#I SWORE IT WAS KN HE 20S

[xlivr]

GASP. oli.......you dare not fall on your knees for this man? the second it was his birthday?????? tsk tsk

HE STRESSEDD ME OUT SO BAD I DIDNT EVEN WANNA CELEBRATE HIM ANYMORE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[dylanobrienisbatman]

oh heyyyy can i please have pirate mechanic and 22?? I'M SO EXCITED

…in a rush of adrenaline.

Raven wasn’t one to be afraid of anything, ever. She was a zero g mechanic, a literal ASTRONAUT, who had been to OUTER SPACE in nothing more than a space suit, for fucks sake. She’d been sky diving, bungee jumping, zip lining, she used to go bouldering off the sides of mountains for fun before she got hurt and her leg wouldn’t let her. She was an adrenaline junkie, to put it mildly, but the one thing she never, ever did, was ride a motorcycle. Everything else, every other insane crazy thing she did, there was a modicum of safety to it. In space, everyone was trained to know exactly what to do, and everything was tested to perfection before she went. Sure it was dangerous, but it was all SCIENCE. She wasn’t afraid of science. Sky diving and bungee jumping and zip lining were SAFE, they had to be for people to be able to pay to do it as excursions. Normal average people could go bungee jumping on vacation. Bouldering was a little risky, but she never went high enough that she could have DIED from the fall, maybe gotten pretty hurt, but she went with friends, and knew the safety rules. Motorcycles though? There was nothing safe about that. In a fast car, you had some kind of buffer, some level of protection from seatbelts and airbags, but on a motorcycle you had nothing. You were out in the open, strapped to nothing, a helmet and some leather if you were smart, flying down the road. When she saw motorcycles weaving in and out of cars on the freeway, she scoffed, and hoped she wouldn’t see them being scraped off the road with a shovel later. She assumed no smart person would ever put themselves in that kind of danger.

And then she met Ezekiel Shaw.

Zeke used to be an Air Force Pilot, and then he was a scientist for NASA. He worked on the crafts on the ground that she worked on in space, and was damn good at it, though she’d never tell him that. He was brilliant, the first person she ever met who could match wits with her day in, day out. And Zeke Shaw rode his Harley into work. Every. Single. Day.

She scolded him for it when they first met, spouting statistics about deaths by motorcycle at him from memory, but he just smirked, waved her off, called her a “fraidy-cat” (yes, he used that exact phrase. He wasn’t catholic anymore, but he had been raised that way, and never swore, ever), and tugged his helmet on, roaring away out of the parking lot while she climbed into her car.

Her relationship with Zeke was a complex one. On the one hand, he was her friend, a great friend, a confidant who she bounced ideas off of and worked well with, her equal in brains and wit. On the other hand, he was delicious to look at and Raven wanted to jump his bones. This combination made the fact that he rode that stupid motorcycle very troubling to her, and it took a toll on her mental state. She got in the habit of calling him around the time she knew he’d be home every day, under the guise of wanting to talk about work or some new theory she was studying, but really she was just checking to make sure he made it home every day, alive. She always offered to swing by and pick him up when they would make plans, even though it was well out of her way, because the idea of him getting on that bike to come see her and then becoming road burn in the process made her sick to her stomach, but he always turned her down, and always showed up in one piece.

They had known each other about a year and 3 months, when the universe conspired against her.

She had called Zeke to see if he wanted to come into work with her on a Sunday and help her run a simulation she had been tossing around, and he lept at the chance, like always. He had been helping her write the simulation, and plan the program for almost two months, and she knew he’d want to see it through. It was pouring rain, so she offered him a ride, as always, and he turned her down, as always, showing up to work at the same time as she did even though she knew he lived an extra 15 minutes further away. They spent the whole Sunday in the lab, downing espresso shots from the bosses machine in her office and running and re-running the simulation, ordering thai takeout while they tried to get it perfect. It was late, almost 9pm, when they finally called it a day, and headed out the door, walked into the parking lot, and Raven realised she had left her lights on all day long. She tried to start her car twice, but she knew she would need a jump and there was no one around , the lab was almost 10 miles from town. She thought about calling a tow, but calling a tow for a jump seemed stupid, there would be people at the office tomorrow who could give her a jump, and she was halfway through trying to price out an Uber when Zeke shoved a helmet in front of her face.

