#She was a little girl who went missing on a vacation????? People HAD to have known that

[princescar]

The Milk Carton is going into my Mukuro playlists

[poisonlove]

Sorry... | j.o

It's a story set in a high school and revolves around Y/n, a lesbian student who has faced bullying and discrimination because of her sexuality. Her life takes an unexpected turn when Jenna, a popular and cruel girl, approaches her unexpectedly.

Summer vacation had just ended, and it was time to return to school. The sense of freedom and carefreeness I had enjoyed during the summer was fading, giving way to anxiety and worry about what awaited me in the new and fortunately final school year.

I walked to school, headphones in my ears playing the sweet sound of "Daylight" by David Kushner. The music enveloped me, trying to make me forget the impending start of a new school year, which I anticipated to be as disastrous as the previous ones.

I paused for a moment, taking in my surroundings. Leaves were slowly falling onto the grass, a sign that summer was gradually giving way to autumn. The temperatures were dropping, and the bus stop was as crowded as ever, with familiar faces. Looking around the neighborhood, I noticed subtle differences. The air was quieter than usual, with many people still asleep at this hour. Gray clouds covered the sky, giving the atmosphere a more melancholic feel.

I walked almost like a shadow, lost in my thoughts. A sigh of frustration escaped my lips as I thought about why I should endure this daily torture. Why should I endure the bruises from the taunts inflicted by the popular kids?

The truth is, there is a reason, even though there shouldn't be. I'm a lesbian. It's surprising how something so personal can become an issue for others, especially considering we're in the 21st century. I often wonder how my sexuality could affect anyone's life other than my own. It should be a personal matter, a part of who I am, but it seems that some people are obsessed with the idea that they should judge me for it. I didn't choose to be a lesbian; it's simply who I am, and it feels unfair that I have to bear the weight of others' prejudice and ignorance.

There's a sense of frustration in seeing the world move forward in many other areas but still having to face discrimination and bullying because of my identity. But despite it all, I'll continue to be myself and hope that one day the world can accept anyone, regardless of who we love.

I sigh deeply and shake my head, instinctively biting my lower lip as I walk. Confusion and frustration surround me, but I try to keep them at bay. My eyes turn towards the house in front of me, and a spontaneous smile spreads across my face when I see my best friend, Sofia Carson, coming out of her house with her backpack. It's a relief to see her, especially in moments like this.

Sofia is a girl with black hair and lively eyes that radiate enviable confidence. Her contagious smile and friendly personality make her a special person. As I get a little closer, I see Sofia running toward me with a radiant smile on her lips. Her black hair flows behind her as she approaches, almost as if her positive energy could brighten the whole day. She's my rock in this chaotic world, and her presence makes me feel stronger and less alone.

I remove my headphones and turn my attention to Sofia. "Hey, Sof. How was the trip?" I ask with a smile, trying to momentarily push away the thoughts that were tormenting me.

Sofia wraps an arm around my neck and leans her weight against my body.

"I missed you so much, you know?" she says, looking at me with bright eyes.

"We haven't seen each other for just two weeks," I murmur, amused.

"True... but the trip to Europe was great... I went to Italy!" she exclaims with enthusiasm.

"Is it true that everyone in Italy is beautiful?" I ask with curiosity, and Sofia huffs, nodding several times. Her reaction makes me laugh.

"Yes, it's true..." Sofia seems a bit embarrassed as she bites her lower lip, and I can't help but laugh again.

"And what have you been up to these past two weeks while I was gone?" Sofia asks timidly, and a shiver runs slightly down my spine. During that time, I experienced a panic attack and escalating depression, succumbing to the temptation of the razor blade. Unconsciously, I pull the sleeve of my leather jacket down to hide the scars.

"Oh, nothing special, you know," I reply, trying to smile. I don't want to worry Sofia with my problems, at least not right now.

Sofia looks at me out of the corner of her eye, seeming to doubt my words. My attempt to conceal what I've been through in the past two weeks doesn't seem convincing. Without even realizing it, we had already reached the gates of LA High School. We look at the imposing building, aware that another school year awaits us.

"Oh, did you hear? The new album by The Weeknd just came out!" Sofia exclaims with excitement. "Really? I didn't know!" I respond, surprised and relieved by the change of topic. "I'll have to listen to it when I get home."

A few steps ahead, as we gaze at the school panorama, Sofia returns to the subject. "I bet it's fantastic; his last album was amazing."

"I hope so," I say with a smile. "I like his music."

We exchange a few more words, but soon Sofia is called over by some of her friends in the distance. "Hey, y/n/n, want to come with me?" she asks, but I shake my head, feeling embarrassed. I don't want to add my discomfort to her social interactions, so I watch her walk away, hoping that my best friend can enjoy her day without the burdens I carry with me.

I put my headphones back on, and my smile quickly fades, replaced by the sadness that seems to inevitably return. As I pass through the school doors, anxiety grows within me.

But before I can take a step, two arms enter my field of vision, and I find myself quickly with my back against the lockers. The force of the impact makes me grit my teeth and hold back the tears, clenching my jaw to prevent a whimper from escaping my lips.

The perpetrator of my pain is Asher Spenser, the brown-haired guy and captain of the basketball team. "Look who we have here! And I was hoping not to see you until at least the last year," he says with a contemptuous smile.

"But at least I'll have something to take my frustration out on, you disgusting freak," he hisses through his teeth, his tone filled with hatred and ridicule. As I face yet another challenge in my day, I know I must find the strength to endure these cruel words and ongoing torment.

Asher sadistically laughs. "Without your little friend Sofia? She was always there to solve your problems."

His laughter is like a knife stabbing into my heart, and I feel increasingly isolated.

Then, with a boundless malevolence, he continues to whisper, "Even your best friend got tired of you... do everyone a favor... kill yourself."

His words are like daggers in the dark, hurting more than his physical actions. My jaw clenches as I try to hold back the tears, and humiliation and anger merge into a storm within me. But I know I can't let him see how much he's hurt me. I have to endure.

"What do you want, Asher?" I murmur weakly, hoping he'll go away.

"The disgusting lesbian suddenly found some courage!" he says sarcastically, and before I can react, he pushes me against the lockers again.

A female voice intervenes from a distance.

"Let her go, Ash." But Asher seems to ignore her. He presses my face against the locker, forcing me to turn my attention to the instigator of my torment, Jenna Ortega. She's the captain of the cheerleading squad and the leader of the popular group. Next to her is Cassie, her best friend, who's sipping on a smoothie.

"Stop looking at Cassie, a freak like you can't ogle my girlfriend," Asher slams my body against the lockers again, making me slide to the ground. His violence is palpable as I stand there, unable to react or defend myself. Anger and shame blend together as I feel the gazes of curious onlookers.

"Let her go, Ash," Jenna repeats, giving me a quick glance. Her request seems surprising given her involvement in my troubles. "Suddenly you're being nice to her?" Asher asks, looking puzzled. Jenna opens her mouth in indignation. "I can't stand her, you know that," she justifies herself, "it's just that some teachers are roaming the school, and if they catch you, you'll get detention."

Before I can get up from the ground, a liquid spills over my head. I feel completely dirty from what seemed to be a strawberry smoothie. With tear-blurred eyes, I look towards Cassie.

She then throws the empty cup at me, always wearing a smirk on her lips. Her laughter is malicious and cold, while Asher laughs heartily by her side. Jenna, on the other hand, has a strange look on her face, as if she's reflecting on what's happening.

Without thinking, I run to the bathroom, utterly embarrassed, just wishing to get rid of the sticky smoothie. My day has turned into a nightmare, and the only comfort I can find is in the privacy of the bathroom, where I can try to recover and hide my humiliation.

I dash towards the bathrooms with my head down, earning chuckles and looks of pity from some students who have stopped to witness the scene. My desperate run draws the attention and sympathy of those who see my condition.

I know a place where I can seek refuge. It's a bathroom located on the fifth floor, long abandoned by the school. The walls are faded and peeling, the floor is covered in dust. Mirrors are often cracked or scratched, and the air is filled with a gloomy and neglected atmosphere. It's a place where no one would bother to look for me, an isolated corner where I can hide my shame and try to regain a semblance of dignity. It's my secret sanctuary, away from prying eyes and the torment of bullies.

The first thing I do when I enter the bathroom is take off my leather jacket, leaving just the hoodie and top. I look at myself in the mirror, and my reflection fills me with disgust. Tears silently stream down my cheeks. Amidst the sobs, I turn on the faucet, letting the water flow. I bite my lower lip as I lean down, tilting my head to wet my hair, desperately trying to remove the sticky smoothie.

The cold water runs through my hair and down my skin, refreshing my flushed face. As I continue to rinse my hair, I hear a voice coming from the entrance of the bathroom.

"So, you were here when we couldn't find you," the voice says. I glance at myself in the mirror again, wondering why Jenna can't just leave me alone.

"What do you want, Jenna? You want to pull my hair? You want to dunk my head in the toilet?" I ask in frustration, challenging her. I've reached a point where I can't bear her cruelties without defending myself.

Jenna blinks in surprise, seemingly not expecting my reaction. Her expression, however, quickly turns into a disdainful sneer. Her skin is impeccably fair, and her black hair falls in soft waves. She's wearing a short skirt and a pink crop top that showcases her well-maintained figure. Despite her attractive appearance, her ruthless and cruel demeanor makes it hard to ignore how toxic she can be.

"I just wanted to know how you were," Jenna defends herself with what seems like a gentle tone, although her eyes betray a hint of sarcasm.

At that moment, I smile sarcastically too, unable to believe her words. I know all too well that behind this sudden concern lies another form of manipulation. Jenna excels at making her actions appear kind, only to strike even harder afterward. I won't be fooled by her.

"What do you want, Jenna?" I ask again, trying to understand her true intentions. Her eyes move along my wet body, following the path of water droplets running from my hair down my shoulders and down my body to my abdomen. It's an embarrassing sensation, feeling scrutinized like this.

"I told you, I wanted to know how you were," Jenna replies again, but this time, she seems to say it without sarcasm. Her sudden sincerity surprises me, but I remain cautious. I'm not sure if I can really trust her words, considering her history of cruelty.

"Come on, Jenna... we both know you're no saint," I say with a hint of venom in my voice.Jenna huffs with anger, evidently irritated by my challenge.

The tension between us is palpable, and even though it seems like she wants to be kind now, I can't forget all the pain she has inflicted on me in the past.

I'm cautious, but at least for now, it seems like she wants to stop tormenting me. Her eyes move along my body again, but this time, they linger on my arm. I shudder, realizing that someone has discovered my scars. My breathing becomes irregular as Jenna looks at me with confusion and panic.

"Do... do you hurt yourself?" Jenna asks, swallowing nervously. Her words hit me like a punch in the gut. I had never thought that someone would discover my darkest secret. Instinctively, I grab my jacket and put it on, wanting to cover my scars. At that moment, I don't care that I'm only wearing a top, as I have no intention of going to class, and I'll likely go home early.

Jenna approaches me, looking at my wrist covered by the jacket's sleeve. Her expression is hard to decipher, a mix of concern and confusion. I'm not sure what to make of this situation. I had never imagined having such a conversation with Jenna.

"Show me..." Jenna mutters and, without waiting for my response, takes my hand. Her nails delicately trace my skin before she lifts the jacket's sleeve. It's surprising how gentle she is in this moment. She places her hand around my scars, feeling their texture.

"Why do you cut yourself?" Jenna timidly asks.

"Isn't it obvious?" I respond with venom, anger boiling inside me.

"Listen..." Jenna starts, but I immediately cut her off. I have no desire to listen to her or explain my reasons.

"Sorry okay?" She say.

Consumed by anger, I approach her, and surprisingly, she doesn't move, almost challenging me with her gaze. "I don't need your pity... not after you've shown me your true colors all these years," I say with a whisper, my voice filled with anger.

I don't want her pity now, after everything I've been through. Jenna looks at me with tearful, shining eyes, but my heart is too full of pain and anger to accept her apologies so easily. "It was my only way..." Jenna mutters, her voice breaking, "...it was my only way to get close to you." Her confession surprises me deeply.

I had never imagined that her actions could be an attempt to get closer to me, even if it was in a strange and destructive way. My anger and pain mix with confusion as I try to understand her motivations.

"But what the hell..." I mutter instinctively, unable to believe what I'm hearing.

Jenna continues to speak, confessing her true motivations. "I was... I was so jealous of how you could be yourself without fear of others' reactions... You seemed happy... you were happy even though others looked at you strangely, knowing your sexual orientation..."

Jenna swallows nervously, visibly anxious but continues. "I... really like you, Y/n," she confesses, her words filling the air between us.

I'm taken aback by this revelation. I had never imagined that Jenna could have romantic feelings for me after everything she had done.

"Don't mock me..." I say with anger, my confusion and pain turning into rage. "If you really like me, you wouldn't have treated me that way."

Her past actions, her bullying, and her cruelties had been so damaging to me that it's hard to accept her words now. I'm not sure if I can trust Jenna, even though she seems to have opened up to me.

"Do I seem like an idiot to you?" I ask, watching Jenna shake her head.

"I saw how people looked at you... I was afraid that someone like me would be treated the same," she confesses sincerely.

"Just because you're a popular girl doesn't mean you can't fall for someone like me," I say sarcastically, my anger and frustration still palpable. Her admission is creating a mix of emotions in me, but I can't help but be skeptical of her intentions.

The situation is incredibly complicated.

"I'm really in love with you..." Jenna murmurs softly, placing her hand on my cheek. I close my eyes at her touch, feeling her nails on my skin. But Jenna's touch shakes me, and I quickly remove her hand from my face.

"You could have just been my friend... like Sofia..." I mutter, smiling sarcastically. "Now I need to leave; this situation is really unpleasant."

Without saying another word, I leave the room, leaving Jenna Ortega confused and alone.

And certainly, such a confession wasn't enough to erase what she had done.

[robinsegghead]

Danny's Daycare Part 8

[Master List]

“And that’s pretty much it.” Danny ended their tour in his office. “Any questions?”

Duke shook his head. “I’m excited to start.”

Danny showed him back out into the main area filled with kids which Mia and Ember had been taking care of while Duke learned about the daycare, the schedule, and what was expected of him. It seemed pretty simple- though he knew kids would always create unpredictable problems, but the job itself would be fine. The things he did for Tim.

“Finally!” Mia shouted, picking up a crying kid beside her and carrying her towards Danny and Duke. “Clara’s been asking for you for a while!” She passed the crying blonde child off to Danny before pointing back towards the kids. “C’mon Duke, the kids are coloring for now.”

They left Danny to handle Clara’s tantrum and watch the rest of the kids. Duke settled down next to a group of five kids, all coloring different pictures of Gotham vigilantes. He settled next to a little blonde girl who was coloring a picture of Robin with only shades of purple.

“Whatcha coloring?” He asked.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, assessing. “Robin.”

“That’s cool- why’s he purple?”

The girl sighed dramatically, like Duke had asked a stupid question. Apparently he had because nothing would have prepared him for the lecture he was about to get. “Not him- her. Robin was a girl and she was the coolest Robin ever! How can you not know that? Everyone knows that girl Robin is the coolest one! But since she’s gone, Spoiler's my favorite! So I thought- how cool would it be if girl Robin and Spoiler were the same person and now I’m coloring robin purple!”

“Oh.” Duke managed to respond.

“Boys.” She sighed, rolling her eyes and turning back to her coloring project.

He’d have to tell Steph about her little fan the next time he saw her. “Spoiler’s one of my favorites too.” He offers, hoping she’ll un-shun him. 

It works, she turns back with excitement on her face. “She’s so cool! I wanna be just like her when I get older!”

The day went by quickly. Mia left much earlier than Duke did so the last three hours of his shift were just him and Danny and the kids. Somebody named Ember popped in briefly in the evening to drop off food for Danny and Duke. Her aura was… strange- but not as strange as Danny’s. 

When Duke first met Danny he didn’t know what to think. No one had ever been as… bright as Danny. Duke figured he was some kind of meta and filed away the information for later. After meeting Ember, however briefly, he wasn’t so sure anymore. She was the same as Danny. They kind of… glowed and it was so similar- like how Clark, Connor, and Jon all had a similar aura. If that was true, then Danny and Ember were likely aliens.

He hadn’t told Tim that yet.

Tim had been busy lately and if Duke hadn’t taken this task off his hands we would be even busier. Truth be told, Duke didn’t understand Tim’s fascination with Danny. Sure, it was strange that someone willingly moved to Gotham and chose to use their, apparently very large, inheritance to help the people of a city they weren’t even from as a favor to someone else, but if Duke couldn’t believe in the goodness in people then what could he believe in?

Besides, there was no proof that Danny was doing anything nefarious. None of the kids had gone missing, he didn’t have any strange or large sums of money being added to any of his accounts, nothing seemed amiss. So Duke agreed to apply for a job at the daycare and keep an eye on the situation for the summer. Just to make sure Danny really was a good guy.

Spending more time with Mia was a plus. With school and his extracurriculars Duke hardly had time to hang out with any of his non-family friends. Tim definitely owed him one for giving up his summer vacation to work at the daycare.

“Thanks for all your hard work today, Duke.” Danny approached having just sent the last kid off with their parents. “I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

Duke nodded, putting away the books he had in hand. “You need any help cleaning up?”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’ve got a couple of guys who will be here shortly to help me clean the place up.” Danny smiled softly.

Did he have a cleaning crew? If so, why did he seem so happy about it? “Cleaning crew?” Duke asked nonchalantly.

Shaking his head, Danny fell back into a rolling desk chair that had been brought out earlier in the day. “Just a couple of street kids who need some money and won’t let me give it to them without doing something to ‘earn it’ so…” Danny closed his eyes, slouching in the chair, and rested his head against the backrest. “I’ll let them work for an hour or so, overpay them, and get out of here.”

That was… not exactly what Duke had expected. Just one more thing he could use to prove Danny was a good guy and get Tim off his back about this whole ordeal. Maybe he’d even convince Tim to take a day off. That was probably hoping for too much.

“Well, have a good night, Danny.” Duke waved, grabbed his things, and left. There was still a bit of daylight but despite originally planning on going out as Signal, he’d decided against it. Kids were exhausting.

