#Like I fly through tweets so having to wait is a pain

[girlyliondragon]

Running an newly made alt twitter at this day and age is like hell... and not the fun kind!

Oldtwitter LITERALLY cannot escape the fucking rate limit shit like.

PLEASE I need to ask, when the FUCK does the site consider you not a new acc anymore? I am tired of having to go "WELP I CAN'T TWITTER ANYMORE RN SEE Y'ALL YOINK" and it's only in the middle of the fucking day or even EARLIER-

[lovable-liar]

UNPAID INTERN SCHLATT ASK

Schlatt watching y/n with the kids and just loving how they interact with them. Like Y/n hitting Schlatt over the head for teaching them about Andrew Cuomo and the kids laughing...

...I have baby fever.

...as do I, and it's his fault.

I also went very off task with this, I'm sowwy 🥺

When you got a message from Ludwig asking if you would like to be a contestant on a new game show of his, you were honestly very excited!

You were a huge streamer on the platform, but it wasn't often that you were called upon to compete in real life games!

You were a fan favorite on Name Your Price, for your style and your ability in the game, so after Ludwig pitched Unpaid Intern to you...

You were hooked.

And you were reeled in even further once you found out who you would be competing against!

Daniel Thrasher, a man of many talents and one you found yourself quote tweeting about a lot on your alt to "thank" him for his "service" in "aiding" you to "learn piano"

Lily Pichu, a lovely little lady that (when you ever encountered her) had only ever been the kindest thing to you

Kyedae, a friend of yours that you frequently streamed with and raided!

And jschlatt, infamous, Jonathan Schlatt.

A personal friend of yours!

You and Schlatt first met during the days of the Lunch Club, dark days, sure, but Ted, Charlie, himself, and yourself pulled each other up by the boot straps and created salvation!

Chuckle Sandwich was is that salvation.

And through salvation, you two had formed a strong bond. You created inside jokes for your communities, inside jokes between you and your co-hosts, and inside jokes that only the two of you would ever come to understand.

But, to say you were just friends is an understatement.

To be honest, neither of you really knew what you were.

But you both liked that!

Sure, it became a pain when trying to figure out if you could go out on a date with someone, but it was also nice because technically nothing was happening, you didn't have to hide anything from viewers.

But, Schlatt was always one of the first people you turned to if ever something happened, which, something had happened! You were competing against each other soon! You had to text him-

jslut: yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

toots💙: wat

jslut: ur on upi?

toots💙: upi?

jslut: unpaid intern

jslut: luds thing?

toots💙: ah yes upi

jslut: r u?

toots💙: yes...? 👀

jslut: kk

toots💙: ur so dry over text wtf?!!?!

jslut: i love you too, sugar tits 💙

When-

jslut: how long r u gonna be in texas for?

toots💙: couple days prob

toots💙: im trying to find ppl to film/do stuff with bc i dont wanna fly over just to do one thing and then just fly back

toots💙: productive, you get me?

jslut: film with me

jslut: ill find something for us to do

toots💙: alr but ive got a lot of bitches on my roster so be grateful im spending my time on you, slut

jslut: shut the fuck up, you're the slut here

toots💙: that's blatantly (racist/homophobic/sexist/etc.)

jslut: bye

toots💙: bye bye bbg, daddy can't wait to see you again <3

WHEN YOU GOT TO TEXAS (swear to god if you interrupt me again-)

You texted Schlatt a picture of you in the airport, stood in front of a promotional poster that had the american flag on it, saluting.

You shoved your phone back into your pocket in search of some good fucking food, but you couldn't quite focus on reading the menu while your ass cheek vibrated with fifteen (you counted each vibration) messages.

jslut: first of all, ur supposed to put ur hand on your heart, not fucking salute

jslut: second of all, what airport r u at?

jslut: i'll come get u

jslut: don't order an uber, they're shitty

jslut: i'll be ur uber

jslut: ill bring u a red fucking carpet

jslut: toots

jslut: toots

jslut: babycakes

jslut: did u order an uber?

jslut: did u get kidnapped? wtf

jslut: answer me toots

jslut: send me ur location

jslut: as soon as i see u im downloading a fucking tracker onto ur phone

toots💙: can you stop vibrating my ass for two seconds? im getting food

jslut: vibrating ur ass?

jslut: i wish

toots💙: food acquired, im at dfw

jslut: kk omw

toots💙: where should i meet u?

toots💙: r u kidding me?

toots💙: fuck u

You hunkered down in the food court to wait of the arrival of your beloved uber driver while you ate and played on your phone

You were expecting him to text you back any minute now since he never left his messages unanswered for too long (that's not entirely true, he never leaves *your* messages unanswered, ever, but he'd never tell you that, ever.)

But as 1:00pm became 1:26pm, you began to feel a little anxious

How long have you been sat here for?

Does that man want to sit here?

Should you move?

Are people staring?

Okay- just, stay seated, he'll be here soon.

Where are your headphones?

Where are your bags?!

Oh- okay, it's right there... where you left it.

And your headphones are around your neck.

Do you have your wallet?

Yeah, it's in one of your bags.

WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOUR BAGS-

"Heeey, toots! 'S good to see you again." A deep, familiar voice calls out, he has your bags too!

"I got you a baggy of fruit from seven eleven!"

"Aww, you shouldn't have!" He twirls his hair around his finger.

"Gotta feed my baby girl right."

"Alright, you're done." Schlatt announces, before bending down to grab a handful of the meat just above your knees before throwing you over his shoulder and tucking your bags under his other arm.

"Jonathan! You put me down right now!"

"No."

"People are staring!" You whisper shout.

"You called me 'baby girl' 'n the first five finger-fuckin' seconds of our first face to face conversation in three months instead of kissin' me, 'm not puttin' you down."

The walk back to his car consisted of kicking your legs, lots of people staring, a surprising amount of awing, Schlatt having to readjust your clothes every two to three seconds just so you'd keep a semblance of your dignity, and a security guard even opened the door for him!

I mean- this man could have legitimately been kidnapping you, and nobody even *attempted* to help you!

But, then again, you weren't really putting up *much* of a fight.

Once you reached his car, he opened the trunk and shoved your bags in before sauntering round to the passenger's side.

After he so chivalrously opened the door for you, he plopped you down into the seat from your perch on his shoulder, making sure to hold your head so you wouldn't bang it before he placed one hand on the dash and the other on the head rest.

He leaned you back slowly, playfully, before finally accepting his kiss from you.

It was nice.

It re-awoke the butterflies in your tummy that seemingly crisped up and died whenever he wasn't around.

After the extraordinarily drawn out kiss, you embarked on the scenic drive to Schlatt's house, where you found yourself having the first 'argument' with him in the months you hadn't seen each other.

"Where're you stayin'?"

"I booked a hotel-"

"Bull-fucking-shit I'm lettin' you stay at a fuckin' hotel, hotels are good for nothin'. You sleep in my room."

"But I paid money for that hotel room?"

"Ok? I'll pay you back."

"What?"

"Anythin' in these bags ya don't want me findin'?

"Wha-"

"I'm unpackin' for you, sweetheart."

"No, wha-"

"Ya jet lagged, go sit on the couch, watch somethin', I don' care."

Schlatt then proceeded to haul your bags upstairs and into his room, where, promptly, he shouted for you.

"Toots, I thought you said there was nuthin' in here! I've seen one of these before! 'S a.. fuckin' 'rose' vibe, or some shit?!"

"Don't touch that!"

"Whaaat?! Like I haven't seen your toys before! Like I haven't *been* your toy before."

"Schlatt!"

He also found your outfit for Ludwig's video.

"Heeey! This is cute! Gonna look like a little 50s detective more than an intern, but shit, are you gonna look adorable. 'S this your perfume? Shit, that smells good..."

He absolutely douses his own clothes in it

ONTO THE MAIN EVENT! (If anyone's still reading, anyway.)

You and Schlatt arrived together at 9:44 (which ended up giving you 2 points, whereas it landed Schlatt with 1)

After being presented with your first task, keeping a trio of toddlers entertained for fifteen minutes straight, you went straight into action.

You managed to find play dough, bubble wrap, a box of legos, some cardboard boxes, and some coloring materials!

You were the first of the bunch to entertain the kids.

"Helloooo everybody! Who do we have here?"

"Elijah!" "Rooney!" "Caleb!"

"Hey guys! I'm Y/N. Can you spell that? Let's see your handwriting, huh? On the board, can you guys write your names and then my name?"

Overall, you have an absolute blast with these guys.

First, they wanted to pop as many bubbles on the bubble wrap as they could while your phone counted down a ten second timer.

You laid out a sheet of the wrap before you all stood on your own section of it and danced, bounced, and rolled on it until the alarm sounded.

Then, the kids wanted to decorate their own boxes as cars that you pushed them around in!

A chorus of giggles and squeals could be heard emanating from the conference room from all the way across the building, even your own chuckles!

After that, Rooney, Elijah and you sculpted with the play dough while Caleb built with the lego.

Rooney made a dinosaur and Elijah made a lion, but you all gave extra props to Caleb who built all of you!

You were a little disappointed when the fifteen minutes were up, you gave each kid a high five and a ruffle of their hair before you stepped out of the conference room and closed the door (but the interaction truly ended after you pulled a face at them through the window.)

(That face definitely ended up as Schlatt's home screen.)

Next up, you were burdened with having to ensure that your backward speech is coherent and understandable!

Your key phrase was "Can I hold it while you pee?"

Surprisingly, VERY HARD!!!

You managed to get 'hold it' and 'pee'

But the rest of it?

Nada.

"Do people actually wanna hold guys'... you know... when they- pee..?" Daniel asked.

"Well- surprisingly, yes!" Ludwig, oh so helpfully, replied.

You immediately turned to Schlatt

"No, you cannot hold my dick while I piss."

Everyone erupted into laughter.

At this point, you were tied with Daniel in first!

For the map task, you were paired with Schlatt.

You two made a fucking powerhouse of a duo.

With his drawing skills and your knowledge that there was a map on the wall right to the left of you? You were UNSTOPPABLE.

And, with the last and final task, you immediately had to opt out.

The simultaneous, wet chewing sounds of EVERYONE in the room?

FUCK NO

You were not gonna be in that room for another *second*

But you didn't have to be!

You had already surpassed everyone else with flying colors.

Lud even gave you extra points for opting out because he needs a 'well-behaved employee who won't blow bubbles and stick gum to the underside of the desks.'

Schlatt did offer you some of his gum though, and when you stuck your hand out for, i don't know, a pristine, unchewed piece still wrapped in it's packaging, you got the complete opposite!

Just a glob of fluorescent pink, wet and chewed gum in the pit of your hand.

But, that's also how you found yourself here, in Schlatt's car after a long day, waiting in a drive thru.

"Today was great! You were real great with those kids, toots."

"Yeah?"

"Hell yeah!"

"I kept the lego figure Caleb made of me."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah..."

"I wanna fuck a kid into you."

"Schlatt!"

[pvffinsdaisies]

The Nordics as Taylor Swift songs

The UK & Ireland as Taylor Swift songs.

DENMARK: Castles Crumbling (feat. Hayley Williams) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)

“Once I had an empire, in the golden age. I was held up so high, I used to be great. They used to cheer when they saw my face, now I fear I have fallen from grace.

And I feel like my castle’s crumbling down, and I watched all my bridges burn to the ground, and you don’t want to know me, I will just let you down. You don’t wanna know me now.

(…)

Power went to my head, and I couldn’t stop: ones I loved tried to help, so I ran them off. And here I sit alone, behind walls of regret, falling down like promises that I never kept.

(…)

My foes and friends watched my reign end, I don’t know how it could’ve ended this way. Smoke billows from my ship to the harbour. People look at me like I’m a monster, now they’re screaming at the palace front gate, used to chant my name, now they’re screaming that they hate me. I never wanted you to hate me…”

FINLAND: the Lakes

“Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die. I don’t belong and, my beloved, neither do you. Those Windermere peaks look like the perfect place to cry. I’m setting off, but not without my muse.

What should be over burrowed under my skin in heart-stopping waves of hurt. I’ve come too far to watch some namedropping sleaze tell me what are my words worth.

(…)

I want auroras and sad prose, I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet, ‘cause I haven’t moved in years. And I want you right here. A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground, with no one around to tweet it. While I bathe in cliffside pools, with my calamitous love and insurmountable grief.”

ICELAND: A Place in this World

“I don’t know what I want, so don’t ask me, ‘cause I’m still tryna figure it out. Don’t know what’s down this road, I’m just walking, tryna see through the rain coming down. Even though I’m not the only one, who feels the way I do.

(…)

Got the radio on, my old blue jeans and I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve. Feeling lucky today, could you tell me what more do I need? And tomorrow’s just a mystery, but that’s okay.

(…)

Maybe I’m just a girl on a mission, but I’m ready to fly!

I’m alone, on my own, and that’s all I know. I’ll be strong, I’ll be wrong, oh but life goes on. Oh, I’m alone, on my own, and that’s all I know. Oh, I’m just a girl, tryna find a place in this world.”

NORWAY: Evermore (feat. Bon Iver)

“I replay the footsteps on each stepping stone, trying to find the one where I went wrong. Writing letters, addressed to the fire.

(…)

Hey December, guess I’m feeling unmoored. Can’t remember what I used to fight for.

(…)

And I was catching my breath, barefoot in the wildest winter, catching my death. And I couldn’t be sure, I had a feeling so peculiar, that this pain would be for evermore.

Can’t not think of all the cost, and the things that will be lost. Oh, can we just get a pause? To be certain we’ll be tall again. Whether weather be the frost, or the violence of the dog days. I’m on waves, out being tossed. Is there a line that I can just go cross?

And when I was shipwrecked, I thought of you. In the cracks of light, I dreamed of you, it was real enough to get me through. But I swear, you were there.

And I was catching my breath, floors of a cabin creaking under my step. And I couldn’t be sure, I had a feeling so peculiar, this pain wouldn’t be for evermore.”

SWEDEN: Foolish One (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)

“You know how to keep me waiting, I know how to act like I’m fine. Don’t know what to call this situation, but I know I can’t call you mine. And it’s delicate, but I will do my best to seem bulletproof. ‘Cause when my head is on your shoulder, it starts thinking you’ll come around. And maybe someday when we’re older, this is something we’ll laugh about over coffee every morning, while you’re watching the news.

But then the voices say, “you are not the exception. You will never learn your lesson.”

Foolish one, stop checking your mailbox for confessions of love that ain’t never gonna come. You will take the long way, you will take the long way down. Foolish one, stop checking your mailbox for confessions of love that ain’t never gonna come, you will learn the hard way, instead of just walking out.

Now I’m sliding down the walls with my head in hands, sayin’, “how could I not see the signs?” Oh, you haven’t written me or called, but goodbye screaming in the silence, and the voices in my head are telling me why.

(…)

Ain’t never gonna come, oh, you will learn the hard way now. Foolish one, sittin’ round waiting for your confessions of love, they ain’t never gonna come. And thinking he’s the one, you should’ve been walking out. Foolish one, the day is gonna come for your confessions of love, when all is said and done, he just wasn’t the one. No, he just wasn’t the one.”

[nojey]

reminiscing (fans 2)

dreamwastaken x streamer!reader

genre: angst pronouns: they / them word count: 2.1k warning(s): failed relationship, cursing

fans (part 1)

synopsis: after taking 6 months off from social media, you finally explain to your fans why you took so long and why you needed it.

go live. *click*

you watched as your chat strolled in and viewer count go up. your computer screen illuminating your face in the dark room as your webcam caught the nervous look. you were shaking your leg up and down, a habit you caught whenever you tried to calm yourself down. 

“hi everyone, it’s been a while since my last stream, huh?” you dryly chuckled. “it’s been about.. 6 months since i last streamed and at this point i think i’ve taken enough time to correctly word how i’m going to tell everyone why i decided to take a break from streaming.” you said looking down at the ground and fiddling with your fingers.

“uh, donation notifications will be off for this stream and chat will be on emotes only because i really just want to focus on getting this out. but if you plan on donating, thank you so much, really, it means the world to me.” you said finally looking at your webcam and smiling a bit. you read a chat and answer, “yes, i’m doing okay. i just have a big announcement i want to say after i tell you guys why i took a break.”

you took a deep breath in and started. “ over a year ago, almost 2, i met this guy through a friend and we started talking. it was very little at the beginning but as little as it was, his texts always made me smile.” you scratched the back of your neck. “and as time went on, we started talking more and more and he just became part of my daily routine. when i woke up i’d see a good morning text from him, we’d spend most of our day being on the phone with each other, i was even on facetime with him most of my streams but i had an airpod under my headset so you couldn’t really see it, i almost always fell asleep on facetime with him. i really fell for this guy.” you fondly smiled, looking at your desk, where your phone used to be propped up and you would see clays face just looking at you.

“then we started streaming together. ‘omg he’s a streamer too’ yeah, and a lot of you probably know who i’m talking about at this point but i still won’t disclose who it is. i uh, got a lot of messages from you guys telling me that i looked super happy that stream and i was. i was always happy when i talked to him. but along with those messages i also got a lot of hate, telling me to stay away from him. it didn’t really bother me because i always get hate when i stream with my guy friends; i was used to it.” you said, taking a sip from your water then wiping the side of your eye as it teared up. 

“and today... i’ll be going on the dream smp! with the man himself, dream. dream, say hi now.” you introduced, you waited a few seconds but was only met with silence. you grabbed your phone and sent him a voice message, “clay! you’re on deafen! introduce yourself!” you screamed into your phone. dream then took himself off deafen and said. “hi (y/s/n)’s chat! i’m dream, i’ll be showing (y/n) around the smp today and we’re gonna get started on their house.” you smiled fondly when you heard him speak. “yeah! what dream said!” 

so you both logged into the dream smp, said hi to sapnap, and dream gave you a tour. you then started building your house in a forest, quite far from everyone else, “i don’t want anyone bothering you or ruining your house when you’re not on.” he explained. you told dream you wanted to build a cottage so if anyone does end up stumbling upon it, it looks welcoming to them. so dream started building your house for you even though you insisted you do it together. “dream! let me help, this is supposed to be my house.” you dragged. “well we can both decorate inside and make it our house.” you started blushing. “i guess..” you mumbled. you then started adventuring out to look for flowers and some things to decorate the house with.

you started placing flowers down into flower pots when you noticed something. “dream there’s only one bedroom.” you mentioned. he slowly turned around to look at you and quickly turned back and placed two beds next to each other. “this is our room, dumbass.”

later that night you checked your twitter dms and saw many people telling you to stop talking to dream and that you weren’t good enough to even know him. you sighed and powered down your phone.

“i think a few weeks after that he asked me if i could fly out to him and we’d meet in person. i was so excited i immediately started packing and i met him. it was amazing! i got to meet the guy i’ve been in love with for the past few months. i think it may have been a year already. but yeah, i finally got to meet him and being in his arms was the best feeling in the world, i felt so safe being with him.”

