than a meter away from you, and heading off to an angle to your right.

You heard a small snort come from Sharky as he tried not to laugh at that kick, earning an embarrassed chuckle from you, as you tried to shorten yourself from this situation.

Making Sharky feel bad so he put on a smile for you, to make you feel less awkward about this, he really did want you to learn and he has tons of patience so this would be really easy he thought.

"Yeah, maybe we should practice other things before goals. I realised that may be a bit difficult." He rubbed his chin, thinking of what to do next and his brows raised as it came to him.

He moved towards the storage room and brought out a few cones, placing them in a row in front of you, measuring the width of the spacing between each cone with his own body, he placed six cones in a row.

Taking the ball back and bringing it near the both of you, he started to move it between his feet, looking up at you as he did.

"So what I'm doing right now is called dribbling." Slowly moving towards the cones, the football still between his feet as he demonstrated going around the cones left and then right, up until the very end where he repeated it again heading back to you.

"Dribbling is basically just moving the ball between your feet, like kicking it a little."

Passing the ball to you as you stopped it with your foot, the small of your lips turning upwards, "You could practice by going around each cone and coming back to me here."

You nodded, placing it between your feet, moving closer to the cones as you tried to kick it back and forth between your feet, but it's easier said than done. As you tried but ultimately failed, crashing into the cones as you almost tripped over the ball, trying to go through the cones.

Causing a small laugh to come out of Sharky, as he walked over to you and extended a hand to help you up. He put the cones back in their place and let you try again, repeating to you how to do it as he watched you try to dribble between the cones. Evidently crashing into them again, at least it wasn't all of them this time.

After a couple more training sessions (more like failed attempts) you managed to do somewhat of a decent job at dribbling and sometimes you scored a goal. Almost always you earned a high five from Sharky, even if you did fail an attempt, he'd just smile and say we can try again. Never did he sigh and give up.

࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚

"Wait, what did you just do right there?" You asked, after he suggested you can take a break, since you seemed out of breath after all the training.

You were kicking the ball back towards the seating area when Sharky quickly kicked the ball from beneath you, taking it back towards him as he tossed it up into his hands.

"This? It's called a nutmeg, you simply just kick the ball through your opponent's legs, to retrieve it back so that they won't have it anymore."

You laughed, sitting down in one of the chairs, gazing up at Sharky as he messed around with the ball. "I thought nutmeg was a spice?"

He furrowed his brows for a split second and then let out a laugh, "Yeah, it is, but that's just the term for it. We're not really cooking here, are we?" Shrugging his shoulders as he went to sit beside you.

A soft silence filled the area, as both you and Sharky didn't speak a word. Even the usual white noise, when things got quiet, couldn't be heard, but instead, a delicate soft breathing between the two of you.

Fiddling with your thumbs as you stared at your feet. When is there ever just silence? Normally overpowering the peace, the sounds would get louder, the steady rhythm of your beating heart, sometimes going off track to stumble you.

But now, it's at ease, the quietness, an instant comfort to soothe your mind and heart. Lifting your head up to look around the stadium, it's not normally quiet in a place like this, but now, now is a rare time.

Sharky was looking at you now, eyes softening at your figure, the way you're peacefully sitting here, content, and the soft breathing from you showing him that you're alright with him being here. Alright, with him being beside you. And that, that's what makes him smile.

"You know what," you say, suddenly standing up and placing your hand on your hips, catching him off guard as he didn't expect you to move suddenly, "Let's do a 1v1."

Sharky squints slightly, uncertainty written upon his face, "Are you sure? It seems a bit unfair from my point of view."

"Are you doubting me?" You scoff, picking up the football that was tossed to the side earlier and holding it in your arms.

He laughed quietly, gazing up at you with his brown doe eyes, "Not at all."

Both of you moved towards the centre of the pitch, placing the ball in the middle of you and Sharky. You glanced up to see he was already looking at you. You thought it was to prepare himself, but something was telling you it was anything but that, behind his eyes. Shaking off the thought and ignoring it, you stood ground and prepared for the 1v1.

"Don't go easy on me." You grinned, winking at that statement.

He pretended to think for a minute but then smirked and locked eyes with you, "Never, don't worry. First, to score wins."

He counted to three, and you both aimed towards the ball, you managed to grab it first but he took it off of you, heading towards the goal while dribbling, you tried to run after him but then you saw that he was about to make a goal.

You remember him doing a nutmeg, earlier and thought maybe this was your ticket to victory, moving closer as you ran beside him trying to get the football.

But as you did, your foot got caught on his ankle causing you to spin. Your eyes widen as you see him fall back and you shut them waiting for impact.

Only when opening them do you find yourself fallen.

on top.

of Sharky.

It was too fast to stop it, and both of you didn't react until it was too late. Landing on his chest, you slowly lifted your head up to see him, his hand reaching to touch the back of his head. Your brows furrowed in worry, and pupils written in fear.

You watched as his gaze instantly shot to you, raising his head just as quick and the same worried expression you had on your face, reflecting his own one. "Are you alright?"

"No! Wait yes, I mean, are you alright? I should be asking you, not the other way around…"

Your voice trailing off, you found yourself frozen in place, a shiver of nervousness hitting your skin. Despite your brains commands to move, your body ignored it.

As part of you wanted to get up, the brain telling you to do so, the common sense in this situation, but your longing heart, the other, just wanted to keep looking into his dark eyes and get lost in them.

Dark chocolate rays fanning out around the bottomless pit of an iris, inky crescent moons trapped by a hazy, black limbal ring.

Those eyes are the colour of every tree in the forest, richer, due to the golden light from dawn to dusk. The warmth of an eternal hearth felt in those deep brown eyes.

Holding eye contact was the strongest thing you could have ever done. An achievement, a rare feeling inside of you bubbling up just waiting to come out.

For a second, you thought you imagined it, but reality hit you as you see his eyes flicker to your lips. Your mind finally taking over the reins, causing your heart to match the speed of the beads of sweat falling down.

You blinked, clearing your throat and getting up off of Sharky. You got up, stumbling, almost tripping on your own foot as you do so. The normal colour of your cheeks suddenly changing to a red hue as the warmth builds up.

Why can't you function properly today?? Placing a hand on your face, you can feel the warmth radiating, no doubt an obvious hue, seeping and shown through, you could not let him see you like this.

His brows knitted together as he took a glimpse at you, and he shifted to sit upwards, What happened? What did I do? Sharky thought, as he observed you, watching as you stood there covering your face with your hands.

Standing up now, rushing to your side, he put a hand on your shoulder as he tried to get your attention, "Are you okay?"

The smoky sound of his voice, making you feel intoxicated. The sound of your heart beating like crazy rang through your ears as you could barely make out the words Sharky was saying. Your breathing, quickening, and uneven, why were you like this?

Sharky didn't know what was happening at this point, he guessed maybe you were a bit overwhelmed with the whole football thing, and tired from all the running. He was worried but he didn't want to overthink it if it was a minor issue.

"Do you want some water?" He offered, handing you an extra bottle of water, he brought with him earlier.

"Uh, yeah…" You accepted, nodding your head frantically and taking the water from him, "Thank you." turning away from him as you drank.

࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚

The night sky was aglow with the bright city lights of London, the shades of navy and black painted across the sky like a giant canvass, and yet the stars fought their way onto this canvass, outnumbering and conveying their glow to the eyes of people.

You were heading home now, and even though you insisted you'd be fine heading back yourself, Sharky wouldn't take no for an answer and made sure that you had to return home safely.

Walking beside each other as a small breeze hits your backs. Sometimes when you walked your hand would brush against his, and your stomach would get butterflies. Causing you to pull your hand back but not enough to make it too obvious.

The touch was electric, one that sent your nervous system to jealousy, but you couldn't help but think about it. The soft touch of his hand, what would it be like to hold it again? But… longer?

Little did you know, he was thinking the exact same thing. Earlier, he did manage to grab your hand, but only for a short spur of the moment. It wasn't technically holding your hand. It was more of a… guiding you.

Sharky wasn't gonna back down this time. He had an amazing time with you. Your laugh, your smile? He really didn't want it to end. Just one day isn't enough time with you.

How did he do it before? How did he manage to take hold of your hand earlier? Maybe it was because he wasn't overthinking back then, but now he was.

I've done way more scarier things, I got this. He reminded himself, taking a deep breath to prepare, hyping up himself as he tried to get rid of the nerves.

3… 2… 1… He reached out for your hand, but you suddenly stopped in your tracks. Turning to face the other way, he retracted his hand.

"This is my stop." You mention, as you came to a stop in front of the pathway of your home.

Shit, Sharky sighed, gaze turning to the floor. There goes that opportunity, he sighed. Why couldn't he have just done it faster?

"Alright… uh, I'm gonna go? Thank you for walking me home, Sharky." You beamed at him, flashing a shy smile as you tried to hug him goodbye.

Clearly, he didn't know it was going to be a hug because he tried to elbow bump or more of a fistbump you instead. You tried to motion to him that it was a hug and he ended up realising it with a laugh, then engulfed you in a hug, wrapping his arms around your waist as you wrapped yours around his shoulders.

"Of course," He spoke just above a whisper into the hug, and smiled to himself, good thing you couldn't see his face right now because if you could, rosy cheeks dusted his face and a wide smile stuck on his face.

If you could stay in this hug, you would, the warmth radiating from it shielding you from the night breeze. The soft fabric of his clothing hugged your figure as it provided comfort in his arms.

As you tried to pull apart, a piece of your jewelry got caught on a stray thread of his jumper, an awkward chuckle coming out the both of you as you attempted to try and just break the thread off of your necklace.

Instead, it just made the thread longer, to which you just resorted to taking off your necklace and handing it to Sharky, giving up on trying to remove the stray piece of thread.

"Just… when you get home, cut it off and give it back when you next see me." You say, a tinge of hope in your voice, hoping that he did want to see you again.

But your worries were gone when you saw him flash you a smile while he gave you a nod, holding your necklace in his hand.

As you both walk your separate ways, you're both thinking, "Why the hell, did I make that awkward?"

Days turned into weeks, and during that whole time, you'd hang out with the beta squad more and more, being in their videos to just movie nights and snacks, which included more time spent with Sharky. He did give back the necklace after a couple days, but from your perspective it looked as if he was busy those couple days.

But in reality, he was debating what day to give it back to you and how. Should it have been a gift he gives you along with the necklace? Or just hand it back to you normally? He did the latter, but it did really mess him up, a flustered mess thinking how he actually had something of yours with him.

Throughout the weeks going by, Sharky invited you to join in his videos, the fans loved you with the beta squad so he thought it would be a great thing to have you on his channel. He said it would be great for your channel too but honestly in his heart, he just craved to spend more time with you.

Every minute with you was precious, every moment and every smile. Hearing your voice, brightened his whole day, yes his heart would race and yes his breathing would be uneven thinking about you. But it didn't matter, none of it mattered as long as he was by your side.

You made everything better, and he knew it, in fact he wished every day would be with you.

He had learned a lot just by hanging out with you for videos or even just football sessions. He loved listening to your voice as you talked about your passions or just random things that came to your mind. He'd often smile as you talked, sometimes not even realising he was staring at your features.

Gazing at you was like daydreaming outside a window, it wasn't much to people on the outside, but to himself, it was something he couldn't stop himself from doing. It was addicting to say the least. You've got him hooked from the start.

࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚

"No. Way. You have to come over right now, spill all the tea."

You let out a laugh, currently you were on a call with your friend, trying to catch up but she realised it wasn't easy to get to know all that's happened through the phone so she arranged for you to meet at her place later today.

She drove to your house, waiting in the driveway as you hurriedly got out of your house, locking the door as you left. And making your way to her car.

The weather wasn't the best, it could've been better but the raindrops hitting against the roof of the car and the floor outside didn't seem that the weather was going to get better anytime soon.

On the way to her place, she started to tell you stuff that's been going on for the past couple of weeks, exciting things and sometimes boring ones, you'd be honest sometimes you could fall asleep to what she says at times.

When you arrived at her house, she got you some warmer clothes and brought you a hot drink. Thanking her as you took a seat on her couch, her following suit.

As soon as she sat down, you knew she was going to ask you what happened in your life so far. Usually, you'd laugh and say nothing much, as she almost basically told her whole life story in the car. But this time, there was something interesting to talk about.

More like… someone.

Explaining the start of when you met Sharky, to the football training, the videos and the hangouts you told her all about the fun, but you also told her about how you couldn't function at times around him.

When you finished telling everything, she put a hand on your shoulder and looked deeply into your eyes, "You're in love, no doubt in my mind."

"Are you joking? In love?" You scoffed, averting your gaze from her to the mug you were holding, sloshing around the liquid inside of it.

"You're so delusional. Can you not see it?" She sighed in exasperation, throwing her head back to lean it against the couch.

"Last time I was in love, it didn't really turn out well." You mumbled an air of melancholy surrounding you as it clouded your features. Placing the cup onto the table as you crossed your arms in front of you and leaning back.

"Hey," She turned to you, nudging you to make you face her, "Your ex was a piece of shit." You let out a small chuckle as she continued. "You didn't ruin anything. He ruined it."

"This Sharky you're talking about clearly isn't like that. From what you're describing to me anyway. And clearly, you like him." She grins, a stupid grin on her face.

"I don't—"

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that again." She cuts you off, glaring and raising one brow at you.

Your mouth snapped shut, pressing into a thin line. She has a point, one that you couldn't argue on, and even if tried, it would make you look stupid.

"C'mon, you can't deny that you didn't like that date." She teased, a knowing smirk lingering on her face as she drank the rest of her coffee.

"What date?" You raised eyebrows surprised, turning to face her.

"You know, where y'all went to a restaurant and then he taught you how to play football after?" She giggled as she saw the look on your face.

You rolled your eyes playfully, shoving her arm slightly, "Stop messing around. We didn't go on a date! It was a friendly hangout. He sees me as a friend for sure."

She gave you a look which said really? Are you kidding me?

"But is that really all he is to you?"

You gulped and thought about it, shifting your gaze to the ground. Your mind suddenly goes back to the past weeks.

When your hand would brush against his, or when his arm would be pushed near yours in a tight space, your heart would race each time without fail, and you'd think about it for days.

Or when he'd speak, his voice warm and calm, like a flowing river, soothing to one's heart. And that's how he made you feel, all warm and fuzzy on the inside, a tingle in your stomach building up.

