#Okay so we had a debate and the winning team would get to not fucking fail this semester in one class

[bellflower-goat]

man this shit was. very indeed

[buckyalpine]

hey shay! what do you think about steve and sam betting that bucky cannot date the newest avenger for like two months without falling in love with her. and, of course, he accepts, and asks her out, all in the hopes of winning.

(plot twist: he is a dumbass and a fucking simp because he falls hella hard in like the first month. she’s basically his soulmate and his dream girl. absolutely perfect. he dreams of their marriage and children and cannot wait to make it a reality. and steve and sam are beyond happy for him, and the three decide never to speak of the bet ever again.)

but fast forward to their first anniversary together, and she finds out that the only reason why bucky ever paid any attention to her, and asked her out, was because of the bet. and it leaves her absolutely heartbroken and destroyed, to the point that she debates asking for a transfer. because of course the only way the legendary sergeant james buchanan barnes would ever notice her is because of a bet. pfft! how big of an idiot she is!

(and we see bucky do some seriously grovel. because he cannot lose the love of his life. his baby. his everything. his sunshine in the dark. the reason for his existence.)

maybe steve and sam join in to help him? because they adore her as well, and they know how much bucky needs her.

YESSSS YES YESSSSS. I am here for the angst and the fluff, I love this because we all love a break up make up situation.

"100 bucks"

"No"

"Okay, 150"

"Why are we doing this"

"200"

"...why"

"Because we know for a fact, there's no way you'd be able to date the new recruit for two full months-

"-without falling in love, you can't actually fall for her"

Sam and Steve looked at Bucky intently while the soldier cocked an eyebrow, the three of them lounging in the common room after a morning briefing to meet their newest team mate.

"You're both willing to pay me $200 just to date y/n without falling in love?" Bucky deadpanned staring at his two best friends, both with matching shit eating grins.

"What's wrong Barnes, scared you'll get your wittle heart broken?" Sam egged him on only to be met with a cocky smirk from the brunette.

"That's not a problem because I don't date" Bucky shrugged, happy to win easy money if all he had to do was ask the new girl out and date her for a bit without actually catching feelings.

He was never really the relationship type; the charm he used to have in the 40's was slowly making its way back and it was perfect for when he needed a quick fix. Long term was never his thing and he wasn't about to start now but he also wasn't going to turn down a bet when his friends seemed so keen.

Besides, his pride was on the line and it was only two months.

"So let me get this straight. I date her for 2 months-"

"No falling in love with y/n"

"-no falling in love and you pay me?"

Sam and Steve nodded while Bucky got up, shaking their hands to seal the deal. He already mapped out a plan to ask the new girl out, mentally deciding on an easy break up speech for when the inventible comes.

"Two months white panther"

"Wolf"

"Two months"

"Easy"

****

Bucky knew he was screwed after the first date. Just the first date. When he first asked her out, she gave him a shy giggle and he knew he wanted to hear that sound again. And again. And again. She gave him a little nod, shuffling on her feet and for a moment, Bucky regained his confidence. There was no way he'd have anything in common with someone so shy and quiet, winning the best was going to be a breeze.

Until she came down in a sun dress, ready to go out for for their date and she smelled like peaches and cream and there was that fucking giggle again when he got ice cream on his nose when they shared a sundae. Her hands were so soft when she swiped her thumb over his little mess, cleaning him off with a tissue while he blinked.

"You're so adorable, sarge" She gave him a bashful smile and his cheeks couldn't have possibly blushed more, his heart beating strangely fast. He wasn't really too sure what to do, usually it was him making girls turn into puddles of shy messes but her he was, more tongue tied that ever.

He wasn't sure what it was.

Maybe it was the fact that she asked him about the 40's, something he rarely got to talk about. Maybe it was the way she listened to him intently while he got lost in his memories, recalling happier times, the both of them laughing over stories about scrawny Steve before the serum. He'd been on plenty of dates before but none of them were like this.

(It didn't matter though, his main goal never left his sight...not really)

He asked her out again and he immediately put his hand to his stomach when she showed up in her workout clothes since he'd offered to train with her before their scheduled date. He'd fully intended to take control over the situation, gain the upper hand again by making her all sweet and shy with his subtle touches but nope.

Here he was with butterflies dancing madly around his tummy when she smiled brightly as soon as she walked through the gym doors; his train of thought long gone when as she dropped her towel beside his. He flipped her with ease, her much smaller form blinking up at him as he caged her under him. He didn't even have it in him to throw her a wink or a flirty smirk, giving her soft puppy eyes instead and helping her to her feet.

To his own surprise, he didn't even try to make a move to get her in bed.

He couldn't.

Not when he was genuinely enjoying conversation with her. Not when she looked at him with such trust and care not to break her heart. Not after she'd confided in him that she felt safe with him after about a month of dating. Bucky's mind, which was usually filled with filth and fucking was now filled with thoughts of her in a pretty white dress, walking down the aisle, ready to say I do. He thought about how adorable their babies would look, how beautiful she'd look pregnant, she was his dream girl, how he couldn't wait for the day it'd all really happen, he was falling in love for the first time in his life-

He. Was. Screwed.

****

"M'gonna marry her"

"What"

"What?" Bucky blinked back at his friends with wide eyes, not realizing he'd said that out loud; the three of them sitting around the living room again since you had gone out for a girls night with Nat and Wanda.

"Come again, what was that?" Sam grinned, sitting up straighter from where he'd been sprawled out on the floor while Steve nudged Bucky with his shoulder.

"Nothing" Bucky mumbled but the blush on his cheeks spread up to his ears.

"AWWWW" Sam howled while Bucky buried his face in his hands, "BUCKY HAS A CRUSH"

"You like her, huh punk" Steve grinned, not needing verbal confirmation from his best friend; both him and Sam saw the way Bucky started falling for you from day 1, not standing a chance of winning their bet.

"I do" Bucky smiled shyly, not bothering with a snarky retort, not when he'd fallen so hard for you the second he heard your laugh. No one bothered to bring up the bet again, the entire thing long forgotten. Sam and Steve couldn't have been happier when they saw Bucky's eyes light up every time he looked at you. You'd tumbled into the living room along with Nat and Wanda behind you, giggling and falling into the soldiers lap, nuzzling into him like a kitten between tipsy kisses.

Sam could've sworn he saw Steve flick away a tear, the both of them watching Bucky grin like a little kid with the biggest crush, melting into a puddle instantly with you in his arms.

"Hey Sarge" You gave him a hazy smile, sighing contently when he kissed your forehead and scooped you right up, holding you to his chest. "Missed you"

"Let's get you to bed babygirl" Bucky whispered, carefully taking care of you, changing you into one of his Henley's and completing your skin care routine since you couldn't in your drunken state. He kissed you good night, pulling the covers up and holding you close to him the entire night.

Nothing compared to the soft puppy he became whenever you were near him and it wasn't exactly a well kept secret. No one failed to notice the way he was head over heels in love with you. With each passing day Bucky loved you more, doing everything in his power to keep you happy, to protect you with his entire heart, there's was no way, absolutely no way, he'd every do anything to hurt you or lose you.

Ever.

One Year Later

You stretched, blinking at the sun that peeked through the curtains, feeling extra warm, cuddled up with you boyfriend who was the human form of a furnace. You were in no hurry to get out of bed, burying your face into his bare chest instead, breathing in his scent, humming contently when his thick arms wrapped you impossibly closer.

"Happy anniversary my love" Bucky whispered, his eyes still closed, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. He couldn't believe a full year had gone by since you'd stolen his heart. A full year filled with kisses and giggles and softness. There wasn't a day that had gone by where Bucky wasn't a complete simp for you (he'd picked out a wedding ring within month three and had it hidden somewhere in his room by month 6).

"Happy anniversary handsome" You kissed his chest where his heart beat steadily, giggling when he pinned you under him, attacking you with a flurry of feathery light kisses, "Bucky stop!" You squealed with laugher as he wrapped you tightly and let his scruffy cheeks tickle your shoulders, the both of you tangled in his sheets, having a lazy morning.

"I love you" He whispered into your hair, sneakily slipping his hands up your over sized shirt, his cool metal fingers stroking down your spine making you shiver. "So much, bella"

"I love you, Jamie" Your cheeks heated up and the sweet name he had just for you, only reluctantly getting out of bed after Nat had practically dragged you out of bed to go shopping. You didn't want to do anything but cuddle with Bucky all day but the red head didn't care, happily evading your privacy to barge into the room and whisk you away, throwing back a wink when Bucky mouthed a silent thank you.

Bucky had planned out the perfect anniversary, something he'd thought out for weeks. The compound would be empty so it would just be the two of you; he'd cook dinner himself, have some songs playing from the 40's with a juke box he'd managed to get his hands on and spent the entire night letting you know how deeply in love he was with you. He didn't care how cheesy it was, buying out an entire florist shop to cover the room and terrace with your favorite flowers, having some suspended from the high ceilings along with petals strewn on the floor.

He'd pull out all the rom com stops for you, giving everyone a task to keep you busy so he could set up for the night. Nat had been tasked with keeping you away until evening, only bringing you back in time for dinner. Sam and Steve spent the whole day hanging and putting up flowers, lighting candles and listening to Bucky ramble about how much he adored you. Tony worked on lighting and sound, tinkering with the music and setting it up outside.

To say you were surprised was an understatement. Nat had blind folded you as soon as you got back and instructed you to put on the dress that had been laid out in your room. You had no idea what she was talking about until you found a floor length gown along with a note sitting on top of your bed.

See you at 8 tonight my bella

Happy 1 year Anniversary,

Yours forever,

JBB x

You didn't waste a second, hopping into the shower, doing your makeup and spraying on your perfume that you knew he loved so much. You slipped the dress on along with some heels before making your way down to the now dimmed lights, the soft glow of candles warming the room.

You gasped as soon as your eyes landed on Bucky, standing head to toe in all black, a dashing smile on his face. He strode over to you, cupping your cheeks in his hands, pecking your lips sweetly, the scent of his cologne already making you woozy.

"You did all this for me?" You blinked back tears, his thumbs swiping them away .

"Anything for you doll" Bucky whispered, pulling you in for another kiss before leading you to the garden; a trail of rose petals covering the floor to the back terrace. Fairly lights twinkled, mixed in with the tiny stars that dotted the night sky; you didn't bother with sitting in your own seat, sitting in Bucky's lap instead while your both sipped on champagne.

It didn't take long for him to swoop you off your feet so he could sway with you instead, music playing softly in the background while he whispered sweet nothings, only sitting down again so he could feed you the dessert he'd spend the whole afternoon making for you.

"I can't believe you did all this for me Bucky" You said sincerely, holding his face in your hands, gazing into his soft blue eyes, "You're perfect my Jamie"

"You're my perfect gift doll"

"Oh! I have to get you your gift!" You realized you'd left it in your room between a spoon of chocolate cake Bucky was feeding you, hopping up from his lap to get it. You scurried off to your room, giddy over the present you'd put together for Bucky, the whole gift taking months of planning to get everything to come in time. You rummaged through your closet, grabbing the carefully wrapped box and returning to the hall, excited to see his face when he opened his present.