“it was the day after that, when he asked me on a date and i, of course, said yes. like who would say no to the person they fell in love with... so we went on a date and at the end of it we were just sitting on top of the hood of the car, eating dinner, watching the sunset and talking about a future we wanted together. and it may seem like we were moving fast but i knew 7 months into talking to him that he felt the same way about me. no matter if either of us disclosed it. i could tell and i knew he knew the same about me. then i went home and everything was perfect, i wasn’t his girlfriend yet though because we wanted to wait a bit.”

“that’s when everything went downhill, i think” you looked up to try to stop the tears from going down your face, but they fell anyways so you just let it be.

“we started streaming more and more and i started getting more hate than i usually got, this time getting death threats, people threatening to leak my address if i didn’t stop being friends with him. it was crazy but i was willing to endure it all for him. who cares what people on the internet are going to say to me? i really didn’t because i was happy enough with him that, that happiness overcame whatever type of hate i was getting.” tears kept falling from your eyes but you didn’t bother to wipe it, knowing it would just keep happening.

“dude you’re so annoying! you definitely cheated!” you screamed as you died. through your headset you could hear clay wheezing. “there was no way i was cheating!” he said through his laughs. “ask my chat, they saw the whole thing.” you breathed out, not wanting to believe him till a dono was sent to you, “yeah, (y/n) you just suck at this game,” you gasped, your jaw hanging then you started pouting. it was clipped and one of your viewers sent it to dream. he suddenly started laughing harder and you asked him why he was laughing, with a pout still on your face. “even your chat knows i didn’t cheat!” you started laughing too, till you read a message in the chat saying, “ew, their laugh is ugly. i don’t know why dream likes them.” you stopped laughing but kept a fake smile on your face.

“then he called me and he told me that he didn’t think we should be dating anymore, or even be friends. and i think it was because he saw the hate i was getting and he didn’t like that. he told me a different reason as to why he didn’t think we should date anymore but i didn’t believe it, but i let him go. because i was not going to force him to be with me if he really did mean it. “ you said, sniffling after so you didn’t sound too congested as you spoke.

after you hung up, you curled into a ball and cried. you cried, and cried, and cried. the feeling in your chest hurting more than you could ever imagine. you just lost the guy you wanted to marry, the guy you had spent over a year going to because of your problems, the guys you saw having kids with, the guy that made everything worth it. he was the only person on your mind as the pain in your chest grew. you tweeted and powered your phone off straight after. you didn’t want anyone messaging you asking what was wrong, knowing your friends they would do that. 

“so the reason i took a break from streaming was because of that. because i resented the people that sent me hate so much i couldn’t bring myself to stream. i didn’t resent them because they sent me hate. i resent them because the hate they sent me caused the guy i really wanted to be with to make me believe he didn’t love me like i love him.” now, you were sobbing, letting your cry’s out because you had been holding them in for too long. 

it had been a few months and you were on snapchat, seeing that you had a memory a year ago today, you checked it. “i think i literally met my soulmate.” with a picture of you and clay in a discord call. your breath got caught in your throat and your breathing became labored. your eyes started stinging as the tears started falling. it’s happening again, all the pain from the day you stopped talking to him came back and once again, you were crying into your hands and you couldn’t stop.

“i had always known that becoming a streamer i would get hate, but i never thought that i would get enough hate to prevent a relationship i really wanted to work. now all i do is reminisce of a guy i wish could be mine”

“streaming has brought me so many opportunities and i am so grateful for everything you guys have done for me, and for me to be able to do something i love and make money from it is insane to me. you guys have given me everything i ever wanted in life up until that point and i am so grateful and appreciative of that. you guys gave me friendships that i will never lose and never forget. so many of you have told me that i’ve saved you and changed your lives but trust me when i say you guys have saved me and changed my life too. i hope i repaid you back by making you smile, being your comfort streamer, and being a support system for each of you. but i think this is my end of the road. i fucking love streaming, i love you guys. but every time i click that “go live” button or even try to, all i think about is him and that’s too painful for me right now. maybe in the future i’ll find my way back here but i can’t promise that.”

“thank you guys, so, so, so, so, much for every single opportunity given to me, for everything. i love you all. my dms are still open. and this was (y/s/n), signing off for possibly the last time. goodbye everyone.”

end stream. *click*

a tear rolling down his face and falling onto his keyboard as he watched you finally say goodbye to your stream. it all just felt like you were saying your last goodbye to him again. 

for the last 6 months all clay could do was think about you and how he wished he just messaged you and told you he was sorry and didn’t mean what he said. that he misses you and he would quit streaming if that meant he could be with you. that all he wanted was to feel you in his arms again and just live out the future you two planned together. 

but if you just said goodbye to your chat for your last stream because you couldn’t stand the thought of him whenever you tried to stream. how could you ever forgive him?

the thought of never speaking to you hit him once more and again, he cried, sobbed, screamed, threw things, and even then, he knew.. you would never be coming back to him, with every fiber in his being, wishing you would.

—————

taglist: @loxbbg @bozowrites @noahsfag @sparklykeylime @bi-narystars @axths @cheybaee @letsloveimagines @meatte @julesamen21 @classyunknownlover @bad268 @strawbrinkofdeath

[tommyspeakycap]

request for jack grealish one where he’s really upset over something and you’re there with him to comfort him, lots of physical contact being his love language and you being the only person he likes touching his hair ?

Comfort

You knew from the very second he walked through the door that annoyed would be an incredibly generous word to describe the emotions running through the Brummie boys head. You grimace to yourself, shoulder raising closer to your ears at the sound of the brand new front door slamming heavily behind him with a curse at the fact he couldn't get his shoes kicked off just right the first time he attempted it in the foyer.

The first game was a loss and just about all he'd gotten for the past few days was hate, stress, hate and some more fucking stress. He was exhausted. From Mykonos to Birmingham to get a bag full of clothes so he could meet Villa in London before eventually travelling to Manchester, his sleep schedule has been completely messed up and even when he did have bursts of time where he should have been sleeping, he had been laying awake scrolling through countless tweets criticising his every single move. Add to that the fact his body was exhausted from international duty and that he had wanted nothing more than to curl up by your side and let his worries melt away like he had last gotten to do nearly three whole months ago.

He doesn't know you're here. To the very best of Jack's knowledge, you were still home in Birmingham and he would probably have to broach the conversation of whether or not you'll be joining him up anytime soon, if ever. He lets out a frustrated grunt, but you know Jack better than anyone else and there's the thick sheen of his heart aching tears existing beneath his frustration.

"Hey baby."

His head snaps around to land his eyes on you the second your sweet voice meets his buzzing ears. The echos of Etihad still burn a bit of his hearing away for now, but he knows it'll return to normal by the end of the night. The tears that had previously been kept on his lash line, pushed back by his will not to breakdown for fear he might not be able to stop if he starts are now past the last line of defence, streaming over his cheeks as he crossed the floor at a pace that would send his fife rating into surefire question.

Your body makes an involuntary 'oof' as he crashes against you, his arms so tight around your body as he stops you from stumbling back with the force of his incoming hug. You don't think he's ever actually held you that tightly before, never with such dire necessity, with such urgency for you to be as close to him as he could get you.

The hair that's been allowed to fall loose from the band he'd earlier had it tied back in tickles the back of your neck as it dangles over the exposed skin. He mumbles something almost incoherent about how much he's missed you into your neck, pepping chaste kisses where his lips have landed against you in this hug. You wished you could enjoy that, but the dampening that has begun to occur over the shoulder that his head is above reminds you of the pain he must be in.

Leaving your childhood club is one thing, but leaving it when everybody else seems to think he's a monster for it is a whole different kind of agony. There were just too many emotions for people to see the kind of things Jack had given for the club and the huge opportunity he had left them with his legacy and with the money they copped for his record breaking sale.

"It's okay, Jacky." You coo, tightening your arms around you as he attempts one tighter squeeze to force the tears back into him. It's a futile attempt, his arms loosening but never dropping away from you as he squeezes his eyes shut and lets those sobs shake his body. "I got you, baby. I've got you."

There was such a mix of emotions running through him that made him feel like the world had just pushed him to the ground and taken the perfect opportunity to give his body a good kicking. First final for England in 55 years, then they lost in a penalty shootout he didn't even get to be a part of after a game he barely got to play in. Then a holiday he couldn't take with you because of work commitments and a sudden coworker needed sooner maternity leave meaning your holiday was completely eliminated. As if those things didn't dampen his spirit, all that transfer business had gone down and it was finally all hitting him.

His exhaustion had caught up, an inevitable burn out that could be messed only by the presence of you in his life. Some of this tears that stream down his cheeks and pool on the grey material of your t-shirt are ones of joy and relief for finally having you back in his arms again for the first time in far too long of a time. Jack vows he will never ever spend that amount of time without you again. Never will he let so much time pass before he gets to hold you, kiss you and tell you face to face how much he truly loves every single thing about you.

"You're my rockstar, you know." You announce, seemingly out of the blue ones his body wracking sobs had died to smaller sniffled and period tears streaking down onto you. "I've literally never been prouder of anyone in my life ever. Not only did you fucking smash the euros, but then you stayed so sweet and so amicable during such a difficult process. You handled everything so well, J. I'm so proud or you and I'm so, so happy for you." You promise, pushing him back so you can take his blotchy, tear streaked face in your head. The expanse of that face is coved in your kisses, pecked all over the surface until he's giggling like the Jack that you know so well, his laugh the most contagious sound you've ever been lucky enough to get to hear on a daily basis. "And I'm so lucky that you let me share this journey with you." You finish, landing your lips softly and perfectly onto his with a warmth and love he had been desperately missing out on for those last vital few weeks of his break.

"S' our journey," Jack mumbles in response against your lips, pulling back every so slightly so he can get a proper good look at the face he had missed so much in person. Your cute quirked eyebrows and confusion tainted eyes make him smile before he elaborates. "Not my journey, it's our journey together. All of this, just the two of us."

His words make your heart sore, flying up onto the space above you in pure glee. You had to admit there was a mild element of fear wondering if he would want you here or if he'd maybe be wanting fresh start, but that was certainly not the case for Jack.

"I love you," he says as you feel him tuck you right back into his chest with a content hum. "I love you too, but you need a wash."

Jack's laughter bellows loudly from his chest beneath your ear at your lightly playful and yet very truthful statement.

"I ran you a bubble bath for you. Bathroom's huuuuge." Your eyes are full of wonder like he thought they might be when he would get the opportunity to bring you out to his temporary Manchester abode. This is you would both stay until he could find a house to place some money down on so he can truly start to settle out the fact he's going to have the next six years of his life here in this area with this club. It makes him more than happy, being here. But something that tickles him in thought as he follows you up the stairs is that he'll get to experience all of this newness with you. You’ll get to explore the new area together, find nee places, making it home together. You had both known Soulihull like the back of your hand, now you could find new places to just be together. He can go house hunting with you. He'll let you drag him through the houses he probably wouldn't otherwise look so much into, talking about what room could be which and silly little things he wouldn't even have noticed.

He could pick a house with you that would have enough room to start a family in together within the next year or so, like you had been hoping to do depending on what the club and transfer season had brought. This brought stability, a team that would function well without a reliance on him if there were some things he had to sit out in order to build this family.

It had been, unbeknownst to you, such a pivotal part of discussions with the Manchester City agents. Jack made it clear he was looking for stability and trophies. He had done so much for Villa and now it was time for him to invest energy in bigger fights with bigger clubs that don't face relegation so constantly. He made it clear to the managers also that the was looking to be in the business of starting a family sometime soon. He was welcomed with open arms still. A club who wanted him desperately and would probably have caved to many more demands from him, not having a fraction of an issue with negotiated paternity pay and leave.

He couldn't wait to find a house and settle down here with you for the foreseeable future, even if things didn't look exactly as he thought they might've looked when you first got together as merely young adults.

"What's going on in that pretty head of yours, eh?" You ask softly, running your fingers gently through his tangled and sweaty hair as he stands there in the middle of the large bathroom. Jack shrugs. There's so much in there today, not really like usual where he could sort through those thoughts and keep his head clear for every day and every game he faces.

"Just stressed," he huffs, allowing you to help him out of the brand new away strip he had been given at the beginning of the day today for his first first game with the new team.

His muscles are achy and tight, body still stiff from the cold that the rain had battered into his limbs as you easily hook off his boxers and tug them down his legs so he can step over the bathtub into the perfect temperature bubble filled water that makes him heave out a heavy sigh of relief the second it meets his skin.

"Talk to me, baby?"

And talk to you he did after he sat down in that bath with you.

He leaned back against you, allowing you to lather shampoo into the hair he trusted very few people with multiple times to massage the ache out of his skull from the previous days tension headaches. He talks about all those messages from so many unhappy people, some even City fans who didn't even want to entertain the idea of him being there. He talks about his worry of sitting on the bench season after season, telling you he was hoping to god those tweets wouldn't be further from the truth. He confided in you some of his greatest pains; the concept that he'd let his Villa teammates down and maybe even made his family unhappy despite the fact they had given him nothing but their full support and unsurprising pride just like everybody else in his immediate circle.

You massage muscle relaxing soap into all of the muscles in his body as he just talks, letting the weight of the world off of his shoulders to dissipate like the steam in the air from the bath. Only once he has everything off his chest and the waters gone cold do you both leave the bathroom, wrapped in towels then into pyjamas where he wraps you up in his arms like he's been desperate to do since the moment he touched off for International duty months ago, and he talks again.

This time, he talks to you instead of just talking out every worry and fear he's ever had.

Jack uses probably the most amount of words he's ever used in such sensible succession in order to paint you a perfect mental picture of a house just outside the city with a huge garden, fenced in for dogs and kids with a pool and enough room for all three of those future kids to have their own room, even though they'll share at first just for fun. He paints a picture of you at his games with two sons and a daughter, his name on each shirt along your back. The kids will call Foden uncle Phil and they’ll love him just like you both do. They'll get to play with the teams kids on the pitch after the games no matter how tired the guys are even if they've been thrashed in a loss. He depicts the kind of life you had both wanted for so long, somehow always deterred by something until right this moment, the time feeling like it had rolled perfectly into place for both of you.

And Jack tells you about how you'll poke fun at him when he starts to get those salt and pepper strands of hair and he'll love you no matter how you look. Your kids will learn what love is from their parents, they'll pick it up and they'll emulate it in their own lives sometime in the future. They'll stamp out hate with the hearts full of love that you will both allow those kids to grow into.

You both fall asleep together that night, wrapped in each others arms drifting off into dreams of kids that don't exist yet in a house you haven't even looked for with a future that each of you wants nothing more than to grab onto with both hands.

Jack's heart hurts for the changes he's made this week. He doubts the pain will ever fully leave him and he hopes that one day his club will welcome him back to end his career on a high note with them. However, until then the pain will be dulled by the prospect of his new future here.

One he can't wait to get stuck right into.

[mistressemmedi]

Måneskin: "Different from whom?"

Greetings from Miley Cyrus - phenomenal numbers.

The streams of Zitti e Buoni are growing by the second, and ahead of Muse, on the top of the English charts, twelfth in the Spotify Global Chart. We almost tripled followers after Rotterdam (from 1.4 to 3.3 million, ed). Contagious and universal madness: T-shirts and merchandise sold out in 10 minutes. Like records, tickets for a tour that adds dates and expands on maps. They are even looking for us in festivals where the Rolling Stones have played. - Thomas

After the whole cocaine scandal that was started against us from France, which was later denied by my drug test, in Spain there people have been making murals with my face saying "No drugs". Some tweets made us laugh: «Congratulations, Italy! I have never been so sure that four people have fucked each other ". Miley Cyrus started following us. "You are great". “You are more” . - Damiano

From rags to riches - what a story

It was only 2016, and we were playing in restaurants, on the streets, in via del Corso (famous street in Rome). Damiano without a microphone, Thomas's guitar with broken strings, Ethan drummed on a cajón. At the occupations of the high schools in Rome (Kennedy, Virgilio, Mamiani) we had our first gigs and half an hour of fame, between those who criticized us and those who said "these guys are so cool". One of the rare times in which they offered to pay us to play - 50 euros each - we offered that money to those after us, in exchange for the chance to play during their time slow, as we knew there would have been a bigger crowd. We already understood then how it worked. That visibility was worth more than the money. We still think so ». - Victoria

The intimacy of rock - Choice of a genre

Music allows is this miracle which allows one to talk about very personal and private topics, even difficult and delicate ones. They are and remain deeply yours, but at the same time they become a confession that reaches a wider audience, and in this passage which is like a delivery, they also find their place in you, their elaboration. They are overcome, they are accepted. One moment it feels aggressive, one moment later a (soft) ballad. It's very cathartic. - Damiano

Against panic - The stage as therapy

I have suffered a lot from anxiety and panic attacks, it is a problem that I have worked on thanks to a course of psychotherapy, to my friends and family. Playing has helped me not to let myself be paralyzed by my fears, not to be limited in my private and professional life. I have learned to accept, to live with this side of me. I don't hide it. I no longer feel ashamed. - Victoria

This belief that only crazy people go to the psychologist is widespread ignorance. Nobody is born learned. And it is often difficult to understand why we are here, let alone the derivation and direction of our desires. It is a long and legitimate journey towards one's clarity. - Damiano

Essere fuori di testa – Ma diversi da loro (Be out of your mind - But different from them)

Already feeling a strong passion for something that is not a 'regular' profession but an artistic language, it puts you on a level where you're an anomaly, and while you're neither superior nor inferior to others, it places you in the condition of what breaks the mold but you're also being at a loss, leaving it to you to be bold and to take risks, hoping that they will pay off and land you somewhere. "What good is it if you don't stand out on your own?". You want to give it an aesthetic to your artistic dream, but to others it boils down to " You dress differently! You must be gay! ”, I'm 22 now and it makes me laugh, but at 17 it had an effect on me too. - Damiano

The beauty of being unique - Of believing in that and defending it

After all, we are all different not because we want to be alternative but because really no one is the same. Justice is being judged on what you do and not what you are. Justice is equality, respect, beauty. - Ethan

Fluid sexuality - Pride is freedom

We appreciate heels on men, we kiss each other, we have an open, extended mind, and we are proud of it. The horizons become vast, beyond the oppression of conservative families. With information on the web, knowledge is enriched and with it the possibility that minorities will be fewer and fewer, because majorities will be fewer and fewer. This will lower the volume to insults and bullying. If social networks can reach a village of 50 souls to reveal to someone, who is afraid of the darkness, that someone has felt that same fear.. There is no longer the need to give it a name, to define that "something" to fear, to brand it with labels that only limit you. Definitions have always had this effect on me. Gender should not even be considered in a person's judgment. Let alone orientation ". - Victoria

