#Varsity Jacket with Embroidery
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
selfwayapparels · 5 months ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Factory Made Trendy Streetwear Letterman Jacket with Logo Patches Stylish Embroidered Patch Varsity Jacket for Men & Women
2 notes · View notes
latestfeed · 29 days ago
Text
The Art of Embroidery: Transforming Varsity Jackets & Custom T-Shirts
This blog will cover varsity jackets, personalized T-shirts, the history of embroidery in fashion, and other relevant subjects. 
Tumblr media
Introduction
Embroidery is an ancient art that has evolved into a modern fashion statement.
It enhances the aesthetic appeal and value of varsity jackets and custom t-shirts.
From personalizing outfits to branding businesses, embroidery adds a timeless touch.
Varsity jackets and custom t-shirts are more than just clothing—they are symbols of identity, achievement, and personal style. While varsity jackets have historically been linked to academic achievement, athletic teams, and school pride, custom t-shirts give people and organizations a platform to display their own designs and messaging. Adding embroidery to these garments enhances their look, durability, and overall appeal, making them standout fashion pieces.
The History of Embroidery in Fashion
Came from ancient civilizations thousands of years ago, including China and Egypt. 
Initially used to decorate royal garments and religious attire.
The Industrial Revolution introduced machine embroidery, making it more accessible.
Today, embroidery is a staple in fashion, sportswear, and promotional apparel.
Why Embroidery Stands Out in Apparel Design
Durability: Embroidered designs last longer than printed ones.
Texture & Depth: Unlike flat prints, embroidery adds a rich, three-dimensional feel.
Luxurious Appeal: Enhances the overall look, making garments appear more premium.
Customization: Allows unique designs, including initials, logos, and intricate patterns.
Embroidery on Varsity Jackets
A Symbol of Achievement: Varsity Jackets Centreville VA is often used in schools and sports teams to signify milestones.
Common Design Elements:
Team logos and mascots
Personalized names and numbers
Patches and award symbols
Material Considerations: Works best on wool, leather sleeves, and heavy fabrics.
Trendy Embroidery Styles:
Classic monograms
Bold oversized letters
Minimalist tone-on-tone stitching
Embroidery on Custom T-Shirts
A Fashionable Upgrade: Turns a simple t-shirt into a statement piece.
Popular Embroidery Placements:
Left chest logo or name
Sleeve initials or quotes
Back panel large designs
Best Fabrics for Embroidery:
Cotton and cotton blends
Piqué fabric for a textured look
Performance wear with moisture-wicking properties
Trendy Embroidery Designs:
Abstract art
Handwritten-style lettering
Floral and nature-inspired motifs
The Process of Embroidery
Design Creation: Starts with a digital design file (DST format for machines).
Fabric Selection: Choosing the right material ensures better stitching quality.
Hooping the Fabric: Securing the fabric in a hoop to stabilize it during stitching.
Machine Embroidery: High-tech embroidery machines stitch designs with precision.
Final Touches: Excess threads are trimmed, and the fabric is pressed for a polished look.
Branding & Marketing with Embroidered Apparel
Business Promotion: Company logos embroidered on uniforms boost brand identity.
Merchandising: Limited edition embroidered apparel can increase brand loyalty.
Event Giveaways: Custom t-shirts with embroidered logos make excellent promotional gifts.
Corporate Gifts: Custom T Shirts Fairfax VA adds professionalism and exclusivity to branded clothing.
Influencer & Celebrity Collaborations: Many brands now use embroidery in limited-edition merchandise endorsed by celebrities and influencers.
Team & Club Identity: Embroidery is a great way to create unity in organizations, teams, and clubs.
Caring for Embroidered Apparel
Washing Tips:
Use cold water and mild detergent.
Turn garments inside out to protect stitching.
Drying Tips:
Avoid high heat; air drying is best.
If using a dryer, opt for a low setting.
Ironing Tips:
Place a cloth over the embroidery before ironing.
Use low heat to prevent thread damage.
Storage Tips:
Store embroidered garments flat or hung up to prevent wrinkles.
Avoid stacking heavy items on top of embroidered designs to maintain shape.
Customization & Personalization Trends
Name & Initial Embroidery: Embroidery Fairfax VA adds a unique, personal touch to garments.
Themed Embroidery: Seasonal and event-based designs like holiday motifs.
Glow-in-the-Dark Thread: Adds a modern and edgy look to custom wear.
Metallic & Neon Threads: Enhances visibility and creates a striking design.
3D Puff Embroidery: Adds dimension to designs, commonly used for varsity letters and bold logos.
Gradient Thread Colors: A newer trend where multiple shades are blended to create a dynamic look.
Cultural & Artistic Embroidery: Designs inspired by global cultures and traditional artwork are gaining popularity.
Future of Embroidery in Fashion
Sustainable Embroidery: Use of eco-friendly threads and materials.
Smart Embroidery: Integration of technology, like LED threads and interactive stitching.
AI & Automation: Advanced embroidery machines with AI precision.
Personalized AI Designs: Custom embroidery generated through artificial intelligence.
Augmented Reality & Embroidery: Brands are experimenting with digital overlays that interact with embroidered patterns.
Recycled Thread & Fabrics: The shift towards sustainability leads to eco-friendly embroidered apparel options.
Hand-Embroidered Luxury: While machine embroidery dominates, hand-embroidered designs are making a comeback in high fashion.
Conclusion
Embroidery transforms varsity jackets and custom t-shirts into fashion statements.
It provides durability, style, and personalization options unmatched by other design methods.
With evolving trends, embroidery remains a timeless and innovative art form.
Embroidered garments hold a special place in the fashion industry, whether for personal style, business branding, or artistic expression.
Embroidery is not just a design technique—it’s a way to make garments meaningful and stylish. Whether for personal fashion or branding, its impact is long-lasting and ever-evolving.
0 notes
screenprintingnj-blog · 2 months ago
Text
Custom Embroidered Hats
Tumblr media
Custom embroidered hats are more than just accessories—they’re an expression of personality, style, and creativity. Whether you’re designing hats for a team, a brand, or just to make a statement, embroidery offers a unique touch that elevates any design. These hats allow you to showcase logos, text, and images with precision and durability, ensuring your message is seen clearly. 
Custom embroidered hats from Dezine Line are perfect for businesses looking to stand out, sports teams wanting to create unity, or individuals who want a personalized piece to call their own. With various styles and colors available, the possibilities are endless. Let’s explore how you can bring your vision to life with high-quality custom embroidery.
Dezine Line: Embroidery Services
Custom Embroidered Hats
Our custom embroidered hats combine style, comfort, and uniqueness. Whether for promoting your business, celebrating an event, or creating a special gift, we offer high-quality hats with precise embroidery. Choose from different colors, fabrics, and designs to craft a hat that perfectly represents your personality or brand.
Personalized Branding with Custom Embroidered Hats
Elevate your brand with custom embroidered hats that showcase your logo or message. Designed for durability and a professional look, these hats are perfect for corporate events, giveaways, or merchandise. With various styles and colors, our custom hats help build your brand’s identity while ensuring visibility wherever you go.
Team Spirit in Every Stitch with Custom Embroidery in New Jersey
Our custom embroidered hats are perfect for sports teams, clubs, or groups wanting to display their unity. Whether it’s your team logo, mascot, or slogan, these hats bring people together. Available in various styles, they provide both comfort and style, showing your pride and boosting team spirit.
Unique Gifts with Embroidery for Every Occasion
Custom embroidered hats make memorable, personalized gifts for birthdays, weddings, and special events. Embroidered with names, dates, or special messages, these hats offer a meaningful and functional gift that’s sure to be appreciated. Perfect for any occasion, they add a personal touch that will be treasured for years.
Why Choose Custom Embroidered Hats for Your Brand
Custom embroidered hats offer an excellent way to enhance your brand visibility and make a lasting impression. With your logo or company name prominently displayed, these hats create an opportunity for free advertising every time they’re worn. Whether you’re promoting a business or a special event, custom embroidery elevates the professionalism and appeal of your merchandise. Customers, employees, or event-goers will appreciate the high-quality craftsmanship, and wearing them helps spread your brand effortlessly.
Custom embroidered hats also provide a sense of unity and belonging. When your team or group wears matching hats, it strengthens connections and boosts morale. By offering custom embroidery, you’re not only providing a useful item, but you’re also showing that you care about quality and detail. It’s a smart investment for businesses looking to make a memorable impact.
Designing the Perfect Hat Design: Tips for Custom Embroidery
Designing a custom embroidered hat can be an exciting creative process, but it’s important to keep a few things in mind to ensure the best outcome. Start with a design that works well on a hat’s curved surface, considering how intricate or detailed it might be. A clear, simple logo or text tends to look more appealing and readable than a crowded design. Choose colors that contrast well and ensure your message stands out.
Another key tip is to think about the type of hat you’re customizing. Different styles (e.g., baseball caps, beanies, snapbacks) offer varying amounts of space for embroidery. Work with a professional to ensure your design fits the hat’s shape and size. With the right preparation and guidance, your custom hat will not only look great but also effectively showcase your brand or personal style.
How Custom Embroidered Hats Boost Team Spirit and Identity
Custom embroidered hats are an excellent way to build camaraderie and pride within any group or team. Whether it’s a sports team, a corporate group, or a family reunion, these hats serve as a unifying symbol. Wearing matching hats helps everyone feel part of something bigger, and the visual connection strengthens relationships and boosts team spirit.
Moreover, embroidered hats can be designed with a variety of elements that symbolize your team’s unique identity. From team logos to slogans, these hats act as constant reminders of shared values, goals, and experiences. Whether you’re competing or celebrating, custom embroidered hats make your group feel unified and proud, creating an instant connection wherever you go.
The Benefits of Investing in High-Quality Embroidered Hats
Investing in high-quality custom embroidered hats brings numerous long-term benefits, making them a worthwhile choice. Premium materials ensure durability, so your hats will stand up to wear and tear, maintaining their vibrant appearance even after repeated use. The embroidery itself, done with precision, provides a polished, professional look that enhances your brand’s image.
In addition to longevity and quality, these hats are practical and versatile. They make great gifts, employee uniforms, or merchandise for customers. A high-quality embroidered hat can become a go-to accessory that people wear often, further extending your brand exposure. The combination of style, functionality, and lasting quality ensures that your investment in custom hats pays off over time.
Step-by-Step Guide to Ordering Custom Embroidered Hats in New Jersey
Ordering custom embroidered hats is a straightforward process, but knowing the right steps can help you make the best decision. First, determine the type of hat you want: baseball cap, beanie, trucker, or another style. Then, choose the material and color that aligns with your brand or personal style. Next, decide on the design elements—logos, text, or graphics—ensuring the design fits the hat’s space and style.
Once you’ve finalized your design, select the quantity. Many suppliers offer discounts for bulk orders, so consider this if you need a large number of hats. Finally, review proofs or samples to ensure the embroidery meets your expectations. Once approved, place your order and get ready to enjoy your custom hats. It’s that easy to bring your vision to life!
Popular Custom Embroidery Styles and Techniques for Hats
Custom embroidery offers a range of techniques and styles that can make your hats stand out. One of the most popular methods is traditional flat embroidery, which is clean and crisp, ideal for logos or text. For a more textured look, 3D puff embroidery adds depth, creating a raised design that draws attention.
Other techniques include tone-on-tone embroidery, where the thread color matches the hat for a subtle, sophisticated effect, and metallic thread embroidery, which can make logos shine. Embroidery placement is equally important; consider front, side, or back panels to determine the best spot for your design. With various embroidery options, you can create a hat that truly represents your vision.
Affordable Options for Custom Embroidered Hats in Bulk
Custom embroidered hats from Dezine Line are an affordable option when purchased in bulk, making them a great choice for businesses or events that need multiple pieces. Many suppliers offer competitive pricing for bulk orders, and the more hats you order, the lower the per-unit cost becomes. This allows you to stock up on hats for promotional events, employee uniforms, or team gear without breaking the bank.
Besides cost savings, bulk purchasing also ensures consistency in quality and design. You can guarantee that every hat in the batch looks the same, with the same high standard of embroidery and craftsmanship. If you’re looking to order a large quantity, this is the way to go for both affordability and uniformity.
Contact Dezine Line for Custom Embroidery in New Jersey
Custom Embroidered Hats are a great way to make a lasting impression while showcasing your brand, team, or personal style. From the quality of the embroidery to the versatility of the design, custom hats offer an unmatched level of personalization. 
Whether you’re looking to promote your business, unify your team, or create a unique fashion statement, these hats are the perfect solution. The process is simple, and with various styles and techniques to choose from, you can ensure your design reflects your vision perfectly. 
Contact Dezine Line of Roxbury New Jersey and don’t miss out on this opportunity to make a bold statement with custom embroidered hats. Reach out today to start your order and see your ideas come to life!
Dezine LineDezine Line
1004 Us Highway 46 #2 Ledgewood, NJ 07852   T. 973-989-1009 x 2 [email protected]
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Pinterest
Linkedin
Yelp
0 notes
meelsport · 10 months ago
Text
The Ultimate Guide to Custom Jackets: Easy Tips for Kids
Introduction Imagine wearing a jacket that’s totally unique and all about you! That’s what custom jackets are all about—they show off your personal style and creativity. These special jackets are super popular because they’re like a piece of art you can wear. When I was a kid, I saw my older brother decorate his denim jacket with patches from concerts and cool designs. That jacket became a part…
View On WordPress
0 notes
ameliabrooks238 · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
 Unveiling Style: The Black and White Letterman Jacket
0 notes
thecoochiefairy · 3 months ago
Text
nola. onyankopon.