You passed by Steve's room stopping dead in your tracks at the words you heard, your feet suddenly unable to move.

"Can you believe this all started over betting he'd never fall for y/n?" Sam snorted, sitting on the couch in Steve's room, the both of them munching on the scraps of chocolate cake and sipping on beer while watching a movie.

"All over 200 bucks, remember he was so sure of himself"

You felt like you'd swallowed cotton, your mouth dry, finding it difficult to swallow. You wanted to turn back time, wishing you'd never heard that conversation, or maybe it was all a misunderstanding, Bucky would never do that, not your Bucky.

"Didn't you tell him he'd only have to date her for 2 months?"

"2 months and 200 dollars, terminator shook on it"

"He even had a break up speech ready"

You gripped tightly onto the present, dashing away from the room, unable to bear more of the conversation. Your heart was hammering out of your chest as you shakily made your way back to Bucky, it just couldn't be true.

Could it?

Did he really only ask you out because his friends made a bet with him?

Bucky smiled when he saw you return, opening his arms for you to slink onto his lap again. His smile disappeared when you kept your eyes down, fumbling with the gift in your hand, staying rooted in place in front of him instead of cuddling up with him like you always did.

"Baby? Is everything okay?" Bucky got up from his seat, carefully making his way over to you. He tipped your face up, surprised to find your eyes wet with unshed tears, the corners of your lips quivering with how hard you were trying to keep from crying.

"You-you promise you'll be honest with me?" You tried to keep your voice from cracking, afraid everything you'd imagined with Bucky would come crashing down if what you heard was true.

"Of course" Bucky felt his heart race seeing your glassy eyes and broken expression, what could have possibly happened in the few seconds you were gone "Bella, what's wrong"

"Did you only ask me out because of a bet?" You tried to keep from sniffling, your heart breaking at the guilt that immediately spread across Bucky's face.

"Doll, I-

"So it's true?" You whimpered, stepping away from the man you loved so much, feeling a whirlwind of emotions, the gift you clutched onto slipping from your grip and onto the floor, "It was just a bet with Sam and Steve?"

"Baby, please let me explain-" Bucky wanted nothing more than to reach out and wipe away the tears he caused, his own streaming down his cheeks when you moved further away from him.

"Please don't" You shook your head, wrapping your arms around yourself, not wanting to feel his touch you knew you'd instantly melt into. "Just don't James"

Bucky was ready to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness, beg for you to call him all the sweet names reserved just for him but you dashed back into the compound, slapping your hand over your mouth to muffle your sobs.

"Sweetheart wait, please don't go, just let me explain baby, I love you so much" Bucky trailed after you, quickly swiping his dampened cheeks, catching you in the elevator just before it closed. "Y/n, I love you doll, I'm sorry, it started that way but-

"It's not your fault" You quickly wiped away the new wave of tears that stung your eyes, desperately pushing the button to take you to your room faster, "I-I should've known you wouldn't have been into me in the first place"

"Y/n, that's not true sweetheart, don't say that baby, please"

"I thought you really liked me, I-I didn't know someone had to pay you to date me"

You felt stupid, ridiculous, ashamed, how did you ever think someone like Bucky, the handsome ladies man from day one, would suddenly be into you, some random new trainee turned avenger. You weren't special, nothing about you stood out from others, there was no reason for him to give you attention.

It all made sense now, your heart splitting into two, biting hard on your lip to keep your cries down, you couldn't believe how stupid you'd been to think he actually liked you from the start.

"No baby, you had me from day one-"

"P-please don't l-lie to m-me" You hiccupped, making a bee line straight to you room as soon as the elevator doors opened, not looking back once. You locked your door before Bucky could catch up, ignoring his persistent soft knocks, begging for you to give him a chance to explain.

"Y/n, bella, please, open the door sweetheart, I love you, I promise truly love you so much, I'm so sorry baby, I need to talk to you, please" Bucky sniffled, his forehead pressed to your door in defeat, now letting the tears fall freely. He stayed rooted in place, slumping down with his head between his knees, running his hands through his short locks in frustration. The only thing he cared about was making you happy and he was the one who screwed it up.

You clutched onto your sheets, trembling as sobs wracked your body, thinking back to all the moments you thought were so sweet, moments where you thought you were both falling in love, now realizing they were nothing more than a ploy to get $200.

You remembered your first date, thinking about how cute Bucky looked with a tiny dollop of ice cream on his perfect nose, how nervous you were to swipe it off, your heart racing when you told him he looked adorable. It took every fiber of your very being to muster the courage to do that but it had meant nothing to him.

You had been stupid to think he liked you too when he asked you out again; you remembered the way your entire body felt like it had been lit on fire when he had you pinned you under him, growing bashfully shy when he helped you up onto your feet, everything a part of his plan to eventually dump you.

You felt ridiculous. You were not gorgeous like Natasha or enhanced like Wanda. What made you think the very Sergeant James Barnes would have his eye on you of all people.

You should have known.

-

"Do you hear that?" Steve paused the movie, hearing a muffled cry from the corridor, his brows furrowing at the sniffles that followed. Sam nodded with a frown, both men getting up and peering into the hallway, surprised to find the super soldier sitting against your door, eyes and nose red from crying.

"Bucky?" Steve was by his best friends side in an instant, kneeling before him, helping him up to onto his feet.

"What happened, where's y/n" Sam blinking hearing crying from inside your room, his stomach churning when Bucky shrugged, chewing on his trembling lip to keep from breaking down again. Bucky let Steve lead him into his room, sitting on the edge of the bed, gripping onto the sheets till they nearly tore.

"What the hell happened Buck"

"She found out bout the bet" Bucky whispered, fresh tears streaming down his face when he remembered how defeated you looked with betrayal. "She knows I asked her out because of it"

"Fuck" Sam hissed while Steve ran a hand over his face. They felt equally responsible for hurting you for having suggested the bet in the first place, also piecing together you must have over heard them when they were talking earlier. Steve was sick with guilt while Sam also slumped onto the couch, all three men feeling awful for hurting you.

"Did you talk to her?"

"She doesn't want to even look at me" Bucky shook his head before burying his face in his hands again, unable to stop from crying; there was a good chance he lost you forever and it was his fault.

"Just-just give her some time" Steve threw an arm over Bucky, while mentally hitting himself for being part of the mess, hoping you'd forgive his best friend who was deeply and utterly in love with you.

-

You woke up with a throbbing headache, staying in bed for longer than usual. You felt more embarrassed than the night before realizing others must have known the true nature of your relationship with Bucky. Not only did Bucky not really like you in the first place but he'd only even looked your way because he was sure he wouldn't fall for you.

You kept to yourself for the first few days. You'd managed to wake up earlier than everyone else so you could eat breakfast and train alone, only to eat dinner extra late after everyone had gone to sleep. It wasn't difficult given your skill set; you slinked about undetected, evading the other avengers every time they knocked on your door to check on you.

Bucky tried to find you every single day, spending each night falling asleep by your door, ignoring the worsening kink in his neck, hoping he'd get get to see you just once, one time so he could at least apologize to you properly.

Two full weeks had gone by and you some how only felt worse. You hated hearing Bucky cry when you walked by his room but then you'd remember what he did and you couldn't bring yourself to trust him again.

Bucky was a mess. He missed you more than anything; you were his baby, his soul mate, his beautiful sweet bella. He would've given anything just to see you walk down the hall way, anything to hear your voice even if it was you telling him off like he deserved. He wanted you to yell and scream at him, tell him what at ass hole he was, that he was the biggest jerk on the planet, that you hated him, he'd listen to it like it was music if he just got to see you again.

He got his hopes up when a new mission came up requiring all hands on deck; Tony called for a sudden meeting with the full team which meant everyone had to be there. Bucky ran off to the showers within seconds, scrubbing himself with body wash he knew you loved so much before throwing on a tight black t-shirt and jeans that made you all shy and giggly. He knew he was playing dirty, leaving the scuff on his face before spraying on a dash of cologne.

He had to look his best, even if it meant you'd throw your cute little kitten mug at his head. He nervously ran to the conference room, eyes flicking to each individual, his heart dropping when he didn't see you there.

"Damn Barnes" Tony whistled while Steve smiled sadly knowing his bestfriend was hoping to see you. "Who'd you clean up for"

"Where's y/n" Bucky's eyes were pleading with everyone, hoping someone would say you were just running late or that you weren't taking part in the mission.

"She's....she's at the head office" Tony sighed, "She wants a transfer"

"Damn it" Sam had now sat up while Bucky left the room with Steve following behind him. "He needs her, he really loves her"

"I-I can't lose her" Bucky sobbed, shaking his head, clutching onto the card you had given him on your anniversary. He'd read every word 100 times over, memorizing it to heart, careful not to crush the paper as he pressed it to his chest. "She's everything to me"

"Look, it's out fault too. We're the ones who suggested the stupid thing, we'll get her back" Steve gave him a reassuring squeeze and Sam nodded.

"I feel like shit man, the whole thing was meant to be a dumb joke, we love her too, we're not just gonna let her leave like this, not our y/n, okay? That's our girl"

"C'mon, lets go get your girl back, punk"

-

You frowned as you entered through the main doors of the compound, finding it unusually quiet when everyone should have been at home since they'd just gotten back from their mission. You felt conflicted after your meeting with Fury and Agent Hill, both of them asking you to reconsider your request to transfer. You told them you'd think about it but you were certain over your decision.

You couldn't face the team any more and your were too embarrassed to look at Bucky again. You didn't mind working in the office and starting over, figuring that would be the best way to mend your heart.

You made your way up to your room, a little red envelope sitting on your pillow catching your attention. You were wary as you opened it, your breath catching in your throat as you recognized the handwriting.

To my first and only love,

I don't deserve someone as sweet as you, but I can't bear the thought of you thinking I don't love you with my entire being. I know I don't deserve a second chance, but I need you to know it was always real.

Always.

I've kept it will hidden but it's time for you to see. It's in my favorite hiding spot for your eyes only.

With all the hugs and kisses in the worlds,

JBB

You knew exactly what spot Bucky was referring to, thinking back to the early days of when you were dating. On more than one occasion, Bucky had grabbed you into his closet, shutting the door when he wanted a few extra moments of privacy before a mission, showering you with 100's of kisses before eventually getting caught and dragged down to the hangar with a bashful grin on his face.

You reluctantly made your way to his room, letting out the breath you were holding when he wasn't inside. The scent of him alone already caused you to feel butterflies but you ignored them as you looked in the closet, finding a shoe box with another red envelope sitting on top for you to read.

To my sweet bella,

You had my heart from day one. You were never supposed to see any of this but you have to know. It's always been you.