Sexism - A culture to be dismantled

Emma (Italian singer) dropped the bomb:" When I went to Eurovision, they insulted me over a pair of shorts. Damiano - half naked and in heels - was never criticized ". The judgment against women is constant, ferocious, and demeaning (if I have a lot of sex I'm cool but Vic a whore, where I show myself strong I'm a leader she is domineering and pain in the ass, who is successful because only because of her looks [and not the hard work she puts in]). As a male I am privileged, the harassment I suffer is not comparable to that experienced by a woman, the comments on my aesthetics are focused only on my aesthetics and do not insinuate anything about my professionalism and my competence, while women are victims of this kind of thinking in a systemic way. But I did find myself in a situation, out of nowhere, with someone who, pulling close to her for a selfie, started licking my face ... "What do you want, did you ask me?" Consent exists, and it is a must ». - Damiano

To grow as a person - The only rule to follow

For me, to conform is the total opposite of educating oneself, and the asphyxiation of one's expression (of freedom). Fortunately, I did not suffer heavy bullying, to the point where I felt I needed to change to adapt to how others saw me. But the matrix of who I am and the aggression that marks me is the same. If I'm a kid who dances and loves dolls, then allow me the freedom to do so. I used to be a kid who wanted long hair and played with Barbies. My friends, as a teenager, looked my long hair and teased me: "You have to find yourself a girl with a short hair to make up for it". My grandparents took the dolls away from me and said: “Stop it, they're not for you” ». - Ethan

“I was six and I already could not tolerate the distinctions between masculine and feminine. I've always had strong ideas about how I wanted to be. I refused things typically defined as feminine as a child, and they made fun of me for skating, for playing soccer, for not wearing skirts, for giving myself the chance to be as I wanted to be. I suffered a little, as I was bullied, but I had courage to stay true to myself, and today thanks to that courage I know that I could have been much more hurt, or I would have risked leaving the most important decision to others: the one about being just me". - Victoria

Love - music and girlfriends

I've been married to music for the past 20 years. I cannot wait to celebrate our golden wedding anniversary. - Ethan

Everyone goes through their own experiences, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but it's never other people's business." - Thomas

When, for the first time, I developed feelings and attraction for a girl it was a bit disorienting because I had never had the courage to go beyond the limitations I had imposed on myself. For society, being heterosexual is the norm and therefore often one automatically pegs himself in that way, giving up the freedom to experience many different shades and facets of love. Once I got over the initial insecurity of having to question one's own certainties, I lived my sexuality in a very natural and free way, as it should be for everyone. - Victoria

I had paparazzi under my house morning and night. So, after four years of relationship, I finally revealed her name. I still have the paparazzi under my house morning and night, but at least I don't have to hide anything anymore. - Damiano

The value of the group - Protecting each other

But the real relationship, the real family, is between us. Our band. We believed in it from the first day, even before calling ourselves Måneskin (moonlight in Danish), even before Ethan drew a giant moon, on the poster for our first concert. We share everything, even the pain of the tragedy of Seid Visin, who committed suicide at 20 because he was a victim of racism. Being a group is what we should all do together: stay united and not retreat in the slightest in the face of abuses generated by a distorted vision of someone "being different|. - Thomas

Non ho l’età – like Gigliola (It references Gigliola Cinquetti who won both Sanremo and Eurovision with her song "Non ho l’età" which translates to Not old enough)

Before us, the only one to win Sanremo and Eurovision together was Gigliola Cinquetti (in 1964). Is there is something for which I feel I am not yet old enough for? No, honestly no. Maybe for kids. I'll be honest, I'm not enough to be a dad. - Damiano

Reached the sky - What fears still remain

We are more than in the dream, we have conquered the dream. To fly high this high, there is the risk is to fall and get hurt, but we will try not to end up like Icarus, who burns his wings with the sun. Everything is in our hands. And this - somewhat presumptuously - reassures us rather than frighten us ". - Damiano

(ORIGINAL INTERVIEW IN ITALIAN)

[Please note that I have changed some words or structure sentence, trying to make it so that the interview made more sense lol - I skipped the first two paragraphs, which was basically the interviewer gushing over how pretty the band is lmao (relatable).

Any mistakes in the translation are sorely mine, nothing was proofread, so apologies in advance]

[solarsleepless]

Hello good sir.

Please rant to me about avian hybrid/ Lion hybrid/ enderman hybrid c!Niki headcanons and au's. I NEED MORE of your c!niki banter cs I have already read your fics 3times over and over again.

SHJHJSHJSHJSHJSH GIVE ME GENDER EUPHORIA AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

i'll give some hcs for each

Avian Niki

niki is either a crow hybrid or an angel hybrid. on one hand crow niki is funny to me on the other hand badass angel

her feathers, ironically, stay white during her 'villain' arc because yaknow symbolism

when she was going out with puffy, she'd let puffy preen them

because she was the only other winged hybrid, quackity trusted her to preen his own wings

in return he preened hers while she was in jail

she used to fly with puffy because love <3

during her isolation arc, she takes out feathers as an unhealthy coping mechanism, reasoning to herself that there's no need to preen if she doesn't have any feathers left (yes it's morbid)

eventually tho she just. doesnt even wear clothes for her wings

she just hides them underneath, which is of course VERY uncomfortable

they get worse and worse and ache more and more and she wants to fly so badly but she can't unless she preens them and she can't because she just can't!

when she joins the syndicate, the first thing phil says during their second meeting is: "hey niki didn't you have wings? what happened to them?"

his voice is tinged with sympathy; he knows what it's like to not be able to fly

she freezes, just stops moving, then starts to cry

phil is worried he's done something wrong, but then she reveals that she's kept her wings hidden under wil's coat and cloak all that time (note the symbolism)

he immediately is like "what the FUCK" when he sees them because there are feathers falling when it's not even shedding season yet?? also there are a few in places they shouldn't be at all? there are some fucking missing?????

long story short it takes multiple hours to get them back in place

niki passes out during it because it's been so long since she hasn't been in constant pain

when she wakes up, phil insists on keeping her there to preen her wings

also the syndicate has a long discussion about what happened and they promise each other and themselves to help her get better

Lion Hybrid Niki

she purrs end tweet

no but seriously this girl will purr to end and back

she purrs louder than ranboo which is SAYING something

she loves the scritchy scratches behind the ears. like REALLY loves 'em. she'll just- once you give her scritches she just. surrenders and leans into it. her purring sounds like a fucking jet plane when she gets the scritchies

she can roar, she only uses it to intimidate people tho

her self-worth is just. deeper than bedrock. she has no self-worth

she and puffy are working on it but she still... needs help

sometimes she gets phantom pain from her declawed fingers. she's found out it hurts less when she massages it, but she can't actually reach it, so she asks puffy to do it, and puffy can't help but feel guilty each time she sees the stumps

also niki hates getting her nails trimmed. like HATES it. even if she doesn't want them growing as long as they did before, the idea of something sharp near her fingers after what happened just makes her blanch

eventually tho she does have to do it

she hugs puffy while ant cuts her nails, and puffy whispers sweet, reassuring comments to her.

like

"you're doing so good. i'm so proud of you" and "we're almost there. you okay? we're gonna get through this."

sometimes tho niki just.. can't handle it. but she doesn't want to disappoint puffy either so she tries to just get through it anyways.

puffy notices her discomfort and asks her if she wants to stop. niki hesitates before nodding.

"niki, you being comfortable is so much more important than this. we can do it tomorrow, okay?"

Enderman Hybrid Niki

makes littol enderman noises. sometimes when she's stressed, sometimes just idly, sometimes when she's happy!

she has a tail because how can i not give her one

also she has pawsies and hands like magpiebur by @/nightferns (BECAUSE I LOVE THE WAY THEY DRAW WILBUR'S PAWWWS)

can withstand water a little better than ranboo, being more human than him

it still burns though

she just has higher pain tolerance lul

also can touch snow unlike ranboo because she's half human, half enderman

her ears and tail twitch whenever she's anxious

didn't really like eye contact, and the l'manbergians respected that (esp eret who didnt like people staring at their eyes either) until schlatt came along and basically forced it, so she kinda forced herself to do it from then on

unlike ranboo however, she doesnt go into enderwalk. she actually hasn't got an enderwalk because ranboo got it from nervous habit and it 'evolved' from there (my hc anyway), she instead literally gets hurt

like it hurts her to make eye contact

ranboo sees that she makes eye contact despite being an enderman hybrid and is like: "...HOW???"

she's just like "oh i force myself to do it lul. cause everyone expects me to anyways. it hurts after a while but its fine"

he just goes completely silent after that, then tells phil and techno at the syndicate meeting (while niki is admiring steve) not to hold eye contact w/niki because it hurts her

techno: "HEHH??? she seemed fine when i visited her!!" ranboo: "yeah she's been hiding it this whole time because society expects her to do it." techno, an adhd fella: "..phil where are the adoption papers-"

niki's confused by the end. why did nobody look at her? why did nobody maintain eye contact with her??? did they not like her?

but at the end phil explains that they thought that because she was an enderman hybrid she wouldn't like it (they're lying to not throw ranboo under the bus)

niki just stares, then starts to cry because holy Shit they are so nice

"nIKI NO YOU'RE BURNING-"

used to bite her tail as a way of self-harm. techno was VERY concerned when he saw the bite marks, but niki just lied and said that it was a dog attack

he knows for a fact it wasn't a dog because he's been bitten and his furniture has bites and it didnt look like that

more like that One Time when Ranboo bit him while he was in his enderwalk state

cue him connecting the dots and being like "...WAIT"

niki also really likes blocks. like we all know her city is weird in some parts because it's built with different blocks, signifying niki's jumbled up mind while planning to kill tommy. but in the enderman hybrid niki hc, its also partly because blocks feel nice and she wanted to feel different ones

her tail curls around the legs of people she likes. so far, it's gone around: wilbur, tommy n tubbo (those two specifically during pogtopia), fundy, eret, puffy and the rest of the syndicate

whenever puffy made her flustered she'd blush either green or pink. no inbetween. puffy was very confused and thought niki was disgusted by her at first and was all :(( before niki explained her wack biology

that's all i got for now im afraid!

[yesokaythatsfine69]

Saving Grace

Description: Levi faces off against the female Titan but because of another recruit he is hurt. You must find him.

Characters: y/n, Levi, Hange, Jean, Eren, Mikasa

Warning(s): cursing, fluff

A/n: Hey guys, I've been on a binge of aot. Also there's a lot of x readers abt the reader getting hurt and Levi saving them, (I've written one) so I did the reverse of that. Also b sure to check out my HC's from my last post.

Word count:

Song: willow, by Taylor swift.

*none of the gifs used are mine, all credit goes to the maker.

You gripped the reins of your horse, your eyes flickering to the trees around you. Hange spoke beside you, roughly pulling the reigns of her house just to keep up with you. "Levi said he would meet us there, y/n." Yes, you remembered that. You also remembered vividly how he hadn't told you goodbye.

"y/n take the others to rendezvous with Hange's squad." Levi had been riding alongside you, much like Hange was now. He liked to keep close, usually never leaving your side. At his words you turned, eyes wide.

"Are you sure? We're-" He gave you a stern look, as if to remind you that he wasn't just 'levi' or 'captain frowny-face' he was 'Captain Levi.' you gripped your reins tighter and nodded, turning away from him. This wasn't apart of the plan, but captain asshole had heard something from behind you.

You were traveling with Eren, who was at the time unconscious, and several other cadets. Levi had been on edge, which made sense, neither of you were with your usual squad. And your greatest weapon was currently lying in an exhausted heap. "Victor, you're with me."

You gritted your teeth in shock and frustration. Why didn't he ask you to go with him? Victor was a new cadet. Shy. Tall. Fifteen years old, and awkward. He wasn't you. He also wasn't Levi's girlfriend, though.

You kept forward, even as you heard both Levi and Victor zip away. Bitterness made you focused. Neither of you said goodbye, as if you hadn't known and cared for each other deeply.

Now, you were riding back into the woods, facing the opposite direction. This exact situation reminded you of the time Levi and Mikasa had chased down the female Titan to rescue Eren. He came back with a broken ankle. That had been bad enough.

Levi missed the checkpoint. You waited long enough, and made to leave. Hange stopped you and invited herself along. You didn't ask why.

"I don't understand where the hell he could be." You said finally, stopping your horse. "Usually you can hear odm gear if the woods are quite enough." Hange stopped beside you. The woods were quite enough, yes. A few bird calls here and there. But there was no hissing of odm gear or thuds of titans.

Again you gritted you teeth. "Levi!"

--------------------------------------------------

When Levi woke up, or woke up enough to take in his surroundings, he wasn't in pain or in fear. He was leaning against a tree, on his knees. The air was light, and quiet. Sunshine beamed through the leaves of trees, and a bit of warmth hit his face.

He blinked and leaned his head back. He was tired, and if everything were as peaceful as it was right now, he didn't see any problem in drifting off once more.

The warmth on his face seemed to caress him, like the fingers of a lover. The tweets of a nearby bird lured him into darkness, and he relaxed.

"Levi!"

His eyes popped open. He didn't hear what was said, but nonetheless the sound was enough to shatter the peaceful state he was in. Disoriented, he lifted up his head from against the tree and looked side to side. His brow furrowed when he saw nothing around him. Just the glow of green, the warmth of sun.

There was no one around him. The sound or call began to drift from his conscious as if he'd never heard it to begin with. Again he lied his head against the tree.

And again his eyes fluttered shut. Levi couldn't remember ever being this tired, or maybe he was just always this tired. He couldn't remember. He guessed though, now it didn't really matter.

--------------------------------------------------

"He went this way, so they can't be far." You were still on your horse, and Hange was riding close behind you. "Y/n, the sun's going down. If we don't hurry it'll be dark before long." You nodded, and turned to your friend. "I'm going to check just a bit further, then we can leave."

You rode further, and the more you seemed to go deeper, the more eerie the words became. You'd always hated the forest, it creeped the fuck out of you. It wasn't even the fact that titans roamed the area. They were just the icing on the cake.

You got off your horse, gently leading the animal. "Where the hell is that-" Then you smelt it. Blood. You dropped the reins of your horse. "Levi."

Running forward, you followed the smell. Then...you found it's source. Victor's body was on the ground, his head missing. The ground was stained with his blood, and mere inches away was what was left of a Titan.

The picture was hellish. But something has to have killed that Titan. You doubted it had been victor. You went forward, walking past the bodies and the carnage.

At first you found nothing. No wires or odm gear, no body or movement.

Then you turned and light caught your eye. "Levi!" You gasped, your eyes meeting his body. He was leaning against a tree, on his knees. His arms were at his side, blood soaked.

Yet, despite all of this Levi looked scarily peaceful, his mouth slightly ajar and his eyes closed. He never looked his height, really. Levi Ackerman seemed to tower among men in life, but now, now he had never appeared smaller to you.

The scene was horrifying.

You slide to where you were on your knees before him. You gripped his shoulders and shook them. "Levi!" You didn't remember crying but tears had begun to pour from your eyes in spades. He breathed, something like a gasp- and his eyes fluttered open.

"y/n?" You gasped out a laugh when he spoke, and pushed him into you. "Levi..." You pulled away, and gently pushed a stray hair from his face. His eyes were half lidded and you could tell he was out of it.

He felt like he was under water, and his movements were slow and hazy. You could see his disorientation in his eyes.

"why are you being so loud, y/n?" You moved to his right side, gently wrapping an arm in-between his knees. "I was trying to sleep." You hummed an apology as you pulled your other arm around his neck. "you can sleep on me, okay?" "Tch." Was his only verbal response, but he gently laid his head on your chest.

You lifted him up, thankful for his small frame and lean build. You carried him past the carnage, reminding yourself of where Victor's body was so it could be picked up later. "It's peaceful, isn't it, y/n?" Your eyes widened and you glanced down at Levi.

His eyes were closed and his head was still leaning against you. You swallowed. When you got to your horse, you put him up first, leaning his body against the neck of the animal. Then you slide in behind him, gently grabbing his hips and pulling him to lean on you instead. He turned his head, and opened his eyes, watching as you grabbed the reigns and began to leave.

His breathe tickled your neck, and his eyes heated your cheeks. Frustrated with his focus on you, you quipped, "As per the service fee for saving you, you have to make sweet love to me now."

Levi groaned, but leaned into you more, putting his head under your chin.

You met back up with Hange, (who would've made some comment about Levi's current position on your horse had he not looked so rough.) And began your ride back. His breath was even throughout the ride, but he seemed to remain in and out of consciousness, which disturbed you.

When you returned, medics helped you lift him from your horse.

"Don't worry y/n, we'll take care of him." A nurse assured you. "Humanity's strongest will be just fine."

-------------------------------------------------

Levi was swinging through trees, searching. Blood pumped in his ears, his heart thumping a mile a minute. An abnormal had attacked them, grabbing onto victor and disappearing, carrying the screaming fifteen year old with him. Hooking up his odm gear, Levi sprung after the Titan.

Finally, the ugly bastard stopped and turned to him, smiling as he bit off the head of the screaming boy, silencing him forever and spraying the entire area with his blood.

Then the Titan turned on him. Levi was able to take it down, but as he swung into the air, his gas emptied and he landed head first into a tree.

--------------------------------------------------

Levi gasped, raising off the bed he was on, covered in a thin sheen of sweat. "What? What's wrong?" You stood up from your chair, having been half asleep yourself. Levi's eyes were wide until they adjusted to the room. It was dark, and he was on a bed.

In a moment he realized he in his own room. He rubbed his eye before he took everything in. He didn't have a shirt on, and he lifted the blanket to check underneath. You noticed his blush, even in the darkness of the room. "I figured you wanted to sleep in clean garments."

Levi ignored that and instead asked, "Victor?" You were silent for a second, thinking how to respond. It was too long for levi apparently and he pulled back his covers and moved to get up. "What-What are you doing?"

"I shouldn't be here- I-" You grabbed onto his arm and pushed him back. "There's no where else you should be, Levi." He gritted his teeth. "Captain."

Immediately you let him go, your eyes wide. Then they narrowed. Without thinking you slapped him, and the man flinched. Hair flying to cover his eyes.

You two were silent for several moments, and the room was tense.

"Why do...why are you so..." You groaned. "Fuck you." Levi said nothing, his face still down. Why'd you have to go by yourself? Why didn't you take me with you? These thought pulsed in your mind, causing your head to ache. Why couldn't he see that he was more than just your captain?

"I..." But most importantly why couldn't you just say this. "I know, y/n." You blinked. "I know...and I'm sorry." His shoulders shook. "I'm sorry." You immediately softened and within seconds you had wrapped up in your arms and pressed against your body.

You shushed him gently, until you lifted his face up to meet your own. Then you met his lips, softly connectings yours with his. He sighed into your mouth, his shoulders slumping slightly. "I don't want you to die, Levi."

Tears trailed down your face, and your grip tightened. "I don't just want to be another cadet to you."