How Danny managed to run the daycare every day for twelve hours without passing out from exhaustion was beyond Duke.

~~~

Danny was exhausted.

Along with the Daycare, taking care of Miguel and Santiago, and his usual Kingly duties, Clockwork had been on his ass recently. Something about taking his job more seriously- what part of doing a favor for a prominent city spirit wasn’t taking his job seriously? Apparently Danny was also supposed to find and appoint his own Fright Knight- which would have been awesome to know a long time ago but whatever-

Could he just get ONE night of sleep? Please.

He’d canceled on his friends for three weeks straight, unable to find the time or energy to even video call and catch up. They’d started asking if he was okay, Jazz had started threatening to show up and force him to rest but she had her hands full between school and her internship so he wasn’t convinced she’d actually do anything.

Duke had been great, having the extra help at the daycare was really great and the days he didn’t work were much more difficult. Ember had agreed to come back regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a little while, but she really wanted to get back to touring and playing music and he couldn’t really fault her for that.

It was the Thursday night after Duke’s first day when she showed up.

“Danny- how the hell am I supposed to know this?” Miguel groaned.

“You’re gonna have to be more specific, kid.” Danny called back, serving the steaming bowls of paprikash. Dani got lots of souvenirs from her travels and while Danny had certainly not thought he’d ever need to use the recipes, he was grateful for them now. 

There was a shuffling sound and only a moment later Danny found Miguel standing beside him, pointing at a chemistry equation. “This. This is bullshit!”

Sensing Miguel’s rising frustration, Danny tried to placate him. “How about we take a break from studying for dinner? Afterwards I can explain it to you and anything else you’re confused about.”

“Except English.” Santiago muttered bitterly.

In the short time Danny had known the boys he’d learned a lot about their learning styles, their strong suits, what they liked and disliked, and what kind of smart they were. Santiago was a lot like Danny, scientifically minded- Danny had already caught him taking apart the toaster and the TV just to figure out how they worked. Which meant, while catching him up on STEM classes was relatively easy, they struggled much more with the arts.

Miguel, on the other hand, was competent. He was street smart. Although he wasn’t dumb by any stretch of the imagination, he struggled with learning anything from a book. Despite all of that, he really tried. He’d been keeping up with the worksheets Danny had gotten him and helped Santiago with anything he could, but he hated it and it showed.

Suffice it to say, the boys were struggling- all three of them.

“Dinner. Then we can figure it out.” Danny repeated, placing down the bowls and grabbing drinks.

Miguel left briefly to feed the cats, before joining them at the table.

“You know,” Danny started casually. “I was thinking about the cats.” Miguel tensed up. “It’s a lot of cats in my small apartment and I’m gone all day. I was thinking- if you had wanted- that you boys could have one of them.”

Like always, Danny spoke casually. He’d learned quickly that they didn’t respond well when Danny spoke too decisively. It was like they thought he was trying to tell them what to do, so in general, he made sure it was clear that he was only suggesting ideas.

He also knew that Miguel had taken a liking to the cats- especially Curiosity, and he wanted to find a way to give Miguel stability. 

“You…” Miguel swallowed. “You mean it? Really?”

Danny nodded. “Of course. We can go shopping for everything this weekend. You remember Damian- from the mall?” Miguel nodded, confused. “He taught me everything I’d need to know about owning cats. I’ll give him a call and see if he’d be willing to come over and teach you what he knows.”

Santiago opened his mouth but was cut off by a rapid knocking on Danny’s front door. The three exchanged looks, no one really sure who it could be but all prepared for the worst because of their upbringing. 

“Probably a neighbor or something.” Danny shrugged, hiding his own concerns as he moved away from the dining room towards the front door. Technically, they did have one neighbor on the floor in the apartment across from Danny’s and next to the boys but they kept to themselves. It was not likely to be the neighbor.

He didn’t see anyone when he looked through the peephole, saw nothing, and opened the door slowly.

“BOO!” A voice shouted only moments before a girl appeared out of thin air and lunged at him. Danny grabbed an outstretched hand, spun the body around, and slammed it into the nearest wall. “OW! Ancients dammit, Danny!” She shouted, phasing out of his grip.

“Dani?”

“Holy shit, Danny, that was badass! Maybe try not to slam me so hard next time though?” She chided goodnaturedly.

He let out a deep breath, calming his racing heart (Racing being a relative term because it was probably only beating as fast as a normal completely living human heart would). “Ancients fuck Dani, don’t do that!”

“Danny?” Miguel’s wary voice sounded.

Dragging his sister towards where he’d left the boys, Danny composed himself. “Sorry guys, this is my sister- Dani.”

“Danny?” Santiago squinted.

He shook his head. “She’s Dani with an ‘i’ and I’m Danny with a ‘y’. I know, it’s confusing. Dani, this is Miguel and Santiago.” Danny gave his sister a pointed look. “Have a seat, I’ll get you a bowl.

Dani plopped into the seat across from Santiago and waited for Danny to deliver the food. “So this is why you’ve been so busy?”

Returning with the food, Danny rolled his eyes. “No, I have been busy with everything else. Miguel and Santiago take up barely any of my time and I like having them around.”

“You two ever seen this man sleep?” She asked conspiratorially. They shook their heads slowly, looking between Danny and Dani. “Exactly. He’s been neglecting sleeping and eating because he’s a moron!”

“Dani.” All eyes landed on Danny who was rubbing a tired hand down his face. “I’ve been sleeping and eating- can we move on to why you’re here?”

Taking a big bite of food, Dani rolled her eyes. “Can’t a sister visit her brother?” She pointed at him and looked at the boys. “Can you believe this guy? Don’t ever treat your little brother as badly as Danny treats me, you hear?” She directed at Miguel who nodded in confusion.

Danny smacked his sister’s leg, which she’d propped up on his chair, and took his seat again. “I treat you just fine! You just don’t drop by that often- it’s been nine months since I saw you in person last and that was because you needed a favor!”

Dani cackled, shoveling down the food quickly and kicking her feet up onto her brothers’ lap. He rolled his eyes but let them remain as he finished his own food.

“I didn’t know you had another sister.” Santiago observed.

“You don’t talk about me? I’m hurt!” She gasped mockingly.

Miguel brought his and his brothers’ bowls to the sink and started washing them while everyone else chatted. “Miguel- I’ll do the dishes, don’t worry about it.”

“It’s fine, I’m almost done already.” It was just two bowls and spoons after all, but Danny still didn’t want them to do dishes when he’d cooked the meal. He wanted them to focus on school and making friends and forget about everything else- at least while they were at his apartment.

Santiago squinted between the two of them. “You look really similar.” He noted, suspiciously.

Danny offered a nonchalant shrug. “We’re siblings.”

“So’s Jazz but you two look nothing alike!” He exclaimed.

Miguel put a hang on his brother’s shoulder calmingly. “I think we’ll just head back to ours for the night.” He glanced at Dani a bit uncomfortably. 

“If that’s what you guys want, but you don’t have to. I promise she won't bite- probably.” Danny chuckled. 

The older boy shook his head. “We’ll let you two catch up and come back to do more school stuff tomorrow- if that’s all right?” Danny nodded and the boys left quickly.

“Awwww- I wanted to get to know your kids!” Dani pouted.

He sighed, grabbing his and his sister’s plates and carrying them to the kitchen sink. “Miguel’s pretty skittish- you scared him off. Not your fault really, but he doesn’t like new people, a skill that has kept him and his brother alive for the last three years.” Drying his hands on a towel, Danny leaned against the counter facing his sister and met her eyes. “But you didn’t come here for that, you didn’t even know about them. So what brought you here?”

She looked at the cup of water he’d given her and fidgeted with the condensation on the glass. Sheepishly, she looked at him before looking away again. Gathering her courage it seemed. “I… I want to get my GED… and go to GU.”

Although it seemed out of left field, Danny schooled his expression. She was always more in tune with emotions than even he was (whether that was because he’d been human before becoming a halfa and she’d only ever known life as a halfa or just because that was her personality, he didn’t know) and he knew that his opinion meant something to her- even if she pretended it didn’t.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” She squinted.

“Well,” He sat across from her, hands on the table. “Are you just telling me that, or are you asking for my help?”

“Don’t make me say it.” She groaned.

With a smirk, he shook his head. “Okay, so you want my help?” She didn’t respond and he took that as a yes. “You can join the boys and I when we work on school stuff, I can help with getting your GED and putting together the application to GU as soon as that’s done. Do you need a place to stay?”

She wrinkled her face. “I’m not living with you.”

“Hey! I resent that! Besides, I own this building and most of it’s just empty apartments.” 

Dani’s eyes widened. “Are you offering me an apartment?”

“Are you asking for an apartment?” He challenged, smirk on his face once again.

“I swear this is why everyone likes me better- I’m literally the better version of you!” She shouted, landing her forehead on the table and groaning at her brother’s silence. He remained silent while she continued to avoid looking at him. They were at a stalemate.

“Fine!” She shouted. “Can I have one of your apartments?”

He tilted his head to show he was still waiting for something.

“...Please?” She gritted out.

It was going to be nice having his sister around more often.

~~~

Turns out, tutoring kids who haven’t been in school for three years and one who has never been in school was a lot harder than Danny had anticipated. He didn’t know how to teach certain subjects (curse the arts) and was struggling to get Miguel and Dani to understand what he was saying when it came to math and sciences. He’d finally had the brilliant idea to go to the library and pick up a bunch more books.

Danny had left a clone to finish up at the daycare for the last couple of hours and made his way to the library. He’d need a couple of textbooks, a GED study book that was highly recommended, and a bunch of different literature books. Probably. He thought. Who knew really? He certainly didn’t.

He noted the library was pretty empty, the only patron was leaning over the front counter talking to the front desk girl. Danny didn’t pay them much mind as he moved throughout the library collecting books- though he was sure he felt their eyes on him any time he passed by the front desk.

Eventually, he had a stack of books that would keep his three ‘students’ busy for a while. Hopefully a long while, he was kind of out of ideas after this round of books. 

Dropping them onto the front desk, the side opposite where the man was still standing, Danny sighed. 

“That’s quite the collection.” The man noted.

Finally, Danny actually looked at the man. He hadn’t been expecting the most beautiful man he’d ever seen to be casually checking out his stack of books. He had short black hair that was slightly longer at the top with a shock of white right at the center of his forehead. His eyes were blue with a hint of green around the edges and he was built like a brick house. 

He was wearing a red t-shirt, brown leather jacket that hugged his body nicely, and tight black pants which Danny refused to see how they hugged him. 

With a shrug, Danny leaned against the counter, the front desk girl nowhere to be seen. “Yeah, they’re not for me.”

“Who’re they for?” The man asked casually. 

“I’m helping a couple of kids get back on track in school but they haven’t gone in three years so there’s a lot to catch up on. I’ll admit,” Danny chuckled. “I’m only really built for STEM… the English side of things is… not my forte.”

The man nodded slowly. “Yeah you’ve got quite a collection of works there.” There was amusement in his voice.

Groaning, Danny rubbed a hand down his face. “I’m just going to have to hire a tutor in Literature or something. I barely have the time to teach what I know- I almost failed literature in high school.”

The man -Danny really needed to get his name- watched Danny closely for a moment. “Who are these kids to you? Why do you have to get them into school?”

“I said I would.” Danny shrugged.

“They family? Friends of yours?” The man probed.

Danny shook his head. “Just a couple of street kids who needed help and were willing to let me give it.”

The man squinted. “So you’re trying to help a couple of kids you barely know?” Danny nodded slowly, unsure if the man was judging him or not. “Well, if they get in- great. But if they don’t- at least you tried, right?”

Something about the way he said it set Danny on edge. “Excuse me?”

“They’re just some street kids, who cares, right?”

“What the fucks that supposed to mean?” Danny asked, voice rising. He didn’t give the man a chance to answer, anger already overflowing. “I promised I’d help them cause I have the means so I’m going to. And the reason Gotham’s such a shithole is because of people like you who think the homeless population are worthless good-for-nothings instead of the intelligent and down-on-their-luck people I know they are. Ancients- this whole city is fucked!”

The man began chuckling, setting off Danny’s anger even more. “What are you laughing about now, asshole?”

Offering a genuine smile that took Danny completely off guard, the man offered him a hand to shake. “I’m Jason, former street kid, it’s nice to meet someone who actually cares.”

Stupefied and completely confused, Danny shook his hand without meaning to. “Danny- did you say all of that shit to test me or something?”

The man- Jason- shrugged. “Had to make sure you weren’t some kind of creep.”

“What the fuck?” Danny breathed trying to reign in the anger he’d let seep out before (he had years worth of repressed rage and nowhere to put it, he’d thought he might finally have someone to unleash the anger on). 

“Well, if I haven’t completely scared you off with that little stunt,” Jason smirked, grabbing one of those flower pens libraries always seemed to have and scribbled something down. “Literature was my best subject in high school. I’d be more than happy to help you tutor a couple of street kids in need.”

Jason slid the piece of paper to Danny. It was a phone number. People were giving him their number a lot recently- what was that about? As a teenager Danny could count on two hands how many contacts he had in his phone, after… the incident, he could count on one hand how many contacts he had. After moving to Gotham he’d slowly begun collecting numbers from apparently the entire city.

“What was that yelling about?” A woman’s voice cut through the silence Danny hadn’t realized was there.

Waving his hand casually, Jason smiled. “Just me being an asshole and Danny here defending his people. I’ll see you at brunch?” He directed the question at the red headed librarian who nodded suspiciously. “Nice to meet you Danny, think about my offer.”

He didn’t mean to track Jason’s movements as he left but he couldn’t help it. He also didn’t realize he was doing it until the librarian cleared her throat. “Ah, right, sorry.” Danny pushed the books towards her sheepishly. 

She began scanning the books, typing something in the computer between each one. “Danny was it?” He nodded. “I’m Barbara, sorry about Jason, he can really get under people’s skin if he wants to.”

“Nah he’s fine.” Danny sighed. “I probably would have done the same thing.”

She eyed him curiously. “What did he do?”

“Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t some asshole who was just using some street kids I’m helping.” He paused, offering his library card to Barbara. “I’m not- for the record. Just trying to help them get into school again.”

Barbara bagged up his books during his explanation. When he was finished she handed him the bag. “Jason really is one of the smartest people I know- if you’re considering letting him help you with that…. You won’t be sorry.”

