#THE ONLY OTHER PERSON WHO I CAN CONVERSE ABOUT WITH THIS IS MY FRIEND SARAH AND I CHERISH EVERY SECOND OF IT

[mrsbarnesblog]

i am not the only one who saw that, right?

masterlist

summary: your friends find out that you secretly dating their enemy, but their opinion might completely change when they see Rafe from another point of view

words count: 2.2k

warnings: secret relationship, pogue!reader, attempted assault, mention of blood, soft and protective Rafe

a/n: inbox is open for requests💘

“You cannot be dating Rafe fucking Cameron, Y/N!” John B exclaimed, burying his hands in his hair and walking all around the place. 

“No, seriously, this is not a good idea.” Sarah looked at you, giving out a nervous laugh. 

You were currently surrounded by your friends, who were all practically yelling at you after they accidentally saw a message from Rafe on your phone. You were one of the pogues; you never hanged out around the kooks, but somehow, when you were visiting Sarah a few months ago, you got into a random conversation with Rafe, and since that moment, the connection between you two has only gotten stronger. 

It was an instant click and as much as you both tried to deny the spark, it was there. As you started going out, secretly from everyone, of course, you decided to keep it private until the right time. 

“Alright, guys, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I knew that this would be your reaction. It just happened, okay?” You rubbed the bridge of your nose, already feeling a headache from the tense situation. All of your friends were standing on the opposite side of you and it felt like they were just attacking you. 

“What were you thinking? You know that he hates people like us, like you. We are pogues, Y/N. How the hell did that even happen?” Kiara was standing with her hands on her hips, as her piercing eyes were studying you. You felt awful looking at Pope, who was the one who always supported you, but he just shook his head and stepped away. 

“I don’t know. It just happened. We talked once when Sarah left, then I accidentally met him a few times in town, and then he texted me. He’s not bad when you know him closer.” You sighed. “Look, I know Rafe was a lot of trouble for us. He did bad things; I know that. But he’s not like that; he’s sweet and caring, and he has never shown any sign of being disrespectful towards me. I just can’t deny my feelings for him.”

“Honey, Rafe is not a good person. He doesn’t care about anything or anyone; he’s evil, selfish and manipulative.” Sarah stepped closer to you, touching your hand. “He’ll play with you, hurt your feelings and just throw you away.”

“And he probably just wants to get into your pants.” JJ grumbled, also taking a defensive position. 

“I haven't even slept with him yet, JJ!” You desperately snapped at him. It felt ridiculous, like all of them turned against you at the same time. Sure, Rafe wasn’t the sweetest person to them before, but they didn’t even give you a chance to say something in your defense. “And you’re wrong too, Sarah. All of Rafe’s actions were just to get people’s attention and appreciation. All it took for me to get on his soft side was to just listen to him and give him some affection. Other people didn’t care enough, including you and your father. He needs someone who he can trust and open up to because he’s hurt.” 

“No, Y/N. If you think that he loves you, then he just got into your head. My brother doesn’t love anyone. It will end badly; I just know that.” 

Tears gathered in your eyes, and a lump in your throat made it difficult to say anything back, so you just stupidly stayed there. You had no strength to fight with all five of them at the same time. You turned around, silently getting back in the car, even though your head was filled with doubt and dark thoughts because of their words. 

For the next few days, it was tough for all of you. You and the rest of the group were still close, and even though they were completely against your relationship, you still met and hung out. The pit in your heart was still there, no matter how hard you tried to act nonchalant and not let their words get into your head. 

Rafe noticed the change in your behavior—that you were upset with something—but he didn’t put any pressure on you and allowed you to decide for yourself when you wanted to open up. 

Pogues decided to go to some party on the cut near the beach and as much as you tried to refuse, Sarah and Kiara managed to drag you there. You all rarely went to such places, preferring to hang out in your little circle, but apparently everyone wanted to clear their heads and saw it as the best opportunity. 

It was pretty fun with a bunch of people you did not know, some music, and drinks, and you mostly hung out with your friends. Though quickly it got overwhelming and made you want to go home or at least go outside of the house to get some fresh air. As you left your friends and wanted out from the backyard to a part of the beach, you didn’t notice the guy who had been eyeing you the whole evening. 

He came out of nowhere from your back, his arms wrapped around your waist, lifting you off the ground. You yelled at the sudden and unwanted touch, and your heart seemed to drop into your stomach when you realised that it wasn’t just a joke from JJ, who liked to scare you. You started wiggling in his hands to get free, but he was fighting you back, dragging you up when you fell to your knees on the ground. 

It was such a mess trying to scratch and punch him that you almost did not notice his hand coming into contact with your face several times. You screamed again, this time loud enough, until you saw JJ running towards you. The guy behind you pushed you away as soon as he saw someone, and you fell to the ground with a loud huff. 

“That fucking bastard!” JJ was right near you, helping you to get up as tears streamed down your face. He tried to comfort you, checking your body for any injuries, but you pushed his hands away, wrapping your own around yourself in a defensive way.

“Oh my god, Y/N!” You heard Kiara, along with your other friends, calling your name. “What the hell happened?”

“H-he attacked me.” You sniffed, trying to catch your breath and, with shaking hands, reaching to the pocket of your jeans shorts to get out your phone. All of them looked at each other, questioning your actions, until you pressed someone’s contact button and put the phone to your ear. “Can y-you pick me up, p-please?” You sniffed again, now trembling from the adrenaline. 

“Baby? Are you crying? Where are you?” You heard your boyfriend’s concerned voice through the phone, feeling how JJ tensed beside you. 

“I’m on the cut. Near the beach. There’s a party and... Please, Rafe.” 

“I’m coming, angel. Just wait for me, ‘kay?” You heard the sound of the car engine at the other end of the line. Rafe didn’t ask any more questions, and as soon as you mumbled quiet 'mhm’ he ended the call. 

You all heard him before you saw him. The sound of the tires drifting through the sandy street was loud, drawing attention to the expensive car that was unusual to see at this part of the island. 

Rafe didn’t bother to properly park, turn off the engine or even close the door when he saw you sitting on some old chaise lounge, with his sister and Kie trying to talk to you and your other friends arguing nearby. 

The girls stepped away from you as soon as they saw Rafe running towards you with a furious expression on his face and ready to deal with anyone who made you cry. It looked like he didn’t even care about the pogues, with whom he always had to get into arguments; he was fully focused on your shivering form.

“Baby, what’s wrong? What happened?” He squatted down in front of you, and you started sobbing again. Your hands immediately found their place around his neck, and, before he could even properly look at your face, you pulled him closer to get some sense of comfort from his warmth and smell. Rafe hugged you back, soothingly rubbing your back. His eyes shot towards your friends, who were watching in awe at the interaction. “Which one of you did that?”

“It’s not us, you idiot. Some guy jumped her when she walked outside.” Sarah said, rolling her eyes at her brother. “JJ heard screaming, and when we walked outside, he ran away.” Rafe pulled away, finally taking in your appearance.

Your knees were covered in dried blood mixed with the sand. He gently took your hands to see the palms scratched from you trying to catch yourself before hitting the ground. Rafe’s eyes were burning with fury, showing his side that he rarely revealed in front of you. His hand reached to move your hair from your face, noticing a red, now already turning purplish, bruise covering the side of your cheek.

“Holy shit, sweetheart.” He softly brushed his fingertips along your cheek and you leaned into the touch, closing your eyes. Your bottom lip started quivering and you bit inside your cheek to calm yourself down. “Sh-h im here, okay? You’re safe. Did you see him? What did he look like? Just tell me and I’ll deal with it.” He almost begged, but you only shook your head. JJ suddenly stepped closer, slightly hesitating to actually normally communicate with his longtime enemy,  but he thought that it was the least that he could do for you.

As much as he hated The Kooks King, JJ knew that Rafe was the best option to find the guy who hurt you. 

“Tall, with dark and curly hair. Never seen him before, probably someone new on the island, but I’ll recognize him.” They looked at each other for a moment, and Rafe just simply nodded, turning his attention back to you. 

“I’ll find him, ‘kay? I promise I will.” He gently took both of your hands in his, bringing them to his lips to place a soft kiss on your knuckles. “We should go now. I need to take care of your knees and that bruise, baby. You don’t mind going to Tanneyhill, yeah?”

“Thank you, Rafe.” You whispered, slightly bending forward to ask for a kiss. Rafe smiled at you, his thumbs gently swiped the leftovers of the tears under your eyes, and then he kissed you on your forehead, nose, and gently pecked your lips. 

Your heart flattered at his soft touches and for a second, it felt like you two were in your own little bubble. Rafe's eyes shimmered slightly in the moonlight, and the way he looked at you, soft and caring, made you want to kiss him again and again. You suddenly snapped out of the trance, looking back at your friends, who all had different levels of shock and uncertainty written on their faces. 

“C’mon, pretty girl.” Rafe stood up, lifting you in bridal style without an effort, carefully not to hurt your bleeding knees. He almost walked away, but then sighed, turning back to look at his sister. “You coming home with us or somethin’?”

“Um, no, I’ll be with John B. It seems like I would be third wheeling with you anyway.” She shrugged, not being able to keep a smile when you two met with your eyes. 

Rafe then looked at JJ, thinking his words over. “I appreciate it, Maybank.” 

They exchanged a tight nod, both slightly shocked that for the first time ever, they communicated without biting each other's heads off. You leaned closer to Rafe, comfortably nestling in his protective hands, and looked at your friends, who were still too shocked to say anything. 

“I’ll see you guys later, okay? 

Everyone agreed, saying goodbye to you and asking you to text them when you get there safely. They saw how Rafe made sure to slowly put you into the passenger seat, then circled the car and drove away. An awkward silence fell around them, everyone at a loss for words. 

“Okay, so I am not the only one who saw that, right?” Pope spoke first, looking around the place as if he were trying to find something. “Rafe freaking Cameron just was acting cute and didn’t threaten to do something to us?” His own body physically shrugged at the word ‘cute’.

“I don’t know, dude. We all just probably drank something and it’s messing with our heads.” 

[totalswag]

love love love ur writing babes!!

maybee u could please do one where reader begs rafe for a darry ring, like the $500 ones u can only buy once in ur life and u have to submit ur id to buy it.. i want to know what ur thought process on how rafe would go about it? 🫣🫣🫣

promise sealed — RAFE CAMERON

authors note I don't think you guys realize how much it means to me when you compliment my writing. I hope you enjoy this request lovie.

summary rafe buys you a darry ring showing his love and devotion to your relationship.

warnings none

Rafe Cameron was not used to hearing "no." In his universe, money and power could sway any circumstance to his liking. So, when you casually mentioned a Darry Ring—an unique sign of eternal love that could only be acquired once in a lifetime—he became fascinated.

You were seated on the patio of Tanny Hill with Rafe to your right, his arm over your shoulder, watching the sunset from afar. The summer wind on your skin and the birds chirping made the moment feel especially pleasant.

"Baby have you heard of a Darry Ring before?" You blurt out, playing with Rafe's gold ring.

"I've heard about those rings," Rafe replied, and raising an eyebrow at you. "Why do you want one so badly?" He was curious and wanted to know more.

You took a deep breath, knowing that you needed to express your feelings clearly. "This isn't just any ring, Rafe. This is a promise. They only allow you to buy one in your entire life, and you must submit your ID to confirm it. It signifies that the person wearing it is the only one for you. Forever."

"Forever, huh?" he wondered, more to himself than you. His fingers tapped against the armrest, and you could see the wheels churning in his head.

You nodded, thinking he understood how much this meant to you. "Yes, forever." It's not about money, Rafe. "It's about the promise."

Rafe loves you more than anything in this world. You're his everything. He would do anything for you, literally. One thing he fears the most is losing you and breaking the promise of never hurting you.

Everyone sees how in-love you are with each other. The way you look at each other is like you two are the only people in the room. The moment you got together, friends started talking about your wedding day.

But as he saw the openness in your eyes, he felt something shift. You weren't asking for financial things; you were asking for a pledge, a piece of his heart.

As the rest of the night went on, the conversation about the ring stayed in Rafe's mind.

