#I’m IGNORING the fact that it was in fact against the leafs

[beenbaanbuun]

worship w/ mingi

words - …

genre - smut

warnings - body worship (m! receiving), mingi’s tummy, alcohol (no one is drunk), mingi’s thighs, foot job (f! receiving), marking, biting, hair pulling, praise, pet names

NOT PROOF READ!!! i forgot to tag this so i woke up and was upset people were ignoring it then i realised it’s bc i’m just a little bit dumb :D

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sitting between mingi’s thighs with your hands massaging the thick muscles, your lips pressed just under his naval as you worship his tummy. he’s petting your hair with one of his big hands, a tumbler glass of whisky in the other. every so often he takes a sip, smacking his lips as the warm liquid flows down his neck, pooling in his stomach, just beneath where you’re lazily running your lips back and forth.

he’s not too sure what brought this on, and he’s not sure where it’ll go. what he does know, however is that he likes it. he likes having you between his legs worshipping the parts of his body that he himself doesn’t love. he likes hearing your little whimpers, feeling your warm lips against his bare skin. the bite of your fingers digging into his thighs and the softness of your hair beneath his palm. it’s intoxicating, the feeling of that alone doing more to addle his mind than the alcohol. you’re intoxicating…

“you’re so hot,” you whine as you lightly rub your nose against the smooth flesh. you love the way his skin smells, like honey and milk, soft and soothing and warm. it’s everything that he is as a person. you plant another kiss along the waistband of his pants. “love your body, mingi… so soft and pretty…”

he gives you a questioning hum, to which you respond by licking a fat stripe up to his naval. his skin is salty with residual sweat from the day, but you don’t care. in fact, you’d be lying if you said you didn’t rather enjoy it. having the taste of him on your tongue sends your brain spinning. you want more of it because it’s mingi.

your mingi.

teeth scrape against the soft skin of his tummy and you can’t help but bite down. there’s a deep grunt from somewhere above you, fingers lacing into your hair to give it a sharp tug. it’s hard, but not enough so to hurt. really, it’s just a little warning for you to behave, as if mingi is expecting you to get carried away with yourself. so even though you hardly want to, you let go with your teeth, instead soothing the little indents with your tongue. fuck he tastes so good, you think to yourself. a guttural moan slips out of your throat as you languidly mouth at his stomach.

“fucking hell, princess,” he slurs as he watches you closely. with your eyes clamped shut and your lips moving so desperately, it’s not hard for him to see just how much pleasure you’re getting from this. he wouldn’t be surprised if you’re already dripping down there, panties sticking to your slick folds as your cunt goes ignored. you don’t seem bothered if that is the case, too desperate to worship mingi to even think about yourself. god, you’re adorable. “you treat me so well, don’t you? my pretty one making me feel so loved… do you like this? making your baby boy feel good? fuck, i bet you’re so wet!”

not wanting to pull away just yet, you just nod against him. your nose runs against the sensitive skin, tickling him just a little. he squirms ever so slightly, but your grip on his thighs does a pretty good job of keeping him in place on the couch. it seems you’ve taken a leaf out of his book; he who loves nothing more than to pin you down when he’s eating you out, pleasuring you until you literally can’t take any more. he chuckles at how cute you are, using his own tricks against him.

god, he’s so in love with you.

“you’re so sweet, princess,” he coos as you take his skin between your lips, suckling on it, intent on making your mark on him. he’s fine with that; it makes him happy to know you want to mark him up. to make him yours physically, just as he already is yours mentally. it’s precious; you’re precious. he wants to give you more. “do you want to cum, princess?”

the question is so nonchalant that it almost doesn’t twig in your brain. he says it as casually as he would if asking you anything else. do you want a glass of water? do you want to eat dinner? do you want to cum? it almost slips in one ear and straight out the other… almost.

but the ache between your thighs is only growing, and your hands are too busy to deal with it yourself. you find yourself nodding again, humming gently against his skin. he smiles again, the overwhelming love he feels for you expressing itself in a face-splitting, cheek-aching grin. “you want to ride my foot?” you give him another nod.

he wastes no time in moving the appendage, lacking any sort of grace as he stuffs it between your thighs and presses it tightly against your clit. you keen against his stomach and it’s music to his ears. the amount of pride he feels when pleasing you is incomparable to anything else. he can play you like a guitar, knowing exactly where to touch to pull all those cute little sounds from you. the way you whimper as he begins to rub it back and forth against you only goes to prove his point.

“good girl,” he hums before tipping the last of the whisky down his throat. it burns, but he can’t focus on that when you’re being so good for him. his perfect little princess.

[ohmyeyesmyeyes]

i couldn't stand you - m. bunting

summary: (slow burn enemies to frenemies to friends etc / f!reader x mb) three years: arguments, truces, break-ups, moving houses...michael bunting wasn't nearly as irritating as you'd initially expected.

warnings: swearing, consumption of alcohol, reader is a pens fan, scenes with eating involved, reader is a chef, I PROMISE THE WRITING GETS BETTER THE MORE YOU READ (toronto to carolina sequence my fave <3), sid being an obliviously adorable cockblocker, angst/pining, fluff, the ending is so unfinished and doesn't do the 20k justice at all...(i lost inspiration)(but i might edit it in the future/do an alternate ending)

a/n: i got inspiration from this from that tom welling hug in cheaper by the dozen

In all honesty, you hadn’t really been paying much attention to Ellis, which kind of defeated the entire purpose of even stepping into the bar. Taylor had wanted you to meet her new boyfriend, and it had barely taken all of five minutes of being in his presence to deduce that he was not only a nice guy, but clearly liked her a lot, was funny, the whole works, etc, etc. Only, your attention had been (completely against your will) stolen by the…idiot sitting next to you.

You didn’t really know what else to call him. An impatient dick? That was also fitting. A bad driver? There wasn’t a 100% certainty in that statement, but it felt fitting given the incident from earlier that morning.

Nevertheless, when you’d clocked each other, the only empty space being that on the bench right next to him, there was no doubt he recognised you too. He’d rolled his eyes and scoffed into his beer, and you’d sat down rather aggressively and dropped your bag on the floor, downright refusing to look at him.

Hence, the intervening from Ellis, with his polite smile and countenance, a complete contrast to aforementioned impatient dick sitting on your left. Taylor had raised a brow, a silent question on her face but you’d simply shaken your head and accepted the cocktail she’d already ordered with a grateful smile.

“I’m confused.” Ellis muttered, leaning his head on one hand, eyes darting confusedly between you and Michael Bunting, Maple Leafs player apparently, “Do you two know each other?”

You shook your head, sipping your cocktail. Judging from the silence next to you, Micheal had done the same thing, neither of you too eager to explain anything. It wouldn’t have been a big deal. In fact, if the subject hadn't been poked and prodded further, you’d have probably been fine with it, maybe even accepted the fact that you were going to have to spend however many hours with him for the sake of your friends. 

Who knew? Maybe you’d have eventually gotten past this pre-established dislike for one another, but Taylor was never really one for ignoring gossip when it was sitting in front of her – a trait that you rather found entertaining until you were the victim.

“What, so it’s dislike at first sight, or something?” She asked, eyeing the two of you with more intrigue than you were comfortable with.

In fact, her eyes seemed to shimmer like a greedy shark when you shifted uncomfortably in your seat, briefly glancing at the man on your left.

He was rolling his eyes. And you didn’t care to even guess if it was at you or if it was at Taylor, but with the morning you’d had – because of him – you turned back to her with more conviction this time.

“Pretty much, yeah.” You shrugged.

Taylor scoffed in disbelief, sharing a look with Ellis, “Why?”

“Because she’s a shit driver.” 

You gaped, head snapping to Michael with appal. He was frowning in a way that just exuded arrogance. He actually thought he was right – the nerve.

“I am not–”

“Oh, yes you are.”

“The traffic in front of me was at a complete standstill, what was I supposed to do–”

“They were moving–”

“Oh, please. You were just in a rush because someone clearly forgot to set an alarm this morning–”

“I was not in a rush–”

“Then what was the reason for honking at me?”

“You flipped me a birdie!”

“You honked for no reason – who even does that?”

“You flipped me a fucking birdie!”

“After you honked!”

“You were too slow, you weren’t even looking at the road.”

“Yeah, because God forbid I skip a song in a traffic jam.”

He scowled, but said nothing else, sharing a rather irritated glance with Ellis across from him.

You, however, were a little different: sure, your jaw was ticking, your pulse was higher than usual from his stress-inducing attitude, but the first thing you did was share a wide-eyed glance with Taylor, whose jaw had dropped. You rarely fought with people, let alone in public spaces. In fact, the last time you’d bickered like that was when you and Taylor were little and arguing over who got to marry which celebrity from the magazine in make-believe play – but that was exactly all it had been: make-believe.

This was real life, and when you argue like that in real life, people tend to stare. You could feel strangers’ eyes boring into the side of your face and your cheeks flamed against your will. Add that onto the fact that Ellis – who you’d never met before, and were intent on setting a good first impression – had just witnessed you argue with his best friend? You were nothing short of mortified.

“Right.” Ellis sighed, scratching the back of his head, and all three pairs of remaining eyes sitting at the table zipped to him for some form of guidance as to what to do next, “So, now that everyone’s introduced…another round?”

There were muted expressions of agreements, and even just looking at Taylor, you could tell that she was about to slip out and join Ellis at the bar, even after your pleading.

You watched her go sadly, your hands tucked under your thighs, trying desperately to ignore the other presence. You weren’t sure how you’d feel even looking at him – didn’t know if you could. Not only for the embarrassment, but for the sheer…eugh of having to look at him.

Blue eyes, brown hair – not too dark. Apart from that, your mind was drawing a blank.

He cleared his throat. You ignored it.

“What’re your first thoughts on Ellis for Taylor, then?” He mumbled, half-heartedly trying to engage in conversation, and it was because you knew he was only doing it to try and ease some of the tension for Ellis that you turned to face him.

The flare of irritation that presented itself felt like an allergic reaction to simply looking at him, but you swallowed, trying to paste on a nonchalant expression. You could do this. You just had to stare at the blank spot on the wood just a little bit off from his face.

Only, he seemed to take your lack of expression and interest as something else, because he tilted his head towards you fractionally, a rather condescending look on his face. 

“Your instincts?” 

Instincts? You had instincts – not necessarily about Ellis and what it was Michael was asking about, but you had them. And maybe it was the patronising glare, maybe it was the day’s frustration, maybe you were just tired and needed someone to take it out on, but you ignored his context for the question.

“My instincts?” You repeated, and he nodded, eyes squinting slightly, “That you’re full of shit.”

***

Usually you’d have no issue avoiding Michael when both of your presences were dubbed mandatory to these kinds of things: there was space, there were people – no reason to talk or even look in each other’s directions.

Only, this time, Ellis’s birthday party, somehow the invitation had been extended to you and the get-together was small. Intimate. Maybe seven people in total, not including Ellis himself. And because Ellis was Ellis, a party meant drunk games – and if not drunk, certainly alcohol-induced.

And to your bitter astonishment, the only two people left without split-second partners for a rough game of charades was…you and Michael. In theory, it shouldn’t have been much of a shock: it was inevitable for Ellis and Taylor to pair up together, and you were Taylor’s plus one (even though Ellis had told you himself he wanted you there), and it had become increasingly obvious throughout the evening that Michael didn’t know anyone but Ellis and Taylor; everyone else seemed to have gone to school together and jumped into pairs pretty quickly.

Needless to say, when you’d looked around the room and locked eyes with an equally disgruntled Michael, the two of you hadn’t broken eye contact as you’d downed whatever was remaining in your glasses and immediately reached for a refill.

Yet, for all your displeasure in the pairing, there was an odd satisfaction in knowing that you’d both absolutely thrashed the living daylights out of everyone else. It scratched a competitive itch inside of you, and against your will, you felt yourself softening up to him. His grin had become less irritatingly smug when he was directing it at you after a speedy guess, and his failure to hide his equally competitive edge through the half-smirks directed at his lap when other couples failed were more endearing than grating.

(You just blamed the alcohol.)

Although, probably just as shocking as that turn of events, Taylor and Ellis were awful at charades. They’d gotten one word right in the allotted time, and although they’d tried to hide it, no one was completely ignorant to their harsh whisperings to each other and pointed gestures. Or the confused glances they seemed to direct straight towards you and Michael, who, unlike everyone else, were sitting side by side on the carpet, a sizable distance between each other and managing to neither look or speak apart from when it was your turn.

It was remarkable, really, that two strangers could guess each other’s frantic motions easier than people who knew each other in arguably the most intimate ways. It felt like a test of compatibility, and Ellis and Taylor knew they were failing – hence, in your head, said compatibility test was clearly false. Michael was living, breathing proof of that.

“And Team We Don’t Care Just Pick Whatever wins.” Taylor announced, glancing direly at the small scrap of paper that she’d been documenting the scores on, “Ten points clear from the runners-up.”

You raised your brows, sighing despondently at your glass because you weren’t quite sure you could look Taylor in the eye without feeling some form of inexplicable guilt. You, however, wanted to savour this moment of triumph.

And what better way to celebrate than to pour yourself another glass?

The kitchen was quiet, dirty dishes stacked near and in the sink, along with a plethora of glasses and bottles from where people had decided to mix their drinks. It was quieter and cooler, too: a place to rest and breathe for a second. Only, as soon as the first sip touched your mouth, you had to stifle a yawn, your eyes suddenly dry and heavy. 

Half past twelve.

“You leavin’?” 

You turned your head to see Michael standing in the doorway, clearly having just come back from the bathroom and with a rather blank look on his face. At your attention, however, he seemed to force his mouth into a slither of a smile, looking mightily uncomfortable under your gaze.

His eyes quickly dropped, momentarily drifting to your glass, a little hesitantly.

“Might do. You?”

You almost wanted to wince at the awkwardness emanating in the atmosphere. It must be the first time you’d ever willingly engaged in a conversation with each other – let alone by yourselves. The silence in the room seemed to intensify that realisation that there was no Taylor or Ellis to act as a buffer, but Michael looked remarkably calm and unbothered by that knowledge. In fact, at your question he raised his brows as though shocked you’d reciprocated the conversation and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

“Yeah, I’m pretty tired.”

There was nothing particularly to say to that, so you just nodded, standing by the counter. He looked as if he wanted to say something: his hands were tapping against his jean-clad thighs and he kept glancing at you and then away, something playing on his features.

“You okay?” You found yourself asking, much to his surprise.

“Yeah, I just…” He stepped closer, throwing a careful glance back towards the open door, “Has Taylor talked to you about me?”

You blinked, tilting your head.

She had, many times on many different occasions and with a variety of different tones. Just off the top of your head you could list that time you’d gone over to hers for a movie night and she’d softly suggested that you try to get along with him; that one time she’d caught you pulling a rather put-off facial expression after he’d said something questionable; that one time she must have been a second away from grabbing you by the shoulders; eventually she’d given up, but that was after the basketball incident when you’d thrown the ball a little too harshly at him and winded him in the park. 

The ignoring each other thing worked – so why did you find yourself beginning to tolerate his presence? After all this time, surely, nothing would change so suddenly?

“Yeah.” You admitted, rather guiltily. In your defence, you’d tried to get along with him, but there was something about your personalities that clashed in the wrongest of ways. Both Taylor and Ellis had openly observed the two of you were pretty similar (you were a little offended by that statement) and would probably get along if you both put your pride aside, “Has Ellis…” You trailed off, watching him carefully.

He nodded, “Oh, yeah. He’s made a few bold statements about it, I’ll say that.” He huffed a bitter laugh, “But I was thinking–”

You pulled a face and he looked about ready to stop talking altogether, until he sighed, “Maybe we should just call a truce, or something? A fresh start, if not for us, for them. They seem pretty stable and if they’re for the long-term, then I think it’d be easier if we just agreed to get along, or at least pretend.”

Maybe it was the alcohol in your system, or maybe it was because tonight you’d found him a lot more tolerable than you usually would, but you nodded. And to that, he just blinked.

“Really?” He asked, almost recoiling in reaction.

“Yeah.” You shrugged, “Under one condition though.”

His face dropped – the almost triumphant smile that he’d nearly allowed himself to display had vanished completely in replacement for something harsher, more annoyed. His jaw had clenched and the hand he’d placed on the counter seemed to tap with more aggravation as he rolled his eyes in resignation, “And what would that be?” He asked, sounding rather like he already had an idea as to what it was.

“Just admit I’m not a bad driver.” You reasoned.

“Oh, I thought you were gonna…Nevermind.” He shook his head, holding his hand out for you to shake, “You’re not a bad driver.”

“Thanks.” Then, “Are you Michael or do you have any nicknames instead?”

There was a brief pause, and he looked at you like you were an alien, “Why?”

“I don’t know, Michael – you don’t look like a ‘Michael’, that’s all.”

“And what does a ‘Michael’ look like?”

“Probably twenty-thirty years older, balding–”

“Wow.”

“Is that a no?”

He seemed to think about it for a moment, “Purely because you don’t like it, no, I don’t have any nicknames. I’d rather you called me Michael.”

“Nice one. But when we’re in a public space and I yell your name, there’s gonna be at least three older, balding guys turning to look at me–”

“You’re hilarious.”

“Well, one of us has to be.”

Neither of you seemed to remember you were still holding hands.

***

One thing you never thought you’d be doing in your near future, was packing all of your makeup and three outfit choices and driving to Ellis’s place to have a conversation with Taylor. To be honest, there was a small part of you that was a little bit aggravated that to talk to your best friend you had to drive twenty minutes and risk missing packing something for the date you needed help with, especially seeing as though said date was in forty-five minutes.

Although, you did have time to reason with yourself in the car, the usual stuff: she could have just said no to helping you when you called her in a frustrated panic; the last-minute pep talk was probably going to make up for any residual irritation; on the bright side, though, at least Ellis’s apartment was closer to the date location than your own. 

You knew you’d feel better once you got there – only…

“You have got to be kidding me.” You breathed a solemn laugh, head lolling backwards and cheeks flaming at the sight before you.

Michael Bunting standing in the doorway with a wicked grin on his face, each pore practically oozing mirth at your current situation, eating an apple. And sure, you’d agreed to get along for the sake of your friends, but you had no idea that would mean him being privy to your moments – nor did it mean you were particularly pleased to see him at such a dire time.

“Hello, sweetheart. Heard you were stuck?” He tilted his head, pouting in your direction, and you didn’t miss the way his attention zipped curiously to the backpack over your shoulder and the garment bags slung over your arm.

“Do you really not have anything better to do on a Friday night other than third-wheel your best friend and his girlfriend?” You asked, smiling flatly and walking through the door when he opened it further.

He shook his head, crunching a bite, and you stood in the hallway, patience ticking away by the second as you waited for him to finish eating to speak. There were voices drifting down the corridor, and you turned your head to see shadows and flickers of light in the other room, Taylor clearly on her way – thank fuck.

“I have a game tomorrow, gotta have a tame night.” He muttered, reaching out a hand to touch the soft plastic covering of your garment bag, “And I’ll tell you one thing, I am so glad I get to witness this.”

You pulled a face, “Ha ha.”

“I can already tell you’re gonna make my fucking night, so I’m gonna just thank you in advance–”

“Hey, stop psyching her out.” Taylor appeared, a crease between her brows that clearly hadn’t materialised at his words alone, and for a split-second, you and Michael shared a worried glance, any previous teasing evaporating along with it.

He nodded easily, holding his hands up in surrender and disappearing into the living room, his footsteps slow and leisurely as though he was hoping to overhear a snippet more, but before you could even spit out a greeting of your own, Taylor had dragged you into Ellis’s bedroom and locked the door – the man himself nowhere to be seen.

“Is everything okay?”

Taylor spun on her heel, flashing you an urgent glance, apparently brushing off your question of concern, “I should be asking you that.”

“Oh, I’m fine–”

She shot you a look of disbelief.

“Just nervous, I guess. And I can’t decide what to wear, so I brought some stuff.”

In the other room, Michael was sitting on the sofa, apple half-eaten and trying to ignore the rather violent knee shaking Ellis was doing by tuning into the faint sound of voices from the bedroom that could still be heard over the TV. He knew he should probably be focused on his best friend – who was anything but subtle in trying to convey the fact that he was clearly irked by something – but he also knew that Ellis would talk when Ellis wanted to talk.

He was also kind of curious as to what had gotten you in such a pickle: he knew you were about to go on a date (first, he assumed), but why the sudden panic? You’d turned up armed with a Hannah Montana-type level of hair, costumes and makeup stuff and he’d just eyed it all a little bit confused. 

He was very aware of the fact that you were pretty – he’d seen you with the barest amount of makeup on (he assumed, he actually had no idea if you did) and in a pair of sweats, and his opinion hadn’t changed, so why all the makeup? Surely, if someone was to like you in that sense you shouldn’t have to dress up and put loads of makeup on?

He wasn’t too sure, really. His extent of first dates was restricted to his high school experience and he’d only been on a few since. 

“Why the panic?” He found himself asking aloud, turning to Ellis like he’d hold the answers in the universe. 

Ellis, however, turned to face him, a scowl already on his face, and it didn’t take a genius to gather that he wasn’t going to get much out of him with the mood he was in.

“What?”

“The girls.”

Ellis shrugged, turning his attention back to the TV, “Why would I know?”

Michael pressed his lips together tightly, trying to ignore the answers popping up in his head. Why wouldn’t Ellis know? He’d been talking to Taylor when you texted so if anything it’d be weird for Ellis to not know what was going on.

In fact, the longer he spent in Ellis’s presence, the more uncomfortable Michael felt. He shifted in his seat, the tense and awkward atmosphere feeling oddly claustrophobic and he felt the sudden desire to get out of the room, even if it was to fake a visit to the kitchen or something. 

He pushed himself off the sofa, the apple core in his hand sticky and by the time he’d stood in there and looked out of the window, washed his hands and decided he was going to leave anyway, there was a voice in the hallway.

“-look stunning, I promise.”

There seemed to be a muttered reply, but before he could make his way towards the door and announce his departure, there was a call of his name.

“Bunting–”

“No, don’t.”

He looked right down the hallway, Taylor leaning against the wall. Taylor wasn’t tall by any means, so he could easily see you behind her. You were clearly uncomfortable with something, unable to look at him or any living thing, your eyes instead fixated on the plants on the table next to the door. 

He had to remind himself to breathe when you rolled your eyes at Taylor and walked around her, your head down and pointedly trying not to make eye contact with him as you walked to the door to put on your shoes.

You were wearing a long black dress, not too long that you could ever trip over the hem, but long enough to accentuate the sheer length of your legs, and now he was close enough he could make out the little clusters of purple flowers embroidered onto the material. 

He couldn’t really get his mind to focus on anything other than ‘wow, that dress fits nicely’; it accentuates your curves perfectly and…he needed to breathe. He cleared his throat awkwardly, wondering when it had suddenly become so dry and ripped his eyes away to blink at Taylor.

He couldn’t read her face, but he didn’t like the look on it.

“Yeah?” He asked, unable to help glancing back at you. 

You looked…wow. 

“Does she look nice?” 

“Taylor–”

“You look really nice.” He blurted, his hands stuck in his pockets. When both of you turned to stare at him, apparently speechless, he felt his cheeks redden and his eyes drifted to the doorframe, a little mortified because you clearly hadn’t wanted him to say anything, but also because he’d said it embarrassingly fast and added a ‘really’ in there. And said it like he had a gun pointed to his head, which was one hell of a contradiction.

“Thanks.” You said, not having moved much. 