He hesitated, unsure if he wanted to accept the stranger’s help. “I’ll think about it, thanks.”

~~~

When Danny left the library Babs immediately pulled out her phone and texted Jason. She hadn’t seen him smile like that since before he’d died, there was no world in which she let him let Danny get away. Whether that boy knew it or not, he was going to be a part of the family. It was like fate- he even looked the part, black hair, blue eyes, completely exhausted, going out of his way to help people he barely knew- he was perfect.

Now to strategize getting them together- she’d need Dick’s help. He’d be more than excited for the task at hand.

If she closed the library a little early in order to find everything she can on Danny Nightingale- the man Tim had been low-key convinced would become a rogue and had begun obsessing over for the past couple of months- and find a way to orchestrate is integration into the family then who could blame her?

Prev. Next

[calcium-chan]

DRAWMEGLE DUMP FROM LIKEFORVER AGO

drawmegle was this weird little website that was like omegle, except for drawing and nominally fewer nazis?? tho at launch that was a bit of an issue lol (idk the creator went on vacation right after advertising or something? oops). i got sucked into it for like a day or two and ended up drawing a bunch of stuff. ive lost some of it because there was this weird glitch that just deleted my drawings before i could save them or anything. OH WELL. thats also the reason some of these are slightly unfinished. im also going to be cropping most of these to just my side, exceptions where its funny, or the other persons art was nice or whatever. just know that these almost all had people on the other side who were also drawing their own thing. also of note, i wont be posting these in order of creation, its mostly arbitrary tbh

this first one is of haru from dorohedodo. i had just finished reading the manga about a month or so prior, and i really loved this character a lot. disregard the amogus or whatever. dorohedoro is really cool and its really special to me now. not a fan of the anime adaption but what the fuck else is new (im sorry if you like the anime, i just didnt like the style very much). Q hayashida is brilliant, and she clearly just really loves women like a lot, thank you miss Q!

next is this silly drawing of knives chau. scott pilgrim takes off had just aired, and i was slightly enamored with knives for a bit, i kin the scott pilgrim girl fucking sue me. i also drew kim, but the drawing deleted and this was the last save i had WAHOOOOOO its so fucking over. scott pilgrim takes off was obviously really really good in my opinion, and its like the perfect way to adapt an original work in my mind. uh shout outs knives or whatever.

oops shitty cowboy bebop drawing. i like this one well enough for how goofy it is. jets fucking face still kinda gets me. i love bebop a ton, but i dont think ive ever drawn the characters despite that. theyre actually a ton of fun to draw, like their shapes are all super varied and they have distinct style about them. very good cast of characters. i didnt even realize or mean to, but i kinda gave spike a fucking granny face, oops

uuuuhthese pissing dogs are really funny, they were fun to draw, and seeing peoples reactions to this one in particular was cool. having even a little bit of ability to draw on sites like this where randos are looking at your work as youre drawing it is always kind of an ego boost. like none of these drawings are really that great, but for the medium im happy with them, and having people show up and go "woah" was always really flattering and it was fun watching the other people draw and interacting with them in some limited capacity.

ggggundam bullshit. i left the other persons side this time because i thought it was kinda funny. i had been rewatching the early part of turn A gundam, and it really reminded me how fucking cool that series is? loran is like top 10 gender non conforming mech pilots (there are a surprising amount honestly). and it always kinda takes me off guard when i watch any gundam because they were just so forward thinking in a nominally "boy" coded genre. shoutouts the fucking gundam staff frfr.

@oretal joined me for these next two!

a lot of the shit in the second drawing is probably totally incomprehensible to like anyone outside of a select group. were both have that like, 3ds era nintendo brain parasite, so a lot of these are just weird obscure game characters or memes, or just straight up OCs. most of these are actually oretals little characters which have kind of entered that inside joke canon of being so ubiquitous between the two of us (and honestly i assume oretals friend group at large) that i kinda forget "glasses girl" isnt a well known character. many such cases. thank you oretal for drawing silly shit with me! i really like your drawing of james and your madotsuki yapping about blunt rotations to uboa. very cool

uuuh quick fire round of stuff i dont like how i drew but want to post anyways. the first one is my irl husband, aki from chainsaw man. i love him a lot, kinda hate this drawing tho, i think it was the first one i did? the second one is basil from omori, im a big fan of little blorbos who peep the horror, and basil is no exception. my friend got me the little vinyl figure of him for my birthday so i end up thinking about him a lot and i doodle him every now and then. very good design. the last one is kiruko from heavenly delusion. i did not have much hype going into the show after my middling feelings on summertime rendering (they were both in the news for being on disney+ for absolutely no reason). i dont remember what got me to watch it, but by the time episode 2 ended i was stuck in big time. i ended up binging the whole series in like one night and it was such a good time. the prototypical calcium show is probably somewhere between heavenly delusion and made in abyss. its a rough watch at times, but if you have this specific brainrot, its probably one of the best in its league tbh.

second to last is this drawing of vriska homestuck. i kept the other side because it was really pretty. im genuinely quite pleased witht his drawing, its not perfect but for what it is i find it visually appealing enough to like it. vriskas design is probably the best in homestuck, at least to me. its been a long time since ive read through homestuck proper, but something about these little shits sticks with you pretty much forever. actual fucking deadly brain parasites you get from dunking your head underwater in an infested pool, dead within days.

OOPS ALL KUMI CHAN! it had to be alien nine, it could only be alien nine. i love alien nine more than i love any of my blood relatives. kumi is literally me, i love this stupid fucking series so much you have no idea.

[eusouumfuckingkoala]

Your name (Alessia Russo x Reader) Part 2

a/n: English isn´t my first language, hope you guys enjoying it, sorry for being so long. Let me know what you think? Also, this is Part 2 of "I don't even know your name".

What you didn't know was that the girls call Alessia to go outside when she saw you, she was ready to go talk to you but when she heard your conversation with Danielle, she thought maybe it wasn't the right time. She couldn't help but see you walk away god knows where all she knew was that once this photoshoot was scheduled she would do anything to win you over, there was no way she wasn't doing something about it this time, after all since that vacation Alessia couldn't take you off her mind, her friend tries to arrange her dates but she didn't want to meet anyone she just wanted to see you again, and the prove was at training when she saw you, she was so infatuated by you that end up with a ball on her face and her friends making fun of her, and Leah and Lotte telling her she was seeing things, but right now was all worth it knowing that she wasn't getting crazy.

1 week later

Today it's the photo shoot of the players, don't ask why but I was too anxious for today, I had sent a few ideas to Danielle so he knew some of them I wanted to be taken on the field, I know normally is inside but I like more outside the players seem more natural in their element than in a room full of lights and cameras I went to the field a little late I could feel someone looking at me but I made my way to Danielle.

"I'm sorry Danielle I got caught in paperwork..."

"No problem we took a few inside, and now we are gonna start the field ones you ask for." he smile at me.

"Thank you, Danielle."

"You don't need to thank me Y/N it's my job, but we can always grab dinner?"

"Sure but I pay this time."

Since you start work here Danielle was a great friend, fun to hang out, with he told me he was into guys the day I told him I like women because I didn't want to lead him on it was funny but most people didn't know he was, we got along pretty well after that.

I feel someone behind me but didn't think much about it until Danielle give me a light smirk and walk away, I turn around and meet ocean-blue eyes making all body interrupt with goosebumps.

"Hi..."

"Oh Hi, it's..." I couldn't finish my sentence I was in too much shock, it was her there was no doubt but was your imagination playing tricks on you again?

"So you have a date?" She look disappointed.

"What?" what doesn't she mean I got a date? Am I missing something here?

"Nothing just... just forget it I say anything it was nice to see you again." she just turn around and walk back to her friends.

So it was her, but where did she get the idea that I have a date? I was in so much shock that I didn't even get the time to replay before she walks away only leaving my mouth a whisper "Wait." you facepalm yourself, you have been waiting to meet her again and all you thought about was what you gonna say to her, but not being able to barely say a word wasn't in your plans special not asking her why she thought you are dating. How messed up, am I? So you made a note to talk to her after the photo shoot ends.

Throughout the photoshoot you couldn't take your eyes off her scared that the girl that's been haunting your dreams would vanish, the way she smiles, her natural beauty was breathtaking, and the way her name fits her perfectly you couldn't stop yourself from repeating her name in your head "Alessia" the girl who haven't leave your memory since Spain. The team was doing a break she was talking with her friends when she look at me and I could see her lightly blush with a soft smile but there was something in her eyes that I couldn't figure out what it was.

"What got you all cloudy?" Danielle say since he was also on a break.

"Nothing... the photoshoot it's going pretty well." I smiled at him.

"I am surprised you pay any attention!" he smirk at me.

"What do you mean? I come to watch the photo shoot." I look at him confused.

"Yeah lie to yourself you think I didn't see the looks between you and Alessia!"

I blush and punch his arm playfully "Stop it! It's not like that?" You say more like a question than a conviction.

"Are you asking me? Because honestly, it could be!"

"No, I'm not, stop playing around!"

"Go talk to her Y/N!"

When he walked away I was thinking about it but then I thought she is with her friends having a good time I don't wanna mess that up or should you try to explain to her, this need to justify yourself to her was weird, you never feel this need to explain things to anyone, but what isn't new since I meet her in Spain.

On the other hand, Alessia was being teased about you.

"So what happened? You talk to your girl!" Alessia was taken off her thought by Lotte.

"Nothing happened..." she sights a bit sad that she was too late.

"So you didn't ask her out?" Leah said.

"You need to ask her out Russo, you haven't stopped talking about her, since you came back from that trip!" Katie says making Alessia sigh.

"Just stop I'm not gonna embarrass myself!" she was getting annoyed by her friends.

"What do you mean the girl didn't take her eyes off you." Leah says frustrated with Alessia.

"She as a date Leah!"

"How do you know if you didn't ask her out?" Lotte says trying to change her friend's mind.

"When I went to talk to her I overheard her talk with Danielle about going to dinner..." The blonde looked down sad, only looking up when her friends start to laugh "What? It's not funny guys I fall for a straight girl that's not cool!!" before they could explain to her, she walks away to the next shoot since the break just finished.

You are admiring her once the photographs start to work again, and you are lost in your thoughts until your phone start to ring, you look at the ID seeing it's your dad you thought about declining the call because honestly, you don't have a great relationship besides he never support your dreams always bring you down, special after you had to quiet football everything got even worse. But at the same time probably your mom wanna talk to you so you accept the call.

"Hi..."

"Hi, where are you?"

"Working."

"Finally doing something with your life!" you pinch the bridge of your nose sight, you saw a ball pretty close to you so you start playing with it to distract yourself.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing can't call my daughter!"

"You never call me so what do you expect."

"Fine, your mom wants me to talk to you!"

"Of course, she did." If it wasn't because of her he wouldn't even call.

"Look Y/N don't even start you should be the one calling not me."

"Yeah sure your perfect."

"Who do you think you are? You need to respect me..." really him talking about respect I don't have time for this.

"I need to get back to work bye."

We were going to start to argue again so I just end the call and I kick the ball hard enough to go in from where I was almost in the middle field, the ball got in the top left side of the net without even looking. Once you look up from your feet you saw everyone looking at you with surprise in their eyes making you feel nervous.

"I'm sorry guys, did I hit anyone?"

"No, it's all good!" Katie said.

"How did you do that? I don't think I could save that one." Manu says.

You rub the back of your neck a nervous habit you have, you struggle with your shoulders not wanting to talk about the fact you had to give up on football.

"I got lucky..."

"Impossible that wasn't just luck!" Lotte and Katie say at the same time.

You dismissed them and went over to one of the computers to see the photos that have been taken, once the photoshoot was over you didn't even notice that the team was starting to pack up.

"Y/N don't you have something to do before dinner?" I look at Danielle I look around and I didn't see her anywhere "They just walk in to change."

You nod at him "Thank you!" you walk a little faster to the locker room you knock on the door since you didn't want to make them uncomfortable and walk on them getting changed Leah opens the door "It's Alessia still here?" you ask hopefully.

"Yes, she is finishing get ready."

"Do you mind telling her I will wait here for her?" You ask a bit nervous.

"No problem, she will be happy." She gave a gentle smile.

I smile at her as she walks inside again, you lean against the wall waiting for her, it's this a good idea? I just got this job. I mean it's not like we have anything I just wanna explain and hope this doesn't go south, you are taken off your thought once you hear the door open.

"Hi..." you straight up yourself fixing your clothes.

"You are looking for me?" She asks with a smile.

"Yeah...I... wanna explain..." why am I studdering right now before I could continue she interrupt me.

"You don't have to explain yourself, I hope you're happy!" She gave a small smile, now you understand what you are seeing in her eyes was sadness even though she had a smile on her face.

"That's the thing I don't get where you got that idea from?"

"I thought you are going on a date tonight." she say playing with her fingers.

"Oh you mean Danielle?" You giggle holding yourself to not laugh right into her face "I'm sorry..."

"No, you too?" Alessia say not getting what was so funny.

"What do you mean?"

"Those assholes inside also start laughing once I tell them about it, I don't get the joke it's not funny." you hide your smile once you saw she was serious.

"Lessi he likes man."

"Oh!" You could see her blush and get embarrassed.

"Yes Oh!" I couldn't help but smile at her cuteness, before she talks again some of the girls start to get out of the locker room, they smirking at us.

"Did you already embarrass yourself?" Katie teases Alessia.

"Shut up you guys are the worse!" She says trying to hide herself, they keep teasing her about what she says.

"It's not funny I'm falling for a straight girl." Lotte says and Leah pushes her "What?" that makes you look at them with a confused face.

"Straight? Well, good luck with that then, that's the worse!" they start to laughing "It wasn't that funny guys."

"It was because you both are so clueless!" Leah say laughing, before I could answer my phone rang I look at it and it was my dad again, what it's happening today this is just annoying.

"Are you going to answer that?" Alessia asks curious, once you put your phone back in your pocket.

"No, it's not important." I give her a small smile "But I also have to go, see you guys around?"

"Yeah of course!" the girls say but once I look at Alessia she was quiet you didn't want to leave but you also don't know if it's the right thing to stay, so you push your feelings aside.

"Can I just talk to you quickly?" She says the moment she got off her trace, you see in the corner of your eyes the girls walking away giving you two a little privacy.

"We will wait at the car. Bye Y/N!"

"Bye, guys!" Your eyes never left her blue eyes but she was so quiet, you could see she was deep in her thoughts "It's everything okay Lessi?"

"Yeah, I just...do you wanna drink a coffee or grab dinner someday?" This means she wanna go on a date with me or it's a friend's thing? I never thought she would ask me this, of all people I need to calm down why I'm overreacting "If you don't want to I completely understand." she said to bring you off your little freakout.

"I would love to grab some dinner."

"Great when you can just text me." she says all excited starting to walk away.

"Alessia?" she looks back at me curious "I don't have your number."

"Oh right silly me!" I handle my phone to her once she finishes putting in her phone number she kisses my cheek making me blush your so thankful that she starts to walk away missing your blush creeping up your face "I will be waiting to talk to you soon."

I smile watching her walk away once again but this time was different I knew her name I look at the contact she put in and smile at it "Spain Babe 🤍", I was taken off my thought by Danielle.

"What got you all smiling?"

"Nothing..."

"You know your terrible liar, but I was gonna ask if we can grab dinner another day because I'm gonna stay all night working?"

"Yeah sure no problem, do you need any help?"

"No, but do me a favor go get your girl." he smiles at me and pushes me once he walks away.

"I will." I whisper to myself since he walks away, making my way to your office to finish some papers, you text Alessia so she could save your number when you are almost finished your phone lights it up.

From Spain Babe 🤍

Hi, so I know you probably have plans for tomorrow but me and the team are going to have a relaxing day at the pool, if you wanna show up here is the address.

Besides the team didn't get the chance to meet you.

You grab your things and went home thinking if you should go I mean they seem good people, but was it the right move in the back of your head you know it wouldn't do warm but you also don't know if you should go because what if she just wants a friendship you guys meet at the bar it's not like people are looking for a relationship. What am I thinking I don't even know if she likes me? Sure she seems sad about me going on a date, but that doesn't mean anything, right? I need to stop overthinking. You grab your phone and think about what will you answer.

To Spain Babe 🤍

Sure it would be fun to get to know them better.

Do you need me to bring something?

I don't seem desperate, you are going to turn off the phone but before you could Alessia already answer.

From Spain Babe 🤍

The team will love to meet you.

Just bring yourself 😉

My heart skip a beat at the last text, but I know I shouldn't read much into it from what Danielle told me about the team Alessia it's a kind girl and a sweetheart so you know it would only hurt you think there is something more when there isn't.

Next day

I woke up early but I decided it was best just to go meet the Team after lunch I was too nervous, besides it's their day off I didn't wanna get much in the way of that so after lunch I drive to address Alessia send me yesterday I took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell I ear some steps it was Lotte and Leah.

"Hi, I'm sorry Lessi invited me..." I say a little nervous.

"Yeah, we know glad you could come because she didn't stop talking about you." Lotte say making me blush a little, did she talk about me that much "Besides the team is excited to get to talk to you since the other day they didn't get the chance."

"Come on in!" Leah say and we all made our way to the backyard "Guys, Y/N it's here!"

They all turn to look at me and say "Hi" I hear Katie say "Finally now Alessia will stop the whining." I gave them a wave.

"Hi guys hope I'm not bothering your time off."

"None sense!" I hear Sabrina say and smile at me I return with a smile still a bit shy I mean they are all athletic professionals and well I'm just me, Leah starts to tell me who was who from the girls I haven't met until I see someone on the corner of my eye walking up to us, I start to get undress just staying on my bikini I lose my balance and end up in someone's arms, I turn around.

"Thanks, Sabrina."

"No problem, if you fall I will catch you." she smiled and winked at me I gave her a little smile and walk to the end of the pool sitting with my feet in the water, Leah sit beside me we are talking and Alessia was in the pool making her way to me she stop in front of me getting up and kiss my cheek and hug me, I hug her back my whole body got goosebumps the feeling of her cold body against mine and this closeness was new of course we have been close that night at the bar but nothing like this.

"I glad you could come." she whisper, hiding her face in my neck.

"Me too." I kiss her cheek.

"Get a room!" Katie yell, making us pull away and blush I saw a light blush on Alessia's cheeks she was playing with her fingers maybe so no one could see it.

She turn around I thought she was leaving next thing I know I pull her back hugging her shoulders from behind and pulling her back against my front I didn't have time to restrict myself, I don't know why I was so comfortable around her I didn't want her to leave the feeling it's so familiar and relaxing, she looks up at me and smile relaxing against me. We are all talking and having fun, Sabrina sometimes would come and talk to me I didn't think anything of it I mean they are all trying to get to know me and make me feel welcome.

"Thanks for inviting me, it's so hot today." I say to them it was a pretty hot day, thankfully we are at the pool.

"Well I don't doubt you are hot, you haven't let go of Alessia!" Lotte says making all of the group laugh I blush looking down just to be meet with Alessia's eyes she had a sweet smile mixed with a light smirk, and she turn around hugging my torso.

"That can be fixed!" Alessia says pulling me with her underwater making me scream, when the cold water hit my warm body since I haven't gotten in the water, once we surf up I lightly punch her shoulder before putting my arms around her neck since she was holding me.

"Why did you do that!?"

"Well you say you're hot I just wanted to help." she give me a smile making me smile at her.

"You are lucky you are cute and I like you." those words left my mouth so fast that I didn't have time to stop them, every time I am around her I don't have control of my actions it's kind of embarrassing, besides our faces are so close right now I blush at the realization.

"Oh really what if I told you..." She was cut off by Sabrina doing a bomb beside us, once she emerged she looked at us.

"Do you want a drink?" Alessia's sight pulling away letting go of me.

"Yeah, sure." I was gonna follow Alessia but Sabrina grabbed me back "Do you need something?"

"I was wondering if you want..." zooming out the moment I saw Alessia walk away without sparing me another look that hurts and I don't even know why I slightly.

"Sorry, what do you need?" I say looking at Sabrina.

"Can I take you on a date?" She says hopefully.

"Sabrina I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea but I don't see you that way."

"Oh yeah of course don't worry." I gave her a small smile and make my way to the edge of the pool to Leah, she was a great person to talk to I actually could see myself having a great friendship with her.

"Leah, do you know what's wrong with Lessi?" I say looking at Lessi now far away from me talking with Katie, Leah looks at her and then at me.

"You really are that clueless?" I frown still not taking my eyes from Lessi, not understanding what she means "Sabrina has been all over you since you arrive Y/N/N."

"Did she? I mean she just ask me out? But I haven't been paying attention... anyway, what does that have to do with Lessi?" I say this time looking at Leah confused.

"Oh god, do I need to make you a drawing? Look Alessia hasn't shut up about you since you guys meet, she invited you here to meet her friends, how would you feel if one of your friends was trying to hit on the person you like?"

"Does she?" I ask her a bit taken aback.

"What?" She asks confuse.

"Like me..."