Over the next four days, Rafe found himself continuously thinking about the Darry Ring. Constantly on his mind going back and forth. One thing Rafe doesn't want to do is buy this ring for you then could do something that may hurt you; never in his life does he want to hurt you.

You asked him about the ring one of the days you were hanging out. He told you he was looking into it but never gave you a final answer.

He did research, learning about the company's ideology and the importance of the ring. He even read comments from other couples who had purchased the ring, and each story touched a deep part of him. He wanted this to be perfect.

Once Rafe came the finalization about the ring he started to search for the perfect one for you. Luckily for him, he's been saving up money for special things like this.

Rafe spoke with his sister, Sarah, about the concept of getting you the ring. She was quite excited about the ring. She assisted him with the design because you two hang out occasionally.

Rafe accepted that this wasn't only about you; it was also about him. It was about his willingness to venture into the unknown and truly commit to someone he loved. The Darry Ring's exclusivity was both scary and thrilling. It meant he'd always put you first.

A few days ago the ring was ready to be picked up on the mainland. He was so excited and nervous to see how the ring turned out; made sure it was perfect.

He decided on a simple yet intimate setting. He took you to your favorite spot by the beach, where the two of you had shared countless memories.

You were sitting on a blanket with food you ordered from a restaurant down the road. The waves hitting shore filled your ears. People talking amongst themselves, kids running on shore, etc.

"The sunset looks beautiful tonight, don't you think?" Your gaze is drawn to the sunset in front of you, with the waves gently touching the shore. 

"Not as beautiful as you" Rafe replies, kissing your cheek while reaching in his back pocket for the Darry Ring.

You could feel his heart racing thousands miles per hour with your back pressed against his chest. Frowning with concern before he spoke up again.

"I've been thinking a lot about what you said," he began, pulling out the small, elegant box from his pocket. "About promises and forever."

He actually got it.

Your eyes widened when you realized what was going on. Tears started to form in the corner of your eyes. Getting chocked up by the moment. Searching for the right words to say.

Rafe opened the box to discover the stunning Darry Ring inside. "This ring represents something to both of us. It's a vow that you're the only one for me, and I'm willing to commit to you for the rest of my life."

Tears slowly fall down your face; carefully wiping them off your face. Now your heart is beating thousand miles per-hour. Your entire body is on cloud nine.

“Wh-a-t did I get to deserve someone like you Rafe?” You cry, lifting your shaky left hand, allowing Rafe to slide the ring on your finger.

"I love you so much, sweetie. You mean the world to me. Our love is stronger than any other." You cut Rafe off by pulling him in for a long kiss, your arms gradually tightening around his neck and his hands grabbing you around the waist. 

It was the perfect moment that you'll cherish for the rest of your life. You couldn't take your eyes off the ring, admiring its beauty for the rest of the night.

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[malfoyfarms]

She Wanted You

JJ Maybank x Routledge!Reader

Word Count:1.4k

Warnings:none

A/n: angst bc im boycotting watching season three LOL, not my gif

“What do you mean she left?” JJ questioned, dumbfounded. He didn’t realize it, but he was walking into a war zone. The Chateau no longer had the same feel. It was like someone sucked the air out, and pumped smog in. 

With tears in his eyes, John B pointed towards his sister’s room. Sarah and Pope were lingering in there, but JJ had no idea why. The room was oddly neat, incredibly out of character of the girl who resided there. Her closet was emptier than usual, the three picture frames that once had pictures of her with her family and friends were empty. What caught JJ’s eyes next, made his mouth go dry. His breath was no longer there. The navy sweatshirt he had given her years ago was folded, on the bed, next to the pillow he always claimed during their relationship. Atop the sweatshirt was a ring from a gumball machine, an orange and green friendship bracelet made of paracord, and a pile of notes written on scraps of random papers. Every other personal belonging was missing from its spot. 

JJ tore through the girl’s nightstand, and when he realized the box of her life savings was gone, he let out a string of colorful words and kicked the stand.

“Here, you should read this.” Sarah handed him a neatly written note. By the tear stains on Pope’s face, the somber tone from the kook, and JB’s raging anger, it was a farewell. 

He took a deep breath, and swiped the letter from Sarah. The familiar handwriting was already pulling at his heart.

J,

I’ve rewritten this letter four times already, and I still don’t know how to put my thoughts into actual words. Firstly, I love you. I love you until the waves stop coming in. I love you so much that I knew I needed to leave. I’ve known since you wandered home with John B in third grade, and gave me all the answers (even though they were wrong) to my math homework that if there was going to be another boy in my life, he was going to have to fight you for that spot. From 7 years old, I only ever wanted you. But over the last two years, I can see that I’m not the one for you. And that is why I’m leaving. One of the only things that got me through my day was seeing you smile, but I understand that there is someone else who causes those crinkles by your eyes.

I have to leave because it’s too painful. I need time to have all your kisses leave my body, I need to leave because I can’t smell the ocean, listen to Akon and Konvict, or even wash my fucking clothes without thinking of you. I see you in body language, in the waves, in every damn aspect of my life. Not only are we ingrained on this island, but you are ingrained in me. If I’m ever going to come home I need to remove every trace. 

I told you last week, I’d always be on your team, even from a distance. I need you to pursue Kiara because there is nothing more I want for you than happiness. Deep down, I know it will always be her. While that sentence feels like a shot, I’m coming to terms with it. 

Don’t try to come find me, either. I won’t be going to any of the places we’ve ever talked about, I do have my secrets still. Not Yucatan, not Tybee, and certainly not Jekyll. Take care of my brother.

All my love, 

Y/N

“When did you and Y/N break up?” Sarah asked. JJ couldn’t even think straight. Y/N and the boy broke up about a week ago, for that specific reason, JJ thought there was something there with Kiara. He didn’t think the girl would pick up her stuff and bolt. Leave her brother, her best friends, and the life she claimed to love. 

“I, uh, initiated it last week or so,” he stuttered, “it wasn’t definite or anything, but it was insinuated I guess. We had a conversation about it, but I don’t think I ever could have said it out loud.”

“Oh,” she thought. “You know she really loved you with every bone in her body.”

He sucked in a deep breath to try to keep his tears at bay. How could he walk out to the front room and face John B. He was the reason the youngest Routledge had left. With Big John gone, she was all he had left. Hell, with Luke gone, she was all JJ had too. In some form he robbed his friends of a family member. 

JJ laid down on the neatly made bed and latched onto the sweatshirt that smelled just like her. His memory flooded with images of Y/n in that sweatshirt. From it covering her bikini when they went night swimming, it being the one sweatshirt that was specifically for after she came home from school, the one thing that grounded her when she was having a rough day. JJ felt his chest start to tighten, and his hands were clammy and shaking. 

“I thought you said you’d never break her heart!” JB screamed. Impeccable timing. 

“John B don’t–” Sarah tried to interject.

“No Sarah, he promised. He promised me almost three years ago that if I gave him permission to date Y/n, he wouldn’t hurt her. He knew he’d be breaking more than just her heart. And now I can’t even help her pick up the pieces. I can’t fix my baby sister, the way she fixed each and every one of us!” 

“Bro, you think this is what I wanted? I had a conversation with her. Nothing was definitive. It’s not my fault she took her shit and ran!”

“When has Y/n ever not taken her feelings and ran? Name one time!”

JJ sat there in thought, and there had been one time she didn’t run, and he had promised that he wouldn’t tell. He was going to anyway.

“When you disappeared. I held her while she cried herself to sleep for nights on end. So don’t act like I never treated her right. You know I did.” JB ran his hands through his hair and left the room. 

“Until you decided you may have feelings for the girl who is like her big sister.” That stung. 

“What’s going on?” Kie asked.

“She’s gone.” John B said. “‘Cuz JJ’s in love with you.”

~~

JJ sat in the hammock, wearing the navy sweatshirt he hadn’t worn in years. It smelled just like her. He could even feel the marks of where she rolled the sleeves and dug her thumbs into the side. 

He barely remembered last week’s conversation about Kie, but never did he think that it would cause you to disappear. Y/n was so incredibly loyal. She wanted him. Every. Damn. Day. She wanted him when the clouds were out, and the usually blue sky was gray. She wanted him when he was bruised and beat up, she wanted him when he was crabby after a 14 hour shift, she wanted him at every hour of the day in any way she could have him. 

It was just a conversation, he thought. He never flat out said that he was leaving her for the tanned, wealthy kook. 

He felt so fucking stupid. He felt so much self-hatred. He remembered when they were 12 and 14, and Y/n wanted to walk to the gas station a few streets over, but John B wouldn’t go with her. He remembered what she usually bought. Peach iced tea, sour straws and a bag of munchie mix. Every single time. 

He remembered when the girl got drunk for the first time and dialed him to come get her. God, she was so inebriated. She clung to the boy, giggling profusely. That was the first night she ever told the boy she loved him. Y/n never knew it, but JJ kept that memory locked in his head. 

He pondered the time she was ready to give him her virginity. He remembered how nervous she was, but how much she trusted him. 

It had grown dark by the time he wandered back into the Chateau. He was surprised JB didn’t kick him out, he fully expected to be out on the streets by now. As he stumbled towards the bedrooms, he went past his own, and fully dove into the light purple sheets he had come to love. She’ll come back, he thought. She has to.

[itsprashimusic]

Wildest Dreams Warm Realities

"Standin' in a nice dress"

Summary - You thought seeing him on the train was the last time you would but turns out, that Goa really is as small as some might say.

Pairings - Charles Leclerc x indian!fem!Reader

Warnings - reader likes to dance, curse words, reader can dance, y/n used i’m sorry, one of the outfits has a slit and another is off-shoulder, lmk if there’s anything else. Happy reading🩵

W/C - 2.9k

A/N - happy birthday to my first love<3 this gave me the motivation to finish a pt2 that has been in the works since march. if i bore you with my description of the dance, please feel free to let me know, but again be respectful.

Navigation | "Say you'll remember me" | "Standin' in a nice dress" | "Starin' at the sunset" | ..babe"

The first four days of doing absolutely nothing in Goa felt amazing. Waking up late had never felt so good. The sun was warm but not overbearingly hot. And the cool winds in the evening provided the perfect opportunity for wearing those long cotton skirts plastered all over your beach moodboard. 

You had nearly forgotten about the Monegasque you met on the train. Nearly. It was a quiet evening before a long next day when you remembered the cute foreigner. It was a unanimous decision to go to the beach where most of your friends dipped their feet in the rising tide while you and another friend sat and enjoyed the sunset. Reminiscing about the mysterious driver made you want to talk about him more to your best friend, Sarah, but after coming to the beach, she got lost in a crowd of people. She texted you saying she met someone and was having an interesting conversation. You wished that you were the person she was having a conversation with instead of a stranger she just met.

You soon forgot about Charles just as quickly though when your group called you and the other girl to the water. You got up and ran towards the incoming waves, hair being blown back by the salty winds. 

The next day you got up extremely early. The wedding was at nine in the morning, for some reason. 

The dress code was traditional Indian wear, and since you were the only one who could do it, you became the dedicated saree draper. You barely had an hour for yourself to get ready. By some miracle, your makeup, hair, saree and jewellery were ready in time. 

The wedding was beautiful. The first half of the wedding took place in a temple in the south of Goa. 8:30 in the morning you and all of your friends were surprisingly ready and sitting in the two cars and driving to the temple. Reaching just about on time, you saw that most of the venue was empty. You mentally face-palmed yourself. The group found a table and settled there, all the purses and water bottles were left on the chairs surrounding the table. 

About half an hour later the wedding party arrived along with the pandit and the families of the bride and groom. A few of the bride’s relatives were going around and handing the women long, fresh gajras. Sarah carried a bunch of booby pins with her, and helped all the women in the group, including you, with pinning the gajra to their hair. Some left their hair open while others had an updo. You had styled your hair in a way you knew would look good no matter what. 

The wedding continued. There wasn’t much that happened. Rituals were conducted, poojas were repeated and everyone was sweating horribly due to the humidity. The only thing keeping you from smelling like a pig was the powerful fragrance of the gajra. By around 12:30 pm, the wedding was more or less done. Your group scurried to be among the first to greet the newlywed couple and give the gifts. Everyone was hungry, and since there was going to be an evening extension of the wedding, no one really bothered to say ‘congratulations.’ The group gave their gifts, took 2 photos and left in a hurry to grab chorizo sandwiches from a cafe across the street. 