When you'd happen to look across the room and he was standing there so perfectly, talking about something you couldn't hear with a glimmer in his eyes and the corners of his lips upturned.

And when he'd notice you looking, turning his gaze to your direction and you'd stare into his dark golden eyes, suddenly everything around you would blur out, the voice of someone speaking disappeared, and the sound of your surroundings vanished. And all you'd notice was … Sharky.

"Just date already!" Your friend laughed, cutting you out of your thoughts, shaking your head to focus again.

You would laugh it off, but the truth was that you were scared on the inside. You didn't want it to end up like your last relationship, cold and cut off. But then again, Sharky wasn't your ex. Sharky was a whole different person.

You had promised before that you wouldn't love for a long time, to heal you had said, you roll your eyes at that, you couldn't stay away.

Why? Because here you are catching feelings.

࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚

The talk with your friend really made you think this week, made you think a lot, actually. Maybe you'd try to accept that you've fallen in love, but it's hard when you don't even know if the other person feels the same way.

It's honestly so frustrating, and yet you hate that you love the way he's making you act up like this. It's like a high school girl with a stupid crush.

You don't even know if you've been obvious to him this whole time.

But you had to ignore it, just for today, because right now you were heading to the beta squad house to film a video for Sharky's channel. A general knowledge video is what he mentioned to you.

As you arrived at the house, you were greeted by Niko as he brought you along to the sitting room. Aj, Chunkz, and Sharky were standing there talking to the camera crew.

While you walked in, you caught the eye of Sharky, waving to you as soon as he saw you, of course you waved back, but this time you took more notice of Sharky, specifically the way his eyes lit up as soon as he saw you.

Or maybe it was the way Chunkz elbowed him in the ribs immediately after Sharky waved at you, a knowing smirk on his face as he switched his focus between the both of you.

Niko turned to all of you, reminding you all that the video would start in 10 minutes, "So if you guys need to do anything, now's the time not later."

"Oh! That reminds me we've gotta get the boxes for the challenge upstairs." Sharky added, heading towards the door, but stopping before he reached it, half turning to face you all with a questioning look.

"Anyone gonna help me?"

"We three are a bit busy so," Chunkz stated, Shrugging his shoulders as he put on a cheeky smile. "Y/N can help you with that? Right Y/N?" Chunkz wrapped an arm around your shoulders as he observed his friend's reaction.

You glanced between Chunkz and Sharky, both of them waiting for your answer. You nodded hesitantly before following Sharky upstairs.

There were forfeits to this challenge, most of them being hidden in boxes that you'd have to find out during the recording of the video.

As you both walked towards the room, you hated that your hands started to sweat, and your heart started to race. The silence was deafening to your ears, you wanted to break the silence but what could you say? But you didn't have to worry much as he ended up speaking first.

Sharky cleared his throat as he opened the door, revealing a small room that had a poster covering the walls, some few items scattered around the floor and the stack of boxes, "We don't have to take them all in one go, by the way."

"Obviously not." You giggled, watching as he moved towards the boxes only to stop after hearing your sarcasm.

"Sorry." You groaned, diverting your gaze as you covered half of your face with your hand out of embarrassment.

He rolled his eyes at your response, shaking his head with a small smile.

With your help almost all of the boxes had been brought down in no time, leaving only a couple of things on the bed. You were so focused on actually helping that you hadn’t noticed Sharky walk in whilst you were picking up the cards with the questions on them.

His hand grazed over yours, slightly brushing just the back of your hand, but it was enough to make you freeze and make your heart beat like crazy.

Your mind was all over the place, nervous and flustered. Your gaze darted up and down and all over him, struggling to focus. As you glanced at his face you noticed something different…

He wasn't wearing his usual backwards hat or a durag this time, but just his hair, the way the curls formed faultlessly on top of his head, accentuating the rest of his features. He'd be on the front cover of a modelling magazine, and you could stare at it all day long.

And when he looked at you, oh boy, that's when you knew you were in for it. You can't go back, you've fallen too far ahead now. Those eyes, they hypnotise you, draw you in instantly and it's hard to get out.

"Stop looking at me like that." You half-rolled your eyes, but the corners of your mouth started to curl up against your will.

"Like what?" He chuckled, making your heart skip a beat once again. Genuinely smiling and you could tell he was curious to know what you meant as he leaned just maybe an inch closer than he already was.

When you look at me and it speaks a thousand words when our voices couldn't and when our gaze crosses from a distance, and it fills my heart with comfort.

The way your eyes have that slight crinkle at the corner of them and that makes your face the cutest when you smile and makes my heart skip a beat, all. the. damn. time.

And when those eyes are looking only at me.

"Nevermind," You dismiss him waving a hand, while looking away, missing to see that he frowns, he has that longing behind his eyes to ask what you meant but he knew he shouldn't pry any further, he didn't want to scare you away.

But he had to know. His mind couldn't stop his curious heart, and so he moved without thought, stepping closer towards you and grabbing your waist.

You yelped at the sudden closeness, eyes widening in shock at how close you both were. His face leaning towards yours with longing eyes, his lips slightly upturned at your reaction as your face started burning.

"Tell me." Sharky breathed, his eyes flickering to your lips for a second too long before gazing back into your eyes.

He was too close, too close that you could see all of his features, the small crinkle on the side of his smile, the unrivalled shape of his eyes, making him unique.

And you'd dare say you also saw a small pink dusting his cheeks.

He was too close, too close that you could feel his breath upon your lips, just centimetres away from you.

His lips looked inviting,

craving something from you.

Asking you to complete it, to fill in that emptiness, it so longed for.

Or maybe you were the one that longed for it?

And you watched as it slowly formed into a smile, glancing back up to the eyes of the owner.

You could see that he was inching closer and closer, your heart denying your every wish to stay calm.

Your mind was frightened, scared of the outcome; it was like stepping on glass, afraid to fall into nothingness and yet your heart thrived in it, determined to see through it.

Honestly, you could move, you should move. It was the smart thing to do.

And yet why didn't you move? You could've moved, told him you weren't okay with him being that close.

But you just… couldn't? It was like you were frozen in place, stuck, bound to stay here for eternity.

And so maybe that's why you shut your eyes slowly.

Waiting to accept the invitation.

But the creaking of a door opening made both of you jump and pull away, swiftly turning your heads to see who it was.

Niko raised his eyebrows, glancing back and forth between the two of you, "Am I interrupting something here?" His mouth formed into a thin line as he scratched the back of his neck, silence dawning upon his answer.

Only until a cough came from Sharky, did Niko return back to his normal self, disregarding what he said earlier and advancing towards the middle of the room, lifting a box, "Guys, we're starting the shoot in 3 minutes and you both didn't even bring down one last box?"

Walking to the door before turning to the two of you, "By the way, when I said earlier, if you have something to do, do it now. This is not what I meant." He laughed, bolting downstairs not to see yours or Sharky's reaction.

Sharky rolled his eyes, scoffing as he couldn't help but let a smile sneak on his face, as he placed his hands in his pockets. "We better head back down, I guess."

You nodded, swallowing the nerves as you took the cards back into your hands, walking beside Sharky downstairs, avoiding any contact with him.

Throughout the whole video, your mind just couldn't focus. Your thoughts going back to earlier, what would have happened if Niko didn't walk in? What would you have done if he didn't? Was Sharky even trying to kiss you and you were just delusional?

Aj kept snapping his fingers in your face every time he noticed you weren't focusing. People who would watch the video would think he's just being his usual Aj self, but in reality, he was worried.

Worried that maybe something happened, and you were going back to not feeling like your usual self.

He hated that time, he hated whenever his friends felt at their worst. He knows because he's felt that same way before, and to feel it multiple times? There's nothing worse.

And so after the video, he went up to you, to see if you were alright. He caught up to you, right as you were about to leave the house, calling out your name.

"Ay Y/N, why you leaving so fast? Are you alright?" Worry surrounded his voice as he placed a hand on your shoulder.

"I'm okay Aje, thanks." You chuckled nervously, "Just uh, tired, yeah..." Scratching the back of your neck as you glanced away.

You hoped he hadn't seen the way you tried to avoid Sharky, or the glances you took during the video, causing your heart to race every second you did.

"Thanks for having me, tell that to the boys alright?" You gave Aj a small smile, patting him on the shoulder as you pointed towards the door with your thumb, indicating you were gonna leave, stepping out the door.

"How are ya gonna get home?" He shouted after you, still at the door, watching as you walked towards the driveway.

Turning around, you pulled out your phone in your pocket showing it to him, "Uh, I'll just call a taxi." You waved at him as you left.

As soon as you turned round the corner, where the eyes of the houses were gone, you took a deep breath, trying to steady it, as you wiped your sweaty hands. You cursed under your breath, How'd one guy get you messed up like this?

࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚

Aj closed the door when you were out of sight, as he turned towards the sitting room where the rest of his friends were. But he stopped in his tracks, a light bulb flickering in his head as he remembered something.

He scoffed as he peered inside the room, showing Sharky, Chunkz and Niko, having a conversation around the table, sitting back with their phones in their hands.

When he turned to head to the kitchen, Aj heard Sharky's voice call out to him as he glanced back and saw Sharky walk up to him.

"What's up Aj?" Sharky asked, darting his gaze around the room, it's as if he was looking for something, "Where's Y/N?"

Aj raised a brow, something clicking in his head, as he eyed the taller man in front of him. He placed his hands in his pockets as he spoke.

"She left." Aj started, squinting his eyes at Sharky as he continued to speak, suspicion drawing in his voice, "But I was just thinking, Sharks, what happened upstairs earlier?"

Sharkys eyes went round for a split second before returning to his normal face, "What do you mean?" He chuckled.

"Don't play stupid, I know you know what I mean." Pointing a finger at him, his voice raising slightly.

Sharky diverted his gaze, staring at the ground as he scratched the back of his neck. He knew what Aj was talking about, but was it what Sharky was thinking?

Aj shook his head and sighed, "I know you like her Sharks, but …" He trailed off, getting the other Somalis' attention as he watched Aj continue.

"I was worried. She wasn't herself today. It reminded me how she acted after her ex, dazed, fake smiles, and all that shit." Aj narrowed his eyes.

Sharky's brows upturned as he listened, something aching his heart. Would it be right to ask what happened? Or would it be overstepping his boundaries if he did?

He shook his head. If it was overstepping, Aj would tell him, and so he spoke, "I don't want to pry too much, but what happened?"

"Her ex was fine at first you know? No one noticed anything off with him, he was great until he started being toxic, then we could see it from a mile away. Man flippin gaslit her into believing that he loved her the whole time." Aj furrowed his brows in annoyance, as he placed his hands on his hips.

Sharky's face was stern, no emotion on it other than in his eyes, flames of anger burning behind them, his brows knitted together.

If looks could kill, his one would have.

How could someone do that to you? Play someone's feelings like it was a game? He hated people like that. He thought it was so disgusting to even think about it. For sure, if he ever sees the guy, he's gonna have a serious talk with him.

"I don't want you breaking her heart. You're a good guy for sure so just stay that way, blud." Aj pulled a smile, looking up at Sharky as he patted his shoulder, going to the kitchen and leaving Sharky with his own thoughts.

࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚ ࿙ ࿚

He slowly went over to sit on his bed, still in disbelief. You had to go through all that? And that bastard treated you like that? Proper mad, that guy.

Something in his heart suddenly twisted, an ache, or a pain, he wasn't sure. But he didn't like the feeling, the feeling of someone hurting you? Sharky would never do that to you.

He knew he didn't like you, because he loved you. He loved you so much that it hurt to think of someone hurting you. He wanted to be there for you, always. To let you lean on him when you needed to, and to be there just to see you laugh, to see you smile.

Pulling out his phone and putting on his Frank Ocean playlist, the song "Thinkin' bout you" popped up.

He sighed quietly as he put on his airpods and laid his head on the headboard of his bed, shutting his eyes close as he listened to the song.

"I've been thinking 'bout you"

A song that was your favourite of Frank Ocean.

"Do you think about me still? Do ya, do ya?"

He smiled, remembering you first singing it.

"Or do you not think so far ahead"

"Cause I been thinking bout forever, ooh"

And that's when it hit him, forever is a long time. And he didn't want to just think forever. He wanted to experience things, experience them with you.

But how could he, if he didn't tell you that he loved you?

He wanted you, no, he needed you.

That's why he got up and ran out of his room, grabbing a jacket on the way out as quickly as possible.

That's why he fumbled rushing to get his car keys to drive to your house.

That's why he's getting into his car, not even bothering to put on a seat belt, but focusing on getting out of the driveway to head to you.

And that's why he's running up to your house, knocking at your door, in the middle of the night.

And when the door opens, revealing you, looking up shocked when you see him, that's when he knew he wasn't too late, that he could still tell you.

Sharky is always a prepared guy. He plans out things for everything, and he's normally very organised. But this was hasty, reckless even, for the first time from what he can remember, he's unprepared.

No planning, no nothing, he was just following what his heart desired in this very moment. And in this moment, he desired you.

Rushing to you? Was definitely spontaneous. But how could he complain? He'd change up his life. He'd endure through any hard circumstances if it meant he'd be by your side.

This was why he wanted to let you know, to let you know now before it was too late, before someone tried to take you away from him.

He turned his gaze to the floor, fumbling for the words to say, suddenly his mind was everywhere, words didn't exist, only feelings at this point.

But he tried, calming his heart down as he shifted his gaze back to you, taking a deep breath in to say something, anything to you.

Sharky rushed to speak, "Y/N, I'm never this impulsive, I think things through, I … I … I'm organised, I plan it all out but…" His brows drew together, sighing in exasperation.

"Agh, I can't stop thinking about you. You're making me act all different, I can't focus anymore." He rubbed his temple, trying to calm his voice, to speak clearer.

"My heart races everytime I think about you, my palms start to sweat and my brain just can't focus. Everytime I close my eyes at night your face shows up and I can't sleep."

His eyes were darting everywhere but you at this point, "Every song I listen to suddenly reminds me of you and I can't get you out of my head."

"And every. damn. glance. I take is because I can't take my eyes off you, you really steal the spotlight when you're in the same room as me. I can't concentrate."

"You honestly looked so perfect when we were filming the video earlier and before upstairs… I'm sorry. I couldn't control myself. The urge to kiss you was killing me, and if Niko didn't walk in, I would have kissed you without thinking properly."