"You are clueless of course she does!"

"No, I mean more than a friend?"

"Yes!"

"But I hear she is a sweetheart, and everyone likes to be around her, I thought it was just her being thoughtful."

"Y/N I'm telling you this because I considered you my friend and I like you! Yes Alessia is one of the kindness people that everyone can meet, but there is a difference in the way she does it with you, she is too shy at the beginning, but with you she wasn't, she is following you around like a lost puppy, besides the way she looks at you... I never saw her like this before. I just hope you take care of her."

"I will..." I say while looking at Alessia.

I stand up and walk to Alessia and Katie since Alessia had her back to me I grab her hand and lean on her shoulder she looks at me but my eyes are on Katie.

"Do you mind if I steal Lessi just for a bit?"

"Of course not go ahead!" she give me an encouraging smile I pull Alessia with me inside we went to the kitchen and hug her feeling her warm embrace.

"It's everything alright?"

"I should be the one asking you that." I look up at her since she was a bit taller than me.

"Yeah, why do you ask love?" Once I hear that word my heart skip a beat but was also beating like crazy.

"Well you walk away from me, and you haven't talked to me since Sabrina interrupted us."

"It's nothing..." she says trying not to look at me I put my arms around her neck making her look at me her hands resting on my waist.

"You know you can tell me what's bothering you?" she gave me a small smile "I have the feeling I know what this is about..."

"I mean..." she sights "Look I don't wanna be in the way... I... forget it." she tried to walk away but I trap her between me and the balcony.

"Lessi I don't know what you think you are in the way of but I already told you. You aren't besides you expect me to forget it I have been trying to tell you..."

"Sabrina ask you out and you're telling me I'm not in the way? I think you forget it already." she says a bit harsh but with hurt. Why do I get the feeling she is talking about something else?

"Lessi, you are jealous because she asks me out? She is all yours!" I rub my face trying to calm down. "I haven't been able to forget since that night god I couldn't even sleep, I saw you everywhere. Do you know how ridiculous it is to fall for someone that you don't even know their name? How hurtful it was just to think this person was at a bar to have fun of course she doesn't want anything to do with you? Probably already forgot about you? So I have tried to forget it." I sigh rubbing my face and turning around "By the way if you hadn't walked away you would have heard me saying no to Sabrina, so go ahead and ask her out... Now don't blame me for something I didn't do." I walked away before I could hear her whisper.

"I know that feeling?"

Once I arrive back outside I made my way to Leah.

"Leah I should go, I appreciate this evening thank you for having me." I say a bit sad it's heartbroken to see all you thought was truth, Leah was wrong about what Alessia felt about you.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah don't worry see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure..." I hugged her and say goodbye to everyone.

Once I arrive home I just took a shower and break down, it hurts that she doesn't like you the way you do, it was so wrong to think that Leah was right. Clearly what happened in Spain just affects you. How could I be so naive the moment I saw she was an athletic professional I should have known she was out of my league. How can something like this hurt so much even though nothing ever happened?

1 Week later

I haven't slept much and Danielle and some of the team already noticed Leah was one of my close friends she already told me to talk to Alessia, but I honestly don't think that's a good idea, so it was just another day in the office I'm was thankful that today I just had to take care of the paperwork that way I don't have to face anyone.

I turned around in my chair facing the stadium running my hands over my face sight I was so tired with not even an hour of sleep these last few days that I didn't even hear someone walking into my office and walking towards me.

"Are we gonna talk or are you gonna keep ignoring me?" I jump in my seat "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you..."

"I'm not ignoring you, now isn't a good time." I say turning around to face Alessia once she sees my face she comes to my side leaning on the desk and grabbing my hands.

"How long haven't you slept?" She says rubbing my knuckles with her thumb.

"I look that bad!" I half joke forcing a smile.

"Y/N/N now isn't a time to joke..."

"Probably a week or so nothing unusual for me."

"Come here." She stands up and pulls me to the couch.

"Lessi I need to finish work..."

"No, you need to sleep." She lay down and pulled me on top of her my head laying in her chest making me stay between her legs I was too tired to even fight it "Are you comfortable?" I just nodded at her, her embrace was something so relaxing that I didn't even know I was missing it.

She started to run her nails on the back of my head making me close my eyes, I was drifting off to sleep.

"I'm sorry I acted like you should've guessed it." she says softly as you fall asleep.

After a while, I started to move a lot in my sleep so I snug on my pillow but then I felt a collarbone so I jumped up scared I did something I shouldn't besides I was at work.

"It's okay you didn't sleep that much." I look to my side seeing Alessia make me let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry I fall asleep on you, I need to finish work..."

"Can I take you to dinner after work?"

"I don't know Lessi..."

"Look I know I mess up I just wanna talk besides if you don't wanna hear from me after that you don't have to see me again... Alright?"

"It's impossible to not see you again we work together, but okay meet me at 9 I still wanna go home to get ready." She smiles at me and kisses my cheek.

"See you in a few!" she says walking out leaving me blushing.

After work I went home to take a shower I dressed in a white crop top and black dress pants with my white sneakers, I just finished fixing my hair when the doorbell rang I grabbed my purse, phone, and keys I opened the door and was met with a bouquet of white roses.

"It's for you."

"Thank you, how did you know this was my favorite?"

"I have my ways" she smiled at me proud, I went to put the roses in a vase "Are you ready? Or am I too early?" she said nervously looking at her watch.

"No you are right on time, let's go?!" she said and once I close the door we walked to the car she opened the passenger door for me "Thank you."

The ride was peaceful the silence was comfortable even though you could feel some tension because we both didn't wanna say something wrong, once we arrived I look out the window, and saw my favorite restaurant.

"Your ways are someone call Leah." I smile at her.

"Well, you can't blame me for trying, wait a second." I look at her confused because she just closed the door right after, but once I saw her open my door it made sense.

"Thanks, pretty gentle of you aren't you trying to impress?"

"It depends? Is it working?" She smile at me I could help but smile at her.

"Depends are you always like this with all your dates?" I smile as I saw she was taken aback by my answer.

"Well...No just you...I didn't think you wanted to go on a date with me?" she say blushing and rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well if this isn't a date I think you set the bar too high for a date. Should we go in?"

"Damn it..." she whispers to herself "Yes of course!"

Once we got in the waitress took us to a table on the far end giving us some privacy, we ask for the drinks and Alessia was looking at her menu when she meet my eyes.

"Aren't you going to choose?" she ask a bit confused why haven't I grabbed my menu.

"I already know what I am gonna ask for." I smile at her.

"Any suggestions?"

"They have the best Shrimp Chao Min, every time I come here I have to ask for it!"

"Then I guess I will have to try it." she smile at me and grab my hand on top of the table running her thumb over my knuckles "Look I know I mess up the other day I shouldn't have assumed you knew what was going on with me besides... I didn't even know you feel the same when..." she was cut off by the waiter we ordered and thank him.

"I didn't know what happened you just walk away and ignore me, I just wanted to know why?"

"When you say if I knew how it felt to fall for someone you don't even know their name, I didn't answer but I know the feeling, when you say that you felt like that person forgotten you I know that feeling, and that fear I thought it was my reality when you are talking about having dinner with Danielle, or when Sabrina ask you out..."

"Where are going with this Lessi?" I wasn't sure if she mean it about us or not.

"I'm not the jealous type I was just scared you forgot about me... what I am trying to say is that it's you!" she say looking at her plate and trying to avoid me.

"Took you long enough!" I say smiling at her, she looks up at me confused "A few days ago Lotte showed up at my house to talk to me, I didn't believe her, I mean can you blame me you are famous for your kindness besides before I knew who you are I already thought you are out of my league and after our talk I thought it was platonic I didn't have a chance and that hurt me." she gave me a gentle smile.

"You're so wrong I didn't think you liked me that much besides everyone is hitting on you everywhere I went and you are there. So this means you give me a chance to fix this?" She says a little bit hopeful.

"Yeah I mean you are right we both didn't act on our feelings there was no way we would know if we didn't talk about it." I squeeze her hand.

"I'm glad we get to talk."

We start to eat and get to know each other with small talk here and there when we finish we went on a walk.

"I don't know if you wanna talk about this but how did you learn how to shoot like that? You are basically on the midfield and without looking you get the ball in the corner..." I sigh this was something that hurts to talk about it was my biggest dream "Sorry I shouldn't have asked you don't need to answer!" She says fast.

"It's okay Lessi..." We stop at a bench and sit down I keep looking at the stars "It was my dream to play football my dad didn't support the idea and my mom was scared but I convince her I could do it... It was all going well until my last game before I start to play professionally..." She grab my hand and squeezed gently "My dad didn't support me his vision about women's sports was and is that no way a woman can make it or earn the same as men, that day we argue about it and I was pissed off I was sure that day I was gonna change is perspective on women's sports but I had a pretty bad injury that game my leg was all broken in a lot of different places I also hit my head pretty bad, I was in a coma for a while... when I woke up the doctor told me I could never play again, he didn't even know if I would be able to use my leg again that was how bad it was..." I felt her hand on my cheeks with her thumbs she clean some tears that I didn't even know were there.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked I mess up every time."

"Yay don't worry it's in the past besides I can walk but no club wants to risk having me back on the field since the doctor told me I probably could never play again... It was a hard and dark time of my life but I learn to live with it!" I smile at her.

"You can always try again."

"I can't Lessi no one wants a player with this many risks besides no one wanted to see my skill and I never touched a ball again until the other day."

"What if you can?"

"Lessi, I appreciated but I already made my peace about it."

"Teach me how to do it?"

"What?" I look at her confused.

"Teach me how to shoot like you did the other day!"

"I don't know..."

"Please I promise if you can teach me I will try to use it on the big games so you can feel like you are back on the pitch again!"

"Lessi that's very sweet but I don't know..."

"At less think about it?"

"I will." I smile at her gently "But enough about me!" I chuckle.

We talk about other things we had a great time the hours fly by so quickly with her she is really sweet and funny, and easy to talk to I honestly wasn't expecting to trust her this fast but we both knew the night was coming to an end, once we arrive at my door neither of us made a move we didn't want the night to end, she walks me to the door.

"Thank you for tonight Lessi!" I kiss her cheek but made no move inside.

"Thank you for the chance can I take you on a real date on the weekend?"

"Yeah, and I will teach you..." she looks at me smiling.

"Really?" She says so exactly that makes me giggle.

"Yes, I mean at least someone will be able to use it... Goodnight Lessi." I hug her she wraps her arms around me.

"Goodnight Y/N/N." When we pull away we are too close but I didn't wanna jinx myself since this was going so well, I kiss her on the cheek and walk inside once she kiss mine back, and went to her car waiting for me to get inside.

The next day

I was a bit more relaxed even though I hadn't slept much I had agreed today I would start to teach Alessia after her training and when I finish work I was nervous I mean she is a professional I am just me.

So after work I meet her at the field she was already there talking with Manu and training once I got to them they turn around and stop talking.

"Sorry did I interrupt?"

"Not at all..." Lessi says.

"You sure?"

"Yes this one was just rumbling about you, nothing unusual!" I chuckle and Alessia was blushing "I hope you don't mind but I tag along to try to get that shoot of yours."

"Yeah, no problem, but first Alessia will need to train shooting, strength, and effect you put on the ball while shooting!"

We start practice I show some of the ways she could achieve a more certain type of shoot after some practice I could see they are tired.

"I think we should stop for today in a few days you guys have a game, I don't wanna be responsible for not being on top of your game."

"Just shoot a few for me please I wanna know if I can catch it."

"Alright, but only five times I don't wanna get you tier."

"Alright let's go!"

Me and Alessia went to near the middle field Alessia pass me a ball but I saw her looking around like she was looking for something.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah don't worry." she gave me a gentle smile.

"If you say so..." I kiss her cheek and put the ball in place, I gave a few steps back and take a breath, I was feeling a bit nervous but also relax I shoot the ball with an effect I saw Manu going to on side ready to defend it but the effect on the ball made her end on the opposite corner of the net leaving no time for Manu to react.

"What how?" She half yells "Again!"

I look at Alessia waiting for another ball but she was distracted, I approach her.

"Lessi are you sure everything is okay?"

"Sorry, it's just impossible to believe I can do that." I chuckle.

"You can do it just need practice, alright?"

"Come on love birds!" We both blush and I shoot again this time the other way.

After the five shoots, Manu was ready to take the challenge she will be able to defend your shoot maybe not today or tomorrow but she will, she and Alessia told me they are going to shower and change I stay for a while on the field I look at the ball and start to do some tricks and playing around. I sit down and look up, I miss this feeling of peace every time I step on the pitch, I miss the feeling of having a ball in my feet, I miss the game the joy of it.

"Hi." she says softly making me look up and see Alessia.

"Hi." she sits beside me "Wheres Manu?"

"She went home"

"Oh okay..."

"What's on your mind?"

"I miss this..." she leans her head on my shoulder "I miss the peace and joy that football use to give me. You did great today." I smile at her she looks up from my shoulder.

"You think so?" Your faces are so close to each other that it took me a while to answer.

"Yeah giving the fact that you are probably already tired from training, your shoot strength is almost there."

"Thank you!" She looks me in the eyes and then looks at my lips once her eyes are back on mine she pulls away blushing "Im sorry."

"No need to be sorry, I understand we both say we want to take it slow to get to know each other, but we also know isn't that easy to resist me." I joke with her.

"Aren't you full of yourself?" She says lightly pushing me.

"Nah just stating the obvious!" I kiss her forehead.

"Oh shut up!" before she could push me down I pull her with me making her squeaky, I look into her eyes.

"Make me!" I smile at her watching her face change "I'm kidding!" I kiss her cheek and hold her close she lay her head on my chest as I play with her hair.

"Y/N/N..."

"Yea?"

"Thanks for this moment I really appreciate having you around."

"You don't have to thank me Lessi!"

"I do you gave me a chance and that's all I can think about." I kiss her head.

"It's okay do you want to grab dinner?"

"Yeah of course!"

1 week later

It's been a week since I'm teaching Alessia she has improved a lot on the last game her shoots are so accurate that she told me that Jonas ask her what she was doing we laugh about it we have also been on a few dates and been spending a lot of time together. Today after training we will start to shoot a few yards away from the goal practice was going well until Jonas got to us.

"Girls go home, Y/N we need to talk?" Alessia and Manu look at me worried I just reassure them to go, once they are far.

"Look Jonas I'm sorry I was just..."

"I want you to go home rest and tomorrow I want you at training to talk."

"What?"

"You hear me, go get some rest." he walks away I stay frozen in my spot, what this means am I in trouble? Why does he want me in training? Am I getting fired? No, this can't be happening this was the closer I have been to football in such a long time and now I just mess up if I lose them as a client my other boss will fire me. I rub my face pacing around until I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"What happened?" I just turn around and hug her hiding my face on her neck "What did Jonas say?"

"He wants me here tomorrow at training, what if I lose my job? Lessi I don't know what to do?"

"Yay look at me." I reluctantly look up at her "You need to rest tomorrow we will see what he wants and we will figure out what to do next?" She rests her hand on my cheek "It's probably nothing but I will be by your side." I close my eyes leaning in her touch.

"I hope your right, thank you..."

"No need to thank me I wanna be there for you." she kissed my forehead "Let's get you home alright I will make you dinner." I nod and we made our way to her car, she grabbed my hand after starting the car, and I was playing with her fingers, the ride to my house was silent but comfortable.

Once we got inside she told me to take a shower once I finish showering I went to grab some clothes but then I saw Alessia had arranged them, some shorts a T-shirt and a sweater that I knew wasn't mine so probably it was hers, after finishing getting dress I made my way to Alessia she was with her back to me wet hair still from the shower she took on training grounds, watching her made me want this companionship with her always. She is such an amazing person I mean she isn't my girlfriend but the way she is taking care of me made my heart melt.

I walk up to her and hug her from behind resting my head on her shoulder.

"Hi, how are you feeling?" She says turning around in my embrace holding me close kissing my forehead.

"A bit better thanks for taking care of me." she chuckle.

"Love, you don't need to thank me, you know I will always take care of you as long as you let me." the name love made my heart speak a bit, it's this how love is supposed to feel like even though we aren't together, I kiss her cheek and pull away.

"Do you need me to help you?"

"No just sit on the couch and choose something to watch, leave the rest to me." she kisses my forehead and pushes me out of the kitchen gently.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes don't worry I know my way around!"

Once I sit down I was looking for a game at less would take my mind off things there was a match playing when Alessia come back with our plates and then she went to grab the glasses we are eating in silence watching the game, I was getting a bit critical about the playing when I notice that Alessia wasn't answering me I look at her and she was already looking at me with a smile.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing I just found it amusing watching you get all worked up with football." I try to hide my blush "Don't get all shy now, it's cute!" she leans in to kiss my cheek.

"You know I have to say something since I don't have a chance of getting a foot on it."

"Maybe that will change?" She smiles at me and I put my plate on the table.

"I don't think so now was the closest I have ever been in two years and probably not for long."

"Yay don't say that. Honestly, I think it will work out for the best!" I chuckle.

"I appreciate your optimism but..."

"No, but what if he wants you as an assistant coach? Didn't you see the progress you made with me and even with Manu?"

"Maybe but I am not a professional."

She put her plate down and pull me close to her making me lay on top of her staying between her legs she play with my hair.

"We will figure out I promise."

She kiss my forehead I was playing with the end of her shirt as we keep watching the match in complete silence I was getting comfortable in her embrace and it was getting late.

"Lessi..." she hum for me to continue as she was paying me attention "Can you stay?" She didn't answer right away which made me panic "I'm sorry I shouldn't ask you don't need to stay? And it's getting late?"

"Do you want me to stay?" I look up at her confused did she not hear me asking.

"I just ask you that?"

"There is a difference it's because it's late or because you want me to stay?" Her eyebrows lift in pure amusement as she waits for an answer.

"I want you to stay."

"Wasn't so hard was it..." I push her arm playfully she hugs me closer "I will stay as long as you want me here."

We lay there together curled up with her under the warm blankets, feeling warm and safe. Her safe embrace and the absence of everything else irrelevant it was so nice. Just the TV noise as background noise was making me fall asleep on her as she play with my hair and I trace her arm with my fingertips, eventually, I fall asleep all my worries vanishing in her presence.

The next morning I woke up with the sun getting throw the window making snug in Alessia hiding my face in her neck.

"Good morning love!" her raspy morning voice sounded so beautiful I could wake up every day with it.

"Good morning gorgeous!" I kiss her shoulder before turning to straighten my body I look into her blue eyes "How did you sleep?"

"Great and you?" She kiss my cheek "Hopefully you didn't wake up when I bring you here but you pull me with you to lay here so I hope you don't mind." She says a bit worry

"I haven't slept this well in a while and of course, I don't mind did you think I was gonna make you sleep on the couch?" I trace her arm that was still under my head with my fingertips.

"Oh really?"

"Of course, Russo I am not that mean!"

"I didn't say you are mean it's just I don't wanna make you uncomfortable."

"Lessi if you made me uncomfortable I wouldn't have slept this well." I kiss her nose and got up going to the closet to grab some clothes.

"What you doing? Come here..." she whines making me smile at her cuteness.

"In case you don't remember we still got to shower before we go to training and find my fate..." I feel her arms around my waist pulling me against her front and resting her chin on my shoulder.

"We got to shower..." I could see from the corn of my eye her smirk growing.

"Not gonna happen, Russo, I am gonna take a shower and when I am finished you can go!" I kiss her cheek pull away from her and go to the bathroom.

"Can't blame a girl for trying!" She smiles as she watches me get in the bathroom "You are gonna be the dead of me." she whispers more to herself but I hear her.

Once I finish showering I put on a white blouse and a blank dress pants, once I walk out Alessia wasn't there I fix my hair and went to the kitchen as she was making breakfast.

"You are spoiling me too much." I smile watching her.

"Maybe that way you will keep around." she jokes.

"You don't need that for me to want you around..." I walk up to her "Now go take a shower I will end this so you have breakfast ready when you get out!"

"But I wanna..." Once she turns around her eyes look me up and down "What are you doing to me?"

"Nothing now go shower or you will be late for practice!" I hurry her up.

"Can a girl just get a moment to take this beauty all in!?" she says making me blush.

"Very smooth Russo now hurry up!" she kisses my cheek and runs to the bathroom.

I honestly was beginning to think I need to ask her to be my girlfriend, I mean yes we have been on a few dates and we are always around each other but nothing official, but she still didn't kiss me maybe she doesn't want this to be something more. But I honestly could get used to having her around the house and my life was a lot more lighter and brighter now when she is around.

I finish getting breakfast ready and set the plates sitting on the stool on the balcony pulling my phone to see if I have anything important to do while I was waiting for Alessia, beside the training today was a pretty calm day, with no meetings hopefully, I'm not getting fire.

"Oh, you waited for me!" I look up at Alessia.