He just nodded, wanting nothing more than to melt into a puddle on the floor and soak through the floorboards and pretend this moment never occurred.

He wasn’t supposed to like you, he pretty much swore that from the start. But he had a niggling feeling you were wearing him down somehow. He didn’t know what it was, but lately he’d been finding himself sneaking a smile at some of the stuff you said and did. Like you were actually getting along.

And maybe it was because he wanted to test that unspoken theory out – to see if maybe you could be friends – but as he left he waited in the doorway for Taylor to finish talking. He had a sneaking suspicion, though, that Taylor was only talking for herself. The look on your face: he knew you were grateful for what she was saying, but there was something akin to impatience on your face if he looked hard enough.

And it was that, and the fact that the fake smile you’d plastered on your face was slowly slipping with every second that passed and every glance at the time on your phone, that he found himself stepping a little closer, whipping his keys around on his finger, “Hey, are you okay for a lift?”

Taylor shut up and looked to you for confirmation.

There was a pause and he almost regretted asking it–

“Are you offering?” Your voice was different to how it usually sounded when you were speaking to him; softer, perhaps a little more vulnerable.

And when he looked at you, he wasn’t quite sure what it was but it felt different. His stomach sort of dropped and he…lost his train of thought.

Still, he managed, “Yeah. I can drop y’off on my way home, it’s no problem.”

“You’re leaving already?” Taylor asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, I’m pretty tired.” He didn’t really want to say that he didn’t feel like he was welcome at this particular moment in time, not with Ellis clearly in a mood, but he did feel a stab of guilt when he thought about leaving Taylor to deal with it by herself, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” She brushed it off, taking a step back and glancing between you and him with an odd glint in her eye, “I’ll let you go. Have fun.”

There were a few hushed mutters as he stepped out of the apartment, waiting by the elevator for you to join him, and almost as soon as you shut the door behind you, you sighed.

He still didn’t say anything, and instead turned to watch the numbers tick up to the floor, before an audible ding sounded and the doors shuddered open. He let you go first. And if he thought the tension back with Ellis was bad, this was a whole other level, because he swore he could hear the cogs of your mind working on overdrive – about the date or about his uncharacteristic behaviour, he couldn’t possibly guess, but it was driving him crazy.

“You good?”

“Hmm?” You looked at him, shocked at his words, and he’d never seen you this frazzled before, “Oh, yeah. Just nervous, I guess.”

He swallowed, uncertain. He wanted to say something to make you feel better – heck, he had it lined up in his head to just blurt out, but the only thing stopping him was that it might make it weirder, and you’d already been bombarded by that kind of thing from Taylor. And then he thought of you on your date and–

“If you tell yourself that the nerves are actually just excitement, I find it usually eases some of the, y’know, nerves.” He stuttered, glad the doors opened once more.

“Thanks. Also, thanks for offering to drive me here, you really didn’t have to.” You murmured, and he found himself shaking his head.

“You don’t have to thank me, it really wasn’t any trouble.”

“Do you get nervous before your games?”

The question startled him to such an extent that he almost tripped over the rug in the entryway, but his sneakers squeaked against the floor and he felt his body jolt a little. 

Was he actually losing it or was this considered a civil conversation? You weren’t at his throat with some quick witted jab, and you weren’t looking at him like you wanted to wring his neck.

It was weirdly refreshing.

“Sometimes.” He admitted, holding the door open to the car park, “It’s usually hit and miss though, it depends on who we’re playing. The car’s this way.” He pointed to the other side of the garage at your hesitation.

And it wasn’t until you’d buckled yourself in and he’d turned the engine on that either of you spoke again.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

He breathed a bitter laugh, “I’m usually nice to people, y’know, I’m not a–”

“Dick?”

“Yeah.” He shot you a look, “You test my patience, though. You bring out the worst of me.”

You seemed to ease up a little at his confession, managing a small smile, “Likewise.”

“I just…” he trailed off, pulling a face before momentarily losing his train of thought as he pulled out into traffic, “There’s a time and a place for that kind of thing. And I could tell Taylor was starting to grind your gears, so…”

You hummed, “Yeah. She’s great but sometimes she, like, I don’t think she knows me as well as she thinks she does. Sometimes I just need quiet.”

So, he thought, that’s what he’ll give you.

***

Unknown Number: SOS

Unknown Number: HELP

Unknown Number: PLEASE HURRY

You: Who is this?

Unknown Number: Michael Bunting

You could hear the yelling and the dumping of objects into a hollow box even through the door, and it was both the noise and the frantic messages that were still pinging through your phone that had you instantly pushing it open. If you hadn’t had some semblance of a warning from the messages, you’d have probably assumed the entire place had been ransacked by burglars: drawers had been turned upside down with the contents littered across floors in an attempt to find their individual belongings; there were cardboard boxes piled and stacked, stuff sticking up – and, more importantly you guessed, both co-habitants standing in the middle of the living room, yelling about something or other with a stricken Michael Bunting awkwardly holding a TV remote and waiting by the door like a kid.

It was clear from his face that he had no idea what to do. And despite the situation, you were able to find some amusement in that.

Although…

“What’s Taylor doing here?” You asked, the both of you still loitering in the doorway, watching your friends rip each other up like it was usual Saturday soap.

He shrugged, and you felt the heat of his stare burn the side of your cheek until you couldn’t take the silence. His cheeks were pink and he looked to be stuttering.

“What?” 

He winced, “I kind of walked in this morning and she was in the kitchen.” 

You blinked, your attention switching back to the arguing couple. Ellis had a cushion in his hand and they were both insisting it was theirs, only when you looked closer, you noticed Taylor’s bare feet and the Blue Jays t-shirt she was wearing, and you turned, shocked and disturbed, to Michael.

“When you said this morning…”

“Yeah?” He was refusing to look at you properly now, and that little seed of disbelief that had planted itself in your brain seemed to bloom, and a pebble of stress dropped in your stomach. His cheeks were still a bit pink, but it was hidden by a thicker wad of stubble than when you’d last seen each other.

“What time was that?” You continued, watching the delicate lines near his eyes appear when he pulled another face, almost confirming your thoughts with just a look.

“Nine.”

You nodded, “Right. And was she, y’know, dressed?”

His eyes closed briefly, a whisper of mortification barely heard over the yelling – but with the two of you standing shoulder to shoulder sharing a doorway it wasn’t missed, “Barely.”

You huffed a small laugh at his expense because he clearly hadn’t been prepared for his best friend’s now ex-girlfriend to be in the kitchen wearing next to nothing that early in the morning, and at the sound he sent you an offended glance.

“Sorry.” You apologised, turning to watch the spectacle with a barely-there smile that became increasingly difficult to hide the longer you felt him stare accusingly in your direction – if anything his undying attention only amplified the hilarity of his earlier memory and you had to lean your forehead against the wood of the doorframe and turn your back to him to block the image from your mind entirely.

“Listen, she’s pretty and everything, but…it’s weird for me.” He mumbled, folding his arms.

“Was it your first time seeing a half-naked woman?” 

He rolled his eyes, “You’re hilarious – shut up, don’t even say it. You know why it’s weird. It’d be weird if you walked in and it was Ellis with, like, a bowl of cereal covering his crotch.”

You wrinkled your nose, frowning, “I didn’t need that image, but point taken.”

You turned your attention to the bickering couple in front of you, now waving a fly swatter. In truth, you weren’t really sure why you were here or why Michael was here. Taylor had asked you to come with her when she’d made her so-called ‘appointment’ to pick up her stuff from Ellis’s place, but looking at them now she didn’t really need the help, or moral support. And neither did Ellis.

In fact, they were standing in front of each other arguing, and it was probably the least stressed you’d seen Taylor in weeks. Sure, their voices were raised, but there wasn’t anything malicious being said or anything physical going on. They were simply picking up objects and having a loud debate over whose it was, and it was that arguing combined with the obvious ‘last time together’ thing that made you think maybe this was more for closure for each other than anything else.

Even from Taylor’s point of view, she wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but she’d said it felt like everything between them had just gradually fizzled out for no apparent reason. It was odd, really: they’d seemed like such a good fit at the start and now, even like last week, they’d be in the same room and have more interest in talking to either you or Michael than showing interest in each other.

And it was that that had you turning to the man next to you, something plucking at your heart strings. It felt an awful lot like the dread you’d felt earlier, except it was laced with something heavier. Like knowing you’d never see your childhood pet again.

“Are they still broken up?” You found yourself asking, wanting him to turn his attention away from the scenes in front of you both.

He blinked once more before turning his head to look at you, about to say something on the tip of his tongue but clearly changing his mind at what he saw on your face. He tilted his head, eyes zipping from each of yours – back and forth – before his mouth curved up slightly at the edges, his expression taking an odd turn.

“What?” You asked, paranoid at the way he was looking at you.

His grin broadened, and he tilted his head adorably, “Nothing. But, yeah, they’re still broken up.”

You nodded, shifting uncomfortably on your feet. There was something rising in your chest, a tightness edged with panic, like you were aware time was clearly running out for something but your head wasn’t quite sure what.

“We’re still gonna be friends, right?” 

For a brief moment, you didn’t know what to do. Your pulse seemed to kick against your sternum and that tightness in your chest eased, an inexplicable reaction that you couldn’t quite get ahold of its meaning.

“Us?” You looked at him, and where he previously had a smile on his face, it was now replaced with a kind of cautious curiosity: his mouth was pulled tightly and there was a slight, very slight crease between his brows that deepened when you spoke again.

His eyes briefly skitted to your right before returning to meet yours, “Yeah?” He said, but with the way his voice ticked up at the end it almost sounded like he wasn’t too sure himself.

And you were so shocked at the words falling out of his mouth that you could only blink and stare, “I’m your friend?”

You supposed it wasn’t too shocking: after the initial agreement it had taken a while to warm up to each other, but you’d eventually gotten to the point where you’d managed to unintentionally create some inside jokes, and, sure, you’d still bicker like children from time to time, but the teasing was less malicious and more fond, like you’d known each other for a while.

And it was in that moment that you realised that tightness in your chest was because you just assumed that, like Taylor would lose Ellis, you would lose Michael. 

His eyes narrowed uncomfortably, and you could tell he'd gone a little defensive at your questions, probably assuming his own assumptions weren’t exactly reciprocated, “Yes.” He said, a little forcefully, “Aren’t I your friend?”

You nodded, awkwardly scratching your cheek, “I just assumed you only spent time with me because of Ellis and Taylor–”

“Nah.”

You nodded slowly, a small smile creeping onto your face, “Oh.”

He paused for a beat, watching you carefully, “Is that a no, then?”

“No, it’s a yes.”

“Good.” He grinned.

***

He was next to you one second and the next he’d just disappeared completely. It was the strangest thing. 

It wasn’t like he was particularly easy to lose in a  crowd, either, not with those shoulders and – well, actually, he was quite small so in hindsight, it was pretty easy to lose him in a crowd, especially when he was just another suit-clad man with a fairly recent haircut and shave.

You sighed in defeat, sitting back in your chair at the table surrounded by strangers that weren’t all that interested in your presence. You’d checked your phone at least five times within the past three minutes, expecting a quick text for an explanation and you hadn’t really been able to stop looking at the bar, helplessly expecting his face to materialise in thin air.

It was pretty shitty what he’d done: he’d all but begged you to come with him to one of his friend’s weddings and after you’d had to rearrange plans just so you could agree (he’d been so desperate he’d actually offered you a thousand dollars to go with him), yet the second you both enter the reception location, he dips? 

“Excuse me, hi–”

You snapped your neck towards the unfamiliar voice, heart pounding like a jackhammer in your chest at the unexpected intrusion, and managed a polite, albeit confused, smile as you found yourself faced with a pretty raven-haired woman. You’d never seen her before, but with the way she was looking at you, you were almost forced to second guess yourself.

“Oh, hi.” You replied, brain spinning and throwing out names, but your face clearly contorting into one of utter bewilderment, much to her amusement.

She chuckled, “Sorry, you don’t know me.” She said, slightly oddly, and you tilted your head, connecting the dots from what she hadn’t said.

“But you know me?” You asked, and she shrugged, her cheeks colouring slightly.

“Not exactly, but I saw you come in with Michael–”

“Oh.”

She cringed, “Yeah. I am really sorry for approaching you like this, but I was just wondering if he was okay?”

You just blinked.

“You know,” she continued, clearly sensing your confusion, “because of our breakup?”

Oh fuck.

You tried to hide the shock from your face – as though this wasn’t new news to you – but try as you might, you felt your brows rise a little and your heart rate quicken. He’d never mentioned anything like that to you. In fact, you guys rarely ever talked about relationships, even despite you currently being in one (though it probably wasn’t going to last with the way it had been going recently), so you just assumed he hadn’t been in one.

Nevertheless, you nodded, “He’s fine.”

She eased after that, smiling in relief, but still hung around as though you were supposed to say something else, but in all honesty you weren’t sure what to say. You didn’t know if he was okay, not if he’d seen her and bolted; you didn’t know when it was that they’d broken up, and you didn’t know how much he’d want you to say.

So you sat in the chair, smiling awkwardly – probably appearing pretty rude – and just sighed.

“I’m sorry, I can’t say–”

“It’s fine, I understand.” She replied, smiling tightly, “Enjoy the night.” 

You watched her walk away, and as soon as she disappeared through another set of doors, you picked up your phone and started to wind your way through the crowds to at least guess where he could have gone. There were little booths and food carts off around the edge of the room, along with some photo booths and drinks stands – it wasn’t until you reached the photo booth right near the entrance that you stopped for the first time.

There wasn’t a queue to this one, but there was a strip of photos in the hatch and a pair of freshly shined shoes under the curtain. You paused, taking a peak at the photos.

It was him, alright. Four photos: one of him in a ginger wig, one with a pair of huge glasses on, one with a moustache on a stick and the final one with all of them combined. If it had been any other time you supposed you’d have laughed, but all the photos did was fuel your desire to get the curtain open.

All he did was raise his brows at your appearance and shuffle over on the bench, tucking himself in against the wall with a defeated, unsurprised smile. You passed him the photo strip and he breathed a short, mirthless laugh before tucking it in his pocket and turning to you, an almost embarrassed look on his face.

“Sorry for ditching you.” He mumbled, looking genuinely guilty.

You shook your head, a pang of adoration shooting through your system for the man in front of you. You didn’t quite know where it suddenly came from or why it occurred, but you did know that it meant he was precious to you in a way you hadn’t even realised. You guys weren’t exactly close – there were obviously things you didn’t talk about (as evidenced), but you cared about him. Wanted him to be happy. 

Wanted to wipe that forlorn expression off his face because he was clearly beating himself up about leaving you but still a little caught off guard by…

“You don’t have to apologise.” You smiled reassuringly, before asking, “What’s her name?”

His brows raised, and he tutted as he pulled an uncomfortable face. Whether it was because he hadn’t expected the question or because he was stealing himself, you weren’t at liberty to say, “Jess.” He managed, eyes zeroing in on some lint on the floor by his feet.

You just nodded. If he wanted to talk about it, you knew he would – he wasn’t exactly an open book when you prodded him, but you were all ears regardless. 

“We were in a serious relationship for three and a half years before we broke up. That was a week before I met you. I wasn’t really coping well so Ellis dragged me out to that bar. I’m okay now, though. I still get a bit sad about it but I think I’m more sad for the me I was when we were dating than the me now, if that makes sense.” He spoke to his shoes, his arms crossed against his chest, as though to spit the words out and force himself to talk about it, that also meant he couldn’t face you, “I had a feeling she was gonna be here tonight, it was actually why I invited you, but the second I saw her, I don’t know, I just walked away. And the weird thing is that I don’t know why I walked away, because when I saw her I felt nothing. Maybe I walked away because I feel like I should have felt something, like walking away from her was something that was expected of me.” He sighed, swinging his head towards you, his eyes momentarily dropping to the necklace that sat comfortably against your sternum before darting back up to your face, “I’m just a bit confused.” He admitted.

You reciprocated his wry, self-deprecating smile, patting him on the arm fondly, “Me too; I actually thought you wanted to spend time with me–”

“Shut the fuck up.” He breathed a laugh, shaking his head. 

That despondent expression had gone, the tension practically drained from the lines of his face, and you rejoiced at the smile now there – a real one, not one put on for the sake of it.

You took a breath, and whether he could sense that you were about to say something potentially cheesy, or something that neither of you would really say or do, his smile dropped, but only slightly. His eyes were focused on you, and you almost wanted to shrink back under his gaze – you two were sitting pretty tightly together: this photo booth bench was only made for one person, so there was little to no room to even look at each other properly. You’d both had to lean backwards against the walls to not end up touching noses, and for some reason, that hadn’t even occurred to you until that very second.

The breath in your chest shook a little, “I know…Um…” You laughed uneasily, “I know you said you were okay, and I know we don’t usually do this kind of thing, but if you ever feel like it…just for the support – that my hand is here for you to hold if ever you want to.” You inhaled, and this time it was you who was unable to look at him, “And that it’s okay to feel confused about it all. You don’t have to have an explanation for everything, but there’s nothing you can feel that’s wrong in any way. And if you ever want to talk about it…I’m always gonna be here for you.”

When you finally found the courage to turn to him again, he was looking at you in a way that was almost equivalent to the secret adoration you harboured for him, and you fought to keep your cheeks from flushing and your face from smiling like a damn fool. With the way the LED overhead lights were shining on you both – the heat of them warming the box pretty quickly, made worse by the two bodies also in there – your eyes drifted to his nose. You’d never really noticed it before, but the light seemed to hit it just right to enunciate the straight bridge of it. There was a scar just above his lip, darker and also more pronounced from the fresh shave (he’d not got rid of it all, there was still a light bit of scruff left), and although he wasn’t smiling properly, the creases by his eyes seemed to suggest otherwise.

He swallowed once he noticed you’d turned your attention back to him, and he nodded, lips twitching, “That really means a lot, hearing you say that.” He said, rather hoarsely, “It also goes both ways, too.” 

You tilted your head in question.

“The hand thing – you can hold mine…for support.” 

“Ah.”

“I actually do have something to say, now that I’m thinking about it.” 

When did his eyes get so fucking bright? It almost angered you that you’d never noticed it before.

“What?” You asked, mildly curious as to his next words.

Though, nothing – absolutely nothing – could have prepared you for the bombshell of his next words.

“You look really beautiful tonight.”

***

“I know I said to avoid Tim Horton’s today, but I didn’t really mean to avoid–Oh, what the heck?”

His phone was immediately pocketed, and the smile on his face immediately dropped, and he stepped through the door without another word, leaving you both severely confused at his sudden actions and slightly light headed at the speed he’d managed to do all three things in. He simply stood in front of your now shut door, a mildly horrified look on his face and his hands tapping against his short-clad thigh.

“Why are you wearing shorts, it’s freezing outside?”

Your question of appal seemingly went unheard, because the crease between his brows only deepened and he pulled a funny face: his mouth turned down at the corners but he wasn’t angry or upset.

“Um…Okay, so you can tell me to shut the fuck up with what I’m about to ask you…” He trailed off, his eyes never leaving your face – all it did was elicit you to swipe against your cheek, expecting your hand to come away with pen or some dirt or something, because he was looking at you like you were an alien.

It was weird. And creepy.

“But have you been crying?”

You blinked, tilting your head with wide eyes.

He didn’t say anything but he copied your actions, before snapping into a more serious role, “No, but I’m being deadly serious.”

You hesitated, and he took that as your answer, his entire body deflating.

There was no point trying to hide it, clearly not if he’d just taken one solid look at you immediately after walking through the door and managed to figure it out. If anything you were a little impressed he’d recognised it because you’d never cried before or in front of seeing him ever – there hadn’t ever been a situation where he’d have seen your post-cry face to recognise it for what it was, and it wasn’t even as if you actually cried much. Maybe two minutes, tops.

“I broke up with Sam this morning.” You bit the bullet, willing your eyes to not tear up as you spoke the words into existence, but as you did so, the lump rose in your throat so impossibly quickly you physically couldn’t bring yourself to say anything else. Not if you didn’t want to actually start crying.

So you waited, and you watched and you looked as he stuttered, his eyes darting all over your face before going to your living room area. He circled his attention back to you after his forehead had creased and he’d seen what was on the TV, looking suddenly more comfortable than he had mere seconds ago.

“Are you okay?” Was the first thing out of his mouth, his backpack sliding off his shoulders easily to be deposited by the door, and all you could manage was a weak shrug, teeth scraping against your bottom lip to stop it from trembling.

You hated crying, and there was nothing worse than crying in front of someone else – you had no idea how he’d react if the dam did end up breaking, but if the soft, sympathetic gleam in his eye as he took an unsure step towards you was anything to go by, you had an inkling you were in safe hands.

He nodded at your uncertain gesture, “That’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

The crack in your chest seemed to split further, as though someone had thrown an axe straight through it, and all you could do was nod, your arms crossed tightly against your chest as though they’d somehow protect you from the inevitable hurt and grief of the next few minutes, hours, weeks and perhaps months.

But, despite all of that, the fact that he’d shown up out of nowhere sheerly because you hadn’t had the energy to pick up your phone, and because he clearly cared, you felt okay. Better than you had earlier when you hadn’t even spoken the truth to anyone.

He was right, you didn’t want to talk about it – but he was here. And he was pulling a Tim Horton’s box out of his backpack, giving you space and time and he was so heart-achingly patient that it almost sent you into another spiral of tears for a whole different reason. There was something about him that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. His friendship was different from yours with Taylor; you loved the girl to pieces but if you’d have told her like you’d just told him, she’d have corralled you into spilling your guts about everything, and you didn’t need that.

You needed peace and quiet and the familiar security and the unspoken knowledge that, yes, you were upset, but you were going to be okay.

“Thanks.” You mumbled, stomach growling when the smells emanated from the open paper bag.

He nodded wordlessly, but looked up with mild horror at the sounds your stomach made, “Hungry?” He joked lightly, already rooting through your cupboards to gather plates.

“Just a bit.” You replied hoarsely, helping him upturn the various boxes onto the plates, before, wordlessly, you both crashed on the couch, your eyes burning each and every single time you blinked. Your throat was aching with the effort to not succumb to the growing lump that had planted itself there, and you were so exhausted. So, so exhausted. 

“Thanks for the food.” You said, between mouthfuls, the hungry cramps of your stomach easing with each and every bite. You didn’t let him answer before you jumped into your next question: “How was work?”

You watched him out of the corner of his eye, swallow, also looking at you for a brief moment – as though to suss you out and to gather his thoughts – before he shrugged, a small smile on his face, “It was so bad.”

“Really?” You managed a laugh, the muscles in your face feeling tight at the sudden movements. His face was a picture: he was grinning brightly, the corners of his eyes crinkled and his brows had jumped up his forehead, mind clearly playing something on repeat.

“Really. Willy did the bare minimum and just giggled at me the entire time which made me worse at it, and I – fuck, I couldn’t concentrate on the people in front of me when there were people ordering down the line, and then Mo and Auston showed up too–”

“You’re kidding.”

He shook his head morbidly, “Dead serious. Wearing wigs and the most ridiculous clothes I’ve ever seen, and they ripped us apart, man. I can’t even do it justice, you’ll just have to watch it when it comes out, oh God…” He trailed off, breaking into a small fit of giggles that was so infectious you had to put your own food back down and concentrate on now choking on your drink.

“It was bad, but you had fun?” You summarised, grinning as he nodded, practically glowing at the memory of it.

“I think it’s one of the best days I’ve ever had.”

You just laughed, tucking into your food once more as it became clear he didn’t have anything else to say about it–

“Why’re you watching this?”