𑄽𑄺 warnings 𑄽𑄺 18.0K word count. blackfem!character, college football coded! onyankopon, grumpy! onyankopon, sweet!onyankopon, third person omniscient, dominant!onyankopon, friends to lovers trope, sandbox love, black woman, vaginal penetration, lil bit of sweet talkin’, hair pulling, creaming, oral [f] [m], choking, praising, LOTS of dirty talk, squirting, riding, backshots, condomless sex, kissing, spanking, minors aren’t welcome!
Tumblr media
━━ 𝒄𝙤𝒐𝙘𝒉𝙞𝒆𝙛𝒂𝙞𝒓𝙮 𝙩𝒉𝙤𝒖𝙜𝒉𝙩𝒔 .ᐟ so, i know i was been supposed to give y’all an official onyankopon fic. i’m sorry it took so long. i changed the entire idea i had, and honestly? i enjoyed writing this one so much better. haven’t been able to dip my toe into strictly black characters since my actual book new salem, and i missed pure nigga-try! also, thank y’all for 3K followers. i love every single one of you. enjoy! 🫶🏽
visual. visual. visual.
Tumblr media
BENEATH THE LIGHTS WAS WHERE SHE BELONGED. The squeaking of her feet scuffled along the shined mahogany wood as she tuned out the many voices—from cheering, to the coach calling out plays, or pure enjoyment from the game. This was her element. 
Scrimmages were just as important to her, the bleachers filling with college students as if it were a regular game. Eyes watched the most valuable player move across the court with a choreography more beautiful than a dancer—their point guard.
The ball was like metal—a magnet in her fingers as she passed it to the next player, awaiting for it to somehow appear back in her palms. But she couldn’t stop her eyes from traveling up to the bleachers. She always searched for his figure to be seated in between his friend group, watching her just as much as she waited for him. 
Black leather varsity jacket with yellow embroidery, his name and number on the back like a symbol—‘ONYANKOPON.’ 
Golden grills shone beneath the light of his full goatee and dark pink lips, bone straight smile more flattering than the devils. His durag tied into a knot along the back of his head, his outfit more relaxed as he’d just come from practice—He’d never miss her games. 
He sat there amongst the many of his own teammates. His gaze was focused on her, following her movements as they were almost seductive. 
It never failed that she’d eventually look in his direction. It was always a battle between who would look away first—This time, it was her. Her eyes glanced over him every so often, her heart racing whenever their gazes met. But the game was as vital as the air that filled her nostrils, and no amount of admiring him could pull her from it.
Her fingers grip the basketball that’s thrown back into her palms, having to quickly regain control before it went straight into the opposing team’s hands. She was like the cherry on top, gliding through bodies along the court as she made her way closer to the edge, her low height more  powerful than the taller women as she tossed the ball towards the hoop.
The crowd was watching poetry in the making, the way her legs pushed against the floor and the ball leaving her fingers in an effortless arc that sailed through the basket. Flawless. 
The suppression of her smile finally shined through her bratz shaped lips, listening to the crowd cheer as her team had won the scrimmage. Her eyes move over as she watches that varsity jacket beginning to stand from the bleachers, following behind his group of friends as they begin exiting the building. Something in her feels dejected.
But as the swarm of her other teammates come crowding her in an excited hug, she’s pulled back into the reality of her win—she could deal with that later.
She stands in the locker room as she’d just gotten out of the shower, kneeling her body against the bench as she searches her pale pink NIKE bag for her sweatshirt. She can feel a presence appear next to her, eyes turning up to her teammate—who was also her cousin and roommate—Peanut, smirking down at her.
“If you’ coming over here to talk shit, please find somebody else to play with.”
“I didn’t even say anything,” Peanut hides her smirk, “What? You’ all mad that your man didn’t stay until the end of the game?”
“You know that’s not my man,” she mutters, “I’m good. Why you’ in my business right now?”
“I’m in your business ‘cause I know you,” Peanut rolled her eyes, chocolate brown skin shining under the lights as she crossed her arms, “You wanna say that’s not your nigga while you’re over here moping cause he didn’t stay behind. Please.”
She begins pulling the black sweatshirt over her head, XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA labeled in bold yellow beneath the material. Her curls are drenched from the shower, eyes tired as she looks to her cousin, “Are you done? Don’t you have somewhere else to be other than in my ass?”
“Not my fault you’re always so interesting,” Peanut teased, her body leaning against the locker next to her, “You’ve been playing basketball all day and still have the energy to be mean?”
“You’ right, I should be tired from carrying your plays. That’s why you have so much energy to come talk hot shit, none of that was focused on the court,” she zips up her bag, throwing it along her shoulder as she slips on her soft pink New Balances 9060 sneakers.
“I’d say that’s a little disrespectful,” Peanut grins, crossing her arms across her chest, “You only have the energy to play so well ‘cause I let you. Coach was paying attention to you, though. Did you see?”
She sighs, “I want her to pay enough attention that she has a scout come watch our games, Peanut. This shit is starting to feel like high school.”
Peanut scoffed, “I heard you got offers from LSU, Bama, and Howard, yet you chose to stay in New Orleans,” she said, “This? Ain’t high school.”
“I just wanted to be close to my mom,” she reminds her, “You know that.” 
“Or did you wanna be close to that childhood crush of yours?”
Her eyes narrow into a glare, closing her locker as she warns, “Don’t start again, Peanut.”
Yet, it was true. Her and Onyankopon had grown up together due to their families both being from 9th Ward. It was to her dismay that she was in love with him. 
Peanut put her hands up in surrender, “Chill. Chill,” she warns, “I’m just saying. Why’d he leave anyways? Doesn't he stay after?”
She could admit to herself that she wanted to hear how she looked on the court. Maybe she just wanted to hear it from someone’s opinion she always trusted—his.
She sighs, running her fingers through her hair as she replies, “I don’t know. Prolly’ still fuckin’ that big booty bitch on the Majorette team.”
“Oh girl, Ashleigh? Yeah—nah.” 
She raised an eyebrow, “You’ got tea?”
This childhood crush of hers was stereotypically wandering with his eyes, able to accept the advances of any woman that came his way. His current flavor of the month was a brown skinned, extremely curvaceous girl on the college's Majorette team, swinging her hips at all of his games. 
Peanut smirked, grabbing her own bag and began walking out of the locker room with her. A group of other girls on the team passed, waving goodbye to the two cousins. 
“Tea?” She echoed, “I got a whole story on that nigga. Apparently him and Ashleigh off again—he pissed her off, so she threatened to fuck one of his friends.”
That caused her to softly laugh, following beside Peanut as they began walking towards the dorms, “Whatever he did, he probably deserved to be threatened.”
“I love when I get you to actually laugh. You’re too serious these days.” 
They walked past the main library of the school which was always packed with students, the yellow and white building gleaming in the night. Their dorm was just past it. 
“Why don’t you wanna fuck him again? The boy is 90s fine.” 
“Cause I’m not big booty Ashleigh,” she retorts, “To deal with him and his flock of hoes? I’d kill that nigga before he ever played with me.”
“I’d kill him too, I ain’t judging,” Peanut said, “But I’ll tell you what, you’re not big booty Ashleigh—you’re just a big booty, and that’s why he actually looks at you. You know those flocks of hoes are just a front, right? Those girls don’t mean anything to him,”  She looked over at her again, “You do.”
“Here you go—talking again,” she mutters, “You’ watch too many of them’ K-Dramas.”
“This ain’t no K-Drama—it’s real life!” Peanut protested, her hand waving in the air, “You’re the only one he doesn’t treat like a passing phase. He’s been ‘round you for what? Fifteen years?”
“Because he knows our family, Peanut. My uncle—your father—would shoot his ass on sight if he played with me the way he plays with girls on campus. I’m good on that. I got WNBA to get into,” she shrugs, circling her body around, childishly throwing an air ball into the sky.
“Yeah, Yeah—All that is cool. Is that what’s holding you back from liking a nigga?”
“I’d fuck a ball before I fucked him,” she finalizes, “I wanna go ice my ankle. You’ cooking tonight?”
“Sorry, cousin. I’m actually going over to my niggas house,” she playfully mocks the air ball she threw, beginning to back her way towards the other dorms, “Gon’ head and order something for me, though!”
She frowns, a bit bummed since this was her cousin's third night being out of their dorm, leaving her to either study, or watch K-Dramas by herself. She could admit that she was a bit lonely. 
“You ain’t getting shit!” She called back, “Have your nigga feed you!”
“You have a nigga feed you, lonely ass!” She yelled back, causing a few students to glance towards them, “Don’t be mad ‘cause you don’t know what a relationship feels like!” 
Peanut continued to walk away, tossing a hand over her shoulder to wave, “Love you, Sweetpea!”
She’s suffocated by that nickname, following her from elementary school to college. This was her senior year, and she still couldn’t get away from it. Her shoulders fall a bit as she waves back to her, acrylic nails glittering under the streetlights hovered over the dorms, her tattooed fingers and emerald golden ring glinting with it.
 Her eyes turn as she sees a familiar figure walking towards the dorms with his friends—he was finer up close. The yellow embroidery on his varsity jacket went well with his brown skin, facial hair, grills partnering with his sharp jawline. The tattoos along his face should’ve been intimidating, but made him scarily more attractive. He was tall, always slouching to make her more comfortable. She tries to turn as if she didn’t see him, beginning to make her way towards the stairs of the dorm. 
“For real? You’ finna’ ignore a nigga?”
She tongues the inside of her cheek, turning back as she eyes him up and down. She then says, “Just tryna’ get inside and start on this homework.”
His eyes followed every movement of hers, the way the dim light of the evening casted a hazy hue across her caramel skin, her onyx hair swaying along her body as she turned towards him.
“Homework, huh?” He echoed, walking up the last of the stairs to meet her at the top, “I been waiting to see you all day, you ain’t even gon’ say wassup?” 
“Wrong,” she corrects, “If you wanted to see me, you would’ve waited until the game was over, Onyankopon.”
“My lil’ grumpy ass Sweetpea…” He chided, a smirk playing on his full lips as he stepped in front of her, “Don’t act like I wasn’t in the bleachers for the whole game. Coach called for a meeting.”
She narrows her eyes, “Uh-huh. Why don’t you go back to your friends?”
“Ain’t never see you so eager to get rid of me,” He said through a deep chuckle, “You mad for real?” 
She doesn’t want to admit why she’s actually upset. But if she doesn’t, he’s gonna pry it out of her anyways. Her voice is still rough around the edges as she states, “You didn’t tell me how I played today. That’s why I wanted you there after.”
“You played good as fuck like you always do,” He began, taking another step into her personal space, “Them’ other girls ain’t shit. You ain’t need me to tell you that, though.”
She tightens her fingers around her duffle as she releases a breath, “You mean that? Good enough for a scout?”
“Girl, ain’t no question about that,” He smacks his lips, “You’ so good they’d be stupid not to sign you. Them’ bitches were tryna’ play catch-up the whole time. WNBA can’t wait for your ass to drop.”
“Ony,” she warns his language as he refers to the other girls. She takes his words to heart as she always did—he was the one person that she valued in their opinion. 
“My fault. But you know I’d never bullshit you,” he murmured, his other hand coming forward to grab the nape of her neck, “You finna’ go far.”
A pressure in her chest appears at his large palm against her neck—it feels warm. Good. 
Sweetpea smacks her lips as she pulls his arm down, “Where yo’ lil’ girlfriend at, Onyankopon?”
He raises an eyebrow, “You keepin’ tabs on me now?” He questioned, a smirk forming, “Thought you were just focused on the court and your homework. Why you worried about who I got?”
“You’ think I’m worried about a hoe ass nigga? ‘Forget I asked,” she scrunches her nose, returning to making her way fully up the steps.
“Nah nah, you brought it up,” He followed a step behind her, “Why’ you even wanna know ‘bout me and whoever I’m talkin to?”
She pushes the entrance to her dorm, looking back to his group of friends that begin walking away as she changes the subject, “Your friends are leaving, Onyankopon. Can I go inside?”
“You got questions about me and other girls—now you tryna’ run inside,” He pointed out, “Can’t you just say that you missed me?”
“Girls?” She repeats, “Huh. I don’t need my question answered then.” 
The minute she passes by a couple of people with a polite wave, she’s unable to escape the large arm that traps her along the wall just before she can make it to her room door. He places it against the wall, stopping her from walking which makes her back press against it. His cologne hovers over her body as he leans down towards her, making Sweetpea somehow back herself into the wall she was already against.
“Why you always runnin’ away?” He asked, his voice deep, “You think you got a nigga all figured out?” 
He chuckled, the low noise filling her ears. He moved forward, the heat of his body close enough for her to feel it against his own, “Or you don’t like bein’ reminded that you care what I do?”
She can’t admit to him that she’s…the least bit curious for her own entertainment. It wasn’t because of anything else. 
….It wasn’t.
She blinks, “I actually don’t care. Peanut told me your lil’ big booty girl threatened to fuck one of your friends. What’d you do to piss her off?” She raises an eyebrow.
“Damn Peanut,” He muttered,, “I knew I shouldn’t’ve let her know I hooked up with Ashleigh.” 
He rolled his tongue out his mouth,“You wanna know why she was mad at me?”
“Answer the question or I go inside. I’m getting impatient,” she reminds, placing her weight along her feet as she prepares to move his arm, watching as he places his palm right beside her head now. She lets out a heavy sigh.
“She’ mad I’m not acting like her nigga,” He smirked at the way her face scrunched up slightly in frustration, “She’s too obsessed with me.”
“Oh? The world is still Onyankopon Land in that head of yours?” She raises an eyebrow, sarcastically smiling at him.
He looked down with a smile, finding her scowl endearing somehow. 
“I get it now. I know you don’t like me havin’ girlfriends'. My bad, Mama.”