"Yes now let's hurry we need to leave soon!" we start to eat until it hit me "How am I going to work I left my car there yesterday?"

"Hello I'm here!" she says joking.

"I know but you know that someone can see us and I don't want the press annoying you..."

"I am taking you to work what's the big deal we are friends!"

Friends? This word just felt like a dagger in my heart but I couldn't blame her I mean our situation right now is not like we are together but still didn't feel easy to hear.

"Yea right..." I finish eating once she finishes I grab the plates and wash them before going to grab my things as Alessia grabs her training bag I open the door once she walks out to the car to put her bag in the back I lock the door, as I walk to her car she opens the door for me "Thanks."

The ride was silent my mind was racing around what she said and I couldn't bring myself to stop this feeling of all the possibilities in my head that mixed with the anxiety of not knowing what Jonas wanted to just make it worse. Once we arrived at the camp we both went our separate ways, I went to my office to leave my things and then went to the training ground to meet Jonas, the girls who were getting on the pitch.

"Hi, Jonas what do you need me for?" Once he turns around.

"Why you are dressing like that, go change?"

"What?" He looks around and handles me a kit.

"Go get dressed."

"Can you explain what's going on?" I'm so confused about what's going on.

"I wanna see your skills besides that goal your teaching Alessia." I was taken back by his answer.

"I can't..."

"Why not?"

"I...I don't know if... It's been too long besides a long short story, but I was told I could never do this again."

"I'm not asking you to get on a real game I just wanna see something!"

"Alright, I can't promise you'll be impressed." I went to chance and all the memories are coming back could I do it? What does exactly he want to see? The only thing I'm sure of is that as long I let myself go in that field the better I will play.

Once I got back, Jonas told me to warm up some of the girls were getting curious about what was going on after I warmed up Jonas called everyone in.

"I want 5vs5 today Y/N I want you with Leah, Sabrina, Katie, and Lia, the rest join in groups of five we are gonna make a little tournament, it's the best of three goes to the next round."

We all got ready I tried to avoid Alessia after all this is her element and we are "friends" so it was my turn to play, once Leah pass me the ball I made a quick rotation leaving Laura behind I made a quick run and it was just me and the goalkeeper who run at me I chip the ball and end on the back of the net the girl watching is in aww I celebrate a bit with Leah.

"It's your turn get ready!" Leah smiled and nodded at me as we got in place.

I was able to still the ball from Caitlin I pass to Katie and ran down the pitch, and she pass me the ball again I passed through the defender once I saw Leah in the box I crossed the ball and she finished with a volley she runs to me jumping on my arms.

"You did it!" I say to her.

After a few games, the final was my team against Alessia, Lotte, Jen, Blackstenius, and Manu. I was talking with Leah since we had a break.

"So what's going on?"

"Besides being training with you guys nothing much, why?"

"Stop playing smart with me, I was talking about you and Russo?"

"Nothing..."

"Don't, I know something is bothering you haven't looked at her but she keeps trying to get your attention, so what happened?" I sigh I hate that I can't lie to Leah.

"Well this morning before she drove me over here, we were talking I was worried about the press because well that's my job, and she says "what's the big deal we are friends"..."

"And?"

"And nothing Leah that's it." I sigh rubbing my neck.

"You know before anything you guys are friends right? What do you expect her to call you, don't do this to yourself you both like each other, you just need to make it official."

"I guess..."

"Girls let's go!"

We are getting ready to start once Jonas whistles, we are getting a few tackles here and there once I got the ball I didn't waste time shooting before Alessia take it off me, ending at the back of the net I fall on top of Alessia she groans.

"I'm sorry Lessi, I didn't mean to!" I got up and help her get up.

"Don't worry my bambina!" I blush.

"What..." Before I could ask she was already getting back to her position.

The game was 2-2, Alessia and Lotte were passing between them looking for an opening, so if we gave them one we could get the ball so I looked at Leah she nood at me I pressed Lessi so she had to pass to Lotte, Alessia run pass me looking confused why I didn't follow her, the moment Leah pressed Lotte she passes back to Alessia, so Lia cut the pass making the ball end at my feet I run to the goal passing throw Jen, I knew I had to try something new but I also knew I didn't try this in a long time and most of the times didn't even work, but if I do what we have been training it would be too easy for her so I shoot the ball aiming for the bar and pray it comes my way, Zinsberger jumps but ends up falling after the ball hits the bar once the ball bounces back down I shoot the ball in the back of the net I was shocked it works Leah jump on my back and I hear Alessia cherrying.

"That's my bambina!"

"You're cherrying for the enemie!"

After some congratulations here and there the girls are a bit taken aback by how I managed to do it. Honestly, I only did that once I didn't even know if I could recreate it.

"Y/N!" I turn around to see Jonas and all the players making their way to the locker room "I wanna give you a chance to come back!"

"What?"

"You played college football right?"

"Yes but..."

"I knew I had heard about you, I had seen you before I just never heard about you after that accident."

"Well no club wants a player with risks and neither do you?"

"What risk? You played just like I remember you did on that last game I was just disappointed to know you had already a club them I came to Manchester so I never knew what really happened after!"

"Jonas the doctor told me I could never use my leg again or play..."

"I don't see that as a risk look your walking, your playing like you did back them so think about it, I don't need an answer right away!"

"Alright, thanks!"

I sit on the field after he walks out, I lay back and cover my eyes with my arm. Is this really happening? Or am I just dreaming? If this is a dream I don't wanna wake up. I have been trying to forget about it but was all coming back, I knew I had proven doctors wrong the day I started to walk again, was the doctor wrong about this too? I never got the chance to know since no one wanted to see me play, but now that I have the chance I don't know what to think?

"How it went? Are you alright?" I jumped a bit, I was so in my head that I didn't hear her getting here "Sorry..."

"Good, but I don't know if I am good!" I didn't make a move until I felt her grab my arm to lay beside me with her chin on my shoulder looking at me.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Once I look at her I was met with her blue eyes focused on me like they were reading me, and then I noticed how close we were.

"No..." she looked at me confused, I look at her lips.

"Why n..." I couldn't take it anymore so I cut her off by kissing her, she was I bit taken back but she kissed me right away, lips moving in perfect synchrony, her lips tasted like strawberry, so soft and gentle. I pull away and rest my forehead against hers.

"Wow you don't know how long I was waiting for this to happen!" she says picking my lips, we pull away

"Then why didn't you do anything? For a moment today, I thought you just wanted me as your friend."

"And I do I wanna be your best friend but I also want you to be mine!" she caressed my cheek gently making me lean on her touch "Also I didn't want to kiss you and mess up everything if you still didn't want to..."

"You're too good to be true!" I look in her eyes and roll us over making me lay on top of her "How would you feel if we could play together?"

"What? Are you serious? That would be amazing." She smiled at me excitedly.

"Well, I still think this is your family..."

"They are also your family!" she hugs me close "So this means Jonas wants you on the team?"

"Yeah we talk about what happened and the risks, he told me I wasn't a risk and I already proved the doctor once wrong... He gave me time to think."

"What's on your mind?"

"Well, I'm thinking about the risks? What if I mess up? I don't know there is so much on my mind."

"I get the risks will always be on your mind, but what does your heart tell you?"

"To go for it, it's worth it, it's a dream I thought I had to give up on it!"

"I think it's time you stop thinking and go with your heart..."

"I guess your right, but there is just something missing..." I sit up ready to get up but Alessia sits up and grabs my waist pulling me in her embrace.

"What?" she looks at me confused but also with so much adoration.

"I know this isn't like we probably want this to happen but will you be my girlfriend?" I play with the end of her shirt getting a bit shy, she pulls me in a gentle kiss with so much passion that I melt once we pull away I just whisper "Is that a yes?"

"Yess my bambina!" She picks my lips with every word.

"Alright, what does that mean bambina?" I try to say "You better not be bad-mouthing me, Russo!"

"My girl..." she smirks at me.

"Yes I'm your girl, now tell me what does it mean?" I smile at her.

"My girl!" she says chuckling a bit.

"You have been calling me that all day couldn't have said it?" I push her shoulder gently but she lays down playfully.

"You never ask? Besides you look cute when you are confused!" She smiled and kissed my nose, making me blush and hide my face in her neck.

I was the happiest I could ever be in a long time after all I didn't have to give up on my dream, but I also knew if I hadn't found her I would still be lost on that day when I first saw her.

bambina - girl

[gunsandspaceships]

Tony’s behavior: Teenager/Young Adult (21 years old)

In previous episodes (Kid, 16 years old, 17-18 years old) we watched as Tony, from a calm and quiet boy who obeyed his father, began to behave in an atypical manner. But this behavior only appeared after the age of 16. It is not known what the reason was, but I have some ideas which I will share later in another post.

In this post, we take a look at 21-year-old Tony before his parents died.

Captain America: Civil War

It's Christmas time, Tony is back home for winter break after studying abroad (for his PhD). His parents are going on a short vacation to the Bahamas.

Tony just returned home from another country a few hours ago and is now sleeping on the couch in the living room of his parents' mansion. I bet some people thought he was partying and drinking, having a fun night with a girl (as Howard sarcastically suggested). He actually has jet lag, not a hangover. He looks fine and healthy here.

For some reason he is sleeping on the couch in the living room, instead of the bed in his bedroom. Btw, this couch looks like the worst place to sleep. But this is Tony, that's normal. His preferences for comfort are a little unusual.

He is still busy studying. He completed his bachelor's degree, master's degree and is now pursuing his doctorate. This means that he did not waste his life drinking and partying. He was engaged in what we all (usually) consider good and useful - education and science. And his father was still dissatisfied. Why is that?

Here Howard demonstrates his attitude towards Tony. Calling him "homeless person", assuming without evidence that he had a sexual relationship with a girl, telling him that he's wasting his potential. From the "16 Years" post, we know that Tony was interested in robotics and not so much, to put it mildly, in weapons. By "potential" did Howard mean "creating weapons, not robots"? Let's see if we have any other clues here...

This behavior looks strange, doesn't it? Tony doesn't seem to approve "quick stop at the Pentagon". Why? Maybe because he doesn't approve of Howard's business? That's something new! Some would say. But remember what he did in high school - he hacked the Pentagon's firewall. All the evidence suggests that he was not a great fan of the military at the time. Who knows, maybe this was one of the stumbling blocks in their relationship?

Listening to their argument, Maria looks indifferent. She seems to be used to it. So this has been going on for some time. Some years.

Tony definitely had a better relationship with his mother than with his father. Although Tony and Maria are a little awkward around each other. And we know why - they rarely spent time together during these 21 years.

Speaking of interaction, both sides - Tony and his parents - tried to avoid each other. Howard and Maria are heading to the Bahamas without taking their son with them. Tony comes back home just before they leave. Everything tells us that it wasn’t just like that that time, that’s how it usually happened. What was going on? They sent him to boarding school when he was too young, and he lived on campuses for 14 years, moving only from school to MIT to another college overseas. And even when he was back at home for a few days, they went somewhere and he was home alone. And he was not a big fan of their presence too, enjoying being alone, home, but sleeping on the couch. Something was completely f*cked up there.

Maria said Howard misses Tony when he is not there. This comment and the avoidant behavior give me the feeling that Howard was afraid of Tony's presence around. We know he never told Tony what he was really working on - S.H.I.E.L.D., Tesseract-based energy, and the new super soldier serum. Was he afraid that Tony would find out? If so, why? Because of the danger?

Tony's joke about the Pentagon's Christmas menu made me think he was familiar with it. Had Howard taken him to the Pentagon for the holidays before? And only him, without Maria. Maybe it was because there was no one at home to keep Tony company? Unlikely. There were other people around - Jarvis, his wife, nanny, or Maria (As a last resort. Weird, I know). Was this an attempt to introduce Tony to the military then? Sounds even weirder that it happened during holidays. Why would you bring your kid to the Pentagon for the holidays, Howard? He should be at home with his family. Gosh...

[archive245]

Random rinaverse hc

- Remi cried when he overheard the girls talking about star signs because he thought anni had cancer

- Niko wanted to be a power ranger growing up, gareth wanted to be spiderman, killian wanted to be superman, jeremy wanted to be batman

- Ronan the typa guy to be like “i got it, i got it, i don’t got it” while trying to catch a ball

- Moreover good thing this man plays soccer be hes horrible at catching things

- Kimberly has an upside down smile and Xander has an eye smile (like the ones where your whole closes yk??)

- Glyns favourite barbie movie was princess charm school and annikas was barbie and the 13 dancing princesses

- Gareth cannot do anything without airpods

- Glyndon doodles all over her homework and occasionally draws on kills arm with a pen while he focusing on something

- Kimberly says “well my dad said” atleast once a day

- Kirill and adrian like going to museums and art galleries, damien gets dragged along because if he doesn’t he gets all petty that they didn’t invite him even tho he complains the entire time their there

- Maya has a severe friendship jealousy issues when it comes to her friends having other friends (mood girl same)

- Reina loved going out to celebrate no matter how small the matter was killian got 100 on his spelling test? celebration, Asher won a court case? celebration, gareth got first place in track and field? celebration

- Ava always had her nails done with long acrylics and likes to just click them around to tell people she just got them done

- Once Xander and Ronan got arrested and they used their one free call on Cole and said your mom and hung up

- Nikolai sucks at spelling and texting example

- Killian drinks a whole pack of cola in a week

- I honestly think Jeremy was scared of girls as a child and when he first met Maya and Mia he was so scared of them he constantly hid from them but to them they just thought Jeremy was ignoring them bc hes a bitch

- Ronan is actually really smart but doesnt like showing it, so instead he acted like the dumb cluless one and people believe it

- Teal actually is a marvel nerd and forces ronan to binge watch the entire series with her

- Cecily started to wear glasses in grade 6, because 1 she thought they made her look like a nerd and 2 because she thought everyone viewed the world as blurry

- When ever Elsa would go on vacation she would buy small trinkets thats reminded her of them for everyone

- When ever anni sees a cat she ll take a picture of it and send it to creigh

- Nikolai consistently looses things, even things that were in his hand, looks away from one second BOOM missing

- Eli got tattoos to try and piss off Aiden little did he know Aiden also has tattoos so he was chill about it

- Creighton was scared if loud noises for a long time, and once Eli scared Creighton by like sneaking up behind him and he had a panic attack and since then Eli payed extra attention to his well being

- Xander is aggressive drunk loves fighting or arguing people, Coles definitely horny drunk disappears minutes after getting drunk, aiden doesnt get drunk, and ronans giggly drunk

- bonus knox is the type you would put on a lease drunk because he runs around and falls alot, definitely wakes up with bruises everywhere

- Teal turns soft and adorable when drunk so she doesnt drink infront of people, Kims also giggley drunk (ronan and kim can be seen just laughing and giggling with eachother on a sofa), elsa is sleepy drunk and silver is definitely the all in or none (she gets blackout drunk or sober no in between)

- Ava always plays a princess peach during mario kart and mia always plays as shyguy

- Gareth was the type ti start assignment weeks in advance, while nikolai started them the night before

-Lan was definitely a kid who needed to be on a leash because he would run around everywhere and get lost, “astrid or levi king please come to the front desk we have your son” was heard every time on the loud speakers every time they went out for a family gathering

[judes-hoe]

Bitter rivals,Sweet love

Parrings~Lewis Hamilton x OC Summary~She’s gonna be in f1 for her third year and goes to a team no one expects her to. She’s always got a cold expression and only those close to her know why. Shes been close one to many times to winning a championship and this year she’s gonna get it no matter what.

Warnings~none I don’t think

A/N~i can’t wait to see how this turns out

Pt.1 pt.3 pt.4 pt.5 pt.6 pt.7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vanessa walked into the paddock, scanning her pass as she walked through and to the Mercedes garage. Her eyes lit up when she seen a familiar face. “Calvin?” She asked. He turned around and smiled at her. Calvin was her race engineer during her time in F3 and F2. She had someone different while at Ferrari. She hugged the man happy to see him. “How you been kid?” He asked, he loved being her race engineer when he was and was happy to be it again. “I’ve been better, how have you been?” She asked him. “I’ve been good, and sorry for your loss,” he replied but she just ignored him at the last part.

She went to her drivers room, changing out the clothes she arrived in, and into her fire proofs and her suit. She sat for a minute scrolling on instagram before she saw it was time for FP1. She walked out her drivers room with her balaclava and helmet in hand. She put her balaclava on and before she put on her helmet she kissed each side one had ‘Enzo’ and the other had ‘Emilia’. She did it before each FP1, Q1, the race, and the sprint if there was one. She loved her helmet, one side was blue and the other a purple and had them fade into each other.

She got in her car, she watched as Lewis was back in the garage and she was sent out. Toto thought it was best they don’t go out at the same time. She took a lap warming up her tyres. When she came around the last corner and saw the finish line and pressed the accelerator a little harder to start her flying lap. She hit all the corners right managing to keep her speed the whole time. She got fastest lap and took p1 from Charles who had fastest before her. She went around again before pulling into the pit and going back into the garage and Lewis going back out. “Good job kid,” she heard through the radio. “God have I missed that beautiful face Calvin,” she said back, she heard him laugh.

When Lewis came back in she went out and did her fast lap after warming her tyres. She managed to get p2 behind max before going into pits again. Lewis went back out again, she was happy with my cars performance and hers. There was also only 2 minutes left of FP1 so she got out her car before walking over to Calvin. She watched with him as the last couple cars did their last laps.

FP2 went the same for her but she ended up p3 which Charles p2 and max p1. Lewis behind her in p4. Tomorrow they have FP3 and qualifying. She walked out the garage and stood to the side texting Daniel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nessa🤍

Dannyyyyy

Wyd

Where are you???

Danny🍯🦡

Hey kid

Im about to go into a meeting

What do you need?

Nessa🤍

Oh…

I was just wondering if you wanted to go out again but I’ll go ask Charles🙃

Danny🍯🦡

Oh sorry nessa

Maybe we can go out again before we leave☺️

Nessa🤍

Ok danny ttyl😝 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Italy’s girl🇮🇹

charlieeeeee

CHALRESSSSS LECLERC

Wyd??????!

Monaco’s prince🇲🇨

Uhhhhh nothing ig

Why

Italy’s girl🇮🇹

Cause I don’t wanna go back to my hotel

So you wanna go out to eat???

We can invite Lando to😝

Monaco’s prince🇲🇨

Yesss let’s go out cause I didn’t wanna go back to my hotel either😭

I’ll text Lando

Italy’s girl🇮🇹

Okay see u soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charles texts Lando and they all meet up at a restaurant and hang out and eat there. They all gossip and talk more about their vacations. Vanessa had a great time and was happy, only time she showed happiness was when she was with her friends alone. She hated showing it to everyone, people always wondered why she acted so cold all of a sudden, but it wasn’t their business if it was she would’ve just said something.

They all went back to their hotels around 8pm. When she got back to her room, she took a nice hot shower and cleaned her face. She then laid in bed scrolling on TikTok before putting her phone on the charger and closing her eyes to get a good amount of sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FP3 went great Vanessa getting P2, Charles being the one to get P1. She sat in her drivers room waiting for Q1 to start. She heard 2 knocks on the door which meant it was time. Toto decided to let her go out first instead of Lewis. Vanessa talked to a few engineers before getting in her car, they pulled her out the garage and she drove out the pit lane. As she was warming up her tyers she heard the radio go off. “You still do your same strategies,” Calvin asked Vanessa. “Yes sir, still do and works like a charm!” She exclaimed. “Alright kid do your thing,” he laughed.

It was the same strategy she used every year from F4 to F1. She does good enough to pass Q1 and Q2, she manages to try and get p4 to p6. Then in Q3 puts in her best effort and tries to get p1, p2, or p3. And it worked like a charm for Vanessa ever.single.time.

She managed to get p5 in Q1, and p4 in Q2. So Vanessa puts in her all for Q3, as she passes the checkered flag as the end of Q3 she pressed she radio button. “How’d I do Calvin?” She asked him hoping she’d gotten the position she wanted. “Pole position nessa great job!” He exclaimed through the radio. She pulled into the pit lane after she went around the track one last time. She walked into the garage with people congratulating her, she went over and got weighed losing the right amount she should be.

All Vanessa was thinking right was how she wanted to go back to her hotel room and take a nice bath. As she was walking to her drivers room she felt a pair of eyes on her, she look the the direction and saw him looking at her, she looked back at him, anger in her eyes as she did before walking into her drivers room to get changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vanessa was finally taking her nice needed bath, soft Italian music in the background. All calming until her loud ringtone took over and she grabbed her phone look at the name. “dannazione,” she mumbled under her breath. She answered the phone and heard someone talking in the background. “Lando you muppet do you need something?” She asked the man that’s interrupting her peace. “Oh hey nessa, was wondering if you wanted to come over to my room, Charles,Carlos,max, and some others are here,” he said as she heard more talking in the background. “I might but your interrupting me, I’m trying to take a bath,” she said with annoyance in her tone. “Oh, ok sorry just let me know if you’re coming over,” he said before they said goodbye to each other and Vanessa went back to relaxing.

Well she never went to Lando’s because when she got out that bath and laid in bed she was knock out and it was only 8:30pm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N~ WAIT TILL NEXT CHAPTER, also I’m not gonna write about the Saudi GP, and kinda skim over it cause the Australian GP is when things are gonna get GOOOOOOD!!!!!!!

Taglist: @happy-golden-hour @tallrock35

[hbyrde36]

No Vacancy