Your eyes jumped to him across the couch, briefly frowning in confusion before remembering exactly what you’d been watching before the knock on your door. The frame had been paused mid-first period of the game – there wasn’t anything particularly spectacular about it, and you wondered if he recognised it at all.

He tilted his head, a hint of confusion lacing his tone, and you swallowed, nerves picking up and your heart thrumming in your chest. You never really talked about hockey with him, at least not from your perspective. You guys talked about the Leafs and his games and his practices and his teammates, but you’d never really broached your affinity for the sport. And the longer you’d left it, the more awkward you’d felt it would be to just admit it outright.

“It’s my favourite game.” You admitted quietly, fighting the urge to smile fondly.

He hesitated, his head swinging from you to the screen and back again, and he asked, a little breathlessly – as though he was trying to wrap his head around everything bouncing around his mind – “You watch hockey enough to have a favourite game?”

You nodded, “I love hockey.”

“You do?” He asked, voice higher in pitch than it had been. The surprise was painfully evident, and with it, so was the guilt that seemed to make itself known.

“Yeah.”

He nodded slowly, “I thought you didn’t know who I was?” 

“I didn’t. I’d just moved to Toronto, like, a week before you started I think, and the Leafs aren’t exactly my team, y’know?” You explained, watching him carefully for any traces of possible betrayal he might feel, “It was a hectic time to be keeping up with any NHL news.”

He blinked, before shrugging, “Makes sense. Your team’s the Preds?” He raised an inquisitive brow, and for some reason you knew then that you’d both be locked in this amusing back and forth for a while. Of course you would: there’s no greater hockey fan than a hockey player, let alone a hockey player playing for their childhood team. 

You scoffed, barking a short, almost offended laugh, “No. I mean, I have nothing against the Preds, but it’s the Pens for me, all the way.” 

He arched a brow at your reaction, a smirk beginning to play at the corner of his mouth, “I mean you no offence when I say that.” Before, “I want you to win, though–”

“Just me?”

“Micheal Bunting against the NHL, yeah.” You rolled your eyes, “The Leafs are…I want you to win unless it’s against the Pens. It’s a conflict of interest.”

“What do you do when we play with each other?”

You widen your eyes comically, “Lock myself in a dark room and don’t come out until the game’s over.” You shrug, answering honestly, “It depends whose situation is the most dire, I guess. I always want the Pens to do well, but you’ve thrown a spanner in the works. You’ve made hockey complicated.”

“I’m honoured.” He laughed softly, “Why’s this one your favourite?”

“Sixth game of the Stanley Cup Final, 2017. I don’t know why that one specifically, it’s just the last one we won when I was back home, so it reminds me of…well, home, I guess.”

“You miss it?”

You nodded, almost wistfully, “Yeah. I sometimes think about moving back.”

“But?” He encouraged, almost afraid of what you were about to say.

“I don’t know. I have friends here, a job, somewhere to live; I guess I have that back home too, or I would given the time. I think I’m just waiting for the right moment to go back.” You trailed off, your voice becoming nothing more than a mere whisper, but he caught it – with a slow nod and the parting of his mouth.

You’d seen him speechless before, but he always managed to find something to say. The silence that ensued after spoke volumes, mostly just because you didn’t understand any of it. 

He reached over after that, taking the remote, before hesitating and turning to you, shocked when he found your eyes already on him, “What counts as the right moment?”

He pressed play when you shrugged.

***

Even after the conversation you’d both had last year about you leaving, you never would have imagined he’d be the one leaving first. It had always been a possibility, maybe even something you’d thought about since becoming friends, but there hadn’t really been anything to suggest he would leave. At least, not until the last season.

And it hadn’t ever felt realer than this moment: standing in the doorway to an empty house, your clothes sticking to you in the early Summer heat with your hands on your hips and feeling much more emotional about the prospect of a Bunting-less Toronto than you’d initially prepared yourself for.

He was wandering through the empty rooms, double and triple checking everything after you’d done the same, and for those lonely three minutes without him, you got a glimpse of what it’d be like not seeing each other every few days. You couldn’t exactly remember when Toronto had suddenly become him, but the idea of it felt strangely intimidating. It almost felt like you’d just moved in again, not knowing anyone or where anything was.

It was scary.

He came back into view, hand resting on a door frame as he stopped suddenly in the exact spot he’d looked up to you in. You offered a reassuring smile, standing up straight, but you could both tell it was strained.

“Checked everything?” You asked, voice tight, but you didn’t want to ruin this moment for him. He’d been looking forward to settling in Raleigh since he’d signed the contract – at least, once he’d gotten over the initial disappointment and sadness of leaving Ontario.

And you were excited for him, for this new opportunity and this new experience. 

You’d just never really anticipated how you’d feel.

“Yeah.” He nodded, swallowing, looking grave and strange.

“You good?” 

“Yeah.” He breathed a laugh, walking towards you and scratching his beard – he’d started leaving it longer between each shave now – “Just gonna miss this place, I guess.” He swung his hands in front of him, coming to a direct stop in front of you and swivelling on his heel, taking one last, long look at the place he’d called home for years.

You hummed in agreement, “Me too.”

You hadn’t even realised how true that admission was until you’d said it out loud. It sent an uncomfortable zing down your spine, like pulling down a zipper, and you shivered, rubbing your arms just to give yourself something to do. 

He turned to look at you, eyes assessing your every motion, and you froze. You didn’t really know where to go from here. The car was packed, the house was empty: you’d drop by the estate agent’s on the way to drop him at the airport, and from then on he’d be in Raleigh – at least, in every way that mattered to you. Sure, he had his training camps and he had his away games, but you’d very rarely get to see each other.

You swallowed the lump in your throat, unable to say anything.

But where did you go from here? You? 

Well…you’d been toying with the idea for a while, but–

“You ready?” He breathed out, lips pressed together with his hands on his hips.

You nodded, managing a smile, but the lack of effort into pretending like you weren’t in the least bit affected by it was noticeable. 

“Let’s go then.” You whispered, leading the way to the front door, slowing down each time he turned to get another look – never too far ahead, not wanting to let him out of your sight. These moments felt crucial, somehow. It was the last time you’d actually be able to look at him properly; his eyes, hair, smile, arms, legs, clothes. You felt silly soaking it all up.

He followed closely on your heels, taking the keys from you on the porch and turning round to lock the door behind him for the last time. He didn’t say anything, but his mouth twisted and he ran a brief hand across his brow bone, almost as though he was wiping away some sweat or satisfying an itch.

You tried not to make it obvious you were keeping an eye on him, ensuring to stand behind him, a few steps down to give him the space to collect himself if he needed to. And when he turned back around, he tried to keep his head down but you still caught his red-rimmed eyes and his sucked in cheek and his shaky smile as he caught up with you.

It was silent in the car, too, no music playing through the speakers. He was looking out of the window, eyes catching onto everything that swam passed, drinking it all in. 

Each time ‘for the last time’ flew through your mind, you’d have to catch yourself and reign in the prickly eyes and the tightness in your chest as best as you could without drawing too much attention to yourself. It felt pointless, though, because you knew it was inevitable that you’d both end up shedding a few tears at some point.

The only thing that seemed to do it was the knowledge that it wouldn’t even be the last time, because he grew up near here. He’d come back when he could; you’d see each other at the Marner wedding next month, too.

It wasn’t the end of the world, but it felt like a part of it was dying.

“Here.” You mumbled, voice hoarse and wiping at the underneath of your eyes (no tears had fallen, but you could feel them welling up).

He looked up and out of the window, eyes zeroing in on the window of the estate agents. His seatbelt came next, and before you could convince yourself otherwise, you followed him in, ignoring his curious eye but taking the hand he offered anyway. It was something you’d both taken to doing lately, even in mundane moments like this.

Whether it was the knowledge that time was running out or if it was just a comfort thing, you never spoke about it. It just happened. And it seemed today was one of those days you both needed it.

Only, as he made his way towards the desk, you branched away towards the other side of the shop, hands ripping apart. He only threw a confused look behind, but carried on when his own agent walked out from the back of the shop.

You, however, found yourself standing in front of the magazine rack, hands clenching and unclenching at your sides, eyes roving over the words on each, searching for the correct one. Nothing seemed to ease the hollowness under your sternum, though. 

There was some comfort when you found the right one, though, picking it up and feeling the comfortable weight in your hands. It felt like a breath of fresh air, and the twinges eased only slightly at the familiar cityscape on the front.

You swallowed, rolling it up in your fist and making your way back over to where he was chatting to his estate agent, a pen in his hand and some papers in front of him. The key had been stripped of its keychains, and for some reason that little difference brought everything back again.

You wanted to reach for his hand, but you held back for a moment. The estate agent caught your eye and you managed a polite smile, but it dropped the second they looked away.

And before you could blink, Michael was pushing himself off the counter, snatching his keychains and pushing everything else back towards the agent with a final thanks, and then he turned.

He blinked, eyes dropping to the programme in your hand, and you tried to hide it by moving it behind his leg, but he wasn’t having any of it. There was a crease between his brows, and he didn’t look to be on the verge of tears anymore, but there was a specific ticking to his jaw – his entire being was still tinged with a veil of melancholy, but he gently took it from your hand once you’d stepped outside. You let him, your fist unfurling.

Your face seemed to act of its own accord, an odd wince appearing as his lips parted.

“You’re really gonna do it?” He murmured gently, an odd glint in his eye.

“Think it’s time.” You breathed an uncomfortable laugh, somehow not able to look at him or anything else.

He was so magnetic it was honestly a chore trying not to give him all of your attention, least of all when he was looking at you differently. It wasn’t something he’d done a lot before, but you’d noticed it a lot more recently: his eyes would fix themselves on you with an unfamiliar intensity, and even when you’d catch him red handed, he wouldn’t ever let up. If anything, the attention from you seemed to make it worse (or better?) because he’d start to smile and he’d expel a stuttering breath, like he hadn’t previously been breathing.

Each time, though, you never failed to blush slightly. Your cheeks would feel warm and you’d only be able to stand his look for so long before ultimately looking away, trying not to appear too flustered by it.

“Yeah?” He asked, handing you the programme back, “You can’t stand to be in a different country than me, eh?” He joked, but you could sense the underlying seriousness to his question, as though he was fishing for a specific answer.

“You wish.” You managed, scoffing slightly but unable to hide a small smile at the familiar dynamic.

It vanished the second the first wave of homesickness took hold of you though, and he noticed. Just grabbed your hand again.

The drive from the estate agent’s to the airport was even worse. Every time the sign appeared on the side of the road, you’d have to inhale and remind yourself to keep breathing in order to stave off the oncoming bout of tears. The entire time you were fighting against the wetness gathering in your eyes, and your nose had started to run – each sniff meant he’d look at you out of the corner of his eye and if anything, that made it worse, because as time went on and as you pulled into the parking lot, you could hear his sniffles too.

You put off turning the engine off. The second you did, he’d climb out, and you weren’t sure if you were ready for that just yet. Judging from the utter stillness he was exhibiting in the passenger seat, he was the same.

Your hands were still clenched around the steering wheel, the rough plastic doing nothing to cure your cold hands, not even when the sun was shining through the windshield and warming the entire vehicle. Your body was on high alert, blood not really flowing to your extremities.

You’d never been so numb yet so aware of everything in your entire life: the way the hairs on your arms stood up when he turned in his seat to face you was almost drowned out by the pounding of your heart in the sheer effort it took to not show the tears wobbling on your waterline. 

It was a plane taking off and the sheer volume of the engine that snapped you out of the haze, your hands unclipping your seatbelt, but you couldn’t quite bring yourself to even touch the door, flinching when the belt smacked against the inside of the car.

“I feel weird.” He muttered, eyes staring straight through the windshield and into the car parked nose to nose. He sniffed once, before unclipping his own seatbelt, and you watched him in silence as his shaking hands hovered above his lap before eventually settling on top of his cap, a shuddering breath passing his lips.

The sight was such a contrast to how he’d been earlier that morning – he’d gone from bouncing on his toes with giddy excitement to suddenly folding in on himself and the entire world crumbling at its edges.

You pushed open your car door, fully intending to make your way around to his own door and start from there but the second your feet hit the tarmac, he’d also pushed himself out of the car, his door slamming behind him. He’d made it to the trunk before you could even shut yours behind you or ask if he was okay, but it looked as though he’d made the decision to pretend he hadn’t just admitted his inner turmoil.

You helped him lift his luggage out of the car (there wasn’t much: most of his actual things had been packed in a moving van the day before to meet him in Raleigh tomorrow) in silence. The trunk shut.

You swallowed nervously, eyes darting to the entrance of the airport before jumping back to him. He had one fist clenched on the top of a suitcase, his other dropped by his side, gaze focused and unwavering into the glass window of the trunk, blinking every so often.

You cleared your throat and the corners of his mouth twitched before he turned to look at you, feet shuffling against the gravel. 

And he looked so despondent and not really like him at all that you didn’t have any choice whatsoever but to grab his free hand, which, similar to yours, was cold to the touch. You were both watching your fingers intertwine slowly, sliding over each other before finding solace in their places between each other’s knuckles. Three squeezes on your behalf and a small step forward had him pulling his suitcase along, an apprehensive and equally unreadable expression on his face.

“I could have stayed here longer.” He said, the both of you crossing over, a distracted gleam in his eye as he looked up at the entrance, nose scrunching on one side.

“If you stayed longer you’d want to leave less when you have to.” You reasoned, “And it’s better to move into your new place and get everything unpacked and ready for the season before it starts, to really get used to Raleigh, yeah?”

He nodded, swallowing, “Yeah.”

“Still feel weird?” 

He nodded again, looking to the floor as you walked through the entrance.

You frowned, a stab of something really getting you right in the ribs as he only looked up when the airport atmosphere bled into his bubble. It was busy, but it wasn’t the busiest you’d ever seen it: people were milling about, double checking for passports and boarding passes, everything ready at hand, and at the strangers’ checks, Michael’s own hand pulled away from the suitcase, forcing you to stop walking towards the first checkpoint, and patted against the pocket on the outside of his backpack.

He pulled it all out without looking, peering into the plastic wallet you’d given him to keep everything important organised so he wouldn’t have to check it all at this moment, right in the doorway. You reached over, letting him fret, and wheeled his suitcase over by the inside window, dragging him with you.

“What are you doing?” He asked, brows knitted as he continued looking into the wallet, not sparing you much of a glance as you patted imploringly at the straps of his backpack.

“Take it off.” “Only if you ask me out first.”

“Sorry, I just want no strings attached.” 

His eyes slid over to yours, his cheek sucked into his mouth to stop himself from grinning, and he gave you his wallet, shrugging his backpack off easily and dropping it on the floor next to where you’d parked his suitcase.

“Now what?” He asked, eyes darting back to your hand like he wanted to grab it again, but decided against it.

“I don’t know.” You breathed, “How long do you have left?”

“Two hours-ish until boarding.”

��Oh.” He had to leave now, you supposed, eyeing his luggage like they were the ones taking him away, and that ache in your throat reappeared before you could even blink, and you were rendered speechless. 

You watched him nod, and reach for his bags, but he must have changed his mind because the next thing you knew, your back was pressed up against the window, his arms wrapped around your shoulders and your head resting against his collarbone. 

There was a moment when all you could focus on was the sudden envelope of warmth that circled you, the cacophony of smells: deodorant, fabric softener, a slight twinge of sweat and something else entirely – something very familiar – and before you could even sigh at the ache in your chest, you’d melted into him completely, your own arms hooking around the backs of his. You tucked your forehead down into his chest, pressing at the supple muscle, hands tightening in his shirt.

It wasn’t very comfortable: the ridges of metal edging the glass panes were digging into your back, and–oh.

There was a shuddering against your forehead, and you froze, before tilting your head up to see his eyes screwed shut in an effort to not let anything show. 

“We’ve still got the Marner wedding – it’s gonna be okay.” And despite yourself, despite the watery smile on your face, you laughed a little, “You’re gonna enjoy Raleigh–”

“It’s not that.” He shook his head, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes and blinking to get rid of the blurriness before dropping them to his sides again, the both of you still in entirely too-close-for-comfort-quarters. 

“The weird feeling?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, his chin wavering, and he inhaled sharply, “It’s just gonna be so weird not seeing you.”

“FaceTime exists, as do away games to Toronto.”

“I’m not even in that division anymore.”

You sighed, “Pittsburgh is, though.”

Silence.

He was doing it again: “Stop looking at me like that.”

He frowned, “Like what?”

“I don’t know, just–” You rolled your eyes, reaching to tug him back into you like before, only this time your hands slid up his back to rest across the tops of his shoulders, and he sighed into the touch, his own rough palms dragging up your neck to plant a soft kiss against your hairline. 

You stayed like that until he really had to go, but there weren’t any tears.

***

“Do you like him?”

The question hung in the air for a good few seconds, you pulling a face, heart pounding like a jackhammer against your sternum before you could even find the words and the ability to talk, “He’s infuriating.”

“Do you like him?” Taylor’s voice rang out through your phone speaker, her eyebrow raised very matter-of-fact, and you’d never wanted to scream at her before, but you were cutting it pretty close with the way she was looking at you and the tone she was using.

You hesitated, your face falling. The words were caught in your throat, the admission you’d practised like a teleplay in your head, but the only thing stopping you was the way things would change. Sure, it would only be little things to start with, like Taylor nagging you with it, or her insufferably smug ‘I told you so’s. But eventually that meant that you’d have to do something about it, because Taylor could never leave things like that alone, least of all with rock hard evidence.

But…maybe you needed that?

“I…” You looked away from your phone, body trembling with an invisible cold, “Did I tell you what happened at the wedding?”

She frowned, “The Marner one?”

“Yeah.”

“The one that happened, like, Summer last year? Fucking months ago?”

You cringed, “That one.”

THE MARNER WEDDING:

“My God, are you a sight for sore eyes.”

Michael Bunting was never one to care about his appearance, least of all after crawling off a plane, but somehow he’d found himself in the bathroom of the airport, fixing his hair and straightening his clothes. All for it to fly completely out of the window when he strolled towards the exit and the first thing you did was say that. He couldn’t tell if it was the grin on your face or the sheer excitement racking your entire being that caused it, but he’d never felt sillier for feeling nervous about this moment.

“Could say the same thing about you.” He retorted, feeling the tightness in his chest dissolve, “What’s that?” He reached a finger to tap the underside brim of your cap, the sudden intrusion making you blink and jump slightly.

You knew what he was talking about: the black cap on your head, the sticker placed over a hidden logo with your handwritten message scrawled on. He furrowed his brows, eyes tracking over the words, before tilting his head in confusion, reading it aloud, “‘This is indeed my first rodeo’.” He said it slowly, as though he was worried he’d read it wrong, and before he could even ask you what it meant, you felt his fingers pick at the corner, peeling the sticker back.

He smiled sarcastically, patting it back into place with more force than necessary, the pats like small smacks against your forehead, “Shoulda known. What’s with the rodeo thing?”

“Bridal party thing.” You shrugged, “I’m not sure really.” You reached out to take the small suitcase from him, your own hands trying to pry his fingers off the handle, but he only held on tighter, “Let go.”

“No.”

“Yes.” You sighed, looking him dead in the eye hoping he’d get the hint and succumb, but he shook his head, his other hand peeling your fingers off him one by one, more condescendingly than anything else, “Why not?”

“Because I don’t want the dead body to fall out.”

—

“Hey, I forgot to ask earlier,” he called from the bathroom, the door shut as you took turns: he was cleaning his teeth and trimming his beard etc, and you were getting changed – later, you’d swap, “but how’s the property hunt going in Pittsburgh?”

You grinned, slipping the straps of your dress over your shoulders. Even the mere mention of your future plans had you smiling like an absolute idiot; you couldn’t wait to get back there. If you told the you that had just moved to Toronto what you were about to do, you were sure she’d have had a stroke from the shock. For so long, you’d envisioned living your life in Toronto and staying there. Moving back home felt more like a fever dream or something you shouldn’t do, because surely moving back to your home city meant you’d failed at something? At least, that used to be your thought process.

In reality, you just missed your family too much – every time something happened, whether it be a proposal or an illness, something in you just ached to be back there. 

“It’s going okay. I’ve got a few places lined up that my parents have viewings booked for to check out, but there hasn’t been anything that’s stood out so far, but…” you paused, sitting on the edge of the bed to sort out your shoes, “I’ve got an online job interview with a company back there next week and the starting date, if I get it, is on par pretty much with moving in if there’s a place found within the next two weeks or so. But that’s only if everything goes well. Reality is I’ll probably end up moving back in with my parents for a few weeks until I find a place which isn’t exactly ideal.”

There were a few bangs, things getting placed on the counter, before his muffled, “Can I open the door?” Could be heard.

“Yeah, I’m decent.”

He creaked open the door, leaning on the handle as it swung open with a dopey grin, and it took everything in you not to stall at the sight: he was only wearing dress pants and a pair of socks, his hair tousled and damp from the shower. You’d seen photos of hockey players shirtless before, but there was something breathtakingly stunning about seeing Michael without one. He was your friend, and friends kept their shirts on – but…you swallowed, rather wishing you didn’t have to tear your eyes away from his toned figure and the smattering trail of hair, and turned your attention to his face.

The grin on his face had frozen, and despite not even looking further down than his neck you could see his chest rising and falling, eyes narrowed playfully as he stood up straighter, eyeing you with something that screamed trouble in all ways imaginable.

“Were you just checking me out?” He let go of the door handle, one hand pointing at you in an accusatory manner, and you just blinked, frowning.

“No.” You shook your head, pasting an incredulous ‘how could you’ look on your face to try and deny what had, in fact, been absolutely true.

He hesitated, his eyes roving your face for a single speck of a lie, “You were looking.”

You shrugged, “I’ve just never seen someone so…well-built before, that’s all.”

He nodded, pressing his lips together to stifle another grin, “So you were checking me out?”

“No, I was looking. There’s a difference.”

He lifted his hand, thumb and pointer finger closed together, a slither of a gap between them, “Tiny difference. So tiny there might not even be a difference.”

You sent him an unimpressed look, one that you hoped would mean he’d shut up about it because the second you even so much as hinted at him being right, it’d be over. He’d hold it above you for the rest of your lives, and you weren’t about to give him the satisfaction of that, not if you could help it, “You’d know if I checked you out.”

He fell for it, his smile dropping in curiosity, “How?”

You shrugged, “You’d just know.” You took a deep breath, “Why’d you open the door?”

“I was gonna ask you about this job interview next week – what’s it for?” He disappeared back into the bathroom, but the mirror in the room still provided you with the perfect angle to watch his focused motions as he ran a towel through his hair and picked up an electric shaver. Each time he moved, his body rippled, and you hated that you couldn’t stop looking.

“It’s a cheffing position at a hotel, but it’s almost like a club. There’s an entire golf course; the restaurant is gorgeous; it’s got a spa, and it’s just…it’s like an old estate house in a period film, it’s just beautiful.” You raved, fiddling with your makeup bag as you waited for him to finish.

“Sounds incredible.” He muttered, nodding at you to join him and shoving his things to one side, “What makes you think you won’t get it?”

You shrugged, placing your bag on the counter, missing the way his eyes dragged right across your figure in the mirror, his hand still shaving his cheek with close concentration. Perhaps if he’d wavered, you’d have caught the action, but you didn’t, carrying on, “They can’t really ‘interview’ me without trying my food. I had to ask if it was okay for an online thing and it was lucky they even agreed, so…I don’t know, it just feels too good to be true.”