Forever and only yours,

JBB

You sat on the floor of the closet as you carefully opened the box, inspecting its contents. Inside was an old, weathering diary with a receipt stuffed in the middle as a bookmark. You opened the page that was marked, surprised to find the receipt from the ice cream place you where you had your first date, the date of the entry a few days before he asked you out.

A new team mate has joined the group. Her name is y/n, y/l/n. She specializes in hand to hand combat and is a trained spy. Tony introduced us to everyone today. I wouldn't mind being her friend but I hope she isn't afraid of me, maybe she's just shy.

The next entry was from the day Sam and Steve made the bet

I doubt I'll forget this but I'm writing it down anyway. 2 months for 200 dollars. Seems stupid but what's the worst that could happen, it's not like she'd actually fall for me anyway.

Then there was the entry after your first date.

She's probably one of the sweetest people I've ever met; I don't want to forget this day, bet or not. She wore a sun dress and she laughed at all my jokes. She called me adorable. Her hands felt so soft. I'm sure its in her nature to be so kind but I wish it was just for me. Maybe I'll ask her out again.

A few days later.

I swear I'm falling in love with her more and more each day and she doesn't even have a clue. I don't know how to show her she's special to me, you'd think I'd be better at this. I hope one day she feels the same way.

And then

I love her. So much. Ma would have loved her. I hope one day she says yes.

You let out a wet laugh at the entries became sappier, each one detailing how hard he was falling for you, all the little details of your dates filling the pages, your heart breaking when you realized he wrote as much as he could remember so he'd never forget. He didn't mention the bet in any of the pages because he'd forgotten about it completely, fully focused on making you officially his.

The diary was sacred to him, a private place where he recounted his most precious memories, the one thing he'd never share with anyone but he decided to share it with you because you had to know. It was one of the few places he poured his heart and soul into with no filter, some of his darkest memories scrawled onto the pages but after he'd met you, it changed. Page after page filled with nothing but sweetness, pure and untainted love. You wiped the tears away, carefully placing the diary back in its proper hiding spot before making your way downstairs hoping to find him.

You found a trail of petals that hadn't been there earlier leading to the living room, walking to a very remorseful looking Sam, Steve and of course Bucky, all three men clutching onto teddy bears along with a blanket fort hoisted up in front of the large TV screen.

"What-what is all this?" You whispered, hesitantly walking towards them with Sam stepping forward first, wrapping you up in a bone crushing hug.

"We're really sorry sweetheart" Sam murmured into your hair, hugging you tightly against him, "we never wanted to hurt you, we love you baby, truly"

"You're special to us darling" Steve came over next, pressing a firm kiss to your head, his large arms holding you in a comforting embrace, "We're idiots, you didn't deserve that, don't leave because of us sweetheart, it's not the same without you"

"It's-its okay"

"It's not, we know it isn't but just know we really do love you, okay? Especially him" Steve whispered the last part with a small smile, looking over to his best friend who was anxiously shuffling on his feet, clutching the largest bear in his hands.

You hugged onto the two little teddies from Sam and Steve, kissing their cheeks before they quietly left you and Bucky alone for some privacy. You set them down on the sofa, suddenly feeling nervous when it was just you and Bucky, anxiety and embarrassment attempting to claw its way back up again.

"I'm so sorry bella" Bucky hesitantly reached out for you, scared you'd pull away, relief flooding his body when you allowed him to pull you in for a hug. "My pretty girl, m'so sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen baby"

"You-you really liked me after?" you felt silly for asking such a thing but you couldn't help it, you had to know, your soft doe eyes pleading with him to be honest with you, "You don't have to lie Bucky, it's okay if you didn't-

"You're breakin' my heart babygirl, of course I did. Of course I liked you sweets, I fell hard and fast for you, it would've happened with or without that stupid bed. I wouldn't have been able to resist that smile or that laugh, nothing would've kept me away from you"

Bucky scooped you into his arms and sat you down on his lap and he settled under the blanket fort, keeping you straddled on him while his hands wrapped around your waist.

"Believe me when I say you're the only girl I've ever fallen for, the only one I've ever wanted. I never ever wanted to hurt you baby and I'll spend the rest of my life making sure you never cry again, if you'd have me. I hate seeing you cry sweets, especially because of me. I just want to love you baby, please?"

His voice cracked at the end, bottom lip quivering as he nervously traced his thumbs along your hips. What if he lost you forever, he wouldn't know what to do with himself, not when he adored you so much.

"I love you y/n, you're my dream girl, my everything, no one else comes even close-"

You cut off his rambling, smashing your lips against his, a soft sob slipping past his lips between kisses as he desperately clung onto you.

"Do-do you forgive me?" Bucky sniffled, breathing out a sigh of relief when you pressed your forehead against his, nodding and slinging your arms around his shoulders. "Please say it angel, I-fuck-I'm so sorry, I missed you so much"

"I forgive you" you whispered, squeaking when Bucky pulled you to cuddle into the pile of pillows and blankets he'd laid out, wanting nothing more than to kiss and cuddle you between cute cheesy rom coms you loved so much. He smiled at the giggles you let out as he attacked you with unrelenting kisses again, breathing in your scent and feeling your body finally wrapped up with his again.

"I missed you so much angel"

"Missed you to Jamie" You kissed his nose, caressing his face as he nuzzled into the crook of your neck, knowing Sam and Steve were probably creeping from some corner. "I love you"

"Love you more bella" Bucky smiled, letting you pick a movie, pulling a fluffy blanket up to cover you both. "Loved you from day one"

[russo-woso]

Hey, I have a suggestion for Jessie (feel free to write when available and if you like it ofc)

Jessie is heartbroken when moving to Portland and American reader helps her settle, takes care of the insegurities Chelsea left and she ends up falling because she was there as well to help her with Gold Cup and She Believes Cup. Reader is the first person Jessie oppened her heart to after being fucked over by her previous club and she's scared because she's falling hard

I’m here || Jessie Fleming

Summary You help Jessie during a very vulnerable time in her life

Jessie had found the move to Portland Thorns hard.

She felt many emotions from the move but the biggest one was insecurity.

She couldn’t understand why Chelsea didn’t want her anymore.

Was it that she wasn’t good enough?

Was she ever good enough?

Why wasn’t she good enough?

The only thing keeping her excited for the move was the chance to play with you.

She’d never officially met you but she knew you well enough to like you.

During the gold cup and the she believes cup, USA had played Canada and although both times Canada lost, you were the first one over to Jessie.

The same thing would always happen. You’d shake her hand and asks if she was okay and she would say congratulations on the win.

Since them moments, Jessie developed a small crush on you but it wasn’t anything major.

Then came the introduction to each other.

On Jessie’s first day, she was introduced to the whole team, a big smile appearing on her face once she met your eyes.

“Jessie, hi. I’m so glad you decided to join us.” You told her, hugging her.

“I’m glad I moved here too.” Jessie said, a hint of sadness behind her smile.

You didn’t know why Jessie was sad. You figured it was because she’d left her best friends in London, but all you did know, was that you were going to try your hardest to make her feel welcomed.

And so in order to do that, you figured the best way to start was to show her around the city.

After a few seconds of debating with herself, Jessie agreed and it was organised that you’d show her around on Saturday.

Later on that session, Jessie let a ball loose and shook her head in anger.

“Hey, hey, everyone does it. It’s fine. The last match we played, I let a ball loose by accident and it nearly resulted in the oppositions scoring. But I learnt from that mistake, that’s what we do here at Portland thorns. You make a mistake, and we help you fix it. You’re an incredible player Jessie, believe me when I say that. We’re all lucky to have you playing with us.” You told her, tears welling in Jessie’s eyes but she pushed them to the side, desperately not wanting to show any sadness to you.

Jessie didn’t know what to do, if she had done that at Chelsea, she would have been screamed at and told to do a lap.

“Thank you.” She murmured, her voice full of emotion.

—

After a week full of training, Jessie following you round everywhere like a lost puppy, it was finally time to show her around.

“Hi, Jessie.” You greeted her as she got into your car.

“Hi, how are you?” She said, a light red pigment spreading on her cheeks.

“I’m okay, it’s been a bit of a hectic morning, aka doing the food shop, but I’m happier now I’m with you. How about you? You done anything today?” You told her, reversing out of the driveway.

“Not much. Just unboxing some stuff and filling in paperwork.” Jessie responded, shrugging her shoulders lightly.

A silence filled the car and the light hum of the music took over.

You looked over at Jessie briefly, you could see the redness on her cheeks still present and the way how she fidgeted with her hands made it clearly evident that she was nervous.

You figured the best to make her less nervous was to get rid of the silence, desperately coming up with a conversation starter.

“So, the plan for this afternoon. First things first, we’re heading into the city, I’ll show you around, show you the best parking spots and the best, and I mean best, coffee shop in town. Then we’ll head to the Willamette River, and maybe show you shops along the way and then after that, I’ll show you my favourite spot in town. Of course, if you don’t want to do any of that, it’s fine. We can do what you want to do.” You explained but panicked towards the end as the thought of Jessie not liking anvy of the plan came to mind.

“That all sounds incredible. Thank you for this.” Jessie said, a grateful smile resting on her face.

“Seriously, it’s no problem. I would’ve just been watching movies all afternoon so you’re going me a favour.”

“So, first site on the tour, on your left you can see the…”

As you continued driving, showing Jessie all the important things of the city, you couldn’t help but notice the silence from Jessie.

Yes she was talking to you, but she was limiting her words, often saying one or two words each time.

You pushed it to the side, carrying on with the ‘tour’.

—

You’d finished everything you had to show Jessie except your surprise spot.

You drove up into the mountains, pulling to the left as you reached the top, reversing your car so the boot backed onto the view of the city.

It must have been reaching eight o’clock because there was a golden haze casted upon the mountains.

“It’s gorgeous up here.” Jessie said in awe as she looked at the city.

“It is, isn’t it?” You asked, looking at her.

You opened the boot, sitting down in it, gesturing for her to do the same thing.

Silence took over once more, but it was a comfortable silence this time.

There was no pressure to say anything.

You weren’t expecting Jessie to say anything but to your surprise, she did.

Taking a breath in, Jessie looked over to you before looking ahead again.

“I never wanted to move to America. I was happy at Chelsea. Well, that’s what I thought. I thought I had achieved the very best in my career being at Chelsea and maybe I had, but looking back now, I wasn’t happy there. Yes I had my friends, yes I had my life there, but I wasn’t happy.” Jessie’s voice broke as tears fell down her cheeks. “Chelsea said I wasn’t good enough, I was letting balls loose, Emma said that when I was on the pitch, the midfield was gone. When I was there, it was like I was a ghost, I didn’t make an impact. And that hurt. Ive spent my entire life trying to be the best I can and they couldn’t appreciate that. Niamh tried to get me to stay but I couldn’t. I couldn’t because Chelsea was hurting me and I couldn’t because the club that wanted me had this incredible woman that I’ve always wanted to know. So why would I say no? Why would I give up a perfectly good opportunity?”