He realised he hadn't looked at you the whole time he talked because he was afraid, afraid of what your reaction would be, afraid maybe you wouldn't have felt the same way as him.

Maybe he read the signs wrong? Maybe you didn't love him back as he did with you?

But the thing was when he did look at you, you were in shock, you stood there wide-eyed, frozen in place at his confession. You couldn't say anything, you wanted to, but nothing was coming out.

He thought he was done for, that you didn't feel the same way until he saw the bright red flush creep upon your cheeks. Your gaze softening at the Somali in front of you.

He took a deep breath, inhaling as much air physically possible because right now he felt like he couldn't breathe either. You were just there in front of him, barely even an arms reach away from him. And the urge to envelop you in his arms was too strong.

"I will treat you right, the way you should be treated. I would never do anything to harm you or hurt you. And it's because I love you. I truly love you. Please…"

This was the minimum he could do for now, Taking your hands in his soft ones, moving your gaze to his soft sienna eyes.

He knows he shouldn't be doing this right here. But he couldn't help it.

It was now or never, to think he would lose you was one mistake he never wants to make, not later, not now.

But if the pain of not having you in his heart was stronger than in his head where his logical thinking was, just for once, just one time in his life he could ignore it.

He would do anything.

Anything for you.

So he spoke, words coming out of his loving heart rather than his mind, his brain allowed his heart to speak just this once, to know, truly know what you feel.

"Let me love you."

Taglist: @b4tasquad @p3drii @n1kodl @elora-k @slutforpablogavi @enhacolor @amwife @distantfromu

Mutuals Taglist: @b4tasquad @p3drii @vctrvn-ls @allygatcr @slutforpablogavi @kennysboxergf @n1kodl @amwife @heartsforaj

Taglist for this fic: @vctrvn-ls @allygatcr @kennysboxergf @lunasmindinwriting @heartsbyvalentina @heartsforaj @elyse3s @leanamaybank

I'm sorry if anyone else wanted to be on the taglist here. Send me an ask, and I'll add you! Currently cannot think rn of who I have to add-

[natsukishinomiyaswife]

⋆ 𝓘𝓭𝓲𝓪 𝓢𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓭: 𝓒𝓪𝓴𝓮, 𝓚𝓲𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓼, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓑𝓲𝓻𝓽𝓱𝓭𝓪𝔂 𝓦𝓲𝓼𝓱𝓮𝓼 ⋆

Please note: This is a repost from my old blog, @sugarcookiesheep!

Idia has graduated from NRC in this, and he and Ortho live in an apartment together!

⋆ December, a time well known for the holiday season, was also the month your beloved boyfriend Idia was born. You had been together for a few years now, the two of you bonding over a shared interest in video games and animated shows. It had been slow going at first, having been friends for a while as your feelings grew for each other. You and Idia didn’t want to risk ruining your friendship by confessing, worried that the other didn’t feel the same way. It was thanks to Ortho stepping in that you two began to date, giving you the push you needed to confess to each other. You were grateful for it, the years you’ve spent together being some of the happiest you could remember. You couldn’t imagine life without him, without the love you share, and without Ortho, who considers you family. 

⋆ You could feel the excitement radiating from Ortho as December 18th approached, both of you wanting to make Idia’s birthday special. You had been planning in secret, not wanting Idia to find out the surprises you and Ortho had in store for him. First was the cake, you and Ortho deciding to make it from scratch this year. It was a fun time filled with laughs as you baked, both of you having flour and frosting on yourselves once finished. The cake was in a flavor Ortho chose decorated with Idia’s favorite candies, Happy Birthday Idia! written in frosting on top. Once the cake was done, you had Ortho distract Idia (making sure he didn’t leave his room) so that you could decorate, hanging up streamers and balloons in his favorite colors. You even got a cardboard cutout of one of his favorite characters, taping a happy birthday sign to their hand to make it look like they’re holding it. You placed the gifts you and Ortho got him in the living room, a few video games and box sets of shows he wanted, along with some merch of his favorite characters. You used the coffee table he has to set up his cake and birthday dinner, having gotten take out courtesy of Azul and the Mostro Lounge. Once everything was set and his apartment decorated you sat on the living room couch, sending Ortho a text. Your heart pounded in anticipation, getting into position as you heard the door to his bedroom open.

⋆ Idia’s day has been great so far, waking up to the smell of Ortho cooking breakfast. At least that’s what he assumed before entering the kitchen, finding you in an apron as you cooked on the stove. You looked up as you noticed him enter, giving him a bright smile as you wished him a good morning. The ends of his hair turned pink, becoming flustered at the domestic sight before him. He couldn’t help but think you were much too radiant for how early in the morning it was, coming up behind you and wrapping his arms around your waist, hiding his face in your hair as you continued to cook. You laughed lightly, knowing how shy Idia still got even after all this time. You enjoyed his embrace as you continued to cook in amicable silence, having him sit at the table when you were finished. You wished him a happy birthday as you sat down his plate, giving him a gentle kiss before making a plate for yourself. Idia couldn’t help but stare in between bites of food, his mind a mess as he thought of what it’d be like to experience this every morning. You had already been spending more time at his apartment, sleeping over often and leaving some of your things here for when you visited. You even had your own key, Idia giving it to you for your anniversary (an idea he got from Ortho).

⋆ As he sat there thinking of what it’d be like if you lived together he was startled out of his thoughts by you trying to get attention, having been talking to him this whole time with no response. He shook his head as he assured you he was alright, nervously explaining he was just thinking of all the games he had to log into today for the birthday login bonuses and gifts. You looked at him, unconvinced, before dropping the subject. Once breakfast was done you told Idia you had errands to do today, assuring him you’d see him later on tonight. You gave him a kiss goodbye before heading out, leaving him alone with his thoughts. After some time he shook his head, going to his room in the hopes of getting his mind off the subject. A few hours later Ortho joined him, Idia silently wondering where he had been all day. As they talked and played games together Ortho suddenly got up, urging him to leave his room excitedly. What he saw once he opened his door was the last thing he had expected.

⋆ You jumped up from the couch and shouted surprise, Ortho shouting as well from behind him, causing Idia to jump. He stood there in shock, looking from the decorations to the presents to the food before looking back towards you, his heart starting to race as he realized all of this was for him. He couldn’t stop the smile from growing on his face as you both told him happy birthday, leading him to the coffee table where his food and cake sat. You all sat around the table, eating and talking. When it came time for his cake Ortho added some candles, lighting them before setting it in front of Idia. You both sang happy birthday to him, Idia blowing out his candles as you clapped and cheered. You ate the cake in between presents, each of you taking turns giving Idia a gift to open.

⋆ With each gift Idia’s excitement grew, and by the time he opened the last one he was itching to start playing some of the new games he got. He gave Ortho a hug, thanking him before giving you one, holding on to you longer as the tips of his hair turned pink. As he held you close he mumbled out his thanks, more of his hair going pink as he told you he loved you. You said you loved him as well, looking up at him affectionately. He looked down at you, unable to meet your gaze as he leaned in to give you a gentle kiss. Ortho made a comment about how cute you two were, making Idia jump and pull away in embarrassment, having forgotten his little brother was there. You and Ortho laughed as Idia hid his face in his hands, Ortho apologizing as he couldn’t resist teasing him.

⋆ You helped Ortho clean up while Idia headed to his room, grabbing his game console to set up in the living room. You sat on the couch as Idia played one of his new games, Idia sitting in the middle while you and Ortho sat on each side of him. You watched him play, cheering and making comments as he progressed. You could tell Idia wanted to show off, making the hardest difficulty in the game look like nothing. You loved seeing Idia like this, confident and in his element. You cuddled up closer to him, resting your head on his shoulder as you focused on him. He was fully immersed in the game until he felt eyes staring at him, looking over to find you staring up at him affectionately from where your head rested on his shoulder. He quickly turned back to his game, stumbling as he grew flustered thinking of how cute you were. He continued to play the game late into the night, not wanting to rest until he beat it. Once he was done he stretched, laughing to himself triumphantly as he looked next to him.

⋆ You had fallen asleep sometime during his gaming, curled up on your side of the couch as you slept soundly. Ortho had already gone back to his room some time ago, leaving just the two of you in the living room. Idia stared at the peaceful look on your face as you slept, debating whether or not he should wake you. He thought about going to his room and leaving you asleep on the couch, not wanting to disturb you. His heart ached at the thought of going to bed without you beside him, his bed feeling empty whenever you’re not there. After some time he decided to wake you, gently shaking you awake. Once you were up you sleepily followed him to his room, changing into one of his shirts before getting in bed. Idia joined you shortly, having changed into pajamas. You both cuddled close to each other, Idia wrapping his arms around you as he buried his face in your neck. You wished him happy birthday one last time before falling asleep, tired from the day and how late it was.

⋆ Idia laid there holding you, listening to you breathe as you slept soundly. The day had been perfect, one of the best birthdays he’s had. But it also left him feeling conflicted, his mind and heart a mess as he realizes that he wants more. He wants to wake up every morning with you there, next to him in bed or in the kitchen having breakfast. He wants you to be the first thing he sees every day, to hear your voice, to feel your touch. He wants to spend time with you, talk with you, eat with you, go to bed with you. He just wants you, in his life, always. These thoughts overwhelm him, leaving him anxious and afraid. He never thought he would feel this way, thinking back to when he was taken by that ghost to be her groom back at NRC. He shuts his eyes, holding you tighter as he tries to calm down, mind racing. He falls asleep that night thinking of you, his heart pounding as he longs for more ♡

Originally posted: December 16th, 2023

𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾! ♡

[munsonsreputation]

everything in between

steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: [6.2K]

warnings: warnings: no use of y/n, established relationship, difficulties dealing with drunk-ness (steve), brief talk about anxiety, all around fluff

summary: you and steve are both new to this relationship thing, unsure if this will finally be the one — but it's already clear to everybody else that you two are perfect for each other and everything in between. based off "in between" by gracie abrams.

It’s everything new and fresh, yet frightening between you and Steve.

The way that you both had found yourselves here without knowing if what was happening was right for either of you. If the decision to finally act upon feelings was going to be the end of broken hearts and tearful nights and replace them with mended tapestries and starry eyes.

For the both of you, it seems scary, giving love another chance after the horrible paths that you two had previously been on, but it seems like everyone else already knows that you’re both walking hand in hand on Lover’s Lane.

Something hopeful connecting you two together and bringing you both where you needed to be — becoming everything in between.

Robin likes to tease Steve in the beginning stages of your relationship. Poking fun at him for the way he has always been irrevocably whipped and enamored by you even before he had finally asked you out.

He tries to play it cool like his persona, but deep down she knows it’s all just an act and he puts up so that it doesn’t seem like he’s moving too fast.

Her feet rest comfortably in his lap as they pass around the popcorn bowl, enjoying the new tape they had smuggled from Family Video. Not that they cared, since Keith never noticed. The couch seems a lot bigger without the rest of their friends there to hog it, but Steve still doesn’t mind the less than pedicured toes in his lap because it’s his best friend.

There’s a ring that comes from the house phone which is mounted to the wall on the other side of the room catching her attention quicker than the feeling of her legs getting pushed off his thighs as he rushes to answer it.

“Hey!”

It’s sick, honestly down right repulsive by the way he never lets the phone ring for more than a second or two when he knows it you on the other line. And she knows, he knows that it’s you calling because he just feels it in his bones — even when it could be one of the kids prank calling at this late hour; he knows that it’s you.

“Hi Stevie!”

She can practically hear you bubbling on the other side of the receiver and she swears Steve smiles a little harder just at the sound of your voice.

She doesn’t hear you ask how movie night is going, too busy with stuffing her mouth with popcorn entertained with the way Steve is leaning against the wall and acting like a total school girl over the fact that you called.

He only makes eye contact with her for a split second before he’s wiping the smile off his face to the best of his ability seeing the way his best friend is smirking like an idiot over the way he’s acting.

“Y-yeah, it’s great! Just some boring movie about spaceships and aliens — Oh, yeah, Robin’s just eating all the popcorn right now. She doesn’t mind.”

Steve shakes his head, not wanting to hang up the phone so soon. If he could, he’d talk to you for the whole night and he’s pretty sure Robin wouldn’t mind at all because it’d be way more entertaining than the forgotten movie on the tv.

“Tell her I said hi and I can’t wait to see her tomorrow!” You say enthusiastically and Steve does everything but groan, knowing that this will probably lead to some sort of teasing that from Robin’s end.

He pulled the phone away from his ear, holding it out in the air towards Robin as he speaks, “She says hi and she can’t wait til tomorrow.”

She chews, a smile still splaying on her face as she swallows and licks the crumbs off her lips before shouting out loud enough for you to hear.

“Hiya sunshine! Miss you bunches, but not more than your lover boooyyy!” She singsongs with a cackle erupting as soon as Steve snatches the phone back to his ear.

Your own laughter overlaps Robin’s, and it silences the embarrassment that Steve’s feeling because the last thing he wants is for you to think that he’s moving too fast. But for you, he’s moving at the right speed, the speed that has you throwing your hands in the air with butterflies filling your stomach in all the right ways.

“Ignore her. She’s trying to be funny.” Steve tries to quip, yet you’re still giggling, and it’s the kind that makes his cheeks heat up because he knows you’re blushing and smiling like a maniac.

He wishes he were there to see it for himself, the way you’d try to hide your face behind your hands because of how hard you were smiling and how he’d have to plead for you to put them down just so he could catch a glimpse and save that mental picture in his head forever.

Your voice is laced with sweetness as your giggles die down and only a second or two of silence comes before you speak.

“Don’t leave Robs hanging and go watch your movie…I’ll call in the morning, lover boy.”

He sure as hell doesn’t let the first ring even finish before he picks up the next morning and Robin is quite pleased because it doesn’t wake her up.

Steve’s house always seems to be the gathering place for get together’s, mostly because his parents are always gone and partly because the amount of room there is to roam around. And while there isn’t always alcohol at the functions because of the presence of the sneaky kids, when there is Nancy can always smell the anxiety in the air.

For her she knows that a piece of Steve is still mortified from the Halloween party a few years back which ended with spiked punch spilt all over her, a dramatic drunken argument, and the end of her and Steve.

She lives with that regret wishing she had been sober so she could’ve at least let him down easy and even after she had apologized she still knows that it haunts him, especially because she can see his face fall when she brings him a very intoxicated you.