“Why?”

You sighed, “It just does. Something has to go wrong somewhere.”

“Not necessarily.”

“I don’t want to get my hopes up, that’s all.” You said it forcefully, throwing something back into your makeup bag and not even looking in his direction. He slowly lowered his hand to the counter, eyes fixated on you for a whole different reason.

You’d gone from being so infectiously excited about the prospect to suddenly…not.

“Everything okay?” He asked softly.

It had been four weeks since you’d last seen each other, and although he’d felt your absence like he’d never expected, he’d never felt it more than he had now. Ironic, considering you were standing right next to him. To have gone from texting each other with updates every day in Toronto to that eventually dwindling, mostly because he didn’t want to bother you too much – he’d assumed the same on your end, too – it was a big adjustment. He’d caught himself reaching for his phone a few times or eyeing it as each notification came through, and the remembrance of ‘oh, shit, we’re in different countries’ or not seeing your name pop up sent a shot of disappointment so deep through his chest that sometimes he’d actually have to massage it away.

It kind of killed him, though, that he didn’t know what was wrong. If he’d have still been back here…

“Yeah,” you clenched and unclenched your jaw, “it’s just stressful. There’s so many decisions that need to be made, and I have a date to move out now but I just want to go back to a job lined up at least. It’d be worth it then.”

His mind whirled, ideas of what to say lining up like there was no tomorrow, but he wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to say. He swallowed, nudging your arm with his elbow to get you to turn your attention back to him, and smiled smally in the mirror when you met his eyes, “I think it’s worth it anyway if it’s something that makes you happy. And it won’t be the end of the world if you don’t have a place to live or a job immediately. It might be ideal, but if it doesn’t work out, you’ll figure things out. Everything will fall into place, it just might take some time, that’s all.”

It was almost magical how quickly the sudden tension dissipated. The dread in your stomach and your racing heart calmed almost instantly – the very second you allowed yourself to believe his words. You knew he wouldn’t say something like that and not mean it, and the fact that he believed in you to that extent – to hear him topple each and every single doubt in your mind to the ground – had you fighting to grab ahold of him. Whether it be his hand or to hug him or to just check to make sure he was really there. It didn’t matter that one half of his beard was neatly trimmed and the other wasn’t; it didn’t matter that his hair was wet or he didn’t have a shirt.

You wanted to tell him you missed him at that very moment. Especially when he looked at you like that again.

Michael blinked, eyeing you. He was aware the entire room had come to a standstill and that all you were doing was simply breathing and looking right at him, and it was the latter that was odd. There was something skewiff about the way you were looking at him, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Your mouth had parted, and there was a faint, dainty crease between your brows, like when you were thinking about something. If it weren’t for the fractional tilt of your head or the softness to your eyes – they kept bouncing across his face like it was the first time you’d actually looked at him – he would’ve thought that’s what you were doing: thinking.

But then you huffed a laugh, almost shocking yourself, and snapped back to reality, that look disappearing as quickly as he’d noticed it, “Yeah.” You placed a hand against your cheek, eyes darting away from him briefly, and when you pulled your palm away, he could see the growing darkness of your cheeks, “Thank you, I really needed to hear that.”

You looked towards the counter, hair falling in a curtain and hiding your face, and not for the first time since he’d come back, a homesick pang seemed to resonate to the tips of his fingers, as though his entire soul had been plucked like the string of a guitar.

—

He kept telling himself that his arm was around your shoulder, his fingers against your skin, because your strap kept falling down – and he could tell it was irritating you. (He’d also made the mistake of actually looking when it had fallen the first time, the sharp motion catching his eye, and he had no intention of replicating that awkward moment again.) It had absolutely nothing to do with the alcohol in his system, lowering his inhibitions, or the way you’d scooted closer to him because of the tight-packed bar, or the fact that he’d realised mid-way through the ceremony that what Mitch was saying about Steph was eerily similar to how he felt for you.

Mo kept shooting him a look over Tessa’s head when you weren’t looking, and Willy had hilariously looked shocked when he’d had to correct him that, no, you were just friends, even after knowing that exact same fact for over two years now.

But you? He didn’t think you were thinking too much about him at that moment. Your eyes were fixed on someone further down the bar – someone that he wasn’t particularly fond of during the season in the first place – and he was having a hard time trying not to let it get to him. 

Sidney Crosby. He wasn’t doing anything in particular, but you kept glancing back at him and he could practically sense you vibrating at the mere knowledge that he was metres away. He was half-expecting you to straight-up ditch him to go talk to the man himself, or he would have if you hadn’t shaken your head at Mitch with a hilariously terrified look on your face when he’d offered to introduce you. Michael had an inkling you did want to meet the guy, but just didn’t want to appear too eager.

And realistically, he knew he had absolutely no reason to even be the slightest bit jealous of the guy. He wasn’t even sure he was jealous, but the thought did make him uncomfortable; though he wasn’t entirely able to think about anything other than the vows from earlier.

“Want me to help you out?” It was Willy talking in his ear. He didn’t even need to look at the blonde to know it was him; the garish chain peeking out between a shirt that was unbuttoned dangerously low down, and the cologne emanating from him. Bunts figured he must douse himself in the stuff before he steps outside, but he’d seen Willy get ready and the only conclusion he’d reached was that guy must just smell that good naturally all the damn time.

He didn’t know why that was the first thing that popped into his mind at that moment. What he did know was that nothing good ever followed Willy when he uttered those words. 

“Absolutely not, no.” He was very aware of his fingers still hooked onto the strap of your dress, keeping it held tightly against your shoulder. And on the way your other shoulder was pressed right against his chest. And the fact that you were chatting to someone he wasn’t quite sure he recognised – but the point was that you weren’t listening.

“What, why?” Willy frowned, pouting and swigging a bottle of something. Michael didn’t like the look on his face.

“Because.”

“Because you’re scared?” 

His silence was enough to answer Willy’s question.

“You need help.” 

Michael frowned, “Like, mental help or–”

“Me help.”

“I just said no.”

“I heard you but I’m electing to ignore that and follow my own instincts.” Willy flashed him a grin and Michael felt his stomach drop, watching and unable to move as his ex-teammate walked to his other side, coming to stand next to you and whisper something in your ear that had you recoiling, your head gently bumping against Michael’s shoulder. He pretended not to notice, but he couldn’t help drinking in your reaction.

He had no clue what Willy had done or said, but he could feel his heart beating in his chest, and he was half-expecting you to turn around and ask if he was okay, but, much to his own intrigue, you shook your head, an awkward apologetic expression on your face.

Willy shrugged, but there was a crease between his brows. And because Michael knew him so well, he could tell something had been proven. 

Willy then reappeared at Michael’s other side, and you returned talking to who you’d been chatting to before, a triumphant smirk on his face.

“What?” 

Willy said nothing.

“Dude.” Michael could feel himself getting agitated, his hand was tapping anxiously against his thigh and because he was so fully intent on focusing on Willy, he was completely ignorant to the way you’d turned around at the sudden shaking, eyes zeroing in on his spare hand with confusion. Willy noticed it, though. He also noticed the way your hand twitched before clearly thinking the better of it and turning back around.

“I just told her one of my friends thinks she’s cute.”

Michael blinked, nervous.

“Point is,” Willy continued, “That that was obviously untrue. I mean, she’s cute, but she never even thought twice about it. Didn’t even turn around. Said she’d rather not and stayed standing with you.”

“That proves nothing.”

“It proves she’s not looking at other people.”

“Barely. You’re clutching at straws.”

Willy rolled his eyes, “Okay. But you better do something about it before someone else comes along and she chooses them, okay? Because it’ll happen.”

—

You were about ninety percent sure that you were one of the only people in the entire cafe who didn’t have a hangover right now. It might have something to do with the fact that you hadn’t had much to drink last night because you wanted to be as sober as possible just to soak in as much of Michael as you could and actually have a chance of remembering it.

You had no idea when you’d see him next. He was leaving for a training camp in a few days and you had a feeling the next time you’d see each other you’d be in Pittsburgh, all being well. You still had to sort out your paperwork and the whole visa situation still had to come through before anything could happen, but other than that, both of your timelines were one giant question mark.

That seemed to weigh on you heavily now you were sitting opposite each other. His hair was slightly scruffy, none of the gel in from earlier, and he had bags under his eyes – a telltale sign of his own hangover.

He’d acted weirdly last night. You couldn’t really put it into words, but since walking into that bar it was like he wasn’t entirely there all the time. Like he was distracted. He kept checking his phone, and before he’d met up with you for breakfast he’d appeared with a gift bag with a book in it and smiled each time he caught sight of it.

You had a horrible feeling that he was seeing someone. It’d make sense, even if it did come as a bit of a shock considering the four week mark, but who could blame him? He was a catch if you did say so yourself. 

You’d tried to put the bubbling anxiety at that idea to the back of your mind, but the more you looked at him, it only felt weirder. 

“How’s Carolina?” 

The touch of his fingers ghosted your shoulder, a blazing reminder from the night before.

You blinked, goosebumps rising on your skin at the mere memory. What the fuck?

He looked up, nodding with a grin, “I love it so far. I’ve met up with some of the guys that stayed in Raleigh and I’m getting along with everyone well so far. It’s really pretty there, too. How’s Toronto treating you without me?”

You flicked your food over on your plate, “As well as it usually does. It’s quieter, though.”

The conversation wasn’t anything you hadn’t already talked about over text or FaceTime; it was something you kept coming back to when you just wanted to hear him talk. You weren’t entirely sure when that had started. You paused. You’d done for months, even back when he was in Toronto.

This time, when he answered, he leaned closer over the table, and for a brief moment you thought he was going to admit a secret or pick something off your face, but when you looked up he was doing It again.

And this time you didn’t shy away from it. In fact, if the spike in heart rate was anything to go by, you revelled in the attention. And the revelation just took your breath away.

“I know this might sound weird…” He trailed off, eyes carefully gliding over features, and although you didn’t know it was possible, your heart rate skyrocketed, the pounding tingling the tips of your fingers and causing a raucous rushing in your ears. Without even realising it, you’d leant closer across the table, too, the only thing separating the two of you being the condiments rack.

He seemed taken aback at your proximity, eyes widening and his mouth stuttering, “I do miss you, y’know.” He whispered, cheeks reddening almost immediately.

You blinked, allowing your mind to digest the gravity of his admission. Something happened: it felt like something in your brain sighed or something in your chest loosened, something you weren’t even sure existed suddenly being clicked to life, and you smiled shyly. You were completely unfamiliar with what it was or what it meant, but you knew there was a point of no return: you’d be chasing whatever this was for the rest of your life, without a doubt.

Where you’d felt jilted moments earlier, something evened out – it felt smooth, there was no ache when you breathed, and your mind cleared, the only thing on repeat…him. 

Oh.

There was a zing straight down your spine, and you shivered at the feeling of it.

“I’m gonna say something even weirder…” Your voice came out shaky, shakier than you’d initially like it to be, and he automatically glanced at your mouth because of it, “I miss you too.”

He blinked, stifling a grin by placing his hand over his mouth, and you took the opportunity to change the subject, not wanting to dwell on anything too long for fear of what it could mean, what it could lead to, “Are you gonna let your hair grow out?”

He pulled a face, his hand moving to his hair self-consciously, “You don’t like it?”

“No, I like it.”

“What about the beard?”

You hesitated, “I…Do you want my opinion?”

He pulled a face, like you were crazy for even asking, “I literally asked to get your opinion.”

“Keep it like that, then.”

“What’s this about my hair, though?”

“Nothing.” You breathed a laugh, wondering how an innocent question led to this entire ordeal, “You look good.”

Silence.

His cutlery clinked against his plate as he looked up, your own hand frozen midair around your cup of coffee, him staring at you incredulously and you staring at a stain on the table, a little too afraid to look at him. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t acted like you’d told him a monumental piece of news that’s changed the entire trajectory of his life. It also shouldn’t be too much of a big deal because he’d told you you looked beautiful before, and that hadn’t been an issue.

You broke first, taking a sip and mustering the courage to look at him once more, raising your eyebrows at the utterly shocked look on his face.

“I look good?” He reiterated, speaking each syllable with his entire body. His breathing was shallow, and for a moment you worried if he was about to pass out.

“Yeah.” This time it was your turn to act like he was crazy for asking, “You always look good.”

He breathed a mirthless laugh that bled easily into one of amusement as he pointed a finger at you, “You were so checking me out last night.”

You blinked, replying blankly, “If you’d have left it five more seconds I’d have lost my mind.”

He grinned mischievously, risking a wink, “Duly noted.”

You rolled your eyes, scratching your eyebrow to try and hide your face with your hand as you stacked your plate on top of his, “You ready to go?”

“Yeah.” 

For some reason you hadn’t pushed yourself up and out of your chair very quickly. By the time Michael had tucked his chair under the table and was standing next to yours, his head turned to the side – distracted – you’d only just finished tidying up the table. And because his attention had been stolen, and because he was standing so close to your chair, when you finally did make a move to stand up…

His head snapped in your direction, the sudden motion making you flinch backwards, legs bumping awkwardly against the table, and his hand shot out, flattening against your back. If you were more honest you’d have said you didn’t need the stability: all you’d done was knock your calves against the wooden legs – but the sudden, unprompted touch on the small of your back had you freezing where you were, breath hitching in your chest against your will. 

You were watching his face before, trying to pick out exactly what had caught his eye, but this time you could see when the realisation of what had happened set in: his mouth parted like he was about to say something, and his eyes were wide – probably slightly alarmed at the almost-stumble he’d seen in his periphery – and was, for lack of better words, practically hugging you to him. You were forced (though there wasn’t a single cell in your body that felt reluctant) to catch yourself in his arms to prevent yourself from being catapulted straight into him. 

He wasn’t wearing a hat. Usually he did, but today he’d left the hotel room without one, and you’d never really thought twice about it or missed its presence more than you did at that moment. A hat would have given you space to think, time to not spend looking straight at him, time to not fantasise about what would happen if either of you happened to lean in at the same time, but–

He’d folded first, his gaze flicking down to your mouth for a brief moment before returning to your eyes, the palm on your back not wavering one bit. He didn’t even take a step back to let you stand up properly, but instead stood there, holding you, waiting. Waiting for some indication from you that, yes, it’s okay to close the gap.

Your heart was thundering in your chest, and you were sure he could feel it against your ribs if he concentrated hard enough, but you couldn't bring yourself to focus on that for too long. Not when the sight of him in front of you was so enticing.

You inhaled quickly, wanting to say something but not quite finding the words, and he waited once more. He only seemed to do something when you chanced a glance at his mouth, not even intending to, but also not doing anything to stop yourself from sneaking a look, and his head dipped–

“Oh, hey guys.”

It happened quickly and a lot less clumsily as to how it had started: Michael blinked at the sudden interruption, seamlessly stepping backwards and pulling you with him, his hand dropping from your back once you were safely on your feet. You were a little slower, only managing to keep your breaths even and to turn your attention away from him in time to see exactly who it was that had just shown up.

Only, your bewilderment and vertigo increased when you set your eyes on the familiar figure taking a seat on the table next to yours, completely and utterly oblivious to what almost transpired. 

Sidney Crosby was sitting grinning in your direction, and your mind went blank for a whole host of different reasons. The main one being Sidney Crosby was grinning at you. You were vaguely aware of Michael’s hurried motions, placing your hat on top of your head after a quick greeting. You heard your name, and you smiled politely. 

Your face didn’t feel like your own, you were aware of moving your cheek muscles, but everything felt strangely foreign.

And then Sid was looking at your cap, and suddenly you were back in your own body.

“Cool hat.” He pointed, leaning sideways on his chair, and your smile broadened.

“Yeah, Pittsburgh Penguins, maybe you’ve heard of them?”

He laughed, feet kicking slightly under the table, and you felt Michael stiffen next to you, “I don’t think I’m familiar, no. They any good?”

You shrugged, “Won a couple of cups, made us locals proud. There’s this guy, Sidney Crosby, he’s pretty cool.”

He pretended to pull a face, “Oh, I know that guy.” He sighed, shaking his head.

“You don’t like him?”

“Hate that guy.” 

***

“What the fuck.” Taylor all but yelped through the screen once you’d done a quick rehash of events, before falling completely silent, her head in her hands.

You nodded, “I know. I got Sidney Cros–”

“Fuck Sidney Crosby, babe. With all due respect, fuck that guy.”

You swallowed, “Yeah, okay.”

“What are you gonna do about Michael?”

“We haven’t really talked since the wedding.” You mumbled sadly.

***

A meal was all you had. In three months, all you managed to snag of his time was a home cooked meal in your new apartment, and even then he couldn’t stay for more than a few hours. You didn’t just have to worry over the fact that things had clearly changed since the wedding, but you had to worry about cooking him a meal that adhered to his plan of what he could and couldn’t eat, and it had to be edible.

So, it was safe to say you were feeling a lot of pressure. Cooking at work was completely different to cooking at home: not only were you usually too exhausted to even cook something that nice when you got in, but there was something personal about cooking for people you know. It always felt like they were judging what you’d made, trying to decide if you were good at your job or not. Sometimes it felt like a make or break deal. If they didn’t like your food, they wouldn’t like you.

And while that had never been the case for Michael, tonight felt different. For starters, it felt like you’d had to fight tooth and nail to even get him to come over for a few hours, which was new. 

In all honesty, you were even hesitant in the entire…ordeal. Because that’s what it was, really, it wasn’t a quick catch-up, it was an ordeal. The last time you’d felt this nervous was when you were back in school, and gosh you didn’t miss the feeling at all.

He knocked three times and you had to stop stirring the pasta (shocker!) sauce to answer the door.

“Hey.” He sighed, flashing a tired smile, and in that instant all your anxieties seemed to diminish. They hadn’t disappeared completely, but it was as though the volume had been turned down, and you could breathe easily.

“Hi.” You answered almost breathlessly, and his brows jumped up his forehead in amusement, the small crinkle of a smile making an appearance, “I feel bad for pestering you now. You look exhausted.”

He shook his head, “Don’t, I’m glad I came.”

And then he did something he’d never done to you before: he leaned in and he pressed a delicate kiss on your cheek. The exact place he’d touched with his lips seemed to flame before you even registered what he’d done, and in that same moment, you were catapulted back to Toronto. Tucked next to each other under a blanket, an episode of The Mentalist on, both of you utterly immersed in the plot. 

You blinked, not entirely sure where that had come from, and grinned, his scent filling your senses, soon to bleed into your apartment and your couch and your cushions. The one thing you loved about having him around was that you could tell he’d been here even days later: whether it be the faint smell of his cologne when you sat down or the plants that had been purposefully switched around on the windowsill – something you tended to notice when you finally crashed, and it never failed to put a smile on your face. 

“This place is adorable.” He commented, easing himself onto the couch, feet up and reorganising the cushions around him, and all you could do was stand off to the side, simply watching him get settled.

“Adorable wasn’t what I was going for.” 

“What were you going for?”

“Cosy.”

He hummed, tearing his eyes away from you to have another quick glance around, “It’s that too.” And then he rounded back to you, still hanging around in between the living room and the kitchen, not really wanting to leave him alone but much too devoted to the food to even think about asking him to follow you in there, “How are you doing?”

You shrugged, “I’m really happy here.”

He fell asleep straight after he finished eating.

***

His stuff was everywhere: boxes and bags stacked and piled and thrown in the right rooms; zips unzipped and lids open, objects and clothes and cutlery scattered across floors like he’d picked up a handful and left a trail of nuts for you to track his steps. 

It was a mess, but it was a reassuring mess. You hadn’t really believed him until he’d shown up at the airport, and even then it had taken three days for you to actually comprehend the luck of it all. It took you fourteen minutes to walk to his apartment, now. Not over an hour on the plane, not counting the taxis and waiting for your luggage.

Quite frankly, it blew your mind.

It had taken you so long to adjust to even being friends with him, to then adjusting to him moving to Raleigh when you were still in Toronto, to then adjusting to you in Pittsburgh and him still in Raleigh…and now you were both in Pittsburgh and it had taken you approximately three days to get used to it. Not weeks, not months where you’d keep forgetting you couldn’t just show up outside his apartment.

You’d caught yourself laughing at it on more than one occasion.

For now, though, despite the welcome mess (as proof of life), you were looking straight at him. You’d caught yourself doing that a lot lately, but there was a reason this time – not just a genuine wonder at his mere presence. 

He walked back into the room, arms stretched out in front of him, clearly assessing the new jersey, and you swore, right then and there, that you’d never loved him more. For all his shit-talking on the Pens over the years, he was now wearing their jersey, much to your appreciation.

“I like it.” You spoke first from your position on his couch, your arm in the box of merch and kit he’d been given (he’d allowed you to have free reign over some of the items, all you had to do was ask him first), your teeth briefly scraping over your bottom lip. It wasn’t the first time he’d worn a black jersey, but it was the first time he’d worn one with a Penguin on the front and yellow text that spelt his name on the back, “A lot.”

You were grinning, and when he looked up to see you shaking with glee, he shook his head, huffing an amused laugh, “Of course you do.”

“I still don’t think I’ve gotten used to you not wearing blue yet, though.” You muttered, and he nodded, mouth flattening but face somehow still smiling.

“I do miss it, but I think I’m getting used to it.” He shrugged, before grabbing the front of the jersey by the NHL logo and chucking it off his shoulders and throwing it straight at your face, “You can keep that one if you want, I’m not short of any.” You heard him say, his voice slightly muffled by the fabric, and you pulled it from over your eyes, hand wrapped in the material – to see his cheeks flush at your expression. It seemed to worsen when you dropped your eyes to his bare torso.

“Thanks.” You averted your eyes quickly, instead focusing on smoothing the jersey out in your lap, fingers tracing the penguin before flipping it over for his name. Out of the corner of your eye you saw him reach into the box next to you and pull out a few t-shirts before a cap was in his hands and he was brandishing the logo in your face.

“Have you seen one of these before?” He asked, pointing to the circular black and yellow logo: the Pens motif was in the top half of the circle with two crossed-over sticks in the bottom half, and you shook your head.

“I don’t think so.”

He spun it around in his fist, eyes flicking from the hat to your face, “You want it?”

You hesitated, “Are you sure you’re allowed to let me have some of this stuff? I feel like they’re giving you different kits because you’re actually part of the organisation and that normal people aren’t supposed to have them.”

He blinked, jaw clenching as he took in your words. And before you could even say anything else, he placed the hat rather lopsidedly on top of your head and rifled back through the pile of clothes for the sheet of paper before throwing himself down next to you, the piece of paper held out so you could read it too.

You felt a bit pathetic at how quickly you felt your pulse start to pick up at the contact: his entire torso was leant against your shoulder, and although it meant you got an unobstructed view of…everything, and although you appreciated it, at the same time it felt a bit cruel. Like dangling a bone in front of a dog.

“It doesn’t say I can’t give it away.” He mumbled, turning to face you, his forehead bumping the brim of the cap. You blinked in surprise, but didn’t miss the way his eyes just casually flickered down to your lips, or the way his hand dropped down, still clutching the sheet, once he realised you’d not actually been looking at the words.

He’d caught you looking at him.

You cleared your throat, cheeks flaring but not too ashamed considering  you’d just caught him looking at you, and his eyes zipped back to your face, an awkward silence ensuing. Neither of you moved. You didn’t know if you were too scared to ruin the moment or if you were physically frozen by what could have happened – could still happen. Stillness seemed to be key. His breath was fanning softly against your face, and you were sure the same went for you. 

It was eerily similar to the whole Sid-situation. Only this time you were in the privacy of his own home, he was notably shirtless and the risk of getting interrupted was low, but not entirely zero.