“Jessie… I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise what you were going through. I’m sorry that Chelsea made you think all those things but you’ve got to believe me when I say they’re not true. You’re called baby Canada for a reason. You started playing for your country when you were 15. Do you know how impressive that is? And you were able to do that because you’re incredible at soccer. Jessie, please believe me.” You begged, wanting her to know the truth.

“Thank you, Y/N. Thank you for everything.” Jessie hugged you, tears still falling from her eyes as she rested her head on your shoulder, still hugging you.

“Now, I want to know something. Who’s this girl that you’ve always wanted to know?” You smirked, having a rough idea on who it is.

“American, really good at football, the most kindest and loving person I’ve ever met. I think you might know her actually. I was lucky to spend the day with her today. She goes by Y/N, know her?” Jessie joked, a smile on her face.

“I’ve heard of her. Do you know what she told me recently. She said that there’s this woman that’s just moved here. Brown hair, brown eyes, ridiculously cute, and it just so happens that she really likes this woman. That woman goes by Jessie, know her?” You continued the joke, giggly lightly.

“Hmm, heard of her.”

You and Jessie looked at each other for a few seconds, both of you wondering what to do.

“Umm, thank you again for—” Jessie began, clearing her throat as she didn’t know what to do.

“Jessie? Just kiss me.”

Jessie didn’t need to be told twice, instantly connecting her lips with yours.

Chelsea was her old life, Portland thorns, and most importantly, you, was her new life.

[sebscore]

hi ! I love your gen z driver series so much !!

i have a request that she and zhou show up to the padock in the same outfit unplanned

like i feel this would happen - they both fancy showing up in something so different and the other would be wearing the same thing !! <3 fashion icons think the same 😌

THE HELMET BET

pairings: zhou guanyu x driver!reader / f1 grid x driver!reader 

warnings: swearing. based on the 2022 grid. mention of sexism and racism. joke about doing an orgy.

author's note: idk if this is what you had in mind, but I had already written a small part of this fic and then your ask came in and I couldn't help myself. I love zhou so much, ugh thats my man fr. also, thank you for loving the series, it means a lot to me 💞

masterlist

• • • • • • •

''We're gonna get in trouble.'' Zhou said, shaking his head. 

Y/N frowned at his words. ''Why would we get in trouble? It's always super boring and our bet can at least spice it up a little.'' She reasoned, using a lot of hand gestures to show how serious she was. 

''You know those meetings are about our safety, right? We should take them serious.'' The Chinese driver didn't want to get in hot water with the stewards. 

''But this is a serious matter! We're putting an end to the debate,'' she retorted back, not seeing the harm in using the upcoming driver's briefing for their bet, ''lately, I've been seeing way too many people saying you've got better style than me and I've had enough of it.'' 

The female driver had seen the countless online discussions between fans regarding the most stylish driver on the grid, the winner usually switching between herself, Lewis and Zhou. In her opinion, Lewis had the best style, she didn't need to think twice about it. But it is important for her to know who his successor is, who is the number 2? 

To answer that question, she had come up with a brilliant idea: her and Zhou wear their best outfit to the next driver's briefing, not some team merchandising, and they get the other drivers to vote on which outfit is the best and therefore, which person has the best style. The person with the most votes gets to design a helmet for the loser and they have to wear it at the next racing weekend. 

''Okay, I'm in,'' Zhou admitted, shaking hands to commemorate the challenge, ''be prepared to lose, Y/N.'' 

''Don't worry about me, Guanyu.'' 

Y/N was confident in her win. The young woman knows she has style, her several brand deals with high-respected fashion houses being the proof of that. However, she knew not to underestimate her rookie friend, Zhou has had some killer outfits in the ongoing season. 

They had known each other for some years, but it was only this year that the pair had gotten close. Y/N broke the ice by complimenting one of his outfits at the start of the season and the rest was history. 

The outfit she had gone with was simple, but she looked good and she felt great in it. It was inspired by one of Michael Schumacher's paddock outfits (reference), knowing she would at least have Mick and Seb's vote with that one. 

Y/N got out of her car, ready to make her way to the F1 paddock and straight to the driver's briefing. In the corner of her eye she noticed Zhou's car pull up, his performance coach waving at her through the window. She reciprocated the action and decided to wait for him, thinking it would be nice for the two of them to enter together. She was curious as to what her friend would be wearing, secretly hoping he had fumbled the bag really hard. 

Her hopes came crashing down as Zhou got out of the car, observing the clothes he was wearing and noticing one clear detail. 

They were wearing the same outfit. 

Her eyes seemed ready to bulge out of her head, in complete disbelief. ''Are you fucking kidding me, Zhou?'' 

The Chinese man appeared to be much more amused by the situation, covering his laughter with his hand. ''You look very nice, Y/N.'' He giggled, greeting her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. 

''It's turned into a ''who wears it better'' challenge, what the heck.'' She commented, eyeing him up and down before glancing at her own fit. 

Zhou chuckled. ''Well either way, I'm winning.'' A small smirk appeared on his face, still sure of his win over his friend. Y/N simply scoffed, grabbing her pass from her purse and walking to the entrance. Zhou and his coach followed her steps, still entertained by her annoyance. 

As soon as the paddock reporters noticed the sight of the two drivers, their cameras were whipped out from their bags and they began taking candid shots of the pair. Zhou and Y/N played along for the cameras, pointing at each other's outfits and pretending to look annoyed. 

Eventually they made it to the right room, already seeing most of the drivers waiting inside. Zhou went in and greeted the others, while Y/N waited outside, ready to lock the door as soon as everyone had arrived and was inside. 

Lando had been the last one to walk down the hallway. ''Hurry up, Norris!'' She exclaimed, her hand motioning for him to pick up the pace. 

''Why? I'm on time.'' He replied a bit agitated, it was a bit too early in the morning for him to be scolded by his friend. 

Y/N didn't respond to him, simply pushing him into the room and locking the door, making several drivers look up from where they were sitting or standing. 

''Y/N, what are you doing?'' Sebastian spoke up, curious as to what she was up to this time. 

The young woman urged Zhou to get up from his seat and to stand next to her. The man felt a bit embarrassed, but followed her orders. Y/N stood in the place where their director normally sat when he answered the drivers' questions or listened to their concerns. She placed both her hands on the desk, looking like a teacher that was about to scold her students.

''As we all know, Mr. Hamilton over there is widely accepted as the driver with the best style,'' she pointed at Lewis, who nervously smiled as the other drivers glanced at him, ''but that's not why we are gathered here today! We are gathered here today to decide who his successor is. Who is the most stylish person after Lewis? That's a question that we will settle once and for all, here, now, in this room.'' She finished her monologue. 

''Me and Mr. Guanyu found ourselves in a battle for the title of second most stylish driver of the grid, so I challenged him. We would wear our best outfits today and have our lovely colleagues vote for who had the best one. But as you all can see, me and Mr. Dior over here, are wearing the same exact fit.'' Y/N waved her hand between herself and Zhou. 

''So, instead of you deciding who is wearing the best outfit, you'll be voting for the person you think is wearing the outfit best.'' She concluded. 

The crowd had mixed reactions: some looked confused, some seemed entertained by what Y/N had told them and others appeared to not care. 

Kevin was the first one to speak, getting up from his seat and walking towards the door. ''Y/N, this is not the time to do this, we're here to talk about the race.'' He was about to turn the lock when her voice stopped him. 

''Magnussen, you're being a party pooper- do you want to be a party pooper?'' She looked at him sternly, trying to convince him to sit back down and go along with her antics. ''Don't pretend like you're not secretly enjoying this.'' The Haas driver rolled his eyes, but defeatedly put his arms up and went back to his seat. 

''Alright, we'll go around the room and each person says either my name or Zhou's.'' She explained further, moving in front of the desk. 

Checo's hand went up in the air. ''Can we also pass?'' He asked, looking at Y/N. 

''If you refuse to choose, we will consider it sexist and racist as I am a woman and Zhou's Asian.'' She answered him, garnering chuckles around the room and a nervous-looking Zhou who hoped people took it as a joke, since he didn't want to be making enemies as a rookie. 

Y/N clapped her hands together. ''Okay, we'll start with our party pooper, KMag! Me or Zhou?'' 

''Zhou, since he didn't yell at me and didn't call me a party pooper.'' He chose, making the female driver narrow her eyes at him. ''Alright, 1 for Zhou.'' 

The person sat next to Kevin was his teammate, Mick. ''Schumacher!'' He was about to speak, but the woman interrupted him. ''Before you choose, I took inspiration from one of your dad's outfits.'' Y/N tried influencing his decision. 

''I was gonna choose you anyway.'' He told her, making her jump up as her and Zhou had an equal score. ''Thank you, Mickie.'' She smiled brightly at him. 

''Valtteri?'' 

''I choose Zhou, I'm loyal to my teammate.'' He answered, smiling at the man in question. 

''Lando?'' 

''Zhou, because he doesn't humiliate me in front of the entire internet.'' The McLaren driver said, referring to their regular back-and-forths on social media. 

Y/N rolled her eyes. ''You're such a crybaby, Rumplestiltskin.'' Her words caused Lando to give her the middle finger, but it was all in good fun. 

''Anyway, Daniel?'' 

The Australian pretended to think hard about his answer, looking in-between her and Zhou. ''I'm gonna go with Y/N, cause I'm kinda scared what she'll do to me if I don't choose her.'' His answer got a laugh out of the other drivers, some of them nodding their heads. 

Y/N herself couldn't help but break a smile at Daniel's words, happy her friend had chosen her. ''Okay, next one.'' 

The voting was nearing its end and there was a tie, 9 people had chosen Zhou and 9 others had voted for Y/N. It all came down to one person. 

Sir Lewis Hamilton. 

Despite some of the drivers' dislike for the bet at the beginning of the meeting, everyone had gotten pretty invested. ''The maestro himself has to choose his next prodigy.'' Daniel joked, looking at the 7x world champion. 

Lewis shifted in his seat, not too fond of having the last vote on the matter. ''Can't I just say both of you? The two of you look very good.'' 

''No, mate! You have to choose.'' George argued, the others agreeing with him. 

Y/N was quite sure that Lewis would choose her. She was much closer to him than Zhou and the pair had talked about fashion before, discussing how it was a great way to express yourself. She was already designing Zhou's helmet in her mind. 

''Well, then… I guess Zhou.'' 

Her mouth dropped open, shocked that the senior driver had chosen the rookie over her. She wasn't the only one that seemed surprised by his choice, Seb turned around in his seat and Pierre's eyes had widened, mouthing ''wow''. 

The young man next to her, lightly slapped her arm. ''I'll send the design to your team next week, Y/N.'' He teasingly laughed, a big smirk present on his face. 

''This is a joke, right? I can't be number 3!'' She dramatically stated. 