“Woah, woah, hey,”

She guides you into his arms, watching the way he’s already grabbing at your shoulders and lifting your chin up with his thumb and forefinger. She sticks around, not knowing if she’ll need to help if you fall backwards in his living room. You definitely seem and look wasted, droopy eyes staring into Steve’s as you try your best to stand up straight.

“She might have had too many drinks.” Nance winces, looking back at the kitchen where empty solo cups are scattered over the kitchen table.

Steve breathes in, nodding his head and working your arm over his shoulders to keep you upright, “thanks, I’m gonna bring her to the bathroom to clean up.”

She nods, nibbling back a comment about how he shouldn’t bring you to the same upstairs bathroom that he had brought her in. It would be too much for him to handle this kind of situation again in the same place where she had broken his heart, but she knows you aren’t going to do that to him.

He proceeds, doing most of the holding up and walking, guiding you slowly up the stairs and down the hall to his bathroom where all your stuff is stored in your very a drawer he had cleared out just for you.

“Let’s sit, yeah?” Steve mutters quietly, closing the toilet lid and sitting you down on it.

He’s unsure of what to do, seeing as though you haven’t even spoken a word since Nancy brought you to him. Yet he knows you can hear him. The way your sluggish eyes stay on his let him know that you’re still aware that he’s here with you, he just doesn’t know what you’re thinking.

What is about to come out of your mouth when you finally begin speaking?

If it’ll be something that’s going to tear his heart apart and begin to make his eyes prickle. If he’ll have to beg you to not walk out because you’re not thinking straight. If this was all his love was ever going to amount to and end like this.

“S-staring,” You hiccup, your shoulders jerking

He furrows his brows, kneeling on the floor and squeezing your knee lovingly.

“Huh? What was that?”

You swallow back another hiccup, rubbing your fingers over your eyes, smudging your mascara, unknowingly.

“I said y-you’re staring.”

Steve watches when you pull your hands away, black pigment covering your finger tips though you don’t seem to notice or feel the slight sting of the product getting in your eyes.

Despite it all, a smile tugs up at the corner of your lips as you reach forward and wrap your arms around Steve’s neck, wanting to be close to his touch. You’re slouching into him, resting your forehead against his as he does his best to not laugh at the mess around your eyes.

“I was staring because you look like you had a lot to drink,” he says, smoothing your stay hairs behind your ear and cupping your cheek.

You close your eyes blissfully, taking him with you as you lean back slightly and reel in the feeling of his gentle touch.

“I think I had three…no four! cups of gin and tonic.” You mention, not bothering to open your eyes to catch his bemused look.

“Hmm, I believe it, sweetheart. Why don’t we take off your makeup then get you some water and a snack downstairs before bed?” He proposed met with your eyes opening and your head nodding.

He guides you towards the sink as you do your best to keep yourself upright against the counter as he swipes the damp makeup wipe over your face paying extra attention to the delicate skin around your eyes as he tries to get most of the mascara smudge off.

He knows which bottle is your face wash because he’s watched you do it a million times over at your place and he picked up a bottle to stay at his for when you spent the night. It’s like muscle memory for him even if this is the first time he’s doing it for you and he hopes it isn’t the last because it’s calming him down in a weird way.

What he had thought was going to be an explosive fight in his bathroom all over again was just you smiling and humming as his fingers glided over your face, happy that it was him taking care of you. Apparently you seem to enjoy it just as much, giggling as he smears the moisturizer over your face and rubbing it into your skin.

The task alone seems to wake you up enough that you’re beaming and talking a lot more than before.

“My face feels so soft!” You grin, tapping your palms on either side of your cheeks while Steve guides you back down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

Chuckling, Steve hoists you up on the countertops as he rummages through the dishes, finding a clean glass and filling it up with some ice and water.

“Really? You think I did a good job?” He urges as he carefully places the cusp between your lips and tilts it enough for you to sip slowly.

When you push your head forward, he knows you had enough, drawing it away and setting it on the counter. Both of his palms rest on either side, caging you in as your gaze is fixated on his face.

“The best job, ever…kisses?” You ask, playfully puckering your lips towards him.

He knows you mean, “can I kiss you for doing a good job” but he still gets it, flashing you a tender smile.

“Yeah, sure, why not,” He snickers, leaning closer as you hold his face in your hands and smile, “kisses, baby.”

A giddy smile plays on your lips as his lips touch yours. For you it feels just as special as the other’s kisses you two share even if your brain is half buzzing from the alcohol. But for Steve, it’s a wave of relief, one that washes away the cold and empty feeling from the past. All he wants to do is savor the sweetness of your lips and hands, keeping him grounded here with you.

“You’re gonna get me drunk.” Steve jokes against your lips and you giggle, pressing your lips harder against his to shut him up for a moment.

“Is that even possible?” You ask finally pulling away and running your thumbs over his cheekbones.

He shrugs, leaning into your touch, “Maybe, but I don’t mind.”

You grin, pressing one last kiss to his lips before pointing to the bag of Lay’s that sits unopen.

“Can I have some chips?” you request

“Sure, you can have the whole bag if you want,” He replies, reaching for it and tearing it open.

Steve’s more than happy to oblige, feeding you and offering you occasional sips of water while you both stay in the kitchen totally forgetting about the party around you.

It’s an endearing sight that Nancy can’t help but smile at from her place on the couch. She’s fulfilled with her own love that she shares with Jonathan, the boy who’s resting his head on her shoulder, tracing shapes on the scar in the palm of her hand.

But she’s especially fulfilled with the fact that she and Steve are on better terms now, one where they can be happy for each other now that they’ve found their person. She watches the way both of your faces light up with laugher and smiles even if you’re still a little tipsy. Steve doesn’t look at unease at all. If anything, he’s at peace knowing it’s you and this time, it’s different.

His home has seen plenty of ups and downs, tears and heartbreak, but love had found its way back in and new memories were replacing bad ones. It had been a long time coming and enough waiting around.

She knows you two found each other — the ones who will always care about each other and will always be there for one another.

Steve isn’t sure if you are just trying to be nice or if you genuinely don’t mind that the kids tag along to the places you two go. He knows it’s the latter, but still likes to question it.

The movie at the park seemed like a great idea, at first. It was something different rather than just going to the theaters or watching it on his couch, and to top it all off it was a showing of your favorite movie, “Can’t Buy Me Love.”

But it was a great idea before the kids begged to tag along, promising that they wouldn’t talk during the movie and would even bring their own blankets and money for snacks. Steve tried to oppose the idea, giving the reasoning that it was a date which meant two people: him and you.

But you had shaken him off, telling them that you wouldn’t mind if they wanted to come along and if anything the more the merrier.

And who was Steve to argue?

For once, the kids were really on their best behavior, paying attention to the movie and passing their snacks and drinks around while they watched, but that was before their sugar rush caused them to crash, bringing fatigue to their eyes.

“Poor things,” you pout at the sight of the children sprawled out a few feet in front of you and Steve.

He snorts, seeing their jumbled limbs stretching over each other. You both tried to convince them to space out across the grassy area, but they insisted on being squished together like sardines in order to get to the snacks easily.

“S’okay, they probably needed the nap.”

He rubs your arm, keeping you warm against the chilly night breeze as you settle the back of your head against his shoulder, wrapping your arms across yourself.

“They’re gonna miss the best part.” You say wistfully, slumping into him.

“Honey, you practically spoiled it on the car ride here. I don’t think they’ll miss much.” He badgers as you turned your face into his chest and stifle your giggle there.

Your laugh is infectious, like music to his ears that he’d much rather listen to compared to the static-y audio that plays over the low quality speakers. There’s a kiss he lays on the crown of your head as you turn your sights back to the sleeping teens, hoping they’re not too uncomfortable with the lack of pillows and a comfy mattress on their backs.

“Remember how you said I have a soft spot for these twerps?” You mention serenely.

He hums, resting his chin on the top of your head, “yeah, what about it?”

“You’re right, but I just can’t help it. They’re adorable and I’d let them crash all our dates if you’d let me.”

Steve jokingly scorns, swinging his head against your, “Oh, don’t start, they’d never leave us alone.”

You roll your eyes half heartedly, turning your attention back to the movie. Meanwhile, Steve’s focus is still all on you, wrapping his arms over the front of your body and nuzzling his face between your shoulder blade to give the space beneath your ear a kiss.

“I’m so lucky to have you…even those little shit heads are lucky to have you.” Steve admits out of nowhere.

He can’t resist telling you how much he appreciates you even with a cheesy movie and his annoying children a few feet away. To him, you’re his world no matter what’s in front of him. You maneuver your head enough to look up at him as you swat his chest playfully, trying to brush off his compliment that has you blushing.

“No I mean it,” he insists, leaving another sweet kiss on your skin before cradling your face in his warm hands.

“You’re so beautiful and kind. You don’t ever get annoyed at the kids for crashing our dates. You don’t get annoyed at me for getting annoyed at them.”

You hide your cheek in your shoulder, wrapping your fingers over his wrists where he still holds you.

“Yeah, well, you’re not too bad yourself.” You nudge him with your elbow.

“Yeah?” He smirks with a curious glint in his words as you nod, “care to share?”

“Believe it or not, you’re so patient. I’ve never seen a guy handle teenage kids as effortlessly as you do. You’re so hardworking and even when you’re tired you give me all your time in the world. You’re generous and—”

He can’t resist interrupting mostly because if you keep talking he’s sure he’s going to permanently etch the world’s biggest smile on his face forever.

“Alright, alright, I get it, babe. I’m like the whole package and the best boyfriend ever.” He gloats jokingly, pulling your face closer to his in order to connect to your lips.

“Yeah you dork, you really are.” You hum, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him deeper into you.

The movie is now long forgotten by you and Steve, too infatuated and caught up in each other to care about the corny love story that plays. You know that yours is better than any movie out there even your favorite one — you and Steve top them all.

Unbeknownst to the both of you, the kids hear every single word you and Steve had uttered to each other thinking that they were asleep. For them, they know every word is true, the two of you always bragging about how special the other half is when they aren’t around — the fact that you two say it without reservation when you think no ones around to hear makes it clearer that you two are meant to be.

By the time the movie is over, you’re softly shaking the kids awake and Steve’s folding up the blankets.

“It’s already over?” Lucas yawns stretching his arms up dramatically.

“We missed it?” El says disappointedly going the extra mile by rubbing the ‘sleep’ out of her eyes.

You hum sympathetically, nodding your head, “You guys dozed off, but you didn’t miss much. Ronald and Cindy live happily ever after in the end.”

“Just like every other cheese rom-com.” Dustin sighs standing up and brushing the grass off his clothing.

Max rolls her eyes, lending out a hand toward El and helping her up, “that’s the whole point of rom-coms, idiot. They’re supposed to be cheesy and have some stereotypical trope. It’s more entertaining than realistic.”

You smirk, picking out a shard of grass from her red hair, “You’re right, because real romance is totally different. More special, you know.”

The kids don’t miss the way you look back at Steve and hold your hand out for him to take as you all begin walking towards the parking lot ready to load into Steve’s car and commence a night full of drop offs.

“Oh trust us, we know.” Will hailed out with a knowing smile.

They watch as Steve presses a kiss to your cheek, opening the passenger door and letting you in before everyone else.

“Ugh, they make me so sick,” muttered Mike with feigned annoyance, secretly happy that he got to sit in the trunk far away from you and Steve’s sappiness.

As far as everyone else was concerned, the movie in the park was a hit. It was totally worth it seeing the best love story play out — they just didn’t know they were the exclusive viewers.

Joyce and Hopper finally tied the knot in a very small and intimate ceremony in their backyard. Steve had brought you around for the first time, though Hop and Joyce were pretty much familiar with you already, hearing so many good things from Steve.

He appreciated how they instantly welcomed you in, hugging you and thanking you for the small gift you had brought along to celebrate their special day. The two of you sat on the picnic benches, hands held underneath the table as you watched the pair share their first dance as husband and wife.

Half-way through, you had leaned into him, resting your cheek on his shoulder, and he promptly leaned into you, cushioning you snugly as you watched with adoring eyes.

“They look so in love.” You spoke faintly, looking up at him through your lashes with a grin on your face.

He glances down at you, pecking at your lips and nodding, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hop dance.”

You pursed your lips, shaking your head as you held back your laughter, “I guess love really does its thing.”

“It does.” He smiles, kissing your temple as the music dies down to something more upbeat and alive.

“C’mon, people, get up here and dance!” Joyce whistles, gesturing everyone over though everybody seems to hesitate for a moment.

But not Steve.

“Wanna dance?” He smirks, squeezing your hand as you lift your head.

You nod, looking up at him while he stands holding his hand out for you, which you gladly take without a second thought.

“I should warn you, your toes might get stepped on. I’m not the greatest at dancing.” He confesses kissing your head as you giggle and shake your head.

“I won’t mind, long as you’re the one carrying me off the dance floor by the end of it.” You say giving his hand a squeeze.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” He promises.

The two of you seamlessly sway back and forth, your arms draped over his neck and his wrapped tightly around your waist. You guys don’t seem to notice or care that you’re the only other couple on the dance floor — too much in your own world.

There are whispers and smiles that you and Steve share as you both loosen up to the music. His hand guiding you into a spin that makes you giggle and fall back into his chest, looking up at him dizzily.

While the dance floor isn’t anything special, just freshly trimmed grass underneath your foot, it feels like holy ground. A scared, special, one of the kind place that the both of you feel so safe in that it doesn’t matter if everyone else is watching.

“How long until you think they’ll get married?” Hop asks his wife, leading her to the picnic tables to catch a quick break.

She snickers, pinching his arm fondly, “Won’t be surprised if they ask the officiant to stay a little longer.”

They’ve got a front row view to a sight that reminds them of their own love. The younger versions of themselves that wished they had gotten together soon, but they’re more than happy for the both of you, clapping and cheering as Steve dips you low and presses a kiss to your lips.

You two can feel the fireworks, their plans to extinguish never dare to exist. It’s just you and Steve, the holy ground beneath you, and the sparks flying.

Hangouts don’t feel the same when you’re not there, for Steve especially it feels like a missing piece that he’s thinking and worrying about even if you’re just working a night shift. He knows he’ll get to see you bright and early the next morning — will probably even call out of work just so he can be your human pillow while you caught up on sleep.