You felt your own lips part at the same time his head moved an inch closer as though he was testing the waters, but before you could even think about leaning in, his mouth was moving.

What?

His cheeks reddened, and the blush seemed to travel down his neck and bleed into his collarbones, his attention now flicking between you and something off to the side, clearly too nervous to even look at you and speak.

“I asked if you were free on Thursday?” He whispered, his gaze travelling back down to the piece of paper still in his hand.

He hadn’t moved away from you but the stab of disappointment at the lack of his attention and the realisation that he’d chosen not to kiss you was profoundly disturbing. You didn’t like it, the way you practically yearned for him. The idea that your enjoyment in life was tied to what a random man did or didn’t do was absurd, and if you were being honest with yourself, you did feel a bit pathetic that you’d let it get to that point.

He was your best friend, for fuck’s sake. You weren’t supposed to actually fall in love with him – that was something that only happened in the movies or in novels. 

But…he was kind, he was funny, he was charming, he clearly cared for you. 

Did he feel the same way? It was impossible to tell in your eyes. Sure, it had just looked like he wanted to eat you, and you’d caught him looking at you like you hung the entire galaxy before, but who’s to say he didn’t look at other people like that?

And in all honesty, you’d spent so much time trying to not look at him that you’d given him plenty of opportunities to (if he did) sneak glances at you when you weren’t looking.

You sighed, folding the jersey, acting like his skin on your forearm wasn’t burning. Like you were completely normal being in his presence, “I should be, yeah. How come?”

He raised a brow, shyly turning back to you, “I was wondering if you wanted to go out?”

Something fluttered in your chest – it felt an awful lot like hope, and when you answered, your voice sounded off. You weren’t breathless, so to say, but your voice cracked and sounded ropey to your own ears, “Go out where?”

The question almost felt futile, especially with the wry smile he just sent your way. You had a feeling, but even thinking the feeling out loud in your head felt like you were about to jinx it, so you fought to keep your mind quiet. Everything else though (heart rate, blood rushing, the feel of his fingers tapping rhythmically against the inside of your wrist), that was loud. 

His tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip, his eyelashes fluttering against his cheek when he looked down at where he was delicately touching your wrist. His motions stopped, but the warmth never left.

“With me, I was hoping.” He didn’t look at you as he spoke, and you held your breath the entire time, a part of you wanting to make sure you’d just heard him correctly and weren’t imagining it, “Like a date.”

“A date.” You echoed, flipping your wrist over completely so your palm was pointing to the ceiling. He didn’t tear his eyes away from your hand, but you could feel his heart thumping through his back from where he’d pressed himself against your shoulder and a smile fell naturally on your face. It wasn’t a big smile, but it was soft. The kind of smile that was only ever really reserved for him.

His hand didn’t falter in its motions as he dragged his fingers down the inside of your wrist to swirl a pattern on your palm, fingers tracing the lines and creases gently. 

It took everything in you not to scream.

He just hummed, and when you tore your gaze away from the side of his face – he wasn’t giving much away – his chest was thumping in time with his pulse. Was it possible for nerves to make him catatonic? You’d never seen him this nervous yet so calm and collected at the same time.

You inhaled, feeding your starved lungs, and tried not to shudder when his fingers slowed only to tangle and interlock with yours. It was like he was testing it out, seeing how you fit together, whether your personalities blended as well as your bodies did–

You felt yourself blush at that insinuation, and squeezed his hand, prompting him to look at you instead of away.

He did so slowly, first peeking at you out of the corner of his eye with a small breath of relief when he saw you weren’t annoyed. Then he turned his entire head towards you, leaning back so he wouldn’t knock into the hat again, and his mouth twisted, still awaiting your reply.

“Have you been wanting to ask that for a while, or…”

His stare went blank, and you could tell her was trying not to roll his eyes at your teasing questions, obviously stalling to get a rise out of him. It was working, “Put me out of my misery first.”

“Okay.”

He blinked, leaning forwards slightly, “Okay I’ll go on a date or okay I’ll put you out of your misery?”

“Both.”

He smiled, using his free hand to swipe at his nose and look away briefly, flustered. His chest was still pink and blotchy and you nudged him playfully with your elbow, “Your turn.”

“Uh…” He hesitated, “maybe, like, since you told me I don’t look like a Michael.”

You stared at him, jaw unhinged and dropped in shock, “But that was–”

“Two-ish years ago, yeah.” He nodded, pulling a face at himself, “What can I say? You charmed me.”

“But I was rude to you..” 

“I wouldn’t say rude–”

“I wanted you to not like me.”

He froze, “You did?”

“Yeah.”

“It had the opposite effect.”

And then you laughed. Right in his face, not very loudly, but you laughed at him altogether, “You liked me when I couldn’t stand you, I would’ve said no.”

He rolled his eyes, flicking the underside brim of the cap he’d given you, “Good job I held out then, isn’t it? At what point would you have said yes?”

“When you left for Raleigh.”

“Wow.”

“You gotta remember, I was in a relationship for a while–”

“Oh, that guy.” He muttered, bitterly, "I think I blocked that out-"

You interrupted him, leaning closer to briefly press your mouth against his, effectively shutting him up. Even at the brief contact, and even as you were pulling away you could feel the relief of it dissipate from your shoulders, like a worn out elastic band had finally snapped. You paused, a breath away from him, and his eyes slowly blinked open having tried to chase your mouth.

Even despite that, he still maintained his grin, "That's a good tactic." He muttered, hand sliding up the side of your neck as his thumb slid gently and delicately across your jawbone. His eyes zeroed in on the motion, clearly enjoying the way your skin reacted to his touch, goosebumps rising to the surface and eliciting a shiver of pleasure from you.

It was barely three second of contact, but it had changed your genetic makeup.

He was addictive, even the smug look on his face as he pressed his forehead against yours, chin bumping towards yours. You held you breath in anticipation, eyes instinctively fluttering shut - it was difficult to ignore the pounding of your heart or the tingling beneath his fingers.

"Noted." You breathed, unable to help smiling at his tone, "You gonna make me wait until Thursday now-"

"It's rude to keep a lady waiting." Was his answer.

[whore4hockeymen]

Jealousy

~Trevor Zegras~

y’all don’t understand what this man does to me

no hate the Willy in this, I’m absolutely in love with that man, I just needed a guy to use. he’s portrayed as an asshole but i don’t actually see him like this lol.

TW: Fighting, Cussing, Not full-blow smut but very suggestive at end

word count: 1433

Trevor’s POV

Trevor was thankful for having a drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend, but at times like these, he wished that he could put a plastic bag over your face. No, not just your face, your whole body. The two of you were at a media party with the Toronto Maple Leafs, just before the game that was tonight. And you had decided to wear the most mouth-watering, toe-curling, hottest dress ever, which he definitely made a note to thank you for later.

However, the dress drew the wandering eyes of too many people that Trevor was comfortable with. He gripped your waist, slightly embarrassed of the territorial feelings he had over you. But he worked goddamn hard to get you, he wasn’t letting you go. Unfortunately, Trevor was pulled away for an interview and you gave him a kiss before leaving to the bar.

“Are you confident in the game tonight?” The interviewer asked.

Trevor nodded, “Oh yeah for sure, I’m not saying the Leafs are bad, but I think we’ve honed our skills enough to beat them.”

The interviewer continued to talk, but Trevor’s eyes wandered away to you at the bar, talking to Troy Terry’s fiance and laughing. He went to look away, but saw William Nylander stride up to you and do a blatantly obvious sweep of your body. Trevor tightened his fist, but said nothing and kept watching the interaction between you and Nylander. He watched as Nylander stood a little too close to you for comfort and brushed his hand against your arm.

“Yeah that’s it,” Trevor said, ignoring the protests from the interviewer and walking over you. He draped a protective arm over your shoulder and plastered on a smile, “Hey baby,” he said to you and turned to William, “Hey Willy.”

William smiled, “Hey Trevor, I was just talking to your beautiful girlfriend here.”

Trevor’s teeth clenched, “Ah, well we best be going now, see you on the rink.”

He steered you away from Nylander and out of the room, you turned and draped your arms around his neck, his hands coming to rest on your hips, “I’m gonna go home and change and be right back for the game,” you said, smiling up at him.

All of Trevor’s annoyance sweeped away at the sight of your smile, “Aw, but I like this dress.” He laughed as you rolled your eyes and gave him a quick kiss, turning around to leave, “Wear my jersey, yeah?”

You grinned, “Always!”

A few hours later, the arena was filled with fans, chatting, and music. Trevor grinned as he did his warm-ups, he always loved the atmosphere of the games, and the fact that he saw you sitting up at the glass wearing his jersey made him happier.

The first period kicked off smoothly, with Troy scoring the first goal, but Matthews scored a goal at the last second. The second period was similar, Vatrano scored a goal and so did Marner. It was in the middle of the third period where things started to get rocky, Nylander had scored a goal and they kept pushing offense.

The puck flew to the boards and Trevor quickly skated over, but William was also there, the two of them struggling over control. That’s when everything went downhill.

“Your girlfriend is a looker eh? Mind if I have a hit?” Nylander said with a cocky smirk.

Trevor’s head snapped up, he barely even noticed Troy come in and take the puck, “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

William leaned in, “I said, I want to fuck your girlfriend,” he pronounced each word slowly. That’s when Trevor lost it, he shoved William back into the boards and pinned him there, ignoring the shouts from the players on the ice.

“Keep talking Nylander, I dare you,” Trevor said, his hands starting to visibly shake.

“Why are you being so defensive Zegras? Scared that you aren’t pleasing her enough? Hey, maybe I can make her scream my name and you can watch to take notes.”

Trevor shoved him again and threw his stick down, taking off his gloves and throwing the first punch. William responded by taking off his own gloves and fighting back, launching himself at Trevor. The referees tried to get in between them, but he shoved them away. William landed a good hit on Trevor, he could feel his lip split open and start to bleed. He smirked and wiped at the blood with his thumb, proceeding to hit William in the jaw. Their helmets had come off by now, laying discarded on the ice. After a few more hits, and a little bit more spilt blood, the refs were able to rangle them away from each other.

-

Reader’s POV

You’ve seen Trevor in plenty of fights, but you had never seen him that mad before. You couldn’t hear what Willy said, but it sent your boyfriend into an absolute frenzy. The rest of the third period went by in a blur, with the Ducks being able to score two more points and winning the game.

Soon enough, you were driving the car back home with Trevor in the passenger seat, completely silent. You could tell he needed to cool off, so you gave him space. Once the two of you got to your shared apartment, he went straight into the bedroom and you went into the kitchen. You decided to grab him an ice pack for his busted lip and went to the bedroom. He sat at the edge, hands holding his head.

“Trev,” you said softly, he looked up at you and you walked over to him. Sweeping his hair back with one hand and gently pressing the ice pack to his lip with the other, “Are you ok?” He didn’t answer, he just stared at you for a moment before removing your hand gently. He stood up and grabbed your waist, guiding you back until you hit a wall, “Trev?” you asked.

Suddenly, his lips were on yours, tasting slightly like copper. He deepened the kiss, softly biting your lower lip and slipping his tongue into your mouth. Your hands wander up to his hair, tugging on it slightly, to which he hummed in approval. A tap on your thighs signaled you to jump up and wrap your legs around him, you could feel him pressing against the area that was getting increasingly tense.

You tugged at his hair again as his lips wandered down your jaw line and to the soft spot between your shoulder and neck, definitely leaving a mark there, “Trevor, please,” you whined, hips pressing into his.

He smiled against your neck and went back up to attach to your lips. He turned the two of you around and placed you onto the bed, kneeling just above you. You watched in fascination as he took off his shirt, revealing his toned abs from his years of being an athlete. You immediately ran your heads down his chest and across his stomach, never tired of exploring every inch of it.

You went to take off your own jersey, but was stopped by his hands grabbing yours, “Keep it on, I like it on you.”

You smiled as he dipped for another kiss and slowly started to inch his way down your body. He went to slide down your leggings and panties, with your help kicking them off. Your legs trembled in anticipation as he stayed there at the base of your shins.

He picked your leg up slightly and pressed a soft kiss to it, “You’re all mine, you got that?”

You whined as his lips traveled up your leg to the inside of your thigh, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. Unfortunately, he stopped there, teasingly drawing circles with his fingers on your other thighs.

“I asked, you got that?” he said again. You nodded your head, just wanting him to move his mouth a few more inches. He hummed against your thigh, an agonizing feeling, “Use your words sweetheart.”

He looked up at you through his thick lashes, “I’m all yours,” you said.

He smirked and finally moved, you ended up saying that phrase a lot that night.

[fairyysoup]

you are in love

pairing(s): steve harrington x gn!reader

summary: The moment you realize that you're in love with Steve.

words: 1.2k

tags: fluff, literally probably the fluffiest thing i've ever written, little bits of angst here and there, slice of life, gently holding steve harrington, steve has insomnia, friends to lovers, love confessions, soft!steve

additional notes: i was gonna write a mega angsty steve fic but this happened instead (:

My blog and all of my works are 18+ MINORS DNI

It hits you on a completely normal night, for some reason.

Really, you always thought that the eureka moment would happen because of some pinnacle of romance, a gallant gesture like Steve appearing outside your window playing a love song from a boombox, or kissing you under a display of fireworks, or presenting you with his left ear in a box. You know, cinematic, romantic, passionate displays of devotion like that.

But no, it doesn’t happen like that. You and Steve’s relationship is nothing like a movie- at least, no movie that you’d enjoy watching, you suppose, with otherworldly, Lovecraftian eldritch beings and all that. Monsters and near-death experiences abound, so it makes things a little less than romantic.

It’s just that, sometimes you and Steve find a way to find peace at the end of it all. And you guess that’s what this is, now. 

Steve is laying in your lap, on his stomach, between your spread legs on the couch. His head rests sideways against the soft curve of your stomach, and he sort of has his arms wrapped around your middle- but they’re also crammed up against the pillow you rest your back against, and you can’t imagine that’s comfortable, but he insisted that it was all right. It must have been the truth, too, because he’s conked. Totally and completely, out like a light. It’s the deepest sleep you’ve seen him get in days.

You have a book in your hand- the one you’ve been trying to read for ages, but between work and all the crap with the upside-down, you barely have time. You really, honestly meant to knock out some of it tonight, but you’ve reread the same page over and over for the last fifteen minutes. Steve said, as he was crawling into your lap like this, “Just go ahead and keep reading. No, ignore me, seriously, I just want to be close to you. No, I don’t want to sit behind you- God, what do you take me for? No, this is cozy, you’re cozy.” And there he lay, quietly listening to the slow in-and-out of your breath. 

At some point, your free hand found his hair, your fingers playing through it and stroking idly, subconsciously petting him like a cat. You’ve always loved his hair, but you know that he hears about it constantly, like Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington is only of any value when it looks nice. So, you’ve taken to complimenting him on things he doesn’t hear often enough. How smart and observant he is. How strong his hands are. How pretty his eyes are and how much you like the way his voice sounds in the morning, all raspy and thick with sleep. And you really like the way that he blushes when you say those things, too- but you’d be lying if you ever said that his hair didn’t do it for you. 

Of course, it helps that there’s a soft, drizzling rain hitting the pane of the window beside your head, a light staccato that creates an even cozier ambience. It also helps that Steve decided to leaf through your records and put on- of all things- your compilation of vintage french love songs, including Edith Piaf and Charles Trenet, among others. It was an odd choice for him, you thought; but to see him sleeping so soundly now, you think he orchestrated that just right.

Steve would never willingly volunteer the fact that he’s been suffering insomnia like crazy- you can observe it and ask him about it all you like, but he’s always going to be the suffer-in-silence type. You ask him if he needs any help, he says, “I’m good, I’m good.” You find him up at odd hours and offer to give him a melatonin and a mug of warm milk, and he just shakes his head. “I’m okay, honey. Go back to bed. I’ll race you.”

So, of course he wouldn’t let out the fact that he crawled into your lap planning to fall asleep, that he put on the soothing music for background noise, that between the lull of your slow breathing and the rain, he’d have the perfect soundtrack to fall asleep to. That he’s using you as a pillow because he knows that with you, he’s safe. 

Reading your book, you don’t know when exactly he fell asleep. But you do know that at some point, your fingers stroking through his hair made his breathing slow down and his shoulders finally relax. And at some point, his soft breaths turned into light snores. 

It shocks you, when you hear it. Your fingers pause, and you look down from your book at his head, his pretty face squished against your shirt and his eyes fluttering, watching a dream behind closed eyelids. His lips are parted and he may start drooling on you in a bit, but you don’t really care (it wouldn’t be the worst thing he ever got on one of your shirts, and you’ve never been squeamish). Tiny little snores fall from his lips, mingling in the air with the rain and the record on the turntable across the room. And your heart soars. 

You want to kiss him. Hook your hands under his armpits, pick him up like a teddy bear and cover him with so many kisses that he won’t know what to do with them all. If kisses were currency, Steve would be the richest man in the world by the time you’re done with him. The urge is so strong that it makes your hands twitch and your chest ache, but you hesitate. 

He looks so sweet, so peaceful. He snores again, and you don’t want to disturb him (even if it is to give him an ambush of kisses). He needs the sleep more right now, and you… you think you need him to keep using you as a vessel for his comfort. You need him to find his peace with you like this. 

And that’s when you realize you’re in love with him. 

With your fingers in his soft hair and his weight heavy on the bottom half of your body, and his body warmer than any blanket you own, you stare down at him and accept the fact that you, of course, have fallen in love with Steve Harrington. And it makes so much sense, too- that’s why it’s happening now, and not because of some climactic show of passion and devotion. 

You were friends first, and then slowly became lovers. And you’ve only been ‘together’ for a few months, only really had sex a couple times, but it feels like you’ve been his forever. You realize that it wouldn’t be so bad if you were his forever.

You want to tell him, almost as much as you wanted to kiss him a few seconds ago. You still hesitate to wake him up, and you still don’t know if he really feels the same. Can he? King Steve, every girl’s dream, the envy of nearly every guy in Hawkins. Can he be in love with you? Little ol’ you? 

You try to get rid of that thought before it even comes up. Of course he could be; anything’s possible. If you happen to be the first one to say it, that doesn’t mean that he won’t. 

He doesn’t have to, though. Not right now. Right now, you just want him to sleep. So, you stroke a lock of hair away from his sleeping face, and you say, “I’m in love with you, Steve,” because it’s the truth. 

Steve shuffles around the tiniest bit, nuzzling further against your middle, and then snores.

[leportraitducadavre]

I have 3 long questions that have been bothering me for a while.

1)What actual evidence Konoha had to suspect the Uchiha Clan after the Kyuubi's attack?

I've reread some of my issues and noticed that Minato never actually passed on his info about his confrontation with the masked man (Obito) to the Leaf. He suspected he was an Uchiha, Madara, but he went from his fight straight to the Kyuubi and then straight to the shinigami's belly. he really chose to die instead of raising his son, I can't believe there's a dad worse than Boruto!Sasuke

So what evidence they had to point the finger at the Uchiha Clan? There were bodies left behind and the Kyuubi was summoned through a jutsu to Konoha, instead of breaking out by itself and rushing over from the hideout, so everyone can see that it wasn't just the complications from childbirth breaking the seal but an actual attack by someone. The only one who managed a contract with the tailed beast was Madara, but he only managed that after he left the clan didn't he?

Did Konoha really just go full racism (because they were halfway there) against the Uchiha without any proof? they were right in the end, but honestly i think it's their fault for not attempting to retrieve Obito's body so screw them

2) Was Obito's attack on Kushina a genuine attempt on extracting the Kyuubi?

The order of events are a bit weird but I don't think Nagato summoned the Gedo Mazo at the time of Naruto's birth, so was Obito just gonna sit on the Kyuubi until then? It was the best time to attack and he dealt a big blow against Konoha, but what was the plan after that?

3)Was the Uchiha Massacre part of the plan by Madara and/or Obito, or was it just a side venture?

In one hand, the order came from Konoha. In the other, Obito definitely knew what was going to happen after doing something only an Uchiha has done before.

Could Obito have consciously implicated the Uchiha with the Kyuubi attack?

They had not a single shred of evidence that someone within the clan controlled the Kyuubi, they based their theory of an Uchiha monitoring its actions upon their prior knowledge of Madara’s capacity to control it; they decided that the possibility of one of them incurring in such behavior was enough to move the entirety of the clan to the outskirts of the village, reinforcing their surveillance via Anbu. They weren’t “right in the end” because their suspicions implied that an individual/group within the clan orchestrated the attack, and Obito operated from outside it and Konoha. It was the government's actions against the Uchiha, supported by these unfounded suspicions, that gave Madara (and not even to the man himself but to his mistrust, passed on by word of mouth after his desertion) enough supporters inside the family, who started to voice complains about their mistreatment and sought change –diplomatically at first. Itachi learned prior to their massacre that there was, in fact, someone who presented himself as Madara lurking in the village’s borders, a founder that the clan itself turned against when he wanted to leave the village, Itachi either conveniently kept such information until after the UCM or the Elders willingly ignored such data, choosing to solve their diplomatic struggles with one of the founder’s clan by massacring them entirely. Itachi even sought Obito’s help to kill his family, further proving that he knew “Madara” operated outside the clan and Konoha, as he was willing to kill those who “turned his back to him.”

Yes, Obito planned to extract the Kyubi and break havoc in the village (he summoned the Kyuubi upon Rin’s grave, that should tell you a lot of his reasoning), I’m not sure if he planned to seal the Kyuubi inside someone specifically for harvesting it after more easily, or if he wanted it to roam free until he could use Nagato’s eyes to summon the Gedo Mazo (using it in the meantime). Likely his plan was hardly thought through, as he gained information about Kushina giving birth by spying on Kakashi, so he knew the seal that kept Kurama inside her was to weaken due to her condition. He even became far more patient after Kyuubi’s attack, so perhaps he was mostly impulsive and was able to tame his emotions far better after such an experience.

I believe that the massacre, while not part of the original plan, became an important aspect of their ultimate goal, as by killing the Uchiha, Obito guaranteed that there would be few Sharingan-wielders that could compromise their plan. Obito’s logic was that no matter what he did in the real world, nothing of it would have any say in the IT universe, as everything can be undone or modified at his will.

Could Obito have consciously implicated the Uchiha with the Kyuubi attack?

No, I don't think he did it consciously, after all, he didn't make sure someone outside Minato knew of his implication in the matter, that was something that happened outside his control.

[cherryria]

Of fears and friendships (Ominis Gaunt x Original Female Character)

The much needed conversation after the “Crucio Accident”. English is not my first language therefore I apologise in advance for any mistakes. Marion sat on a cold floor of the Undercroft, leaning against the wall and trying in vain to stop her tired body from shaking like a falling leaf. It was an awfully long day and surely a strange adventure she would not desire to relive again, as the severe pain from the Cruciatus Curse still lingered in her bruised limbs.

The Hufflepuff could not quite comprehend why she was not spending this much needed alone-time in a safety that the Room of Requirement eagerly provided, yet she once again found herself in a familiarity of the Undercroft. Which, to be honest, did not seem that welcoming now. As if it was forever intertwined in her soul with the image of Sebastian that right now could bring only worries and fear to her mind.

Marion attempted to clear her head of all thoughts, rather concentrating on the warm and tingling sensation of ancient magic flowing through her veins. It seemed to numb the physical pain a little bit but unfortunately could not calm the aching of her heart. It simply could not push away the image of hurt on Sebastian’s face when she declined his help, leaning on a rather worried Ominis instead. It was all too much for her little Hufflepuff heart, too suffocating and incomprehensible, and frightening.