Thankfully in the evening, the dress code was not as strict. Meaning, that the grandparents and family elders were not there, allowing the newlywed’s friends and younger family members to wear western clothes. But you did not know this when you packed. All you had was traditional party wear.

“Konse kapde hai tere paas?” you asked as you walked into your shared room with Sarah. The girl just looked up from her phone with a confused expression. “Kya?” 

“Mere paas aaj shaam ke liye kapde nahi hai,” you complained as you started looking through her suitcase trying to find a dress you liked. 

“Woh blue off-shoulder wala dress hai, pehenle.” she dismissed you and went back to texting on her phone. 

You knew exactly what dress she was talking about and promptly found it. It was a baby blue off-the-shoulder dress with beautiful white flowers all over it and a tie-up in the front. You put the dress on, sat under the fan and began redoing your makeup for the evening. Your hair was behaving, so all you had to do was fluff it with your hands. Small butterfly earrings, a matching white butterfly-studded choker and a modern kada with the same butterfly decorating it; this was a jewellery set you were gifted on your birthday by Sarah herself. You thought that this was the perfect occasion to wear it. You had white heels to match along with a sling bag. 

Using your shoes as an excuse, you managed to convince one of the guys to drive instead. It was an hour before sunset when your car reached its destination. It was a lovely open area with a dance floor near the sea. You could hear the waves crash against the land as you walked to the entrance. The first thing that your entire group did was to go up to the couple, who were good friends of yours, to congratulate them and take photos. The next stop was the snack counter for a little energy boost before the dancefloor opened up. 

The newlyweds had their first dance to a very sweet song. Just as the song ended, the DJ switched it up to more upbeat tunes which got the entire crowd dancing. While you were dancing you saw and met many people who you had not seen in years, including some of your old school friends, a few of them complimented your jewellery. There was this one guy you had a crush on during your school years who revealed he also liked you at that time. Some old classmates admitted to not liking you at all. Basically, within the first 45 minutes of dancing you wished you were back in your room. But then a different song started playing and you coupled up with Sarah as the MC wanted people to find a partner. You did a funny version of the macarena. You did some line dances followed by some jiving music. 

It had been two hours of dancing, two hours of hearing different bollywood songs, maria pitache 3 different times, some punjabi and tamil songs, and english bops like shape of you and baby. You were sweating horribly by then and wanted to go get a seat right when you heard the iconic ‘pretty lady, pretty lady, pretty lady’ and took a u-turn back to the dance floor. 

Just as the song reached the line ‘bareli ke bazaar mein’, you stretched your arm out and turned. You felt your arm lightly hitting someone. When you went to pull your arm back, instead, you got tugged and ended up colliding with someone. Apologies started to pour out of you, as best they could over the loud music. Your butterfly kada got caught on a piece of a chain that was stitched to the man’s kurta. The bridge of the song was playing in the background as you looked up and saw that very face you were dreaming about at night during the past four days. 

To say that Charles was surprised when he saw you was an understatement. His left hand was on your wrist, and the other was held by his stomach. You both kept looking at each other and back down at where the pair of you were connected. The song shifted to the intro of Hookah Bar. 

“What are you doing here?” he asked. 

“Me?! What the hell are you doing here?” 

You both just kept staring at each other, your eyes seeming to be in a fight, trying to determine who has to answer the question first. You got fed up first and pushed your way out of the dancing crowd, Charles having no option but to be dragged by you and your butterfly kada. 

You reached a more quiet corner when you said, “I was invited to this afterparty. The bride and groom are my school friends whom I haven’t met in a few years. Your turn.”

He took a breath in before answering, “My brother said that he knew an authentic Indian party we could attend and my family trusted him.”

You bore a look of bewilderment on your face. “You know what, I am gonna ignore what you just said. I am happy to see you here, regardless of why you ended up here.” Charles breathed out a happy sigh and smiled. God, his smile was even better than you remember it. You moved to give him a hug when you were reminded that your kada was still stuck to his kurta. Damn, he looks good in Indian clothes, the colour goes really well with his ey- 

Your thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of Charles’ warm hands over yours, carefully untangling the chain from the butterfly. Your hand was finally by your side and you were smiling widely at him when he pulled you in for a hug. 

The hug felt nice. It was not common for you to be hugged by a guy, so it felt nice. At that moment your mind flashed back to the ‘relationship’ you had in school where you fell for the attractive guy in your class who turned out to be an asshole who was openly dating someone else. It is not really that deep, but it made you think whether you were going to make that same mistake again because Charles is extremely attractive. And whether it was going to be an even bigger deal because you are no longer 14 years old, but an adult with a job and big girl responsibilities. 

Charles was the one to break the hug. Pulling back, he saw the look of doubt on your face. “Y/n are you alright?” he asked. You nodded while taking in a large breath. “Have you had dinner yet?” you say trying to change the conversation. “No, I have not. But I am excited to try the local food.” 

You told him to come with you. Taking the brunette to the Goan dinner counter you showed him all the different foods and explained what the food was made of. You took some of your favourite foods that you spotted. He ended up with rice, fish curry, prawns, crab legs and a bowl of dahi you secretly took just in case. 5 bites in and he was trying his very best to hide from you just how much he was feeling the spice. You laughed and took pity on him, “Here, this will help” you said while passing him the bowl of cold dahi. He managed a ‘thankyou’ in between coughs due to the spice and finished about half the bowl. 

In between your small talk with Charles, the MC came up to you and whispered in your ear. The Monegasque looked confused but didn’t question you. “Are any of your family members around? I need to go somewhere, and I don’t want to leave you alone.” Charles replied that he could call his brother. With that confirmation, you gave him your bowl of dahi and left, passing by his brother whom you greeted. Little did Charles know that you were heading to a changing room with hired anarkalis and ghagra cholis. 

About 10 minutes later, the stage where the couple were previously seated began filling up with smoke as the MC gave a monologue. The beginning of a song started playing just when he finished speaking. All of a sudden the lights went off as the sound of lightning played, leaving chills all over the guests' arms, legs and necks. The lights come on and there stood on the stage are women from your school and college who were known for their dancing skills, you standing front and centre.  

All that could be seen were the silhouettes of all the ladies. The music began, and the sound of a woman singing in a high pitch was heard loudly on the speakers. You were mouthing the words Shreya Ghoshal sang. As the upbeat tune of ‘Radha’ began, each woman stepped forward and gave a step in time with the music and lyrics. The crowd was loudly cheering everyone on. Charles was mesmerized watching you. He didn’t know you could dance. But now that he saw you dancing, he never wanted to take his eyes off of you. Never wanted you to stop moving your body in that rhythmic, captivating way. 

With the addition of the best man and the groomsmen on stage, the crowd went wild. They were all great dancers back in college, not losing touch with that side of them. The best man was your dance partner when it came to competitions and events. You guys were shipped together, but he was already dating his now wife back then. And just like back then, he joined you front and centre, not missing a single beat when doing your old handshake. 

The way he stood behind you and let his hand fall from your ear during the line ‘o radha tera jhumka’ and the way his hand hovered (at an appropriate distance) over your hip during the line ‘o radha tera thumka’ and the way he followed behind you like a puppy, holding your dupatta during the line ‘o peeche peeche saari nagariyaan’, it got Charles feeling some type of way. He’s only met you one time before, why is he feeling like this? And that dude is married for fuck’s sake! WHY IS HE FEELING JEALOUS?!!??!

The last line of the chorus played and as the men twirled and stood behind the women, came the first line of one of the sexiest songs alive. ‘Main ruthiya yaar manawangi…’ The lights dimmed, the focus was again mainly on you and the crowd shrieked so loud Charles thought his eardrum might break. Part of the costume came off, showing off more skin and allowing for easier and more movement. 

Your legs showed through the slit as you bent your knees sideways and tend stood back up, leaving the Monegasque’s eyes bulging and mouth open while the crowd wolf-whistles. 

‘Mere maahiya sanam jaanam’ had the crowd going insane as your shiny waist chain blinged underneath the expensive lights and made the party feel 10 times hotter. 

Charles swore in French, a word he doesn’t use often but which was almost too fitting for this moment. 

The hair flips, the arm movements, the rolling on the ground and the structure of your leg which was on full display when you stood up, all this was more than enough to hypnotise the driver. He was in a trance, under a spell, fixated on you and only you, his dahi a lukewarm forgotten bowl. 

‘Dariya dariya mere yaara’, the lights flashed everywhere, temporarily blinding everyone. But the sight that was waiting for them would definitely be worth it. For those 3 seconds where no one could see the stage, everyone’s position changed. You were kneeling on the best man’s shoulders, while he was standing up straight. You’re friends who were also watching and cheering you on lost it, along with the guests. Even though Sarah had seen most of the practice, she hadn’t seen this part, and it shocked her. She took a video of the entire song to show you later.

‘Akhiyan de mohalle mein, har shaam tera aalam’ The body rolls and hip sways broke Charles. He understood zero of what the song said, but the vibe of everything was more than enough to make it feel as if his entire body was on fire. The way you gripped onto the best man’s hair to avoid falling had him falling hard for you. 

You allowed yourself to fall face first but caught yourself with your hands and proceeded to do a front-facing cartwheel, landing a mere 10 cm from the edge of the stage. Now kneeling you completed the remaining steps of the song before it changed into another. As the song changed, all the women were lying back on their hands and were then dragged away backwards by the men, who were performing next. 

Once exiting the stage you stayed near the stage to watch the rest of the performance. The guests were filled with life, the energy only increasing. About 20 minutes later when the performance was done, all the dancers from all the different dances went up on the stage, music never stopping. You, the best man, the bridegroom and a few of the other main dancers were standing in the centre. ‘Mauja Hi Mauja’ played as everyone did the hookstep. 

Charles managed to catch your eye in the middle of it all. You both maintained eye contact. It broke when you were pulled down by the bride for a photo. Once the whole show was done, you got off the stage with the objective of finding Charles. But he was nowhere to be found. You came to the conclusion that he probably left since it was quite late. You and your friends were nowhere near done with partying since that was the point of coming to Goa. This was one hell of a Christmas Eve. 

A/N - Please bully me into writing and posting the remaining parts before this year ends🙏🏽 Hope you enjoyed reading🩷

Tags - @blue-eyed-mary | @sam-is-lost | @juleswrites223 | @kawaiiixchan | @holy-macncheese-balls | @rhythmstars | @nerdreader | @speedycycletyrant |

[writingjjfics]

Pogues to the rescue!

Pairing: JJ Maybank x kook!reader, Platonic!Pogues x kook!reader

Summary: JJ and the Pogues come to rescue Y/n from her Kook family party.

Warnings: Kooks

Requested?: Yes! See request here!

Word count: 1.4k

A/N: Guess who's back? back again? It's moi! I apologize for how extremely long this took, life got in the way 🙂 also I did change the request a bit, and got some inspiration from the midsummers episode, hope that's okay! Oh and Sarah is not part of the Pogues for the sake of the story (not my gif)

The last few hours of your life have been a bore. You were stuck at this table with egocentric old kook people who could only talk about their 'perfect' lives and their well-succeeded grandchildren. You tried your best to show interest, but your mind kept drifting off. You nodded politely at them, and every so often, you mustered up a fake smile to make them think that you were listening to their boring stories.

When you noticed that their attention was no longer on you, which was hardly surprising considering how egocentric they all are, you quietly got up from the table and left. After quickly scanning the backyard in search of your mother, you, fortunately, spotted her in a conversation with her best friends. Taking advantage of the opportunity, you made your way inside the house to use the bathroom.

As you sat down on the toilet, you felt relieved. Not only because you could finally pee, but also after hours of miserably pretending to be anything close to a Kook, you could let your guard down here, even if it was just for a few minutes.

Taking your phone from your clutch, you check for any notifications that you might have missed in the last few hours. While scrolling through Instagram, you noticed your boyfriend had posted a video on his story. In the video, JJ was smoking his Juul, surrounded by the rest of the Pogues who were dancing and singing to some song in the background.