He flinched, and wrapped his hands around your face. His raven orbs pierced your own, and gently laid his head against yours. "I just wanted to protect you...you don't know how many times, I've failed to protect...the people I love...I can't lose you, too."

You kissed his nose, "You can't just look out for me, you dolt." Levi frowned. "You gotta look out for humanity's strongest too, ya know." Levi nodded, and you smiled. Then you kissed him, twisting your head, and moving your lips against his.

It was salty but sweet as could be, you tugged against his bottom lip and he moved into you. However, you pulled away and gently placed your hands around Levi's face. You kissed his nose, each cheek, his forehead, every bit of him.

"tch, y/n," he tried to chase your lips but you doged, kissing his ear. "Y/n." He tried again, and this time you kissed his chin. "Please, just-" again, he tried and failed. He sighed, and relented, allowing you to kiss his entire face, head, and neck.

When you were done you pulled back away from him and squished together his cheeks. "Are you still up for some sweet love making?"

"I think I have a concussion."

--------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading! Requests are open!

[prettytoxicrevolver]

Worried | Corpse Husband

Requested? Nope 

Warnings? Mentions of a toxic household, struggling mental health

Summary: After visiting your family for a bit, you isolate yourself out of old habits. However, after days of not hearing from you, Corpse comes to check up on you 

Word Count: 1,701

You were beyond shocked when Corpse showed up on your doorstep in the middle of the night a few days after you returned to the west coast. 

You had headed home to the east coast for a bit to visit your family and catch up after living on the west coast and not coming home for a few years. You didn’t mean to intentionally stay away from your family, but after building up your savings and getting yourself settled, you didn’t realize how long it had been since you had seen your family. 

So, you decided to fly back for a week and finally catch up with them. You missed them a bit but you were aware of how happy you’ve become since moving to the west coast and following your passions. You were finally able to escape your small town and be able to spread your wings.

Growing up you had always struggled with your mental health and your hometown mixed with family issues never helped it. It was part of the reason you felt trapped when you were growing up in your tiny hometown. You didn’t get as much help as you should have and the support you needed wasn’t there. 

You made it through thankfully, but when you got to the west coast you felt like you could breathe. The weight of everyone knowing everyone was lifted and you had more access to help than ever before. You felt motivated to work on yourself and with new friends who were more like family you felt better. 

Going home sent you back probably ten steps. Your mom had commented on your looks. Your dad claimed you weren’t doing well out west and shouldn’t try anymore. Your brother gloated about his new promotion all week. You felt torn down the whole week through subtle hints and tiny jabs and you couldn’t wait to get home. 

You had texted your west coast friends practically the entire time you were gone telling them how everything was going and how you couldn’t wait to see them when you got back. You and Corpse had texted every day and he was the reason you made it through the painful dinners and conversations with your family. He either sent you memes or inside jokes during the dinners and called you every night when you got back or had a moment alone to check-in. 

He was simply there for you when you needed someone to make you smile. He understood what you were going through and didn’t want you to go through it alone. You hoped you could repay the favor one day. 

On the flight back you were excited to get back home but you felt yourself falling back into spiraling thoughts. This always happened with your family, making you feel like you’re not good enough and that you’d end up failing. You ended up getting so into your head and falling back into a depression when you came home. 

You ignored pretty much all of your friends’ calls, texts, and even tweets about where you were and what was going on. It happened pretty much every time you got into your head about your family’s comments. You kept to yourself and didn’t let anyone in on what you were feeling. 

So you should have understood when Corpse was worried sick. He had been texting and calling you all week and when you come back that’s when you ghost him? He was worried he did or said something, overbearing with his messages, or didn’t help enough. He was wracking his brain for days after you had gotten home and couldn’t come up with anything. 

It also stemmed from the fact that he liked you. He’s liked you since your first among us game when you teamed up as the ultimate impostors together and you had the same mind as he did. You two played off each other’s energy and he knew immediately he wanted to know you. He knew you were someone special. 

So, when his best friend and the girl he likes dips, he’s concerned and that’s most of the reason why he ended up on your doorstep unable to sleep. 

You found it hardest to not respond to Corpse. The man’s electric personality, stunning laugh, and caring heart hooked you from the start. You had fallen hard for him and the fact that he was there for you even thousands of miles away while you were with family meant everything to you. But your brain betrays you and you wish you could tell him everything. 

It was a few days after you had gotten home and you found yourself plagued with insomnia. It had to be at least 2 am when you got up from bed to make a cup of tea and read a bit more of the book you had started recently. Whenever you couldn’t sleep, most of the time you gave up, not caring if you went back to bed or not knowing you could always drink more coffee the next day if you were too tired. 

Just as you sat down, a knock on your door sounds and for half a second your heart stops. You try to convince yourself it was something falling over outside but when you hear it again, sharp and clear, you nervously set down your mug and head to your front door. 

You pop up on your tiptoes and peek through the peephole to see the one person who hasn’t left your mind the entire time you had gone dark since you’ve come back home. 

“Corpse?” you ask when you swing open the door. The older boy scans you up and down before stepping forward and instantly wrapping you up into his arms. 

You react immediately lifting your hands to grab the fabric of his sweatshirt and pull him close. He pushes his face into your neck and it’s like every bit of stress is being relieved slowly by his touch. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers still holding you tight. “I was just worried.” 

You pull back at this, raising a hand to his cheek which he instinctively leans into. Your thumb rubs soothing circles across his cheekbone and you feel the flutter of a sigh leave his lips. 

“I’m sorry,” you whisper back and he shakes his head. 

You dive back into his arms, his hands now resting securely around your shoulders and you press your face into his chest. You stay like that until you know he’s not going anywhere. 

He presses a kiss to your head before pulling away and slipping his hands from your shoulders to your hands. His left-hand slides down the inside of your forearm, his fingers dancing across your skin delicately until they meet your palm. 

You try not to seem too eager as his fingers slide perfectly into yours and you practically come alive as soon as your palms meet and you’re whole again. 

Your eyes finally meet his once again and he offers a tiny smile before tugging on your hand lightly to pull you into your bedroom. You follow him feeling a million times better than you did when you woke up this morning or any morning for the past few days. 

He leads you to your bed and you fall down onto it with him crawling into it next to you. You sit criss cross with him sitting in front of you, a curious look on his face. 

“What’s wrong princess?” he asks quietly, reaching out to place a comforting hand on your knee. 

“My family has spent most of my life telling me I’m not good enough. Not supporting me. Going home felt like I was 16 again and trying to show them I’m good enough,” you say as tears start to fall down your face. 

Corpse moves at this sight, carefully placing himself next to you and placing both hands on the back of your thighs to pull you closer to him. His left-hand cups your cheek and wipes away the falling tears. You take a deep breath, looking into his gorgeous eyes and feeling calm wash over you once more. 

“I just don’t feel good enough. I feel like no one wants me and I’ve always struggled with how to talk to people about it so I shut down.”

“You don’t have to tell anyone, anything love. Talk when you’re ready but know I’m here no matter what. I want to hear about your biggest victories and your worst days. Your passions and your nightmares. But if you’re not ready that’s okay.” 

You’re almost sobbing at this point because you’re not sure if anyone has ever loved and supported you this purely. You had learned to do the heavy lifting of loving and supporting yourself but always dreamed of someone supporting you on your bad days and you were so grateful for Corpse to be that someone. 

“Thank you,” you whisper. 

Corpse nods and you give him a small smile. Your eyes search his for a moment when you notice his eyes flicker from yours to your lips. It strikes you how close the two of you are and your heart drops to your stomach and rolls around a bit out of nerves. 

His hand is still on your cheek and he pulls you forward and just as you’re an inch away your eyes flutter shut. Your lips meet his and it’s like time stops. It’s breathtaking like you’re certain you’re not breathing but you never want the moment to end. You sink straight into the feeling in case it never happens again. 

As you break apart you stay close together, resting your foreheads on each other as your eyes search the others. And then he smiles that rare, room brightening smile and you’re lit up at the sight of it. 

“C’mere,” he whispers and you fall carefully into his embrace. 

He wraps you up in his arms, one wrapped securely around your waist while the other comes over your side to hold your hand. His face is pressed into your neck and you know for certain this is going to be the best night’s sleep you’ll get in a while.

[unsaidholland]

what a time | t. holland

hello besties, this is a tom fic that has been in the making for a while! a personal favourite trope, tom and musician!reader break up and she writes a song about him! what a time by julia michaels ft. niall horan is used as the reader’s song, definitely go listen to it if you haven’t!

warnings: it’s mostly sad so grab some tissues, fluff at the end

you, like tom, didn’t have a very typical job. while your friends went off to university to get their degrees, you went on to become a musician. that’s how you had met tom. he dmed you one day saying that he loved your music, you said you loved his movies, and the rest was history. he ended up introducing you to so many people over the ten months that you two were together, one of them being niall horan. niall and you exchanged numbers wanting to eventually collab, but neither of you thought that your breakup would be the reason that the two of you were going to release a song together.

after ten months, you and tom called it quits. you made sure the media thought it was mutual. that was the first thing you agreed on when the two of you started dating - if you ever went public and had broken up, it would seem to be a mutual agreement. neither of you wanted the other’s reputation to be ruined. little did the public know, the breakup was anything but mutual. he had broken up with you. you never knew why. he had just said, “it wasn’t working out.” that was all he left you with. that was all you had for closure. funny how forever seemed to last just over ten months, right?

you sat in your living room with a guitar in your hands. you had so much emotion that you had bottled up, and the only way you knew to get it out was songwriting. after messing around with different chords on your guitar, you found a chord progression that you were really confident in. the melody seemed to come naturally, and so your phone began to fill up with voice memos of possible lyrics. 

i think of that night in the park, it was getting dark

and we stayed up for hours

what a time, what a time, what a time

you clinged to my body like you wanted it forever

what a time, what a time, what a time

for you and I

what a time, what a time

for you and I

the chorus came naturally, the verses came next, and before you knew it you had a rough draft of a song. after listening back to the song, you realized that it was missing something. you looked around the living room, sunlight peeking through the sheer, white blinds. after writing for two hours, you decided you needed a snack and a coffee. 

you walked to the coffee shop down the street from your apartment. the coffee shop that you used to go to with tom. as you stood in line to order, your mind couldn’t help but wonder if he came to the shop when he was in town? did he stand in line and think about whether you still went here too? you ordered your iced coffee and pain au chocolat and sat at one of the tables. you chose a table far, far away from where you and tom used to sit. this place would always remind you of him no matter how hard you tried. the warm lights brightened up the room, but it still felt dim without tom. the coffee shop didn’t have that sense of warmth and familiarity that it used to, that tom brought to it whenever you used to go. 

you watched as people walked in and out of the shop. you watched as couples kissed in line as they waited. you watched as people seemed happy. you needed to figure out what was missing with your song, and as you watched two people out on the street argue, you realized you needed a second voice on the track. 

later that night, you asked niall to feature on your song. when you sent him a very rough recording of what you had written, he immediately agreed. the song was raw and real, the song revealed more about your breakup with tom than you could ever say. 

•••

it had been two weeks since you released the song. what a time became popular enough to get you and niall a spot on james cordon’s show. as you were sat on stage and the band started playing the intro, you felt tears well up in your eyes. you couldn’t do it. you walked off stage where niall found you.

“come here,” was all he said. it was all he needed to say. he wrapped his arms around you and rubbed your back as your head sat on his chest. his heartbeat helped to calm you down. you and niall were just friends, but he was like a brother to you, especially after he helped you with the song. “let’s try again, yeah?” he asked you after a few minutes. the crew backstage just watched as he comforted you. you wiped the tears away from your face and nodded.

soon enough you were back on stage and performing the song. you fought back the tears throughout the whole performance, but whenever you felt the tears about to spill over, niall was there to get you through it. when he was close to you, he would hug you or hold your hand, and when he couldn’t he gave you a reassuring look. a look that said, “we’re going to get through this.”  your voice wavered as you sang, but the audience still cheered you on. the emotion that you felt pushed you to finish the performance, because as soon as it was done, the sooner you could get home and cry, cry somewhere that wasn’t in the eyes of the spotlight. 

the episode you were on aired a few days later. you couldn’t bear to watch it, but you tweeted about it to help bring some publicity towards it. little did you know, on the other side of the world, tom was watching it as it aired. he was having dinner at his parent’s house when his dad had turned on the tv to watch the late late show. tom thought nothing of it and sat down on the couch next to the twins. he laughed at the segments, but then he saw you. nikki, knowing it was going to be too much for her firstborn, instinctively went to reach for the remote, but was stopped by tom saying a quiet, “no.”

he watched you as you sang. he watched as you poured your heart out to the world. tom watched you fight back tears that no one else could see, but most importantly, tom knew that he was the cause of this. he was the one who called it off, he was the one who ripped your heart in half, he was the one who caused all your tears, grief, and pain. he could never take that back. tom was too entranced by your performance to realize that he was shedding tears. he may not have been your boyfriend anymore, but he still knew you like the back of his hand. he missed you like a child misses his mother on the first day of school. he needed you the way the ocean needs the moon’s push and pull to create waves. it took you publicly fighting back your tears on stage for tom to realize completely that he had lost something more important to him than anything. 

tom listened to you sing.

you clinged to my body like you wanted it forever, what a lie, what a lie, what a lie.

he wanted you for forever. all he ever wanted was for you to stay in his arms forever, but clearly he lost everything when he broke it off. at the time it all seemed reasonable. he loved you, but he didn’t want to lose your relationship to the distance, so he called it off. tom just never thought that it would hurt this much. being separated by vast oceans didn’t make it any better either. it made everything worse. he couldn’t just go and see you. he needed to fly out to la, find out where you were staying, and find a place for him to stay. and in the case that you did take him back, he needed to change his schedule to make sure he didn’t lose you again, because he couldn’t lose you, not again.

he wiped away the tears that rolled down his flushed cheeks with the cuff of his blue midtown high sweater. as you and niall hugged at the end of the performance he thought about how perfect life was when he held you in his arms. he thought about how he should be the one holding you in his arms. he thought about how he lost everything the day he lost you. it had been a month and a half since the breakup, and he felt like he had been suffering ever since. he needed you, that was the only thing he knew to be true. 

“come here darling,” nikki said, opening up her arms to wrap around her son after getting up to comfort him. he held onto her like his life depended on it. she rubbed his back and placed a tender kiss on the top of his head. 

“i miss her so much.” his voice was breathy, light and filled with air, yet heavy with emotion. “mum i can’t live without her, why did i ever leave her?” he sobbed into her chest. tom didn’t care if the rest of his family was watching him sob over a girl he broke up with, he only cared about you. “i really messed up.” he pulled away to look at his mother’s expression expecting disappointment, but only seeing a soft, warm smile.

“you’re allowed to mess up. you live and you learn. the important thing is what are you going to do about it?” nicola was always a wise woman in tom’s eyes. she always knew what to say and when to say it. not only that, but she was always a good friend to him, not just his mom. she looked into tom’s brown eyes that were only swirling with emotion. deep in thought, tom could only hear his mom’s words roaming around his mind. what are you going to do about it?

•••

less than 36 hours later tom found himself in la. he was on a journey to find you, and this time he wasn’t planning on giving up. he knew where to find you.

you stumbled into your favourite coffee shop as you always did. the coffee in la was different than back home, so whenever you were in la you couldn’t stop the small coffee obsession. you sat down at a table, opening your laptop to answer some emails and get some work done. you may have been sitting alone at a table, but you were comfortable with the space. 

tom had walked in, ordered a coffee and a cookie, and after paying and receiving his order, his eyes scanned the room to find you, which he easily did. you looked ethereal, he thought you were so beautiful despite only wearing jeans and a plain t-shirt. you weren’t done up, but he still thought you were absolutely gorgeous. he mustered up the courage to ask if he could sit at your table, and once the two of you made eye contact it was as if the world stopped for a moment. his chest tightened at the sight of you, and the knot in his stomach had turned into butterflies. he was more nervous than he was at any press conference he had ever been to because if he didn’t do well, he would have lost everything for good.

“please sit,” you said after finding your voice. you shut your laptop, taking it off the table and putting it back into your bag to focus your attention on him. “what are you doing here? i thought you were still in kingston.” small talk was never your specialty. especially since you had so much you wanted to tell him with nowhere to start. 

“i flew out about 36 hours ago. i needed to see you.” tom cut right to the chase. he may have been sleep deprived, being too nervous on the plane and during his layovers to even sleep, but he was thinking clearly when it came to fixing your relationship with him. he needed you back, that was the goal, that was why he flew out in the first place. “yeah, i couldn’t get a direct flight, so i had a layover in toronto. it was cool and all, but all i could think about was seeing you.” tom kept rambling, and as much as you wanted to stop him and get angry with him, you just let him talk. you needed to hear him out. you needed to know if the past month and a half had been hell for him like it was for you. 

“i’m the biggest idiot that could have ever walked the planet, y/n. i shouldn't have broken up with you. i’m really sorry.” he reached out to grab your hands, cupping them in his. his touch was gentle, but so, so warm against your hands. his touch was intoxicating. you would be lying if you said that you didn’t want him, but even after he hurt you, tom was all you wanted. “i need to make things right. i need you back in my life, i need us to get back together. i want you, i’ve only wanted you.” i’ve only wanted you. his words were stitching your heart back together, but you couldn’t forget that he had left you.

“i was scared, so i broke up with you. that is the most idiotic thing i’ve ever done. i didn’t want the distance to hurt us so i needed to break up with you before the distance could break us up, but i’ll give you anything, no, i’ll give you everything if it means we can try again.” tom didn’t care about the people around your table, he just cared about you. he cared about getting you back. the two of you sat in silence, drowning out the noise of the other patrons in the shop. the bustle of the city was suddenly gone as you focused on him.

“do you mean it?” those words were the only thing you could muster out. your mind was all over the place. you looked behind him, at the people walking around the shop, grabbing their drinks and leaving, talking to their friends. your eyes focused back on tom. you focused on how he looked so desperate for you, how he was silently fighting for you as the two of you sat in silence.

“of course i do. i love you y/n.” those latter four words cut the silence like a knife. those four words were the last thing you thought you were going to hear from him, but here he was, saying everything you wanted him to and meaning it. he meant every single word he was saying to you, that much was evident.

“i love you too.”

•••

about a month later, you were scrolling on twitter only to see an article about you and tom getting back together. though the two of you never confirmed it explicitly, it was quite obvious with how much the two of you were spotted together. a few days after he flew out to reconcile with you, you had flown back home to london with him. countless dates were spent before tom had to go to ohio to film his newest project. you were meant to fly out later, needing to finish a few meetings in london about your next album.

you scrolled through your instagram to see a photo of you and tom that he had posted. it was a photo that harrison had taken of the two of you dancing around in the backyard as it was pouring rain. neither of you knew he had taken photos of you until after. the captured moment became both your lockscreen and tom’s lockscreen, and now it was out there for the whole world to see. he had tagged you in it and captioned it what a time for you and i, clearly referring to your song. a smile appeared on your face. you were quick to comment on his picture. when he says “you can stand under my umbrella” but he doesn’t have an umbrella :// if he was going to have fun with this, then so were you.

as your phone blew up, you got a text from tom saying he was taking a break from filming and that he would call you soon. what a time for you and him indeed.

[unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin]

The Cleaners Princess Kenny Omega smut

Summary: Olivia Jackson was the bullet clubs Princess, Kenny’s Princes. When she got hurt and had to put up here boots he and Kenny broke up. Now she’s back, and he and Kenny have some feelings.

Warning: Daddy kink, smut, some power kink I think, hair pulling, just generally nastiness. 

Olivia POV

3 years. It had been three years since I made a mistake in a match. Three years since I was carted out of the Tokyo dome on a stretcher. Three years since I had to retire from the sport I loved more than anything.

I couldn't get these thoughts out of my head as I drove down the road to Daileys place. I had finally gotten cleared to get back in the ring, and just in time for a huge moment on my brothers new company AEW. I turned into the parking lot of the event, and no one was out there. For a better surprise factor I was going to show up after the show already started. I found a parking spot and pulled my phone out, sending a quick text to Matt so he knew I was here.

I leaned my head forward a bit, letting it rest on the steering wheel. Was I really ready to get back in the ring? I practically jumped out of my skin when there was a knock on the window. I looked over to see Matt laughing causing me to role my eyes. I got out of the car, crossing my arms over my chest. "Really Matthew?"

"Oh calm down, it was funny." He said winking at me. "You got your bag?"

"Ya, I'm the back." I did heading around to the trunk to open it. As I pulled out my bag I looked over at Matt. "Where's my other half?"

"Fucked up his knee during our match earlier tonight. He should be fine, but we had to change the finish tonight a bit." He explained as he took my bag from me.

"You know I can carry my own shit right?" I asked as we walked to the back door.

"You sure? You couldn't back in Japan."

"That was a gimmick. You know me, living the gimmick." I joked poking his side.

"Ya, your the best at Playing entitled little sister. You kept it up even after you stopped wrestling." He said making me huff.

"That's not fair, I'm not even the youngest."

"Ya, but your the youngest of yourself, me, and Nick." He pointed out.

"Me and Nick were born the same day!"

"There was like a 5 minute difference." My head swung around to see one of my closest friends Adam page.

"What's up cowboy?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest as we stopped to talk to him.

"The sky."

"No shot Sherlock."

"Liv, watch your language." Matt mumbled shaking his head. If you went off of looks allow you would know me, Matt, and Nick were all related, but I acted so different then them. I drank about as much as Adam, and often would swear like a sailor. The only thing I had in common with them was wrestling really.

"Well I should probably get going. Got to get ready for the big night" I said winking at Adam as I turned to follow Matt down the hall.

"The Doc brought Nick back to the room before you got here, and you can get ready in here." He explained before pushing open the door. Nick is sat on the couch with his leg up, Karl was standing talking to Gallows, but Gallows wasn't looking at me. I smiled and put my finger up to my lips, telling Nick and Karl to stay quiet. Nick chuckled, and shook his head.

"Hey Matt." Karl said, clearly trying not to laugh as I snuck up behind him. I ran a few steps and jumped onto his back.

"GALLOWS!" I yelled as my arms wrapped around his shoulders and my legs around his waist. He surged forward in surprised, his arms flying out to steady him.

"Olivia!" He said surprised as he looked at me over his shoulder. I smiled at him giggling.

"Hi." He just chuckled at me and grabbed under my knees and hoisted me up so it was more of a piggyback.

"Sometimes I wonder how your related to those to." Karl said laughing.

"I still don't think she is." Matt said rolling his eyes. I simply smiled as I jumped down from Gallows back (witch is pretty far), landing with a slight thud.

"Well, I've seen almost everyone. Where's Kenny?" I asked looking around the room, and I could feel the mood shift to uncomfortableness. I rolled my eyes at their nervousness. Me and Kenny has been dating back in Japan, I had even been known as 'The Cleaners Princess'. When I got hurt we tried the long distance, but it simply didn't work out. We split up, but we never hated each other. I still saw him when he came to see Matt and Nick in California.

"Really guys? It's been more then 2 years. Besides, I'll have to see him regularly if I'm going to be working with you again." I reminded them.

"We know. He will show up with Don at some point, it's normal to have him show up late." Nick explained as I nodded.

"Ok. I'm gonna go get changed, do my makeup, all that good shit." I said walking over to the bathroom they had. Once inside I locked the door and pulled my sweatshirt off. I did the same with my shirt and bra, but paused as I looked in the mirror. I had a couple nasty scars on my body from surgeries over the years.

My fingers traced over the small tattoo on my side. 'Livin the dream' was written in small black letters. Most of it was covered by even ring gear, so no one else knew it was there. Except of course Kenny. A dare one night after I drank a considerable amount, also the night me and Kenny got together.

I pulled myself away from the thought as I reached into my bag grabbing another bra, and my crop top version of a young Bucks tee shirt. I pulled my sweat pants I had worn here off, and pulled the ripped jeans on. The fans had always called my crazy Jackson, witch matched that I was always the 'wild child'. I then pulled out my old leather jacket. It was cold and smooth, just like the last time I put it on. I had never dared to where it out of wrestling. On the back the word 'Princess' was spelt out in light pink letters that had a look of being attached badly. I loved it. It's Time to put on a show.

—————————————————

"What's the drunkest thing you've ever done?" Kenny asked both of us sitting on the couch in his room after drinks with the guys.

"Honestly? Probably my tattoo." I answered.

"Tattoo?"

"Ya, don't you remember? On my side. I got it the night we got together." I said pointing to my left side.

"I'm gonna be honest I only remember certain parts of it." He confused taking a sip of water.

"So, how as Kenny Omega been? Nice to see the cleaner back." I said shifting a bit and pishimg at the lose hair that had come out of the ponytail.

"Why does everyone keep saying the cleaners 'back'?! I've always been him!"

"Probably just waiting for the mean ruthless Kenny. I mean, you were the guy who would do what it took to win, and you did that against Mox." I shrugged.

"I guess really that the cleaner kinda died off when you left." He admitted. "I mean, I had put a lot of time in making us the 'power couple' of the wrestling world."

"Lest be honest, we were the hottest couple. Plus I bet people are already wondering on twitter." I said pulling my phone out to open twitter. I had about a million notifications and as I clicked through them until I found one that stopped me. It read: Kenny's princess is back!! I bet she's calling his daddy tonight 😉

I felt a blush creep up my neck, and practically jumped when I felt Kenny's breath on my neck. "Well look at that. You were right." I'm sure it could look like he was just reading the tweet for the hell of it, but I could hear the change in his voice. I get his hands on my waist as he turned me towards him, our faces inches apart.

"I don't think I told you how much I've missed seeing you in the ring." He whispered, thumbs rubbing at my sides. "Did you miss me?"

"Depends on the part." I whispered, my hand moving up to his hair, and I gripped it lightly. "I missed playing with your long hair," I let my hands move along his arms to his fingers, "I've missed your muscle, and these fingers." I mumbled running my hand on them. "And I've course this." I whispered as o reached down and palmed his dick, and I could feel it was rock hard.

He groaned out and pulled me into a rough kiss that had our teeth clashing together. We continued to make out as my hands went back to his hair, pulling lightly now and again. When he finally pulled away we were both breathing heavily. "You know your a teas right?"

"What do you mean?" I asked turning my head in confusion.

"This damn jacket. Last I checked you were The Cleaners Princess anymore." He whispered in his rough voice. He leaned forward a bit to nip at my neck.

"Maybe I miss being your princess."

"Well, I may just have some great news, there is an audition for that exact spot." He whispered pulling jacket from my shoulders slowly.

"What do I have to do?"

'Make the king feel good." I knew immediately what that meant, and slid from the couch to the ground letting out a small sound of pain when I hit the ground. "Careful babe. You will be making those sounds a bit later."

I reached forward and undid his pants and with his help pulled his jeans and boxers. His length stood tall and hard in front of me, the head an angry red. I looked up at him as he gave me a nod and I reached forward. As my hand wrapped around he moaned out. I ran my hand up and down it a bit before Kenny grabbed me by the hair. You better get sucking baby."

He lead me with my hair as my mouth wrapped around his tip. I recognized the taste, witch caused me to moan out, making him moan from the feeling. He lead me up and down for a bit, and I could feel him trying not to thrust up. "Fuck it." He mumbled pulling me off him and yanking me to his lap. He reached up and didn't even Try taking my shirt and bra off before he just ripped it. "Get your god damn pants off." He growled into my ear. I stood up quickly pulling them off, and when I looked back Kenny was waiting.

I crawled back into his lap, making him hold my hips. "Rode me slut." He whispered, making me shudder. He hadn't prepared me at all, so as I snuck down I could tell I was tight, but clearly didn't care. Once I bottomed out is at for a moment, trying to catch my breath. He leans forward his breath on my ear. "Bounce bitch."

Immediate I started riding him like I would die if I stoped. "Fuck, Kenny!" I moaned as I bounced. I get his mouth take one of my buds into his mouth as he sucked harshly.

"Let's use the right name. You've done this before." He said sternly. I could feel my climax coming, and knew he wouldn't let me off that easy.

"Fuck Daddy! I'm so close please!" I moaned as I tried to keep up my pace, slamming down on his Enyo match his thrust.

"Fuck do it princess." He encouraged making me shudder as I came. My body practically going limp. He pushed me forward off of his lap to the ground and positioned his dock in my face as he started to jerk off. I watched as he got closer, and stuck out my tongue as he came all over my face. Neither of us moved for a moment before Kenny pulled my back up, my legs shaking as I got up. He reached over and grabbed some blanket and used it to wipe us both off.

"House keeping is going to hate you." I mumbled my eyes already feeling heavy.

"I think I'll survive." He said pulling me closer. Did this mean we still liked each other? I pushed the thought away, just wanting Kenny to hold me as I slept.

AN: I really liked writing this and though about make a full series about it. Would any read it if I did?

[tsauergrass]

Could you maybe please write a drarry thingy were Harry is photographer and he always takes photos of Draco

Hello! Thank you for the prompt! This strayed away a little bit, but still I hope you enjoy <3

***

It came as a shock. Harry Potter, rising photographer and charming darling of the photography field, had returned after a seven-year journey that spanned across the globe and was back in London, the first stop in the world tour for his gallery. The seven-year trip had begun right after his university graduation, and now he was one of the youngest photographers to ever had had an international exhibition of his own. The world doted on him; was fascinated and charmed and crazy about him. Award-winning photographers from all over the world complimented his photographs weeks before the exhibition even opened, the praises on the brochure awkward in translation but shining through with pride and awe.

In a way, Draco wasn’t surprised. He had noticed all the signs, as though taking them in from peripheral vision: Weasley’s and Granger’s tweets, a local interview with Ginevra, the brochures flying all over the streets, posters covering blocks and blocks of walls in London as though the sky had fallen in patches. Still it wasn’t until Pansy told him the news during lunch that it hit him full force like a train wreck. For a moment his mind blanked. Then, careful not to show emotions on his face, he picked up the remaining half of his Panini.

“Oh,” he said.

“Oh,” Pansy echoed. She was examining her nails. “What news.”

The silence was labored with building tension. Finally Draco snapped. “It’s been seven years. I’m not—I’m not effected anymore.”

“I didn’t say you were, darling.”

“I’ve changed.”

“I know, darling.”

“I don’t—I don’t fancy him anymore.”

“No,” Pansy agreed, “I’m sure you don’t fancy him.” She squeezed his crumb-covered fingers and pushed herself up from the booth. “Finish your lunch, dear. I’m going to the loo, and then we’re leaving.”

She disappeared into the corridor. Draco finished his Panini—not because Pansy told him to, but because he meant to—and wiped his hands on a napkin, waiting for Pansy. He cleaned his fingers one by one, carefully, taking care of the thin gaps between finger pad and nail.

A figure slid into the seat across from him. Draco raised his head, ready to tell Pansy to—

It was Harry Potter.

They stared at each other. It is rude not to greet, Draco’s mind supplied helpfully. What an opening.

Instead he said, “How much did you pay her?”

Harry blinked. “What?”

“How much did you pay Pansy for this?”

Instead of flushing, as he would have done seven years ago, Harry just looked steadily at him. “A week of Starbucks with her drink of choice.”

Draco scoffed. Too cheap; she was better than this.

“Draco.”

“Enough,” Draco said, briefly shutting his eyes. Seven years and he was still as pathetic. He started gathering his belongings. “Excuse me, I have to leave.”

“I haven’t even started.”

“There is nothing for us to talk about.”

“There’s plenty, actually.”

Draco pushed himself out of the booth. “Oh, shut your—”

A warm hand grabbed his wrist. Draco, shocked into silence, stopped. Harry tightened his grasp, firm enough to keep Draco from leaving but gentle enough not to hurt.

“Draco.” He swallowed. “Stay.”

Draco let out a laugh. “Oh, the irony. Seven years ago I said those exact words to you. I should throw your words back in your face.”

“I—”

“Shall we play it out, hmm? Parts reserved? Do you want to beg me the way I begged you? I’ll make it more theatric, I promise. This time I’ll leave right in front of your eyes instead of sneaking away in the middle of the night like a coward. Then again, maybe you enjoyed it, watching me get more and more pathetic until you can kick me off like a stray pup.”

Harry gritted, “Enough.”

“I bet you thought this was a grand plan, didn’t you? Come back and Draco Malfoy will leap right back into your arms like the slut he was. Bet you thought you were going to get a good fuck afterwards, didn’t you?” Draco smiled icily. “Do you still remember? Do you need a reminder, hmm? Near the end you always lost yourself. Draco, Draco please, please, I can’t—”

Harry was going to punch him, he could see it in his eyes. Draco raised his chin and braced himself. Instead he was tugged down, violently, which caught him by surprise—and fell back onto the chair with a hard thud, pain exploding in his bum.

“Stop riling me up,” Harry gritted, painfully tugging him close. “That’s not going to work. I’ve changed.”

“Ah,” Draco said. “See, I’ve changed, too. And now I don’t want you anymore.”

A flinch, a dimming in the burning green eyes. It was almost enough for the way his chest tore at the lie.

“If you think coming back will change anything,” Draco continued, “you’re wrong. I’ve moved on.”

Harry stared at him. For seven years Draco had not had the chance to look at him; now he couldn’t help but notice that his hair was longer, his shoulders were broader. His skin was darker, tanned from walking over the world under the sun. Harry looked like a man instead of a boy just out of his teenage years, green and knobby, which was how he had looked when they had first met. Clever, kind, wearing his emotions on his sleeves. Still a little shy. Good, a heart like gold.

Draco still remembered how good Harry was.

“I understand,” Harry said. He loosened his grip on Draco’s wrist. No, don’t go. “I suppose you don’t want the invitation. It was my mistake. I won’t try to find you again.”

He slammed a piece of paper onto the table—blue, blue like the sky had fallen in patches—and pushed himself out of the booth, and left.

Draco stared at the empty space in front of him. Then, numbly, insanely, he touched a finger to the paper on the table, clearer than the sky itself.

*

It was a card. An invitation, Harry had said.

The card was smooth, the wide expense of blue softer than the London sky. To The End Of The World And Back: Photography Exhibition. Harry was smiling at one corner, his hair ruffled just so—one hand raising the camera in front of his chest.

Draco traced the large, loopy letters, then traced Harry’s face, then traced Harry’s smile.

Harry had written on it. For all that he’d changed, his hand writing was still just as illegible. It was a good thing he could take photos, Draco thought distantly. No one would understand a thing he wrote.

FREE. Then, in smaller letters, show this to the guards, they’ll know.

The exhibition was to last four weeks. Afterwards it would depart to Belgium, to the Netherlands, make a loop around Europe and then head towards Asia.

Draco touched his fingers to the address, the time. Then he touched his fingers to Harry’s smile again.

*

It was even larger than he’d thought it would be.

The gallery was spacious, a whole floor cleared out for the photographs, partitions stationed in the center of halls, between tall walls and wide corridors. The afternoon light streamed in from the floor-to-ceiling windows and flooded the grey walls. Aside from the natural brightness, only small exhibition lights were illuminated, a warm, golden hue reflected off the glass encasing the photographs.

It was quiet. People were wandering at leisure; it was close to the end of the exhibition, and the crowd had dwindled. Here and there, murmured talks and soft gasps of awe echoed in the large space between the walls.

Draco didn’t know where to start.

He had never been to a gallery before. For two hours he had picked his clothes; at last he’d settled on a simple shirt, opened at the collar. It was suitable for summer. The exhibition could be toured in many ways: by continent, by timeline, or by theme. The brochure suggested three different routes, looping around the halls and overlapping, three colors condensing into one.

Draco swallowed and just started with the nearest one.

He would not lie and say he did not know why he was here, but he would be honest and say he did not know what he was doing here. He didn’t know what he expected. Find Harry and then—what? Apologize? Leap back into his arms and wail? Harry might not even be here.

Draco swallowed and walked along the hall. There were pictures of mountains, of seas, of a sky flaring into color; of old houses, a stray cat with its face buried in a can of fish; there were pictures of old men, two middle-aged women with their arms around each other’s waist, young boys grinning and little girls blowing bubbles out of a straw. All the places that Harry had been to; all the people that he had met. They had breathed, briefly, the same air as Harry had breathed. Walked the earth that Harry had walked. Exchanged smiles as Harry would have smiled at them, bright and earnest.

It was suddenly too painful. Draco drew a sharp breath.

Then he saw the photograph.

It took up the whole wall in front of him. A young man, walking along the British coast. He was half in turning, his face hidden, but still there was a hint of a smile in what little visage he showed. His blond hair was bright against the gloomy sky. There was something about the way he held himself, the way his one foot, submerged in the shallow waves, lifted slightly in the motion of turning, that said he was completely at home. That said he was content, perhaps even happy.

Home, said the silver plate underneath. To which you always return.

“Do you like it?”

Draco turned, dizzy. Harry walked close, closer, and at last stood beside him, looking at the young man in the photograph.

Draco said, “This wasn’t taken on your seven-year tour.”

“No,” Harry agreed.

Seven years ago, their first trip to the beach. Draco had been so happy, that day. He didn’t think it was possible for someone to be this happy. For it to well, for it to brim, for it to spill and to submerge, as gentle as the sea. He had been so young. He hadn’t known it could drown, as well.

“How can you say this,” he asked, touching a finger to the silver plate, “when you are the one who left?”

“I’m sorry,” Harry said. His voice caught in his throat. “I hurt you. I’m sorry.”