''Hey! What's wrong with being the number 3?'' Daniel looked up, feigning being offended by her words. 

She was about to give another monologue about betrayal and how men are all the same, but several loud knocks on the door interrupted that from happening. Y/N sighed, but took a few steps to turn the lock. 

Their director didn't look too happy. ''Why was the door locked?'' 

''We were having an orgy.'' She sarcastically answered him, not planning on explaining to him why she had blocked the door from opening. 

''Y/N!'' 

The actual driver's briefing began and soon enough most drivers were already dozing off, some of them even wishing Y/N and Zhou's bet had taken a bit longer. They wouldn't admit it to the young woman, but ever since she'd made her arrival to these briefings, her unserious antics had made them much more bearable. Some drivers had even started looking forward to the meetings, because the girl always had something up her sleeve. 

As soon as the last issue was resolved, the meeting ended and everyone was out the door. When Zhou saw Y/N talking with Mick and Esteban, he swiftly moved next to Lewis. ''Hey, man,'' he patted the Brit's shoulder, ''thanks for that, I really appreciate it.'' 

''No problem,'' Lewis smiled, ''we made a deal, I'm keeping my word.'' 

Zhou nodded. ''Yeah, you vote for me and I let you help me design her helmet.'' He recalled the promise they had made a day earlier. 

''Great! I was thinking we just collect all kinds of embarrassing pictures of her and plaster them all around her helmet…''

''Great! I was thinking we just collect all kinds of embarrassing pictures of her and plaster them all around her helmet…''

''Great! I was thinking we just collect all kinds of embarrassing pictures of her and plaster them all around her helmet…''

[elitehanitje]

Vince McMahon Sabotaged Christian Cage's Career

In February 2009, Christian made his surprising return to WWE and debuted on the ECW brand. The moment was exciting for fans, as Christian had made a big name for himself during his nearly four-year stint with TNA Wrestling.

Some fans don't look back on the moment fondly though, as commentator Todd Grisham didn't have much enthusiasm in his voice for the return of a legend. As it turns out, Vince McMahon himself instructed Grisham to have a low demeanor about Christian's return to the company.

Right before I walked out of the Gorillia position before the show. Vince McMahon called me over and said, “When Christian walks out..don’t get excited at all simply say ‘it’s Christian’ and that’s it. Understand me?” Me: “Yes sir”

Tony Khan responded to Grisham's post, calling the behavior insane.

In a recent interview, Kurt Angle stated that there isn't much difference between Vince McMahon and the character of 'Mr. McMahon'.

Reacting to a post criticizing his commentary on X, Grisham recalled the infamous moment. The former WWE personality detailed how McMahon ordered him to say those exact words when Christian returned. Grisham could do nothing but accept and follow his boss’ instructions. Over the years, this moment has become a running online joke. 

For some reason, McMahon never saw Christian as a potential main-event talent in WWE. Therefore, Captain Charisma failed to reach similar heights as his best friend, Edge (Adam Copeland). Even after winning his first World Heavyweight Championship, the Canadian star ended up losing the belt in five days. 

The story reignited the long-standing debate around McMahon's supposed dislike of Christian (rumors mentioned that Jay wasn't a yes-man and didn't want to be involved with any shenanigans backstage involving Vince and his bullying/harassment way).

The latter was once one-half of his most profitable tag-team stable with Edge. However, following their diversion into single competitors, the former 'Captain Charisma' was never treated as a prized asset.

Former WWE star Lance Storm confirmed the official WWE program incorrectly billed Christian at 5’ 10” when the man whose real name is William Reso is 3-4 inches taller.

McMahon's old WWE lead writer Alex Greenfield later revealed the billionaire once pitched to have Christian's face covered by a blue dot.

"Right before I started, there was a big show, I think it might have been in Toronto. Christian was just so completely over, and everybody thought he was going to get a push at, I think it was the World Heavyweight Championship at that point. We were on the plane one time shortly after I started, and Vince was just like 'God damn, I just don't like his face. His face really bothers me.'

"I was like, 'He's ugly, Vince?'

'No, it's not that he's ugly, it's just, I don't know, it's ratty!"

WWE executive Bruce Pritchard even waded in on the theory, by explaining McMahon was never a major fan. "[Vince] didn’t feel that [Christian] had the personality to connect with the audience in a big way. He didn’t think he was larger than life and at that time Vince wanted the top guys needed to be larger than life. You needed to be The Rock, needed to be Stone Cold, you needed to be Undertaker. Every time you would come up with an idea for Edge or Christian it would be like okay, there is a lot of excitement there with Edge."

"‘Oh by God, we could do this with him. We could do this with him, a big good-looking bastard and then we’d get to Christian and it would just be, ‘Ugh, God, do we have to shoot him? Do we have to see that face? The fuck’s he gonna say?!’"

Even after winning his first World Heavyweight Championship, Christian ended up losing the belt within five days.

He inducted long-term partner Edge into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012 but is conspicuous by his own absence from the list over a decade later. The veteran wasn't offered a new WWE contract following a separate return at the Royal Rumble in 2021.

He has since found a home in AEW under Tony Khan's leadership, who reacted to Grisham's story further in an additional post that read: "Christian Cage is the man."

[landoscaring]

my thoughts after baku

was debating whether to post my usual post-race commentary/ramblings because today's race was perfect and i mostly have used this space to throw polite shade at mclaren orrrr toxic/incorrect perceptions from fans, but i feel like it's necessary because, in no particular order:

1. oh my fucking god, what a race we got treated to today! oscar's driving was spectacular, it took balls to do what he did and to defend his position from charles (who also drove an amazing race) for what, 2/3 parts of the race? this kid is my goat, i've always known

2. watching today's race was extremely anxiety-inducing. i think charles chased oscar with drs enabled for like, at least 30 laps? and every time they got to the straight i prayed and yelled and cried and laughed maniacally every time oscar managed to block him and speed off. wow. i cannot believe we got to witness that masterclass from oscar.

3. LANDO FUCKING NORRIS, man. i have no words for him except that i truly think he may be the driver of his generation. what he did, covering oscar from checo??? absolutely divine. and like, yeah, i know he had his own reasons to do that, but he could've still said, nah, fuck it? i love his team spirit. and jesus christ did he shut everyone up today with his overtakes, his tyre management, and his overall pace. my goat!!!!!

4. we didn't get the strategy we thought (and feared) we'd get, but that's a) extremely poetic in a "ha! second driver whooo?" way, and b) confirmation that mclaren can in fact pull off a competitive race strategy without fucking over either lando or oscar. they both achieved the best possible result today given the circumstances: oscar with a win ahead of charles and max (important for lando's wdc) and red bull (important for the wcc) and lando moving up from P15 to P4 andddd ending up above max. incredible performance all around.

5. who knows what'll happen next, but i think today's win has a huge psychological impact on oscar's mindset for the remaining races. he got his 2nd win after a highly questioned maiden one on merit alone. if things go the way we all thought they would this weekend with lando at the front fighting for points, i think it'll be easier for oscar to help out. kind of like he took the edge off (not that he's going to stop fighting for a win, but i think today he proved to everyone something he'd been quietly building up to).

6. i know there's quite a bit of PR in the post-race interviews and team debrief and the team celebration... but i don't care because i'm a sucker for those. lando spraying oscar with champagne? andrea hugging him and kissing lando's head? lando talking about how deserved the win is? the "let's go, baby"????? i died.

7. the whole checo and sainz thing was so, soooo unnecessary. i'm glad they made it out okay.

8. WILLIAMS???????????? i see you, and i like what i see. very extremely happy for alex, and also of course for franco!

onto singapore, pals. we'll see what our papaya boys can do 🧡😭

[someprettyname]

Lore time! (If it sounds bad I'm sorry)

Annual school fest in Osaka which will determine who'll represent the prefecture, right? Held at my school for a week (arts and sports together) while I was a high school first year. I was in for a debate competition (let me dream about being confident enough) and versification (Not kidding, I actually competed for poetry within my state and was SO close to getting a rank I was sobbing), but that wasn't till the third and fourth days, so I decided to just randomly walk about the school, maybe watch some programmes. Two days went like that, then the third day, when the soccer games would begin, I ended up running into our favorite crow boy who thought I was a soccer teammate of his (also from India, an OC). Took him a while to realize I wasn't a guy, but I assured him that I preferred being referred to as a guy. Then we talked and stuff, and he revealed the team had come individually, so he was trying to find them because they'd already found each other. So I went alongside him, searching the whole school together with him. In the meantime, we chatted a lot, casual and deep, and I'd felt like I'd clicked with somebody despite being an introvert. But then we finally spotted one of his teammates there, and we just sorta–

"Oh yeah, that's him there."

"Alright, well... so, I guess this is goodbye."

"Nah. You got a debate today, no? 'M gonna be there, 'cause I need to see you ace it. *Don't* sweat the small stuff, 'cause you're pretty fucking capable. Think of them as like plants or something."

And then he just pats me on the back and leaves. Just like that. Anyway, so in that daze, I somehow do participate in the debate (we narrowly won, by the way). And then I get off the stage, only to meet his smirking face. "Ya did good for all that panicking earlier."

I scoffed and decided to walk off casually, but then I tripped over my own feet (being the clumsy shit I am) and ended up spraining my ankle. And this guy– he literally took initiative so fast, catching me just before I fell completely, asking me if I were okay, before supporting me and walking me till the infirmary somehow (thankfully it was right down the corridor). He stayed with me the entire time basically, I got my foot bandaged up, then he again offered me support to walk around. I asked him when his game was, because I remember him saying his team would play the starting game.

And I'm telling you, never have I seen a guy run so fast. He just yelled a "Stay safe" to me and ran. I laughed so much that day. Anyway, that was the first part of it. After the game was done and stuff, he ended up coming to me to a say a bye, whether I'd be there the next days or not. I assured him I would, then he left with a grin.

Now, timeskip to the final day, we talked during the times we had free, I recited him some of the things I'd written, he talked about his interests during the days. We made a bet that if his team won, I'd owe him a favor and if my school's won, he owed me one. We could ask for anything that wasn't too much. Unfortunately, his team ended up winning. Fortunately, however, what he did was he only talked to me just before leaving;

"Ya owe me something, sweets."

"Ugh. Damn you."

"Mhm, deal's a deal. Here's what it is."

He handed me a folded piece of paper and abruptly went to the car where his parents were waiting for him to come. I opened the paper cause I was too nervous to ask him. Nothing much. Just his number and a note underneath it.

"Because your ass doesn't know how to text without panicking, call me. Plus, wanna hear that cute laugh of yours more. And I'm preeettty sure you like my voice, you kept spacing out while I talked."

Didn't get to grin at him– he'd left by then. So I called him right there and then. Still remember his smug voice that evening. What a cocky piece of shit that I had developed a crush on.