That nickname. And that sentence. It makes a chill rush down her spine. But instead, she pushes out a laugh with her eyebrows raised, pushing past his arm as she begins unlocking her door, “Boy, go home. You’re playing bad as fuck right now.”
His eyes move as she opens her door and steps in, preparing to close it as he then places a sneaker in between the opening before suddenly asking, “Your’ ankle hurt?”
She doesn’t expect the question as she frowns, “Is that your way of asking to come inside? I’m good,” she attempts to close the door.
“It’s a way of sayin’ a nigga worried ‘bout you,” he frowned back, “You can’t blame me after I saw you limp on that ankle during the game.”
She flutters her lashes up, searching around his face as she reads the more serious tone of his expression. Her ankle had been a little weak with all the practices and games, but it was nothing she worried too much about. 
She slides her fingers against the door as she repeats more softly, “I’m fine, Ony. For real.”
“Lemme look at it,” He said, “I can see how swollen it’s gettin’.”
The tone of his voice was soft, but there was also a sternness to it. This nigga was worried about her ankle, forreal.
She glances around her empty apartment before she exhales, opening the door wider to let him in. She places her bag against the kitchen island as she grabs her Hello Kitty ice packet, making her way towards the sofa to sit.
He follows her inside, hands stuffed into the pockets of his varsity jacket. He sits down on the sofa beside her, the soft cushion dipping under his large frame as he eyes her ankle.
“C’mon,” he gruffs, motioning for her to place her leg on his lap.
She places her leg against his lap, beginning to feel the curls of her hair drying up, blowing a tendril out of her face as she fully plopped down next to him. She says, “I think I was just moving too fast.”
He gently holds onto her ankle as she rests it across his lap, his large palm wrapping completely around it. His dark lashes lowered over his eyes as he examined the ankle, his expression neutral. 
“You been doin’ a lot lately,” he lightly touched certain areas on her foot, “The coach got you runnin’ too many drills or somethin’?”
“I just wanna be ready for the game coming up. Coach might bring scouts, you know?” She brings her eyes up to him, “I can take a lil’ pain in that case.”
“And if that pain turns into a damn injury ‘cause your dumbass wanna push too hard,” He challenged, “Then what?”
She gives him a deadpan look, “Now you sound like Peanut.” 
When he twists the ankle around, something in her body alarms itself in a sharp pain, which makes her inhale a breath, attempting to jerk her leg back from him as she piercingly inhales. 
“Nah, don’t do that,” he said with a grunt, his thumb and index finger feeling around for the source of her wince, “What’d ‘you just feel?”
“You’re making it hurt,” pushing his hand away, she tried to stop herself from panicking at the small pain.
He ignored her hand as he continued to hold her ankle, looking up at her face with a serious tone, “Chill out. I need you to tell me exactly where the pain is. You can’t just be playin’ with your fuckin’ ankle.”
As much as he clowned around, she wasn’t the one to bite when he got serious. She points towards the back of her ankle as she softly replies, “Here.”
“You know you gotta ice that more,” he scolded, “Bein’ stubborn all the time ain’t gonna’ get you ‘round the court faster.“
“I know,” she nods, relaxing more as she allows him to lightly massage the area. Her toes nearly curled as it felt so good, she had to dig her fingers in her thigh a bit not to react. 
She tries to bring up the subject again, “You’ really like Ashleigh?”
His fingers paused as she asked the question, his honey eyes looking up at her. 
“You still worried ‘bout that?” He shook his head before he began massaging the area again, “She a lil’ too extra.”
“Maybe you should be nicer to her. That way she isn’t always screaming at you,” Sweetpea suggests, “You’ be having them girls losing their minds. I too would crash out on you.”
Despite what she might think of him, he could tell she was actually being serious. He was used to all the jokes, the sarcasm, and the usual smartass replies she always fired back with. 
He rolled his tongue along his lower lip again with a smirk, “You’d crash out over me, huh?”
“I’m serious, Ony.”
She ignores the way her face goes warm, “You’ve had your attention on her for more than a month now—which is longer than your attentiveness with any girl. So don’t mess that up by…being you.”
A low chuckle slips from his full lips, “You tellin’ me to stop bein’ too cool for my own good? Since when you’ start liking Ashleigh?” 
“I ain’t saying I like her—I’m just saying.”
He leans back a little more on the sofa, his hands pausing their working on her ankle. He raises an eyebrow at her, a smile on his face, “You worried about me, huh?”
“You say me playing around on the court won’t get me anywhere but an injury, I could say the same for you. Quit playing with that girl's heart if you don’t actually like her. Somebody’s gonna come along that you might actually like, and when they pull a you on you,  it’s gonna hurt.”
He kept his eyes on her ankle, silently nodding as she lectured him. This would be the one time he didn’t want to fire back with a smart remark as the seriousness in her voice made him feel a bit scolded. 
“You ever think you were made for some sorta advice hotline?” he finally mumbled, “You tryna’ be my life coach now?”
She rolled her eyes, giving a soft giggle as she replied, “Being a good person is free as fuck.”
He let out another low chuckle, his expression softening a bit at the sound of her laugh. 
“You ain’t wrong,” he says quietly, his large fingers continuing to massage her ankle, “But she knew I didn’t want nothin’ serious with her from the jump. Not my fault if she got it twisted somewhere in the process. She just started saying I was her nigga.”
“Well, did you make her feel like you were?” She raises an eyebrow, “Did you say no when she called you that?”
He shrugged his shoulders indifferently, a nonchalant look on his face, “I don’t take it seriously when a girl calls me they’ boyfriend. Probably be fuckin’ them too good.”
She tilts her head, “Boy, bye. You ain’t giving bitches that type of dick—And maybe you should clarify you’re not their boyfriend? Don’t leave the door revolving, otherwise it causes miscommunication.”
“Shiiidd, I be havin’ them like—Oooohshit, Daddy,” he mockingly moans, tickling her ankle which makes her giggle again. 
She shakes her head, “I didn’t need to know all that. But I meant what I said—if  you don’t want them seriously, tell them that, Ony. That’s all.”
“You done preachin’ to me now?”
“No, I’m not. Since you’ so worried about my health, have you been going to physical therapy Mr. I almost tore my ACL last year? Is it giving you any issues on the field?” 
“It happened more than a year and a half ago,” he glares, “Why you’ bringing that up?”
“Cause I know how much it scares you to be without football,” she points out, “And if you can admit to loving something, football is that.”
He didn’t respond for a moment, his dark eyes staring down at her ankle as he massaged it. He didn’t realize that she had known him that well. 
He finally sighs, “I go to my physical therapy. I’ve been taking rest days and shit. Happy?”
She could tell he wanted to leave it there. So, she does. When she nods her head, that cocky grin appears back on his face as he asks, “You’ coming to my game tomorrow?”
“I’d never miss it. You know that.”
“Damn right you ain’t,” he responded, the smirk remaining on his lips, “You’ betta’ be in the stands cheerin’ like hell for me.”
“Let’s not say all that,” she laughs, “But I’ll be there.” 
His smile widened at the sound of her laugh, his eyes staring at the expression on her face—how her nose would scrunch up a bit when she giggled.
“Damn right you will,” he repeated, suddenly lifting her leg up and placing it back onto his lap, “You can get some special VIP access to my locker room after. I’ll need you to give me some physical therapy.”
“Onyankopon. I will kill you.”
“You’ already got my heart, Mama. Last time I checked, I’m dead.” 
“Onyankopon?”
“Huh?” 
“Get out.”
                                            𝓐ᥫ᭡
THE EXCITEMENT OF THE NEXT DAY ROLLED INTO THE NIGHT. The sun was beginning to set, lighting a fire amongst the entire campus as it was their favorite time—the football game. Everyone was geared up in their school's attire, or spun the colors within their own style, prideful in representing their HBCU’s team. The bleachers were filled with bodies, a sense of young adult spirit filling the entire stadium. Scents of nachos, pizza and beignets filled Sweetpea’s nostrils, almost more distracting than the thrum in her chest from the band performing loudly, the majorette team equally matching with their performance.
The team all stood in the locker room, many of them pacing while the coach gave his final speech about how he expected them to play. A few guys huddled together in the far corner as they discussed and strategized their plays.
All, except one. 
Onyankopon sat on a wooden bench in the corner, his dark eyes staring down at the floor. While everyone else was still gearing up for the game, he was fully dressed in his jersey—his muscular silhouette visible underneath. He always needed this time to himself. To pray, to run the plays within his mind, to think.
The crowd cheered as the team began running out onto the field, Sweetpea standing as she cheered next to Peanut, clapping as cleats sunk into the synthetic grass. Her eyes went straight to the last player that entered, the crowd somehow becoming louder at the entrance of the quarterback. 
His blacked out protective gear made him look even bigger, shadows of his tattoos beneath the material of the long-sleeve he wore under his jersey, holding his helmet beneath the bright yellow gloves on his large palms. A chill ran over her body as his teammates hyped themselves up, his arm raising to flex the muscles within, tongue sticking out arrogantly to symbolize his power. She didn’t think he’d actually notice her in the crowd—but she was hard to miss. 
Her dark hair was sprawled around her face in soft waves, sheer yellow and black top clinging to her waist, showing the midriff of her belly piercing and stomach. Dark grey wash shorts that showed the harsh poke of her hips and ass that created a Coke bottle silhouette, thin silver heels strapped against her ankles. Her fox eyes were slender with fluffy lashes, brown freckles sprucing along her caramel face, lips outlined with brown liner. 
He rarely saw her out of her basketball attire, but when he did, he couldn’t stop looking. She gave him a sweet wave, unaware of how impure she truly looked.
He couldn’t help the smirk that pulled through his full lips, raising his arm to give her a wink before bringing his focus back to the coach, running a few extra laps to warm up. 
The XULA football team always played as if they were in  the NFL, Onyankopon leading them in ways no one else could. He ran across the field like nothing, a similarity between him and Sweetpea as they had control of the ball at a constant. Touchdown after touchdown, they were whooping the opposing team effortlessly.
Onyankopon ran down the field, achieving another touchdown before making his way over to the sideline, pulling off his helmet as he reached the water table. He grabbed a towel with one hand, dumping water over the other and running it through his tatted face as he looked up, scanning the crowd. 
His dark eyes immediately found hers again.
Her cousin was too wrapped up in the attention of her boyfriend to see how they stared at one another. Sweetpea had been around Onyankopon enough to allow her school girl crush to falter, but each time he gave her that look, it’s like all of her emotions appeared again.
 The minute she tried to give him another wave, she brought her hand down as she saw his attention on none other than Ashleigh, who was performing within her majorette team on the field. She swung her hips with the choreography, blowing him a kiss as she bent down with her baton. She was every man’s fantasy on campus—silky dark hair, dark grey eyes, chocolate brown skin, body perfect in her yellow one piece, sparkly black headband against her forehead as she danced.
Of course he would be looking at her. 
Ashleigh gave him an exaggerated wink as she twirled around the field. It seemed like she made it her priority to give him the most attention whenever she saw him. 
Onyankopon finally looked away and brought the towel to his face as a grin tugged at his lips again, his mind drifting. Typical.
“You’ good?” Peanut noticed her cousins’ face, slowing down on the attention of her nachos.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Sweetpea murmured, leaving her thoughts to herself, focusing back on the game itself. She was fine.
Their football team had successfully won in their home field, cheering wildly at their additional victory. With their win, they celebrated as they usually did—a party within a frat house off campus.
 It was closer to downtown New Orleans, only blocks away from Bourbon street. It was a city that never slept, a thrive somewhere other than New York could produce. Music blared throughout the mansion—songs like Back That Azz Up by Juvenile, to BOP by Big Boogie— bodies moved to the beat, talking and laughing amongst each other in a happy radiance.
Onyankopon was right in the middle of it all, his team crowded around as they celebrated with him, all the girls at the party practically glued to their hips, Ashleigh being attached to him.
Sweetpea entered the party, clasping the hand of her cousin when she immediately found the eyes of Onyankopon. He had one arm wrapped around the waist of Ashleigh—who was currently wearing his varsity jacket—her hand gently caressing his broad chest as she whispered in his ear. His other hand was around a beer, taking a long drink as his dark eyes scanned the crowd. She pressed her lips together, giving a weak smile as she waved again, before being pulled towards her own group of friends.
He caught sight of her, his eyes glued on her frame as she moved through the crowded mansion. It made him clutch his beer as her hips twisted with each movement, ass shaking beneath her shorts. 
“Onyankopon?” Ashleigh whined, pouting her big lips as they curved downwards.
“Huh?” 
“You want another beer?” she asks, pulling his mouth down to meet hers.
“Fasho,” he murmurs against her lips, “‘Preciate it, Love.” 
Ashleigh wrapped herself tighter against his side, looking up at him as she tried to grab his attention. She then stood up, giving him one more kiss as she was making her way towards the table of drinks, seeing as Sweetpea stood there, trying to mix vanilla Coke with Crown for a richer taste.
Sweetpea glances at the girl, seeing her wearing a short skirt and crop top, body perfectly snug in her outfit under the jacket. Her hair was in curls now, and she looked as pretty as she always did. Pretty enough to always have Onyankopon’s attention. 
Ashleigh wasn’t a mean girl—that’d be too typical. However, she was a girl that did…notice the relationship between this girl and her man. She just wanted to check Sweetpea’s temperature. 
“Hey, Sweetpea!”
She has to pull back the roll in her eyes, giving her a smile as she greets, “Wassup, Ashleigh?”
“Not much,” Ashleigh makes a point to run a hand over Onyankopon’s jacket, “Grabbing a beer for my man, just saw you and figured I’d say hey!” 
Sweetpea instantly notices the movement, clearing her throat as she exhales, “Y’all just got here?”
“Nope. Been here a good twenty minutes,” she responded, watching her closely as she continued to rub her hand against the material. 