He tries not to think so hard about it, focusing on Eddie’s high score that he’s trying to beat on the Nintendo while Dustin breathes down his neck and the others watch the television screen.

“Mom! Phoneeeeeee!” Mike yells as the landline begins to ring.

It nearly throws Steve off and by this point he feels like he should just give up because he doesn’t stand a chance beating Eddie’s score. Yet he still tries to focus, thumbs nudging the joysticks and tugging his bottom lip between his teeth, almost drawing blood by how hard he’s trying.

The basement door swing open, Mrs. Wheeler covering the receiver with her palm as she speaks loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Steve, it’s your girlfriend.”

Only then does the controller drop from his hands like it doesn’t matter. His legs spring up, quickly looking up the stairs to give Karen a smile before she nods and closes the door.

“Dude, you almost had it!”

Dustin groans tugging at his curly roots, realizing he now owed Mike and Lucas $20 for the stupid bet. Eddie slaps the top of his head gingerly, urging them to be quiet as they all zero in on Steve picking up the phone.

“Baby?” He says hurriedly with a confused glint to his voice.

He can hear your sniffles and a small cough leaving your mouth on the other end. Worry and anxiety fill his veins on instance. Something is telling him that there’s something wrong, and he’s proven right when you finally reply weakly.

“H-hey, how’s game night?” You try your best to keep it together, to not let him know you’re holding back tears.

His foot comes tapping on the ground and his body begins to shake not knowing what’s going on.

“Y-you’re crying? What’s the matter, sweetheart? Did something happen? Where are you?”

Steve’s spitting out questions faster than you can answer and the others who are listening can only grow more concerned knowing that the Steve their seeing on the phone isn’t his sappy lovey self.

You swallow, sniffling again, “I’m okay, babe. I—I just needed to hear your voice.”

His heart aches hearing the obvious sadness in your voice that you’re trying to mask, but all it does is cause more worry. You’ve cried to Steve a hand full of times and each time it still breaks his heart, but it hurts even more that you’re far away and he’s not able to see you face to face.

“You’re scaring me. I’m gonna come there and get you.” He offers immediately, patting his pockets checking if he has his car keys which he doesn’t have.

“No, no, it’s fine, I called because I quit…I quit my job.” You explain with a heavy sigh.

There’s silence for only a quick moment, a breath of relief coming from Steve knowing that you aren’t in danger, but he’s prompt to offer to come and get you again.

“Oh…baby, I-I’m sorry. Did you want me to come there and pick you up? Eddie could drive your car back home and we’ll take my car together?”

He’s speaking gently, peering over his shoulder at Eddie who is already nodding and standing up ready to go wherever you are, knowing that Steve needs to know you’re safe.

You take a shaky breath, collecting yourself before speaking, “You don’t have to do that. I’m fine to drive…it’s just that I needed to hear your voice before I got into the car. Just a long night, I’m sorry for worrying yo—”

Steve shakes his head, waving his hand over towards Eddie, telling him that it’s okay and he can sit back down before mouthing a “thank you” before turning back to the call.

“Hey, no stop, don’t apologize. I’m right here okay? Not gonna hang up until you’re ready. I’ll be waiting for you as soon as you’re ready to hang up okay?”

You don’t try to hide it anymore, letting your sniffles and sobs loose. Every second that passes by is tugging on his heart strings wanting to do nothing more than to rush wherever you are, but he knows you’re going to be fine, you just need some more time with him.

“O—okay, just had a really long night. I was trying to just get through my shift but, I…I just couldn’t do it.”

You sound pissed off at yourself, irritated that you couldn’t make it through the night shift. But he knew it was for good reason if it made you up and quit — he didn’t blame you and he was far from mad.

“And that’s perfectly fine, sweetheart. Whatever it is, we’re gonna figure it out alright? We can look through the newspaper for job offerings and I can take you to drop off resumes. It’s all gonna be okay, ok?”

“Okay,” you whisper faintly, swiping away at your tears and nose.

He knows it’s important that you calm down before you get behind the wheel. If you don’t, he’ll drive down there himself, not wanting to risk you driving when you’re feeling like this.

“I’m right here with you, baby. Deep breath, in and out. That’s good, babe.” He guides you through it, hearing your shaky breaths slowly easing.

Steve doesn’t have to turn his head to know the worry etched on his friends’ faces is apparent. They’re anxiously waiting, wondering what’s going on, only being able to hear parts of it through Steve’s tender words that he offers you.

They know they all have a habit of teasing him and poking fun at the way he’s whipped over you, but this is a different side of him that they rarely get to witness. The vulnerable side that only comes out when he’s with you even with the distance that’s keeping you both apart.

“Okay, I’ll see you soon, alright, baby? Drive safely.” He speaks, nodding his head to himself before he places the receiver back on the stand and turns to face his friends.

“Is she okay?” Eddie asks worriedly as Steve nods and brushes a hand through his hair.

“She had a tough night and quit. She’s heading her now.” Steve reveals and everyone nods before Robin stands up and pats him on the back.

“C’mon, let’s go wait for her upstairs.”

The gang had migrated from the basement to the living room, awaiting your arrival. They had tried to do everything to reassure Steve, to get him to sit down and wait patiently, but they weren’t surprised that he didn’t budge and instead kept his place by the window, watching the driveway.

Everyone has their eyes on the clock, watching the minutes pass by and glancing every so often when headlights pass the street, thinking that it’s you.

The worried expression doesn’t leave his face until he finally sees two headlights turn into the driveway.

“She’s here,” Steve says under his breath, not wasting a moment to dash out the front door, slamming it behind him.

He’s at the driver’s side before you can even put the car into park. His fingers wrap around the door, pulling it open as you don’t hesitate to get out and wrap your arms around him, hiding your teary face in his neck as you melt into his embrace.

“Shhh, I’ve got you,” He says quietly, keeping one of his hands on the back of your head while the other rubs comforting circles on your back.

He presses a kiss to the top of your head and he can feel the tears springing from your eyes, trailing across his skin. The feeling burns him in every kind of way that tears his heart apart slowly. How he wishes he can take the weight of what you’re feeling off your shoulders and instead he can carry it for you. But all he can do right now is hold you, brush his hard over your head and pull you as close as he can get you, and whisper words of comfort, hoping it will take the pain away.

“I—I really needed you. I just kept thinking of how badly I wanted to run into your arms when I walked out of there. They made me feel so stupid and useless and I—”

He shushes you smoothly, shaking his head and tearing you away from his neck so you can see him.

“Screw them, baby. We can write a complaint or something because you don’t deserve to get treated like that, alright?” His voice is firm full of determination not showing you how angry he is at your boss or co-workers for letting this escalate.

Your palms come up to your eyes, rubbing them as your voice breaks. “I know, but I just feel so d-dumb—”

He shakes his head, tugging gently at your wrists to stop you from hiding, “Hey stop, don’t say that. You don’t know how much you mean to me and how much I hate when I hear you say those things about yourself.”

You sniffle, smiling at him apologetically, “Sorry, I know…I—I’m just happy to be here with you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m glad you called and I’m happier to know you’re okay. I was scared shitless.” He grimaces, grazing his sights over every inch of your tear-stained cheeks and puffy eyes.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” you say softly, “I was just planning on showing up here, but I guess everything was just building and building and when I finally quit and walked out of there I felt like I was going to collapse and I just needed you.”

His heart swells with love and admiration, for a minute it replaces the worry and anguish. It’s stupid because he shouldn’t be smiling as wide as he is right now with tears prickling his eyes in the best way possible.

You’ve never held back on telling him how much you cared and appreciated him for being the best boyfriend in the world…but to be needed is a whole different level that he’s new to. One that mends his heart of all the traumas and has him holding your face in his hands while he blinks the tears down his cheeks as you watch.

You’re confused, brows pinching together as you swipe your thumbs across his cheeks and wonder what he’s thinking and smiling about. It’s only when he speaks that you understand what’s happening.

“I love you, you know that?” His voice quivers, teeters on the edge of fear and letting go.

Your jaw trembles, new tears falling down your cheeks, this time in a happy way that has you forgetting about the horrible shift you had just endured.

None of that matters when you’re standing in the arms of the man who’s telling you that he loves you.

You’re laughing through the tears, feelings the comfort and safety in his embrace, “Y-yeah?” you ask stupidly, as if he could ever change his mind.

He nods, laughing weakly,“Yeah…like a lot. I love you so much and I’m always gonna be here…not gonna go anywhere. Right here whenever you need me.”

“I love you too, Stevie.” You cooed, standing up on your tiptoes and kissing him with every ounce of your being.

Your lips move in synchronicity, the familiarity of each other never building contempt, instead making you both stronger. It’s a feeling that will never get old and that neither of you would get tired of experiencing. Even at your worse, you know it’ll always be okay as long as you have him to keep you tethered.

Time freezes for everyone, not just you and Steve — your friends watching in the window and smiling at the scene before them.

They’ve always known that you and him were in love since the moment you two said hello. It’s just that now, it feels a lot nicer being able to witness the moment you two finally realize it. The love you share and everything in between.

💌 reblogs, tags, comments, + likes are greatly appreciated! leave a comment and let me know if want to be added to my taglist!! 💌

a/n: i hope you guys like this little something something i wrote based off "in between" by gracie abrams. i absolutely love this song and it's so underrated (ITS UNREALEASED KINDA LOL). anyways, let me know what you think!

taglist: @translatemunson @kennedy-brooke @manda-panda-monium @tvserie-s-world @givemeth @steveharringtonswife @astolenkiss @loving-and-dreaming @awkotaco24 @engenelxver @elfiaaaa @pbs-theundeadmaggot @johnricharddeacy @gaysludge @scoopshxrrington @micheledawn1975 @ihatepeanutss @bakugouswh0r3

[nortism]

What the Ghosts have been watching on TV

Everyone

Channel 4 Home renovation shows: They're free with ads and there's an infinite amount of them so Alison puts them on for the whole gang when she and Mike have work to do in same way people put on YouTube videos for their dogs. This has backfired slightly as all the ghosts now have very strong and conflicting opinions on how Button House should be renovated.

The Great British Bake-off: A whole family event, they all get very invested. Kitty thinks Alison Hammond is the funniest person in the world. The Captain feels normal about Noel Fielding. As well as a watching it live, I'm sure they've also watched the whole back catalogue together.

Mama Mia: This where the Captain learnt his ABBA songs from. Pat and Julian enjoy the nostalgic music and I think the others are just bewitched by the story and music

Robin

Anything David Attenborough: For obvious reasons. I think he'd get a kick out of trying to do his voice. The others sometimes join in.

Cunk on Earth/ Britain: I think they've got a similar attitude towards history and I think he'd find serious historians trying to answer silly questions incredibly funny

Horrible Histories: He watches this with Kitty, they both find poop jokes funny.

Humphrey

Antiques Roadshow: I'm not sure why. I honestly think he's just glad to watch anything.

Mary

Gardener's World: I think she misses being able to look after plants and I think she'd be endlessly fascinated by how hosepipes work.

Mio Mao: She loves them fucking plasticine cats. She will not stop singing the theme song

Honestly think she'll watch anything with anyone and would get invested, she seems like the ideal person to watch telly with.

Kitty

Ru Paul's Drag Race: I think they all watch this every so often but Kitty is invested. There's bright colours, fun outfits and drama, it's definitely Alison's go to when she needs Kitty distracted.

90s and 2000s romcoms: I believe that every couple of weeks Alison and Kitty have a "girl's night" where they watch all the romcoms that Alison used to watch with her mum, mostly because I love watching romcoms with my mum and Kitty deserves that. Kitty is particularly fond of Twilight.

Thomas:

Any Jane Austen adaptations: He watches them with Fanny as they were both big fans when they were alive (its the only thing they agree on). Kitty also joins sometimes. His favourite is the 1995 Pride and Prejudice tv show.

Fanny:

Grey's Anatomy: I haven't seen it but my mum's a big fan and there's millions of seasons, I think she'd pretend she's not that into it but she definitely is.

Call the Midwife: Same as above.

The Captain:

M*A*S*H: I've seen about half an episode of this but it seems to be about fit young men in a war so it sounds like his thing. Probably Pat's recommendation.

Our Flag Means Death: I think Alison has been trying to sneakily show Cap gay media under the pretence of saying "it's just a fun show about pirates". I think the whole gang watched it together. The Captain definitely didn't cry at the end of season 1 why would think that?

Pat

Taskmaster: I think this is one they all watch together but it's definitely one of Pat's favourites. He probably attempted to set up his own version of the show with the ghost which ended horribly.

Doctor Who: I think he watched the original run when he was alive and was absolutely ecstatic to find out they made more. Julian makes fun of him for it.

Julian

Have I Got News For You: Has been airing since 1990 so he definitely watched it while he was alive. I think he likes to keep up with current politics but not in a very serious way so this is his middle ground.

Succession: I haven't seen this show but it seems to be about horrible men in suits being horrible to each other which seems right up his alley.

The Thick of It: Speaking of horrible men in suits being horrible. I think he watches this with Robin who has absolutely no idea what's going on but just laughs when Julian does and they have the best time. Julian is constantly pausing to add his own anecdotes

What We Do In The Shadows: Alison put this on as a 'let's show the Captain it's ok to be gay' show and the Captain was immediately horrified so Julian adopted it. He identifies with Lazlo.

[henza-hex]

My husband's secret

This is my first story ever, so I would like to know in the comments if you enjoyed or not. Feel free to give me some tips and criticism about what I have to improve, and the things you want to see next.

> This story contains farting and burp fetish <

My name is Edward, people call me Ed, but you can call me for what I am: a filthy fart sniffer. This is what i've been my whole life and I'm OK with it. Most people who discovers a peculiar fetish like ours try to supress it till they don't feel that anymore, but since I was a child, my determination in satisfying my urges didn't stop, because if we that have this fetish don't accept well, imagine the people around us. But they fart, burp, so you have to be cunning to control them. Now you must be wondering "Control? What is this guy even talking about?". Yes, control, because in every man lies a beast that wants to live as feral as our ancestors did, to submit the weak.

My first experience, and the one that woke my fetish for good, was at school, a long time ago. I say one of my friends engaging on a burping contest, but I couldn't see much cause I had to catch my bus on a hurry. So I thought about a way of experiencing this myself. I invited him to my house after lunch, expecting him to be fueled up to release his gas, and so he did.