“Come on Reyes, you’re really gonna pay for an Uber when I can just take you home myself?”

“No way. No way in hell am i getting on that deathtrap.” She kept typing in her address.

“You’ll have to get one back in the morning too, and you know its like… 30 bucks both ways. Thats $60 you could avoid by just strapping on this helmet and letting me take you home.”

“No way!! I dont care how much it costs, im so not doing that.”

“Look. I know you think its unsafe, but the rain stopped at like noon, the roads are bone dry, and I promise ill go slow.” He had this twinkle in his eye that was very distracting, and the sight of him holding that helmet, leaning against the hood of her car, was doing funny things to her stomach. She glared at him.

“Do you kn-“

“do you know how many people die on those things every day?” He raised his voice a bit, to a squeaky annoying pitch, and had to jump away when she smacked at him.

“The only reason you got away is because im a cripple.” She snarked, and he laughed. “Yeah sure, blame the leg.” He said, dancing a little further away, and then coming in close, holding the helmet out. “You can pay for that Uber if you want, but I promise, I wont let anything happen to you.” She eyed him, and the bike, wary.

“Come on Reyes, you ride up into space on a ship i work on.” His voice was all teasing, but there was something else dancing behind his eyes. “Don’t you trust me, Raven?”

He barely ever used her first name, but his sincerity was like a gut punch. He was standing really close now, just enough space for the helmet between them. Finally, she took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and grabbed the helmet in both hands.

“If we die on this damn bike, I’m going to spend our entire afterlife beating your ass.” She said, pulling it down over her head, walking over to the bike.

He sat down on the front, popping the kick stand and sliding forward enough for her to fit. He pulled out a small metal bar that had been hidden in the bike, on her right side. She knew she looked shocked, and even though he couldn’t see it through the helmet, he knew anyway.

“I was always hoping i’d get you on this thing, so i added a place for you to put your leg, since i know you can’t keep it bent for so long.” She couldn’t see his face either, and she thought maybe that was a good thing. She slid onto the bike, behind him, and propped her leg up on the stand, wrapping her arms around his solid middle.

“Remember. If we die. Perpetual ghost world ass kicking.” She called, as the bike roared to life, vibrating underneath her. He laughed, nodding, and they took off.

The speed of it was unreal, the wind whipping all her clothes and the hair that was coming out of the bottom of her helmet, and she held on tighter as the sped up. He zipped down the roads, taking every turn with ease, and even though she knew he had to be going slower than he normally did, her heart rate was a million beats a minute and she could feel her adrenaline rushing through her body. She squeezed him again, and he took one hand off the bike for a second to squeeze her forearm, to reassure her. She kept her head on his shoulder, and somehow keeping her eyes open was better than closed, so she just watched as the trees zipped by, and headlights from other cars came in and out of view. The longer they rode, the more comfortable she got, and soon it was just a rush of adrenaline, and she could feel herself loosening up, smiling, until she finally sat back a little, keeping herself still firmly around his waist, and whooped into the night air. He turned his head, and she couldn’t see his face but she knew he was laughing at her, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. The ride took about 20 minutes, and when they pulled into her complex parking lot, her heart rate wouldn’t quit. He popped the kick stand on his bike, and they pulled off their helmets. He got off first, and helped her off, and maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was the blood rushing through her ears, or maybe it was just him, close and tall and grinning ear to ear, but something came over her.

“See, Reyes, told you you wo-“

She cut him off with her lips, throwing her arms around his neck, running her fingers over his scalp and pulling him down to her, kissing him hard. He was frozen in shock for a second, but then he responded with ferocity. He opened his mouth to her, letting her tongue slide across his teeth, and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her into the air and spinning her around. When he set her back on solid ground, and they broke the kiss, she tucked her face into his chest, holding him close.

“If you say I told you so, I’ll never kiss you again.” She muttered into his chest.