As the tears started to cloud her gaze, Marion suddenly heard the footsteps coming down the stairs and reluctantly turned her head to the old staircase. To her utter surprise the girl witnessed Ominis carefully making his way in her direction.

“I can tell that you are here”, he delicately stated, stopping not far from her tired figure, “Your breathing is way too loud”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Ominis”, the Hufflepuff tried to make her voice sound as cheerful as possible, “I did not expect you to visit the Undercroft tonight”, she paused, unsure what to say next, “If you want to be alone, I can go…”

“Actually, I was hoping to find you, that is why I came here after convincing Sebastian to finally have some sleep”, the softness in Gaunt’s voice made Marion smile a bit, “I wanted to make sure that you were in an acceptable condition”.

“I am fine, thank you, Ominis”, she could not tell a greater lie, moreover, the Hufflepuff perfectly understood that the boy would not believe her, but she simply could not find the words to explain every thought and emotion that was running through her mind.

“I may be blind, Marion, but I am not in any way, as you may suspect, stupid”, he chuckled.

The girl took a moment to examine her friend’s tired features, his melancholic gaze, and then she remembered…

“I am truly sorry about your aunt”, she whispered softly, fighting the urge to either hold out her hand to a grief-stricken Ominis or start sobbing from the realization of how awful and lost he might have felt right now.

“I simply cannot believe my ears”, Gaunt sounded almost indifferent, although his voice could not fool her, “You have been struck with a Crucio and somehow still possess the ability to trouble yourself with my feelings”, he smiled sorrowfully, “Oh, what a true Hufflepuff you are!”

“Do not worry about me, Ominis, I can handle my pain”, Marion made a weak attempt to stand, but her body immediately betrayed her, forcing to once more press her back against the wall and painfully exhale.

Her friend stayed silent for a moment, contemplating something, then still without a word sat down beside her, leaving the Undercroft silent for a few moments.

“In fact, I wanted to thank you for protecting me”, the Slytherin boy said, making Marion glance at him with utter confusion, “I understand that it was you who convinced Sebastian not to pressure me any further about casting the Cruciatus Curse”

Marion’s lips formed a shy smile.

“He was just acting irrational and, I dare to say, quite ignorant about the situation. I am sure in his heart he understands how unpleasant that topic must have been for you”

“I am afraid Sebastian thinks that casting Crucio is of the same moral difficulty as opening the locked doors with Alohomora”, pensively admitted Ominis, “His mind is now clouded with finding the way to Anne’s cure, even if it means leaving everything else in ruins”.

“I have heard the rumors of you Slytherins being very determined in achieving your goals”, Marion looked at her friend with a sorrowful expression she was glad he could not see. She knew how deeply the boy despised anyone’s attempts to pity him.

“As you could have witnessed today, my aunt was not an exception to this rule…”

“Ominis…”, she whispered in horror, but he brushed her off.

“I realized a long time ago that something had happened to her”, the boy admitted with a slight tremble in his voice, “Aunt Noctua would not have left me otherwise, as she indeed understood how painful and lonely it was to be different in our family”, it seemed that he was trying to collect his emotions, “To be honest, I have always wondered how her son can be so contrasting to her, so cruelly and maniacally endorsing the family traditions…”

“She has a son?”, Marion repeated weakly, “He might miss her a lot”

“Oh, Marvolo is more than happy with spending time with his father and the pure-blood maniacs I am proud to call my parents”, the venom in Ominis’s voice startled the girl, bringing the desire to soothe her friend’s pain, to make him see he was not alone…

“Ominis, I…”

“Do you think we are going to lose him?”, suddenly asked the Slytherin boy, turning his head to the direction of her quiet voice. He did not have the need to continue his explanation, as Marion immediately understood the root of his worries,  “To be honest, I can barely recognize him lately”

“Sebastian is one of the brightest wizards I have ever met, and I want to believe his mind will not betray him”, it was truly her heart’s desire – to continue believing in Sebastian’s sanity.

“He needs to understand, Marion, that it is Anne’s life, and only she has the right to decide what to do with it”, Ominis sighed and tiredly closed his eyes, “She is my dear friend, I care about her deeply, as she is to me the sister I have never had. Yes, I must admit, Marion, I am very afraid of losing Anne but I realize that we must listen to her desires and not to our troubled minds…”

The Undercroft went silent, the air thickened with sorrow and grief. Marion knew how little Ominis tolerated the unwelcomed touching, and still the Hufflepuff could not stop herself from gently covering his hand with hers.

“You will not lose Sebastian, I promise”, she said, her voice barely a whisper, “We will accompany him on his journey, and we will not let him slip into madness”.

The boy froze, feeling the sudden warmth of Marion’s hand, but did not move away from it. Ominis seemed to have realized the uneasy tone of their conversation, since he awkwardly cleared his throat and turned his silver gaze to her.

“I am so dreadfully sorry you had to listen to my whinings”, he noted, “It looks like this late hour went to my head”

“Well, I must say it is better with you here”, Marion confessed, “I do not feel so strikingly lonely”

“Don’t be a stranger, Hufflepuff”, Ominis chuckled softly and squeezed her hand a little, “I am afraid you will never feel lonely due to the astonishing company of ours”.

[malestransforming]

Becoming Papi

An unnamed narrator wins a competition to get "up close and personal" with his favourite hockey player, Auston Matthews. Turns out he may be getting closer and more personal than he anticipated!

This is a story I've posted elsewhere. It is my story, copyright me.

"Get Up-close and Personal with Auston Matthews!” The competition had said. I had entered on a whim, never expecting to win. I was very surprised to receive the winning notice in my inbox a few days later. For a week, I had been buzzing. I was going to meet my favourite hockey player! Number 34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews. 

And now I was here! Sitting in a random training room at the Ford Performance Centre in Etobicoke, Ontario, just outside of Toronto. The room was cool and full of exercise equipment. Massive banners hung from the ceiling and the walls were covered in different murals of player faces and motivational phrases. I fiddled with my shirt as I waited, thinking about how Auston was likely in the next room also waiting for me. I wondered if he was as nervous as I was or if he was calm and cool, but before I could put much into the thought, the door opened. A woman dressed in black poked her head through the gap.

“You can come in now,” she said.

I smiled and and followed her through the door. The room on the other side was a long room, with wooden dressing stalls and benches against the walls. Hockey equipment hung at each stall; pants, shoulder pads, blue and white practise jerseys and the room had a gentle odour of sweat. A massive Maple Leaf logo covered much of the floor, and sitting on one of the wooden benches was Auston Matthews. He was wearing a cream coloured hoodie, shorts and a baseball cap. The way he sat on the bench pushed his thighs, making them seem thicker and bigger. His hair was slicked back behind his ears while his dark moustache was sitting darkly on his upper lip.

“Auston,” I murmured, reaching towards him with my hand. “It’s so, so incredible to meet you!”

“Hey,” he said in a relaxed drawl and standing up to meet me. He was taller than me. His smile instantly relaxed me. “Nice to meet you.”

“I’m such a big fan. You’re, like, my favourite player.” I was gushing, but I didn’t care.

He was killing me with that smile. I realized I was still gripping his hand. 

“Oh sorry!” I said, but his hand tightened and firmed around mine. I felt a warm tingling around my palm for a moment before he let go and grinned at me.

“You’re going to be perfect,” he said. “What happens next is going to be weird… Just relax and let it happen.”

He let go of my hand and I felt my face contort into a puzzled expression. But before I was able to voice a question, I was met with an extreme pricking sensation travelling up my arm. It started in the hand Auston had just shook and gradually travelled and radiated across my body. It felt like a warm, relaxing wave that cascaded through my blood and over my skin.

“You should probably take off your clothes for this,” Auston said. 

I nodded and did what I was told, tossing everything in a corner. The waves were coursing faster through my body now, making my heart thump in my chest. I spied a mirror on the wall and walked over to it, ignoring the fact that I was naked. The tingling sensation was across my entire body now, causing me to become excited and aroused. My penis began to lift and grow harder, and so it only felt right to touch it. I stood naked in the Maple Leafs’ dressing at their practice facility, feeling dazed and tingly, stroking my cock for extra sensation.

The tingling stopped, but the warmth remained and a sudden jolt of energy attacked my shoulders. My shoulders clicked and popped and widened out, with new muscle mass stretching overtop. At the same time, my deltoids and pectoral muscles ballooned, becoming thicker and much more pronounced with thick layers of muscle. I felt strength and power push down into my core. Where once there had been a ring of fat, there were now strong abdominal muscles. My stomach tightened and fortified, needing more room to house the brawn I was gaining, and I became stocky and heavy-set in muscle. Dark lines sketched their way across my right side and arm: new tattoos inked their way onto my bulked mass. An intricate sleeve tattoo wove across my right arm, painting dark lines across my lightly browning skin. I stroked my hand across my chest, feeling the raw strength and newly sprouted chest hair underneath my fingertips. My back cracked and stretched as I jumped up several inches in height.

The skin on my penis darkened and the shaft grew in girth and length into a monster cock. Pre-cum began to drip out of the tip. I was enjoying the changes.

In the mirror I saw a wide-chested, bulked out body attached to two stick-like legs. To say it looked like I skipped leg day would be an understatement. Almost automatically, the changes continued in my lower half. My butt ballooned and padded out, looking like two globes attached to my waist, the product of millions of squats. My thighs thickened and increased significantly, looking more like massive trunks than legs now. Below that, my calves became cut and toned, shedding any excess fat and leaving behind only raw muscle. I stood on two strong centres of explosive power. The skin browned slightly, matched the hue of the my torso.

I looked in the mirror at my new body. Instinctively, I knew it was Auston Matthews’ body. Everything from the neck down was unfamiliar, different and new, but deep down I knew it was right. In fact, it looked odd seeing my thin head attached to such a muscular body. The changes were not finished yet. I turned and saw the other Auston (the real Auston) with his shorts around his ankles, stroking his penis vigorously; it appeared he was enjoying my changes as much as I was.

Turning back to the mirror, I saw my skull and expanding, creaking and cracking as it went. My chin pushed forward, squaring off the back of my jaw as well. My eyes became more inset, slightly narrower and darker and my nose more pointed and wide at the nostrils. My hair lengthened down towards my neck, and my forehead broadened as my hairline migrated to the very top of my head. My ears flattened a little against my head and became longer. The wild and bushy eyebrows I sported before thinned, becoming tapered lines above my dark eyes. My teeth whitened and straightened. And above my thickening lips, a dark wisp of hair poked out through my skin and thickened into a Latino-style moustache. It swept across my entire upper lip into a neat half triangle that stretched under my nose. More patches of scruff and facial hair dotted across my cheeks and neck. Auston Matthews was staring at me from the mirror.

“That was sick, bro!” The other Auston Matthews was behind me, retying the drawstring on his shorts. He was wearing a face mask now, and a dark blue coloured hoodie and cap. His eyes looked lighter than before, almost like he had changed his own appearance as well. He stepped over, offering me his hand to high-five. 

I felt my face smile that trademark Auston Matthews smile. “Thanks,” I replied, my voice now lower and echoing the same laid-back drawl, and returned his high-five. 

“You probably have a million questions. Like ‘what happened’, ‘what did you do?’, right?”

“Something like that!” I laughed.

“So, yeah, basically… I want some time off. I’m going to disappear for a while… Get off the grid and relax. So while I’m gone, I want you to cover for me. This is your prize for winning that competition!”

“So I’m you?” I said, not fully understanding. 

“Not yet. You will be, just as soon as I’ve said the code word. After that, you will be Auston Matthews and I’ll just be some guy.”

“Oh,” I said. “I- I’m pretty shit at hockey. Like, I can skate but I can’t shoot for shit. I can’t even lift the puck. I don’t know how this is gonna work.” 

“Don’t worry about that. As soon as I say the code word, the transformation will finish and you’ll have all of my skills and memories, my winning personality… everything! You’ll be a complete copy of me.”

“Really? That’s fucking awesome! But what about the me from before? People are going to wonder where I am.”

“I’ll take care of that. Don’t worry. Let’s just say, that guy from before? He’s living on the other side of the planet. I’ll be back in a year, maybe more if you want, and I’ll change you back. All right?”

A life of possibilities flashed through my mind. I had never thought of playing in the NHL, even as a fantasy, and now it was about to become my reality.

“Oh! I forgot one thing,” Auston said as he lifted his arms behind his neck to two silver chains that were hooked there. “You’ll need these,” he said, and he carefully slipped them around my neck.” 

I looked into the mirror, staring back at my naked body, taking in my massive hockey butt and sleeve tattoo. The silver chains caught the light, and a silver cross stuck against my massive pectorals. It felt complete now. I ran my hands over my shoulders, chest, stomach and butt, grinning at myself. I’m going to be Auston Matthews! I thought. No, I am Auston Matthews! 

“All right bud, this is it. Remember, from this moment, you are going to be Auston Matthews. It’s going to feel awesome and amazing. Enjoy it.” The other Auston wrapped his arm around my beefy neck. “Don’t forget, you’ve got practice after this, ay Papi?”

Papi? A calm fog entered my brain. The world melted away from me and I felt the final changes take hold.

My name is Auston Matthews. I was born in California and grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona. I am part Mexican. I am a professional hockey player. I play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

My name is Auston Matthews. I was born in California and grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona. I am part Mexican. I am a professional hockey player. I play for the Toronto Maple Leafs…

My name is Auston Matthews.

My brain filled with years of hockey practice, workouts, flashes of Mexican heritage, memories of playing for USA National Team, playing with the ZSC Lions in Zürich and of playing with the Toronto Maple Leafs. I remembered the awards I had won, the All Star games I had played in, the teammates I had played with. My brain relaxed and mellowed, as new personality traits took over. The foreign-feeling muscles I had just grown became familiar and normal; I immediately knew how to use the power in my legs and arms. Some Spanish words entered my brain and I felt my identity switch to part Mexican. The fog lifted from my brain, and the room re-materialised around me. 

What am I doing here, staring at myself in the mirror! I need to get dressed for practice! 

I immediately strode over to my dressing stall — the one marked MATTHEWS 34 — and slipped on my compression gear and skate socks. I grabbed my jock and pulled it up to my waist, adjusting my crotch and penis to sit within the cup. Sitting, I reached for my shin pads, fixed him to my legs, and strapped the Velcro around my calves. I pulled a pair of blue and white striped hockey socks overtop of my shin pads, and hooked them securely at my waist. 

I was on autopilot at this point; everything felt natural and normal. 

I slid into a pair of blue hockey pants and tightened them around my waist. I saw that my skates were a custom pair of CCMs, with a blue and white pattern around the ankle with my nickname Papi and number 34 next to it. I stomped my foot inside the boot and tied my skates on tight. Quickly, I took a roll of hockey tape and wrapped one, two, three strips tightly around my shins. Next I grabbed my shoulder pads and elbow pads and strapped them around my massive arms and chest. I pulled a blue practise jersey over my pads, the number 34 emblemed on the back. Instinctively, I ran my hand through my hair and slicked it back, making it easier for me to don my helmet. I clipped the straps and checked it was on tightly. 

I reached for my gloves, putting them on felt familiar and welcoming. I nimbly ambled over, walking in skates, towards the rink exit, grabbing two of my PAPI labelled sticks from the rack. They were already taped and waxed and ready for some quick wristers on the ice. With my equipment on and my sticks in hand, I walked towards the ice.

Before stepping on the rink, I noticed a figure in the stands; an anonymous figure in a cream-coloured hoodie. I offered a loose salute from my temple and took my first stride. I let my powerful leg muscles work the way they had been conditioned to as I made confident movements across the pad. Spying a puck, I pivoted and strode towards it, catching it with my stick and pulling it towards me. I skated towards the empty net and in an instant, snapped it into the back of the goal. The whole movement had taken less than a second. I grinned and looked back to the now empty spot where the figure had stood. 

“My name is Auston Matthews, and I play for the Toronto Maple Leafs,” I thought to myself and ripped off another shot on goal.

[mochiwrites]

Itsa me brontosaurus anon! I know I said no happy endings, but rules were made to be broken i guess.

Also an exercise in me finding something mentioned one time and just running with it. You said his blood smells super sweet so I think it gives mumbo some kind of vampire sugar high.

Mumbo left the door open as he ran, flinging himself onto the porch. He took a deep breath, two, three, but the cold night air mingled with the blood stuck to his tongue, flavoring each inhale with the too-sweet smell. That was Grian’s blood, blood he had promised himself he would never know the taste of. He could feel it beneath his skin, surging through his organs, apple-red and caramel-sweet, like magnesium thrown into a fire that had smoldered to ashes hours ago. Grian— why did he do that? Did Mumbo not make it clear that he didn’t want his blood? Why did he do that?! He sunk to the floor, back against the wall, trying to make sense of it all, but his brain was buzzing. Not with exhaustion like it had been, it was less like radio static, more of a busy intersection, thoughts crossing over each other faster than he could really interpret them. It was like he could hear each individual leaf on the forest floor as it shifted in the wind, the crack of a branch above the canopy, curious footsteps approaching his porch. Mumbo gasped as something shifted closer to the light seeping from his open door, quickly summoning shadows to cover any signs of life from the manor—

Darkness. Complete darkness. The moon still shone above, but it fell on deaf ground. No light from the porch, no light from the stars reflected off the still, ink-dark trees; in fact, the only thing still visible was one very disconcerted deer, glowing in the moonlight, alone in a world of darkness. It let out a frightened hiss before stumbling across the shadowed forest.

Mumbo forcibly withdrew the illusion, breathing heavily, heart racing. That was… unexpected. He could imagine overshooting his spell in panic, but that was far, far more than he could dismiss as panic. What happened? Blood gave him a magic boost, but it wasn’t usually so volatile. Already, he could feel the power waning, feeling his thoughts slow to a reasonable pace. Magnesium in a fire, then, burning bright enough to blind for just a moment. Odd.

He swallowed a mouthful of blood-laced spit, watching intently as his shadow vibrated at the edges. A small test, he raised a hand, pulling threads of moonlight together, this time fully conscious of the way his magic tugged at the light, like a bear trying to tie a squirrel’s shoelaces. He forced himself to focus on the light, weaving the illusion, but with a feeling like a pipe bursting under too much pressure, the poor thing exploded, dousing the forest in a second of blinding light. Interesting. He’d have to try this some other time, he’d— no, no he wouldn’t try it again, that was Grian’s blood, he was never supposed to have tried it in the first place, and oh no no no he was still inside, Mumbo just left him there—

One deep breath. Two. Three. Ignore the caramel-apple taste still lingering in the back of his throat. He pushed himself off the wall, making sure to close the door behind him as he went inside.

“Grian? Are you okay?” He deliberately slowed his pace, trying to keep any anger out of his voice. He stopped by the bathroom to grab an antibacterial wipe (oh, that was going to sting, wasn’t it) and cautiously nosed his way into the library.

Grian was still where Mumbo left him, sitting oddly still next to the overturned chair. He didn’t react as Mumbo sat down next to him, staring past the fireplace at nothing.

“Grian?”

No answer.

“Grian, I’m going to touch your hand, ok?”

Mumbo waited a second for any objection before gently taking Grian’s hand from the floor. It twitched a little, curling around his. Grian opened his mouth, a strangled little noise escaping before he gave up, collapsing onto Mumbo’s shoulder. Mumbo dropped Grian’s hand, instead wrapping the man in a hug.

“I’m sorry,” Grian whispered.

Mumbo rubbed a circle into Grian’s shoulder with his thumb. “It’s okay. It’s okay, you’re okay…”

Grian hiccuped loudly into his neck. “I just, I wanted— I didn’t want to be so…” another sob wracked him, another croaking inhale. “I don’t want to be useless anymore.”

Mumbo’s grip turned vice-like fore a moment, before moving his hold to see Grian’s face. “What?”

Grian’s gaze drifted to the floor, something angry in them. “I’m still useless, aren’t I? I can hardly think straight right now. My brain’s full of cotton balls and my eyes can’t focus on a page, I don’t think I could hold a pen to write, but my blood—you can use my blood, I can help like that—“

“Grian, you are not useless. You are worth so much more than just eyes and hands and blood. you’re my best friend, and I can’t let you talk about my best friend that way.”

Grian stared at him a moment. Then, he burst into laughter. A small chuckle at first then a real, unstoppable laugh that managed to get Mumbo laughing too. “What? What’s funny?”

Grian’s laugh quieted, but his voice was still tinged with some kind of inexplicable mirth. “I don’t— I don’t know. I think we both need to get some sleep. Can we maybe talk about this in the morning?”

Mumbo smiled. Honestly, with the effect of Grian’s blood wearing off already, that didn’t sound half bad. “You promise?”

Grian stuck out his pinky finger, his face now serious, at odds with the childish gesture. “Promise.”

They shook. “Oh, I almost forgot,” Mumbo reached into his pocket for the antibacterial wipe. “Let me see your lip.”

Grian opened his mouth slightly, brushing the spot with the pads of his fingers, frowning when they came away tinged with red. Mumbo unwrapped the wipe, holding Grian in place with a thumb on his chin. Grian hissed through his teeth as Mumbo whispered apologies, cleaning the small cuts. He paused, considering, before tilting Grian’s chin down to press a kiss to his forehead.

“All done. Let’s get to bed, huh?”

“You first.”

“I said let’s, didn’t I?”

And then they cuddle for like 16 hours and mumbo wakes up and panics because how on earth was he so bold last night.

Cya next time!

🦕

WAHHHHH THEY 🥹🥹🥹 I love them so much. I'm so head empty but WAHHHH!!!! I love the peek into mumbo's head and his reaction to what happened <333 and them just agreeing to both sleep and talk in the morning ;A;

god that morning conversation... I can see it being SUCH a mess. oh grian beloved, you traumatized little guy :D

I love this, once again <333

[m1mmx]

y’all know In genshin on of the quests was about poems and y’all found a love poem in a leaf ? Yah this is about that ✌🏻

a lil brainrot of xiao, there is like a lil smut but not to much..it’s like reader teases xiao.

Just imagine, when xiao pointed out the leaf and paimon wanted to go get it, so of course y’all went to go get it. But when you bent down to get the leaf (like bent down..ass up type shi) you didn’t did in fact know xiao was behide you. So unknowingly you straight up bent down like some slut. Xiao just straight up went crazy. No thought just enjoying the view in front of him for the split second.

(Let’s get into more detail 😼)

“Oo! Get it traveler!” Paimon said jumping with excitement.

as you bent down to get it you felt something rub up against your ass. As you ignore it knowing who’s behide you, you continue smiling knowing that you’re teasing Him and testing his patience.

between that you hear a low groan as he backs away, not trying to catch anybody’s attention as you already embarrassed him.

“What’s wrong with you xiao?” Paimon points out. “yeah? Are you ok?” You say agreeing with paimon. He glares at you and faces towards paimon “I’m fine” he says in a low tone. Later on you know he’s gonna think about it.

PMGMGMMDJSJS

idk why but as soon as I saw that scene I js thought of that so fasttt

y’all this is literally my first lil writing thing so 😔

[softlycandescent]

Astraphobia

a love and deep space fanfiction

synopsis: Iris has been afraid of storms since she was a kid, a fact that Zayne remembers too well. While she's afraid and wants to ignore the storm outside, he's right there.

content: fear of thunderstorms, fluff and comfort, also lots of kisses (some slightly heated)

The storm came out of nowhere. What started as a few raindrops gently hitting her windows turned into a downpour coupled with even harsher claps of thunder. Then, lightning. And as if the storm itself wasn’t bad enough, her lights flickered going out altogether. 