Anyway, that's how it started. We'd video call almost every other day. My family got used to me talking about him, they liked him pretty well. Same with his. About a year passed like that, then like, when we were passing into our third year, he just called me up one Sunday, and asked me if he could send one of my poems to confess to this guy that he had a feeling liked him back. I felt this weird tightness in my chest, but I said okay, deciding I'd ask the details after. Then, I got a notification on my phone. Checked it. One of the poems I'd written, sent right back to me, with an extra message underneath, "Wanted this to be the first text."

I agreed, by the way.

Oh em geeeeee gon do my commentary as I read tehhehe

"Think of them as like plants or something." <- Bahhahahja i cracked up

And then I get off the stage, only to meet his smirking face. "Ya did good for all that panicking earlier." <- tell me you crumbled down on the inside

And I'm telling you, never have I seen a guy run so fast. He just yelled a "Stay safe" to me and ran. <- AYO SUS 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨 was he blushing?

"Ya owe me something, sweets." "Ugh. Damn you." (<- I know you were blushing) "Mhm, deal's a deal. Here's what it is." <- GUHHHHH YOU'RE BOTH SO CUTE IM GONNA GO CHOMP CHOMP

"And I'm preeettty sure you like my voice, you kept spacing out while I talked." <- KARASU YOU BITCH BOYYYYY nice move

URFGHSHHSJSIIAHSHSJNS GAHHHHHH THIS IS SO ?!!!?!?!?!?!?

Oh my god this is so cuteeeeeeee how long have you both been together now?

[socialcarcrash]

I completely agree with you about Sweets! His death was such a shame. How do you think he would have changed the dynamics in seasons 10 through 12 if he was still alive with the plots and characters (like Aubrey and Karen)?

AUBREY: im an aubrey-sweets friendship truther at heart, so first thing to acknowledge is the thing with aubreys dad.

We all know sweets has a slight obsession/ interest (depending on the perspective) with his friends childhoods, and that’s understandable. I can see him really helping him out at that time, and providing a perspective that would hopefully relieve the guilt he experiences after turning his dad in. also really random idea that popped into my brain!! aubrey is the most adhd coded guy ive ever seen, so i can see sweets waltzing past his desk and dropping off snacks and drinks to help him focus :)

i just think those two could have got super close. Aubrey clearly felt out of place when he first joined, a feeling that sweets shared and grew from so maybe he would have just provided that extra support for him!

KAREN: i havent got so much on this, cause i dont know her as well as i should, however; i know those ‘is psychology a real science’ debates would have got way more heated!!! its now 2v2, b&b and sweets and karen, i can see them sitting in the diner having the most heated debate ever seen and the rest of the diner is just sat silently like ‘what the fuck 0-0’.

I also think at first, sweets struggled having someone who pushed him and knew a lot about ‘his’ field, which comes with lots of special interests. (i get quite stressed if i meet a person who is into the same fields of physics that i am, especially if i am the person who is known for liking it amongst my group, and i think sweets probably has the same think). But he learns to talk with her and infodump about their theories and cases together! a form of healthy competition forms i think, one that eventually encourages them to work harder.

ZACK: i felt like it was important to mention him,even though i mentioned him in the last one, so ill just expand on this one a bit.

I just want to know what the team would have thought about sweets knowing all along that zack was innocent. What would they have felt? betrayed? understanding? sad? Maybe sweets would never have told them during this time, maybe he kept it a secret until he testified on the stand.

Sometimes i think the death of sweets is what prompted Zack to admit to never having killed anyone, so maybe if he was still alive Zack would still be there and no-one would ever know. That could give way for another new plot line where sweets lets it slip that zack was innocent, but maybe not. who knows :)

(now an extra cause i wanted to do him hes the loml)

HODGINS: this is a big one, cause the poor guy really goes through it (*cough* the doom in the boom *cough*). I love this arc, it gets way to much hate. disabled hodgins for the win!!

I think sweets totally understands his anger, and allows him to feel it (as he should!). But i think he would have put a stop to him taking it out on angela, cause it’s counterproductive to build barriers between those you love when you’re struggling. I can see hodgins (after the usual pestering from sweets for a while) just rocking up at his office looking ready to murder someone (so real) and sweets just lets him talk, and shout and probably cry a bit too.

I just think the adjustment wouldn’t have been easier, but he would have had a way to handle it better and that would mean so much!!!

okay cool im done (for now- i might revisit this idea later with a few other characters) :)

[tobiasdrake]

We have a plan. I do not understand all of the details of the plan but it is a plan and that's better than dying hopelessly. Let's give it a go.

Alright, team meeting before we head in there. Here's what I'm thinking.

Prophecy said there is no version of events where we fight the Dweller of Strife and win. But prophecy also sent us to the Chosen One door that wouldn't open because we aren't the Chosen Ones.

Since Resh'an put his hand on the scale, we're having this confrontation here inside Clockwork Castle; Something that would have been impossible to occur under the normal events of the timeline.

That means we're actually off the map, in terms of prophecy. None of the "versions" of us fighting the Dweller of Strife ever accounted for us meeting Cael and... doing whatever his plan is going to do. Catalyzed Eclipse Magic is not a thing we ever had in this timeline before.

So. Who knows what's going to happen in there? Prophecies are overrated; We're forging our own destinies right now.

Okay. There are four extremely punchable people, two slightly less punchable people, and an unbeatable Dweller waiting for us in there. I want everyone ready to unleash a hurricane of violence. I want to hit them so hard that they don't even know whose boot is lodged up their ass. Except you, Resh'an, since you're not allowed to fight the Dweller. Let's go!

WHAT'S UP GUYS, HOW'S THE BROKEN RIBS!? You want me to do the other ones?

Oh, don't worry about that. It's never too early for violence. That's what coffee's for.

Are our previous altercations not a clear indicator of how this is about to go down? I wouldn't really call it "boldness" so much as "basic pattern recognition".

Hey! HEY! Don't focus on them; Focus on me. I'm the one threatening you right now. You can use your dying breath to wonder what that's about when we're done here.

This is how we count to four. One, two...

...three, four. Four dipshits! Ah-hah-hah!

Honestly, guys. I don't know why you try so hard to be threatening when you just aren't cut out for this. I don't know what you do for a living but it's clearly not combat.

What are you, Aephorul's tax accountants?

Oh fuck me, they stalled us for time again.

That's okay. We still have the plan. We just have to stick with the plan and then hopefully everything will be fine.

Either the four of us (not counting Resh'an) are about to slay a Dweller that took dozens of Solstice Warriors to bring down or we're about to die horrible, brutal deaths. But either way, it's going to look really cool.

Let's bring the Eclipse.

It's Go Time.

And now it's bombing us. I don't think it appreciated our Pocket Eclipse trick. I'm pretty sure we pissed it off.

*sigh* Goddammit, why am I so good at drawing aggro?

Ooooo I love it. Is that like the solar/lunar beam crystals? Is it, like, a concentrated eclipse crystal? It's perfect.

I know you weren't here for the fake birthday debacle but I want you to know that this present just unruined it for me. Thank you so much.

"Hold the line while I charge up energy to unleash the murder beam that wins the day" but with extra steps. Got it.

This will be easy. I'm fantastic at drawing aggro.

As agreed. No argument from me. I'm honestly surprised you came this far with us.

Now, I have a job to do: Be as obnoxious as humanly possible. Ahem.

HEY POINDEXTER, get down here, I want a word. I was told you were supposed to be scary. Big bad Strife killed two dozen Solstice Warriors. But this? Seriously? All I see is glaucoma with wings. I've mugged scarier things than you.

If you're going to try that hard for the edgelord aesthetic, maybe reconsider the "Whole Body Eyeball" thing. Not exactly the most formidable part to present. A slightly off-target eyeliner pencil could take your whole ass out.

Plus, Dweller of Strife? What, was Dweller of Bickering taken? Can you get more generic? At least Torment rolled off the tongue. Torment. There was a title that filled me with terror. Your name sounds like you want to debate.

There we go, I think that got it. Now we just have to try not to die horribly. Don't tell the Dweller but, actually, Debate Bros are the worst kind of abomination.

HEY! DON'T TOUCH MY GARL! That is not acceptable Dweller behavior!

YEAH! HOW DO YOU LIKE IT, ASSHOLE!? AHAHAHAHAHAHA WE'VE GOT THIS AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

This is actually a piece of cake. All we need to do is channel our magic into the cannon, right? I've got the perfect spell for that.

I see your eye lasers and raise you invincibility moons asshole. Choke on my brick wall of lunar magic! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I'm giving Cael's team a raise after I snipe them from Aephorul. Zale heals and I keep up the invulnerability shields, and all the while...

You can't break these walls, Dweller of Strife. HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST

Oh. You are. You are literally breaking the....

No

Stop

That's cheating! T_T

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck where's Zale fuckfuckfuck he had two invincibility moons when we fell he has to be okay fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

Oh, he's okay. Spent both invincibility moons but he's okay.

Not for long though. Uh. Hi. We. Um. Now we both said some things that maybe we both regret, and if we can just try to see things from the other's point of view then maybe--

Okay, that's fair.

[violentdelightsandviolentends]

first off, i would absolutely love to hear all of your thoughts! second, the beef between carlos and charles fans is actually insane. like omg we get it, you prefer one to the other, that doesnt mean that you talk so much shit about the other!! i feel like they just need to get over themselves, like im such a charles girl but like at the end of the day, i love seeing ferrari succeed. whether that is carlos or charles on podium, just be happy that your fav is actually finishing in points and isnt last. - 🏁 anon

exactly!! and i’m not sure why they’re pitting the ferrari boys against each other now more than ever, because carlos has only got 20 more races and then he’s going, so. f1 twt is crazy man, it’s a scary place sometimes lmao

okay so here are my driver thoughts, based on the actual driving and performances and not personalities/who I like best -

- red bull - i think rb would be silly to let checo go. I don’t feel very strongly about him as a person, but he’s proven time and time again that he can at least get close to max. we know no ones matching max’s level, so being close is the best you can do. checo has had wins and lots of podiums these past couple of years, and has proven that he can drive that car reliably with minimal mistakes. if I was rb, i’d be keeping him. there’s no way i’d trade a reliable driver like checo for danny ric i’m sorry but it doesn’t make sense

- ferrari - i fully understand why they’ve chosen to bring lewis on for 25, but there’s no way they’re not slightly debating their decision at the moment. carlos has been on the podium for 100% of races he’s started this year, and lewis hasn’t even finished top 5. yes maybe it’s the car etc etc but… there’s no way they’re not doubting their choice even a tiny bit. if lewis doesn’t prove himself quickly next year i think there are gonna be some regrets

- mercedes - I don’t know if they’re gonna be able to sign any of the big names. they say they have their eye on carlos, fernando etc but honestly they’re not a desirable team. no one wants to go to a team that’s struggling with the car and has been for years. no one wants to go to the team that’s fucked it all up for a 7 time world champion. alonso said himself the other day that it’d be a downgrade for him. they might sign kimi and try and teach and mould him into a senior driver. signing someone young and new might be their best bet honestly

- VCARB - GIVE LIAM LAWSON THAT GODDAMN SEAT. car issue or not, dannys career has taken a steep decline over the last few years. I just think we’re holding so many young racers back (lawson, doohan, drugovich) to keep the same older ones on the grid, even when they’re not performing. yuki is really shining this year so far, and he’s outshining danny massively. judging by his performances this year and last, I don’t think any teams are gonna want to sign mr ricciardo. if they didn’t want him after mclaren and he’d won in that car… why would they want him now?