JJ's happy smile, as he hung out with the Pogues, made you feel a sense of joy for him. The Pogues are his true family and he deserves to be this happy and comfortable all the time. Sometimes you were jealous of their relationship. Even though your family has money and shows their love and care for you in their own, unique way, you've always felt like you don't quite fit in with them. It's as if you're the odd one out. At least the Pogues always have each other and their bond is unbreakable.

You snapped a quick selfie and sent it to JJ, showing him how extremely bored you were. After putting your phone back in your clutch bag, you let out a deep sigh, realizing you had to get back to the party before your mom would put up 'missing child' posters. However, as you reached for the door handle, you heard your ringtone go off. A picture you had taken of JJ at the beach during sunset a few weeks ago, filled your phone screen. A warm feeling spread through your chest as you answered the phone, grateful that he had taken the time to call you back.

"Party that bad, huh?", JJ chuckled as he spoke.

"If I have to listen to these fake people for a minute longer, I'll pull a van Gogh myself"

You could hear JJ snickering. "That's one way to answer that question"

"Can't you just hack into a system and send some emergency alert or something?", you whined.

"Honey, I'm definitely not as smart as Pope, but what I can do is try to sneak you away?"

"Tempting as that sounds, my mom would kill me"

"C'mon baby, we both know your mom loves her reputation too much to kill her daughter", JJ joked.

You rolled your eyes. "Very funny JJ, besides I don't want to be a burden to the rest of the Pogues."

You heard JJ scoff. Since knowing JJ, you've met the Pogues a few times, yet each meeting seemed to grow more awkward than the previous one. JJ always reassures you that the rest of the Pogues just have a hard time getting comfortable around the idea that he is dating a kook, or well just kooks in general, and that it's never because of your personality. "Before you know it, they will love you as much as I do", was what he told you occasionally. But you just can't help taking it personal.

"Y/n, stop being so stubborn, and let us help you. I want you here as much as you want to leave that party. Be ready in ten. I won't take no for an answer."

You were about to protest, but before you could, the distant chatter of the other Pogues in the background went silent, indicating that JJ had already ended the call.

After giving yourself a final look in the mirror and letting out another heavy breath, you opened the door and made your way back to the party outside.

Everyone was still engrossed in conversation, and it appeared that no one noticed you had been gone. It gives you a glimmer of hope that you might be able to slip away from the party without your parents noticing. However, at the same time, you can't help but recall a few years ago when you did the same thing, only to receive a month-long grounding from them.

After nervously looking ahead for a while, and making up different scenarios in your head, you suddenly feel a tap on your shoulder. Irritated, thinking it's one of your parents wanting to remind you to be more social, you turn around.

"You look like you could use another drink. Can I maybe offer you this one?"

In front of you stood JJ, dressed up as a waiter, holding a champagne glass. He gave you that annoying but charming smirk of his.

You took the champagne from him and chugged the entire drink, making JJ chuckle.

"Thanks, you always know exactly what I need babe"

You and JJ both laughed and you turned around looking for your parents. Your mother was still talking to her friends, while your father discussed work matters as usual.

"C'mon, let's go before my parents see us leaving". You were still nervous about the consequences, but decided that, that would be a problem for later. There's nothing you want more than to be with JJ right now.

JJ took your hand and quickly led you to the front of the house. Before reaching the gate, he suddenly stopped and gave you a kiss.

"Hi baby", he spoke softly.

You smiled. "Hi, Jay".

JJ gestured with his head towards the gate. "The others are right outside waiting for us." He squeezed your hand to reassure you that it was going to be okay. You nodded and followed him.

As you turned the corner, you saw the rest of the Pogues waiting next to the Twinkie. They were talking, but stopped abruptly when they saw the two of you approaching. Pope waved shyly towards you, while John B approached you enthusiastically. "That was quick"

"Yeah, I thought those kooks would give you more trouble", Kie said, rolling her eyes and emphasizing the words 'those kooks'. You saw Pope nudge Kiara. “Sorry, no offense to you of course”, she quickly realized her mistake. You smiled weakly and shrugged your shoulder. 'Well, luckily I don't see myself as a Kook'.

There was an awkward silence until JJ cleared his throat and walked over to the Twinkie to open the door. "Let's go back to the Chateau shall we?"

You got into the back of the Twinkie first, expecting JJ to follow you, but instead, it was Kie and Pope as John B and JJ got into the front seats having their own conversation. Kie sat beside you and turned toward you.

"Hey, I want to apologize if we ever made you feel unwelcome. We just had to get used to a new person in the group, but we see how happy you make JJ and that is the most important thing for us."

"Yeah, and you're real nice and fun to hang out with Y/n", Pope added.

You smiled, "Thanks, that means a lot to me."

"And I'm actually happy there is finally a girl in this group, I love these boys but I also really need some girl time", Kiara said making everyone laugh.

You locked eyes with JJ who was already smiling and gave you a wink. A few seconds later you heard your phone go off and saw that you received a text from JJ that said "I told you they were going to love you." You rolled your eyes at him, but chuckled nonetheless. You finally felt like you belonged there.

The rest of the night was spent hanging out at the Chateau, laughing, dancing, and getting to know the Pogues better.

As for your parents, you later found out that they had tried to call you many times that night, so you ended up being grounded again, but you really couldn't care less because JJ and the Pogues were helping you through it. They would always be there for you.

aaaah the end!! so so happy I finally finished a fic again. I was busy with my graduation project and had massive writers block, but I'm back! So if you have any requests or you just want to talk to me? LMK ❤️ Okay, love you byee x

[cameronswiftie]

Where The Ocean Waves Met My Anxious Heart And Your Strong Embrace

wc: around 1.5k

warnings: reader almost drowning (as a flashback), mentions of fear of death, panic attack, written in 1st person, english is not my first language, ooc rafe?, fluff, not fully proofread

a/n: AAAA my first fic and i am not sure how to feel about it. truly hope it makes sense. comment if you want to be added to the taglist for future fics (ideally would love to put out one fic every week but we'll see how that goes ;-; )!! if you liked this, please comment and reblog <333

p.s. can't decide if the title fits this at all

~

I never liked him. In fact, I want to gag anytime the name ‘Rafe Cameron’ leaves someone's mouth. He had somehow (unsurprisingly) lived up to his title in the Outer Banks, the Kook Prince. An arrogant and cocky asshole was all that he was to me.

I never really cared about the whole Pogues and Kooks thing. I was friends with both, in fact Kie, Pope, John B and JJ were some of my closest friends. Just because I live in Figure Eight, doesn’t make me better than those who live on the Cut. That is what my parents always taught me, since both of them also used to be Pogues.

But I was never gonna live it down when it came to the eldest Cameron offspring. He always calls me ‘the rip-off Kook’.

Sarah and I have been best friends since forever, but I never got along with Rafe. Ever. Even when we were kids, he always annoyed me, trying and often succeeding at pissing me off or upsetting me. 

You would think that we would’ve grown out of our childish antics as time went on, but it only got worse. We could never pass each other without sending glares or saying snarky remarks.

It’s a Friday night in late June. My family and I are at Cameron's for our annual summer barbecue. 

I had left my camera there a couple days prior after a sleepover with Sarah. As always, I was tasked to document the gathering, so I went inside to look for it.

And that is why I found myself in Rafe’s room, looking for my camera, that Sarah had left there for some unknown reason to me.

I had been in there a couple times before, but I never had the chance to check it out completely.

I was surprised to find the wall behind his bed covered in photos. Was he also into photography?

My eyes drifted to the window that overlooked the front yard of Tannyhill. 

There was soft music playing, as our families were conversing, sipping on wine and enjoying the food. My need to capture this moment became unignorable. But as I turned to grab my camera from his desk, I saw Rafe standing behind me. I flinch from his presence.

“Jesus, can you not creep upon people like that?” I say.

“Didn’t mean to scare you, sweetheart,” he answers, a lazy smirk on his lips.

I roll my eyes at the nickname, turning back to the window.

“What are you doing in my room, Y/L/N?” he asks, as he moves to stand next to me.

“Came to get this,” I picked up the camera from the desk and prepared to snap the photo I was planning on taking before Rafe interrupted me.

“I find it hard to believe that you only came to take your camera, you wanted to snoop and find something to blackmail me with,” he says, jokingly accusing me with a smirk on his face.

“Oh Cameron, I have known you for over a decade, pretty sure I have enough dirt on you as it is,” I laugh slightly, as I adjust the camera settings.

“Really, because in all these years you have never used it on me.” 

“Knowledge is power, Rafael. Don’t expect me to play all of my cards out at once,” I say, zooming in a little bit on the party in the yard.

Once I’m finished taking the photos, I turn to Rafe, finding him already staring at me. I’m used to receiving glares from him, but this time his eyes held something else. An emotion I can’t describe. His gaze was intense.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, I turned to look at the photo covered wall.

“I didn’t know you were into photography,” I say, absentmindedly admiring each photo.

Rafe looks down at his shoes, nervously scratching the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I, uh, always wanted to try it and I ended up liking it a lot.”

My eyes settle on one particular photo. It’s a photo of the ocean, which appears to be right before the storm.

I look at the date in the bottom right corner and my body freezes. 

I can feel the water filling my lungs and I can hear the storm again. The fear of death clouds my brain. 

All of a sudden I’m hiccuping for breaths and I feel my legs give out.

…

It was supposed to be a stupid dare, but my stubbornness knows no boundaries. 

When JJ jokingly challenged me to surf in the storm, I should’ve just laughed it off, but I didn’t.

Everything was going well, until the wave threw me off the board and I was pushed underwater.

The storm had gotten stronger, so did the waves, and I could barely breathe in when I came up, as another wave pushed me below the surface. Safe to say I was drowning. 

I was so scared, but I couldn’t scream out for help. My limbs were burning from trying to stay above water and slowly I gave in. 

Suddenly, I felt strong arms wrap around me and attempt to pull me out.

Then it all went black.

…

I felt Rafe’s arms wrap around me to keep me from falling as I choked out a sob. It was like I was experiencing that day all over again. I couldn’t breathe properly and I was shaking like crazy.

“Hey, Y/N, hey! Look at me. You’re safe, you’re not in the water. Just breathe.”

His proximity, my almost drowning, it was too much for me. I tried to wriggle out his grip, failing, as his arms around me only tightened.

“It’s okay, you are safe. I am here.”

I finally let myself collapse into him, sobbing into his chest. He started to rub my back soothingly, while whispering sweet nothings into my ear.

The blurry images of the waves crashing still flooded my brain.

“I thought I was gonna die,” I sobbed

His arms only tightened around me hearing that sentence.

Once I was calm enough, I pulled away slightly. Rafe was already staring at me, and once again, I couldn’t describe the emotion behind his eyes. Was it pityness? Worry? Or was it care?

No, there is no way he cares about me. We hate each other. Right?

I find myself staring back into his captivating blue eyes.

And then the puzzle pieces start falling into place.

“You saved me that day,” I state, my eyes widening with the realization.

Rafe looks away, his hold on me loosening. 

Oh my god. That’s why he knew what my panic attack was about. That’s why after the accident he didn’t talk to me for weeks. Does he actually care about me?

“Rafe, why did you never tell me?” I ask, my hand on his jaw, turning his head so he looks at me.

He sighs, before getting up and walking towards his photo covered wall. He takes off the picture of the ocean from the wall and gestures to me to sit on his bed. 

“I, uh,” he starts nervously, “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want things to change between us."

I sat down in front of him, waiting for him to elaborate, nervous as to where this was going.

“Y/N, no matter what happened, you were always there to call me out on my bullshit, whether that was treating my sister poorly or bullying others. You always knew how to put me in my place and I didn’t want that to change.” 

I look at him, surprised. 

The boy who pulled on my braids in elementary school, the boy who knew which buttons to push to annoy me, that same boy was now sitting in front of me telling me that I am the only thing in his life that he can count on.

He worriedly flips the photo to the other side and hands it to me. I take it and look at the writing on the back of it.

Once I read it, it didn’t take long for our lips to meet for a gentle kiss that is filled with years of pent up emotions and feelings that we didn’t know were there.

His hands are gently cupping my face, as if he was afraid I would break.