She hated this, she absolutely hated braving these storms. 

She’s a Deepspace Hunter for god’s sake, she shouldn’t be scared of a thunderstorm. 

And yet, here she was, curled up on her couch, parallel to the window. She hated watching each strike of lightning and how much harsher the winds were getting, but she hated not knowing even more. 

As if the sky wanted to spite her, the wind picked up, whistling against her window as the thunder raged on.

After another clap of thunder sounds along with another she leaps from the sofa and shrieks. Her hands move to cover her face and she’s shaking like a leaf. 

Some Deepspace Hunter she is. 

The next clap of thunder was bigger than the last, and before she can bury herself deeper into the couch and hide, a pair of warm hands catch hers and squeeze. When she looks up she finds herself gazing at familiar and warm hazel eyes. 

When did Zayne get here? Why was he here now? 

“It’s alright now,” He whispers. “You’re alright.”

Iris opened her mouth to protest, to ask why in the world he would come here in the storm. She can feel the raindrops from his clothes and his hands are chilly, too. She really, desperately, wanted to insist that he didn’t have to do that, that she would’ve been fine.

She was always insisting that she’s alright, she didn’t want to worry Zayne.

But right now, there wasn’t any hiding it. 

With a sniffle that, in her opinion, was far too loud, she slipped her hands from his and grabbed fistfuls of his sweater to bring him closer. He could be close enough right now. She craved his touch, his warmth. He was the only thing standing between her and the raging storm outside.

Another clap of thunder had her tightening her grip, tears forming in her eyes. 

“S-Sorry…I’m sorry…” Iris mumbled, his voice raspy and almost broken. “You’re always…seeing me like this.”

Zayne brings his hands down to her back and holds her close to him, embracing her warmly. “Don’t apologize, Iris. It’s okay, you have nothing to be sorry for, my love.”

“But-”

“Nothing to be sorry for,” He repeats, slightly more sternly. One of his hands moves to caress her hair, loose strands of silver falling through his hand. “I was worried about you as soon as I saw the storm-clouds.”

Iris lazily pouted, pulling her head away enough to look at him. She was surprised how affectionate his gaze was. Even after all of this time, she found it unbelievable just how far his care goes for her. 

“Don’t tell me you rushed over here when-”

“As soon as my shift ended?” Zayne offers with a chuckle. “Would it make you feel better if I told you no?”

“Well..” She pouted, trying her best to look away, but she couldn’t. “You didn’t have to.”

Iris played a lot of childish games with Zayne, a lot of them being silly pranks or things that he swears give him gray hairs. This game was different. Iris insists that he doesn’t need to do anything for her, that it’s too much trouble. 

She couldn’t be more wrong. 

She was worth all of the trouble.

“I wanted to,” Zayne explains, a smile playing on his lips. “I can’t bear the thought of you alone right now, I know how much the thunder and lightning scares you. I remember how scared you used to get, even when we were kids.”

Zayne silences the rest of her insecure thoughts with a kiss to her forehead. Then one to her nose. He ends up peppering her entire face, actually, taking extra care to leave no freckle unkissed. 

Iris couldn’t help but let out a watery giggle, her hands rising to bury themselves in his hair, “I-It tickles!”

“Good. I would rather see you laugh than to have that anxious expression on your face.”

“You’ll stay over tonight, right?”

“That goes without saying,” Zayne brushes a strand of her away from her face and then cradles her cheek in his palm. “Besides, it’s not safe to travel in this weather.”

The weather was definitely unfit to be on the road, and yet he’d basically rushed here. Iris definitely wasn’t happy he could’ve gotten hurt, but she couldn’t help but feel her heart soften at the thought of him rushing to her because he knows she’s afraid. 

“I’m really happy you’re here.”

A soft kiss lands on her cheek and she glances up to see Zayne smiling at her wholeheartedly. It’s infectious, a very welcome distraction. 

“Would you like some tea? Hot chocolate?” Zayne pulls away but trails his hand to stay in her smaller one. His fingers loosely cling onto hers. 

“Hot chocolate, pretty please?”

Zayne lets go of her hand for good that time. “Okay, sweetheart. I’ll be right back.”

He turned on her electric kettle, which was a pastel pink complete with flowers on the handle, and started to heat up the water. He’s been making her hot chocolate for a long time, the way she likes it now is no different than how she liked it in the past:

The water heated up, a specific brand of hot chocolate mixed with a cinnamon stick and a splash of milk. 

The cinnamon is vital, he remembered her saying one afternoon with the silliest smile. At the time she showed him her jar of cinnamon sticks, it was ridiculously adorable how serious she was about that.

“One cinnamon stick or two?” Zayne called out to her, tilting his head back. 

“Two,” Iris said, suddenly appearing behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist. “I think I deserve extra tonight.”

“I agree, extra cinnamon for my love, then.” 

For the next while the room was filled with silence as they lounged on the couch. Iris sat on Zayne’s lap, her snowman mug of hot chocolate snug in her hands. It was pleasant. Even if they didn’t speak, his presence grounded her, comforted her. 

But as much as she wished for it, Zayne’s touch alone wouldn’t chase away the storm. 

An extra loud rumble of thunder urged Iris deeper into Zayne’s arms, her mug of nearly finished hot chocolate spilling into Zayne slightly. He paid absolutely no mind to the chocolate splatters on his sweater. He had more sweaters, he only had one Iris. Wordlessly, he peels the mug from her trembling hands and sets it back to the coffee table. 

“I want it to stop,” Iris croaks, her forehead pressed into his shoulder. “I don’t like it.”

“Shhh…I know, I know. You’re safe, I promise.” Zayne murmurs. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Hold me, I just don’t want to think about the storm outside. Distract me, please..” 

“A distraction you say?” Zayne lifts a hand to cradle her cheek. She loved when he held her face in his hand, he knew that. She’d fumbled over her words when she’d admitted it before. Rather adorably. 

“A distraction,” she repeats timidly. 

Zayne trails the back of his hand from her cheekbone down to her chin, silently asking her to make eye contact with him. When her timid violet eyes meet his soft hazel ones, she wants to look away and hide from his gaze. He was looking at her so affectionately, so lovingly. 

She doesn’t though, instead, she keeps her eyes locked on his.

Suddenly they were both leaning in, she doesn’t know who leaned in first. Before she knew it she was fluttering her eyes closed and soft lips were pressed to hers in a sweet kiss. 

His lips are warm, comforting. Iris found herself lost in his embrace, her arms looping around his neck and trying to get him closer to her. Impossibly closer, he couldn’t be close enough, she realized. 

“I love you,” Iris whispered in between kisses. She was absolutely breathless but kissing Zayne was as necessary as oxygen. “I love you so, so much.”

Chuckling against her lips, he shifts his hold on her, adjusting her so that her back is flush against the couch cushions and he’s hovering over her.

“I love you, I love you Iris.”

As always, he hesitates just slightly, giving her space and a moment to push him away. She doesn’t. 

Instead she moved her hands to either side of his face and moved him close to her yet again. This time she knows for sure that it’s her that leaned in first. 

Iris kissed him like she couldn’t breathe, like she had to. And she does, it’s the only thing she can stay focused on right now. How his face feels in her hands, how his skin is slightly heated just under her fingertips. Any semblance of proof that she had an effect on him, maybe as much as he did on her. 

She didn’t have a moment more to even question it with how he kissed her back, pinning her under him with the weight of his body. Feverishly kissing her until they’re both out of breath. Despite how the kisses got heavier and far more intense, Zayne kept one hand gently resting on the back of her head, making sure that she didn’t hurt herself should she sit up too fast. 

His thoughtfulness really knew no bounds.

When she pulled away her breath ghosted over his lips and she felt out of it. 

“I’m sorry.” Zayne mumbled, tucking some messier strands of hair behind her ear. He was slightly, okay maybe more than slightly, responsible for the disheveled state of her ivory hair. “I got carried away, didn’t I?”

“Not at all,” Iris pecks his lips when he starts to frown. “Besides, I don’t feel as afraid now. What can I say, you’re really distracting.”

Zayne pulls back and laughs. “Distracting, is that so?”

“Wanna distract me again?”

Playfully, Zayne pokes her nose and then sits up, getting off the couch. Her confused, pouty expression must tell him everything because he immediately continues. “You say that, but your eyes tell a different story.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re exhausted, honey,” Zayne gently takes her hand and pulls her up with him. THe corners of his lips quirk up when she stumbles to stand with him. Her eyes glazed. “Hm?”

“Your fault, you make me too comfortable,” Iris sighs, wrapping one arm around his waist, not quite looking up at him. 

“I don’t see that as a bad thing, you just don’t want to sleep just yet.”

“And you see through me way too easily! Not fair!”

Another laugh. 

“Let’s get you some rest now, sleepy girl.”

“No, I-”

“Not sleepy?” Effortlessly, Zayne lifts her up, his hands steady on her back and she wraps her legs around his waist. Just as she’d done nearly every time in the recent future when he’d brought her to bed. “Wouldn’t you rather be cozy in your warm bed with your boyfriend?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s what I thought, don’t worry, I don’t have any appointments tomorrow. I’ll stay with you as long as you would like.”

Iris isn’t quite sure when she fell asleep that night, but she knows she didn’t make it to her bed. She wasn’t lulled to sleep by the pitter patter of the raindrops outside, but rather soft kisses and whispered promises about tomorrow. 

[asexual-spongebob]

Wail Of The Siren - Chapter 9 - Bullet With Butterfly Wings

Notes:

ah yes, Gaz and Dib arguing… oh god… I’ve honestly been a little afraid to post this one- I hope this is decent, I’ve never thought of angst as my strong suit so hopefully I did okay.

“Anyway, I should get going- I’ll see you later though.” Tak said, “Alright, love you.” Gaz replied, giving Tak a kiss on the neck.

Tak then walked in Dib’s direction, oh shit! Dib thought, she’s going to see me if I stay here!

Dib then quietly ran over to the front of the store, so Tak wouldn’t notice him.

Dib stood there awkwardly, pretending as if nothing was wrong as he watched Tak walk back to her base. 

Dib  rapidly walked to back near the dumpster and the back of the building. He could still see Gaz standing there in the distance.

“Gaz. What the fuck.” Dib snapped. 

Gaz turned to face her sibling, she noticed their eyes were burning with fury. 

Gaz stared at them, “What the hell are you doing here?!” She demanded. 

“The better question is what the hell were you doing with Tak?!” Dib demanded back, “Why were you being all loving dovey with her?!” They add.

“Mew’s my girlfriend!? Of course I’m going to be lovey dovey with mew!” Gaz retorted. 

“Mew’s your girlfriend?!” Dib gasped, “Yeah?! Why did you think we were holding hands and being affectionate with each other?!” Gaz retorted. 

“I thought you were just platonically holding hands! Like Tenn and Skoodge do!” Dib spat. 

“Okay I see your point.” Gaz admitted. 

Dib ignored his sister and continued.

“What if she hurts you?!” Dib winced.

“She won’t! And if she does, I know exactly what to do.”  Gaz insisted. 

“Why do you always have bad things to say about mew. You always talk shit about mew and I’m sick of it.” Gaz snarled. 

“What?” Dib muttered, a bit confused. 

“You know exactly what I’m talking about Dib.” Gaz retorted with clenched teeth. 

“You want to know something?! You’re a fucking hypocrite!” Gaz snapped. 

“I am n-“ Dib tried to say, but Gaz interrupted him before he could finished his sentence.

“YOU ARE.” She screeched, shutting him up. 

Dib’s eyes widened. 

Gaz started to towards him, making him back towards the brick wall. 

“You get all pissy at me for hanging out with Tak, and now you’re getting pissy about the fact she’s my girlfriend. Yet the same thing happened with you and Zim.” She fumed, her eyes wide open, sparkling with fury.

Dib’s pupils dilated of fear, he started shaking like a leaf. 

Gaz stepped closer, making Dib take a step back.

She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

“You bitch about me dating “the girl who tried to destroy the planet”. Yet you are all lovey dovey and kissy wissy with Zim. You know, the person who also tried to destroy the planet so multiple times. Not to mention tried to get us killed multiple times.” Gaz shouted.

Dib was now up against the wall. 

His fear started to fade away, it began to turn into rage. 

It began to boil inside him like a pot of water boiling aggressively on a stove top. 

The pot had boiled over. Dib could not contain his rage any longer. 

Dib punched her in the nose.

“Oh. I’m sorry for giving a shit about you! I’m sorry for saving your ass all those times I-“ they snapped, soon being cut off.

Blood dripped down Gaz’s chin as her eyes shimmered with rage. “Saving my ass?! If anyone’s ass was getting saved, it was your’s!!” Gaz spat. 

Dib ignored what their sister had just said and continued.

“I’m sorry for trying to be a good sibling!” Dib continued on. 

“Good sibling?! What kind of sibling drags their little sister into shit?! What “good sibling” does that?!” Gaz fumed, a few blood droplets splattering onto her My Chemical Romance shirt, thankfully it was hard to see, as the shirt was black.

“What do you mean by that?!” Dib demanded.

“What do you mean by that?” What kind of question is that?! You know damn well what I’m talking about.” Gaz raged.

“Shut up. SHUT UP.” Dib spat.

“You want to know something? I had to be “Dad” when Dad couldn’t! I had to put you to bed! I had to make you dinner! I had to put up with you being annoying! I had to play dolls with you!” He began furiously. 

“I WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD! AND TAKING OF YOU! I could’ve been playing on the playground or something. But you want to know what I was doing instead?! I WAS TAKING CARE OF MY SIX YEAR OLD SISTER. I WAS TRYING TO BE A GOOD BROTHER. AND NOW YOU TREAT ME LIKE THIS?!” Dib continued, his throat beginning to hurt from all the shouting.

“STOP ACTING LIKE YOUR THE ONLY ONE WHO WAS EFFECTED BY DAD NOT BEING ABLE TO CARE FOR US!!” Gaz shouted.

“YOU KNOW WHAT?! I’M DONE WITH THIS CONVERSATION!” Dib shouted back, “I’m going to the beach.” He spat.

“GOOD. I HOPE YOU GET SWEPT AWAY BY A CURRENT YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!” Gaz called out as Dib left. 

You know. You might as well get swept away by a current. Just like Gaz said. It’s not like she’ll care or anything…. Dib mused. 

Dib ran as fast as his legs could carry him, Keef and Meef were heading back from a fishing trip.

Keef noticed Dib ran by, Dib stopped to catch his breath.

“Where are you heading to?” 

“The beach. Tell Zim that I’ll be gone for a bit.”

“Oh.. okay?”

“Also. If you see Gaz, tell her that she’s a fucking bitch.”

“Oh… okay?”

Dib then broke off into a run, headed towards the beach.

Dib panted after making his way to the pier, the sea was foaming like a bottle of beer. 

Dib took a sip from a water bottle that he had stashed in his coat pocket. Dib let out a refreshed sigh. 

He then headed towards the docks, glancing around to see if there were any fishermen. 

The coast was clear. They were fine. No one was there. 

They dove into the water, feeling that sharp, agonizing pain in their body, they glanced down at their hands, their hands were no longer covered in human skin, but rather, they were covered in green scales. 

Dib swam towards the strong rip current up ahead.  He then felt a strong and powerful force trap him. 

Dib began to shake, frantically looking in every direction. 

He was in the rip current. There was no escape.

He could feel himself drift away as he thrashed around in the current, being thrown around in every direction. 

“DIIIB!! NOOOO!!!” Gaz called out in protest, swimming closer in attempt to reach Dib. 

“But you said you wanted me to get swept away by a current?” Dib called out, confused, raising an eyebrow.

“I didn’t mean that! I’m  sorry!” Gaz apologized genuinely.

“Well it’s too late!!!” Dib snapped.

Gaz tried to grab onto her sibling’s webbed and scaly hand trying her hardest to free them from the current’s wrath.

She thrashed through the deep, dark water, trying to free her brother, she then was able to grab onto his hand.

“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said that! You were right to call me out! I’m sorry for punching you!” Dib apologized, “It’s okay!!! I understand that you were just concerned!!” Gaz replied, “I’m sorry to! I shouldn’t have said those things to you!” she adds. 

“No! I’m glad you did!” Dib said. 

She let out a grunt as she tried to pull him out, but this rip current was stronger. 

She had let go. 

“GAAAZ!!!!” Dib wailed as the strong current swept him away.

“DIIIIB!!!!” Gaz shouted as she tried to grasp her brother’s hand.

But… she couldn’t.

“GAAAZ!!!” Dib screamed, his screaming getting fainter and fainter the further he drifted away. 

Her brother was gone. Fucking gone. 

Normally, she wouldn’t care, but this time, she did.

What kind of sister are you?! She scolded herself as she tried to hold back tears. 

I need to do something… I should tell someone. She decided, swimming up to the surface. 

She dried herself off with a towel and left, knots in her stomach.

Gaz made her way back home, her shoulders slumped in shame.

How am I going to get him back? Gaz asked herself. 

You’re a terrible sister. This is all your fault. She told herself.

Gaz made her way to the tide pool and dried herself off, cleaning her bloody nose, waiting for the bleeding to stop. Her clothes were still damp but not as much. She rinsed the salt water off herself with some water she had stashed in a water bottle. 

Once she was mostly dry, she made her way home, How am I supposed to explain this to Dad?! How would he feel… 

Gaz could just imagine the lecture she’d receive. She knew that she’d be grounded for ages. 

Gazlene Membrane! How could you say that to your brother?! 

Gaz let out sigh, I deserve that. I deserve to be lectured like that. She told herself once again as she made her way through the dark streets of Detroit. The street lights leading the way.

She noticed Keef and Meef walking on the sidewalk.

“Hey um. Sorry if this sounds weird but Dib told me to tell you that you’re a fricking betch.. I have no idea why..”

“He’s right… I am… and I’m a terrible sister.”

“What? What makes you say that?”

“I told him to go get swept away by a current… and he did… all because of this argument we got into..”

“Betch what the frick?” 

“Yeah I know I shouldn’t have.. I was just really angry.. we both apologized to each other though. If my Dad and Clembrane find out they’re going to go ballistic on me-“

“Oh um.. that’s good? Anyway I gotta go to Zim’s house. See you later.”

Gaz and Keef then went their separate ways, Gaz walked the rest of the way home. 

Gaz made it, opening the front door, only to see her Dad glancing over at her from his chair near the front door.

“Hello daughter, where have you been?” He asked “Uh… I went to the mall with Tak and Tenn.” Gaz lied “Oh cool! Hope you had fun.” He smiled “I did.” Gaz replied.

“Where’s your sibling?” Professor Membrane asked “Oh uh… their at Zim’s.” Gaz lied. 

God I hate this. She thought, normally she would be fine with lying to someone, but her Dad was the expectation. She hated lying to him about anything.

No… he can’t know the truth… At least not right now… Gaz thought.

Professor Membrane just nodded and continued to read the marine biology book he was reading. 

Gaz then made her way upstairs, locking herself in her room and sitting on the floor, staring at her collection of Littlest Pet Shops. 

•••

Keef knocked on the door to Zim’s house.

Skoodge answered.

“Hi Keef.” He smiled, but then noticed the expression on Keef’s face.

“What’s wrong?” Skoodge asked.

“Something happened to Dib… that’s why I came here.” Keef answered.

“Oh.. oh my irk!” Skoodge exclaimed, then letting Keef come in the house.

“Hi Zim..” Keef sighed with a frown as he looked at him, he was sitting on the couch with Gir and Sir.

Zim was caught off guard. Something was up.

Keef wasn’t happy and cheerful like they usually were, now they seemed sad and gloomy.

“Hi Keef.” Zim said.

“Um… Dib’s gone.” Keef murmured.

“He’s gone?!” Zim gasped out of disbelief.

“Yeah… Them and Gaz got into a fight and she told them to go get swept away by a current… and they were.” Keef began, “she feels really bad about it now… and we have no idea where Dib is now.” Keef finished.

Zim felt his squeedily spooch shatter into little pieces. “D-Dib’s g-gone?” Zim stammered out of disbelief, starting to tear up. Keef nodded with a frown.

Zim flopped off the couch and onto the floor, beginning to sniffle before bursting into tears. 

Skoodge and Keef kneeled on floor, trying to soothe Zim. 

“It’s okay Zim! We’ll figure out a solution!” Keef assured, gently stroking Zim’s back.

“MY BELOVED DIB STINK! MY DIB FISH!!! THEIR GONE!!!” Zim wailed hysterically, smashing his fist against the floor, ignoring what Keef had just said. 

“I love them so much!!! Even if they smell like tuna and anchovies!” Zim croaked.

Keef looked at Skoodge. “What should we do?” Keef questioned “I think you should get home.. I’ll deal with it.” Skoodge assured with a thumbs up.

Keef nodded and left, awkwardly saying goodbye to Skoodge and Zim. 

Skoodge hugged Zim. “I’m sorry…” he sympathized, Zim whimpered and sobbed into his shirt.

“My Dib siren!” Zim cried.

•••

Professor Membrane was out running some errands, Gaz was in her room, the home phone in her hands. 

Gaz dialed Tak’s number, her hands shaking the entire time, she grasped her favorite kitten lps, Violeta for comfort. It was a purple and white one with green eyes, number 2033.

Soon, Tak picked up.

“Hi love!! How are you?”

“Not to good… I did something… bad…horrible..” 

“Oh irk- what did you do?”

“Dib’s gone… and it’s all my fault…”

“What happened?”

“We got into an argument, and I went a little too hard on him- I told him to go get swept away by a current and well… He did. I feel absolutely horrible now… and Keef told me that Zim is depressed now.. He said that it keeps crying and it keeps talking about how much it misses Dib.. I think they said that xyr base is now littered with garbage..”

“Damn.. hopefully we can get him back…” 

“Yeah… we need to. Or my Dad and Clembrane are going to go ballistic on me..”

“I’d tell them if I were you. Explaining the fact that you’re both siren’s may be a bit difficult but, I think they might know how to get Dib back.”

“Alright thanks love, I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.”

“Bye.” 

Gaz hung up and crawled into bed, shaking anxiously, hoping she’d soon drift off to sleep.

No crying. You’re not a baby anymore.. She told herself, trying her best to hold back her tears. 

She hadn’t cried in months, it was something she always shunned herself for. 

Gaz couldn’t hold back her tears any longer.

Gaz smashed her face into her pillow, sobbing violently. Professor Membrane and Clembrane were coming upstairs to check on Gaz, all they could hear was the sound of her violent and aggressive sobbing.

The two were taken aback, it was rare for them to hear Gaz cry. 

“I’ll ask her if she’s okay.” Professor Membrane decided, knocking on the door. 

Gaz continued to sob, ridiculing herself in the process, What is wrong with you?! Why are you like this?!but then, she was alarmed by a knock at her door.

“Gazlene, is something wrong?” She heard Professor Membrane ask. 

“Yeah is somethin’ wrong? We heard you cryin’” Clembrane adds. 

“Nothing! Just go away!” Gaz shouted nasally, with a sniffle as she lifted her head up from her pillow, then looking down at her hands.

She was caught off guard. They were webbed and covered in purple scales.

Tears could trigger a siren transformation.

Goddamn. Just what I needed. Gaz thought sarcastically as tears rolled down her face.

Outside her door, Professor Membrane and Clembrane glanced at each other. 

“I hope everything is okay…” Clembrane frowned, Professor Membrane nodded, 

“If you need us we’ll be downstairs!” Professor Membrane said, him and Clembrane then heading back downstairs. 