- mclaren - obvs the papaya boys are going to be there together until at least 26, so no worries there. but… i hope there’s a car upgrade soon, because at the moment, that doesn’t look like a race winning car to me. it won’t happen (at least not for like 5 years at least), but… dare i say i’d love to see lando in a red bull 🤭. it’s obviously unrealistic but god imagine him in that rocketship of a car, with his talent… same with oscar!! I think if you gave those papayas a better car (it’s decent, don’t get me wrong), they’d be unstoppable

- I don’t think logan or zhou will have seats next year. not too sure about the haas guys… they’re weirdly actually doing okay at the moment. I think that williams seat will definitely be open, so it’ll be very interesting to see who slides into that.

- not sure where carlos will end up honestly. most probably sauber, because they’ll be audi in 26 and his dad has a lot of links there. but, I think he’ll really struggle in that car for 25, because frankly, it’s fucking terrible. I just hope he’s happy with wherever he ends up.

that’s all from me for now 😌 please let me know, my f1 girlies, what you think!! who’s going where? who do you want to go where? let’s talk about it <3

[dr3smile]

It really amazes me how low people are willing to go to to justify McLaren and their attitudes towards Daniel last year

"but Lando didn't have problems with the car" LANDO AND DANIEL WERE NOT DRIVING THE SAME FUCKING CAR.

Lando didn't complain about the breaks at every race and got ignored because an idiot with a computer who've never driven an F1 car said that he think they are okay. (And look how well that worked for them)

Lando didn't have parts of his car changed WITHOUT knowing it and only being informed AFTER qualis of the changes.

Lando wasn't asked at every race to hold place and stay behind his teammate even when he had the chance to overtake him.

A great driver like Daniel wouldn't just forget how to drive all of a sudden, he managed to fight against Lewis, Micheal Schumacher (while driving for Toro Rosso), Nico R, Sebastian, Valterri, Felipe and many more. Give him a good car and a good strategy and see what he can do.

While Lando had been a drive for McLaren for 5 seasons now and he couldn't win even when the odds were all on his favour (Sochi anyone?)

I’ve blocked out all of that from my mind. It amazes me how Mclaren seem to make the same mistakes over and over again in regards to their car. You can see each team making progress but they have been in the same spot for so many years now, and they still say they’re a few years off. I mean look at Aston and how well they’ve progressed over a few years, surely it can’t just be a wind tunnel that makes the difference?

The thing is all these Mclaren fans will soon jump ship if LN left the team and they’d be the ones shit talking the team. Yes we get it Daniel didn’t perform how we all thought he would that’s not up for debate here, what is up for debate is how all of them treated Daniel last year, fans included. Why is okay to do so when it’s about Daniel but as soon as your driver is struggling it’s not okay? The double standards blow my mind.

[dorizardthewizard]

HSM (2006) rewatch pt 10

10: In which I do a strange amount of maths for a DCOM commentary

Chad: Hey. Look, we need to talk Taylor: Go.

You know for someone whose first lines in the whole movie are making fun of jocks and insulting Chad's intelligence, she listens to him real quick. Perhaps... she already had a bit of a crush on him but covered it up with insults to stick to the status quo? Also what happened between her last convo with Gabriella and now that made her suddenly want to break them up?

Hkjfdkf the way Taylor looks so baffled and then goes “whatever” at Chad’s watch thing. He’s a dork really

You want to be one of Charlie’s Angels Chad? Ok

If I were an East High student I would hate the basketball team so much, like wtf is all this Wildcat shit everywhere I don’t even know those guys fuck off

Ahh the intervention. I kinda wanted Zeke to be a bit more sympathetic to Troy, maybe be more reluctant to take part in this plan or actually not take part at all? Idk just to show some more nuance within these groups, although I guess baking is different and doesn’t interfere with basketball, Chad probably convinced him that this was necessary

Chad: Who was the first sophomore ever to make starting varsity? Wildcats: TROY! Chad: So who voted him our team captain this year? Wildcats: US! Chad: And who is gonna get their sorry butts kicked in Friday's championship game if Troy's worried about an audition? Wildcats: We are...

They sound so dejected on that last bit FSJDKKD

EXACTLY. WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING. Also this scene is where the contrast between Troy's blue outfit and the Wildcat red is most obvious, and Gabriella's in blue too. Costume symbolism!

Chad: I think you're forgetting about one very important 13th member of our squad. Troy: My dad. Chad: Yes, Troy. Wildcat basketball champion, class of 1981.

Wow Chad really played the dad card, huh. Guys it's not that big of a flex to be a champion at high school basketball 20 years ago, you don't need to look up to a guy that peaked in high school and seemingly never left.

Wait let me do the maths... so if Jack Bolton was class of 1981, i.e. 18 years old then, and Troy turned 17 in 2006 so was born in 1989, that means Mr Bolton was 26 when he became a father and 43 at the time of the fist movie.

There was a tiktok recently that the actor reacted to, where the person theorised that Mr Bolton had Troy at 18 and that's why he pressures Troy so much to go make a life for himself. Except they used the actor's age which is a bit silly, so that was my debunk. He was 26. Mystery solved that didn't need solving.

Ah, the “why do athletes get paid that much” debate

Taylor’s being so dramatic maybe SHE should join the drama club? In comparison to Troy's intervention where they actually bring out stuff that's important to him, this one's got a lot of waffle haha

Side note Taylor's fit is quite nice though

“I thought that you’re my friends. Win together, lose together, teammates” SO TRUE. GET 'EM.

KJHDFGKDFG THAT LAPTOP AND WEBCAM IS SO UNSUBTLE HE LITERALLY SETS IT UP AS HE SPEAKS

Obsessed with this video player screen and how the word “receiving” is misspelt. How are they even livestreaming this to her when it just looks like a normal video player hahaha

This is actually so mean wtf 😭 You made her cry! And Taylor’s reaction is terrible, just casually inviting her to the decathlon and lunch straight after

Why wouldn't Gabriella question this whole setup anyway? They were clearly planning for Troy to say this since they were ready with the webcam. Wouldn't she recognise that this was engineered on purpose? I guess it doesn't matter to her either way, as he still said those things.

OKAY to be fair they were trying to get Troy to quit the callbacks, it didn’t necessarily have to result in Troy dumping Gabriella (well they’re not dating but still) but it was Troy who took it to that level, even if he didn’t mean any of it.

This also shows a flaw of Troy’s and that's that he’s a bit of a people pleaser – he DOES argue with the Wildcats when he says he thought they were his friends, Chad doesn’t even offer a rebuttal, and instead of putting his foot down, in the same breath Troy dismisses the singing and Gabriella. Yeah his friends may still not have listened, but the right thing to do would be to draw his line in the sand and say they can't be friends if they won't support him. Because yeah they're being really mean about this! It's interesting because comparatively, Gabriella is better at setting boundaries and we'll see more of this in the second movie.

What is this random Wildcats gathering

[thelovelybitten]

vera's first watch of south park -- season four (part 2)

jfc i want 2 unalive... slowly

EPISODE 6: THESE THE BOYS ARE SO FERAL BYE messing w the sub with switching names NO KYLE IS SICK :’((((( MY POOR BOY NOT BUTTERS HE’S SUCH A CUTE CARD I LOVE BUTTERS SM miss information…. bffr garrison writing a SMUT FIC BYE MDFNVIFDMIMMVS miss information BYE STAN IS TRYING 2 HELP there’s only so much natural herbs can do :’( “KYLE’S MY BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD” SO TRUE SO TRUE CRYINGGGGG “I’LL GIVE HIM MY KIDNEY I’LL DO IT” stan would die for kyle and that’s on god babe not cartman being the only person in south park that matches kyle SMH kenny and cartman being actual kids ofc cartman won’t give it up “how much is ur life worth to u, kyle” cartman u fucking JACKASS if kyle dies i’m gonna be pissed stan worried abt kyle :’(((((( kenny >:( rightfully so garrison just come out as gay babe it’s not that hard clyde and tacos >>>> kyle’s life this is so fucked ew oh stan is serious he’s gonna get his kidney i forgot abt cartmans pig cartman is so smart okay that kinda slayed stan DON’T CRY “nobody cares if i die” KENNY THAT WAS OUTTA POCKET BUT ALSO SO TRUE MY SON “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS BULLSHIT. SCREW U GUYS I’M GOING HOME.” PIANO FALLS ON HIM :’( very cartman of u kenny OH THEY KILLING HER OOF wait how is cartman not dead ?!?!?!/! his whole ass kidney was cut off by an eight year old oh they defo put his kidney into kyle’s bod but faked it for cartman epic EPISODE 7 Chef winning U GET THEM KING. Ending racists PERIOD who TF is this teacher Cartman winning debates ??? Weird Oh LMAO THE CLASS AGREES HES A RAT MY FUCKING FAVE KIDS ON TEAM CHEF !!! WENDY, BEBE, CLYDE AND BUTTERS. ICONS Stan obvs on his uncles side but BIG BOO WENDY GET THEM BABY WENDY TELL UR MAN HES AN IDIOT STYLE VS WENDY AND CARTMAN ??? oh this abt to be good cartman tho… fat boo Chef schooling the kiddies (style respectfully) WENDY PROTECTING STYLE SO REAL THUMBS DOWN CARTMAN BOOOOOOOO NOT THE KKK 💀💀💀💀 THE MAYOR RLY DIDNT DO SHIT oh crap leaving it up to the kids WHACK Wendy and cartman in the same frame is just giving me the ICK NO WENDY DONT LAUGH ALL CUTELY AT HIM EW no bc cartman and Wendy together makes me physically I’ll wtf KENNY EATING THE MINTS “FUCK YOU” so real “I don’t think we stand a chance in this debate bc Wendy’s leading the other side” “Dude, ur just saying that bc she’s your gf” TRUE AND REAL Kyle so real for that omg OH SHIT KENNY NOOOO HE EXPLODED NO CRYING not Wendy & Cartman again LORD ARE U TRYING TO TEST ME I WANNA OFF MYSELF WHY IS TREY AND MATT GIVING WENDY AND CARTMAN AN ENEMIES TO LOVERS ARC HES EVERYTHING SHE HATES AND VICE VERSA STAN PLS COME COLLECT UR GF IM GONNA THROW UP MY DINNER NOT THE HAND TOUCH IM UNALIVING I CANT I FUCKING HATE IT HERE NOT WENDY FANTASIZING CARTMAN I WANNA SKIP IT SO BAD BUT I NEED TO HAVE AN HONEST FULL REACTION NOT THE ROLL DOWN THE HILL WENDY WOKE UP IT WAS A DREAM THE LORD SAVED ME FROM THIS HELL Wendy me too bc what the fuck Dunks head in water me too Wendy seeing cartman everywhere and haunting her NOOOOOO Wendy “please don’t let this be happening” I WISH IT WASNT BABY GIRL This KKK stuff is weird “BEBE IM ATTRACTED TO CARTMAN” Bebe IMMEDIATELY SCREAMS THATS MY DAUGHTER SHES THE MOOD no but Bebe is me rn BEBE NO DONT TELL HER TO KISS HIM ?!1?1!1) THE FUCK ARE U DOING Wendy PLEASE DOR THE LOVE OF GOD DONT I DONT NEED THAT IN MY BRAIN PLEASE IM BEGGING WHAT WOULD STAN THINK ??!?!? WENDY ARE U DELULU STANS LOOK OF CONCERN AS HE LOOKS AT WENDY STUTTERING AND PANICKING NO WENDY ARE U FUCKING FOR REAL NOOOOOO STANS FACE NO IM BREAKING IM DESTROYED IM IN SHAMBLES HIS SAD FACE NO STAN IM SOBBINGGGGGG cartman feeling so smug abt Stan’s girl kissing him I know stan is gonna go HAM ON HIS ASS Stan still upset NO I HATE IT HERE I HATE IT CARTMAN IS ADDING FUEL TO THE FIRE TEASING STAN OH STOP IT STAN IS STILL SHOCKED STILL. S T I L L S T I L L S T I L L IM SOBBING AT STAN 😭😭 CARTMAN HAS FEELS FOR WENDY OH FUCK defo my least fave episode out of all seasons so far