When Eddie Munson arrives at the Buckingham Beach Motel to spend the summer with his BFF Chrissy and her business partner Robin, the last person he expects to see waiting in the lobby is former king of Hawkins High and asshole extraordinaire, Steve fucking Harrington.

Chapter 1: Checking In

WC: 4547 | R: Explicit | CH: 1/12 | AO3| Now Complete!

Eddie grinned as he pulled his trusty van, the very same rust-bucket he’d been driving since high school that he liked to refer to as Van Halen, if only to elicit the groans of both friends and strangers, into the small parking lot of the Buckingham beach motel. He hadn’t been on vacation for…

Well, he’d never been on a true vacation before, actually, unless that one time he went fishing with his Uncle Wayne for a weekend counted. And sure, he was going to be working at least part time while he was visiting his best friend in her seaside paradise, but it was still the closest thing to a holiday he’d ever had. Needless to say, Eddie was hell bent on thoroughly enjoying himself this Summer. Sun, sand, and shirtless men in speedos? 

Sign him up!

He hopped out of the van, relieved to finally stretch his legs after the long drive, and threw open the back doors, staring down at the collection of boxes, duffel bags, and one large black trunk that made up almost the entirety of his worldly possessions. 

The day after he finally graduated from Hawkins High, back in 1986, Eddie had cut and run and not looked back. He’d been living as a kind of nomad ever since, never quite feeling comfortable enough to stay in one town or city for too long. He was usually able to find work as a bartender or bouncer to fund his stay at whatever hostel or efficiency he could find, and when all else failed he slept right here in his van. 

He still visited Hawkins on a rare occasion, a necessary evil to be endured only so he could spend time with his beloved uncle, but that place would never be home for him again.

It wasn’t a bad life. He’d seen a lot of cool places and met tons of interesting people, but lately he’d been missing something. The stability of a real home, perhaps. The kind you only really get when you put down roots. In his weaker moments he yearned for the support and community that could be found with friendships that lasted longer than a few months. 

With a sigh, he grabbed the two largest bags that held the majority of his clothes, and the backpack that held the rest of his day-to-day essentials and headed towards the lobby. He could always come back out for the rest later.

The first thing Eddie noticed when he walked in the door was the spectacular pair of legs and delicious ass in too-short shorts that belonged to a man who was leaning over the counter talking to Robin. Unfortunately, the second thing he noticed was that same man’s oddly familiar swoop of chestnut brown hair. 

Eddie’s stomach dropped. 

What in the world was Steve fucking Harrington doing here?

“You made it!” Chrissy squealed as she came barreling out of the office door, having spotted him through the reception window.

Eddie knew what was coming, but he was a little slow given the way the metaphorical rug had been ripped out from under him, and in his current shocked state only just managed to drop his bags in time to catch the former cheerleader as she launched herself at him, wrapping her legs around his waist. 

He held her tight, forcing himself to let go of all thoughts of former jocks and high school rivalries for a moment, and just enjoyed the fact that he was here with his best girl—finally seeing her in person after so many months apart. He inhaled deeply, appreciating the familiar scent of Ex'cla-ma'tion. He used to hate her cheap drugstore perfume, but it’s amazing what you start to miss when you're separated from your loved ones for so long. 

“Missed you.” Eddie whispered into her hair before finally letting her down.

She giggled as he swung her to the floor, and then proceeded to punch him in the arm as hard as she could, which was pretty fucking hard for such a tiny little thing.

“Hey! What was that for?” Eddie sputtered.

“For waiting so long to come visit this time! I missed you too, jerk.”

He rubbed at the spot where she’d hit him. Honestly It didn’t actually hurt all that much, but he liked to play along for the bit. “Jeez, Chris. Funny way of showing it.” 

“You love it.”

“Keep it in your pants, lady, you’re not my type.”

“Freak!”

“Priss!”

Eddie doubled over, cackling, and Chrissy laughed hysterically right along with him, the two falling into another hug just to keep each other upright. When they finally calmed down enough to behave normally again, Chrissy pulled back from his arms, her expression turned serious. 

After a glance back over her shoulder she spoke low, barely above a whisper, “so as I'm sure you noticed, we have another hometown guest joining us.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Harrington’s kinda hard to miss. What's he doing here anyway?”

“Visiting Robin for the summer?” Chrissy said it as if it should have been obvious.

It wasn’t.

“Why?”

Chrissy let out a long suffering sigh. “He’s her best friend! You know this, how do you always forget?”

She was right, he did always forget that when Robin talked about her friend Steve, that it was Harrington she was talking about. It was such an odd pairing that Eddie just sort of blocked it out. He couldn’t reconcile the Steve from Robin’s stories with the prick he remembered from Hawkins. 

“Right, fine, sorry. What about him?”

“Well, you know this is our first season, and the booking system is so new and confusing. We may have accidentally overbooked, but it's okay! Because the three of us were talking about it before you arrived, and since the one room we do have left is a double queen we thought… ”

Absolutely not.

Eddie grabbed her by the hand, cutting her off and tugging her across the lobby as far from Steve and Robin as they could get.

“Are you crazy?! You want me to be roommates with King Steve?!” He hissed, throwing his hands around wildly. “Have you completely forgotten what a giant asshole he is?!”

“We’re not in high school anymore, Eds. I’ve spent time with the guy. He’s always been nice to me, and if what Robin tells me is true? Then not only is Steve not like that anymore, maybe he never really was.”

Eddie's jaw tightened. She could not be serious. Jock’s don’t change their stripes, or whatever.

“Right,” he spat.

“Look at me! I changed, and we became friends. Why couldn’t Steve be a good guy underneath it all too?”

He waved her off. “That’s different. You are the exception that proves the rule. And you were always a good person, you just ran with a bad crowd for a while, not to mention the boyfriend we do not speak of.”

“Exactly! So isn't it possible that Steve is the same?”

“No.”

Chrissy groaned. “I’m serious! Really think about it, do you remember him ever doing or saying anything shitty to you directly? Or was he just there in the background while his friends did?”

Eddie crossed his arms over his chest. “Assholery by proxy is still assholery.”

“I don’t think that’s a word.”

“Come on Chris!” Eddie whined. Had they been alone he might have even stomped his feet. “Don’t make me do this. Can’t I share with you?”

“You know I live with Robin.”

“Okay, and? It’s only for the Summer. She can stay with Steve and I can stay with you. It’s a perfect solution!”

Chrissy shook her head. “Our room is a single and I love the shit out of you, but I draw the line at sharing a bed.”

Wait, what?

Eddie’s eyebrows shot up. “How did I not know about this? Does that mean you finally got your act together and told her how you feel?”

Chrissy turned bright red and threw her hand over his mouth. “Oh my god. Shut. Up. Of course I haven't told her!” 

He tried to respond, but Chrissy refused to move her hand—so naturally, he licked it. 

“Gross!” Chrissy yanked her hand back with a look of disgust.

“Jeez, I know it’s not the tongue you were hoping for, but it wasn’t that bad!” 

Chrissy whirled around, probably worried that Robin had overheard them, and Eddie might not be the most present guy, but he was still a good friend. As much as he liked to mess with her, he’d been keeping a very close eye on the other side of the room and Steve and Robin were too engrossed in their own whisper-shouting match to pay them any attention.

Steve must be equally irritated by the girl's proposition. 

Eddie leaned forward, speaking close to her ear. “Are you telling me that you and Robin run this place together all day, share a bed every night, and you still don’t think she likes you back?” 

“It’s not like that!” Chrissy insisted. “We make more money from the doubles. Financially it made more sense for us to live in one of the singles. We’re just, uh—two really good friends having a never ending sleepover.”

Eddie wasn’t convinced and honestly it didn’t sound like she was either, but he’d drop it for now. “Whatever you say.”

“So, what do you think about sharing with Steve?” 

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me,” Eddie grumbled.

“C’mon, it’ll be fun! I’m sure you two will get along fine. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover you have some things in common.” She sounded so optimistic, it was her one flaw.

And was it his imagination or did she just wink at him?

“Yes, I'm sure we’ll come out of this as the best of friends.”

“That’s the spirit!” Chrissy cheered.

“I was being sarcastic!!”

For whatever reason, Steve also agreed to this outrageous living arrangement—reluctantly, Eddie assumed, though the other man did an excellent job at hiding how unhappy he must be.

Harrington was all smiles about it. Eddie wanted to punch him in the face.  

Once the deal was in place, Chrissy announced she had to leave for a meeting with the bank, something about an additional small loan to make more improvements on the place or something, leaving Robin alone to show him and Steve to their room. 

Eddie liked Robin well enough, but he’d only ever hung out with her and Chrissy together. He was worried she might act differently or something with Steve around, but It became abundantly clear after he heard her call the guy dingus for the third time in their five minute journey, that his worry was unfounded. Robin was Robin, and she changed for no one. He appreciated that, and kept his guard up, ready to defend her if need be—in case Steve finally had enough and lashed out, becoming the mean girl Eddie remembered from years ago, but it never happened. 

Damn he was good. 

The Buckingham was the kind of motel where all the doors opened to the outside. Some towards the front street, giving a beautiful view of the ocean, others opened up to the pool area in the back. Eddie wasn’t sure if it was a perk of being friends with the owner, or a consolation prize for the mix up, but he and Steve were given a room on the second floor, ocean side. There was even a cute little wooden bench next to their door, "In case you two ever want to sit out and watch the sunrise,” or so said Robin. 

Eddie hadn’t woken before ten in the morning voluntarily since he graduated, and he didn’t think the lure of a few pretty colors in the sky was going to end that streak, but he very politely kept that thought to himself.

“That’s a nice thought, Robs,” Steve said, chuckling. “But I think I'll get to see plenty of sunrises at work.”

Robin shuddered. “You’re a better man than me.”

“What does that mean?” Eddie asked before he could stop himself. Not like he cared, it was just natural curiosity. 

“I’m working as a lifeguard on the beach, so I'll be up at the crack of dawn nearly every day anyway.”

Eddie grimaced. 

Jesus Christ, a dick and an early riser. 

Lovely. 

“Don’t worry though!” Steve added quickly. “I'll be careful not to wake you up. I know how to be stealthy, like a ninja.”

It was… the absolute dorkiest way he could have said it. 

Eddie almost cracked a smile, but held firm in his grumpiness by the skin of his teeth. “You’d better.”

Steve performed a little cross-your-heart gesture.

What the fuck.

“Seriously, my roommate in college was a really light sleeper,” Steve went on, “so I have a lot of practice sneaking out quietly.”

Eddie’s lip nearly betrayed him then, twitching upwards like a traitor. Luckily, Robin drew Steve’s attention away for a second, allowing him a moment to regain control.

“Oh, I’ll just bet you do.” Robin teased.

Steve’s cheeks flushed, but he ignored her comment and turned back to Eddie. “What about you? Are you getting a job, or just hanging out?”

“Hate to break it to you, Harrington, but I got a part time gig bartending at a place a few blocks over. Looks like we’ll be living on opposite schedules.” Eddie grinned, sounding gleeful even to himself. “We may never have to see each other awake.”

Steve’s smile faltered for a beat, but quickly returned to its full power. “Well, lucky for you I’m a very heavy sleeper, so you won’t have to worry about waking me up when you come home late.”

Eddie grit his teeth—he was getting annoyed. What did he have to do to get a rise out of this guy, huh? To get a peek behind the mask? And who did he think he was, saying ‘lucky for you’? The only person it was lucky for was Steve, because no way was Eddie going to be tip-toeing around in his own place. Not for anyone.

After asking if they had any questions about the place, Robin handed them each a key and took off, leaving them to it. If Eddie had a little less pride he might have begged her to stay, but he supposed he might as well start getting used to the situation.

The room was small.

Two queen beds made up the majority of the space, with a single nightstand wedged between them. A dresser sat across the way, with six drawers and a small T.V. on its top. The rest of the room was made up of a tiny bathroom, an even tinier closet, and an efficiency kitchen consisting of a sink, mini-fridge, microwave, two burner cooktop, and a little table with two chairs. 

Eddie dropped his bags in the middle of the floor. As much as he would have liked to just ignore Steve, the space was tight enough that they would have to dance around each other the whole time they were unpacking. They also needed to figure out how they were going to split the space.

“Alright, how do you want to do this?” 

The only thing Steve expressed a preference for was taking the bed closest to the door, which sounded like some alpha male bullshit to Eddie, honestly. As if Steve needed to be the first line of defense if someone were to break in while they were sleeping. 

The idea was ridiculous and definitely not at all hot.

But, Eddie wanted the bed by the window anyway, so it was fine.

Once that was negotiated, they began to put their things away. It was… suspiciously easy. Steve kept deferring to him, even offering to give up one of his three drawers when he realized how much stuff Eddie had. It was infuriating. What did Steve expect to get out of all this politeness and generosity? There were no girls here to impress.

Eddie curtly refused the offer, which Steve only shrugged at, saying there would be plenty of extra closet space anyway, as he only had a few dress shirts to hang up. Eddie gave up then, leaving about half of his band tees in one of the bags and kicked it under the bed before throwing himself on top of it. He’d finish unpacking some other time, when he didn’t have an audience. 

He laid there and watched through barely open eyelids while Steve pulled an extensive collection of very tiny swim trunks out of his bag, and contemplated the injustices of the world—quietly brooding as the other man found a home for every single item he’d managed to squeeze into his singular suitcase. 

It was impressive, rankly, not that Eddie would ever tell him that. 

Finally, Steve picked up a rather large toiletry bag and wandered away. 

Unable to resist, Eddie got up and followed. This was something he had to see. Steve hadn’t been called ‘The Hair’ half his school career for nothing. 

Eddie stood in the doorway, observing through the mirror as Steve hummed softly to himself, arranging his collection of hair and skin care products along one side of the sink and vanity, being ever-so-careful to only take up half of the counter space.

For some reason, that was the final straw.

“What’s your deal, man?” Eddie snapped, more accusation than question.

He hoped Steve might finally fight back, but of course he didn’t. Remaining frustratingly calm as he replied. 

“What do you mean?”

Eddie growled. “I’m not buying the nice act, okay King Steve? So you might as well drop it. I’d rather you be real and be a prick, than this fake polite bullshit.”

For half a second Steve looked almost… sad? like Eddie had hurt his feelings somehow, but it was gone so quickly—must have been a trick of the light.

Steve smiled and shook his head, finally glancing up to make eye contact with Eddie’s reflection. “I don’t know what to tell you. What you see is pretty much what you get. You wanna talk about King Steve? Now that shit was an act.”

Fine.

If Steve wanted to continue to pretend he was a good guy now? Eddie would just have to see how far he could push him. Sure his best friend was an out and proud lesbian, but how would he react knowing that the man he was going to share a room with for the next twelve weeks or so was gay?

“Whatever you say, Harrington.” 

Eddie tapped his fingers on the doorframe as he thought over his words. “Y’know, we should probably work out a system for when we want to bring dates home. I remember your reputation of course, and I know I'm hoping to bring more than a few guys back for a nightcap after the bar closes, if you catch my drift. So, what do you think?” 

He’d started out his little speech feeling brave and a bit cocky, but by the end of it there was sweat pooling on his upper lip, and he was thinking maybe this wasn’t the best way to come out to a former jock who could probably snap him in two with half a thought.

But—

The whole thing elicited exactly zero reaction. 

Steve didn’t miss a beat, didn’t even bat an eye before he asked, “What, like putting a tie on the door or something?”

Eddie wanted to scream. 

“I’m sure we can do better than that,” he huffed, stalking off to look around the rest of their room for ideas, quickly zeroing in on the set of hang tags sitting on the table in the kitchen area. 

Eddie beamed. Most hotels just had the standard 'please service' or 'do not disturb' messages on their tags, but of course the girls would try and get creative with it.

“Here, these’ll work.” Eddie said, barely managing to hold back a laugh as he held the first one up for Harrington to look at.

Steve read aloud. “Out to sea. Cute.”

“Right, so we can use that one when the coast is clear,” Eddie’s eyes sparkled as he raised the other sign, “and this one when one of us has a guest.” 

“My boat is docked. Do not disturb.” Steve said, cheeks flushing pink as he read.

Eddie ginned widely. “See? It’s perfect.”

As it turned out, Eddie had been right. 

He and Steve had been cohabitating for 4 days already and he hadn’t seen the guy awake once since they went to bed that first night after an awkward meal of Chinese takeout and a bad movie, watched without commentary from separate beds. 

Steve was always already asleep when Eddie got back from the bar at two a.m. each night, and was long gone by the time Eddie rolled out of bed the next morning. Though, in his continued campaign to act like a decent person, Steve had made a point of leaving half a pot of fresh coffee on the warmer every day. 

Eddie thought about dumping it out of spite, but it was king of… nice. 

It brought back memories of Wayne doing the same, leaving coffee and food out on the kitchen table for him to easily grab on his way out the door, because his uncle knew Eddie wouldn’t eat anything otherwise. It was comforting, and though he knew Steve didn’t really mean it that way, it made Eddie feel taken care of. He’d take that feeling where he could get it for now, even if it came from someone he couldn’t stand.

Work was busy that night. It was his first Saturday behind the bar, and the place was absolutely heaving with sweaty bodies grinding themselves together to the rhythm of whatever shitty top 40’s cover song the band played. On the rare occasion that he had a moment to breathe Eddie found himself scanning the crowd for anyone that might pique his interest. 

He wasn’t as subtle about it as he maybe should have been, but Chrissy had once assured him that their part of town was fairly queer friendly, though there was no actual gay bar to speak of, so he figured he was safe enough to look.  

He’d been looking every night since he’d arrived, actually, but had yet to notice a single guy that set his radar off, until now.

He was tall, blonde, insanely tanned, and not at all Eddie’s type—but when the pickings were slim, beggars couldn’t be choosers. The guy was cute enough, though, and he was looking at Eddie like he wanted to eat him alive. 

Perfect.

Eddie knew he looked good tonight. He’d purposely put a little more thought into getting ready than he had before previous shifts, knowing that the larger weekend crowd would give him a better chance at getting lucky. 

His black jeans were skin tight, and the boss had even let him cut his white uniform t-shirt into a crop top, showing off a strip of pale skin and trim waist anytime he raised his arms. To top it all off, he’d worn his hair up today with just a few tendrils falling around his face. Honestly, that had been more about the heat than anything else, but he also knew it was one of his best looks.  

Eddie met the nameless man’s gaze from across the room, holding it firm as he dried a pint glass and raising his eyebrow in silent question.

The man smiled glancing at his friends, who were far too busy chatting up a group of barely legal young girls to pay him any mind, before sauntering up to lean across the bar. 

“What time do you get off, gorgeous?”

Eddie smirked. “Meet me by the side door in an hour.”

The streets were quiet as Eddie and his new friend walked the few short blocks from the bar to the Buckingham. A fact they took full advantage of, stopping to shove their tongues down each other's throats at regular intervals along the way. 

So caught up in finally getting a little action, it wasn’t until Eddie was leading the way up the stairs to their floor of the motel that he remembered his unfortunate roomate. 

It was late, guaranteeing that Steve would already be in bed fast asleep. Somehow, Eddie hadn’t considered this little problem when they’d worked out the whole do-not-disturb sign system. 

Oh well, he’d just have to wake Steve up and tell him to get out for a while. 

After telling his… date to wait outside, Eddie slipped into the dark room and crept over to the closest bed. Looking down at Steve’s sleeping form, he almost changed his mind. It didn’t feel right to kick the guy out of his own bed just so he could get off with a stranger, but then Eddie thought back to the way Tommy Hagan—Steve’s former best friend and second in command—used to spit the word queer in his face like acid as he shoved him against the lockers before P.E., and he found all the motivation he needed. 

“Harrington?” Eddie murmured as he shook Steve's shoulder.

Steve stirred, waking slowly and frowning up at Eddie with heavy eyelids.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Steve's voice was thick with sleep but also—genuine concern.

Eddie’s breath caught in his throat. 

Oh.

He hesitated to answer for a moment, but forced himself to shake it off—whatever it was

Don’t start feeling bad about this now, Munson, get your shit together. 

“Everything is fine. I just, um.. I need the room. For a bit?”

Smooth. Real smooth.

“What? I don’t…” Steve trailed off, frowning harder. 

Eddie saw the moment it clicked.

“Oh.” Steve breathed, looking more awake by the second. “O-ok, I'll just take a blanket down to one of the pool loungers I guess.”

“Cool, I-I mean, thanks,”  Eddie stuttered out as Steve got up and they both went for the door. “I’ll–uh–let you know when he’s gone.”

It was strange, he would have expected to feel a sense of satisfaction or something in this moment for managing a hook up before Steve did, but as Eddie watched him shuffle off wrapped up in a blanket after giving bar-guy an awkward nod, he just kinda felt like a jerk.

Then, bar-guy was hurrying inside, drawing Eddie into a rough, bruising kiss—crowding him against the wall before dropping to his knees, and he forgot all about feeling bad. 

The man made quick work of the fly on Eddie’s jeans and had them pulled down around his thighs in a matter of seconds. It all happened so fast he could do nothing but moan loudly as his length was engulfed by the warm wetness of an eager mouth—any lingering thoughts of Steve drifting away under the attention of this stranger's talented tongue. He came quicker than he would have liked, but eagerly returned the favor—happy to lose himself to the feeling of a cock down his throat for the first time in weeks.

After, when clothes were set to rights and no cuddling whatsoever happened, exactly how Eddie preferred it, bar-guy was gone. 

And Eddie went down to the pool to get Steve. 

Chapter 2

Tagging a few folks who I think were interested, just let me know if you want to be removed. If you'd like to be added to the tag list, i'd be more than happy to do so!

@penny00dreadful @every-aj-needs-an-angel @manda-panda-monium @hellion-child @dreamwatch @brbsoulnomming

[samgirl98]

Mending a Family 34/?

Prev | Next

It’s for the kids. It’s for the kids.

Jason shoveled the pile of pony crap to the side while fuming.

It was cold, he was far away from the warmth of a bonfire, and he was hungry. Having a fire core didn’t mix well with the cold.

The school had decided to do a small winter festival the day before winter vacation had started. Some local vendors had been invited, and a few people from the village had decided to visit the little festival.