When we break apart, a little breathless and dizzy, I once again look at the inscription of the photo and I know that I have never been so sure about something in my life before. Somehow everything that had happened over the last 10 years made perfect sense. And even the accident made sense, because without it, we wouldn’t be here right now smiling shyly at each other.

On the back of the photo, in squiggly handwriting, were written 6 words.

The day I almost lost her.

~

@winterrrnight @h34rtsformilli

[backseatsoldier]

The Perfect Tree

Pairing: Nikto x Reader/You CW: Grumpy Russian with pretty blue eyes? Y'all, I dunno. These are all meant to be as fluffy as your favorite plushie and cotton candy MIXED- Author's Note: Happy holidays, @scaredyspooks! I'm glad I found you on here and can call you my friend. You're a wonderful early Christmas present! :D <3

Disclaimer: I have never written a character with DID before so... I sincerely apologize for any inaccuracies or anything offensive! Offending is not my intention and you are welcome to point it out for me. <3

"Dammit, Sarah," I grumble under my breath. "You didn't tell me height, diameter, or anything. I don't know what I'm doing..."

My eyes scan the varrying array of trees on the tree farm and I frown.

"Can we help you find anything?" a gruff, Russian-accented voice offers from behind me.

When I turn, I'm greeted by such bright blue eyes I may have gone blind for a moment. Wow... didn't know that color was possible. And I don't think the sunlight reflecting off the snow is helping with my vision or how bright his eyes are. So I take the chance to look around to see who "we" is.

There's others around us but... he's the only one addressing me? So I lean to the side to look around him. Nobody there either. I'm confused.

"Um... I'm not even sure what I'm looking for," I admit as I stand striaght again.

"Are you lost? We assume you're looking for a Christmas Tree," he points out.

We... who is we? Oh! Maybe... DID or something similar? Best not to assume, though.

"I- yeah," I laugh once I realize what they said. "Definitely looking for a tree, but my cousin didn't tell me anything about this tree I need to pick out."

Their eyes seem to study me closely for a moment before they nod towards another area of the tree farm.

"Come with us. We will help you find a tree," they announce decidedly then immediately start walking away.

"Oh! Alright," I say as I move quickly to catch up with them.

"Do you have dimensions for the tree you wish to buy?"

Their back is to me and there are plenty of people around us having their own conversations, but my guide's voice is so distinct I know that it is coming from them.

"Ah, well... no," I admit. "I could guess, based on ceiling height and roughly how big the tree topper is, though?"

Suddenly, they stop and turn to face me. My eyes widen at their sudden lack of movement - and the fact that I nearly bumped into them.

"How tall are the ceilings? And give us a rough description of the tree topper," they demand bluntly.

So I do. They listen intently and nod when I finish speaking.

"This way."

Then we're on the move again, but they've gone very quiet. There are a few times that they stop and stare at a couple of trees, but otherwise nothing is said or done. Until they stop in front of one specific tree.

Wordleslly, they turn to me and gesture to the tree. My eyes widen as I actually take in the tree.

"Yeah... that's the one," I softly agree with their silent suggestion.

"We're glad you like it." They smile at me, seeming very proud to have found the perfect tree for me.

They call for someone else to come prep the tree so I can take it back to my cousin's house. Then they lead me back to the tree farm's office so I can fill out the appropriate paperwork.

I give my thanks to them as another employee secures the tree to the top of my car, but head out once it's ready. It's not until I get back to my cousin's house that I see a sticky note added to the receipt.

This is our personal phone number: xxx-xxx-xxxx Feel free to reach out whenever. -Andre

My eyes widen and my eyebrows shoot to my hairline.

"What?" Sarah asks from next to me. So I show her the note. "You got somebody's phone number? Did you ask for it or...?"

"Sarah, when have you ever known me to ask for someone's phone number?" I laugh as I reread the note a few times.

"Was just wondering if you finally grew a pair. Well, was he hot?"

"Sarah!" I exclaim as I throw one of her couch pillows at her, laughing. "I mean... yes, they had really pretty eyes too, but-"

"But nothing. Give me your phone."

Knowing there will be no arguments I can give to convince her otherwise, I hand her my phone. When she's done, she passes it back.

Hey there! This is the woman from the tree farm today. Thank you for helping me find the perfect tree. <3

As I'm reading a text comes through.

Hello. We're glad you like the tree so much. Are you free tomorrow evening? x

I hear Sarah whistle from next to me.

"Merry Christmas to you, cuz," she chuckles. "Tell them yes. You're going on a holiday season date!"

CoD Christmas (Meet) Cuties Masterlist

[lainalit]

Today's Subject: How You Can Tell That SJM Didn't Grow Up Poor

A quick Google search tells you that Sarah grew up on the upper west side of Manhattan. In a small comparison, in 2021, the Upper West Side had an average income of $130,000 per household as opposed to the entire US, which had an average income of $76,000 per household. With that being said, I think we can establish that SJM grew up in the upper middle class.

So with that in mind, we go over the conversation between Feyre and Lucien during Acofas.

“You could come live here, is all I’m saying,” I pushed. “Truly live here, stay in Velaris for longer than a few days at a time. We could get you nicer quarters—” Lucien got to his feet. “I don’t need your charity.”

So feyre says to lucien that instead of staying with vassa and jurian in Graysens Manor, he can stay in one of her manors, which on the surface seems nice, but as someone who grew up poor, just like Feyre, i can confidently say that no poor person gives a shit if one manor looks nicer than the other. As long as it's a decent house, it's warm, and you have food and water, nobody gives a flying f*ck how it looks.

Lucien's reaction, on the other hand, makes sense because, like Sarah, he grew up in a wealthy household because he himself thinks that Graysens Manor is worth less since he can compare it to his past living situations.

“It seems like you’ve decided to fall in with two people without homes of their own as well.”

 I never in my life encountered a person, who grew up poor and shamed a friend for being homeless just because he has other friends and doesn't want to stay with them. Usually, people who come from low-income households don't like to talk about money or housing because these subjects could provide an opportunity to shame/attack them.

"I didn’t mean that,” I said. “You have a home here. If you want it.”

Feyre then goes back to offer help, but the whole conversation feyre flip flops between shaming lucien for being almost homeless and then offering to help in the next paragraph. This would be like a conservative politician who goes to food banks, but at the same time calling homeless people lazy human beings who don't want to work. 

I know that casual readers don't think about these subjects more than reading a fantasy smut book, but as someone who grew up in similar circumstances as Feyre, I think it is for an author who wants to be inclusive, so embarrassing that SJM can only write from her point of view and can't understand how others think and act, who grow up in a different upbringing than hers.

[campgender]

Hey hello! Can you recommend any excangelical podcasts? I hope you are doing well!

tysm, i hope you are too❣️ there are a ton of podcasts in this sphere & i often cycle through periods of intense engagement & more distance, so these recs are a combination of luck & personal taste — there are artists & activists like kevin garcia whose work i’ve been profoundly shaped by & whose podcasts i just don’t click with.

i’m also going to mix in the exMo & other deconstruction podcasts i listen to because i’ve found both the emotional experience really relatable as a pastor’s kid & thus someone raised in a certain epicenter of cultiness, & also, because the 1800s politics it reflects are foundational to evangelical doctrines & values, too, Mormon history & theology can be super useful for understanding what were more unspoken beliefs in my upbringing.

exvangelical with blake chastain

a good way to find other artists but not something i listen to more than selectively

combination of reading political commentary essays from his blog (i find the sentence structure of this type of thing difficult to follow, especially out loud) & interviews with other podcasters / artists about their journeys & work

#BadTheologyKills with Kevin Garcia

Andre Henry, author of All The White Friends I Couldn’t Keep

mormon stories with john dehlin & the open stories foundation staff

john changed my life in high school as the first person i’d heard of willing to be excommunicated (largely) due to queer issues as an ally. i don’t always agree with his lens — he has a doctorate in psychology & more faith in the medical establishment than i could ever endorse — but he defends queer youth with his heart & soul & statistics and i have a lot of respect for him + his work.

combination of long-form (like, 3-10+ hours) interviews about people’s journeys in/leaving the church & political commentary / breaking news, usually in panel form, with some church history series with guests.

Ep 1442: Was I raised in a cult or high-demand religion? A self-assessment

Ep 1588: Noah’s Flood with Dr. Simon Southerton (I also recently finished a great book on this topic which i think was on his recommendation? The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood by David R. Montgomery; link goes to my review on storygraph)

REVcovery with justin gentry & rev sarah heath

i started listening to this one when it started because of justin’s other podcast (mentioned later), i find him really relatable in a lot of personality ways (things i associate in myself with being obsessive-compulsive) & i really appreciate the ways he relates those to Methodism, how that environment fosters + rewards those traits.

justin is also an ally who got fired from his pastoral position over being queer-affirming; sarah is an ally who ran an affirming UMC church before retiring from burnout.

there are two main reasons i like this podcast: the focus on (ex)pastors & the Methodist lens. similar to what i mentioned earlier, pastors are deeply “in it,” & i think the experiences of the hosts & their interviewees are relatable to a lot of people who were/are heavily volunteerized &/or publicized in church. like, by the time i was in middle school i was doing as much if not more church work as my dad (who was not a senior pastor at the time), so while some of their more “pastoral” experiences i can only relate to from a level of peer support, most of their discussions resonate directly

interviews about guests’ journeys, almost all (ex)pastors or other religious leaders + conversations between the hosts about a certain topic + practical advice like building a resume when your only experience is in church work

Episode 23: Pay Janice Lagata

Bart Ehrman, acclaimed New Testament scholar & former evangelical

the Bart Ehrman Blog Podcast hosts audio of select posts (his entire posting library is available for an annual fee his organization donates to charity)

a variety of his interviews & audio of his guest lectures can be found across various other podcasts

How Jesus Became God lecture (i also recently finished this book lol)

The Bible as Literature & Media lecture

Bad Words with Janice Lagata

she’s a former longtime unpaid worker in the upper levels of Hillsong

premise is “giving bad theology the read it deserves” — each episode discusses a chapter of a book reflective of evangelical theology/culture

she’s amazing but unfortunately i have trouble with the audio quality of her guests a lot of the time

her other podcast is God Has Not Given

Mormon.ish with Rebecca Bibliotheca & Landon Brophy

exMo & culturally Mormon news analysis & history

Rebecca does Mormon News Roundup which is sometimes cross-posted on Mormon Stories which is how i found her podcast, i find her style really easy to listen to

The LDS “Indian Placement Program” & Its Legacy with Native academic Dr. Elise Boxer (the blurb on the listing is accidentally from the wrong week but it’s the right audio)

LDS International Temple Building: The Same Controversial Playbook? with anthropologist Jason Boxer, about LDS neo/colonialism in Peru & how these tactics are then applied domestically

Go Home Bible, You’re Drunk with Tori Williams Douglass & Justin Gentry

started out with them doing drinking games to bible stories, now a mix of discussing bible stories or evangelical cultural phenomena, alcohol optional. more casual / laid-back vibe

gonna be a pedant for a second, honestly now that they do more cultural commentary eps i prefer those bc as someone who reads a lot of historical-critical biblical analysis it bothers me when they refer to the way they were taught / evangelicals teach the text as the meaning of the text, when there’s cultural/symbolic background they’re not aware of (in those instances; i’m not trying to say they’re uninformed or anything). particularly bothers me when it’s about a story from Judaism

Blessed Are The Binary Breakers with Avery Arden @blessedarethebinarybreakers

more Christian than ex but lots of trans guests + broad experiences of & perspectives on faith

Another Name for Every Thing with Richard Rohr

he’s a Franciscan mystic & panentheist (distinct & very different, as he reminds listeners often, from my pantheism lol)

this podcast discusses his book The Universal Christ, he has other audio projects

i hope some of those are interesting to / helpful for you! wishing you all the best xx

[acourtofthought]

Something I'm confused by is when Elriels insist that the twins are Elain's found family and their friendship is proof of Elriel being endgame.

I mean, I'm not saying Elain isn't friends with the twins because she is, but if they're meant to be her found family, why would they, and their friendship with Elain have been introduced already?