We started playing video-games together, and our first match was in a "Tekken" game, and after we tied I proposed a prize for the winner as well a punishment for the looser. I decided to be cruel and disgusting to wake his 'feral' side when he thought about my punishment, which he didn't have decided yet after the shock he felt when I said he would have to take a spit on his face if he lose. Then the match began, and I never saw him so concentrated in the game, I played rough the previous times, but this I made easier for him to win, and when I lost, I looked to the side and said:

"W-what will you do to me?", faking fear. "Hmmm, let's see" he said smirking, I saw in his eyes the malice to do such a disgusting thing I proposed, and since his especiality were burps, I hit the jackpot.

"Close your eyes" he said, "Why? This isn't in the rules", faking resistance, just when he lightly slapped mw, which made everything so much hotter, "I said close-your-eyes", and so I did. Suddenly I felt his breath close to me, controlling myself to not show my boner, when an odd sensation hit me on the nose, a umid one, and then I heard

"BBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPP"

I opened my eyes imediately, and he was mouth open on my nose! I got that burp right from the source and it was aboslutely disgusting, it smelled the seasonings of his lunch, and I was proud of my idea.

When he saw that I opened my eyes, he held me in place and "BRRRRRRUAAAAAAAAAP" belched another time. "I know that it was just one but that was just sitting on my throat" he said, in a relief tone.

But now, I want to talk about THE man of my life, I know he is such because my wretched mind didn't take control over me to mess all of our relationship. He is almost everyting I ever wanted, sweet, caring, courteous, handsome and his most important feature: loves me. We dated for 2 years and now we thought it was time to make another step and live together.

He is three years older than me, so he already finished college and found a good job in his area. You think I would not talk about his appearence but I saved the best for the end. Unfortunaly, he is shorter than me, altough stronger, well-built, tan skin, great pecs, lovely plump lips, and an ass to die for. As a fart sniffer I'm always looking for guys with big asses, it increases the fun for me, and everytime I think about his ass... urgh...

That's why I said he is almost perfect: I've never saw him farting. If he wasn't so charming, that would possibly be torturous, but I love him so much that I thought it was the sacrifice needed for our love, but everything changed when my family invited us to celebrate our new home, and I discovered one of his secrets: lactose intolerant. My mother made a ice cream cake for dessert, and he obviouly didn't eat that. I was willingly sacrificing my fetish until that, but it would be so easy...

As I said he has a part time job which means he leaves at the morning, and come to me only in the end of the day. As a good boyfriend that I am, I prepare his lunch and bring it to him, but this day I would be wicked.

I was eagerly waiting for him to come, and finally it happened. He opened the door with an angry look, and stormed to the living room afterwards.

"Aren't you going to say hi?" I said, following him. He made himself confortable on the couch and unbuttoned his shirt a little, his great pecs were such a view, and his bulge was noticiable when he spread his legs, I love his uniform.

"I had a stressfull day, my boss invented that I was being lazy so I had to be supervisionized all the time".

I sat next to him to comfort, and said "That sucks baby, noticed that you ate your lunch, I hope my cheese tacos made at least some minutes of your day happy" I kissed him on his cheek.

"Wait, cheese? Did you forget about my lactose intolerance? That's why I was gassy all day, I couldn't let all out because of that stupid supervisor, wish I have farted on his stupid face"

I was in shock when he said that, fart on his face? Was he even capable of doing that? My sweet boyfriend? Someone must have really messed him up, but I had to recompose myself to answer "Oh my God, I totally forgot about that, I'm so sorry, I tought you would like the surprise and it ruined your day" I even made a sad face to my act.

He got up and said: "Well, seems that everybody is disappointing me today. I told you that I was intolerant, and to hang up our wet clothes to dry, you managed to forget BOTH"

Wow, he was really pissed

"And now i'm bloated with gas without clothes to weat tomorrow" he complained.

"But baby it's not my fault, if you wanted those things done, maybe you should have done it for yourself, maybe you ARE lazy like your boss said" the last sentence killed his smile, and he gave a 'I can't believe you said that' look.

"Well" he grinned maliciously and said "I couldn't fart on those stupid jerks today, but I can on yours, maybe it will be the only relief I'll have today" with that, he turned around and jutted his ass in my direction, his black trousers were so tight that left none to imagination "Eat those stupid cheese tacos that you made, tell me if they taste good" with that, he clenched his fist and grunted in concentration, that might be a forceful fart.

PRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT 

It exploded, I was in shock till that moment with my open mouth, so I literally could taste the tacos I made, and it was bad. I think all the farts that he hold up the whole day mixed up together to form a MEGA fart, so loud, smelly and strong that I swear I saw his pants rumbling with the vibrations.

He grunted more, and then OOOUUUUUUUURHPPPTT another fart erupted

"YEAAAAAAAAAAH, I feel lighter after those, love, haha. Hope that brings you a message, and warn you before fogetting the things I say to you, if don't, I'll show you tonight that I have a lot where they came from, haha" He smacked his ass and gave a peck on my forehead, entering his stinky could "pheww, that stinks, hopefuly that wasn't on my face haha" and left the room.

[steddieas-shegoes]

Request: Steve & El being siblings in front of Hopper. Steve and his younger sisters as he refers to them (El, Max & Erica) being ridiculous together. Max teaching them how to skateboard. Steve teaching El how to take care of her hair & they do martial arts classes together. Erica & Steve being space & rock nerds together. Just Steve & his lil sister's confusing the hell out of their respective parents by referring to Steve as their older brother, once the Sinclair parents, Hop & Susan Hargrove realize who their daughters are referring too its hard for them to not find it both hilarious & charming that Steve is the one their girls go too for comfort.

MY LOVE!!! I didn't quite get ALL of that request in here, but I got the FEELING of it all I think. I love that Steve probably acts like he's just being a good babysitter but these three are ready to kill someone for him in a heartbeat. Erica genuinely loves him more than Lucas, that's what I feel in my heart. Enjoy some cute big brother Steve moments! - Mickala ❤️

------------------------------------------------

“Okay, what are the rules?” Steve asked the car full of girls.

He didn’t have to look behind him to know that Erica was rolling her eyes.

“My only rule is to not break any more bones,” Max said from the passenger seat.

“That’s not entirely-”

“We have to wear our helmets and pads the whole time,” El said from directly behind him.

“Thank you, El. And?” He put the car in park, staring out at the empty skate park in front of them.

“And stay where you can see us at all times. Check in every ten minutes,” Erica sighed.

“Alright, have fun, don’t hurt yourselves, don’t talk to strangers!” Steve exclaimed.

They all got out of the car and grabbed their boards and protective gear from the trunk, taking a few moments to get ready.

Max was giving them some basic tips for getting started, how to balance when standing still and when moving, and how to take it slow.

Steve set a towel out on the hood of his car and sat on it, watching them all make their way to the flat area for beginners.

He smiled to himself as he watched Max adjust them on their boards, making sure their stance was going to keep them balanced.

As tough as Max was on the surface, she was a soft marshmallow on the inside, especially when it came to El and Erica. Steve loved to watch her share her passions, to show true happiness when so much of her life had been just getting by.

“Steve! I’m doing it!” Erica’s voice rang out.

“I see! Lookin’ great!” he yelled back.

He heard a car pull into the parking lot, but didn’t turn to see who it was. It was most likely a parent with their kid or maybe a couple teenagers with nothing better to do.

He didn’t expect Max’s mom to sit next to him on the hood of his car.

“She said she was coming here with her big brother and I was a little worried that her medications needed to be adjusted again. I’m certainly glad that it’s you,” Susan said.

“Oh,” Steve smiled. “Yeah. She wanted to show El and Erica how to get going. It seems to be going well already.”

He felt Susan’s eyes on him as he kept watching the progress the girls were making.

“You work at Family Video still right?” she asked out of nowhere.

“Oh, yes ma’am. Today’s my day off.”

He finally turned to see her nodding, taking in her nurse’s uniform and the dark circles under her eyes.

“They’re lucky to have you, Steve.”

“I dunno about-”

“They are. Thank you,” she said sincerely before smiling at him and standing up. “Tell Maxine I’ll be pulling another double. She’s welcome to stay with El again.”

“Sure thing.”

He watched as Susan got in her car and left, frowning slightly at the fact that Max would be alone again. Well, not alone. Not if she stayed with El.

He knew Susan didn’t have a choice, had to pay the bills somehow and couldn’t just not work. But it hurt him to know Max’s life was so similar to his in that his parents were never around either.

At least she had good friends.

And she had him.

—----------------------------

Steve was half asleep when the doorbell rang.

It was late, much too late for anyone who would ring the doorbell to be there.

He yawned as he made his way to the door, hoping it would be quick.

“El?”

El was standing on his porch, small cosmetic bag in her hands.

“Steve, I need help.”

“Come in,” he gestured for her to come in, checking behind her for something or someone to be following her.

Of all of them, El was the most likely to be able to defend herself, so he wasn’t sure why she was seeking his help.

He turned to see her sitting on the couch, already taking things out of her bag.

A hairbrush, some rubber bands, a headband, and a ribbon.

“What exactly do you need help with?” Steve asked as he sat down next to her on the couch.

“I need to know how to braid my hair. Max usually does it for me, sometimes Will, but I do not know how to do it myself.”

“And you thought that I could help with that? Why not ask Max to show you?”

“Because she is not a very good teacher when it comes to these things. She just knows how to do it but does not know how to show me. So can you?”

Steve couldn’t possibly say no to her big eyes looking at him like that. She wasn’t even doing it the way the other kids did when they just wanted to bribe him into saying yes. This was just El.

“Yeah. But a comb would be much better for parting your hair. Let me go get one,” he said, trying to shake off any exhaustion he was feeling before.

It was a long process.

El was incredibly smart, but sometimes the simplest thing to someone else would be extremely difficult for her, and her frustration would make it even harder.

But Steve had patience, especially when it came to El.

“Close! You just want to try to do it a little tighter so it doesn’t fall out while you put the band at the bottom,” he smiled at her encouragingly. “Feel how I’m tugging just a little bit tighter while braiding over here?” El nodded. “Try to do that on that side.”

El started over, and Steve could tell this time would be the time she got it right.

“There you go! It’s perfect!” he jumped up and took her hands in his, pulling her off the couch so they could jump up and down in excitement.

“I did it!” she laughed.

“Next lesson: french braiding,” Steve said when they both calmed down.

“The braiding is in a different language?” El asked, confused.

“No, honey, it’s just a different style. It’s a bit harder, but if you practice regular braids more, you’ll be able to do it no problem.”

“Oh, okay!” El beamed at him. “I should go home now.”

He glanced at the clock and frowned.

“It’s close to midnight. Does Hop know you’re here?”

El shook her head.

“He’s working. Joyce said it was okay though. I told her I was seeing my big brother and she did not mind,” El said casually, like the words wouldn’t completely shake Steve at his foundation.

“I’ll drive you home. Don’t want you taking your bike this late,” Steve sighed.

“You look tired.”

Steve startled, but relaxed quickly. Of course, El would notice that.

“I just haven’t slept well lately.”

“Is it because Robin and Eddie are gone?”

“Maybe,” Steve squinted at her. “I’ll take you home and then try to get some sleep before my shift tomorrow.”

“I can sleep in the guest room. Maybe it will help you sleep to have someone in the house,” El suggested, as if it wasn’t a big deal that she offered or that she clearly knew Steve’s problem was that he was alone in this house.

“Only if you call and let Joyce know first.”

Once El was settled in the guest room, Steve got in his own bed and closed his eyes.

It was the best sleep he’d had in days.

—-------------------------

Erica’s birthday party had been mostly family and her best friends from school, but for some reason, she’d invited Steve.

Not just invited, insisted that he attend.

So he did. He switched shifts with Robin for it and everything.

He went to Macy’s to buy her the skirt she’d wanted for months, ended up buying matching shoes, too.

She’d loved them, of course, as he knew she would.

But he got her a third gift, something he didn’t want to give to her in front of everyone. Something that meant a lot more.

He’d asked the Sinclairs if he could stay for a bit after the party, explained to them that the real present he got her couldn’t be given until the sun had fully set.

“Oh, of course, Steve! She likes you more than any of us anyway. Keep her busy while we finish cleaning up!” Mrs. Sinclair exclaimed.

So after everyone left, after Erica was sorting through her gifts and organizing them, after the night set in completely, Steve sat down next to her.

“Hey, littlest Sinclair.”

“Hey, biggest Harrington.”

“I’m…the only Harrington?”

She snorted, but didn’t respond.

Steve cleared his throat, not wanting to stay on something that confused him for too long. Erica would run with it if she thought she could tease him more.

“I got you another gift. You have to come outside, though.”

Erica stared at him.

“If I have to go outside, I don’t think I’ll like it very much,” she said with a raised brow.

“Trust me.”

She sighed and set down the purse she got from her cousin, standing up from her spot on the floor and gesturing for Steve to lead the way.

They went to the backyard, finally stopping where her telescope was set up. She’d gotten the telescope last Christmas, and often had meteor shower parties with Steve and El.

“Alright. So. Find Ursa Minor.” He waited until she gave him a thumbs up. “Now find Kochab.”

She’d been working on mapping constellations since she got the telescope, and had focused on Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. She’d gotten pretty good at locating a lot of things.

“So a bit to the left and a little up, there’s a star. And it’s probably already millions of years old, and will probably be around for millions more. But for right now, that star is named E.S. and was adopted in your name,” Steve pulled the certificate from his pocket.

He’d already found the star a week ago during one of his visits, or at least what he thought was the star. It was close enough anyway.

She pulled away from the telescope and looked at Steve with her mouth wide open.

“What?”

“Sorry it’s not a very creative name. I knew you’d hate if I named it Erica, and I didn’t wanna come up with something even worse.”

“You got me a star?”

The light from the moon was enough to see the tears forming in her eyes, and Steve instantly felt some gathering in his own.

“Well, someone who’s gonna change the world as much as you needs a permanent place in the galaxy, don’t you think?”

Erica fell into him, wrapping her arms around his middle. His shirt was already wet with tears, but he refused to comment on it, knew she would hate it if he did.

“You’re the best big brother,” she whispered, probably trying to hide her emotions.

“You’re the best little sister,” he whispered back.

[ew-selfish-art]

Okay so ignore me, a Maribat shipper using the Dcxdp fandom for my own gain but like y’all keep doing de-aged Danny plots without considering something. Yes it’s great for those paternal and found family vibes but you know what it can also be used for: shipping.