“Does that mean if i DON’T say it, you will kiss me again?” The hopeful tilt to his voice got her to look up, and his eyes were bright, a smile threatening to break his cheeks. She leaned up, pressing a kiss into his cheek.

“So I’ll definitely need that ride in the morning.” She whispered, into his ear, close and intentionally low.

“Yeah,” he said, failing at nonchalant, “what time should i swing by.”

She smirked up at him, taking him by the hand, leading him towards the door of her building.

“I’d say just whenever we wake up is good.” He tugged her back in for a kiss, quick and easy. The adrenaline was still rushing in her ears as she tugged him into her apartment, towards her room, but she wasn’t sure it was from the motorcycle anymore.

[dexandderek]

Ransom week day 1

I KNOW I’M LATE BUT I HAD A REALLY SHIT DAY YESTERDAY SO I DIDN”T GET TO FINISH IT ON TIME

today’s theme was:

March 28 (Ransom’s Birthday): Celebration or “Remember that time…”

i chose to do celebration

here is how the team and Ransom spent his birthday

@ransomweek

The whole Haus was up and busy before sunrise. Since this year Ransom’s birthday fell on a Tuesday the team had decided to forego the celebratory kegster and just have a small get together, a fact they might have neglected to tell Ransom. Since his party was supposed to be a surprise the birthday-boy had to be kept away from the Haus until the afternoon and Holster was unanimously volunteered to be the person to do so.

Getting Ransom out of the Haus was the easiest part (“Best Bro Birthday Brunch, bro!”) but then the SMH had to coordinate decorating, preparation of snacks, and all of the classes the individual team members had during that day. The tadpoles were on decoration duty after lunch because they only had a morning class on Tuesday. Nursey was responsible for music because he and Ransom apparently had a pretty similar taste and music (and also because nobody wanted Holsters musical playlist or Nursey getting hurt in the process of decorating). Dex and Chowder were acting as sous chefs for Bitty. Lardo was in charge of picking up Jack, Shitty and a surprise from the train station and wrapping the presents since apparently none of the team members except Bitty and Dex knew how to tie a nice bow.

“I just hope everything works out,” Bitty sighed, “his last birthday at Samwell should be special.”

~~

“This is nice.”

Instead of good old Jerry’s Holster had taken him to a fancy breakfast place. He nearly felt bad for ordering something after he saw the prices but Holster said it was okay. Something about spoiling him senseless today.

“You should take me out more often.”

Holster smiled.

“Maybe I will. There's a bazillion places in Boston I can take you to.”

He took a bite out of his french toast.

“I'll take you out too. Can't have you pay everything for me.”

Holster reached across the table and took Ransom’s hand in his own.

“Listen Ransy-poo you're a broke college student that soon has to survive medical school. I basically have a job. And even if the Bruins decide to drop me I'll still have 3 companies that would hire me in a second. I have the money, now let me spend it on you.”

After he picked up the bill they decided to walk along the river before Ransom had to go to class. They sat down on a bench and Holster reached into his backpack and pulled out one of Bitty’s mini pies and put a candle in it.

“Happy Birthday bro.”

Ransom had tears in his eyes from the sentimental moment and the deliciousness of the pie. Holster always took care of him.

~~

The tadpoles swore in the living room and Tango walked into the kitchen soon after.

“We ripped the banner.”

Dex sighed and went to wash some flour of his hands.

“I'll go take care of it. Lardo has needles and thread in her room right?”

He quickly texted her if it was okay if he went into her room while walking up the stairs and nearly collided with Nursey who was on his way down.

“Careful there. Can't have you getting hurt before the next game.” Nursey chirped.

It was weird hearing that from Nursey but Dex just laughed.

“Thanks man.”

He continued walking up while Nursey went into the kitchen.

“I got a 10 hour playlist of Ransom’s favorite songs up on Spotify. I also hid all embarrassing old pictures Holster has of Ransom and i wrote speeches for everyone because I got bored.”

“Oh sweetheart you're an absolute godsend. If I wasn't elbow deep in cake batter I'd give you a hug.”

“Speaking of cake, how's it coming along?”

He turned around to see the wooden base Dex and Lardo had built. The bottom was painted to look like cake while the middle and top part would actually be cake.