“Onyankopon is still pretty fired up from the game,” she giggles, “He’s all high and mighty after a win, can’t keep his damn hands off me. But I’m sure you know that.”
Sweetpea gives a small laugh to kill the awkwardness she feels, bringing the drink to her lips in hopes that would help this conversation, “Yeah…he’s uh—something else.”
“But girl, let’s talk about you! I never saw you outside of that basketball jersey. You’re actually passing for a bad bitch tonight!”
She could feel the passive aggression in her tone. She didn’t have to question it. One thing about that nickname of hers, it definitely was a representation of how she presented herself—sweet, not much to say. Just like now. 
Her attention is pulled by Onyankopon wrapping an arm over Ashleigh’s shoulders, teasing voice as he questions, “You’ bullying her?”
“Of course not, Daddy. I’m just having a chit chat with my friend,” she responds, giving a flutter of her eyelashes, “But speaking of, I’m finna’ go check on my girls!” 
She raises her lips up to give him a peck on the chin, giving Sweetpea another wave as she dismisses, “See you, girl! Watch my man for me!”
Sweetpea gives her an equally fake wave, waiting until she’s away from them before she glances back to Onyankopon, “She’s lovely, isn’t she?”
He shakes his head as he watches Ashleigh’s curvy figure walk over to her own friends. She always knew how to get under someone’s skin. 
“Ain’t you finna’ ask me all my stats for the game?” he mutters, smirking down at her as he crosses his arms, leaning over the table beside them.
She tilts her head a bit, the flow of her hair wafting his nose of jasmine and vanilla as she sighs, “Hmm, no. But I bet you’re gonna tell me.”
Her scent makes him want to growl like an animal, but he assumes it’s the beer. It has to be. 
“Two-hundred and forty passing yards, three-hundred and fifteen total yards. Four touchdowns, zero turnovers.”
She leans along the table as well, giving him a small smile as she corrects, “Five touchdowns—they tried to foul you, and you almost smacked the referee.”
He smiles like a giddy child, “So you’ was’ watching me.”
“If I say you’re the only reason I come to the games, your ego might put you in cardiac arrest,” she rolls her eyes, “I watch you just as much as you be on my ass during my games. Just returning the favor.”
“Mhm. You look good as fuck tonight.”
She feels her face become a bit warm, taking another sip of her drink, beginning to feel the buzz as she smacks her lips, “Save all that for Ms. Big Booty in your varsity jacket.”
“You’ just as thick,” he responds in a low tone, “Be makin’ the ground shake at every game. You’ can barely fit them shorts.”
That gets her to actually giggle, punching his arm as she says, “Shut the fuck up, and quit staring at my ass. You’ got a whole lil’ girlfriend to be diligent with.”
He chuckles as she hits him, “Who says I be starin’ at your ass? I was starin’ at them thighs, mothafucka’s is colossal.” 
“Only thing colossal is that big ass head of yours. If we put you under a satellite, the wifi cranking up in here!” She snaps back, “Yeah, that was good, huh?” She chuckles at his full on laugh. It was deep, genuine. Maybe even sexy.
“Yo’ ass so stupid,” he shakes his head, “Got the nerve to call me the comedian?”
He pauses, his eyes raking over her frame again. He was always looking at her. But this time, he sees her. Her brown freckles, the scrunch she made when she glanced around the room, the way she glowed beneath the dark purple lighting of the party. 
“Damn, you really are fine as hell when you don’t have an attitude.”
She rolls her eyes, trying to push away the feeling of her heart fluttering, “There you go talking again.”
“And there you go rolling them’ eyes…” He responds, raising his hand and using his thumb and index finger to tap her chin, “It’s cute.”
She pushes his hand away, “You want another reason for Ashleigh to burn that expensive ass varsity jacket of yours?”
“That girl will find a way to get mad at me even if I look at my shadow,” he smacks his lips, “Maybe I should’ve had you wearing it. You’ the one remembering all my plays.”
His skin equally glows beneath the lights, chains and grills shining against his black shirt, clung to his muscular frame in a way that compliments him, the colorful ink on his body, all of him—she sees him as well. There it was—those emotions returning to her. 
Maybe it was time to admit them. 
She swallows, holding her cup between her fingers as she whispers, “Ony—“
“Aye, fine shit.” 
Her eyes pull back to one of Onyankopon’s friends, a light skinned dreadhead all too familiar on campus. His bright pink lips, full goatee, brown eyes seemingly mischievous.
“Oh, um—hey, Rashaud,” she greets with a weak smile, pushing down everything she wanted to say.
“Come dance with me,” he tells her.
“Me?” She blinks.
Rashaud stands next to Sweetpea, his eyes roaming over her figure for a brief moment before he glances at his friend. 
“Yeah, you. You’ the only fine ass honey not on the floor with me,” he responds, his eyes lingering on the smooth tone of her thighs as she shifts them. He looks her up and down again, “Or you gon’ let a bunch of other niggas’ grind all over you?” 
Onyankopon’s eyes narrowed at him, a small frown pulling at his brow as he watched the interaction. He was irked.
She’s not used to having someone flirt with her like this. She blinks, “Um—“
“Girl, come dance! My song is on!”
Peanut comes swooping in as well, pulling her towards the crowd as Bring It Back by Travis Porter has everyone swarming towards the dance floor. Sweetpea gives Onyankopon an apologetic look as she’s being pulled away by her cousin and his friend. 
Even with Sweetpea’s shy demeanor at times, she knew how to have a good time. Bodies flood around her as she dances with Rashuad, ass pressed up against his hips as she grinds to the beat, eyes low, body intoxicated as he has a grip on her hair, tugging her down to meet his rhythm.
Onyankopon’s eyes narrowed even more, cooling his blood that warms beneath his skin as he takes a sip of his beer. 
…Why did he feel some type of way?  
His eyes locked onto her hair grasped between Rashaud’s large fingers, her body grinding against him slowly, looking him straight in the eye. Something in his jaw tightened, and maybe his dick jumped. 
His attention is pulled away as he feels arms wrap around his waist, Ashleigh interrupting him as she questions, “You’ gon give me some attention or keep watching Sweetpea bounce her ass on Rashaud?”
“I’m focused on you, girl. You’ the one I came with.” 
It wasn’t a whole lie, he did come with her. But a sudden  possession came over him when he thought about Sweetpea— and it was nothing like a brother, or a friend.
He’s back to glancing down as he hears Ashleigh smack her lips, pulling her arms back as she says, “Yeah, whatever nigga. I’m finna’ fuck around and find somebody else to dance with.”
She doesn’t give him the opportunity to respond as she left him, Onyankopon now actually irritated. But instead of doing anything, he takes another sip of his beer, preparing to grab for another one.
Sweetpea spent the rest of her night accompanied by Rashaud, although he was becoming a bit suffocating. She enjoyed the dance she’d given him, but that’s all she really wanted. 
When people begin making their way out the door, his dreads hover over her face as he questions, “You’ finna’ come to my dorm?” 
She gives him a light laugh, “Nah, I got a game tomorrow. Need all the rest I can get.”
A frown pulled at his lips, “Aww, really? You gon’ be up by yo’ self when you could be gettin’ company from me? Damn, Mami. You’ heartless.”
She laughs softly, “I’m sure you can find someone else to accompany you. Didn’t Onyankopon ride with you anyways?”
“He did. But I don’t know where that’ nigga at. If you see him, tell him I’m leaving. Otherwise a bitch finna’ be in the passenger,” he dismisses, Sweetpea chuckling, “Noted,” as he walks off.
She pushes her way through the bodies as she finds Ashleigh before Peanut, not wanting to speak to her, but her parental mode is beginning to switch on—where the hell was he? 
“Yo’, you’ seen Onyankopon?”
Ashleigh glances at Sweetpea, the irritation clearly present on her face as she answers, “I don’t know. He’ got me tight as hell, left me to talk to some other niggas and never answered my calls or texts when I was looking for him. I assumed he was with you,” she gives her an up and down, still glaring.
“Rashaud says he’s not getting a ride back to his car if he doesn’t leave now,” Sweetpea ignores Ashleigh’s attitude, “Are you taking him home?”
“Tuh! He got legs, he can make it,” she answers, rolling her eyes, “He chose to leave my ass, that’ nigga can find his way home. Matter of fact, you can take him, imma’ ask Rashaud to take me home.”
And with that, she’s already making her way to the exit, lightly bumping Sweetpea on the way out. She raises her eyebrows at the encounter, feeling her cousin come beside her as she mutters, “Ain’t she lovely?”
“Mhm,” Sweetpea murmurs, Peanut adding, “You gon’ be good to get Onyankopon home?” 
“If I find him.” 
“His ass’ too big to be lost,” Peanut says, shaking her head as she wasn’t surprised.
She spots several of his friends during her search, but no sign of him at all. She does one more search inside the fraternity as she goes upstairs, about to leave when she halts. 
She spots him leaned against one of the game rooms couches, snoring like a bear. She has to hold back her laugh—he was like an infant, sleeping anywhere he could. 
She sighs, leaning down as she smacks his forehead, “C’mon, boy. I’d like to go home.”
He groans loudly, his eyebrows furrowing as she interrupts his sleep. She’s pretty, even if his vision is blurry. 
“Damn, why you smackin’ me?”
“Cause you’ve somehow managed to piss off all the people who would’ve taken you back to your car tonight, and now I have to be a chauffeur for your drunk ass. Get up,” she tugs at his shirt, the action no effort to his weight.
“Ain’t nobody drunk, girl. I’m just sleepy.”
Another trait of his sleepiness—the grumpiness that also consumed it. She knows him.
 She exhales a bit as she then asks, “Want tacos?” 
He perks up, one eye opening fully as the word leaves her lips, “You buyin’?”
“Yes—“
He shoots up, leaning on her smaller frame to balance himself, almost toppling the both of them over that it causes Sweetpea to squeak. 
She places his arm over her shoulders as she helps him walk, “You’re a mess.”
“You’re tiny,” he responds, letting her bear the majority of his weight against her smaller frame, “I ain’t even that heavy—how they’ let your lil’ ass play ball?” 
It takes her ten minutes to make it to the taco stand, there to sober up drunk college students like the man sitting in her passenger seat. She could tell his headache was coming on as he covered his face with his hand, Sweetpea giving a kind smile to the worker as she took to-go boxes within her palms, climbing back into the car and placing the styrofoam on his lap.
“I got your birria tacos. And there’s someTylenol packets I grabbed from the corner store. Take those first,” she orders, reaching in her backseat for a bottle of water.
Once he managed to gain control of his headache, he opened his tacos up, the heavenly aroma of birria filling the car as he began eating them immediately. He’s already halfway finished while she hadn’t even pulled away from the stand. 
He was a greedy drunk.
She drives down the road back towards her dorm, holding back her giggle as she tells him, “Please don’t suffocate because you’re not swallowing your food.”
“If I die, know that these are good ass tacos.”
He’d practically eaten two, reaching in the container for another one before glancing at her, “How come you ain’t eat none?”
“I’ll eat later. I just didn’t want you to be hungover,” she glances at him, “Your lil’ Ashleigh didn’t seem to care where you ended up tonight. How’d you manage to piss her off again?”
“She got mad when me and Rashaud went to smoke. ‘Thought I was out there with some bitch, had a tantrum and started blowing my shit up, so I had to put my phone on DND.”
He stuffed another bite in his mouth before continuing to talk again.
“Girl gets on all my nerves.”
“You like her,” Sweetpea shrugs, “But next time, at least be nice to her before you gotta leave a party? You’ got my gas tank low because I have to go move your car to make sure you don’t get towed.”
“Aye— she was the one who got upset, not me. I wasn’t rude— just ignored that ass,” his head was still pounding, a reminder that he was still pretty wasted, “I can move my own car and fill up your tank. My bad, shawty.”
“You think I’m letting you drive? You’ve been drinking,” she shakes her head, “It’s fine.”
“Don’t act like you ain’t been drinkin’ too. I saw you, bouncing your ass all over Rashaud.”
She could hear the sharpness in his words, raising an eyebrow as she turned the corner, “It was just a dance.”
When he doesn’t respond and glances down at his phone, the both of them go quiet. Onyankopon’s tipsy ears began  hearing a familiar instrumental on the radio—Can We Talk by Tevin Campbell—turning up the song as he howled, “Oooh, that’s that shit!”
Sweetpea rolls her eyes, giggling softly as she watches him drunkenly sing along, swinging his arms, clutching her legs to the music.
 She smacks him away as she continues, “Anyways, Rashaud just wants somebody to hump on. I want a nigga who’s gonna sing outside my window. Some stupid, cheesy, romantic shit. Not some hookup after a party. However, some head would be nice at the moment,” she shrugs.
He eyes her for a moment, eyes darkening at her words, “You want a simp ass nigga,” he confirms, the word leaving his lips with a slight hint of disdain, “Who gon’ do all that corny, lame bullshit.”
To think that she wanted to confess her feelings to him earlier that night, his tone now irritates her. She parks in front of his shiny black Charger, turning towards him as she narrows her eyes, “Call it what you want. If I dealt with the bullshit you play with Ashleigh, I’d turn your ass every way fuckin’ loose on this campus. I’d never let a nigga play with me. You’ wanna keep fishin’ for pussy, that’s cool. You’ll feel empty later.”
She raises her hand, “Give me your keys.”
He’s silent for a moment, his brain slowly processing her words before he finally realizes what she’s actually upset about. But he couldn’t respond—didn’t really know how to. So instead, his hand reached in his pocket to fish out his keys, placing them in her palm in silence.
She hates that it’s now awkward, but she was annoyed with him. She didn’t need him to like her back. But with a mentality like that, it was telling her everything she needed to know before she got the chance to express herself. 