“No. I couldn’t keep you.” It was suddenly difficult to breathe. Draco inhaled deeply. “No one could. You cannot keep a bird that is destined to fly. You had to leave, and I was selfish for wanting to keep you by my side.”

“Draco.”

“And now?” Draco turned, looking at Harry as though for the first time. It hurt to see him, hurt to think that for seven years Harry had laughed and cried and grown into the man standing in front of him, and that he had missed that, that he had not been by his side. “When are you leaving again?”

“I’m not leaving.”

Draco paused. “What?”

“I’ve just come back.” Harry shook his head, turning back to the photograph. “I’m not leaving for a long while.”

“But your gallery. Isn’t it a world—”

“My photos are leaving, not me.” Harry took a deep breath. “I’m tired. Seven years, and I enjoyed every minute of it, but I miss home.” He smiled ruefully at Draco. “There was not a moment that I didn’t miss you. Every place I went, everything I saw, I thought—I thought, if only I could show it to you. If only you could see it now. I wanted to—I guess I thought—I guess I thought that if I came back, then everything would be…”

“Harry.” A whisper.

“God.” Harry shut his eyes. “I missed you calling my name.”

Tentative, dazed, awkward, Draco touched Harry’s arm. Drew him close. A series of steps in a dance that he’d known, that he hadn’t taken in years—folding Harry into his arms, Harry’s face tucked into the nook of his neck. Harry sniffed. He was warm and solid against Draco’s chest, under Draco’s hands, filling a space that had been empty and aching.

“Draco,” he murmured, voice thick and muffled. “Am I too late?”

“No,” Draco whispered. He pressed his mouth to Harry’s hair; his fingers tightened their hold on Harry. “You are just in time.”

[frecklef0x]

Mass Effect 1: Playthrough Masterpost

At last, I have finished Mass Effect 1!

I have heard some mutuals say they wish they could play it again for the first time, and you kind of can--through me! I’ve been posting little “episodes” of live-tweet-stream-of-consciousness as I play, and now I’ve compiled them into one post to make my life easier.

Anyway, here’s the first one, the rest are under the cut. :)

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode one

My ass looks great in this uniform, first of all

Impaled robo zombies, yikes

Cheap shot, Saren, smh. How will I pass my spectre test now?!

Why does he have robot eyes? Is he like, Geth-Turian? Why? Is he a robo zombie also? Was it the beacon???

Cool beacon nightmares, I'm sure this is fine

This Kaiden guy has implants? ORTEGA?!??!?

"Call me princess again and you'll be picking your teeth up off the floor" lol obliterated

The citadel elevators are very realistic, five minutes of tense silence huh

Ya girl got a PROMOTION and a DOPE SQUAD time to catch a TRAITOR

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode two

First things first, gotta go find the blue scientist to join the gang

This galaxy is HUGE! How many of these places will I actually be able to go?!

Only two friends at a time????? D:

Ah, a distress signal, let's see wha--A DESERT CENTIPEDE NOPE ABORT ABORT

Robo aliens? In MY Theronian mining facility? Its more likely than you think

Running over dudes in my Mako is extremely satisfying tbh

*runs over geth troopers* *runs over geth armature* *runs over geth colossus* ... *backs over geth colossus*

Working elevators in the ancient ruins ✔

Oooooooh man hope this nerd is gay

Wrex, a friend of yours? Nope, not a friend, too murdery

"ShAaaAame about the ruins Shep, sOooOo much collatoral damage, SHEP" stfu Council, "ruthless" was in the resume when you promoted us, 10/10 would shoot lasers through archeological digs again

When Kaiden calls us "ma'am" I am, uh, into it

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode three

Time to talk to the gang! Gotta meet the fam proper

Oh dear seems we got a shmee of racism on board, compatriots

Wow Raina, good foot-in-mouth moment with Wrex there huh...sorry about the eventual extinction of your race, lost this round of Pain Olympics

OH SHIT OH SHIT BLUE HOTTIE BIGENDER? THIS IS NOT A DRILL???

“hi I’m Kaiden wanna hear about my last crush ;)” “hi I’m Liara wanna hear about Asari mating rituals? ;)))” damn we really slidin right into the DMs no chill

Garrus: fuck rules and red tape amiright Raina: oh u right ;)

Guess I’ll actually do a mission now LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GO

Honestly rolling out with Tali and Liara is a mood, squad goals

Raina @ every corporation on Noveria: I would sell you to satan for one(1) corn chip

This reactivation puzzle is some shit

I see some Mistakes were made

We already killing moms at this stage damn BioWare

FUCK FUCK BENEZIA KILLED ME AND I LOST A FUCKTON OF PLAYTIME

THERES LIKE NO AUTOSAVE IN THIS BITCH FUUUUUUUUU

fuck fuck fuck god damn it gotta shoot a bunch of deranged baby bug people again god DAMN IT

Okay we killed Liara’s mom in front of her hope that’s fine

And we let mama bug go free because after talking to Wrex, Raina’s like “this galaxy is a little trigger happy with the genocide, good luck out there bug mama ❤️ be cool please”

I have literally watched the scientist in the hot labs get killed three times now

So far the debreifs with the council have not gone very well

“You let bug mama go?! How many generations until they take over everything???” “My money’s on two :D Place your bets now assholes or stfu :DDD”

Asked Liara if she was okay and she seems pretty Cool With It

I hope to one day return to Noveria and Death Star it into oblivion

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode four

Talked with Tali and this situation with the Geth and the Quarians is giving me an existential crisis

You “inspect” my beautiful ship? You got somethin’ to say about my crew??? Talk shit get hit, bitch I will kill you

Yoooo my old earth gang, yeah what the hell, I’ll help ou—oh nope nvm he’s a xenophobe, you hang him and I’ll shoot his friend in the face, thx for your time

Went to the citadel to finish some assignments, left tasked with twice as many

“dOn’T cUt CoRneRs” fear not dear Kaiden, I have a permit: this piece of paper that says I do what I want

Still with the elevators, I really cannot with this

“You make it all sound so...dangerous...” ;) ;))))))

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode five

Headin’ to Virmire to rendezvous with the Salarian team

A cure for the genophase?!?!?! :D

Oh wait oh no are we for real gonna talk about destroying the cure like Wrex isn’t standing right here omg

SHIT GUYS NO NOT LIKE THIS WREX PLEASE

Phew for a conversation that basically started with guns drawn, it went pretty well... “What Saren has isn’t even a proper cure, he’s just fucking with the Krogans at this point. Are we gonna stand for that? Or are we gonna murder?” “Damn Shep, you right, we gon’ murder”

Okay Ashley, go join the aliens, try not to die

Shadow Team!🎵 tearing through the base 🎶 disabling all the     defenses 🎵 (you gotta sing it to the tune of the Trogdor song)

We free the prisoners!!! :)

We shoot the prisoners??? :(

“Raina? How can you shoot them where they stand?” So it’s more merciful to let them explode? NAH FAM

This scientist is responsible for the mind control stuff? For Benezia? Fine     I’ll let her go but I hope she explodes

We did not learn our lesson concerning beacons I see

Wait if even Saren is worried about his mind control ship does that mean there are larger forces involved here?

Oh. Oh fuck

Ugh Ashley I EXPLICITLY TOLD YOU NOT TO DIE

(so we really never found any info about that genophase cure huh? disappointing)

Oh Seren, you dumb dumb. You absolute fool. Clown man.

When Raina slings Kaiden over her shoulder to carry him to the ship—mmmmmmmmwoooow I am very bisexual

Bruh Raina takes every council call and she disconnects pissed off every time

WAIT I literally just hung up with the council, ASHLEY is DEAD, and Kaiden needs a DTR RIGHT NOW?!?!? Boy, NO, READ THE ROOM

This has been a stressful day

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode six

Shepard will avoid her feelings and go to Faros instead

Seeing Ashley’s figure greyed out and her locker inaccessible makes me sad

Wrex and Garrus, let’s go shoot some geth 💪 

A mind controlling planet—of course!

Shep gets all her renegade points shooting capitalists

Saved, uh, about half the colonists

If I have one more bad acid trip I stg

Oh nope here’s another one

Shep needs a nap

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode seven

Ah, the council. Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.

At least Liara is good at pep talks ;)

Joker, you cockblock

Haha DUDE we airborne, you THOUGHT

Now that I am exiled from the Citadel, guess I’ll run some galactic errands:

o   Killed corporate scientists who though we would rescue them lol

o   Destroyed a bunch of geth camps helping Tali on her pilgrimage

o   Disabled a nuke and killed some pirates

o   Shut down some evil Cerberus experiments

o   And illegally traded information!

Okay time to get back on track

So we may or may not be flying to our doom

OH GOD LIARA LOVES ME!!! RAINA, YOU DISASTER, YOU DID IT AAAAAH ❤️❤️❤️

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode eight

You know what I love? Being murdered by geth armatures

All these Ilos ruins be looking the same

Security panel is only kinda helpful

Oh, luckily I know Prothean now!

“CANNOT BE STOPPED” wow very encouraging, thanks

After that super motivating message and disabling security, its time to go down, down to goblin town

Vigil? Oh word?

My girlfriend is GEEKING out

I knew something what wrong with that fucking Citadel

Vigil: information is power. Also Vigil: What does it matter why they do what they do? All that matters is you stop them

“non-essential” personnel die first, huh? GROSS, VIGIL (gotta be honest that hits different in 2020)

Garrus gets it, I knew we liked that guy

Okay, find conduit, save galaxy, break millennium-old genocide cyle, nbd

Ugh Mako you gotta do me dirty one last time I see, I hate this thing

THE CONDUIT STRAIGHT YEETED MAKO

The citadel robot says we’re doomed : )

This shootout is SO fun, seriously

Saren get it toGETHER

Renegade Raina can kill with a conversation apparently, well done then

Concentrate on the Sovereign—why am I gonna save a council that hates my guts, sorry, but I have a JOB to DO that you ACTIVELY HINDERED

Great, zombie husk Saren, just what I needed as I mull over the possible consequences of my galaxy-altering decision

GO JOKER GO

Humanity-only council seems…questionable. Raina didn’t love the council but this sits wrong. Couldn’t we just appoint a more diverse council, including a human?

Anderson seems like a good enough dude, so…we’ll see.

TIME FOR WAR BOYS, GODDAMN WHAT A GAME

[padfootagain]

A Very Rose Mistake (IX)

Part 9 : How You Crossed The Line

Here we go for a new chapter! I hope you like it!! Romance is progressing, the two babies are absolute idiots but we love them anyway, a little warning for some angst and… that's it. I hope you like this chapter, don't forget to tell me what you think of it!

Pairing: Harry Styles x reader

Word Count: 4403

I

Japan, 2012

Harry hated the fact that he travelled so much he sometimes lost track with it all. Right now, he wasn't sure of where he was going. Waiting for a flight in an airport in Tokyo, he wasn't certain of his destination. He was going to Australia, but to which city were they stopping first? He couldn't remember… Canberra? Sydney? Darwin? His schedule was too busy for him to keep track, and to be honest, as he looked at the lights of the planes taking off towards the night sky, Harry was too tired to check now. His life was going a little too fast, but it was a price he had to pay for a job he loved, and he was ready to pay that debt without a hesitation.

His bandmates were either on their phones or sleeping, their shapes twisted in the uncomfortable airport seats. They had another two hours to wait for their flight. And no matter how much he liked the aesthetic of planes flying into the dark sky, Harry was a little bored himself too. So, he imitated his friends, and picked up his phone, checking his mails and his twitter account too.

And that's when he saw it.

He wondered why Melanie was congratulating you. He saw several other tweets of the same kind, each of them making his frown deepen.

What was going on? What were they congratulating you about?

It took him a few minutes to find back your tweet that had started it all. And as he read the words, he was stunned, mouth falling agape and eyebrows creasing further above his green eyes that travelled across the screen over and over again.

I've been accepted to Oxford!

Oxford? Harry didn't even know you had applied to Oxford, less alone that you had been accepted there. Of course, it was a great news, he guessed you must have managed to get a scholarship to go there, which was more than remarkable.

But he… he didn't even know that you had applied. And now you were accepted?

Even if he felt guilty as soon as the feeling bubbled in his chest, he felt angry more than happy for you. Of course, he was happy and proud, you had gotten into fucking Oxford! But he hadn't known anything about it. Not a word from you. Not a single word. You hadn't told him you had been accepted, and not even applied. You must have been terrified, you must have been so stressed because of it, and so excited, and you didn't share anything about it with him. No doubt that while you prepared to apply and then waited for an answer, this would have been the most important thing going on for you. And you hadn't shared any of it with him.

There was a time, in your friendship, when you shared everything with him. Every single detail of your day, you told him. And he did the same. Didn't matter if it was as mundane as what you had eaten for breakfast. You told him. You used to have no secrets for him, and he used to have no secrets for you.

But now, your relationship had declined to such an extent that he didn't know about your career choices. Your inspirations. What you wanted. You hadn't told him anything about how you had felt applying. There was once a time when he would have been the first person you'd call to announce him a good news, no matter what it might have been. But now, you didn't even bother to inform him of being accepted to university.

And the reason why he was angry wasn't so much that you hadn't told him. He wasn't mad at you, he was angry at himself, for letting your relationship thin out so much along the months he spent away. But then, he had tried to get away from you. He had tried to forget you, tried to forget that you had broken his heart, tried to forget that he longed for you to be more than a friend, and you clearly didn't want the same thing. He had taken willingly a step back, placing himself on the outskirts of your life instead of being at its centre, and really, he was the only one to blame for it all.

But it hurt to see you make a life for yourself he wouldn’t be a part of. And as he stared at your tweet, he wondered if he had made the right call when he put distance between the two of you.

He wasn't sure of how he felt for you, or at the very least, didn't want to put a name on his feelings. But it hurt to not be near you. It hurt now to know that you were erasing him of your life. It hurt every second of every day to not jump on a plane and finally kiss you. And maybe he was a fool for forbidding his own mind to name what he felt for you, but he guessed it was only going to bring him more pain, and he didn't need that.

And he felt foolish for it all, because his life was amazing. He was singing in front of thousands of people almost every night, with this group of boys who had become his friends, and he was having the time of his life. And it wasn't that he didn't love where he was, nor that he was ungrateful for it at all. It was simply that… he wished you could be here to make every happy moment even brighter, the way only you ever could.

And for having you so far away, he was the only one to blame. He had tried to put distance between the two of you, and he had brilliantly got it right. Now, though, he wondered if it weren't all a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake.

As he stared at your tweet, in the airport terminal while strangers flew in giant planes that blinked red and green lights to the inky sky, for the first time, Harry figured out that he got it all wrong.

He thought that by pushing you away, he would heal. It would be easier. After all, people didn't always linger into one's life forever, some were meant to only pass by, others were meant to settle in for a while before leaving too. And he had thought that you were one of the latter. You were here for his childhood, and for the next chapter of his life, you would be gone.

But now, in this airport with planes flying off to the other side of the world, or maybe even to the stars, it seemed, as he stared at their trajectory aiming right at the moon… now maybe he wanted you to be one of the people who always stayed.

It would hurt to have you around. It would hurt so bad to see you be with someone else, when he still wanted, despite his own relationships, to be with you. But as he clenched at the fabric of his t-shirt now, as if it could ease the pain in his chest, he reckoned that it hurt just as much to not have you at all. Even if it was only to be your friend, maybe it would be better to have you still, rather than losing you completely.

The more he thought about it, the more Harry reckoned that he had been wrong all along. And now, all he wanted was to call you and try to repair all that he had broken.

As the last bits of hesitation lingered in his troubled mind, he pulled out of his wallet a little green marble that he carried everywhere with him. He played with it when he was nervous. He made it roll between his fingers when he was sad. He stared at it when he was scared. Because you had given it to him, and it reminded him of you.

He shook his head at his own behaviour. What was he even doing? Pretending to forget all about you when he carried you around across the world in his pocket? What was he doing?

He looked for your contacts on his phone and called you. He realized then that he hadn't heard your voice in three months, and now that the beeping sounds of his phone call echoed in his ear, he wondered how he had managed to live for so long without your voice.

You picked up the phone at the fifth ring.

"Hello?"

Your voice was a little distorted by the phone, but it was still yours. And Harry didn't expect to react like that, but tears burned his eyes as he heard you.

He hadn't realized yet how much he had missed you.

He cleared his throat to finally answer.

"Hi, Y/N! It's Harry."

He heard you chuckle a little.

"I know, your name was written on my phone, you dummy!"

He chuckled as well, chasing the tears gathering at the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand. Why was he even crying?

"I know, reflex."

"How are you? Off to serenade yet another country?"

"I am actually. I'm waiting for my flight, going to Australia."

"Wow…"

You sounded sadder now, and he wondered why. He wasn't sure how to react, so he decided to ignore your tone.

"I… I was calling because I saw on twitter that you're going to study in Oxford! That's amazing! Congrats!"

"Thank you! Yeah, I'm very excited!"

"I… I didn't know you had applied there," Harry added in a weaker voice.

He could see you shrug in the silence that followed.

"Reckoned you'd be busy. Didn't want to bother you."

Didn't want to bother you.

How could you ever imagine that you bothered him? Especially with something so important!

"You wouldn't have bothered me, you know?"

"I… I don't think I know anymore."

Harry felt like this too, and yet, it hurt so bad to hear you say it out loud.

"I… I'm sorry," he let out in a shaky breath.

"What for?" you asked innocently.

"For not being here for you."

"It's okay, you're busy with your career, and your songs and…"

"No… no, it's not just that. I… It's my fault. I… I haven't paid enough attention to you and I thought…"

But he bit his tongue, not really knowing where he was going with this. He heaved a sigh and ran trembling fingers through his hair.

"It's my fault. I'm the reason why we're not as close as we used to. And I'm sorry for that."

"It's okay, Harry. People grow up. People change. And we just… grew apart instead of together, like we used to."

"I don't want that. I don't want us to not talk. I don't… I don't want to lose you. And I'm sorry for letting you slip away. I was a jerk. I'm sorry."

"You're not a jerk. You're just annoying."

Under other circumstances, Harry would have laughed at that, but not at this moment. He dried his cheeks instead, and was grateful for his bandmates all being busy sleeping or playing stupid games on their phone, too distracted to pay him any attention.

"No, no I'm a jerk. I… I was being selfish and I… I just thought… Doesn't matter, I was wrong. And I… I'm sorry. I don't want this to happen again. You're… you're my best friend. Always have been. And I don't care if we're thousands of miles apart or leaving next door to each other, you're always gonna be special to me. And I… I want to be your best friend even when I'm on another continent. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me. I'm sorry I've missed something so important to you. I was selfish, and I was a dick. Can you… can you forgive me?"

He heard your sniffling on the other end of the line, but you let out a soft laugh soon.

"You've always had a taste for the dramatics, chuckaboo."

The silly nickname finally made him laugh.