I've only read ACOTAR, so it might be different in other Mass books, but doesn't it make more sense for Elain to meet her found family in her own book? That way, the readers can see the love/trust develop between everyone from the very beginning instead of starting us in the halfway point, where Elain apparently already has her found family set and is only missing her endgame guy?

If the twins are Elain's found family, it just feels like the readers are missing out on a lot of possible key moments and information since they're all already friends before we've even had Elain's pov.

Your anon is very much in line with a conversation I was having with @acourtdelaluna that I had in my drafts and that I'll post screenshot of below.

The friend argument is similar to it. These are not contemporary romance book where a FMC starts off with her core group of girls that remain her core group as the series continues. Where she doesn't need her friends as anything but a sympathetic ear. In a fantasy books a FMC might have friends at the start of her journey but those friends are not the ones she's going to adventure with, to grow with. Take Hunger Games for example, Gail was Katniss's closest friend yet she grew closer to Peeta, to Finnick, to Haymitch (sort of?? haha) as the series progressed. She might keep the old friends but they aren't typically the ones who drive her character growth. Think of Fourth Wing. It was about the relationships the FMC made along the way that made the story what it was even outside her romance.

That e/riels are so distraught over the thought of Elain growing and meeting new people outside her sisters, the wraiths and Az is disheartening. They'd rather what her character is canonically known for (easily making friends) to have no part in her story because they know if Elain's world / friend group doesn't stay small, there's the chance that she'll want more than her current life.

Also if we're were supposed to care about the wraiths, why were they completely absent in SF when Elain was around? Why was Lucien at Solstice and Starfall but they weren't? Why was their only "appearance" when they brought Gwyn and Emerie tea (an off page appearance at that)? Why does Az fail to mention them at all? Why have we never witnessed a single conversation between them and Elain? Hell, we even had Amren and Nesta share dialogue in ACOWAR. We had Mor and Elain share dialogue.

It's not difficult to understand which people are meant to be important to a FMCs story because the author will make you care about them, she'll flesh them out and make them multi dimensional. We've had multiple books that feature N & C yet we know nothing about them outside the work they do for Rhys and Feyre.

This is especially true in a Sarah J Maas book. She puts as much time and care into the developing friendships as she does their endgame person. The only reason we won't see this setup for a Gwynriel book is because we've already witnessed the Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie friendship play out in real time in Nesta's story. We don't have that for N & C though. We're told they're Elain's friends but they have no development outside of that so it shouldn't be shocking that people feel meh about them.

Regarding Elain being perfectly settled and content with the relationships in her life, this is where my conversation with acourtdelaluna comes in. Because the argument is never just that Elain already has her found family but she also already knows exactly who and what she wants -

[flowersandbirdsflyingfree]

My interpretations of the Main 4 Postal Dudes 🚸✂️

I understand if there are some disagreements about my perspective, but this is just how I see them

UNDER THE CUT ⬇️

Postal 1 Dude

• Holy hell’s bells scrupulosity and schizophrenia do NOT mix

• The second nicest Postal Dude. Very quiet. The definition of a man who’s been pushed to the limit because mankind has been the greatest cancer to his soul. He does make an effort to be a good samaritan to others if he deems an opportunity worth it. But if you press his buttons, he can become pretty vicious.

• He was involved in the air force for the briefest amount of time during the Gulf-War. Despite being discharged, he’s still an avid weapons collector. He has attempted to use his veteran status to uncover government secrets in guarded areas (most are considered conspiracy theories).

• Dude is able to have conversations with The Demon. He can hear him when he’s awake and only sees him when he’s dreaming. It’s not always terrorizing. The Demon has a sense of humor.

• One of his few joys is setting up a fire in the outskirts of town. Nature has a grounding effect on him. He has made friends with the birds and a few ringtails. He wishes his societal expectations didn’t chain him from his dream of living in the middle of nowhere away from it all. His second favorite joy was ice cream sundaes with strawberry sauce, but lactose intolerance is a bitch.

Postal 2 Dude

• Easily the grumpiest of the Dude quartet. Not all the time though! Once he’s free from his failed marriage and awful time in Paradise, he can be somewhat content. The Postal Dude has titanium resilience. He doesn’t worry about the grand scheme of things. We only have one life. May as well enjoy it and make the most of the present.

• We all love his snappy one liners. They get much more venomous depending on how his day went. If he were to fall in love, he would use sharp banter before settling into the softness of vulnerability. It’s a coping mechanism, okay? Nobody’s ever been so nice to him without stealing his wallet.

• Favorite TV Shows/Movies include but are not limited to: Scarface, The Big Lebowski, Sin City, Dan Vs, Reno 911, Xavier: Renegade Angel, MTV’s Downtown and X-Files.

• Dude rescued Champ at a junkyard sometime around his teens. He was a puppy then, tugging at his jeans. Poor little guy was abandoned by his mom. “Surviving out here all by yourself too, huh? C’mere… I’ll take you home. You’re a real champ for sticking around.” Needless to say, Champ’s become his emotional support dog. He loves that dog so much that he throws him a birthday party every year.

• Despite being an anti-social sociopath, he actually doesn’t exalt that about himself. The Dude is humble about it. Just let him finish his errands peacefully. He does believe that the system we live in is corrupt and people are all inherently fucked up in some way. But don’t expect his “We live in a society” rant to be something valiant, no. His “We live in a society” is on par to George Constanza being denied his crab bisque at Soup Nazi’s kitchen.

Postal 3 Dude

• A confident, smoother Dude despite how much of grungy himbo he is. Lack of impulse control is on overdrive. Since starting a new life in Catharsis, he has eased his once tense shoulders into the great unknown. Dude is more in touch with his loner wolf instincts being left alone, making him somewhat more optimistic. Also draws more juvenile cartoons in his spare time

• He’s a bit clumsy when he isn’t setting fire to everything on purpose. Like if he leans against a wall and accidentally sets the fire alarm off. Or maybe throwing a box at a temp job before being told “Be careful! It’s fragile.” He has a pinch more drive than most Dudes. Still doesn’t earn the A for effort.

• Where P2 has a refined edge to his offensive personality, P3’s delivery always comes off as distasteful and on-par to a teenager learning how to make 9/11 jokes for the first time. Also SHUT UP ABOUT SARAH PALIN ALREADY-

• You hand this guy the aux cord and it is the most obnoxious playlist you’ve ever heard. Slut pop, annoying hits that get stuck in your head, outdated meme songs, douchebag rock, hillbilly bagpipes. And he isn’t fucking with you either. He’ll fold his arms behind his head with that stupid grin on his face and hum along.

• Finally having a computer all to himself, it lead to his first exposure to use the internet longer. Holy shit. This opened a whole new world of meme culture for him and his ADD to fixate on. And there’s free porn too?! Sign him the fuck up! Unfortunately, the Dude contracted terminal brain rot in the process (2010 variant). So, expect it to seep into his vocabulary.

Postal 4 Dude

• So laid back. Doesn’t really need crack anymore because he’s a huge kush stoner instead. He would be the very cool uncle in a found family way. His wisdom isn’t the best but he’s got the right spirit at least. So used to rolling with the punches that he isn’t able to get angry as often. It’s more like, “Huh. This may as well happen. Time to head home.”

• His jokes have mellowed out to be more on the crass side. That’s not to say he won’t throw in some dark one-liners though. They’re just not the same bite it used to be. “I always thought Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire was perfect for a commercial about hemorrhoids.”

• He actually got the bathrobe from a mall he temporarily worked in as a security guard. The job was the best 4 months of his life. Of all things, he got fired for urinating in the mall fountain. He left with a bird flipped in one hand and a smoothie in the other.

• 7/11 is his comfort store. There’s just something about the convenience stores that have brought him a slice of comfort in his endless trying times. Life is short. But the pathetic 2 for $4 hotdog rolls on forever.

• Dude has a vocal stim which is him meowing to the tune of whatever song is stuck in his head. It’s actually kinda cute.

[pascallatte]

Little Duck

Pairing/s:Pedro Pascal x actress!reader, Sarah Paulson x platonic!reader

Summary: The pair, Sarah Paulson and Pedro Pascal were asked about their close relationship with the rising star Y/N L/N

Date: October 2012

Warnings: y/n isn't here but is mentioned (not a warning but it needed to be stated), other than that no warnings.

A/n: hi this is the first point for this series, they are still friends here completely platonic, just had to build up the series before you know. Also, feel free to ask questions about the series and hopefully, you guys like this. 

“ Hello everyone, we are here at the special red carpet event where dozens of artists from all over the country are coming together to enjoy such a great cause,” the female interviewer greeted the audience.

“ And it is with great honour, that I present to you our first pair on the red carpet, the one and only Sarah Paulson and Pedro Pascal.”

The camera zooms in on the pair before it follows them to the area where they were about to be interviewed.

Smiling to the camera the pair positioned themselves on the right of the interviewer and shook her hand.

“ Thank you both for talking with us, a while ago I said I’m gonna go and talk with the first pair that walks down that carpet before escaping and chugging down whatever’s in the drinks section,” The interviewer said that resulting in small laughs from the pair.

“ So uhm, what does it feel like to be the first ones to walk on this very special event tonight?” She then proceeded to ask them as the pair looked at each other.

“It’s pretty cool yeah like it’s an honour for us to start off this event as it has been highly anticipated in the past year,” Sarah softly said as she nudges Pedro to speak.

“Yeah it just makes us feel better than everybody else,” he casually states as the interviewer bursts out laughing.

“ Why did you both sign up for this, was it the attraction of last year’s special event or did you just get invited?” She asks

“For me, it was a little bit of both, but I mean-actually I wasn’t even supposed to be here Y/N was, but she got sick last minute so she called me and asked me to take her place,” Sarah nods towards the camera as she explained their situation.

“ Oh! That’s unfortunate,” the interviewer said as Pedro perked up and nodded.

“Yes, really unfortunate but we were kind of expecting that she would get sick after all those activities she’s done the past week, so she hasn’t really got time to rest.” Pedro then told the interviewer who looked like she was about to ask the reason for her sickness.

“And while we are on the topic of the Y/N L/N, I’m gonna take the chance to ask you what is your guys’ relationship with her, since you've been seen with her throughout the year, like when did it start? What made you guys add her to your little friend group?” She prodded as she looked at the pair.

The two burst out laughing as the past events filled their mind.

“ Yes, uhm we- rather I kind of adopted y/n back when we got cast together in the movie “Martha Marcy May Marlene", and at some point, we began to grow close and our bond really shook both our worlds.” Sarah shared their history with a large smile before pointing to Pedro who was standing there with a smile of his own.

“But this guy, only met her last January at my new year’s eve party but was seen with her too many times than I have been seen with her since last year,” she stated as a matter of fact as Pedro giggled at the memory.

Shocked the interviewer looked back and forth before composing themselves.

“Are you serious Pedro? I cannot believe that what you’re telling me is true. So, you just met y/n a few months back yet you two looked as if you’ve known each other for years. What can you tell me about this? Any story you can tell us?” The interviewer directed to Pedro who was seen shrugging with a fond look on his face.

“ Yes, uhm I- I mean y/n isn’t a hard person to know 'cause she’s like an open book and a very conversational person so you know as soon as we were introduced we just clicked and that lead to whatever you guys are seeing floating around now.”

�� Yeah, they clicked so much that they even hang out without me. IMAGINE THAT I, who introduced them to each other, was being left out. I sense a betrayal going on.” Sarah teased Pedro who started laughing as he rested his hands on her shoulders before kneeling down and begging for her forgiveness.

The interviewer laughed with them before asking a couple more questions about their future and current projects.

“So that is all for tonight, once again thank you Sarah and Pedro for your time and we’re hoping to see you guys soon and hopefully with y/n.” The interviewer closed up the interview.

“Ah yes thank you too, and we agree on the part that y/n needs to be here on our next red carpet.” Sarah pointed to the camera.

“ So little duck eat up and drink up, you are missing on a lot of fun, get well soon!!” Pedro screamed to the mic as the video slowly faded to black.

[newsiesrewritten]

Newsies Rewritten Footcanons

It’s not headcanons if it’s canon to my media rewrite.