Jason had been stuck with shit work because of his tardiness to the PTA meeting. That’s what he got for being a good Samaritan and stopping to help an old couple with a flat tire. By the time he had made it to the meeting, all the other jobs had been taken, and he had mysteriously been elected as the designated pooper scooper.

That was one point to Avril fucking Dubois.

Jason gritted his teeth as another pony crapped on the snow. He never knew ‘steaming pile’ was a literal thing.

It didn’t help that the cold made him cranky, and he hadn’t seen his family in a while.

Jason had given Jazz and Danny money so they could play the games and go to the booths to buy things.

Thankfully, the pony rides would close in an hour, giving Jason another two hours to walk around and have hot chocolate with his family. Jason was imagining the warmth of hot chocolate when he heard a snobby voice.

“You missed a spot, Jay. We wouldn’t want the children to step on something unpleasant, would we?”

Jason could feel his blood pressure rising as Avril and her snotty henchwomen laughed.

Avril was wearing a coat that Jason recognized as being from an expensive brand. She wore heels and her ever-present pearls. Who wore heels when they were going to be walking for long periods in the snow?

“Avril. How you’ve been? How’s your daughter? Do you even know where she is?”

Jason knew for a fact Sarah had been with Danny and Jazz last. The poor little girl was often neglected by her mother unless she wanted to show Sarah off. Poor Sarah always looked miserable when her mother would parade her around.

“How dare you? I know where my daughter is and actually take care of her. She has her mother, unlike your poor little boy.”

Jason rolled his eyes and ignored the woman. Eventually, she and her clique left. Jason finished his hour and happily left the area when the ponies’ handlers took them away. Jason was glad he decided to bring a change of clothes. He changed and went to look for his family.

He found his little family by the Christmas tree. Little Sarah was nowhere to be seen.

“Daddy,” Danny ran up to him and hugged him.

“Hey, chum, you having fun?”

“Yeah! I bought a few things and ate a lot of yummy food.”

“Where’s Sarah?” Jason knew the little girl had wanted to hang around Danny the whole time and even rode a pony alongside Danny. She was nowhere around now.

Jazz came up and handed him a hot cup of chocolate and something called a butter tart. Bless her heart. Jason felt the warmth go down and settle in his stomach. The heat helped a little with his bad mood.

“Her lovely mother showed up about an hour ago to drag her away.”

Jason winced. It was his fault Sarah had been taken away. He hoped the little girl wasn’t in trouble with her mother. He shouldn’t have brought her up and let Avril keep needling him instead. He made a mental note never to do that again. No matter his problem with Avril, he shouldn’t stoop to Avril’s level and bring the children in.

Danny took Jason’s free hand and looked at his father.

“It’s not your fault, daddy. Besides, Sarah and I had fun playing games the whole day.”

Jason sighed. He let go of the guilt for the moment.

“C’mon,” Jazz said, “you’re probably cold, and there’s a nice bonfire over there. We can buy marshmallows to roast.”

“Yeah, but first, I want another hot chocolate.”

Jazz smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, big brother, I’ll get you one. Here, take Ellie’s stroller. You’ve been busy all day and deserve some rest.”

“You sure? I can get it.”

Jazz stretched his cheeks.

“You’re freezing, have a fire core, and have been shoveling poo all day. Go have fun with your son and niece while I get more chocolate. You want some Danny?”

“Yes, please.”

Jason, Danny, and Ellie sat on the bench nearest to the bonfire. The licking fire felt nice. Danny scrunched his nose at the fire and sat on the ground, playing with bits of unmelted snow. Ellie was starting to nod off in her stroller.  

Jason called the guy selling marshmallows and bought two sticks. He gave on to Danny and took one for himself. Jason felt content watching the marshmallow start to brown when he heard Avril’s voice.

“And she also has a kid but with no father! Can you believe it? The brother has a son with no mother, and his sister is a hussy who doesn’t have a father for her daughter. She probably doesn’t even know who the baby’s father is.”

It didn’t take a genius to know who the bitch was gossiping about.

An older lady was tsking and gasping as Avril talked. He didn’t know who the older lady was. They were both roasting marshmallows, too. Jason was surprised Avril would even touch a marshmallow, let alone roast one.

“Those poor kids are going to grow up damaged,” the older lady said.

Jason gritted his teeth and glared at the fire.

He didn’t care if Avril talked bad about him, but she was going too far with talking shit about his family.

Thankfully, Danny seemed too preoccupied to pay attention to what Avril had said.

From his peripheral, Jason saw Avril take out the marshmallow and start to blow on it. Jason’s glare intensified. The marshmallow didn’t go out.

“What the…,” Avril kept blowing on the thing, but no matter how much she did, the fire didn’t go out. Suddenly, the fire intensified.

“Aww!”  

Avril let go of the flaming marshmallow, which fell on her expensive coat.

“Aww! Put it out! Put it out!”

It took Jason a moment to realize that he was the reason the fire wouldn’t go out. Oh, fuck. Jason took a deep breath and tried to get his emotions under control.

“No, not with that!”

Jason opened his eyes in time to see a man pouring hot chocolate on Avril.

“You idiot, that’s going to stain!”

“Mommy, daddy, what’s wrong,” Sarah and a boy who looked like a male version of Avril came running.

“Your father decided to ruin my coat! Come on. We’re leaving.”

“But mom,” the little boy started whining.

“Now!”

Avril had taken a few steps when she slipped on a patch of ice that had appeared suddenly. Jason flinched when she hit the ground hard.

He turned to look at Danny, but he was roasting his marshmallow, pointedly not looking at the drama that had unfolded.

“Honey, I told you not to wear heels.”

“Shut up, Harold, and help me up.”

As soon as she got up, she marched toward the parking lot.

“What happened there,” Jazz asked as she sat down and handed Jason the hot chocolate.

“Karma,” he answered. Jazz looked at him suspiciously before shrugging. Danny grinned at him and ate his marshmallow.

Jazz didn’t need to know what happened.

@itsberrydreemurstuff @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @skulld3mort-1fan @theauthorandtheartist @emergentpanda-blog @jaggedheart11 @fisticuffsatapplebees @booberrylizard @fantasticbluebirdfan @thegatorsgooseoose @cyrwrites @kjoboo91 @crystallicedart @amaramizuki666 @spekulatiusmuffin @meira-3919 @kilasmess @bubblemixer @lexdamo @wonderland-daisy @mj-arts-n-stuff @amyheart19 @dolfay @the-church-grimm @undead-essence @aph-mable @lizisipancardo @purrloin77 @writer-extraodinaire @charlietheepic7 @sinfulloccultist @nootherusernameworked @coruscateselene @chaoticchange @itsberrydreemurstuff @gmkelz11 @feral-bunny31 @paroovian @thatonegaybitch68 @d4ydr34min9 @overtherose @fandomwandererer @vipower001 @thordottir45 @blackrabbitt3t @rosecinnamonbun @bianca-hooks123 @epilepticnerd @dat1angel @consouling @flamingenchiladadragon @all-mights-asscheeks @ender-reader @fuyu-bitch @ravenswife

[unnervinglyferal]

Saw a thing that made me think of you for some reason. Gonna paste the entire reddit post here rather than link it, because you need to read in real time for the funny:

"My (31M) wife (32F) and I are in a healthy and happy relationship. That said, we’ve been together since high school, so we both feel that we missed out a little by being each others’ only sexual experiences. We’ve talked about this at length and decided a few years ago that we’re ok with having a few hall passes in our relationship, since we very much intend to stay together the rest of our lives and don’t want any resentment over missed possibilites. Plus it’s pretty rare that we could even find such an opportunity, as it’s a little hard to find hookups when you’re in a committed marriage and don’t go out much. We even gave each other advance approval in case a situation arises, so long as we’re safe about it and tell each other immediately afterward. We’ve both used one HP, each with someone we knew well enough but would never see again, and no issues came out of it. In fact, it’s only made us more secure in our relationship and how much we genuinely appreciate being with each other.

Recently, I had to travel to London for work. I don’t normally get to travel for work, so I decided to make a trip out of it and spend a few extra days of my own time in the city after the project was done. My wife couldn’t join because she didn’t have any vacation time left but was very supportive of me taking some time to explore since I’ve never been to London and she has. Being cheap, and being a pretty outgoing guy when I’m so inclined, I decided to stay in a hostel. I was interested in meeting other travelers since I didn’t know anyone in the city and love being sociable with new people. I chatted with several of the people staying there, and in particular a very attractive French girl (mid-20’s) who dressed super goth.

For context, I love the goth girl look. I’ve been sucked into the goth gf propaganda online, much to the annoyance of my wife. It isn’t her style, but she has been nice enough to cater to me by putting on a sexy goth outfit on occasion, since she’s knows it’s a huge fantasy of mine. Still, I pester her constantly to be more goth because I enjoy it so much.

Anyway, I ended up spending a little bit of time with goth French baddie - we both went to the hostel’s happy hour event and hit it off there. I found out that she was recently single and was in London for an art show. It turned out we were both into emo music, and we talked about our favorite bands. I had the thought that she was acting a bit flirty towards me, but didn’t think too much of it, until I later found myself sharing a sink with her in the hostel bathroom.

The hostel was co-ed, so each floor had a small shared bathroom with a communal sink, and a door that was meant to be kept open but which people frequently closed for the sake of having more privacy than just a stall to shower in. So I’m brushing my teeth while chatting up the real-life version of Shadowheart (who, mind you, is wearing an extremely low cut top), when she suddenly closes the bathroom door behind us. In my mind, my wildest fantasy is about to come true. It’s even more exciting because of the adrenaline rush of being in a semi-public setting, and a girl being so into me that she would make such a bold move. I can’t believe this is actually happening to me. I instantly get hard. Then she turns around and asks “Are you interested in learning about our lord and savior Jesus Christ?”

She had me cornered for 10 minutes trying to talk me into salvation, while I grew increasingly despondent and immensely disappointed, with the whiplash of going from what could’ve been one of the crowning moments of my life, to pure and utter dejection.

When I told my wife this story, she laughed for a solid hour. She said it’s karma for annoying her about wanting a goth gf.

TL;DR life dream was to bang a hot goth girl. Thought I was getting the opportunity, but got cockblocked by Jesus Christ. god is real and he hates me."

The fucking mood whiplash. I was reading this nodding along like okay yeah I guess that could be us in like 10 or 15 years, who knows, neither me nor my girl are the jealous type or anything, and then it fucking struck. The christians have weaponized goth girls. Fucking lost it laughing, it's been a rough 24 hours, thank you.

[eryingsfate]

Ichiby H-e-double-hockey sticks

Now that i have been informed of this ship and read a whole ao3 fic (LITERALLY THE ONLY ONE) on it, i have become obsessed and hyper fixated... SO heres a prompt/story idea for any writers out there! (pls write ichiby content im literally dying)

amnesia au!

Sometime after the battle with Big Mom, or even later in the series, a mission involving Ichiji goes wrong and he ends up knocked out and is left drifting on the sea. He washes up on the shore of a small island and the only thing he remembers is his first name. He's sitting on the beach in a daze when Koby finds him.

Koby was stationed on a small, warm island that has been a victim of numerous pirate attacks. He had a small squadron with him in case the pirates were to come back. (Really it was a forced vacation because he's supposed to be stuck there for a month.) He was walking along the beach when he saw Ichiji, instantly recognizing the curled eyebrows, striking red hair, and germa attire. Koby instantly went on guard as he approached Ichiji and after a small interaction it became very clear that Ichiji had no idea where, or even WHO, he was. Koby decided to take advantage of this and see if he can find out anything about the germa modifications. As time goes on it becomes clear that something about Ichiji was different. Koby heard the stories of the infamous Germa prince, about how he was emotionless and held no sympathy whatsoever. How he was modified to be the perfect soldier, but Ichiji seemed to show any emotion like it was the first time he'd ever even felt. Koby began theorizing on what happened and came to the conclusion that whatever happened before he found Ichiji had messed with his modifications and given him his emotions back. Koby then realized he could try and help Ichiji and maybe even redeem him.

Meanwhile everything felt so foreign to Ichiji, everything he saw came with a feeling and it was driving him mad because a part of him was screaming that it was wrong. When Ichiji looked at the ocean, he felt his mind calm and blue hair appeared in his mind. When he looked at the green leaves of the trees he felt protective as green hair flashed in head. He looked at the pink flowers and felt a deep respect. He saw the sun and felt his heart twist. Ichiji didn't understand it at all.

Koby decides to start his idea with taking Ichiji to see the townspeople, since he doesn't remember anything he shouldn't try anything against them. The marine believed the best way to start helping Ichiji understand emotions was to let him see how other people interacted. It was all going well until one of Koby's men came up to him and reported that a little girl had gone missing. An island-wide search began.

As Ichiji follows Koby around the island, looking for a little girl named 'Miriam,' he feels concern run deep into his bones, it makes him want to run and scream the girl's name but he refrains from doing so. Ichiji sees a flash of yellow run behind a tall tree, and he stops Koby and shushes the pink haired man. Ichiji carefully steps around the tree and sees a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes looking at him. She's obviously scared. Ichiji just crouches down and looks at her, he doesn't know why he does it, he just does. Koby watches on, ready to intervene at any moment. The little girl goes running into Ichiji's arms and she hugs him. Ichiji freezes and doesn't know how to respond, so he looks at Koby, who has a soft smile on his face, and it's a look that warms the red haired man's heart. It's revealed that Miriam's father had been upset with Miriam's poor performance in school and he had hit her. All he can think of is how disgusting the man was for punishing a child for something almost completely out of their control. As Ichiji hears this he sees a scene passing through his mind, of a blonde boy who looks similar to him begging for his father to help him as he's beat into the ground. As the memory(?) fades, Ichiji feels that gut wrenching guilt come back and it's even worse this time.

Miriam ends up having to go home with Koby and Ichiji as an emergency placement while Koby's men and some older townspeople contact her mother. It wasn't ideal, but Miriam didn't want to be away from the men who saved her. Once Miriam is safely tucked into one of the guest beds, Ichiji and Koby sit and talk about the days events and Ichiji reluctantly opens up about the things he felt and saw throughout the day.

Koby is shocked that his theory was right and that there was a chance to possibly help Ichiji. With his mind made up, Koby decides that before he leaves this island, he's going to help Ichiji Vinsmoke become a better person and help him see the error in his ways.

Throughout the story we see Koby teach Ichiji about different emotions and ways to deal with them. Ichiji ends up growing close with Miriam, whose smile reminds him of a woman he once saw. One day, Ichiji is sitting on the couch of the house reading a book when his head begins pounding and floods of memories come rushing back, each accompanied by strong emotions. He feels himself flooded with guilt over the blood he's spilled and the abuse he forced on his brother. Once Ichiji comes back to, he sees Koby fretting over him. He doesn't fully register that he's awake until Koby brushes his hand over Ichiji's forehead, which causes the man's stomach to erupt into butterflies.

Koby and Miriam heard a yell and ran into the living room to see Ichiji passed out on the couch with a pained expression stuck on his face. Once Ichiji wakes up about thirty minutes later, Koby can tell something changed by the haunted look in Ichiji's eyes. Nonetheless he takes care of Ichiji throughout the rest of the day until Miriam is tucked into bed, which is when Koby confronts him.

Ichiji had spent most the day agonizing over his past actions and wondering how the hell he was going to go home like this.

"You remember."

"I do."

Koby sits there and waits for Ichiji to do something. Ichiji on the other hand is questioning if he even wants to go back to Germa. For the past 2 weeks, his home had become the pink haired marine and the blonde little girl, how could he leave when looking at Koby brought him so much peace and taking care of Miriam made him feel like he had a real purpose? Ichiji Vinsmoke was a prince, a warrior, a killer, and a true monster. But Ichiji? The man who lived with Koby and Miriam, who was known to be helpful to the townspeople? He was a friend, a father figure, a lover, a person with emotions. He couldn't just leave Miriam and Koby, they had shown him how to love and to what it was like to be loved. He didn't even realize till this point, the defining moment, that he had fallen in love with man who decided he deserved a chance to be someone else, rather then throwing Ichiji into a cell for the rest of his life. Yet at the same time, Ichiji was also a brother and the heir to a kingdom. He had responsibilities and people to take care of. In that moment, Ichiji knew he had to make a decision. He could go back to being being a prince who killed without ever showing mercy, or he could stay and build a true family. Once he really thought about it, Ichiji knew what he wanted. He wanted a home, where could be Ichiji. Not Prince Ichiji Vinsmoke, not an assassin, but just Ichiji.

"Well? What are you going to do, Vinsmoke?"

Koby was on edge, now that everything was out and Ichiji has his memories back, he could easily turn on the entire town. Koby had tried to help Ichiji without his consent and who knows how the red haired man would react? Koby had spent all this time forgetting who this man truly was. Koby had ended up forgetting that Ichiji was a prince of Germa and instead found someone he was falling in love with. How stupid could he be?! Ichiji Vinsmoke was a dangerous assassin who could easily defeat and entire army by himself, and if Koby wasn't careful, he would take Miriam's life alongside his own. Koby had seem Ichiji go from someone dangerous, to someone who needed help, then to someone who he loved. And in this moment, Koby's own fate rested on Ichiji's decision.

"Don't look at me like that Ko"

Don't call me that, Please don't break my heart

"What game are you playing Vinsmoke?"

Please, I haven't changed

"And please don't call me that either, that's not my name."

"...What?"

The world seemed to come to a halt. Something had hardened in Ichiji's eyes, as if he made a decision.

"I am not a Vinsmoke, not anymore. You're the one who decided and taught me that."

Thank you

"I didn't decide nor did I teach you that. I saw someone who was forced into a horrible lifestyle and saw a chance to help, so I did, because that is what i do. You didn't have a choice. I heard the story after Whole Cake Island and when everything came out. Your 'father' decided your life was worth less and turned you into a lab rat, and you never got a chance to decide how you felt about it because you were only a child and that man stole your humanity in the form of your emotions. You only did what you were taught because no one ever thought to teach you better. You thought yourself higher than everyone else because that is what you were taught and told to believe. No one in this world is born truly evil, many turn to the wrong side because no one helped them and it was a means to an end, or perhaps they lost their way because no one was there to help them. When i saw you that day I saw someone who was given a second chance by the world, and I chose to help you because I wanted to. Now you will decide what to do with that chance, Ichiji."

Everything was silent as Koby awaited Ichiji's answer.

"Thank you. I choose to stay here with you and Miriam."

Koby's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he smiled. He felt his heart beat faster at the smile he received in return. Koby felt his heart stop as Ichiji pulled him closer and rested his forehead against Koby's.

"Please, I want to become a good older brother and i want to apologize to Sanji and be able to help fix the others. I don't want to go back to being father's puppet."

"I'll help you every step of the way."

For a moment, the two just stayed in that position salty tears dripping onto the couch, and their breath mingling. The two came closer until a creak was heard in the hallway. The two looked at eachother with the silent agreement to talk about that later, but first, they had to tend to Miriam.

Thats all folks! If anyone wants me to ill write more of this au later! Now i didn't even know this ship was a thing till two days ago (You two know who you are) and i found it thru someone i follow! I hope ya'll enjoyed my silly lil story!

[leeflagoon]

The meet-cute: Tiana x Nanami

Heyyy guys so this is the Tanami fic LMFAOOO. Uhhh this fic was written for a close friend that loves jjk. Gab on top fr!!! I don't know much about jjk but I will try my best!! I hope you guys like it!!

Tiana spent most, if not all, of her days working at Duke's Cafe. It was all to achieve her and her dad's dream, to buy that old sugar mill and make a restaurant. Tiana was well known across the city for her 'man catching' beignets, as Charlotte puts it. So well known, in fact, that she even started getting customers from outside New Orleans.

That includes Nanami, who adores sweets. He heard about a specific little cafe that sells amazing beignets, from a coworker who went on vacation.

What even is a beignet? New Orleans sounds like a nice trip, though.... Nanami thought to himself.

Unfortunately for Nanami, he unknowingly made the trip during Mardi Gras.

The bustling streets, bright colors, cars and floats and train cars passing through large crowds of partying people in the humid southern city was definitely not what Kento Nanami was prepared for.

Tiana is working hard on a Mardi Gras noon in Duke’s Cafe. She’s mainly focused on her work and juggling her tables’ orders when she notices a tall blonde man walk in and take off his glasses, waiting to be sat.

“Just sit anywhere and I’ll be right there with you, sir!” Tiana calls out as she carries a mountain of plates on her.

Suddenly Charlotte squeals and bursts into the soft atmosphere with sparkling excitement, clutching a newspaper and bouncing into a booth. Mr. LaBouff cheerily greets Tiana and sits down across from his estatic daughter.

"Tia! Tia! You'll never believe it!-" Charlotte starts with her excited rambling. Tiana listens as she walks toward the table Nanami is sitting at, serving him some coffee.

Nanami looks at his cup of coffee and the beautiful woman who served him, flowing through her work unbothered by the noise around her. She didn’t actually take his order, but he was going to ask for coffee anyway. Additionally, Nanami saw that the (mostly) graceful waitress was already working hard and decided not to make a problem of it.

Eventually Tiana did get to Nanami's table to take his order. Nanami didn't mind the wait, enjoying the atmosphere of the homey and friendly cafe.

"I'm so sorry sir, did you want to order anything?" Tiana hugged her notepad close to her apron, worried and intimidated by the stoic man.

Nanami notices Tiana's nervousness and puts on a soft smile to ease her stress, "I'll have an order of beignets, I heard they're very famous."

The pretty brown-skinned waitress smiled back at Nanami, causing him to blush just a little.

"They sure are. I'll make sure to get them to you right quick, sir!" Tiana's worries of a rude customer washed away.

My god this man is fiiine... Tiana thought to herself while striding away to tend to her other customers, a smirk coming across her face once she was out of Nanami's sight. This customer had a chiseled face and a stoic expression, making him look like a hot actor Tiana can't exactly put a name on. Nanami’s suit and sophisticated, tiny glasses made him look very elegant compared to the other customers in casual clothes; with the exception of Miss pink over there… (Charlotte)