She parked his car in her lot, pulling her Coach purse over her shoulder as they began making their way into her dorm. She was quiet, pushing open the door as she knew Peanut wasn’t home. 
He feels guilty. He could try cracking a joke—but he knew her better than that. 
She tosses her keys as she makes her way to the sofa, now feeling the ache of her feet in these heels as she bends down to begin untying them. Her light groan fills the room as he soles throb by the second.
When he hears her groan of pain from her sore feet, he can’t help himself. He’s taking a seat on the other side of the sofa, reaching for her foot that she was struggling with. 
“C’mere.”
“I’m fine,” she murmurs, beginning to untie them faster, the ribbon becoming more tangled as she does this in frustration.
“Don’t start being stubborn now, shawty,” his large hand grabbing her ankle and tugging her towards him, “I said c’mere. Just lemme help you.”
She rolls her eyes, stopping the fight she wants to give as she allows him to help her. She leans herself on the elbow dug into the sofa’s material, blowing her hair out of her face as a habit. She was the one for silent treatment, but she didn’t have time for that at this moment. 
“You’ really meant what you said in the car?”
“What I said about you wantin’ a simp ass nigga?” 
He starts massaging the arch of her foot, working his thumb into the  tight muscle. The feeling makes her foot twitch, the alcohol in her system making this massage a little too good. She nods her head, adjusting herself as she feels her body throb in lower places.
“You deserve better than a nigga who’s gonna people-please his way into some pussy.” 
“I’m not asking for a doormat, Ony. I was just saying I don’t want that bullshit you play on all these girls. Arguing, miscommunication, confusion. It’s too much,” she admits with a shrug, “I don’t know how you do it.”
“I do it cause it’s fun,” he admits, watching his fingers work on massaging her foot, “Ain’t none of my relationships serious. You on the other hand…ain’t never been in a relationship. How you’ know you want all that?”
“How do you know what you’ve never experienced?” She turns the question on him, “Have you ever been in love with someone to know that something serious feels just as good as what you call fun?”
Now that was a question. 
“I have been in love with someone, yeah.”
She doesn’t expect that answer. She sighs a bit, leaning herself more on her hand as she says, “I think that being soft isn’t the worst thing in the world. I know I can be…a lil’ rough around the edges. Someone to remind me that it’s okay to be all girly, lovey, corny, wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.” 
Her eyes fall to her lap, playing with her fingers at her admission.
“Don’t say that, man. Ain’t no nigga out here would see you as the rough type,” he shakes his head, “You’re the sweetest person I know. You just got’ no filter and you don’t take bullshit. That’s different.”
A soft laugh pulls from her at that, eyes closing as she hums from his hands loosening the tense muscles on her feet. She sighs, “You’re saying that to be nice. You’re a sweetie when you massage my feet.”
“I’m serious. You ain’t rough at all—just my pretty ass girl who plays ball.”
Her eyes come open a bit as she repeats, “My?”
He realizes his mistake, freezing in place before he quickly clarifies, “You know what I meant.”
Another air of silence between them. It’s like a tension is building, and she’s not sure where it’s coming from. They’d been alone many times before, but this was different. 
She pulls her leg back a bit as she groans, “Fuckin’ feet still hurt. Maybe I need a shower.”
She goes to stand, when she’s suddenly captured by large arms, cuffed under her ass as she’s lifted within the air. She shrieks, “Onyankopon!”, stifling out a shocked giggle as he travels into her bedroom, flopping them down onto the bed. 
“The only thing you need to be doing right now is laying down and lettin’ me take care of yo’ ass for once,” he responds, landing right on top of her, pinning her underneath his body in the process. 
She tilts her head a bit, the intoxication of the night's previous drink suddenly catching up to her. She’s floaty as she giggles, “You’re drunk, you can’t take care of me.”
“You think I can’t?” he smacks his lips, “Better than any simp ass nigga ever could.”
“So you wanna take place of my metaphorical nigga?” She blinks, giggling even more. 
“No, I’m gon’ be your very literal nigga.”
Fuck, here it was again. That tension she questioned earlier. Their eyes are pouring into another’s, and she can’t help herself at this point. 
Sweetpea does it before she thinks—she leans her head up as she gently presses her lips to his, kissing him.
Oh.
He’s caught off guard by this, his brain frozen from processing the small kiss—But the sweetness of her lips are intoxicating. Within seconds, his brain starts to function again and he’s kissing her back, lips moving with hers in a slow, passionate rhythm.
It was nothing like she’d expected. When she feels his tongue in her mouth, heavy, is when she realizes she kissed him. 
She pulls back, one hand against the side of his neck as she presses her other fingers to her mouth, warmth against her face as she says softly, “…I’m sorry.”
He’s still hovering over her, his head spinning from the intense kiss. When she pulled away, it was almost like a bucket of ice water was thrown on him, mind racing over what had just happened. 
“You don’t gotta—I ain’t mad you did that, Mama,” he responds, trying his best to keep his voice even, “You don’t gotta apologize.”
“I didn’t—“ she pulls herself up a bit, “I’m sorry. I just thought—fuck, I’m stupid. I’m sorry,” she can’t stop apologizing.
“Cut that out,” he grunts, moving one of his arms to take hold of her chin, making her look at him, “Talk to me. Why are you apologizing?”
“Kissing means a lot more to me than what it means to you, Onyankopon,” she narrows her eyes, “I need to go shower, and you’re still drunk.”
Those words sting. A lot. 
“You think that meant nothin’ to me?” The grip on her chin becoming tighter, “Like I’m some nigga for shits and giggles?”
She’s full on glaring at him now,  “That’s what you make yourself to be. I’m not tryna’ get in your crossfire.”
“You know that’s bullshit. I’m not that nigga I make myself out to be—Not with you.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better? That everything’s suddenly so different with me? If you felt like that, why are you only saying it cause I kissed you?” 
She runs her fingers through her hair, sighing with a humorless laugh, “This is stupid.” 
“Why’d you do it, then? Huh? Why’d you kiss me if you didn’t want shit to change?”
“We’ve both been drinking.”
He smacks his lips, “I ain’t even drunk no more—be for real with me. I wouldn’t be mad if you felt something for me. If you want me.” 
“It doesn’t matter whether I want you—You don’t have to want me because that’s what I’m looking for.” 
She’s being deceptive, but it’s better than getting herself hurt.
“You think I don’t want you? You think that I don’t have feelings for you?”
She’s feeling her throat becoming tight, looking him up and down as her voice becomes soft, “…I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” He’s leaning down so he’s eye level with her, “Damn near twenty years of knowin’ each other and you don’t know?”
She moves her face back a bit, arms crossed over her chest as she feels that pounding return in her ears. She knew there was a possibility of feelings being reciprocated, but to hear it out loud, it’s as if she’d gone deaf. 
Her breath comes out uneven as his mouth is closer to hers, pressing her hand against his chest as she repeats, “I don’t.” 
“Don’t fuckin’ play with me,” his jaw clenches at her response, leaning even closer as his breath hits her face.
She clutches the material of his shirt as she shudders, “Move, Onyankopon.”
He leans closer, close enough for his lips to almost touch hers. His voice is deep—she can’t think at this point.
 He grunts, “Let me have you. You’ being hardheaded.”
It’s as if she’d run a marathon. She clutches his shirt tighter, unsure if she wanted to pull him just a centimeter closer, or fully push him away. Her breathing is unsteady as her eyes falter shut. 
She nods her head as she begs, “…Kiss me, please.”
He doesn’t waste another second, bringing his hand to cup around the back of her neck as he roughly crushes his lips into hers.
His mouth feels heavy again, Sweetpea breathless against his lips as he tongues her down, eyes rolling back from something as simple as a kiss—She’s spinning. The strength of his lips travel as they drop down to her throat, her fingers sliding down his back with every movement, grazing her nails into the skin as she softly gasps, “…O—Ony…”
He’s leaving hickeys along her neck, biting and sucking the skin as he moves between each spot. Her nails in his flesh makes him groan. 
“You gotta stop digging in my shit like that,” he mutters in between each hickey, licking and soothing the mark he made before sucking another one, “Makes me wanna do sum’ you’ not ready for.”
“I’m—sorry,” she whispers, bringing her fingers to the nape of his neck, pressing him closer to her throat as she embarrassingly pleads, “I…like when you kiss me here…”
He groans again, latching his lips back onto her neck as he sucks on the sensitive skin, leaving hickey after hickey. 
“Yeah? Like that?” He can’t help but lowly chuckle, turning it into a grunt, “Where else you’ like me kissin’ you?”
She could feel a throb beginning to form between her legs. Her back shudders into an arch, Onyankopon’s lips catching her nipples nudging through the thin material of her top, roughly kissing at them as his mouth goes down lower, lower…
Her fingers are against his arm as her head comes up, her heart beating within her chest as her cheeks flush, “I—I don’t k—know,” jerking away from him each time he moves.
“You tellin’ me you don’t know where else you want me kissin’ you?” He’s now looking up at her under the shadows of his lashes, tongue running along his lips as if he were preparing for a meal.
His fingers are like Velcro against her skin, sliding beneath her top, clinging against her chest as his lips suck up pieces of her stomach, spreading her legs in between his body. Her ankles slide along his backside, legs dropping against his shoulders as he puts them there—she feels like her heart might start beating outside of her chest. 
She grips along his arm as she moves with him, trembling under his touch as she exhales, “I—Ony….” She can’t speak.
“You sound good as fuck sayin’ my name like that,” he huffs as he moves lower, “Like you ain’t never said it before…keep that shit up.”
She catches herself over thinking, knowing that she wasn’t nearly as experienced as him—she really didn’t know what she wanted. She hated how shy she felt, but this moment didn’t feel like it existed in her mind, it was like a hazy dream. Blame it on the alcohol. 
With that intoxicated courage, she presses her legs together as she raises her hips, beginning to peel her shorts off her body. Her embarrassment floods the river within her mind as she sees his jaw clench. Pulling him up into a distracting kiss, she closes her eyes to rid the self-consciousness. 
The kiss he returns feels impatient. He’s sucking against her tongue, losing to the temptation he’s holding back to devour her— he just can’t help himself. 
When her legs spread back open, the caramel skin disappears beneath the bubblegum pink of her pussy, glistening from her arousal. It makes him practically famished.
 He pulls himself back, “You’ pretty as fuck, don’t do all that…” placing her legs back over his shoulders, locking his eyes down with an almost awed expression. 
“Damn…”
He’s kissing her thighs, voice low into the crook of her inner skin as he compliments, “Pussy pretty as fuck, I gotta give her a kiss.” 
He lowers his mouth down to come in contact with how wet she already is, nudging his lips in between the folds. He welcomes the nub into his mouth as he gives it a french kiss, tongue tossing her clit that throbs as he makes contact with it. She whimpers, raising her hand onto his head, sliding against the softness of his braids, wanting to jump out of her skin at this very moment. Why did it already feel so good?
That whimper— It’s the most vulnerable he’s heard her. He grunts, “Ain’t never tasted some pussy like this,” swirling his tongue lower to have it sink in between her folds, the mixture of arousal and saliva beginning to collect in his beard. His jaw is dropping up and down in repetitions, opening his mouth wider to catch every single part of her—she’s like candy, a reward after a game, a prize no one else could receive. Her taste explodes across his senses, making him growl low in his throat.
Her lips part, an almost shocked look on her face as she gasps, chest arching up as she brings her eyes down to watch. It’s almost like a torturous tickle, another shuddering whimper plummeting from her mouth as she frowns, “Agh—Ony…” his tongue dragging every which way on her pussy, hovering over her opening to have another make out session with her clit.
This is his alcohol, his drug of choice. He's giving her slow licks, his hot breath causing her muscles to flutter in a way that has him moan, “Ooh shit, pussy gettin’ tight from my mouth…”
He’s smearing her wetness across her folds and inner thighs, hands gripping her ass firmly, kneading the plump cheeks as he gives the skin a spank, Sweetpea full on moaning in response. Onyankopon looks up at her with lust-filled eyes, "Yeah, I wanna hear that. Keep that the fuck up.”
Her head falls back against the bed as she releases tiny moans, hearing her own voice in her ears making her cheeks hot. He’s relentless, slurping her up so that it creates a loud sound within the room, head swiveling side to side, up and down, in circles, her arousal floods the sheets beneath her body. When his tongue drags down to meet her opening with a filthy kiss, it sinks in all at the same time, making her whine out, “Fuck,” trembling as she gasps, pressing her knees to her chest to hold her shaking legs.
Grunting in satisfaction at her reaction, Onyankopon takes it further, licking her entrance before pushing his tongue back inside, curling it up to stroke her inner walls. He pulls back, letting out a deep rumble, "Damn, you taste so fuckin’ good,” his own eyes nearly rolling back, “Fuck…” 
Slurp, slurp, the sounds fill the air in a nasty way, his nose pressed against her swollen lips. He's licking her up and down, from her clit to her entrance, going as deep as possible without pushing back inside, savoring her flavor. She’s clawing at his skin, shaking like a leaf in a way she didn’t expect herself to. He’d never been so fixated on a girl, so enthralled—he couldn't stop himself. 
Onyankopon leans up to capture her lips in a rough kiss, swallowing her cries under his tongue as he thrusts in and out, mimicking the act they both crave.
Her fingers go to touch him, palms trembling so much that she can barely get a grip along his skin, kissing him back in such a consuming muddle.
He chuckles darkly, "Look at you, all fucked up,” lips latching back down to her clit, his free hand reaching up to tangle in her hair, tugging her head back to add more pleasure, yanking her down to meet the aching wait of his mouth.
Pleasure wasn’t even the word at this point. She feels faint, spots within her vision as his other fingers press between her plump lips, pulling her by the bite of her teeth to watch him. 