•••

Tenn, Skoodge and Keef walked around City Center mall, Tenn was scanning the area for T.E.S, while Skoodge and Keef munched on some soft pretzels.

Tenn glanced at the two. 

“How have guys been?” Tenn asked.

“Fine.. Zim hasn’t though-“ Skoodge answered.

“Oh irk- what happened?” Tenn pressed.

“Dib and Gaz got into a fight and Dib was swept away by a current.. Gaz really needs to find a way to get Dib back. Or her parents are going to be mad.” Keef answered.

“Oh damn- hopefully she can get him back.” Tenn said.

“Yeah, the problem is, is that we don’t know where that current took Dib. So he could be anywhere.” Skoodge pointed out.

“So he could be all the way in Australia?” Keef replied.

“Maybe. Who knows- I think it’s more likely that he’s in Wisconsin or Canada though- I mean. We are south of Canada.” Skoodge said, Keef and Tenn nodded, then heading over to T.E.S, still wondering how Gaz was going to get Dib back.

End Notes:

So Uh- i decided to insert one of my hcs into this. Specifically Dib having the responsibility of taking care of Gaz at a young age and basically having to be “parent”. I notice that tends to happen with older siblings. So I figured that Dib might have some trauma related to that.

Can’t believe this is the second to last update holy shit-

[wolvebonez]

If you want too: I’m curious to what you’ve observed in the WoF fandom, since I was in it a while ago and it wasn’t too bad for me personally. Though before I got into it I was in comparatively worse fandoms

I got my friend @dwaynedadwagon to write a bit abt it cuz I was never in the WoF fandom for long & it knows much more abt it than me so:

the wings of fire fandom consists of mostly children who got unrestricted internet access at too young of an age. because of this, and other societal factors for the younger generations, the wings of fire community tends to be very mentally unstable. just about every other member voices their personal mental struggles publicly, which leads to more people adding to the pile of public trauma-dumping.

another thing that is caused by unrestricted internet access is their inability to know what is right and what is wrong. there’s a popular member who happens to be a minor that ships their sona with foeslayer, people call this pedophilic, saying it’s like “shipping an adult with a minor”, which is not true. this is like a middle schooler shipping themself with harry styles and writing fanfictions about it. this is not unacceptable nor inappropriate, yet they still end up on a lot of dni lists for this reason, when they seem to be a reasonable person.

what’s concerning about this fandom is the amount of children making content and spitting out incoherent and misleading takes and opinions, which other children repeat and spread further within the community. there is a lack of media literacy, and because of this, people misinterpret the themes of wings of fire. one of them is that, “no matter who you are, you can always change,” and, “you cannot generalize whole groups of people for their appearance and background.” the second one is shown by the repeating examples of dragons within all tribes not fitting the stereotypes the main characters are fighting against (other than the rainwings, but there are a few who are unlike this!). generally, the community never recognizes this theme, and they continue to place each tribe into their own categories for their attributes.

“skywings are blunt and vicious, seawings are cowardly and reclusive, nightwings are secretive and all-mighty, mudwings are gluttonous and idiotic.”

these are all stereotypes, yet the community takes it as fact. they completely disregard what tui originally added in as themes for the books.

though, to be fair, she, too, forgets this theme in the later books. but it’s not an excuse for the community to also ignore these important ideas.

wings of fire is about inclusivity, iradicating misrepresentation, taking the past into account for the future, and so much more. however, the community lacks all forms of media literacy due to being so young, that they only take in the ideas that stood out the most — and those ideas happen to be the ones the protagonists fight against.

Personally, my own specific issues with my brief interactions in the fandom includes people acting as if my concerns about the fact the tribes were called, well, tribes, was completely absolute. Granted, I haven’t seen any outright appropriation or racisim in the earlier books (I haven’t read them in years though), other than the weird choice to call them tribes and not kingdoms or something else. But it always rubbed me the wrong way how quickly ppl get defensive over it getting pointed out haha.

That and I see a lot of discussion from white people talking abt the leaf/hivewing thing which rubs me the wrong way, but, I can’t accurately interact with it because I haven’t read that arc in full. Nor do I really intend to. Like Dwayne said, the fandom is mostly children with bad takes, at least from what I’ve seen, so I try to avoid it and its source material where I can, because god forbid I like another piece of media with a gross fandom. GOW and warriors is enough LMFAO

[witchofinterest]

"... you love me?" + your choice

the leaf titans universe expands! Meet Lenora “Nore” Vreeland! in the Connore angsty s4 era, the kids are not doing well

“I should’ve killed him when I had the chance,” Kory said, likely thinking about the chances she had.

“Don’t do that to yourself, we all made the decision to save him together,” Dick reminded, as Nore looked around. It was a little secluded space, but the open air was around them. She fought the instinct to curl up against one of the stones, instead leaning on Tim. He grabbed onto her arm, helping her get steady.

“Did we though?” Conner spoke up, rejoining the group, “I thought you wanted to save him, I wanted to stop him,” he stopped in front of them, standing resolute. Nore clutched onto Tim’s shirt more.

“If you worked with us instead of going off on your own. We had to change the plan to save your ass,” Dick said, voicing what everyone else was feeling.

“Look where your plan got us,” Conner scoffed.

“Your not even gonna apologize?” Nore asked, letting go of her hold on Tim’s sweatshirt. Tim still held onto her arm as she brought it down.

“For what? Being the only one willing to do something?”

“Yeah, your the only one willing to act like an idiot. Your the reason Gar’s gone. Your the reason the ritual happned. And your the reason the worlds gonna end, all for a revenge scheme over Lex Luthor!” she pulled her hand from Tim as she stepped close to him.

“You want me to apologize for actually caring about my dad?” he asked.

“Well that certainly makes one of you,” that was cruel she knew, but it was the truth. Lex hasn’t wanted Conner till he was dying. They risked everything to keep Conner alive.

“All right, this fighting isn’t gonna solve anything, Dick attempted to diffuse their right, but if Nore knew anything about Conner, that wasn’t going to be the end of it.

“He loved me!” Conner insisted, ignoring Dick for favour of pretending they were alone.

“He didn’t love you Conner, he didn’t know you! We love you!”

“ … You love me?” he asked, going back to vulnerable Conner. Oh god it had spilled out, she hadn’t intended it to. Not yet, this was not the time. Certainly not in front of everyone, or while they were fighting or while Gar was gone.

“Oh now loves allowed? I’m ready because you’re ready to say it?” he continued, making her start shaking her head. This was all wrong. Nothing had been right since Super Super Mart.

“Yeah well, I’m sick of you getting the decide when things can happen in our relationship. In fact, I’m sick of our relationship,” he spat the last words, but he didn’t leave. He was there, waiting to see what she’d say.

Nore didn’t have anything to say to that. What was there to say? She’d done what she’d done with every other thing she’d ever had in her life, overthought it and ruined it with too little action too late.

“You can’t even fucking say anything?” Conner asked, hands balling into fists. He wouldn’t hurt her, it just meant he was frustrated.

She was suddenly aware of her heartbeat and his loud it was being. It was too fast, beating too hard, making her wonder if she was still too young to have a heart attack.

She wanted to raise her hand to her chest to rub it, see if it would help, but she didn’t want Conner to know, even if he could hear it.

She’s taken too long thinking about this, and he’d walked away, muttering to himself. She brought her hand up, rubbing above her heart, but it did nothing to alleviate the ache. Her heart was broken in more than one way.

Rachel came up behind her, trying to grab her hand, but Nore didn’t take it. Instead she walked away from all of them, slumping with her back against the rock, facing away from all of them. She needed to think. Right now she has to focus on the world not ending and getting back Gar. There was no time to cry or fall apart, she just had to pull herself together.

[saga-project]

....fine, so maybe he wasn't going to kill his brothers for dumping him in the pool once they'd found out that he was very much in the process of shedding. Cain would have been hard-pressed to admit it, but the pool did feel nice. Warm enough that it wasn't unpleasant, with some substrate spread at the bottom that he could scratch on should he feel so inclined. And the jets were soft enough that they felt good to press up against. And the more he was left to his own devices, the more Cain started to indulge himself, flipping and somersaulting underwater as he expertly propelled himself through the waves. Surfacing to take a breath, he let out a small chirp in spite of himself, closing his good eye in silent bliss--

"Heya, Don."

"GOOD GALIL-" Cain yelped, flinching backwards so suddenly he sent a wave of water up into his face and had to splutter for several minutes to clear his airway. His startled expression warped into a frown as he beheld who was standing there, lips curling up into a displeased sneer. "Oh. You."

"Me," said April O'Neil, who was doing a terrible job of trying not to look smug. At least in his professional opinion.

"Why are you here?"

“Your brothers are goin’ on a snack run, and apparently you really like water so I’m here to make sure you don’t turn into a prune. Leo’s words, not mine.” April leaned on the pool's edge almost conspiratorially. As if she knew him. It was most annoying.

“Well, as you can see, I’m clearly fine. Now shoo. Skedaddle. Make like a tree and leaf. So on and so forth." He waggled a hand towards the entrance of the room then, as if to add import to his words.

April groaned then, rolling her eyes skyward. “Ugh. Why do you have to be such a stick in the mud about humans?”

“Because humans are the entire reason mutants and yokai have to hide out in the first place.”

“And the fact that I’ve known your brothers for like a DECADE or more—“

“Irrelevant. Why they trust you is beyond me. Now leave or I will make you leave.” His bo was still within grabbing distance, after all. He could easily make the excuse that she had been provoking him if his brothers came back to find her limp body bleeding out onto the tiles.

....though he supposed Mikey would be disappointed in him, then. Son of a bitch. That was only confirmed by April wincing slightly, almost having the grace to look guilty as she stood there. “Sorry. Mikey went Doctor Delicate Touch on me to get me to do this.”

"....of course he did. Well. I don't like you and we're not going to be friends. So there."

"Trust me, feeling's kiiiiiinda mutual on that one, bud."

Cain simply glared, pointedly turning his back on her to swim more laps. Fine. If she was going to act like an asshole, he could act like one in return. It was no skin off his back, so long as she didn't try to act upon said frustration. He had a fitness routine to be attending to anyway. Who said you couldn't glare daggers at someone and exercise at the same time?

His plan of doing his best to steadfastly ignore her worked for a time. And then the space between his shoulder blades started to itch, causing him to stop dead in his tracks and attempt to bring the area within reach. To no avail. Despite the nature of his shell making him more flexible than the average turtle mutant, that spot was staying resolutely out of reach, leaving him to groan and mutter under his breath in exasperation. “Mother of—just let me reach. Son of a….mmmfff-"

"You need some help there, bud?" Ah, right. That annoying, ear-bleeding voice again. Because if there was one thing that humans were terrible at, it was leaving well enough alone and not sticking their noses into things.

"Not from a human." Scratch scratch scratch. Come on, it was right there. Just let him--

"Suuuuure ya don't, bud. I can help scratch your back, it's really not a--"

"You must be even stupider than I thought if you think I'm letting you anywhere near my shell. I am fine."

Several more minutes passed. Cain continued to try new angles, twisting and bending. He would not accept defeat when his dignity was on the line. Not in front of a human. He would--

"....human April."

"Do you need help?" To her credit, she was at least trying to keep the smug tone out of her voice.

"Sweet baby Galileo yes."

"Alright, tough guy. Get over here."

As much as a part of him loathed to admit that he swam over as quickly as he did, Cain obeyed, directing her as she started scratching slow circles into his shell. "Higher. Higher and a little to the lef---ohhhhh my god yes right there. Perfect." He shut up afterwards, determined to keep his mouth shut and just let April work. Surely he didn't need to thank her just for performing a service for him, after all. She was just doing the work that any of his brothers probably would have done as well, if they'd been in her shoes.

But he couldn't deny that she was getting at the nooks and crannies better than he probably could. It felt....nice. His shell was so sensitive anyway, but combined with the shedding....it was a good kind of different. Add that to the warm water, and Cain was feeling quite content at that moment. He squinted his eye shut, tilting his head up towards the ceiling--

Chirp! Churrr churrrrrr churrr.

--and then startled, narrowing his good eye and looking towards April. "Not. A. Word."

"Your secret's safe with me, tough guy," she said, huffing out an amused breath. "But seriously. Was gettin' your back scratched by a human that bad?"

Cain considered, for a moment. “Mmmf. Suppose not. I thank you for being willing to do it, at least. Don’t think this means we’re friends, though."

"Sure it doesn't."

"....I am choosing to ignore the blatant sarcasm in your tone."

"Did I mention we have snacks, Don?"

"Not interested. For all I know, you probably poisoned it."

"What if it's sushi." He looked back towards her then, eye narrowing. "....you're bluffing."

"Oh, am I?" April rifled through a bag then, pulling out a small cube of sushi, and Cain didn't even have the mental capacity to be ashamed of how fast his eyes widened as he reached for it.

"GIVE."

“Ah ah ah. First give me a genuine thank you.” Oh, this bitch. She was so lucky that his bo was now out of arm's reach.

“Mmmmmph. FINE. Thank you ever so much for scratching my back. It was most helpful. Now hand over the fish."

"...eh. Good enough." She tossed the sushi cube to him, and Cain all but snatched it out of the air, devouring it in one hearty gulp as his tail gave a pleased wag behind him. Man, that was good. It had been so long since he'd had a good piece of sushi--

Chrrrrup! Chirp chirp chirp--

He slapped a hand over his mouth in embarrassment, even as April sent a soft smile in his direction. "Awwww. That's adorable."

"I am not adorable."

"It kinda is."

"No, it's not. I'm not supposed to make those sounds, or else-" Wait, he wasn't supposed to be talking about what Papa had done to him with anyone else. He snapped his beak shut just in the nick of time, ignoring the concerned frown that April sent in his direction.

"Or what." "Nothing."

"Mmmm." She cocked a brow incredulously, and god damn it how was she so good at making him want to fess up even when he'd done absolutely nothing wrong--

"...just that a warrior isn't supposed to be chirping."

Her gaze seemed to soften as she sat there, some unreadable emotion flashing through her gaze. "Don. You're a kid. You shouldn't have to be a warrior unless you wanna be."

"Y-yeah, well..." Why did his voice sound so shaky all of a sudden. Get it together, Cain, come on--

"Did they punish you? For chirping, or-"

"April, can we...I....I don't want to talk about it. At least not now. Please?" Keep it together. He would not start screaming at April all because she'd asked a question. He would not let panic start to overwhelm him. That would be stupid.

At least April seemed to realize that it wasn't a conversation topic she should be pushing him about, relenting after a moment. "Okay. But you should talk to someone about it, you know? Doesn’t have to be me.”

He let out a non-committal hum under his breath, letting the conversation lapse back into silence again. And then--

"Can I ask you something?" "You've already shown that you're not going to leave no matter what I do, so. Shoot."

"Did you always used to hate humans?"

Damn. She'd caught him. "I....well. I mean. No." Cain glanced away for a moment, sighing heavily. "I didn’t know how they’d react to me, but I didn’t hate them. I still don’t really HATE your kind. I just don’t trust you.”

"Soooo. What changed."

Okay, so they were doing this. “…..never seeing a human in my life. Never really knowing what their world was like. Hearing stories about how cruel they were to the yokai. And….and if I was being treated as a warrior by the people who raised me, then I didn’t think your kind would treat me much differently. There’s no place for me out there. Besides, everyone I’ve ever trusted has stabbed me in the back eventually.” He was pointedly avoiding looking her in the eyes then, too afraid of the emotions he'd see dancing in her gaze if he bothered.

"...well, your brothers are my friends. I'd never do anything to hurt them, and I'd never do anything to hurt you. I promise. And when April O'Neil makes a promise, I never break it. So you can trust me."

"....we'll see about that."

".....alright. You want more sushi? There's more in the bag-"

"I wouldn't be opposed."

"Oooh, I know. We could make a game out of it. I've been watching how good you are at swimming. I can throw it in, and if you do a cool trick to catch it-"

"I am not falling for your....your bribery or whatever this is." Cain's eye narrowed again, but his tone was much less biting than before.

"....I can loan you my Atomic Lass DVDs if you do it."

His eyes widened. "Wait a minute. You like Atomic Lass?"

"Uh, yeah! Because I have taste? Who wouldn't? I actually find her movies really-" She cut herself off as Cain leaned closer, his eyes sparkling.

"Ohoho, I have so much to quiz you on! What are your thoughts on the practical effects? How about the fight scenes? Give me your opinions on everything.”

And as April settled in to talk, occasionally tossing a sushi piece for him to retrieve, Cain found himself gradually relaxing, smiling softly.

Maybe….maybe he could trust one human, at least.

[crystalelemental]

Alright, I’m in what I’m assuming is hard endgame in Cassette Beasts, and can confirm, the teams are definitely working.  I’ve beaten Ianthe, all the rematches against the rangers, and all the Archangels fights except whatever happens when I solve the song.

The part is as follows.

Miasmodeus Attacks: Smach, Pustule Bomb Buffs: Raise Arms, Elemental Wall, Mind-Meld Passives: Fireproof, Roll Again (+1 slot), Sugar Rush, AP Refund

Decibell (Kayleigh) Attacks: Siprt, Hurricane, Headshot Buffs: Doc Leaf, AP Boost, Taunt, Echolocation, Air Wall Passives: AP Starter (+1 slot)

Ramtasm Attacks: Smack, Last Rites Buffs: Mind-Meld, Ritual, Nurse, Elemental Wall, Gambit Passives: Shear Luck, Phase Shift (when needed)

Kirikuri Attacks: Smack, Toxic Stab, Copper Chop, Last Rites Buffs: Leech, Poison Pollen, Plant Wall Passives: Splinter

Sppoki-onna Attacks: Spirt, Thunder Blast, Life Absorb, Zephyr, Blizzard Buffs: Fog, Avalanche Passives: AP Refund (+8% effect chance)

Queenyx Attacks: Smack, Life Absorb, Snow Rush, Damage Roll, Last Rites Buffs: Ritual, Gambit, AP Donate Passives: Vengeful Curse

The team has three strategies that we generally employ.  All of them lead with Kayleight and Decibelle, but the exact plan past that opener changes a bit.

Strategy 1: Miasmodeus Miasmodeus is hysterical.  Holy shit, I regret not picking this as the starter.  Poison’s only weakness is Fire, and it can have Fire resistance, which cuts Fire damage 50% and ignores secondary effects.  So far the AI has not figured out to avoid hitting her with Fire moves if they have them, which is great distraction.  To add to it, Mind-Meld means copying over all of Decibelle’s traits, and Roll Again with Mind Meld means both beasts have a chance to apply a second action per turn.  Decibelle has Doc Leaf and AP Boost, the former of which is the opening gambit, the latter of which is the follow-up.  Echolocation makes them spread moves so the buff applies to both.  Miasmodeus uses Echolocation after Mind Melding, and can double up on the stall tactics, throwing out Pustule Bomb to poison the enemy, and building toward the coup de grace: double Headshot.

The pros of the team are that we’re damn near invincible barring super-effective shots on Decibelle.  The stall gaming is real.  It does consume a lot of upkeep turns to keep us rolling.  Also, Roll Again can, at an inopportune time, call in a high-cost attack, ruining the Headshot plan.  Which is never my favorite.  The fact that both have a Shield is also a problem, because sometimes the AI just decides to overwrite each other’s shields, and then we just waste HP for no reason.  So I might remove a shield, depending on who has a better alternative action.

Strategy 2: Ramtasm Ramtasm is very similar, but because of the lack of Roll Again, it’s more consistent to hit Last Rites.  This permits Gambit, which sets up three turns of heavily boosted stats, and swapping Decibelle in to Queenyx to AP Donate for another big shot with Ramtasm.  Damage numbers are comical.  That said, I admit that Queenyx doesn’t exactly do a ton.  I like it, but it’s...lacking some things I’d want.  One of the rangers used Dog Days to extend the Ghost duration, and I imagine it does similarly for Gambit.  Which, if I can find an option that gets AP Donate, Dog Days, and ideally Echolocation/AP Boost, I think that would be a stronger option for Ramtasm to utilize.  If I can find such a beast, I’ll probably add the Ghost effect to Ramtasm, just to extend both effects and be a real shithead about it.

Strategy 3: Kirikuri Kirikuri has my favorite tactic in the game: Leech Poison.  This is, so far, the only combination of traits that has worked on every fight.  Even Archangels just drop to it, so long as you’re defensively strong enough.  The plan is to lead Decibelle and Miasmodeus, and Mind-Meld.  On turn 2, Miasmodeus swaps to Kirikuri, who gets Echolocation, and Decibelle swaps to Spooki-Onna.  The two of them can now Echolocation Leech/Poison the entire team as needed, then have Spooki-onna be a real bitch about thing with Fog and Avalanche.  Fog disrupts special, and allows Kirikuri to continue hitting with melee Toxic Stab if AP is high enough.  Alternatively, Avalanche can block a physical hit while Kirikuri sets Plant Shield and just heals it all off.

Other Factors Realistically, Decibelle, Miasmodeus, and Kirikuri handled almost everything once available.  The other three barely see play.  I’d like to get Ramtasm moving, but that requires Dog Days support.  I’m looking into it.

Queenyx was something I wanted to test out, but has barely been useful.  She just doesn’t contribute much?  Like, I had at one point planned for Gambit -> Vengeful Curse, which the Vengeful Curse does work for allies when Mind-Melded, but it’s not exactly consistent, or a good idea to let a thing die.

Spooki-onna also doesn’t see a ton of play.  Which I feel bad about, I love its design and I like the idea of stalling, but frankly it rarely comes up.  Because the rest of the team is so ridiculous.

We’re on to the phase of the game that seems to mostly be fused shadows, and the only major quests left are the main one to leave, and the signposts in the water (I’m playing on Switch, and the game stutters like CRAZY trying to go near water), so almost complete.  There are three beasts left to find, two of which are unique, and one of which requires a specific type of bootleg.  But, I’m close.

[valorandgold]

@sweptawxy​ from this

This tree in particular, was one of the few she could climb to get away from everyone. It was true, the pressures of being royalty could get to someone. Especially someone as antisocial as Mitama. The priestess and Princess laid back against the dark wood of the trunk, looking at the leaves and thinking how she was like one. A leaf was tethered to another force, another sense of duty, just like she was.

She heard someone below but opted to ignore them until they spoke first. The tired and annoyed voice of none other than Dwyer, the son of the annoying butler that her family somehow had affection for.

“Alone in moonlight all is quiet and shadows -they are long and black.”

“Do you wish to join me?”

Once again, Mitama seemed to have a poem in her mind...or perhaps on her heart instead. Dwyer supposed both worked in tandem to speak her thoughts from time-to-time. He didn’t quite have the same mind for haiku that she possessed. In fact, were he to try to write, he had to imagine it would be rather to-the-point and boring. It was a good thing that the mere idea sounded far too taxing to him then. At least he knew to stay within his own limitations whereas he could think of several who did not, although Mitama was not among that number, herself.

“Hmm...” Dwyer’s gaze shifted a little, moving from left to right, almost as though he was assessing the large branch she had taken up a spot upon...which was exactly what he was doing. “...I suppose it is surprisingly accommodating, even for two people. I think I understand why you would choose this place.” Surely not the first time she’s been here. It seemed he was welcome company to her, thankfully. “If you don’t protest, I believe I will, though if you would offer assistance in either telling me your pathing as I go up or pointing to where I need to climb, it would be welcome. I’m certain I lack your imagination in regard to climbing trees or really nearly anything that would be deemed climbable.”