Nanami's eyes follow Tiana as she talks to Charlotte, admiring the working girl. Tiana laughs for a moment after trading a few quick jokes with her, then goes off to serve other tables. Once the pretty waitress is done with that, Nanami sees Tiana walk over to the bakery section of the counter.

Tiana is in a flow now, taking out the warm, fluffy beignets that were in a warmer out onto the counter. Then she gets her two final ingredients. She swoops the honey onto the beignets as if she was waving a magic wand, then spins the whole tray and dances a little while topping the beignets with powdered sugar. Boom. Done. Tiana smirks while looking at her creation that smells so good.

Nanami watched all of this from his table, seeing how other customers are also looking at the beignets with anticipation.

She is really beautiful…. Nanami throught to himself as he tried to peel his eyes away from her in vain. A few of her tight black curls have fallen out of her messy ponytail, the collar of her dress was uneven and disheveled, and her dark brown skin glistened with a light sweat she was putting up; nonetheless, it’s undeniable how beautiful Tiana is. Nanami hides his expression—he hides it well—and looks at his newspaper to distract himself, but before he knew it, he was served his beignets! Unfortunately, Tiana was busy and a bus boy helped her out, so Nanami couldn’t speak to her again.

Nanami smiles with contentment as he takes a sip of his coffee before trying the beignets for the first time. He overheard the pink, princess-like lady growl about how the beignets were ‘man catching’, and he snickers a little.

If they do draw men in…I���m in for a long ride.. Nanami thinks to himself as he takes the first bite. His stoicness prevents him from making any real reaction, but in his head he is dancing, singing Wonder Girls, moaning, and in utter bliss over the amazing and fluffy taste of the beignets. Before he knows it one of the beignets were already eaten by him.

Fuck…I’m in love.. Nanami sighs and looks at Tiana, the woman who made these beignets. He even starts to drool a little before shaking his head to catch his composure.

After Tiana's shift Nanami decides to be bold and approach her. Tiana takes off her work apron and rubs her temples as she sees the blond hunk that she served start to approach her, getting a little anxious and giddy at the same time.

Oh my god he's tall, what does he want? Is he mad? Is he happy? Oh my god he's actually approaching me...hey sexy, my god.. Tiana's mind raced and geeked, like any girl would.

"..May I help you with something, sir?" Tiana asked while taking in the sight of the tall man.

Nanami builds up his confidence in his head and takes off his glasses, looking Tiana in the eye. "Excuse me, miss, but are you single?"

Tiana's lips curl into a smile, her dark complexion develops a pink blush across her face, and she tucks in a loose curl behind her ear. She looks up at Nanami before she answers his question.

[kanerallels]

This is a day late, but I have a short little thing for @chenford-prompts 2 Weeks of Chenford! Prompt: Miles Apart

(I'm not gonna lie to y'all, this is inspired by a plot line in Chicago PD that I hated with a fiery passion, so I decided to fix it and add some Chenford, as a treat! It's more alluded to than anything else, and the timelines don't really work out, but I don't really care. OH also I may have. Replaced Bailey and Nolan's wedding with Abigail and Henry's in this. Because I don't really care for Bailan, but that's just my opinion!)

“I still can’t believe you arrested someone while you were on vacation in New York,” Lucy said, her voice echoing and staticy through the phone’s speaker. “You're officially worse than Nolan.”

Tim rolled his eyes, shifting his position in his seat. He was sitting in the waiting room of a precinct in Brooklyn, waiting for detectives to come and take his statement. “Okay, no one’s worse than Nolan. He went after a drug ring at his son’s wedding.”

“True,” Lucy conceded. “But you’re on vacation, miles away from home, and you just happened to spot a kidnapper?”

“They don’t give sergeant positions to just anyone, you know,” Tim pointed out wryly.

He heard her snort on the other end. “No, apparently just to people who hit criminal’s cars with their cars to stop them.”

“Okay that one I did steal from Nolan,” Tim admitted. “But it worked. Got him out of the car and away from the girl he grabbed.”

“She must have been terrified.” Lucy’s voice was soft with empathy, and Tim felt a pang go through his chest.

“Yeah,” he said. “She’s tough, though. She’ll be okay.” 

What he didn’t tell her was how familiar it felt when he pulled the young woman, tied up and terrified, out of the back of the car. Suddenly he was lifting Lucy out of the barrel in the desert, holding her as she sobbed.

The tears in the young woman’s eyes— Nadia, from Chicago. Not much older than Nolan’s rookie, with a checkered past, but a fierce determination that Tim recognized easily— had reminded him of Lucy’s. It had been heart-wrenching.

“Hey.” Lucy’s voice on the other end jolted him out of his thoughts. “You saved her. You stopped the bad guy and you saved that girl from her worst nightmare. I’m proud of you.”

Tim let out a soft laugh. “Thanks, Lucy.”

“Of course.” She paused, then asked, “How long are you going to be gone again?”

Letting out a sigh, Tim leaned back in his seat, switching his phone to his other ear. “A couple more days. Technically I’m out here to visit a friend, but there’s also this case to help wrap up. And I want to keep an eye on Nadia until her friends come to pick her up. Apparently she knows people in the CPD who are on their way.”

“Good— I’m glad you’ll be there for her.”

That was Lucy. Always focused on someone else. But Tim could hear what she wasn’t saying, and for once he let himself say it. “I miss you.”

He could almost see her smile as she said, “I miss you, too.”

Glancing up, Tim saw a familiar, leather jacket-clad figure heading towards him. “I gotta go— Detective Peralta is back. Talk to you later?”

“Okay, I should go, too. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

As Tim hung up the phone, Detective Peralta, who was standing in front of him, wiggled his eyebrows at him. “Already at the I love you part in your relationship, huh? Very noice.”

Rolling his eyes, Tim said, “Let’s just get on with the statement, okay?”

“Yeah, I sound like Boyle. Let’s stick with I’m happy for you. Now, right this way, Sergeant.”

Tim shook his head as he followed the other man. But he couldn’t quite hold back the smile on his face.Only a few more days here. Then I’ll go home to Lucy. And that was the best thought of all.

[givemeonereason]

My Blue-Eyed Master Part 2

Part 1

Photo Credit: Here

Rating: Sassy Candy!

A/N: Gojo is such a tease! I can't say I wouldn't mind his flirting.

Thank you for the wait as well. I am trying to space out my pieces because it gives me a chance to cool down before starting again. Creators are all susceptible to the dreaded creator block.

If you're interested in being added to a taglist for this series, please send me an ask or a message and I'll be happy to add you :)

╒══════════════════════╕

Days are a blessing when they don’t have nonsense caked into them. 98% of them are no-nonsense and you like it that way.

People come into the cafe, eat and drink, converse with the ladies on staff, and leave.

There haven't been any major incidents in recent months, which puts everyone's mind at ease. It is rare, but people disobey the rules and something will be done about it. Thankfully, the police have never had to get involved. June would most likely have to shut Cafe Sakura down if that would be the case.

But, like most things, it's only a matter of time...

And that thing, is him.

Today was going good. There was a morning rush, and by rush, several tables were being taken by a small group of housewives chatting about their social club and two local college students who used the wifi to send exam papers. They all order drinks and small treats.

It's relaxing when you don't have a stereotypical crowd. The crowd is there for one thing and one thing only, girls.

It's true, that cosplay cafes are made with the fantasies of men in mind, but that doesn't mean that lots of different people don't come in to enjoy what Cafe Sakura has to offer.

Afternoon crowd, that's a different story.

People come in from all walks, and straight out of the woodwork sometimes. Salarymen on their lunch break, dear Ren who has been coming to the cafe for years since she practically raised June while her mother was working, students on their vacations, tourists who are looking for that otaku thrill, and some stragglers who stumbled in without knowing what they would find.

Halfway through your work day, you dropped off a plate of scones and clotted cream at the table you were assigned to. You smiled and gave a small curtsy towards the three gentlemen in business suits before turning away towards the back.

“..Scuse me?” You heard the suave voice before you saw who spoke. “Miss crustacean, I would like to order now.”

You stopped dead in your tracks. And closed your eyes tight.

I swear to the gods above that if it’s who, or better yet what I think it is, I’m quitting tonight.

“Helloooo?” You saw him waving at you to get your attention out of the corner of your eye. You turn towards him, the look in your eye very well would have been a K-O, instant kill, high score.

He threw his hands up in self-defense. “Woaaaaah there missy, what’s got your panties in a bunch?”

Die.

Your eyes relaxed a little but still remained narrowed at the white-haired man when you looked at him. “Who said I was wearing any?” It was deadpan, but took that shit-eating grin off his face.

His eyes went wide for a moment, but he smiled wider than he was before. “Is that an invitation?”

Die.

Keeping eye contact with him. “Sure, an invitation to go to hell.”

He smiled so wide his eyes closed. “As long as you’re there with me.” He opened one eye to make a wink at you.

God, please, if you exist, smite this man down!

“I’m not your waitress today.” You turn with your nose in the air, walking towards the coffee bar to brew a cappuccino.

The pout on his face drew the other girls to his table, rushing to take his order and steal his smiles from him.

You snickered to yourself. A small win for you.

The current standings: Jackass 1 - 1 You.

You kept the smile on your face when you walked up to a nearby table. "Good afternoon Master, what can--"

"Oh please say you'll come!" A young hostess is gawking and squealing loudly at the irritating man.

You shake your head and start over. "Forgive me, Master, Milla is very excited today. What can I get for you?"

You wrote down the small order the younger man asked for. He looked to be in college and it showed in the way he couldn't help but stare Milla's backside as she batted her eyelashes at the white-hair, blue eyes...

"Mister, please come. It's going to be so much fun!" She's gyrating and swaying her hips. "All the girls are going to dress up." She gave him the look, the eyes, and the cleavage money shot. "You'll love what my costume is going to be."

He rested his chin on his hand, elbow propped up on the tabletop. The way he looked at her over his dark sunglasses almost made her melt into the tile floor below her. She giggled. "And what is the costume you're going to wear?"

The college kid at your table spoke up, super intrigued as to what she's going on about. "Yeah, what are you going to wear?" He sounded so desperate, you thought as you set down the fruity mocktail on the table.

Milla turned so that both men could see her, giggling in a very cute way, her face flushed. "It's a secret." A finger pressed against her lips. "So that means you'll have to come find out." She poked her cheek, smiling largely.

The man who you were serving had stars in his eyes the way he stared at her. He pulled his phone out. "Just tell me when!"

She sashayed to the entrance door and grabbed a few flyers. And handed them to the guys, flashing winks at each one of them. "I'm going to be so excited to get to wear my outfit."

You looked at her, she's still so young. She has so much to learn about the ways of men. Not to say that she doesn't know much, but she's way too eager. The men eat that right up though.

You were her age once. Eighteen, almost out of high school. The guys who came to the cafe would request you by name. It was super exhausting to keep up with it every night after school, but it gave you a sense of worth. Being an honor student and working as a hostess at a maid cafe are polar opposites, but the confidence boosts what's best. Most of the time you came off as stuck up, shut out, but at the cafe, you could woo any man's fantasies.

If you truly wanted to gain that type of attention back, all you had to do was crank up the charm and the men would be at your feet. But after working there for several years there really isn't much point in trying too hard. The level of respect you received was good enough, especially from your regulars and new customers alike. You were polite and sweet and that was all you really needed to do.

"What about you Y/N?" Him again.

You turned to him with a sweet smile. If the gods won't strike him with lightning then an uncharacteristic smile from you might work. "What about me, Master?"

His smile was larger than life. He took his glasses off his face, his blue eyes peeking out behind the strands of hair in his face. Milla was blinking in his direction. Her cheeks were red. You knew what she was thinking, he's so hot. But this is just the game you're playing.

"What are you going to be dressed as?" The words practically roll off the tip of his tongue.

You stand at the front of his table and playfully pop your hip, taking your pointer finger and tapping your bottom lip. "Hmmmmm, I don't know. Do you have any suggestions?"

He tilted his chin up exposing his sharp jawline. Milla almost fell over so she turned towards you. "I know, Y/N you should be a kitty-cat. That way you can meow and wiggle your butt at all the cute boys."

Blue eyes, the college kid, and a few other tables are now listening in. "I think all of you ladies dressed up with cat ears would be really hot." A high schooler at a nearby table added.

Kiko, a tall, slender hostess with long red hair walked over to join in the fun. "Maybe we should have a kitty day. What do you think Masters?" She's egging all of them on. She's a star vixen in the cafe. And her sensuality knows no bounds. The entire cafe is practically drooling when they hear her suggestion.

A loud and pronounced, "Yeah!" could be heard from across the room. She swirled around, her hair flowing over her shoulders like a goddess. "I'll make sure to put in a word with the Mistress." She went and grabbed some more of the costume day flyers and handed them out to the other tables. "Make sure you come to see us for this too." She whispered to two middle-aged gentlemen at a table she walked passed, "I'll be wearing a Wonder Woman outfit." The men delicately folded the flyer and tried to find a place to treasure it, one in his wallet, the other shoved in the interior pocket of his jacket.

You laughed to yourself. Sometimes you forget how lively the place can be when your coworkers are stirring all the men up. And you have to admit, it's very fun to play along. Maybe you would actually enjoy costume day. It will probably be packed and who knows what ruckus is going to ensue.

The warmth from your side tore your attention away from the tables that were hooting at Kiko. The voice coming smooth in your ear. "I was thinking maybe mermaid-related since you like seafood so much." You could feel the heat of his breath against your neck. It caught you off guard.

You turned and just barely brushed your nose against his. He was bent at the waist for equal eye level. You blinked a few times getting a clear view of those celestial eyes. The burst of color like a blue void sucking you in. But mostly you notice how gentle his eyes are. You shake your head before you're lost through time and space alike. You take a step back. "I would really like to see how well you wear a shell bra."

Annnnnnd, done.

You scoff. The sugary, sweet tone of your voice back to a sarcastic cadence. "Sure, and I'll make sure to be glistening wet too."

He bent further towards you. His response was too quick with his excitement. "You will?!"

Time to take the lead! Jackass 1 - 2 You.

"Only if you kiss the girl."

He almost fell by how he moved in towards you. You took the opportunity to flick his forehead.

"Owwww." He placed a palm across his forehead. "That hurt." His nose was scrunched up, his lips pouting.

"Don't be a big baby."

He rubbed the spot marred against his skin with red. "Oh! Let me kiss it," Milla went towards him, but you stopped her. "No, let him suffer."

He narrowed his eyes at you. "Curses!" He balled his hand into a fist. "I will get you if it's the last thing I do."

"Okay, when you get back from the 1950's murder-mystery, give me a call." You laugh and walk away.

"Don't worry Master, she can be a big meanie sometimes." She took his arm and helped him back down in his seat. "You never know, maybe she's mean to you because she really likes you."

Milla and the man both heard the echoing burst of your laughter.

"I promise, she's really great." Milla sounded hopeful, her face showing worry. "I don't know what it is with you. I haven't ever seen her act like this before."

He thought for a moment. "Milla, my sweet, could you do me a favor?"

She smiled at his enderment. "Of course, Master."

If only she could have recognized the wickedness in his intention.

╘══════════════════════╛

© 2024 givemeonereason

Don’t steal other people’s works! Respect creators!

Reblogs, comments, and likes are appreciated :)

══════════════════════

Taglist:

[isaut]

𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔, 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆— f!reader x captain rex. 1.4k. ao3

you cannot miss drinks with the girls! is that the sex and the city theme playing in the background? previous. masterlist.

“Sorry I’m late,” you say, breathless as you swell towards the table your friends are sitting at. Your hair is freshly done, your skin freshly scrubbed from your afternoon romp with your handsome, intergalactic piece. 

An umbrella is up at their table, casting two of them in shade. You’ve been given the late seat– the seat in direct sunlight. Not that you mind. 

Exchanging greetings with your friends, you take in their state of being– Put together, ready for wherever the night may take the four of you. You like your group of friends, you know each other from a failed speed dating event that was hosted in the city. The four of you ended up outside, smoking, complaining about the lack of bachelors. Or, lack of bachelors that met the high standards strung between the four of you.

“You’re glowing.” 

Your attention is caught by Celeste where she sits across from you. Being a lawyer, she’s smart as a whip. And now, you and your post-coitus glow have caught her intuitive gaze. 

Reaching for a menu at the center of the table, you try and play it off by giving her a little hum. You already know what you’re going to have, but you look over the cardstock in front of you anyways. Something to try and act calm and composed over. 

Celeste takes a sip of her margarita. Dips a chip into the bowl of guacamole at the center of the table. “You’re all sex shiny.” 

And she’d know what you look like all sex shiny. Part of your recent beach vacation had passed with her between your legs, finger-deep within you. 

Looking around for a waitress, you don’t make eye contact with your benefit. “Well, maybe I am.” 

The waitress starts to come over, but you simply point at Celeste’s margarita and flash her a smile. She nods and heads over to the bar.

It’s not like the bunch of you are strangers to this restaurant. 

“Did things work out with Ledé?” Misha beside you, is a gentle woman with a third eye, metaphorically, and is well versed with the astrology of the galaxies. Often, she’s flown out to astrologically consult on political matters. 

“Oh, no. We went out the other day but she didn’t come over after dinner. I don’t think she was interested,” you say. 

Ledé is hot, sure. She also doesn’t have a job, living off her parents’ trust fund. And, she doesn’t like to dance. You honestly don’t care that she didn’t come over after dinner. People who don’t dance can’t fuck, anyways. 

Jolie raises her eyebrows in disbelief, all scrunched up in a bit of disgust. The overly expressive woman is a notorious fashion journalist, and travels often. It’s a rare occasion that she’s in town. “Ledé? You went on a date with her?” 

“Misha set us up…” you say, gesturing over at the woman. Taking the menu in your hand, you begin to fan yourself. 

“And it went bad?” Jolie further inquires. “She’s super into you! At least that’s what I was told last. I guess she’s not anymore. What happened? How did she turn you down?” 

You shrug. “She was just weird. Said she had something else going on. I dunno. It was weird and vague. Maybe I said something on the date that just turned her off.” It wouldn’t be surprising if this was the case– trying to recount what you even discussed turns up blank. Maybe you spoke too much about art, maybe you spoke too much about work. Maybe you didn’t flirt enough. 

Either way, a margarita is placed in front of you. You thank the server. 

“Well, she doesn’t know what she’s missing out on,” Jolie chimes in. Her margarita is one of those awful fruity ones, colored a bright orange. It matches the color of her nails. Part of you wonders if it's on purpose. 

Taking a sip of your margarita, you shrug your shoulders. “It’s whatever. The date wasn’t even that good.” 

Celeste doesn’t miss a beat, as Celeste jumps back to her original point: “Who’d you hook up with last night, then?” 

Your face warms. Last night? More like two hours ago. Taking the menu in your hand, you begin to fan yourself. 

“Um…” you laugh, a little breathless. Take a sip of your margarita. There’s either alcohol on the straw or it’s strong. “It’s silly.” 

Your friends lean forwards, waiting for you to continue. 

Another sip of your drink, this time for courage. “Do y’all remember that guy from like… Last month?” 

“Which one?” Misha asks. Which one, as if you slept around often. (You do. Joreen from HR was in your bed a week before Rex was. One was better than the other.)

“The blonde one. Rex.” (The better one.) 

“Yeah, I remember,” Jolie huffs. The brunch after that night had been a disaster— As Jolie travels to Coruscant quite a bit to report on the fashion that occurs in the city, she took up an appetite for clones in her bed. Ever since she got the bite, she hasn’t stopped. Given that troopers are rarely on Naboo and even more so rarely off duty, Jolie thought she had pick of the litter that night. When they’d left before she could beguile any of them to come home with her, it was like a wound. Watching you walk out with Rex had been coarse salt. 

You swirl the straw in your drink around. Flip your hair over your shoulder, searching for some kind of confidence. Your fingers dance over your collarbone. She’s going to crucify you. 

“Well… I ran into him today. We got lunch.” 

“And did more than eat lunch,” Jolie points out. “Well, I guess…”

“He had two lunches,” you say with a smile, holding up two fingers. 

Jolie’s jaw is on the ground. “I can’t believe you had the same one twice.” 

“Well, this is just freak coincidence. I gave him my frequency that first night and he’s never called me, so I don’t think I’ll ever be hearing from him.” 

Jolie isn’t done. There’s anguish all over her pretty face. “And a blonde one! How did you get so lucky? I haven’t slept with a blonde one…” 

“Maybe he knows someone,” Celeste says, placing her hand on Jolie’s shoulder. “Can get you in.” 

“Maybe…” Jolie turns to you, brown eyes wide. Hopeful. “Can you ask him?” Desperate. 

“I don’t have his number, he has mine,” you remind her. “And anyways, don’t you think you’d have more luck if you attracted instead of chased?”  

“Please, I attract plenty. I’m just missing the blonde section of my collector’s showcase.” 

With an eye roll, you let Jolie’s comment go. You take another sip of your drink. “I think I’m really fucked.” 

Misha furrows her brow. “Why?” 

Playing with an earring, you don’t meet their eyes. “I think I really like him.”

Your name is a gasp on your friends’ lips. Your face is uncomfortably warm, and you take another sip of your drink. 

“You barely know him!” Misha says. 

Continuing to finger your earring, you smile. “I mean, yeah. I’m sure that’s what so attractive. He’s just so… I don’t know. We sat on my couch and we just talked for a while. Not about much… But we talked and I don’t know! He just interests me.” 

“And he’s interested in you?” Jolie asks. 

“Well, yeah. I’m an attractive woman. And he seemed interested… I think.” 

“You’re crazy,” Jolie says, rolling her eyes. She folds her hands under her chin. “The only kind of commitment clones understand is to the Republic. They’re hot but I think the only independent thinking they have is in the tattoo parlor. Whatever, I’m glad you understand the commotion now.” 

Jolie’s comment irritates you, but you let it slide. “I don’t understand the commotion, I just had one good hookup,” you say, playing with the straw of your drink. “Whatever, nothing’s going to happen. I doubt he’s going to call me.” 

Celeste drums her nails on the table. “I’m sure Perfect will come along. Probably when you least expect it.” 

“What, and you expect it to be you?” Misha asks. 

You laugh and Celeste picks up her drink. “Please, I don’t have the time. Mish, you were saying you got a new contract? How’s that going?” 

“Oh, you know… They’re on the Outer Rim so I’m brushing up…”