Also taking suggestions for a better name LOL

One of the other family leaders in Brooklyn, Dorothy, also known as Dotty (aka the Uksies Spot) is the same age as Spot despite being Spot’s apprentice for a while. The two consider each other their younger sibling, and Dotty is constantly talking about overthrowing Spot.. as every sibling does.

Otto Wiesel is estranged from his father, he only briefly sees the Delanceys and he pretend like he doesn’t know him. He is also a full grown adult and tries to stay as far away from the newspaper industry as a whole. He used to be Wiesel’s muscle before the Delanceys show up.

Kid Blink was the first to scab because he had taken on the responsibility of Tommy Boy and he had led the first strike before the one Jack led, only for that one to fall through. He respects Jack for trying but didn’t believe it would work. (He also admittedly was saving up to get Tommy Boy some form of actual education and couldn’t afford to starve another day.)

He also knew his own David, David Simmons, who scabbed after becoming a popular interviewee of the strike Ann, Kid, and Simmons held themself. The two are close still, and Kid Blink often disappears with him for the night if the bunkhouse gets too crowded.

Racetrack will not stop talking about the damn horses. Rally speech? About the horses. Daily conversation with Albert? How ‘bout them horses? Albert is SICK of it.

Medda and Spot are closer than Medda and Jack are. Medda taught Spot to built his confidence and “grow into his shadow.” As he says. He brought a pair of pale baby pink suspenders that he wears for special occasion in memory of what she’d done for him.

Pulitzer spent so much time and energy on Katherine because she was not only the spitting image of his wife, but she also had her heart stop at the age of 2 due to pneumonia. Her survival deemed her the miracle baby of the six surviving children.

Katherine is the third born child of Pulitzer, though raised as the eldest daughter after her sister Lucille died when Katherine was 15. (Katherine would’ve realistically have been 17 years old during the strike of 1899.)

She doesn’t really interact with her siblings as she’s busy pursuing her reporting career but gets to know them after seeing how the newsies act around each other.

The first thing Jack buys after the strike is a brighter blue shirt. (To symbolize his commitment to the Manhattanites ofc.)

York is at the rally and when he finds out Crutchie had been taken away, he tries to beat on Jack for not protecting his cousin. (Even though they are estranged.)

Jack’s a bitch. I don’t know if you know this but Jack is somewhat unlikeable in Davey’s eyes for a GOOD fuckin’ portion of the rewrite.

Davey Irish goodbyes the newsies A LOT, he just slowly backs away and if no one notices it, he just leaves. He just doesn’t really know how to say goodbye.

Sarah and Katherine meet during Once and For All and have been good friends ever since.

Jacobi and Henry have a friendly rivalry, since Henry’s family runs a deli. Though Jacobi never admits he has a soft spot for the boy, he can sometimes be spotted teaching Henry how to perfect some of the recipes and showing Henry some of his personal record keeping books that he uses to keep track of deli costs.

[agaypanic]

Can you write for Rory where he has like a pen pal for a school project. They both talk to each other ALL the time and he's really excited that he made a new friend! One day the reader tells him she's coming to visit and he gets all excited telling the gang about her and over all just that huge buddle of joy he always is! Well..obv he doesn't know what she looks like because they talk through letters. So when this absolute buddle of cuteness and rainbows randomly runs up to asking about and just rambling on and on about how he's her pen pal he just crushes her with a hug and just can't believe she's really their! And just ends all cute maybe throw in some flustered and blushy moments too if you can!!

My Pen Pal (Rory Keaner X Reader)

Masterlist

Request Something!

Summary: Rory’s English class is assigned pen pals from the high school in a neighboring town. You and him hit it off right away, quickly realizing that this new friendship should go beyond letters.

A/N: open ending bc i didn’t really know how to end it lol

***

Rory must have been the only one in his class excited to have to do a pen pal project. He liked making new friends, especially since it came relatively easy to him. He was just the type of boy who could get along with anyone.

When you first started talking to Rory, you just viewed it as another assignment. You each had to write five letters, one letter being sent every week. But your thoughts quickly changed when he responded to your first letter. He seemed funny and nice, so easy to talk to.

Rory thought the same about you. You were so sweet in your letters, always giving thoughtful responses to what he had previously sent, and he tried to do the same in his letters. You two had so much in common: the same taste in media, opinions on different topics, how you would survive a zombie apocalypse if the day ever came.

During the last week of sending letters, you and Rory grew sad when you realized the assignment would soon end. While talking to each other, you didn’t think about the fact that your conversations would someday come to an end.

But then you remembered that Rory lived in the next town over. You could easily see him and continue talking if you really wanted to. So, in your last letter to Rory, you asked if he would ever want to meet and talk in person. If yes, he should describe what he looked like so he’d be easy to find.

Rory was absolutely ecstatic to read your letter. He said that he couldn’t wait to see you, giving you his description and telling you the best time and place to meet.

“Rory, I didn’t know you knew how to write.” Erica joked as she watched him scribble feverishly on paper.

“Who are you writing to, Rorster?” Benny asked.

“My pen pal, Y/n!” Rory took a break from writing to look up at his friends, smiling brightly as he thought about you. “We’re finally planning to meet in person! She’s so nice; I can’t wait to meet her.” Then he got back to writing, trying to decide where you should meet. “Hey, is the park a good place to meet someone for the first time?”

***

Before he knew it, the weekend had come, and Rory was sitting on a bench at the park, waiting for you. He convinced his friends to go with him, to calm his nerves while he waited and to comfort him if you never showed. But he knew you would come.

“So, what should we look out for, Rory?” Ethan asked, looking around. A few people were scattered around the park, but they probably weren’t who Rory was looking for. “What does this girl look like?”

“Well-” Rory cut himself off, trying to think. Only then did it occur to him that you hadn’t given him a description for him to look for. You knew what he looked like, but that was it. “...I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Erica asked, crossing her arms. “You didn’t think to ask?”

“It slipped my mind!

“Well, she knows what you look like, right?” Sarah asked, and Rory nodded. “Then I guess we just wait for her to find you.”

“But that could take forever!” Rory knew he was exaggerating. But he had been waiting for what felt like forever to see you; the fact that he had to wait for you to find him first made him even more impatient. 

“Don’t worry, Rory. She should be here soon.” Benny said, checking his watch. “You told her to meet you here at three, and it’s-”

“Rory?” An unfamiliar voice came from behind the boy. He whipped his head around and looked at a girl who was looking at him hopefully, playing with her fingers. He stood up from the park bench.

“Y/n?” Hearing him say your name made you squeal, and you couldn’t help but run up and hug him. Rory gripped your waist tightly, jumping around in excitement with you in his arms, making you laugh. “I can’t believe you’re actually here!” He set you down but kept his arms around you, trying to take in every detail.

“Of course, I’m here! I couldn’t wait to see you.” You caught a glimpse of Rory’s friends watching your interaction and giggled at their stunned reactions. They probably didn’t think that you were actually real, or that you’d be so excited to see Rory. “Wanna introduce me to your friends?”

As if suddenly remembering his friends were there, even though he made them come in the first place, he turned to face them. He introduced everyone to you, and you waved excitedly.

His friends could sense that the two of you should have some alone time. After all, this meeting was for the two of you to finally hang out.

“You know…” Sarah stood up and walked to you, placing a hand on your and Rory’s shoulders and turning you toward the other direction. “There’s a really good ice cream shop down the street. Perfect for hanging out and first dates and stuff.”

You and Rory lit up at the suggestion. Quickly thanking Sarah and saying goodbye to everyone else, you and Rory practically dragged each other out of the park and to the shop. You talked the whole way there, trying to plan the rest of your first day together.

[classicanalyzer]

What If Season 3 - What If... The Hulk fought the Mech Avengers? Thoughts

"The rage isn't even the worst part when he takes over. It's the fear. The fear I see in everyone else's eyes." Bruce Banner

"And how does that make you feel?" Sam Wilson

"Lonely. Because if I'm being honest, I'm just as scared of myself as they are of me." Bruce Banner

"Well, look around you. Ain't no one's afraid of you here, Bruce." Sam Wilson

Really strong start to the final season. I didn't expect the emotions to be the episode's main focus. I really love what they did with Bruce and Sam while highlighting the tragedy of Bruce's character and Sam's greatest strength: empathy.

I love how we open with an anime Godzilla and Gundam homage with the in-universe show of the Mech Avengers taking on the Gamma Beasts.

The Sam and Bruce dynamic was something I was not expecting at all (and a nod to the Winter Soldier is always great). But man, it hits you really hard when Bruce lays down the tragedy of his character and situation: how he's just as scared of himself as the people who are scared of him. And you really feel Sam trying to help connect to Bruce. I love it when the MCU remembers Sam is a counselor.

It was pretty noice to see the What If series connect to the D+ shows with Sarah, the family boat, and Moon Knight. It's heartbreaking to see Bruce transform into the Hulk and become scared of how even if Sam understands, he still can't let go of the feeling he's the problem. The episode really highlights how you have to keep on trying to recover (in this case, keep on going to therapy) and not detach yourself from others, or else you'll do actions not that great in hindsight. It's what makes the tragedy of Banner's character in the MCU so compelling. He doesn't want to separate himself from others but he feels like he can't.

I love how the Mech Avenger suits are in-universe supposed to be giant Hulk-Busters. The Gamma War (the closest thing we'll get to a World War Hulk haha) took out the OG Avengers save for Bruce, and man I would love to see what the first war looks like. It really does set the tone of why Sam feels like being friends with Banner was a mistake given the destructive war it wrought.

I also love this new Avengers team. I can't believe we got an Avengers team before the discussion of one in the upcoming Brave New World movie lmao. I do find it sad how this is the first time since 2021 and 2022 that we saw some of these characters (Shang-Chi and Mark Spector to name some). I also like Monica's role in the episode, I always like seeing character interactions we don't see in the Sacred Timeline.

I find it sad how Sam, the person with empathy and understanding towards people, thinks being Banner's friend messed up everything.

It was pretty funny how Banner made his home at an abandoned government project (he even noted how it made him fit the most) at the Astra Islands.

"So that's it, huh? The rest of the world gets to fight your monsters while you just hide in fear?" Sam Wilson

"Fear? What do you know about fear, Sam? About being a threat. A living force of destruction." Bruce Banner

"I know you can't get past the things that scare you if you don't face them." Sam Wilson

"Why do you think I built this protocol?" Bruce Banner

"You built it to use against yourself?" Sam Wilson

"I built it to protect everyone from a monster no one can control." Bruce Banner

"Look, I've never seen a monster when I look at you, Bruce. I've only ever seen my friend. I guess I hoped if you faced this thing, then maybe you'd see what I see, too." Sam Wilson

That conversation between Sam and Bruce really set the emotional core of the episode. Despite how Sam felt about earlier, he still saw deep down that Bruce was still his friend and still tried to help Bruce face his fears, even if he didn't think that was possible. I admittedly felt a bit teary-eyed at the episode and the emotional core. I just love to see people tell others that they're not monsters.

"Avenger, assemble." Sam Wilson

The Avenger mech assemble goes so fucking hard. I only wished we got more action sequences with the mechs, but the emotional core of the story really carried the episode. That nuclear explosion shot is done really well. And I love scenes where the human character sees the Godzilla monster and realizes they're not a monster, but a friend. That's what the episode is all about: how people see themselves and how accepting them can save not only the world but themselves as well.

The music by Laura Karpman and Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum is amazing and very emotional in this episode. I can't wait to see their music in the rest of this season (Hopefully, their music album will contain a lot more tracks than just one per episode because Disney did a disservice to the duo by doing just that for S2). The music really captures the emotional and epic stakes of the Gundam and Godzilla-inspired episode.

This was a great start to the final season of What If (hopefully not the permanent end). Hopefully, the next three episodes will be a lot more light-hearted but we'll see.