She muffles in between her whimpers, “O—Ony—” she feels panicked, as if she doesn’t know how this could feel so good, pressing her hand to his arm to slow him down, “S—Stop, I’m gonna p—pee…”
A deep chuckle rumbles through his chest, vibrating against her flesh, “You ain’t finna’ pee, Mama,” he murmurs against her, tongue still flicking rapidly over her clit. He adds more pressure, watching her deep inhales, her exhale dragging out into a small sob, tears brimming her eyes as she finds his hair again.
Her ankles are in the air, the slurp of her pussy, his voice, it’s all too much for her. The tears in her eyes are in between harsh waves of pleasure and embarrassment, unable to stop the pressure of release as she unknowingly squirts in his mouth, her moans broken, whining, squealing as she gushes out. She trembles, “O—Oh my god…” the gasps pulling from her mouth are almost dangerous.
“Why you’ squirting like that,” he groans, never pulling away as he delves his mouth deeper, drinking in her essence as her orgasm hits, taste intensifying with each spasm of her pussy.
She whines, “Ony—stoppp,” crying like a baby, a mess at this point. She hiccups in between, trying to latch her legs closed, whimpering at the painful spank she gets in return, his growl almost evil. He just can’t stop.
“Got a nigga thirsty as fuck.” 
His tongue is interminable, lapping across her sensitive flesh, coaxing forth new surges of ecstasy. He enjoys the way her whole body vibrates beneath him. His face is drenched, beard shampooed as she’s coating him like a splash of water from the sink—she can’t stop cumming.
He’s in between her legs, pleasuring her in a way she’d never been catered to before. Her legs are shaking, her voice is hoarse as she cries for him, the most vulnerable she’d ever been. She practically begs him to stop, teary eyed and body vibrating from the countless releases as he pulls himself up to her, forehead pressing against her own, her heavy breathing gusting along his face like wind. Her tear stained cheeks are warm, eyes closed as she can’t bring herself to look at him.
He kisses her cheeks, gently brushing away the tears. He’s hovering over her, one hand planted by the side of her head, resting his weight on it as the other strokes the side of her face. 
“Open your eyes,” he instructs softly, “Lemme see you.”
After a moment, her wet lashes flutter open. She returns her hand to the back of his neck, noticing the look of amusement on his face. She closes her eyes again, hiding her face somehow as she whimpers, “Don’t laugh.”
There’s a look of almost tenderness on his face as he softly chuckles, taking her wrist to pull it away from her face. 
“I ain’t laughin’,” his voice is low, “I just like seein’ you like this…you look cute this way.”
She rolls her eyes, releasing her own small laugh. Her forehead is still pressed against his as she searches his face, seeing the vulnerability he carries in this moment. 
Her voice is small as she calls, “…Ony?”
“Yeah, Mama?” He’s got his fingers playing with the strands of her hair, eyes staring straight into hers, “What you need?”
“You don’t have to say you like me back if you really don’t…” her voice is soft, “I just—don’t want anything to feel forced…”
It’s almost painful how hesitant she looks in this moment, and he can’t help but narrow his eyes as if insulted. 
“You still deaf as fuck in one ear, huh?” His mouth is back to hovering over her face, lips inches from hers,  “I want you.”
She hears his voice—she listens. Nodding her head, she pulls him back into a gentle kiss, lowering her hand as she tugs at the belt on his jeans. Her mouth pulls back as she feels his fingers intertwine in her palms, pressing her hand back onto the bed.
“Hold up,” he murmurs as he pulls back, “I don’t want it like this—a nigga was just hungry and wanted to make you feel good. Couldn’t help but eat that pretty ass pussy. C’mon,” he gently smacks her ass, “You’ got a game tomorrow.”
She flinches a bit at his words, “Your mouth is bad,” ignoring the flush that returns in her face. She frowns a bit at his rejection, but she can also appreciate the wait. 
She hides the frown as she asks, “…Are you staying here?” 
“You need to ask if I’m stayin’ here? Where else am I gon’ go? A nigga ain’t finna’ leave after what we just did.”
Her vulnerability is still there. She glances around his face before she shakes her head, “Sorry.” 
She pulls him into another soft kiss, “You wanna come shower with me?”
“You gotta stop apologizin’ to me, Sweetpea. Shit is irritating.”
She scrunches her face up, “Okay, nigga. I’m just making sure. Actually, you ain’t gotta shower with me!” 
She stands from the bed with her arms crossed, unable to hide her giggle as he yanks her back towards him. 
“Stop playing,” he gruffly mutters, arms wrapping around her smaller frame, nudging a kiss on her throat, “C’mon. I’ll braid yo’ hair up for the game tomorrow.”
She had to surpass the embarrassment of bathing with him, already beneath the shower head as he removed his clothes. Her eyes trail down to his sculpted frame, the ink on his pelvic, glancing at the monster that slaps along his belly button, hanging between his legs. 
But even in this steamy environment—It’s sweet, a different Onyankopon that she’d never seen. He stands behind her as he sensually washes her body, trailing kisses against her skin, washing her hair in a way that feels loving. From sitting on the floor with him as he braids her hair back for her game the next day, to her face against his chest as he snored above her. She was in love with this man. 
When the next morning comes, her eyes open to find that she was by herself in the bed. She doesn’t know why she becomes a bit worried. But as her eyes find his chain against her dresser, a sticky note beside it reads—
‘COACH CALLED FOR A MEETING. LEFT MY CHAIN SO I HAD A REASON TO COME BACK.’ 
A small smile comes to her lips at that. Her attention is pulled as she hears her door open, her cousin Peanut leaning into the frame with a raised eyebrow. 
Sweetpea scratches her head as she gives an awkward smile, “Uh…hey.” 
“Hey. He’s gone I see,” Peanut crosses her arms over her chest, “You two finally did it, huh?”
“No, no. We didn’t. Um—“
She hesitates a bit, “We just…slept off the alcohol,” she shrugs.
“Right. So, is that why he left his chain on your dresser?”
She glances at the dresser before looking back to her cousin, “Girl, shut up. You’ wanna go hoop for a little?”
Peanut snickers, moving out of the door frame, “You know I do. Come on, it’ll be a fun way to blow off your hangover.”
Onyankopon was grown, but why was she so worried when the entire day almost went by, and she hadn’t heard from him? 
Her and Peanut practiced for a while, got food, even stopped at another teammate's dorm. Nothing. She’d called him twice with no answer, and hadn’t seen him on campus. She walks back towards her dorm with Peanut, sighing as she glances back down to her phone. 
“This nigga better come get his chain before I throw it out,” she mutters in irritation. 
Peanut chuckles, walking beside her as she says, “Clinging onto him already? It’s cute. Y’all my couple goals or whatever!” 
Sweetpea rolls her eyes, “What if everything last night was just in the moment, Peanut? He was just fuckin’ with Ashleigh not too long ago.”
“Ain’t no nigga leaving his chain at your place if he doesn’t like you. Y’all have known each other for years, Pea. He likes you.”
“Yeah, he likes a lot of bitches. Including Ms. Big Booty Hoe,” she reminds.
Peanut shoves her cousin in the shoulder 
as they reach the dorm, pushing her key into the knob as she says, “You really gon’ let your doubt ruin a good thing? Pussy.” 
Sweetpea raises an eyebrow, “Pussy? Rude—”
When she opens the door to their dorm, they both halt. It’s a nightmare if Sweetpea had a word for it. Their eyes come into focus on Onyankopon on the couch, Ashleigh along his lap, his varsity jacket on her shoulders as her lipstick smears against his cheek. The both of them have a look on their face as if they didn’t expect to be caught— but there’s not enough time to process anyone’s expression. 
Onyankopon was already standing to explain himself, while Sweetpea is lunging forward, her body being caught by her cousin who wraps an arm around her chest to stop her. She practically sees red.
His jaw tenses as he sees her ready to swing, “You’ finna hit me?”
She jerks in her cousins hold, “I’ll hit you and your hoe,  nigga! I never gave a fuck— Are you serious?” 
“Who are you calling a hoe?” Ashleigh frowns, stepping forward herself, Onyankopon pulling her back.
“Bitch, you!” 
It took a lot to get Sweetpea out of character. She’s not even listening to what he has to say, ready to throw hands with the girl on the couch, and him.  
“Chill the fuck out, Pea,” he warns,  “It’s not even like that.”
“Not like that? It looks like you was finna’ fuck a bitch in my dorm!” She exclaims, “How the fuck else does it look? I should really smack the shit out of you!”
"I said it ain’t even like that, Pea!” he defends, “I called her to get my jacket. That’s all.”
“So why the bitch on your lap?” She frowns, “You think I’m stupid as fuck? Fuckin’ lipstick on your face and shit,” she mushes his face with her palm, unfazed by his glare, “You got the bitch in my dorm—my dorm!”
She hates that there’s angry tears in her eyes, being held even tighter by her cousin, not even focused on the fact that Ashleigh still stands within the room.
"I swear to fuckin’ god bro—It ain’t what it looks like, but you also not finna’ hit me, Pea,” he warns with a step forward, “You need to calm your ass down and let me explain!”
“Nigga—fuck you!” She mushes his face again, “And this bitch! Y’all fuckin’ deserve each other! I hope you know that she was fuckin’ yo’ friend Rashaud last night after that party while you letting the bitch on your lap!” 
Her words are sharp, angry, but overall hurt. She’d never planned to admit her feelings to Onyankopon in fear that they’d get thrown back in her face—here it was. 
A look comes along his face, as if he was genuinely surprised to hear this information. He has no time to even process that, before he hears Ashleigh go off, “That ain’t your business to be telling, bitch!”
When Sweetpea goes to swing at this girl, Peanut is the one to dismiss the chaos within the room, fully pulling her cousin back to stop this from becoming worse. 
“Y’all need to chill the fuck out before the RA hears this bullshit. Onyankopon, you should’ve never brought Ashleigh to our dorm, no matter what the fuck was going on. And you need to get the fuck out. I don’t have any issue with jumping you in this hoe,” Peanut threatens Ashleigh.
Ashleigh sneers, “Fuck all of y’all,” throwing the jacket on the sofa—but she doesn’t leave before giving Sweetpea the finger, moving quick as the girl continues to struggle under her cousins hold.
When Sweetpea brings her eyes back to Onyankopon, there’s less anger in her face. She pushes out of Peanut’s hold as she shuts her emotions down in that exact moment.
“I have a game later—I don’t have time for this shit.” 
To see her go from that vulnerability he always chased, showing him a completely different side of her—to this. It was like nothing had changed between them. 
“Pea—“
She slams her door, leaving the both of them outside. That was the end of it. At least for now. 
                                        𝓐ᥫ᭡
TWO MINUTES LEFT IN THE GAME. The court was where she belonged, but her mind was elsewhere. Her eyes tried their best to pull away from him as he was in the bleachers, watching her every move like he always did. That would never change. But she wasn’t in her element tonight. She’d been missing plays, dropping the ball, foul after foul. 
It got to the point where seconds were in the last quarter, and as she took the opportunity to throw the ball into the hoop, she watched as it completely missed, her eyes trailing over to the audience that watched with expressionless faces. 
The game ends, her teammates looking at her, Peanut’s expression filled with worry—it was all wrong. As the other team jumped around and cheered for their win, Sweetpea walked over to the bench as she sat herself down, dropping her face into her jersey as she cried. Frustrated with herself, frustrated with this entire day.
Onyankopon watches her shoulders shake beneath her jersey. He wants nothing more than to comfort her, but he knows that will only drive the knife deeper. So he sits there, watching in silence as her teammates pat her on the back, offering their support as their coach talks to them, scolding Sweetpea for her performance. 
He had to fix this.
A couple of days had gone by. Sweetpea had trapped herself within her dorm for the weekend, just wanting to get her mind together for the next week. She wanted her mind to be blank— but all she could think about was how having a childhood crush got her into this entire situation. She sits against her bed with one of her textbooks open, body swallowed under her oversized graphic tee and hair sprawled around her face, just freshly showered from bed rotting. 
Her eyes glance up to her door peeking open as Peanut appears, “You’ gonna be good before I head out?”
“I’m good, Peanut,” she brushes off, “Where you’ going?”
“Just to a party,” she replies from the doorway, “You sure you don’t want to come? Might cheer you up, you know? Get your mind off everything.” 
Peanut's brown eyes move from her cousin towards the floor as she sighs, “…I’m worried about you, Pea.“
“I’m good,” she repeats, “I just…wanna take some time to myself. I got exams to study for—go have fun for me, okay? Send me pictures,” she gives a weak smile, dropping the pen in between her fingers.
She can tell that Sweetpea was lying, but she wasn’t going to force her to go.
“Okay,” she says softly, taking a few steps back, “Call me if you need anything.”
She gives her a wave as she shuts the door. She wasn’t necessarily lying, she did want time to herself— But that didn’t mean the solitude wasn’t lonely. 
Her TV was extremely low within its volume setting as she studied. But as she continued to highlight important sections, her attention was caught by the sound of music coming from outside. It’s a familiar song, loud enough that it’s coming from someone’s car, disturbing her studying. If it was bothering her, it definitely bothered others within the complex. 
She takes a breath as she pushes herself off the bed, fuzzy socks along the ground as she pulls the blinds of the window to peek outside. And when she does—she’s in for something. 
Her eyes watch as Onyankopon is standing on the grass across from her window below, Can We Talk by Tevin Campbell playing loudly with all the windows down on his car, his arms out as he serenades her. Her mouth drops open.
He’s never felt like more of a dumbass than in this moment. Yelling out a love song in the middle of the afternoon just to get a girl to talk to him again. He didn’t care that people were recording him, beginning to open their windows in shock—all he had on his mind was the window to Sweetpea’s dorm.  He just hoped it didn’t take her long to open it.
She panics as she pulls her blinds up, opening the actual window as she leans out, “Onyankopon, what the hell are you doing?!”