"That's why you love me, lambkin."

"Maybe…"

"So… can you forgive me? I'll… I want us to be closer again, like we used to be. I'm sorry I ran away, I'm sorry I didn't make any effort. I'll try to be better now."

"It's okay, you're forgiven."

Harry smiled, resting his forehead against the cool glass, looking at the planes taking off again.

"Alright, then. Tell me everything about Oxford. What did I miss?"

"It might be a bit long, do you have time?"

It was a pretty sight, the lights flying up to the darkness. Red and green blinking as they flew towards silver stars that shimmered constantly, something solid and reliable in a world that changed too fast sometimes.

It was a pretty sight, indeed, to watch people flying away, and hearing your voice made it better.

"I have all the time you need. Tell me everything."

 II

Loch Lomond, 2020

 You were kissing him.

Your lips were pressed to his. Soft and cold after your fall in the water, and yet Harry's body seemed to be burning from the inside. Every single drop of blood coursing through his veins seemed to have burst on fire. There was electricity running through every of his muscles, all the way to the tip of his fingers. And yet his brain was like frozen, and it wasn't because of how cold the wind felt against his wet skin and clothes.

You weren't moving your lips, simply pressing them against his, your hands holding tightly the sleeves of his jumper, to prevent him from moving away.

What you didn't know though, was that Harry had no intention to move away whatsoever. After a few seconds of surprise, his eyelids finally fluttered close, and he shyly pressed his lips to yours as well. You seemed surprised, but when he moved his lips slowly, the movement a mere caress, it was your turn to feel all thoughts vanish from your head.

You weren't able to think straight, only to respond to Harry's movements. Your lips moved on their own accord to follow his movements, and your body leaned into his when his arms wrapped around your frame to pull you closer, and your hand left his arm for his wet hair when Harry deepened the kiss even further.

He was kissing you.

You thought that just a couple of seconds of pressing your lips to his would make a good proof of your relationship for your family, but it seemed that the situation had completely reversed, and now, you were the one melting in Harry's arms just as much as Harry seemed to press himself as close as he could to you.

When you finally broke apart, struggling to catch your two breaths, your eyes slowly opening, you stared at each other. You seemed to both be asking a thousand questions in the loud silence that had fallen in between the two of you. You kept staring at his green eyes, both of you seemingly stunned and asking both the same question although it couldn't pass the tip of your tongues.

What just happened?

You were both shaken out of your trance-like state by the voice of your mother calling out for the two of you with laughter in her voice.

"Come on, lovebirds! You need to get inside or you'll both catch your deaths!"

You both shied away, looking anywhere but towards the other as you obeyed your mother's words, hurrying back to the group, most of them laughing at your accidental bath. Looking at the two of you walking towards the group with embarrassed looks on your faces, your mother took her husband's arm, and with a happy chuckle, she sighed the prediction she had made years ago.

"Oh, love… I've always known those two were made for each other."

  Harry left you the shower first, drying himself with a towel and trying to get warmer by adding layers of clothes. His hair smelled like mud though, and he hated the feeling. Outside, the sun was slowly setting, creating strange hues of orange and gold in the autumnal sky. The loch was loud, the wind had grown stronger as the light dimmed out and it was shouting in the branches and shaking the waters now. Little waves crashed on the shore with an unwavering whisper, birds seemed to call each other from tree to tree to take cover before the clouds that gathered above the mountains would create a storm. From time to time, a clatter or footsteps would echo through the building, adding new layers to the natural melody of the place. And Harry reckoned that it was the perfect song for his thoughts to develop and twirl in his head.

What on Earth had happened?

You had kissed him. You had kissed him, and then he had kissed you back. He could still taste the remnants of the apples you ate earlier lingering on your tongue. He could smell your sweet perfume and your shampoo enveloping his senses. He could feel your heartbeat against his ribs, loud and vibrant and faster than it should have been. He could feel your fingers in his hair, and your arms around his, and your lashes brushing his cheekbones. He could feel and hear and smell every single detail from that moment by simply closing his eyes.

And he was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by a tidal wave of feelings he had spent years repressing, and quenching, and shushing. And now they were back, vibrant and hollering, and he couldn't ignore them anymore. He couldn't simply shut them off like he had done so many times before, to the point of even fooling himself that they were gone for good, lately.

No, everything was different this time. Everything had changed.

How could he deny that he was in love with you when he had had a taste of what it would be like to be with you? He had dreamed and imagined a thousand times what it would feel like to kiss you. The real thing was a million times better. A million times brighter, more intense, more… perfect.

How was he supposed to act like nothing had happened? Was he even supposed to act like nothing had happened? Did it mean anything to you?

Seeing all the guests staring at the two of you, it wasn't hard for him to guess the thought that had crossed your mind. Kissing Harry then, when everyone was looking, was an opportunity to show everyone that your relationship was real. But the problem was, your relationship wasn't real. And he had set up a rule stating no kisses.

He could barely breathe as all these thoughts, questions and hesitations swirled through his head. But most of all, he could barely draw a breath because of how his heart pounded in his chest.

He loved you. And this time, he had no idea how to tame the feeling that made his heart implode. Now that the floodgates were open, it seemed impossible for him to close them again, and the words and feelings he had spent years hiding were now resurfacing and he was unable to quieten them again. They had been let loose, and he couldn't hold them back now.

He loved you. He had always loved you. He had never stopped loving you. It had always been you. Before he came here with you, before you moved to L.A, before his first album he wrote about you, before he got his heart broken by somebody else, before he left the band, before he got to tour the world, before he walked with you in the snow while drunk, before he made you pasta in Oxford, before he missed you too much to stay away, before he went to X-factor, before he was sixteen and you almost kissed in his kitchen…

You opened the door to the bathroom, your hair wrapped in a towel, and you gave him a shy smile, nodding towards the room. The air rushing out of the bathroom was warm and smelled of your shampoo. Harry almost cried at the scent.

Almost…

"Your turn."

He nodded before grabbing his pyjama pants and heading for the bathroom. The warmth was even stronger inside the room, but he wasn't surprised. He knew you liked to shower with water so hot he wondered how you didn't burn yourself. The mirror above the sink was covered with a heavy layer of condensation, tiny droplets of water making it impossible for him to see his own image in the glass. And maybe it was for the better…

Throughout the entire shower, he washed himself without even noticing. You were still in every one of his thoughts, and he came to this conclusion: he needed to talk with you about what had happened. About that kiss. About the fact that you had agreed not to do this kind of things, and more importantly, that he couldn't hide the fact that it wasn't a meaningless gesture to him. Something had awoken inside of him, and he couldn't simply ignore it and act as if nothing had happened.

He didn't bother drying his hair, and let droplets fall down on his t-shirt, hurrying back inside the bedroom. Now that he had come to a decision, he just wanted to get it over with, let it all out.

You were lying in bed, under the covers, with a history book resting on your stomach while you were distracted by your phone. Harry took a deep breath in before walking over to the bed and sitting down by your side, his weight bending the mattress finally making you look up and notice his presence in the room.

"Hey," he breathed, mentally slapping himself the second the word passed his lips for being such an idiot.

You put down your phone and shot him an amused smile.

"Hi."

"Hmm… I was wondering… can we talk?"

"Sure," you nodded, sitting a little straighter.

"'S just… about… I mean, I think we should… talk about…" he stuttered, knowing he was blushing to a ridiculous amount, his heart beating so fast he wondered how the organ could sustain such a rhythm without exploding. "Huh… what happened earlier today."

"What do you mean?"

He rose both his eyebrows in surprise.

"You… So… huh…I…"

"I think my family definitely believes we're together now, so mission accomplished."

"Good… but that is not what I wanted us to…"

"I told you all we needed was to be a little more… romantic about it. But it worked, so all is fine."

"But we…"

"So, there's no problem anymore."

"Don't do that…"

You picked up your book, that was still resting on your stomach, and tried to hide behind it, in the hope that Harry would not notice how you struggled to breathe then.

But Harry tore the book away from your hands, and looked at you with a deep frown.

"So… huh… are we going to mention that you've snogged me or…?"

"Snog is a big word for what happened," you mumbled in response, crossing your arms before your chest.

Harry put your book away on his bedside table, as if he was confiscating it.

"You did kiss me. And let's be honest it was a… pretty… amazing kiss."

"Really? You… you think that?" you asked shyly, your voice a little lower than before, and your heart racing, but for another reason now instead of your previous anxiety.

An old and familiar feeling you had tried to keep at bay for years, but had never been able to banish for good… not with him… never with him.

He fiercely blushed all the way up to the tip of his ears.

"Hmmm… yeah… yeah, I'd say that. Didn't… didn't you… like it… when we kissed…?"

"No, no! I mean! Yes! I did! I… I liked it. You… you're good at… kissing."

"Thanks."

"Thanks. I mean… you're welcome."

"You're… you're very good at kissing too."

"Thanks."

"Hmm… yeah… so… that was… that was something that happened, and we agreed… we agreed not to do it when we shook hands in LA about the whole thing."

"I have to admit I didn't really think before doing it. It's just… everyone was looking at us and it just seemed like the perfect thing to do to… seal the deal and convince everyone that we're dating."

So… nothing else. Just one more move to sell the whole charade. Harry wasn't sure why he was so disappointed to hear you say these words, when he was well aware of what you would say before even mentioning the incident. Still, he felt his heart breaking once more as you said the words he expected anyway.

"Right. So… hmm… that was a one-time thing, right? Like…"

"Oh yes! It was just on the moment and… I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable because of it."

"Good. Yeah, it's okay, just… we had agreed not to do it."

"It won't happen again."

"Good. Good…"

Harry suddenly turned around and settled in the bed.

"Good night then," he let out as quickly as he could, eager to turn off his light and hide in the shadows the way you were breaking his heart right now.

It wouldn't happen again… he wanted it to happen again though. If he wasn't so scared of losing you, he would try to kiss you again right there and then. But he didn't. Instead, he extended his arm and turned off the light on his nightstand.

"Harry?" you called in a shaky voice, unsure of what to say first.

I wanted to kiss you. I want to kiss you again, right now. I like you. Not like a friend. Never have. Harry…

"Hmm?" his voice came out like a whisper, his back facing you.

You struggled to swallow the lump in your throat.

"Can you give me back my book now?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

He handed you the heavy volume without looking at you, and you were grateful for it, hoping to hide behind the pages of your book how heartbroken you were that he wasn't contradicting you at all.

Clearly, he didn't want to kiss you again, right?

*******************************************************

Taglist : @emcchi​ @fishstick-knows @eldahae​ @just-damn-bored​ @retrouvailessx​ @marvelstudies2020 @boxofteenageideas​@ponycake27 @horsesreign @xinyourdreamsx @jbluevelvet@notkeppeki @daynigt-dreamer-stuff @fudgeflyss @stuckupstucky@snek-shit @suchatinyinfinity@i-padfootblack-things  @buckybsarmy @heyohheyitsgabi@jigsawlover10 @emyyjemyy @addictedtofictionalcharacters @staringmoony@madamrogers​ @cronias13​ @stylesfics-xx​ @mellamolayla​ @mariaenchanted​@swtxel​

@tb-ctn

[itstittycitybaby]

Flirty (Lin Beifong x Reader) Part 4

a/n: episode 6 but Lin gets the love and comfort she deserves. also lin’s room has a balcony bc i say so :))).

The pounding in your head felt like someone was driving a drill through it relentlessly. You groaned, eyes slowly opening. The light made your head burn and the migraine you had worse. “She’s awake!” The voice was muddled and faded. “Bolin! Grab the water!” Squinting, the blurred forms in front of you finally cleared. Team avatar stood at the end your bed. Your parakeets were going wild in their cages. Their wings flapped rapidly as their shrill screeching sliced into your brain. “Azure! Ruby,” you croaked, glaring at the parakeets. “Quiet!” Their cries died down but they still hooted softly. “H-here,” Bolin sputtered, handing you a glass of water.

You almost kissed him right then and there. The water was cold as you gulped it down. Your throat was still parched but it didn’t feel like you were dying anymore. “What happened,” you grumbled, rubbing your head. Your fingertips touched a bandage at your temple. The slight sting made your teeth grit together and a softly hiss as the sting worsened. Korra looked apologetic. “You passed out during Lin and Suyin’s fight. Or after.” Lin. Your eyes darted around the room, but there was no sign of her. “Where is she,” you asked, shooting up from your bed. You wiggled out of the sheets and stood on your feet. The world around you felt dizzy. “Woah woah woah,” they all said, reaching out to you. Korra grabbed your arm gently to keep you from falling on your face. “You still need rest!” You waved them off, slowly regaining your balance. Korra let go of you and watched you grab your boots from the floor. “’m fine,” you muttered as you balanced on one foot to slid on your combat boots.

The room around you shifted slightly. You brushed it off as you finished putting on your boots. You needed to find Lin. Finding her was your priority right now. “How long have I been out for,” you asked, swinging your bag over your shoulder. “T-ten hours,” Korra stammered. Team avatar watched you, unsure of what to do. “Wait!” Bolin exclaimed, as you were opening the bird cage. The parakeets settled onto your shoulder. Azure chirped at Asami and Ruby watched the group cautiously. She seemed cranky and pecked at your shoulder softly. You couldn’t blame her; you’d be upset too if someone disturbed your master’s peace. “What is it now? I’m going and you can’t stop me.” “I don’t think we could even if we tried,” Mako muttered. You shot him a glare and he raised his hands up in defense.  “I wanted to ask you something,” Bolin continued, “How did you do that thing?” He pressed his fingers down on his palms.

Your brows furrowed in confusion. Bolin kept repeating the move and making a bubble move with his hands. The lightbulb in your brain dinged. “It’s a force field. Something I invented,” you answered quickly, stumbling your way to your door. “I really don’t think you should be leaving,” Korra called out as you were halfway through the door. “Well,” Mako grumbled, “We tried.”

****

It was silent. Your ear started to ache from pressing it up harshly against the door. “Probably resting,” you sighed. She pushed herself too hard. Your chest tightened from the memories of the fight. She could barely hold herself up from Suyin’s attacks but still pressed on. Suyin. Your lips pulled up into a sneer. Why would she use your actions against Lin? Why would she fight her sister? Lin was weak enough as it is. “She did start it,” you muttered, “but Lin must’ve had a reason.”

“Whatcha doing?” You jumped ten feet into the air. Azure and Ruby squwaked in protest. You swear your soul left your body from Opal sneaking up behind you. “Sorry,” she giggled, “I didn’t mean to scare you so bad.” You rolled your eyes, “Didn’t scare me.” The smile on your face told Opal you weren’t actually annoyed. Her eyes followed yours, staring a hole into Lin’s door. “Are you trying to visit Aunt Lin?”

You nodded, “Yea, but I’ve knocked and no answer. Door ‘s locked too.” “She’s probably still asleep then,” Opal answered. Or doesn’t want to be disturbed. “Really? Fight must’ve taken her out bad.” She didn’t say anything but traveled her eyes to the brightly coloured birds on your shoulder.  Her brows furrowed as she watched Ruby preen at her feathers. “She seems to...like you.” You tilted your head, “What do you mean?” Opal shrugged, green eyes flickering from Ruby to the pavement under her. She followed the cracks and patterns in the cement, seeming to trace them with her eyes. Her voice sounded lost and... sad. “She..seems to enjoy your company more...than anyone else’s. She seems...happier.”

The memory of Opal running out of Lin’s door and crying last flashed in your brain. “Oh Opal,” you sighed, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. There were tears in her eyes. Her eyes remained at the ground. “Look at me,” you commanded softly. Opal’s emerald green eyes snapped up to yours. They shimmered with tears and her eyes were a bit red. Squeezing her shoulder for comfort you said, “Lin is...complicated. Trust me I dated her.” You let out a sad chuckle. Your eyes wandered to her door again but you were really focusing on the memories of the past. It was all you were good for now. Being filled with regret and never being able to forgive yourself for what you had done. “It doesn’t excuse her actions though,” you reassured her softly, “You did nothing wrong. You’re a sweet girl Opal.”

“Thank you,” She murmured. You smiled, but it didn’t seem to reach your eyes. You pat her shoulder gently before dropping it to your side. “Can I ask you something?” You nodded. “Do you know what happened? Between her and my mother?” Your eyes glanced at Lin’s door again. The dark wood felt ominous and sad as you kept staring at it. “No..I don’t. I’ve been asking myself that ever since I’ve got here. But I know something bad happened.” Silence stretched between the two of you. Opal watched you stare into Lin’s door with yearning.

“It hurts you doesn’t it,” Opal asked quietly. “Seeing the two of them tear each other apart. Her be angry with you and pushing you away.” “Bright girl,” you chuckled bitterly. “I can see it y’know,” she said quietly, “I can see the pain and the hurt haunting her as well.”

You didn’t reply; there was no need to. The both of you stood in silence on the front steps to Lin’s room, waiting.

*****

The flute’s notes carried a merry melody. It was one of your favorites, something you used to hum to your brother after he had another nightmare. Lin had been asleep for about sixteen hours. The cement steps dug into your ass as you waited like a dog hoping its master would come home soon. The sun’s rays kissed your skin as you sat there, playing your flute. Azure and Ruby fluttered about, chasing each other on the ground in front of you. You chuckled watching them tweet and fly around each other. It made you think of Bo and Bao. You smiled sadly at the thought of them. The two of them were incredible birds. They were the only family you had after being alone for so many years.

“Is she still asleep?” You looked away from Ruby And Azure, meeting Korra’s eyes. You shrugged in reply, carrying on with your flute playing. You’ll always be a bitter and lonely old woman. Your teeth gritted as her words rung in your head. She still needed to apologize. Mako and Bolin talked amongst themselves.  Weird, you thought, where’s Asami? They paid you no mind as they argued about who should poke the sleeping bear.

“You should do it you’re the avatar!” You stifled a laugh. Korra grumbled,“Fine fine, I’ll do it.” She huffed, swinging her feet over the brick steps. Her fist begrudgingly knocked on the grumpy bear’s door. “Lin? You okay? You’ve been asleep for sixteen hours now.” No answer. Korra sighed defeated. She walked down the steps about to leave. The sound of the door opening made the four of you perk up. Oh my fucking god, you thought.

Lin stood in her doorway, green earth bender robes adorning her. The silver necklace around her neck glimmered in the sun. Gold is more her colour, you couldn’t help but think as the the avatar and her friends gawked. It was unusual seeing her without her armor but damn did she look good. There was a smile on her face as she bid them a good morning. Team avatar’s eyes bulged out of their skulls. “G-good morning,” the three of them sputtered.

Lin’s eyes wandered over to you. You sent her a quick wave. “Those robes look great on you Beifong.” She snorted, but there was a soft smile on her face. Her eyes wandered to the bandages on your temple. Your nose was still a bit swollen but it seemed to have gone down overtime. The sight made her smile falter and eyes flickering with guilt. You sent Lin a reassuring smile. There wasn’t any anger in your heart. You couldn’t bring yourself to be upset with her. You could never be upset with the woman you loved.