"I know you've always been scared that everyone just sees you as a monster. But from where I'm standin', all I see now is a friend. And I'd bet my life that you still see one, too." Sam Wilson

"I'm sorry, Sam. I know he was your friend." Monica Rambeau

"He still is." Sam Wilson

"Big things have small beginnings. Even the way a person sees themselves can change their lives and the fate of the entire world. But in humanity's darkest hour, sometimes the greatest heroes are the friends who accept us for who we really are." Uatu

[artzee-bee]

Practice on me

Fandom: My babysitter's a vampire; Ethan Morgan x reader (platonic)

Summary: "Reader likes Benny the same way that Ethan likes Sarah, so naturally a bond forms between the two, where they vent their frustrations together! But everything changes when one day the reader and Ethan realize that Benny and Sarah both have kissing experience and they don't so they decide to practice with each other first" requesed by @tomesandrosebud

Genre: pure fluff

Warnings: none

A/N: really happy with this one actually. I just hope it doesn't sound too foolish cause I haven't kissed anyone either so I don't really know how to write about it in detail like that

~~~

Getting another can of coke was definitely not your smartest idea. The electric buzz of a sugar rush was now impossible to ignore, but Ethan had been so kind to lay all these snacks out for you which you really appreciated! “It’s just sorta frustrating, you know?” popping another m&m in your mouth “I mean honestly, it’s like none of the stuff I do for him even matters!” “Benny has never been the most…observant person” comes Ethan’s reply. He’s sprawled out across his bed, playing with old chocolate wrappers. “He thinks he can read people, but really he just comes up with his own idea of what’s happening and believes it fully!” You scoff almost instinctively. Yeah, you’ve heard this before! Almost anytime this conversation was to be had, this was one of the conclusions! God you were so tired of hearing it, but you knew it was true! “Honestly Ethan! I could not be more obvious if I wrote him a love poem and serenaded him before school! It’s not like I’m good at hiding my feelings!” “Yeah, you really suck….Ow, damnit Y/N! No need for violence!” “You earned that slap! Honestly I was being very kind to only do so much!” you crawl in the bed, laying an arm’s length away from him. “You are just as obvious about Sarah, by the way! You hypocrite!” Ethan did nothing but smile in response. He knew that all too well! It was something he’d grown so accustomed to, the feeling of being so exposed and yet so ignored when it came to his crush. He tried hiding it, he even tried dropping some hits as per your advice (‘If you’re gonna be obvious at least let it be intentional’) but somehow he remained just as invisible in front of Sarah. He knew you felt the same about Benny too! After so many late night phone calls and the occasional hangout in his room, he felt confident in saying you were both fools in love. All in all he appreciated this extra time he got to spend with you and the chance to vent his feelings away freely, but that doesn’t really lift the weight of unreciprocated love.

“You know she was on a date yesterday?” he hears himself before he processes what he’s saying. No need to specify who ‘she’ is anyways

“Yeah…she texted me and Erica on the groupchat. What, she told you too?” “Rory!” “Ah…that explains it…” A beat passes. You’ve grown accustomed to little silences like this. Sometimes it was best to just feel it out! “Did she say anything about him?” “Very messy eater, but apparently a good kisser. Said there probably won’t be a second date though!” You could practically feel the relief emanating off your friend, despite the somewhat cold tone of voice. “How can you even kiss someone after you see them with food all over their face like that?”

“I don’t know Ethan! This isn’t really my area of expertise! I guess when you’re Sarah, it doesn’t matter! When guys want to kiss you, it doesn’t matter!” your voice cracks ever so slightly with frustration, which peaks Ethan’s interest. What’s got you so worked up suddenly? “Maybe he wasn’t so bad afterall…” “Maybe!” Another silent moment “I’m not a messy eater, am I?” You laugh. After so many years of knowing him, sometimes it was still a mystery the way in which his wheels turned. “I wouldn’t say so.” Your simple answer prompted another comfortable silence. You reach for more candy, as Ethan plays with the strings of his hoodie, looking up at the ceiling.

“What are you thinking about?” “You girls…you talk about guys, right? Like you know when one of you has a crush and…that sort of thing”

“...yeah?” “So, hypothetically, if I were to ask you if you knew how many guys she’s kissed-” “Nah-uh! I’ll stop you right there sir!” “It’s a hypothetical!” “You’re overthinking!” an accusatory finger sits merely inches from his face now but he doesn’t seem bothered, pushing it away lightly. “It’s not that crazy of a question!” “You’re asking me to break the girl-code? You would never tell me how many girls Benny has kissed!” “I would!” he replies in a heartbeat. Now you’re both stuck in this unintentional staring contest, waiting to see who will crack first. It’s not like you believe a word out his mouth, but you still speak “It’s unhealthy! We shouldn’t talk about these kinds of things. It’s none of our business. Why would you even care about it?” “You’re saying you wouldn’t want to know Benny’s number?” he got you there. You just pop another candy in your mouth and he silently watches, deciding he needs to tell the truth “She just…probably has a lot of experience, doesn’t she?” This, for the first time in a long while, catches you off guard. You and Ethan have gone over the topic of your crushes more than you could count but this was a first. You weren’t sure what you could say.

“So does Benny, probably.” well that wasn’t the best thing, but Ethan doesn’t seem to notice

“Well so do you probably so it’s no big deal but I’ve never kissed a girl, Y/N! Never even came close! If I ever tried something with Sarah and it got to that point, I’d be a sure disappointment!” Now this has you turning around in bed to face him. The frustration and hurt in his voice is palpable but the roughness of his tone awakes your own feelings of dread and insecurity “Where did you even get the idea that I have kissing experience?” and E turns to look at you, genuinely confused

“You don’t?” “No! What? E, when have I ever told you about me kissing a guy?!” “I don’t know! I assumed you wouldn’t want to tell me that!” ���Why?” “I don’t know Y/n! I was wrong, ok? Gee!” the irritation turns into a bit of an awkward laugh, as he processes where the conversation actually landed, and you laugh too! That’s the best that you’ve got, but it helps! Neither of you are so tense when Ethan speaks again. “So you’ve never kissed anyone either?” and you shake your head in solidarity “Oh…I see. Why not?” “I guess…I just never got the opportunity?” you reply honestly “And then I got a little insecure about it and then I got the hots for Bens and that’s that! Now we’re here!” Ethan chuckles softly at your explanation. “I understand. I’m in the same boat here!” “We’re always on the same boat E! Really, this whole thing is sounding more and more like a joke!” you both share a laugh The idea came to you pretty naturally. At first it made you laugh but after thinking about it a moment longer, you began to consider maybe it wasn’t so bad? Maybe this was actually what you both needed! You feel so comfortable with E, you don’t spare another moment before sharing

“What if we kissed?”

You didn’t think ahead on how to properly phrase it, or how Ethan would react, but you assumed the shell shocked look and the oblivious ‘huh?!’ he gave you were probably appropriate. Ethan sits up in bed, looking down at you as if you had gone mental. You’ve said many out of pocket things across the years but this one got the biggest reaction. It almost makes you laugh. “I mean, to practice!” “Come again?”

Now you sit up as well, trying to drive your point home! “Neither of us have had our first kiss! Most people our age have! So if we try to do it with anyone else, it might be awkward! We can just kiss each other and get it over with!”

“Get it over with?” he seemed to consider, which really just made you push a little harder

“Yeah! I mean we’re friends! We trust each other! It doesn’t have to mean anything and if it turns out awful then at least we know that doesn’t change anything between us!”

Ethan seems to be deep in thought. You understand, of course, how unconventional your proposal is but it was too late now. The offer was on the table! You didn’t exactly regret it but you could feel your nerves twisting and turning in your gut. All the sugar you ingested definitely didn’t help…

“Okay!” You thought you must have misheard him! “I’m sorry?”

“Okay!”

“Okay?”

“...yeah…”

“O-Okay…”

Now this was really awkward! You hadn’t exactly thought he would agree so quickly but then again, Ethan was a calculated person. He must have seen and understood all the benefits, just like you did. Shyly, he turns a little more to the right, facing you completely. He’s looking at his hands for a moment, before shifting forward. You follow his lead, moving the tiniest bit closer to him. Now, with your knees touching, you were starting to be really nervous. “Um…should I…go for it? It’s kinda the man’s job to take the lead, no?” you can tell from his voice that he’s just as nervous as you

“That’s kinda old fashioned!” you try to laugh, hoping to release the tension, which helps the smallest bit, as he chuckles “You can if you want!” “Where do I put my hands?” he’s looking down at his palms as if he’s just stepped in a human body for the first time. You’re not really sure of the answer but you’ve watched a good amount of romance movies! Your hands grab his tenderly, bringing them to your waist. He doesn’t hesitate, or pull away, just latches on with an iron grip, but you don’t comment on it. You try to hook your arms around his neck, but the position feels awkward when you’re both sat on the bed, so you pull away and rest them on your knees. His knees. Nope, yours were better!

Ethan waits patiently for you as you figure out the logistics of all this! He looks transfixed and you knew he was internally freaking out, just like you. Finally, you move a tad bit closer, which gives Ethan the opportunity to lean in, stopping barely centimeters away from your face. You could feel his breathing on your lips. “You’re okay with this?” you ask once again

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Let’s just do a small peck at first!” “Okay!”

It happens in a flash. It takes one second for his consent to register and then his lips are on yours for the briefest moment. It felt nice. Well it wasn’t anything scary or intimidating, just a little peck! It was nice and warm and soft. It makes you feel a lot better about what’s going on. You move away just a little bit to examine Ethan’s response and he seems to have relaxed as well. You don’t know what to say, so you just ask

“One more time?”

“Okay.” the tremor in his voice is gone and you lean in to place a quick kiss on his lips again. It’s only a second, but it helps knowing that you did it! That you committed!

“A little longer?” you ask now, and Ethan just nods, taking a quick breath.

He leans in, pressing his lips to yours. Your right hand almost instinctively reaches up, barely grazing his jaw and his fingers dig even more into your sides. Right off the bet, this is a lot worse. Neither of you really know how to move, much less how to read each other's moves, so the kiss is sloppy and messy and all kinds of wrong and ridiculous. You are basically just pushing your faces together! You open your mouth ever so slightly, thinking that might help, and Ethan tries to follow your lead but once again, there’s no coordination. Now you’re even more acutely aware of the awkward position you’re both sitting in and you can’t help but imagine what a ridiculous scene you two make! Ethan smiles against your lips, and you know he’s thinking the same thing. Now you really can’t hold back your laughter, giggling against his lips!

“Stop!” he laughs as well, grabbing the sides of your face, but it definitely doesn’t help, as you burst out with laughter! He laughs too, leaning away and trying to cover his face with his arm

“We’re so awful!”

“That’s why I said we do it now!” Cue more laughter, your tummy honestly hurts at this point and you let yourself fall to the floor, clutching your abdomen.

“Come back here! We can’t just leave it at that!” Ethan reaches to grab the back of your shirt through tears of laughter, trying to yank you back on the bed but it doesn’t work. You won’t move! You can barely breathe! Instead he also crawls to his knees next to you.

“Come on Y/n! Let’s try one more time!” he’s still giggling as he says this, but you run your hands over your face, moving closer to him again. Compared to last time, now you know both of your nerves are completely gone. Looking at Ethan, he seems just as at ease as ever! You guys are best friends after all! And you’re having fun! As you’re kneeling on the floor, you cup his face with your palms, his own hands returning to your waist, now with a much kinder hold. He leans into you and you do as well. The kiss, this time, is a little more promising. You’re still struggling to synchronize, but at least it feels like you’re getting somewhere. It’s kinda nice, you think? It’s nice feeling so close to someone and it’s nice sharing a breath, but then you remember this is Ethan! This is your friend from middle school and the biggest nerd you’ve ever met and God knows you never thought you’d ever kiss him. The reality of it all has you giggling again and Ethan immediately shoves you back.

“Y/nnnnn!! This was your idea!!” but he’s laughing too, red in the face from the lack of oxygen and now you’ve both reached the point where everything is simply too funny! 

“What the hell are we doing?” you manage to say

“It was your idea!”

“It takes two to tango!”

“Y/n, no! Don’t say it like that!” and he’s laughing more, shoving you to the floor again, attempting to tackle you for your filthy mouth and you let him, not finding the strength to fight him off, try as you might! It takes a couple of minutes for both of you to completely calm down, which just leaves you both laying on the floor, catching your breath!

“But all in all” Ethan says “it wasn’t a very bad idea!”

“Wanna do it again?”

“I think I’m good!”