“The hell it look like?!” he calls out to her, “You’ been avoiding me! You said you wanted a nigga to serenade you!”
“Onyankopon,” her mouth drops open a bit, “You cannot be serious right now!”
“I’m dead serious!” he snaps back, “You won’t talk to me, won’t answer my texts, and don’t answer when I call!” He points his finger up at the dorm, “Get your ass down here before I start doing choreography like New Edition!”
He’s back to singing, people yelling out from their windows, irritated with the interruption he causes. Her mouth drops even lower at this, and to avoid her RA blaming her for this entire mess, she slips on her house shoes as she darts downstairs, opening the double doors of her dorm to see him now standing across from her.
“Can you stop?!” She throws her arm out, wanting him to cut the music playing out of his car, “If I get reported I’m turning your ass loose on this grass!”
“Now see? That’s all you had to do.” 
His arms lower as he moves around the front of the car, cutting the music off, “You was’ up there studying?”
She crosses her arms over her chest, “Make your point quick as fuck, Onyankopon. Otherwise I’m going back upstairs.”
“Aight, look—You’ been blowing me off because of a dumb ass fight—That ain’t right, Sweetpea. You can’t just ignore a nigga you care about.” 
“Good thing I don’t care, hm?” She raises an eyebrow, attempting to close the door, eyes narrowing as he locks his fingers against the handle.
"Bullshit. I know you better than that, Pea. You’ the type of girl to care.”
“And you the type of nigga to sweeten your way through anything,” she fires back, “Look, man. I gotta finish studying. Are you done?”
“Why you gotta shut me out, Pea? Why ‘you mad at me for caring about you? I know it was my fault, but you didn’t even let me talk to you about it.” 
He’s still gripping onto the door, not letting her close it on him. 
“Why you’ gotta make things difficult for me? Can’t I love your ass without you avoiding me on some bullshit?”
The word love echoes through her mind. She blinks as she’s thrown off a bit, searching his face through the black sweatshirt and Nike sweatpants he wears, his muscular frame silhouettes beneath it. 
Her eyes pull up as she hears a random person from their window, “Talk to that nigga so y’all can stop disturbing the entire complex, niggas is sleep and studying!” 
She brings her eyes back to him, contemplating for a moment. She sighs as she rolls her eyes, opening the door into the hallway of the dorms as she says, “Just hurry up and come in.”
He’s a bit relieved that she finally lets him in, shutting the door gently behind himself as soon as he steps into the girls’ dormitory. It’s weird to feel so awkward with her—he’s never felt so off with someone since he was in grade school.
She closes the door to her bedroom, turning towards him as she states, “You’ got five minutes, Onyankopon. Say what you need to say.”
She looks cute as hell in her fuzzy socks and oversized shirt, her hair sprawled around, falling past her shoulders. He has to make a conscious effort of looking into her eyes instead of staring at the way her shirt hides her curves.
He frowns, “Five minutes? That ain’t enough.”
“And now you have four.”
He takes a seat on the edge of her bed, looking around at the mess of textbooks and papers spread out along with her comforter. He’s quiet for a few seconds as he runs his hands over his face, finally looking up at her with a look of sincerity. 
“I’m sorry.”
“For?” 
“For hurting you.”
He can’t stand that she’s not looking at him as she moves things from the bed, so he stands back up, taking a few steps until he’s standing behind her.
“You ain’t even finna’ look at me?”
She sighs, halting herself as she gives him her undivided attention, “Yeah, okay. You hurt me, Onyankopon. The sky is also still blue. You’ saying shit I’m already aware of.”
“You’ still don’t have anything to say after ignoring me all week? I’d rather you be ready to swing.”
“Swing on you? I only wanted to do that because I was mad. I’m not a bitch who’s gonna keep playing around with you. I’ve known you for years, and you gave me the courage to feel like I could finally admit how I felt about you—How I’ve always felt. But you were too busy worrying about the next bitch, so it was easier to just be cool on you. You then say you feel the same, eat my pussy, and then I catch you with a bitch on your lap the very next day. Tell me, what would you have thought?” She questions, raising an eyebrow.
He can’t deny that she’s right about everything she said, but he never meant to hurt her this much. There was no excuse for what he did, and he’d rather have her scream than give him nothing. 
“You’ right,” he says after a few seconds of silence, “You’ completely right. But it wasn’t like that. I was on the way back to come see you—I asked Ashleigh to come bring my jacket back, and I was gonna end shit with her. She tried to make a move, and y’all walked in as I was tryna put her out.”
She searches his face, seeing that he looked to be telling the truth. He doesn’t add too many excuses or go into detail the way he would if he was lying. 
She then says, “Even if you were just tryna’ end shit with her, you know the bitch doesn't like me like that. You could’ve met her somewhere else on campus. Meet her at your dorm. It wasn’t cool to bring her here. And you’re grown as fuck, it should’ve never got far enough for her to be in your lap.”
“Yeah,” he replies, “Yeah, I know. I wasn’t thinking straight, and I wasn’t thinking about how it would look to you when you saw it. I can’t take it back, but I can apologize for it. For real—Alana, I love you.”
Hearing her government name fully throws her off. She’s visibly taken back as her arms fall from being crossed, pointing out, “You said you loved me earlier before you walked in. I figured you just meant that you liked me a lot.”
“Nah,” he says firmly, stepping even closer until he’s towering over her again, “I do love you. Hell—I think I have since the moment I met you. I was too busy being dumb and running through bitches because I couldn’t accept that I found someone that actually meant something to me. And I kept telling myself it was just a childhood crush that didn’t mean anything. But it ain’t.”
Sweetpea was unfortunately a softy. Her heart did in fact swell at his words, and something in her became extremely happy to confirm it had always been this way between them. She blinks for a couple of seconds, taking a step forward as she places a hand on his jaw, facial hair smooth beneath her fingers. 
“I’m…I’m sorry for overreacting. I just didn’t want to be hurt again. I’ve—loved you for a long time, and I don’t play about my feelings. I wanted them to mean something if I ever admitted them, and at that moment…they didn’t.”
His body visibly relaxes when he sees her softening—especially when he can feel the warmth of her palm against his face.
“Your feelings do mean something. Never think that they didn’t. I promise I’m never gonna hurt you again. I’m done running from you. I’m done being dumb as fuck. I’m yours.” 
The swell of her heart thumps against her chest at his words. It makes her gently tug at his jaw to pull him down, close enough for their lips to touch as she suppresses her smile, “Say it again.”
He can’t help the smirk that appears on his face when he hears her, pulling in even closer to where their noses brush against each other’s. 
“I’m yours, Sweetpea,” he repeats in a deep tone, “A nigga is in love with your mean ass.”
A soft giggle releases from her lips, her face warm at his words. She sighs a bit as his mouth is close, feeling her breath shuddering the same way it did the night before. 
She sighs, “I love you too, Onyankopon.”
His smirk grows even bigger when he hears her finally say the exact words he’d been dying to hear, the feeling of her hot breath against his mouth driving him crazy. He leans himself even closer as she grunts, “I’m missing your mouth bad as fuck.”
This felt like the right moment. 
“So kiss me,” her voice is small, but something equally stirs within her. She wants him just as bad. 
When he leans himself closer, he lets their lips just barely touch, pulling a breathy whimper from her mouth. She couldn’t hide the need she had for him anymore.
He’s tempted to go even slower and draw the moment out, but that sound against his mouth raises a grunt out of him, roughly locking their lips together. She has to bring her arms over his shoulders to balance herself, taking in a sharp breath as his tongue laps within her mouth, effortlessly lifting her feet off of the ground to travel towards the bed.
 When she makes contact with the comforter, her body kneels below him as he stands. She pulls her lips back as her low eyes travel, grazing her fingers down his torso, meeting with the strings of his sweatpants as she pulls at them.
 “…Can I?”
“Go ‘head,” his eyes are equally low, knocking down to watch her.
She can see his bulge from beneath the material as she pulls it down, being met with his dark pink tip, heavy as it slaps along his stomach. Her small fingers wrap around the base of him as her eyes flutter up, adjusting herself as she places her tongue along the tip, giving it a kiss. His spine tingles at that. She’s already wrapping her full lips around him, beginning to gently nudge her head back and forth, steadying her pace to become more comfortable. 
He groans, the sound rumbling deep in his chest as she takes him into her mouth, eyes rolling back slightly at the sensation of her warm, wet tongue gliding along his length. One of his hands comes up to thread through her hair, gripping it lightly as he guides her movements, “Suck that shit however you want to, baby. Just tryna’ help you.”
She feels nervous about her performance. Continuously adjusting her body in a way that makes her hips sway, her back arching as her curls fall around her face and forehead, Sweetpea opens her mouth wider as she drags her head back and forth, allowing his tip to rock against the back of her mouth. Saliva begins to collect at the sides of her reddening lips as she whines softly against him, twisting her head to take him even deeper.
His grip on her hair tightens, guiding her head further down as he thrusts upwards, hitting the back of her throat with a low growl, "Fuck...that's it, Mama." 
He watches her struggle a bit to breathe around him considering his hefty girth, the sight making his dick twitch. She becomes more comfortable by the second, folding her lips more inward as she tightens her mouth, beginning to suck him more towards her throat, creating a wet sound within the room. The walls of her cheeks clamp down against him, coaxing him in each time he pulls halfway out.
"Shit, baby. You’ tryna have me nut in that pretty ass mouth," he says, voice thick with lust. He starts fucking her face harder, holding her head still as he goes in and out, watching her throat constrict around him with each thrust. The wet sounds fill the room, accompanied by her muffled whimpers. 
He reaches forward as he smacks her ass, “Look at you, takin' every inch like a fuckin’ pro. All that fuckin’ mouth, let’s see if you taking dick like that.”
He pulls himself out until his tip hovers along her lips, saliva connected in between the two, her tongue flat against the top as her breath huffs out a sultry giggle. She drags her tongue on the outside of his dick, reaching down as she laps his balls from beneath, eyes still fluttering to stare up at him. She ached for him. 
Something in him becomes irritated at the sight— she looks ethereal, a haunting siren within his mind that dragged him in. He grunts, “You’ nasty as fuck.”
Sweetpea lightly gasps as he turns her the opposite way, pressing her stomach against the sheets while pulling her hands behind her back. Her body jolts as she feels him spank her again, hips arching up as his mouth lowers back down to meet with the entirety of her, sucking her clit in between his lips. She clutches his hand within the fingers he holds, face along the sheets of the bed as she moans softly, beginning to rub her pussy along his face.
He goes in between lapping at her folds while sucking on her clit, flicking it with his tongue as his beard scrapes her sensitive skin. He groans, feeling her juices coating his chin already.
“Needy ass fuckin’ girl,” he spanks her again, “Ride my face slow as fuck. I need a mess in my beard,” He commands, taking his palms against the cheeks of her ass, pacing a torturous rhythm to circle her hips in the air, his mouth catching her pussy back on his tongue.
 That slurping sound returns, her teeth digging into her lip, hair falling over her face as she softly moans and whines against him, arching her hips nonetheless.
His hands slide up her thighs, gripping her waist firmly as he tugs her down onto his face, tongue delving deeper inside as his nose buries into her ass. 
“Need you soakin’ before I go in,” His words are muffled against her flesh, the vibrations sending shivers through her body as he continues to eat her out recklessly. But she’s wet, so wet that she couldn’t have been more ready. He could tell she’s holding back, moans soft, tiny. He needed a symphony.
His tip is nudging in between her folds, feeling heavy even on the outside of her pussy. It makes her adjust her body as he holds her down with one palm, keeping her body arched to perfection. She then knocks her head to the side, eyes locked into his as she watches him—it was like all time had slowed. 
Her wet folds spread apart as her walls began molding around his tip, gripping the flesh and pulling him in inch by inch. Her walls feel swollen, aching as he goes in, fluttering before gripping back around the weight of his girth. She was entirely full, so full that she looked back at him with a pout, whimpering as her back arched through the discomfort, dragging herself forward to pull away. He somehow manages to catch a lock of her hair as he grunts, “Don’t do all that, you better take this fuckin’ dick like you was before,” which makes her deeply gasp, trembling out a whine as his balls slap along her clit, ass clapping along his hips as he’s fully inside. He pulls halfway out before he sinks back in again, a waft of air pushing out her pussy, making a loud squelching sound as her eyes roll to the back of her head, “Oh fuck, Ony…”
“Keep that fuckin’ arch,” he grunts, her inner walls squeezing him like a vice, “I’m stretching your shit, huh? I know, Mama," He taunts, pulling her back again, another gust of air spouting out, her pussy sobbing at this point. 
It’s dripping all against his balls, she’s wetter than she’s ever been. He begins dropping her down onto his dick slowly, but his thrusts are hard, each stroke hitting her g-spot dead-on as he pounds her mercilessly.
Her mouth is parted open yet nothing comes out for a while, just feeling the pained-pleasure that vibrates her entire body. It feels good, so fucking good that she’s practically paralyzed—and they’d only just started. 
She finally has enough oxygen within her chest to be vocal, her hair falling in front of her face with each stroke, pouting even more as she breathily pants, “All in my pussy, baby…” she doesn’t know where that sentence comes from, but it’s needy, as if she meant every word—She did. 
He keeps up that exact pace as her walls tighten second by second, slowly pounding as her needy plea hangs heavy in the air. 
“Yeah?" He coos, slapping her ass to gain her attention—even if he already had it, “You’ feeling that shit, huh?”
She tries to stop her eyes from rolling back each time her skin sticks to his, the sound in the room like a gunshot going off every few seconds. She sinks her teeth back into her lip as she nods her head, the agreement dragging itself in a prolonged harmony, turning into a chaotic moan of, “I feel you, Ony…I feel it…”
Onyankopon grins sexily like the bastard he is at her submission, seeing the raw vulnerability in her expression. He’s pulling almost all the way out before slamming back in, his balls smacking her clit with each brutal thrust. 