[officeobject]

(Me ending up rambling):

I know I said and maybe framed it, as if in It's Interesting Or Not 1: Jebediah Slams His Hand Against The Table (and feck it, I'll post it again on the Xanderweb if y'all wanna read), as if you can just choose a side, debate on who's your favorite, have your own little faction about your opinion, post about your team VS the other, etc, but, like, first of all, I ended up writing Lance Gray as a bad boy (if he wasn't already in IEION 1, and second of all, being #TeamLanceGray is probably a huge fecking red flag, because, like, WHAT? Like, is it just me, or is there no way he's right and no way one should take his side? Also, how the feck is Jebediah NOT autistic, already from IEION 1?! Like, intentional or not, is he not BASED ON MY TRAITS? Do we not have THE SAME BRAIN-TYPE? Even if one was to argue he was never written that way, like, HOW IS HE NOT AUTISTIC? Also WHY did I write him to be autistic? I think like, I just ENJOY, how he's deadpan and annoyed at random things and oddly specific, and whatever else, and then, like, autism - also how the feck did I never realize that he is way to clearly autistic before? Like, maybe it's just because I'M like that, and didn't read as much about autism at the time or something, and I was like "well that's just a few personality-traits that one could have without being autistic!" and then I just dumped all of the ones that, combined, would make one autistic, you know? And like, Lance Gray was rude - I don't CARE that he was holding his patience and whatnot, he was like, overly rude when he didn't have to, and confrontational, and Jebediah didn't even have outright bad intentions and stuff, at times - and like, I don't wanna give spoilers, so I'm not gonna debate this for TOO long (not that I expect someone to read all of this anyway, but STILL), but like, Jebediah is just trying to do what's right also, and he had valid concerns, and he WASN'T, treating the water like trash, and Lance just ended up giving unnecessary comments ( #INAPROPRIATE), and Jebediah actually had ... whatever one needs, to be able to put up with that, and he didn't CRY or anything, and like, why would you take the side of some rude waiter - like, some cool boy-wannabe who is a bad boy? Like, sure, maybe you don't KNOW that he's a bad boy, but like, Jebediah is just here, MINDING HIS OWN BUSINESS - well not REALLY, but he's just hanging out with himself, trying to make it nice for everyone, and Lance Gray is just here to get money and whatnot, he couldn't give a SHIT, about the customers - he couldn't give a SHIT, about the quality, the moralities, the opinions - THERE WAS LITERALLY A SCENE, THAT PROVED, THAT HE COULDN'T EVEN GIVE A SHIT, ABOUT "THE SMALL THINGS IN LIFE", and Jebediah is here, doing all the work, overseeing, caring - AS IF HE DOESN'T DO THAT ENOUGH ALREADY - AS IF HE'S NOT GONNA BECOME DARLEN'S OLDER BROTHER LATER ON - and like, how could you just be like "fuck Jebediah" - well not in THAT way, but yeah, also, how COULD you just be like that in that way?! Because like, he's some good boy here seeing all the details, being cool, not being a shithead - having cool hair, even - but nah, Lance doesn't give a shit, NOTHING IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM, which is kind of the point of him in the story I guess.

#TeamJebediah , by the way. Like, totally #TeamJebediah for the win! Hopefully I can sleep, after writing all of that like what the feck?!

Just fyi, y'all are allowed to make Xanderverse shit-posts.

For example, I post about Lance Gray sometimes!

(The joke is that Lance is a shit from the Xanderverse - WHICH IS TRUE).

[hanjisungz-archive]

today was a rollercoaster of emotions 😪😔

[kissporsche]

i am 300 years late. ship game namphueng/gun

and i am 300 years late to answer this so we're even

LU. LU. LU. HOW DID YOU KNOW THIS WAS A THING I HAD THOUGHTS ABOUT

I'm not going to do the questions for this one BUT

Ship It

Right okay you might think i'm insane but. I think Namphueng might have been in love with Gun. I think they might have actually been together but the jealousy and rivalry between Korn and Gun (and whatever hand their father had in this) made it unbearable so Namphueng left.

I can't explain it I just feel like it's true. I'm not saying it was healthy or anything like that, but I do feel like at one point they loved each other. Gun enters the room and as soon as he sees Namphueng all his defences start falling (which of course was Korn's intention leading him there), when Namphueng hears Gun's voice she turns, her eyes widen (in recognition? I think so, team She Has Her Memories over here) and then she stands. When Kinn and Porsche enter the room she doesn't even look at them right away, instead she's stuck staring at Gun. I've said before that Porsche addressing her is what snaps her back into her role, she shuts down and cowers away behind Korn.

We get this exchange:

"How could you do this to Namphueng? How could you?" "I did this to protect Namphueng." "That's not true. You told me she was dead."

Worth saying as well, this is possibly the most emotional we see Korn, although how much of it is an act is up for debate. I think genuinely, arguing over Namphueng with his brother does mentally send him back to being a younger, more emotional man.

Back to the dialogue, obviously i'm not getting the full nuance reading subs, but something about the way it's phrased doesn't sound like they're talking about what Korn is about to accuse Gun of. it sounds not only like the worst thing Korn has done (in Gun's opinion) to Namphueng is telling Gun she was dead but also that the act of protecting her is directly in opposition to letting Gun believe she had died.

"That's all on you Gun, you made me lie. Don't you remember?"

"Don't you remember" is such an interesting thing to say here. Before he tells an emotionally distressed Gun what he's supposed to remember:

"You shot Pat that day. Then we brought Namphueng home. You molested her."

We the viewer know at least half of that is a lie. Korn shot Pat. Korn is excellent at manipulating people into believing what he tells them. Not to mention, if both Korn and Gun brought Namphueng home then what would Gun think happened to Porsche and Chay? Why would he believe they were out of the picture if he was with Korn the whole time?

Namphueng is behind Korn while he says this and has very little reaction, she's acting as she has been since the start but-

When Korn raises his voice she closes her eyes and grips her dress. It's not rocket science to say Namphueng is traumatised by Korn, but yeah.

"You did all of this because you're selfish. You lied to everyone. Korn, stop pretending. Stop it. [...] You just want all the power. The truth is, you're just as bad as papa was."

Now Gun has shifted from Namphueng to the real heart of the issue: him and Korn. Namphueng becomes what she's always been when she gets between the brothers, just another way for one of them to win power over the other. What I also want to point out is that Gun doesn't deny anything Korn accused him of, but he does call Korn out for "pretending". Because Gun knows, possibly better than anyone else, that Korn is a liar. Gun isn't trying to defend himself here, he's barely aware of their audience, if Korn is lying then he, Korn and Namphueng all already know that.

And then one of my favourite lines in the entire series, "You're just as bad as papa was." and Korn's reaction.

A beat of silence from the master manipulator, who has finally been hit where it hurts. Just brothers who were fucked up by their father, and are passing it along to their kids in return.

Then Gun focuses back on Namphueng, appealing to her:

"Namphueng, I love you the most. Please come back to me. I'll protect you."

Now Namphueng is visibly distressed, her lips are shaking, she's squirming uncomfortably, eyes darting all over the place.

"I love you the most"- even loving her is a competition between them, it always has been, but also- "Please come back to me." Come back to me. I can protect you now, like I couldn't before. We can be together again.

But then he goes back to Korn, and:

"And everyone shall know the truth. The truth that Namphueng is-"

The way this haunts me! What the fuck could he be about to say, because I thought it was another secret he was trying to use against Korn, one serious enough he ends up dead for trying to reveal it, but... what? What more is there we don't know about Namphueng?

This truth is clearly something both he and Korn know, and either is information that could be leveraged against Korn and/or make him angry enough to shoot Gun. Revealing that he and Namphueng were together fits both, because it disrupts the narrative that Korn is trying to spin here of Gun being obsessed with her to the point of assaulting her.

I really don't know. I want to push the half-brothers agenda but the Kinnporsche timeline is impossible to understand so i'll just say it's not out of the realm of possibility that the end of that sentence is "Namphueng is Vegas's mother", especially seeing as Korn mentions them right after shooting him. Which clearly isn't for his benefit seeing as he's dead- okay i'm shutting up i'm stopping.

So Korn shoots Gun and Namphueng screams, the only sound we hear her make in the entire show, then passes out. I mean, reasonable under any circumstances given she's a traumatised, isolated woman who just saw someone get shot, whether that person was just her foster brother or past lover is neither here nor there.

So uh this got away from me a little (when will I stop going on about this scene) but my thoughts are this: Gun and Namphueng were together at some point in the past, but Namphueng still left to try and get out of the family. Part of Korn's motivation in locking her up was to win something against Gun, who had her when Korn couldn't. Whether they were still secretly seeing each other while Namphueng was with Pat, whether they were married or had children together, is up for debate.

And just to be clear, absolutely none of this is an attempt at defending Gun for anything. Them being together in the past doesn't even preclude him assaulting her, just in my opinion it reads more like Korn manipulation than anything else because Korn is speaking for their audience (Kinn and Porsche, who he needs to be under his control for his plan to work) whereas Gun isn't. But we won't know for sure until Namphueng tells us herself.