Lin’s posture seemed to relax more but the guilt still laid underneath her eyes, rumbling like a beast. Lin bowed her head and left.

****

“I’m sorry Lin. For everything. I was a crazy kid back then, I admit that.” Lin didn’t say anything. Her sister stared at her expectantly but kept her mouth shut. Suyin had tore their relationship apart. Her mother quit because she couldn’t take the shame of having a criminal as a daughter. Because of her, Lin had a scar she had to look at everyday in the mirror. For thirty years, Lin couldn’t let it go. The idea of letting go of the anger and pain she had been so accustomed to was terrifying. How could she let that all go? The anger she left after all these years was the only thing that warmed her.  It comforted her as time moved on. If she let go, there’d be nothing left.

Lin and Suyin stared at the metal sculpture in front of them.  “Thank you,” she spoke after a while. Suyin turned her gaze to her sister. “I accept your apology.”

She smiled, a genuine smile. “We need a new dance coach. How about you stay here Lin? We can be a family again.” Lin snorted, “I think I can start not destroying your grounds for now.” Suyin laughed, “Deal.” The two of them talked for a bit. While Suyin carried on about nothing Lin couldn’t help but feel that she had made the wrong decision.

****

“How did you do that?” “Hm?” You and Bolin sat on a bench together in one of Su’s courtyards. You didn’t want to risk aggravating the already grumpy bear by waiting outside Lin’s door all day. “The shield! Whatever that was.” You laughed at the childlike enthusiasm Bolin expressed. It was adorable and sweet. His excitement made you feel young and free again. Bolin reminded you of Bumi and Dee. “It’s a force field. I made it,” you stated proudly. “How did you make it?!” You laughed, “There’s a lot that goes into it. Metal, energy, and some other stuff.” Bolin tilted his head and asked, “I thought you weren’t a bender. Aren’t you just an architect?” “Sadly, I’m not a bender. But I am an architect, you were right about that. I’m also an inventor.”

“A damn good one at that.” The two of you looked up at the intrusion. Lin stood there with her arms crossed, peering at the two of you. After apologizing to Opal she went back to her place to talk to you. However, you were gone. She wandered around until she heard your voice. Lin flickered between the two of you. She swallowed the jealousy the striked through her. Bolin gulped nervously at Lin’s light glare. He glanced towards you. You didn’t even seem fazed at the death stare Lin was sending. “I’m..just gonna go,” he said awkwardly, “Opal and I have plans.” “Sounds great,” you smiled, sending him a wave. “I’d be happy to show you the shield later.” He smiled nervously and murmured something about finding you tomorrow.

Once Bolin left Lin turned to you. “Busy?” “Not anymore” you snorted, “Someone got jealous and scared Bolin away.” Lin’s teeth gritted together and her jaw tightened. “I’m not jealous,” she grumbled, eyes narrowing to slits. You raised a brow and crossed your arms. “Glaring at someone hard enough to burn a hole through their head? Yea, that seems normal.” “Just forget it,” Lin grunted, turning to walk away. “I’m just teasing,” you called out, jumping up from the bench. “What did you have in mind?” Lin stopped and turned to you. “Whiskey.” You grinned, “You sure know a way to a person’s heart Lin!” She snorted. “Are you coming or not?” “Yea,” you chirped, “I gotta get a couple things from my room real quick. Meet you at yours in ten?” Lin nodded. “Great!” She watched you leave, chuckling at the hop in your step. Azure and Ruby flew around you, chirping. Lin smiled softly at the excitement in your pace and the happy aura that surrounded you.

****

The whiskey went down smoothly. Lin had always been a fan of it from the burn that welcomed her. Silence stretched between the two of you. Her stomach prickled at the nerves in her veins. Apologies were hard for Lin but if she didn’t apologize she’d be just as bad as Suyin. You fiddled your glass in your hands, cradling it on the railing. Azure and Ruby flittered about on the metal. Their brightly coloured feathers contrasted with the back metal railing.

“Yknow,” you said, breaking the silence, “I didn’t think this city would be so pretty.” Lin arched a brow, setting her empty glass on a side table near her. “What? The metal?” She gestured to the metal shield that protected the area around the two of you. You snorted, “Yea definitely. Just look at the bolts. They look so strong. Would be great for a project I’m planning.” Lin chuckled. She wouldn’t admit it, but she missed this. The late nights when the two of you chatted about nothing and everything. The dry jokes the two of you shared as you embraced each other in bed. It tugged at her heart in such a way where she didn’t know what to feel. Sad?Angry? Happy? Lin guessed it was all of them.

Her eyes fell to the white bandage that faced her. It covered your right temple and barely rested above your cheekbone. The shame flashed hotly in her chest. The guilt felt heavy and..gross. Lin’s apology she had practiced on the way here died on her tongue. She couldn’t utter the words she repeated in her head. Maybe she was just as bad as Suyin.

“It doesn’t hurt that much,” you muttered softly into the air. Lin’s heavy gaze made your neck prickle. You knew she felt awful. Her strong eyes always seemed to waver whenever she looked at it. Whenever she looked at you.

“I know.” You turned to her, brows drawn in confusion. “You do?” Lin sighed, “No I don’t..I just..I wanted to apologize.” You didn’t say anything. Your curious stare made Lin feel small. It made her feel like a kid and Toph caught her misbehaving. She felt like shrinking into the tile of the balcony and disappearing. She watched you pull out a blunt and a lighter. The soft orange flecks lit up and you took a drag. Blowing it out, you handed it to her. Lin accepted it gladly.

“It’s alright Lin,” you said, shooting her a smile. “I’m not mad.” “You’re not?” Shaking your head, you took the blunt once she handed it back to you. Another hit, and then you passed it again. It was a pattern. “I could never be angry with you. Nothing could ever make me hate you.”

“Why did you do that,” Lin asked, eyes focusing on the railing. Lin wanted to run. She would always be a coward. She would always run like her life depended on it. In a sense, it felt like it did. “To Protect you.” Lin’s eyes flickered to your lips. They wrapped around the blunt. They looked so soft and warm. Lin wondered if you still used the fruity chapstick you loved all those years ago. You caught her eye and sent her a wink. She looked away, cheeks slightly flushing.

“It’s all I know,” you whispered. “I care about you...I... if I seeing you getting hurt or the idea of,” your voice wavered. You swallowed thickly. “I’d rather get hurt than see you in danger.” Lin didn’t say anything but you knew she hung on to every word you said. “What Su did...Suyin,” you corrected yourself. Suyin wasn’t a friend to you anymore. She had cut off that friendship now. “You didn’t deserve that Lin. And I’m so so sorry.”

Lin swallowed. She was deathly quiet. For so long she had been angry. Bitter, lonely, sad. She directed it at people who didn’t deserve it and in turn the people she loved left. Lin had a hard time facing her feelings and accepting them for what they were. She felt so lost at hearing your words. The words she had been daydreaming about from you were now reality. I care about you. It felt weird and wrong coming from your lips. And yet, they felt like home.

“It wasn’t true? That I pushed you away?,” Lin’s breath wavered. The lump in her throat felt heavier. “Y-you left (Y/N), you left me here alone. I...I had no one. And then you come back out of no where and pretend everything’s fine.”

You took another hit and exhaled. Lin watched the smoke wisp away. The slight buzz in her system and the haziness in her veins was ironic. It almost made her laugh at the irony of its difference from what she actually felt.

“I know,” you replied, voice choking. “And I regret every second of my life because of that. If I could take it all back, I would. I-I didn’t know what else to do. I just saw you and...it all came crashing back again.” Lin’s eyes watered. Damnit, she wouldn’t cry over this. Over something so small and trivial. It had been thirty years. Thirty fucking years since the last time she saw you. And you waltzed back into her life like nothing had happened. What was she supposed to make of that?

“I’m sorry Lin,” you whispered softly. She watched a tear fall from your eye. Then another. This all felt like some cliche movie film. This couldn’t be real, you weren’t real. Lin was dreaming again and soon she’d wake up. She would trudge through the morning to get to work along with the dreams from the night before. They were faded but still left a bitter taste in her mouth. But she knew this wasn’t a dream as much as she wished it were. Every second of this was real. Your voice was real and you, in front of her, were real.

“Do you love me?” Lin hated that her voice shook. She swallowed the tears away. The pit in her throat rolled like a stone. She felt she was choking on air from trying to keep it together. Lin tried so hard to maintain the perfect image. The one she created to make Toph proud, the image she created to finally be at peace with herself. But as always, you saw right through her.

“I never stopped,” you whispered, voice cracking. Your eyes red from the weed and your tears. You sniffled lightly, wiping your nose. You flinched slightly from the pain. Lin took a long hit. Her vision blurred and her heart ached longingly. You were here; after thirty fucking years you came back to her.

Every time she saw you it all came rushing back. Bao and Bo singing along to “Dancing Queen” as it played while the two of you danced. Whenever you first joined the force and Lin couldn’t focus around you. How the two of you would sneak off in the middle of the day and make out in the janitor’s closet. Two young dumb kids in love. Things hadn’t changed. Now, the two of you were old, dumb, and in love.

“I-I understand if you don’t want anything right now.” Lin snapped out of her thoughts. “But I want you to know that I do really care about you. I still want you in my life...but I understand if you want me gone. I-I’ll leave as soon as I can and stay gone for good.” She swallowed thickly. She choked on air and breathed heavily. “No.”

You looked at her, shocked. Lin passed the blunt to you and you took another hit. Patiently, you waited. You’ve waited for thirty years to see Lin again one day. You’d wait for her again in a heart beat.

“I finally have you in my grasp. I don’t want to loose you again.” You looked over to her. Lin stared out into the distance. Gently, you placed your hand on hers. Her eyes shifted at hers and yours hands, then your face. You smiled, lips quivering.

Lin turned to watch Azure and Ruby. They preened each other with their beaks. Azure seemed softer with Ruby as he ran his beak gently through her feathers. “Did Bao and Bo...?” Lin couldn’t finish her sentence. You chuckled sadly, “Yea.” “I’m sorry.” She pulled her hand from yours and gently removed your hand off the railing. Her hand was soft and warm as she grasped yours firmly. You looked at her confused and she sent you a smile in return. Lin’s hand didn’t let go of yours as she hung it by her side. She squeezed it gently.

“Bo died from a robbery,” you whispered.

Lin was surprised. Birds weren’t fighters. ‘Well’, she thought smiling at the memory of Bo trying to fight her reflection in Lin’s police uniform. “How,” Lin asked softly.  “I was asleep. Two men came in my hut that night. Bo screeched loud enough to wake me. She flew around them rapidly.” You wiped the tears from your eyes before continuing. “They flung her against the wall. She died pretty soon after. That’s where I got this scar.” You pointed to the one on your brow. Lin’s heart sank. “What happened to the men?”

“I killed them.” Lin didn’t say anything, but stroked your hand with her thumb. You pulled your lips into a quivering smile. “They were just bandits out in the middle of nowhere trying to rob a poor fool. Hurt like a bitch. Left me a scar to tell the tale.” “I’m so sorry (Y/N),” Lin whispered. She turned her hand to trace your palm with her fingers. It tickled a bit.

“What happened to Bao?” “Died seven years later.” “How?” “Heartbreak. Was never the same without Bo.” Lin turned towards you. Her green eyes were incredibly soft. “I’m glad..that you’re here again.” “Heh,” you laughed, choking slightly. “I am too.”

Lin looked at Azure and Ruby again. They chirped softly and hopped on the tile floor. Azure strutted about, observing the place while Ruby watched carefully. “Where’d you get them?” Your eyes fell downwards and smiled fondly at your precious parakeets. “Dee gave them to me,” you said. “We went to a pet store in the city he lives. It had been a while since I’ve seen him and it was our mom’s birthday. We always try and meet up to be there for each other. Found these two sleeping soundly and the rest is history.”

“They’re beautiful,” Lin murmured. You nodded, agreeing. Silence fell between the two of you. It didn’t feel sad and lonely this time. There wasn’t regret or bitterness. For the first time in thirty years, you felt like you could breathe again. “Thanks for the drink,” you said, dropping Lin’s hand. The blunt was almost out but there was still some of it left. You’d finish it on your way to your rooms. Azure and Ruby flew to your shoulder from hearing your footsteps. Azure squwaked at Lin, demanding pets. Lin laughed and went to stroke his head. “Of course,” Lin said, hand dropping to her side again. “Thanks for the smoke.”

You smiled, a genuine one this time. Yet there was some sadness still swirling in your eyes. Lin felt her heart ache. Before she could think better of it, Lin leaned down and kissed your cheek. Your eyes went wide. You hadn’t expected that at all. “Kissing me so soon?” “I’ll take it back,” Lin grunted. “Can’t,” you argued, sending her a wink. “See you tomorrow?” “See you tomorrow,” Lin confirmed with a soft smile. Giving her one last wave and a chirp from Azure and Ruby, you left the balcony. A real smile was on your face for the first time in a while.

[gyllenhaalstories]

BEST FRIEND!JAKE GYLLENHAAL HEADCANONS

notes: jake and you are bffs, that’s it, that’s the tweet! warnings: some mentions of sexual content, but it’s pretty clean and safe otherwise! the gifs were in a gif hunt so i don’t know who made them unfortunately! i suggest you listen to tongue tied by grouplove or dog days are over by florence + the machine!  i hope you guys enjoy! <3

Your friendship happened so out of the blue. You were at the grocery store with a friend and you picked some product up, reading the informations about it. You exclaimed “this comes from Canada”, you know, as one does while realizing Canada is a real country and not just a fantasy where everyone lives in igloos and chop wood and like wish Justin Trudeau good night. Your friend shrugged, very bored, but you heard a voice behind you. “Actually, I have some cool theory about Canada. Do you know the Ryans? Gosling and Reynolds? Well...”

“Canada had sex with America and they made the two of them and they’re twins and they tried to eat each other in the womb, but they didn’t, they survived...” You both spoke in sync. You turned around, only to realize that Jake Gyllenhaal was the one radiating even more chaotic energy than you.

It was signed, sealed and delivered.

You two were painful to be around. You would go on some random conspiracy theories of your own creation (you know Strawberry Shortcakes, like the toys and the shows for kids? Well they’re just Bratz dolls except for Bratz dolls, somebody confused the sugar with the salt and they ended up without feet and with some very large heads). You would argue about everything and nothing.

It was a 0 to 100 real quick.

You could be watching a movie at the cinema with a few friends, staying silent the whole time until you got back in the car and you just exploded with thoughts about the movie. You two were screaming so loud the driver of the car had to pull by the side of the road to try and keep you quiet like two angry children.

That’s what you two were: two very annoying children.

In Jake’s and yours opinion, you never argued. You just shared thoughts with a strong passion.

You could call each other names, but you never meant the insults you were saying.

“You can go suck a fuck”, “Tell me Y/N, how exactly does one suck a fuck? I’m all years”

Laughter. You guys laughed all the time together. No, wait, you laughed and Jake just wheezed. You took him to see a doctor once, you managed to convince him he might have a condition because no one ever wheezes THAT MUCH but it turns out you just both suffered from a great sense of humour.

For the first couple of months, your friendship was so filled with arguments and chaos that your mutuals thought you two actually hated each other.

But it could not be more wrong.

Jake and you were inseparable. You’d do everything and nothing together. You’d stop at the convenience store, share the newspaper, have a karaoke night (you were two Britney Spears stans), buy gifts for your respective relatives (you suspected that your own mother preferred your friend Jake to you). You spent the Holidays together. New Years, Valentine’s Day, even Halloween. You would host Halloween parties at your house. There would be only the two of you wearing matching costumes you made with clothes and craft supplies around the house. You both looked horrible, but you ate way too many candies to realize it.

You were attached by the hip. Wherever Jake went, you were there too.

At some point, you lost your job. It happens to the best of us. So Jake suggested you’d become his assistant.

In theory, it was a beautiful idea. You knew Jake’s schedule by heart and did everything together. Being paid for it? Sign me up.

But in practice...

It created some sort of tension between the two of you. It was one more reason to depend on Jake, and for Jake to depend on you. You were two peas in a pod but you had to manage the new pressure.

During red carpets you were hiding behind the interviewer or by his sides, taping your wrist to remind him to go faster and cut the long analytical speeches nobody really cared about. Except for you, you loved how insightful he was and how he rarely showed this side of his personality.

He knew when you were tired to just sit and watch the same people win awards for similar roles they did in other movies before.

Jake would lean in and say “Actually, I think Meryl Streep is a wizard, like the nice type, and she hides magical potions in her purse that can make you fly and don’t even get me started on Julia Roberts...”. You were too far gone, laughing so loud during an emotional speech when a not very talented celebrity won over very talented celebrities that deserved it more or during a movie premiere.

You would hold hands. For funsies.

He’d give you his jacket. He’d feed you a spoon of his food at the restaurant. You’d give him a sip of your hot chocolate on a cold winter evening. You’d share your comfy slippers with him even if his feet were too big and barely fit in.

Life without Jake? You simply did not remember what it was like.

Your mutual friends stopped calling you two enemies. You were straight up a married couple.

You’d go grocery shopping together and Jake would push the caddy around while you guide him through the aisles. “Could make you this dish, I know you like it” he’d suggest. “The oreos are on sale? Must get six packs of them, double stuff only” you’d add.

You’d go on car rides. They lead nowhere: a dead end street, a bridge under construction, a small ghost town. You both just sat there and listened to music.

His hand would mysteriously fall on your thigh and just stay there the whole way back.

And you’d give each other shy looks.

And giggle. And chuckle. And drop your keys by the front door, oopsies you were all of a sudden clumsy.

And when the door was closed behind you, you stared into each other’s eyes and just shrugged before ripping each other’s clothes at the speed of light and fucking on the couch, on the kitchen table or even on the floor. The bed was too far away.

You both had seen each other naked so many times it was not intimidating. You knew he was handsome, he knew you were beautiful. That was all you guys needed to know. But there were new infos to take in consideration: in bed, you two were just powerful. So you slept together again.

Again and again and again...

It did not bother any of you. Your friends did not even find out about it. Everything was fine.

Everything was fine until you went on a date with someone else. Two times, three times... It was starting to get serious.

Jake felt so weird. He hid it from you.

He caressed your hair when you cried as your new fling just broke up with you over text messages. He fed you your favourite ice cream while you two cuddled on the couch, trying to heal the pain with a wholesome Disney movie. He helped you get in the shower when you were too sad or too tired. He supported you.

He cared for you.

He loved you.

And he told you.

That one time he helped you get in the bathtub after you insisted you could go to the gym with him and he literally crushed you not even five minutes in. You were sore and tired and you thought you hallucinated when you heard the words: I love you.

He thought he was having a fever dream when you replied: I love you too.