This is heavy on the maribat vibes so skip if that’s not your thing:

> Danny, early 20s, pretty solidly being an everyday hero, left amity and kicks it on his friends couches when not in the GZ because going home is no longer an option. The town is basically rigged to find phantoms ecto signature

> Danny becomes a part of the JL and is fast friends with Kon and Jon but warms up to Damian over the years. He just thinks “huh what a weirdly spicy guy” and enjoys the chaos of befriending him. They have regular conversations about animal conservation and video games. Damian has always played the newest one, and he’s always down to best Danny

> Ladybug has also joined the JL and is very skittish about making friends since she’s trying really hard to keep her identity under wraps. She eventually warms up to Danny, talking about you guessed it, old video games, and she brings him like, so many snacks, that it helps him rewrite the normalcy of having food attack him. He starts to notice that she is her own flavor of chaos gremlin and they get along thick as thieves

>Here’s the thing, Robin has an great Admiration for (aka huge crush) Ladybug and only Danny has noticed. Ladybug is oblivious, Damian thinks he’s undetected and Danny might combust from the amount of times he’s now tried to set them up. The rest of the JL just, meh, doesn’t really see it.

> Danny gets a note from CW that the GIW are honing in on his ecto signature and something needs to change quick, or he’s going to pull him from the dimension for his safety. Well, the note mostly says: find this artifact and it’ll change your frequency. Take a bird with you.

> Danny initially recruits Tim to go as Red Robin but then he can’t bring himself to wake the bird up when found asleep at his desk. Robin steps in and says he’s free so long as the mission doesn’t take more than a day.

> Danny is de-aged, the artifact is lost, Damian is now barely functioning as a young 8yr old Danny opens up a portal to get them back to the watchtower before he detransforms and gets a bit younger. He looks like he’s seven and if his powers are linked to the aging cycle- then no powers for danny.

> ladybug enters the watchtower trying to escape a team member who needs to get a clue about the fact that she needs to detransform every now and then, goes into her normally empty meeting room, and as the magic washes off her - boom portal and Danny and Damian appear. Marinette is so fucked. Everyone is floundering and then Danny gets an idea about how this can still turn around to be an ideal outcome for all three of them.

> Danny decided now is probably the best time to pull a Cupid gambit: joint parenting. He demands that ladybug be the one to help portal them back to Gotham. Congrats, you guys are going to help me wait out this spell. Ladybug feels like she should just run from this whole thing, her identity is already compromised, but then Danny begs her for her help since it’s magical

> Just, Damian and Marinette trying to jointly manage Danny while trying to sort out aging him up- CW leaving vague notes here and there about why he’s not going to help them reverse the spell- Danny having so much fun going between Gotham and Paris with his “parents” and trying to nudge them together

>hell yeah they fall in love.

> oh and then Dani shows up and quickly gets Danny to sort himself out. The Dummy forgot that shapeshifting was a thing he could do.

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

Tracker - The Never Game Review

Missing new episodes of Tracker like I am? Want some interesting tidbits on the Shaw clan? If yes, then I highly recommend checking out The Never Game by Jeffrey Deaver. Spoiler free review for show fans below!

If you didn't know, Tracker, and more specifically the charter of Colter Shaw, is based on a series of books.

The Never Game is the first book in the series and our introduction to Colter. The whole reason I even made this post is because this book feels like a really good, in-depth set of episodes. I am always a "the book was better" person but I'm actually surprised at how much book Colter is like TV Colter. If anything, through the book we get a little more insight in his head at times but this is through and through, the same guy and you get the same vibes.

Things You'll Enjoy If You Like The Show:

Colter still has a team that helps him out (and some familiar team members)

The pace is fast, even in the quiet moments and there are a lot of them

There's action, danger and fun side characters that aren't one-dimensional

Video games, Silicon Valley, technology and their impact are major factors in the story (I was skeptical of this at first but it's actually a great example of environment driving the plot)

The story doesn't treat the reader like an idiot. It gives you all the clues as the same as the characters and doesn't try to get you with a gotcha you couldn't have seen coming. That said, it's fun to realize you were so wrong about your theories and you could have figured it out long ago

We get to see more of Colter and who he is on his own, with others and with a new romantic interest

Multiple flashbacks to when Colter was a teen on the compound, general Colter backstory, and info about the Shaw family (There are some differences between show and book but they're not massive)

Without spoiling anything, you'll pick up some new information about Ashton Shaw's death and get some clues about where the show is likely going with that storyline (in a very vague sense if you can piece if together)

The end of this book had my heart racing and makes you want to jump into the next one

Things You Might Not Like If You Like The Show:

You may be majorly spoiled about where the show is going regarding the Ashton Shaw storyline surrounding his death and potentially the family aspect

The "rewardist" thing is only prevalent early on

Team TV Airstreamer & Truck > Colter's crappy book Winnebago & Dirt Bike

In general, I really recommend the story (I'm off to start the next book soon) if you're looking for more Tracker and a pool or beachside read! I hate to say it but I almost liked this Colter better!

[pebblysand]

Hi! Thank you so much for writing Castles, it’s the Harry Potter post we’re story I always wanted to read. I love your characterization of the Potter kids, I especially love your take on Lily Luna, do you have a headcanon of what happens next with the kids, regarding their careers and personal lives, or do you want to leave it open to interpretation?

aw, thank you so much ❤️. so glad you enjoyed!

so: yes to both. i've obviously spent a lot of time thinking about the kids so i do have my headcanons (as far as the castles universe goes) but i'm also more than happy for people to have their own. IMO, i'm not the gold standard here. anything that happens in my head that i chose not to put in the fic is not castles-canon. you can totally have your own versions of this.

having said that, here's what i think:

(moodboard from my outline. yes, they're all ridiculously hot.)

career-wise:

you already see this at the end of castles, but i think james joins the WWW family business, but opening up an "events" side of things, which he runs. he's 100000% a nepo-baby who uses his parents' fame to build up his address book and be the star of the show, lmao. but... we still love him hahaha. he's got a good heart 😅. i sort of see him as the david guetta (lmao) of the wizarding world. i think he likes to entertain people, allow them to have fun and forget their worries, etc. he's very into quidditch but like his father, he's not really interested in making it a career. it's too much hard work/investment. i think james is generally more interested in having fun than in... working 🤣. i also headcanon he lives at his parents' past 30 because it's just convenient. he's that kid who's always asking for money to invest in a potential business venture - has 50 new ideas per hour (not all conclusive) - and ginny's always kind of kindly but firmly bringing him back down to earth. harry would give him the entire contents of his vaults to open a solid-gold-cauldron business 🤣.

personal life:

friendships/family: as described in the fic, he's got a lot of friends, he's a people person, and someone who loves to bridge wizards and muggles. he truly cares about people - i think he's got a bit of teddy's hufflepuff side in that. he's got great relationships with his parents and his siblings, beyond the standard, mild-rivalry that is normal in kids that age. i think he gets on with al because underneath their obvious differences, they have the same sense of humour. i think he feels very big-brotherly and protecting towards lily, and they have good banter. he also massively admires her.

love life: this is hinted at in text but james has a bit of a rough time in his mid-to-late 20s. i headcanon that he gets a Serious Girlfriend pretty early on (probably around 18/19), who he madly falls in love with. i kind of think underneath the whole chill/party vibes, james is a hopeless romantic so when he falls, he falls hard. he's got his parents example in his head of what relationships should look like, and obviously harry and ginny have such a strong relationship, that he wants that for himself, and gives it his all and thinks it's Forever. that girl ends up cheating on him and i think he takes it pretty fucking hard, especially because this happens while lily is in mongolia, all of which sort of sends him spiralling. you kind of see that between the lines in chapter 24: the partying, the sleeping around, etc. kind of like his mother... kind of like his father, too, possibly, had he not met mia. as said in text, there's a lot of press about him, and it's not always nice. without the nazi-costume wearing (i don't think james is stupid enough to do that kind of shit) i headcanon him a bit like prince harry in his early days. in a weird way (as is also hinted at in castles), i think lily coming back re-anchors him. they play video games and have each other's back and heal together, in a way.

later, i headcanon him meeting someone else, maybe in his late 20s and early 30s. i think he's pretty cautious at first, due to past experiences, but she is The One. i headcanon she's a squib or something, or the muggle sibling of a wizard, someone non-magical but who is aware of the magical world, perhaps a doctor or a nurse, someone very out of the spotlight, who's not really interested in who he is or who his parents are, who's there for him, but also understands the pressures he's under. i don't know if they have kids. i can't decide. i strangely headcanon that maybe she doesn't want them? like, she's this doctor who loves children and loves helping people but also feels like she'd rather dedicate her life to others than to have her own. i think james would be happy either way, she's pretty much his world and he loves her enough for that not to matter. or, maybe they have one later, in their late-30s early 40s, once their careers and lives are really established? i'm not entirely sure.

.

(yes this was done with AI. you would not believe how hard it is to find black-haired guys with green eyes that aren't trying to be harry potter himself online 😅)

career-wise: oh, al becomes a professor. obviously. i sort of see him do a PhD in muggle history, then specialising in the study of war and parallels between muggle and wizarding history. i think that's the way he manages to wrap his head around and understand what happened to his family. he's in a perpetual search of meaning and patterns, understanding how history repeats itself. i think that sort of study reassures him and provides him comfort, knowing that it's not just him, not just them, that there's meaning and purpose behind all of it. i see him teach (i think he's a great teacher, like his father) - maybe in hogwarts or maybe in a post-grad setting, i'm not 100% sure. i kind of lean towards the latter cause i don't think binns is ever giving up his seat 🤣.

i also see him as rather CASHCOW-involved. like, i think studying war like he does makes him want to do something. he's not necessarily the flashy, loud kind of brave, but he is still very brave, and very opinionated. i do think he's also very close to his mother and cares a lot about the things she started with #metoo and the book, so perhaps he gets involved in that side of things.

personal life:

friendships/family: i think his relationship with his family is pretty much established in castles, i don't have much else to add. he's independent, sure, but still very close to them all. i think he's the kind of person who, unlike james, has a small but very tight-knit circle of people around him, and that suits him fine. he has a few but very close friends.

love life: oh, scorpius is the love of his life. that's it. they have the kind of relationship we all dream of: easy and supportive and loving. i think the main difficulty they probably have is scorpius struggling to come out to his father a bit, but i reckon that happens eventually. i 10000% headcanon them having kids. i think they adopt. i think al has his mother's faith in people and the future, and so it makes sense he would want to pass that on.

.

(my CHILD!! my war hero!!)

career-wise: i think that's hard. for her. coming back. i headcanon her taking care of the museum for a while. i think she's back and forth to mongolia quite a lot in the early years as well, because she cares about the people she left there. she probably works at the shop, or with james for a bit as well, helping out. i do think eventually (maybe a few years later - she is almost 20 when she comes back to england, so maybe when she's 23/24), she takes her NEWTs, and albus helps her study. i think that brings them closer. i could see her getting into politics later on. being a wizengamot member or something, not someone who's ever going to really get into power, but more of an agitator, someone who says the hard things and truly tries to change the world.

personal life:

friendships/family: all of this is pretty much established in the fic/above so i won't come back on it. i will say that sadly, because of POV constraints, i couldn't quite explore her relationship with her mother, but i think they have a pretty good one (as much as mothers and daughters can - lol). i think although it's hard, she has a lot more support coming back and healing than harry and ginny ever had.

love life: this sort of ties in to the above but i think lily is someone who values friendship and platonic love a lot more than most people, and a lot more than society does. i'm not sure i entirely headcanon her as ace/aro, but i do think she's someone who doesn't really need romantic love to be happy. she cares and loves very deeply, but she doesn't need to be in a Relationship like most people do. i do think she's generally attracted to men, and i think there are a few lovers in her life that are very, very important to her, but she never feels the need to put a label on it or be someone's Person. she is the world's Person.

in a weird way, though, i do headcanon her having kids. i almost see her as having them and raising them in a commune sort of setting (lol), with friends and people she truly cares about. i headcanon the father to be someone she... loves, even they're not in a conventional sort of relationship. i think she's happy, though. i think lily's happy.

.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Teddy Remus Lupin:

i never made a moodboard for teddy, i think because his face constantly changes lol. i either see him as becoming a musician or a wandmaker. i couldn't decide, so i hinted at both in the fic. you can pick one lol. or, maybe, he starts out with one with the other as a hobby, then switches things around when he gets bored. i think he's just a creative person, who loves making things. i think romantically, he's probably with victoire, they have cute babies.

Naran:

i sort of headcanon naran as moving back to england eventually. it's heavily hinted at in castles but, in a strange way that most immigrants will recognise, mongolia is her home but it's also... not her home. she says it to harry in chapter 23, she's in between spaces, neither truly english nor truly mongolian. most of her formative years are spent in england, and i think, a little bit like ron who, after the most urgent rebuilding is done, quits the ministry, she, i think, moves back to london, probably in her mid-twenties. i do think she's back and forth a lot, very involved, but ultimately, her home is lily. i'm not sure whether she marries or has kids, that's up to you.

[yelenasdiary]

Reader is a chef and owns a well-known restaurant, she invites Florence to her restaurant and has cooking with Flo there. They flirt without really knowing it, they end up together

The Special Guest

Pairing: Florence Pugh x Reader

Summary: When you heard that Florence Pugh was in town for an event, you invited the woman to your well-known restaurant after hearing her talk about wanting to visit the restaurant.  

Fluff | No Warnings | 1.2K

AC: Who else loved the vogue edition of Cooking with Flo?!

"I'm so glad to finally be here! I've heard so many great things about your cooking" Florence smiled after you greeted her. The restaurant was caped to 50 people while the short blonde-haired actress was visiting, you had reserved the best table in the restaurant for her. The staff and you were very excited to show Florence just how wonderful your restaurant is, with all your hard work earning you an outstanding 5 stars, you were keen to know what the actress thought. 

"We're excited to have you" you smiled warmly before placing a menu in front of Flo, "I've heard you're a bit of a cook yourself" you added as you looked at her. "I love it! My whole family is a big on food, I cook as much as I can" Florence smiled with joy, her cheeks glowing with a blushing color. "We've all seen some of the wonderful videos you've made with your little show" you replied.

"They're a lot of fun!" 