“It's alright. It's different than just making a pie but no major setbacks yet. The first batch just needs to cool before we can cut and stack it. If you're free can you do me a favor and whip up some of the cream filling? Just pour it into the mixer and let it run until it's smooth.”

They had a lot of work to do.

~~

“Professor Miller made the class sing happy birthday for me.”

Ransom was leaning against his D-man on a bench in river quad.

“Because you're her favorite student bro.”

“Yeah maybe. Hey wanna head over to the Haus? Bitty probably has a stack of birthday pie in the kitchen.”

Holster sat up abruptly, forcing Ransom to sit as well.

“No!”

His best friend looked at him questioning so he followed up quickly.

“I wanted to take you out to get ice cream. Best friend Sunday.”

Ransom was thankful that he had a friend like Holster, who knew him so well and cared for him so deeply.

“Aw Holtzy.”

~~

“Everybody go get ready. Holster should be back with Ransom soon. Tango go put on another shirt, go take one out of my closet. Dex you go borrow one from Chowder. Go, go.”

Bitty was just putting the last finishing touches to the cake. The decorations were hung all over the house, the presents were all wrapped, and the table they had set up in the living room was decked.

He just finished putting the candles in the cake when he saw Ransom and Holster walking towards the Haus.

“Everybody get down here!”

~~

“Today was a great birthday Holtzy, thank you so much.”

Behind Ransom Holster could see Shitty in the window giving him a thumbs up.

“Aw bro. It's about to get even better.”

He leaned forward and half hugged Ransom half opened the door behind him. He didn't see the disappointed face Ransom made because of course his best friend wouldn't admit his feelings for him on his birthday. Before he could say something Holster turned him around.

“Surprise!”

The entire team was in the living room which was generously decorated. Bitty ushered him inside and he could see Jack and Shitty standing there with the team.

“You guys…”

Bitty quickly disappeared into the kitchen only to come out seconds later with a truly gargantuan cake. He had to strain to push it but ultimately managed to get it to the middle of the living room. He lit the candles on top of the cake and brought Ransom forward to blow them out. The team sang happy birthday to him and after he blew the candles out Bitty moved to take away the top layer of cake. He barely made it two steps before the top of the cake opened and HOLY SHIT IS THAT ALEXEI MASHKOV ?!?

Alexei “Tater” Mashkov, professional hockey player for the Providence Falconers, had popped out of his birthday cake in all his shirtless glory like a flapper girl at a 20s party.

“Surprise!”

He carefully stepped out of the cake in shorts that had Ransom concentrate real hard not to faint.

“You're Justin, yes? Ransom? Jack say you friend and that you like Tater. Say you have birthday so I say I come and surprise. Happy Birthday.”

He opened his arms and hugged Ransom who just clung to him like it's the only thing he wanted to do till the end of time.

“Okay, great surprise. Somebody give me shirt?”

The team just stared at him.

“Okay I stay like this. Am very attractive I know.”

The ate the cake and opened presents. Most of the boys had gotten him stuff for hockey, class, or for his and Holsters future apartment in Boston. Tater had gotten him a bunch of Falconers stuff with his signature. Ransom was so glad for his friends.

~~

They would throw a birthday kegster for him on the weekend but for now getting drunk with his friends meant a lot to him. Jack had automatically become his number one friend (except for Holster) a fact that he told Holster while the taller man was walking him up to the attic. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to drunkenly cling to your best friend/crush crying about how much you love another guy.

“His abs are so big.”

“I know Rans.”

“Like a solid eight-pack bro.”

“I know.”

“I want him to have my babies.”

“I know Justin.”

“I want you to have my babies too.”

“I kn… wait what?!”

“My babies Holtzy. I want you to have my adorable black jewish giant babies. Even if they end up half blind like you or anxious messes like me.”

He patted the blonde on his broad chest before turning away and ralphing in the hallway by Chowder’s door.

“Oops.”

“It's okay Ransy-poo,” Holster helped his friend stand straighter and pressed a kiss to his head, “let's get you into bed, okay? We'll talk about it tomorrow.”

It was a swasome birthday though.