"We'll let you take a moment and decide on what you'd like to order, it's all on the house" you smiled. "Thank you, you're so very kind" Flo replied as she picked up the menu. 

After a few moments, Florence's order came through the till and you lit the stove. Even through the heat of the working kitchen, you knew the sweating nerves you had weren't from the flame on the stove or the heatwaves from the grill but more so the fact that the Florence Pugh was eating at your restaurant. Sure, you've had plenty of high-profile celebrities come to eat and have received wonderful reviews from them but something about having Florence sitting in the dining area sipping on a martini only made you want to be sure that everything was extra perfect. 

Everybody was slightly on edge as the food was delivered to Flo's table, she hummed with joy as she picked up her cutlery and dug right in. By the look on her face, you could instantly tell how much she loved the food. "This is so good! All the flavours just mix so well together!" She stopped you as you walked by her table, "I'm so glad you're enjoying it" you replied with a proud smile. 

After her starter meal, Florence asked if you'd be okay with her filming a 'Cooking with Flo' with you in your restaurant's kitchen, a spontaneous idea you thought to yourself but nodded and showed her the way. She quickly found her way around the kitchen, setting up her phone and kindly asking one of your chefs to record the little show for her 8.6 million Instagram followers. 

It amazed you that she didn't care that she wasn't dolled up or the fact that your kitchen wasn't clean or how she didn't request anything. She found ingredients and anything else she needed on her own with a small smile on her lips. "I like a woman who knows her way around a kitchen she's never been in before" you joked with a chuckle, "Oh trust me darling, I know my way around a lot of things" Florence playfully winked before brushing her shoulder length golden locks out of her face and smiling to the camera. 

She introduced you, the wonderful restaurant you owned and how spontaneous this little idea was for her. You smiled nervously at her phone before she started to make her own little twist on a classic garlic bread. "Something a little basic but fun" she chuckled while speaking through the steps she was doing. 

"Do you mind if I make a fair bit and hand it out to everybody?" Florence asked as she looked up at you. "Of course, seems like you're already at home" you joked as she slowly walked over to grab more bread, grabbing a few different kinds to cater for everybody. You watched unknowingly in awe as Florence made her own garlic butter from scratch then made a pure pesto paste. You knew that if the customers enjoyed the Florence twist that you'd kindly ask if it would be okay to add it to your menu as a little special.

"Would you like to come and help me spread these on the bread?" Florence asked breaking your thoughts, who were you to say no to the pretty women in front of you as you nodded with a smile. Before spreading the pesto paste over the seeded bread, you took a little taste test as was instantly blown away by the amount of goodness and flavor it had. "Are you sure acting is working out for you? I could do with another chef" you smiled softly unsure if you were even joking. Florence chuckled, "oh yeah, it's fine, I'm sure I could pull out of the few movies I have coming up if I got to work here every day". "My door is always open" you playfully winked. 

After a while, you noticed some of your waiters and waitresses sending very concerning looks at the two of you. Pulling a waitress aside you asked her why they were all looking at you and Florence in such a way. "Really boss? You and her have been flirting this entire time. It's been fun to watch" the young waitress smiled. "We have not, she's a very special guest and I'm just trying to make her feel comfortable" you frowned slightly. 

"Yeah, ask her to dinner tonight, I bet she won't say no" 

"You're being silly, stop it"

"I'm not, look!" the young women turned you slightly to face the kitchen, "see how she literally can't keep her eyes off you? Don't say you aren't enjoying it because the smile on your face says otherwise" she adds. She was right, Florence smiled softly as she saw the two of you facing her. "And that's pretty much it!" her eyes turned to the camera, "go on, ask her" your employee pushed you gently towards the kitchen. "That looks delicious" you nervously walked back over to Florence with a smile trying to hide your nerves. 

"Here's some for you" Florence placed a small plate in front of you, "thank you" you replied before taking a small bite, before you could even shallow you knew that this would be a hit. "Your eyes tell me you love it" Florence watched as you nodded, agreeing with her, "it's so good!" you replied, "I'd love to put these on the menu if that's okay" you added before taking another bite. "Go for it! Gives me even more of a reason to come back". 

After Florence had handed out the free bread to the other customers in the restaurant you couldn't help but notice how much flirting the two of you actually did without noticing. "Ask her!" you saw the waitress mouth as Florence came back to you. "This was amazing, thank you so much for a lovely night. I can't wait to come back again soon" she smiled. "You're more than welcome, I meant what I said, you can work here if you need" you replied with a light chuckle, "before you go" you paused for a moment, "I was wondering….would you like to grab breakfast or lunch one day?" you asked with a nervous smile. 

"Thank god you asked" Florence chuckled, "I was too nervous to ask you out myself but yes, I'd love too" she smiled, her eyes looking deeply into yours. "Well, I best get your number then" you smiled softly.

Taglist: @red1culous | @bentleywolf29 | @jeyramarie | @lissaaaa145 | @high--power | @parkerdaramitzzzz | @mmmmokdok | @wackymcstupid | @kiwiana145  | @sophie-xox | @shin-conan-kun | @nattyolw | @ripofflizzie | @get-the-fuck-outta-here | @goofy-goonie | @makegoodchoices | @apollo2907 | @marvelfan98 | @wandaroman0ff | @dumb-fawkin-bitch | @lovelyy-moonlight | @santana1437 | @sophie-xox | @fluffyblanketgecko | @inluvwithfictionalwomen | @jaymieflorissssssss | @tita001 | @youralphawolf72 | @crescent-witch | @randomnessbecausewhynot | @natashamaximoff69 | @a-dorkier-book-keeper | @hehehehannahthings | @blue-serendipityy | @secrettoallofyou | 

[yanderefairyangel]

You know, something I forgot to add in the video when talking about Engage being darker then you'd thought, is that this makes the light-hearter, kinda cheesey-vanilla and silly moment even better. It makes me appreciate them even more, like I am so thankfull Engage doesn't take itself seriously during the entirerty of the story cause when Engage takes itself seriously, the emotional damage you receives is unreal.

Cause like, all those cheesy moments, those light-hearted moments and silly moments gets a lot of nuance when you know the entire story and know the full context between each thing. Really, it makes the balancing between the dark and light-hearted moment just perfect and it makes the story very refreshing since it allows you to breath. Cause I'll tell you, if Engage was trying to be dark and serious all the time, knowing that there is those moments, I think it would make the story less endearing, less fun and would actually work less well when it comes to the tragic aspect of some scene.

Take the training session with Lumera in chapter 2.

In a first run, this is a pretty light hearted moment, especially compared to the previous entry. In Awakening, chapter 1-2 had you having to kill Risen when learning they are quite a danger. And in Fates, the training session between Corrin and Xander took place at night, with Xander being quite harsh towards Corrin telling them stuff "fight as if you wanted to kill me".

In comparison, this training session with Lumera feels like a friendly sparring, when she teaches things to Alear she is so soft to them and when fighting you can tell she is still enjoying this sparring session. I think I already said it but this scene, despite it being about preparing to war, doesn't take the risk or context seriously, instead it's very light hearted. It takes place in a beautiful garden, with a sweet toned Lumera. It feels like a friendly family sparring session between Alear and Lumera just for the sake of spending time together and with the Stewards being invited.

And this is such a great thing. It's so good because of what's comming next. Because Lumera is clearly enjoying this and no wonder why when you know the whole story, the fact that she and Alear never got to spend proper time as mother and children, to the point that things as trivial as snacking together and chit chating together is something that Lumera said she dreamed to do with Alear. Even though Alear is amnesiac she is still enjoying this time they spend together because it is the first moment they are finally reunited after 1 000 long years and they can finally be a family.

Lumera welcoming Alear in Lythos castle, spending time together training like this, it's stuff she never was able to do 1 000 years earlier because of the current war and she just wanted to share those little moments with the child she came to love as her own child. She can finally do it, so it's no wonder she doesn't want to take the whole context seriously, this is why this scene is so light hearted. And the parallel with chapter 25 is just *chef kiss*

Cause this one moment was so dear to Lumera that even in her Corrupted form, when you fight her, she is speaking the exact same cue as in chapter 2. Chapter 25 is chapter 2, but darker as this time, it's not a friendly sparring session, it's a deadly fight. Yet Corrupted Lumera still remember that time, she still treasure it as the only moment she could spend with her child after 1 000 year of being separated.

And what's even better is the evolution Alear went through. While they don't remember what happened 1 000 ago, they still regained one memory, the one where they "die" and I already explained how this one scene was enough to convey all the love Alear felt for their mother and right after they meet their past self. In chapter 3, I already mentionned how Alear's use of hiragana was a hint of subconsious memory, that they still remember even if their mind is blocking it and this means they still recall their deep love for their mother, and even after her death you can tell it no matter the context, whenever Alear speaks of Lumera. And as @dancerladyaqua explained in that post, the use of hiragana by Alear in chapter 25 this time is not subconsious but conscient.

This means that Alear's perception changed. In chapter 2, they didn't knew at the time that this was the very first and will be the only moment they will spend with Lumera as family, as they forgot everything but during their journey, by the time we reach this point, Alear gained enough knowledge to realize that, so fighting Lumera and Lumera saying the exact same things as she did in chapter 2 hurts them even more as it reminds them of the only time they spend together as family, but Alear realized that it was their first and only time as acting as family, and that they won't have a chance to spend time together as such again so Lumera's second death was this time a farewell forever, but Alear ended up maturing enough to accept it but to still cherish their mother no matter what.

PH fans will get it but Alear's response to chapter 25 is the equivalent of Oz finally answering the question "Where are you ?" : this is showing how far they come.

And stuff like that is so present in Engage. Like when a quicky character turns out to have some darkness within them, its makes their silly and light hearted side even more endearing and tasty. It's like how Alfred's bright demeanor makes him very strong when you know about his illness.

The darkness in Engage makes every of those cheesy, vanilla, power rangers like light hearted moment even more endearing because of how well it balance with the rest of the story, and this makes the tragic aspect hidden behind all those light hearted moments such as chapter 2, when you realize that Lumera and Alear never really got to be a family, to the point that Lumera was dreaming of sharing trivial moments with Alear.

Veyle as well, in her support with Nel and her entry when you give her the PR shows she dreamed of such moments with her family, even though for most of us it might seems trivial, Lumera and Veyle went through such horrible situations that it makes those moments precious, dream even. Veyle never got to have a real family and to spend happy moments with them, Lumera lost her entire family and her entire kind and felt lonely, had to fight all alone and to brace herself to never let anyone see her weakness. Just how Alear is the innocent child they were inside in front of Lumera, chapter 2 is showing Lumera is finally able to stop putting her facade and finally show her soft side to someone, someone lonely who wish to have someone to chit chat with while eating snacks. This also makes in retrospective the lesson about not running away and fighting until the end in chapter 2 have even more weighed as it is something Lumera had to deal with herself and even become a burden to her.

They lived through such horrible things that it makes you realize that getting to chat and eat snacks with your family and friends is actually something very precious, and that you should treasure it. This is the sweet bitter lesson behind chapter 2/25 as Alear realized that it was their only moments with Lumera and that there wouldn't be anymore.

In the same way, the darkness within Engage makes those light hearted moments even more precious, especially knowing what's comming next.

And again, PH did that too, where the moments where the plot would give you sweet and lighthearted moments become even more endearing when you know the full end.

An example is the unbirthday party. When you know the full story of Oscar Vessalius, it makes this moment he spend with Oz and the other even better, even more precious.

So really, Engage's light hearted and even vanilla tone is such a good thing.

[temporalhiccup]

Welcome to your Cozy Town, what will your year be like as you spend the seasons with friends? Check out the game on itchio!

Cozy Town is a lovely and sweet way to pass the time with friends and would be friends. Use a deck of normal playing cards and map making materials to play with others (or by yourself!) and create a town of lovely inhabitants!

You can play out an entire year of this town, across sweet spring, sunny summer, soft autumn, and snuggled down winter. Together you’ll explore what makes people, and the communities they’re in, feel safe and cozy!

I wrote Cozy Town as a way to explore gentle games that don't depend on high stakes, lack, and conflict as a means of play. It's a simple game that values your creativity and intuition, that encourages free form collaboration and an open imagination.

Each season comes with 23 prompts, inspired by my experience as a tarot reader. I'm going to be honest here, that prompt writing was some of the hardest in my life! I wrote Cozy Town early in my game design career and it was hard coming up with almost 100 wholesome prompts that didn't depend on drama or angst, haha! (the rest of my work can be VERY dramatic and VERY angsty)

When you create your town, you have pick lists to inspire features, celebrations, and more! In the final version of the game, I got to work with other designers to create more pick lists and event card oracles for you to enjoy.

The whole game is bursting at the seams with a chill vibe and lovely illustrations! Cozy Town started out as a humble game using font art (and laid out in Libre Office Writer!). But! In the years since, Cozy Town has become such a beloved game. I wanted to create the a shiny version of the game!

I put together a sweet 90s inspired PC layout and A.G. Reeder created truly lovely art. Alex did so much to create the amazing energy of the game, with very little direction from me. Cozy Town became an entirely new game thanks to his work!!

Over the years, I've heard so many lovely stories of folks playing with family, friends, classmates, and by themselves. I've seen the most fun maps and heard wonderful stories. I'm honored that the game has touched so many hearts.

I'm so proud of this game, and I owe much its design framework to Avery Alder's The Quiet Year and Dream Askew (one of my favorite descriptions from folks about Cozy Town is "The Quiet Year, but not depressing and, really happy, actually." hah!)

Cozy Town is a great way to introduce folks to the wonderful world of TTRPGs, but it's also just a fun game to play when you want to chill and have a good time.

You can find the game on itchio at the link below! The itch page has recordings of Cozy Town being played on stream, and at the bottom of the page there's a video from Dicebreaker where the game was featured!

I'm really grateful for the folks who talked about the game and enjoyed it. The support over the years and the successful itchfunding meant I could afford to work with other creatives to work on the final version!

My health has finally improved enough that I can add the last pieces of art from Alex, so the FINAL (???!!!) version of the PDF should be up soon. (I mean, the version you can get now is 99.999% there haha)

There's an audiobook version that's coming out in 2023, and maybe a few more surprises? Who knows! I hope you check out the game and tell folks about it!

Indie TTRPGs are full of varied experiences that celebrate different ways of playing. If Cozy Town isn't your cup of tea, I hope you check out another indie TTRPG, play it, and tell people about it!