He can feel her walls becoming extremely tight, her whines growing louder—he’s starting to learn her body. He releases her hands which allows her to drop them onto the sheets, reaching around to clutch his fingers in between her throat and jaw. He’s picking up the rhythm of his hips, the comparison of gunshots sounding off as if he’d added more magazines, faster, harder.
“Open my pussy up,” he grunts, “You ain’t finna’ cum and be done. Better wait for me.”
But she can’t wait. Between the sound of his voice, the way her ass just drops, drops, drops to meet his dick, her tongue nearly lolls out, drooling as she can feel herself being fucked stupid. Her mind has never been so blank, which makes the words that come out so air-head like, she’s babbling.
“I’m cumming,” she whimpers with a gasp, still being dropped down all the while, turning her head back to face him, tears falling from her eyes in such a rush of pleasure. She has a death grip against the sheets, clawing with her nails as she whines, “I love you, Onyyy… I’m cumming…”
Her walls are fluttering like crazy—Onyankopon’s eyes drop down to see a beautiful coat of white being painted more and more on his dick each time he pulls back out, the arousal splatting against her skin with each stroke. 
“You love me, Mama?” He tightens his fingers on her throat, her orgasm spinning her in circles as she trembles, “Mhmmmm.”
“That’s why you creamin’ on my shit like that? Cause you love me?”
She softly cries, “Cause I love you,” her entire body shuddering, eyes white as they’re in the back of her head.
He tightens his hold on her throat further, cutting off some of her airflow. The pressure causes her climax to prolong, her pussy spasming wildly around his dick.
"Love me so much you drenchin' my dick?" He growls, watching the thick stream of her juices coating his shaft, "You gon’ milk my nut dry?”
“Yeah,” she sniffles, “Yes, baby…”
“Come bounce on this dick. That’s how you’ finna cum again.”
She could’ve collapsed at this moment, her body exhausted—he’s pulling her onto his lap, placing her feet flat against the bed, arching her hips up as he’s already sinking her back down. He intertwines their fingers together to hold her up, rocking his hips up for her to catch the rhythm he wants. She’s a whimpering mess as she complies, swirling her hips down, grinding herself in a sloppy choreography.
He takes advantage of her vulnerable state, gripping her hips tightly as he begins pounding up into her. Each thrust sends her breasts bouncing and her ass jiggling.
"You' cummin' again," He growls, his own release beginning to build, “Keep riding my shit like that.”
He's not wrong, her pussy is clamping down on him like a trap, and her entire body is in complete shambles.
She places her hands along his chest, running her fingers across his tattoos as she leans herself forward, rocking her hips down, bouncing just like he wanted—of course, her curls fall on her face, the annoying habit of having to blow them out the way pulls a low chuckle from Onyankopon.
 She whimpers to him, “Don’t laugh, Ony…”
His chuckle subsides as quickly as it came, his expression turning serious once more. He grips her hips tighter, his strokes becoming harder and faster. She’s louder, attempting to keep up with him. 
"Don't worry 'bout nothin', Mama. Just ride my dick," He commands, his breathing heavy and labored. Seeing her above him, hair cascaded along her freckled face, her soft sounds—she’s so pretty to him.
Onyankopon’s arms wrap along her lower back as he sits up beneath her, guiding her hips down to connect with his.  She pulls him into a kiss, holding his face to consume his affection, her face splashed with previous pleasured tears,  whispering to him in a tiny gasp, “I—I love you s—somuch, O—Ony…”
His entire body was sensitive to every one of her touches. Feeling like a teenager all over again while they make out, he grunts her name against their mouths, “Alana…” 
He feels how easily she moves her hips, rolling them in sync with his movements to send waves of pleasure through them, groaning between their hot kisses, “I love you…fuck…I do…”
She wraps her arms around his neck as she presses her face into his shoulder, nails digging against his skin as she gasps, “I’m—mmph, I—“ she’s gasping, unable to finish as pleasure raptures her entire body again, all the way down to her feet, muscles aching from the constriction.
She’s tight—he can feel every inch of her warmth as he groans in response to the arch of her back, “Goddamn…” 
His hands travel down her body until they’re both on her hips, guiding them as he bucks up into her, slowly moving her in the same motion, “…Take your time, baby. I’m finna’ bust…You’ cumming?”
She hiccups, nodding her head feverishly as she holds onto him, dragging her fingers up to his head as she grips there, moaning in a high pitched way as she warns, “I’m c—cumming,” closing her eyes as she brings her hips down faster, “O—oh my god—agh…”
Her voice makes his eyes roll back into his head as he holds onto her hips, bucking his own up more to help her reach the peak, “Shit, I ain’ never wanted be nowhere but right here with you. I’m finna’ bust, baby, I—ohhh…f-fuck, Pea…I love you...so much,” his words are broken into short moans as he holds onto her, pulling her as close as they both release together, a symphony of affection turning into an orchestra, filled with emotions they’d had for one another all along.
She keeps her face within his shoulder as she breathes heavily, still holding onto him as her orgasm subsides. The moment her eyes do come up, she can see the last thing she wanted to envision—that damn smirk on his mouth. 
She presses her face into his chest as she grumbles, “Don’t, Onyankopon. I swear to god.”
He grunts as her head presses against him, but a smirk appears all the same, chuckling under his breath as he reaches up to scratch at her scalp. 
“Pussy is good as fuck,” he huffs, Sweetpea jumping as she feels his palm slam down on her ass.
She brings her eyes up, “You could’ve said something romantic—yet that’s what you say.”
“I’ll let you hear them’ three words a thousand more times before the nights over, crybaby.”
She pulls herself off of him as she lays against the bed, pressing herself against the pillow as she feels her eyes becoming heavy. Her hair brushes over her face, uncaring of her body being bare under the night light as she sighs, “Mmm, shut up. Lemme’ sleep.” 
She can hear him shuffling before his weight comes off of the bed, her body not moving as she mutters, “You’ leaving me? Was all that a lie and you really don’t wanna be with me?”
He’s standing over her, watching the way her body just seems to fit against the sheets effortlessly, her curves like an invitation to come back onto the bed with her. 
“Damn, a nigga can’t move without you thinking I’m tryna’ leave? I’m hungry.”
She smacks her lips, turning her face over to meet the wall as she grumbles, “Whatever, lyin’ ass. Get out.”
“I guess that means you don’t want tacos then.”
Her eyes peek open at that. She turns her head a bit as she says, “Them’ birria tacos from the corner?”
“And horchata.”
“Nevermind—You’ cool…or whatever.”
“You gon’ have that ass tooted up for me when I get back?”
“Onyankopon?”
“Huh?”
“Get the fuck out.”
His smirk reappears before he shuts the door behind himself, “Love you too, Mama.”
1K notes · View notes
gaybae1021 · 11 months ago
Text
Well since my bachelorette designs were received so well, I decided to complete the marriage set! Here’s my bachelors!
Tumblr media
Individual pics and thought processes under the cut:
Tumblr media
I’m drawing these from the perspective of how they’d look on day 1, but I’d definitely like to do a post-Joja higher heart design for Shane at some point. Overall for this one I just tried to make him look unkempt and dull, I desaturated his skin tone to make him look sickly and he’s the only one without eye shines, signifying how he’s lost the spark for life.
Also sorry about the socks and Birkenstocks.
Tumblr media
Decided to make Alex mixed, since there’s absolutely no diversity in the bachelors. Had a lot of fun translating his canon hairstyle into those short locs. Other than that the biggest change was turning his jacket into a proper varsity jacket. Short Alex gang unite!
Tumblr media
Okay sorry Haley, Elliot takes the win for the most changed design. Like it’s so obvious he’s meant to have a Victorian jacket and fancy trousers and all that, but after I drew him all tall and slender and I gave him little braids and beach waves he just started taking on a Boho vibe? When I drew the jacket it just looked tight and restrictive. So I decided to let the beach influence carry and we ended up with this fancy yet comfy loungewear with sandals. And I love him?
Also this was heavily inspired by ginjaninjaowo’s male espeon design
Tumblr media
Sebastian was honestly a pain, like I know his design plays off the emo teen archetype, but compared to the others npcs he’s actually got a lot of variety. Like he’s obviously got some emo influence, but there’s also some nerd thanks to his interest in coding and ttrpgs, and he’s also a bit of a tough guy with the bike and the smoking. So there were a lot of directions to lean. Still, his sprite is clearly going for a dark hoodie and dark jeans, so I didn’t think I could change it up without making it not feel like Sebby. Does he have a muscle tee underneath for working on the bike? I’ll never say.
Biggest change is probably the hair, just wanted something less stereotypical, and have some variety in bachelor hair length. Definitely leans into the biker side a bit lol. Otherwise I just tried add detail to his dark outfit and adorn it with his interests. So frog embroidery on his shoes, a patch on his jacket and some motor oil stains on his hoodie. Also as promised he and Maru have matching dimples.
Also happy pride month, enjoy trans Sebastian and also the head canon that he and Sam start dating provided the farmer doesn’t get there first lol.
Tumblr media
And with Sam the ASS trio is complete! Now with matching chokers because I said so.
Just like with Sebby I wasn’t sure which direction to go for Sam, whether to lean more into skater boy or rockstar. Ultimately he ended up more rockstar, though he’s still always roughed up from skating (probably because he refuses to take off the platform boots). He thinks the torn clothes make him look more legit though.
I had fun making his shape language compliment Sebby; he’s very top heavy from the giant hoodie so I made Sam bottom heavy with the baggy jeans and jacket. Also I had so many thoughts about him and Kent, given that Sam and Sebby are a thing and Sam isnt exactly gender conforming.
Tumblr media
And last but not least, Harvey. He’s sweet, he’s simple, all his heart events are charming. And yet he is always the last one I reach max hearts with because I can’t be bothered to go to the doctors office. Sorry bby, I hope I can make it up to you by designing you as an adorable cherub of a man.
I know I’m being super controversial, giving him a pushbroom mustache when the sprite is obviously a handlebar /s. But like, he’s such a square; it fits him so well. My little lawful good guy.
Ya know, I think I gave him a sweater so Elliot’s jacket would stand out, then proceeded to not give Elliot his jacket. Huh.
Anyway bonus of the boyfriends together to close us out, thanks for reading!
Tumblr media
285 notes · View notes
qrtem · 3 months ago
Text
everyday my brother starts dressing more and more like how i think rindou would dress which got me thinking like, rindou might be one of those guys who grew up not knowing how to dress FOR SHIT like he had a t-shirt of any random color and black shorts/jeans on all the time super basic
so like back then every time he wears something decent, it's because ran put him in it LMFAO and that's also why they're seen like matching outfits together a lot. then rindou hits 17 or 18 and suddenly he starts liking fashion more and caring about what he wears. a lot of the time, he thinks ran's outfits are cool—they're really chic. but i don't think "chic" speaks to rindou that much.
i think because of his love for music, he'd notice the differences in like fashion trends and looks associated with different genres of music. i think he'd like hip-hop so i'm really attached to this hc that his style mainly consists of baggy pants, jeans or jorts, oversized t-shirts, maybe jerseys too, hoodies... varsity jackets (these seem to be really popular among delinquents btw, i see them a lot in windbreaker and some art for tokrev), chains, a lot of rings cuz it makes his hands look nice and he heard a lot of people like... hands that look nice! he gets the appeal lol (basically to me he is the big pant and big jakt type)
also just decided to google it and learned a few new things, turns out the varsity jackets i'm referring to might be a sukajan or souvenir jacket! they take inspiration from baseball varsity jackets made with silk or satin, and they incorporate intricate embroidery of japanese designs.
i think this puzz reve birthday art of rindou just proved what i said to be canon lmaooo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
51 notes · View notes
james-is-here · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
𝙰 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝙲𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝/ 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘
𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳: 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯
𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳: 𝘓𝘦𝘦 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳: 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘣𝘪𝘯
𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳: 𝘏𝘺𝘶𝘯𝘫𝘪𝘯
𝘍𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳: 𝘏𝘢𝘯
𝘚𝘪𝘹𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳: 𝘍𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘹
𝘚𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳: 𝘚𝘦𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘮𝘪𝘯
𝘌𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳: 𝘑𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯
𝘕𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳: 𝘛𝘣𝘥
Tumblr media
You honestly loved your job at Buzzfeed, who would've thought you would get to a point where you get to hang out with famous artists and actors for a day? Intern you would never believe it!
You've only made videos with one other person, like Tom Holland and Dove Cameron, but the moment you you were told you were doing more than one person, you were beyond nervous. The next celebrity, or celebrities, you were to hang out with was kept a secret from you, all you were told was to be packed and ready to fly somewhere with some of your crew, apparently everything had already been planned, that's never happened before, you tended to plan as the day went on.
On the plane, your camera operator and best friend gave you the list of activities. The names were covered and some activities as well, all you knew was that you were painting, baking, and going to a gym. "Wait, a gym? I have to work out?" You asked her and she laughed at your expression. You do work out but it's practically rare.
You also had no idea what flight you got on, you just followed the people you knew and your best friend, Sara, took your ticket before you could read it while Eric, your co-editor, covered your eyes and ears.
The moment the pilot welcomed everyone to Seoul, your jaw drops and you turn to Sara. "You're kidding, wait, who are we here to see? Who am I hanging out with?" You kept spewing questions but they wouldn't answer. Not just yet.
Next you find yourself blindfolded again before being walked into a building. You stood off to the side as you heard your team set up and then you were put in front of the camera, the blindfold taken off you and Sara fixed your hair before stepping away and you look towards the camera confused, you go to turn to look around but were told not to as Sara queued you to start.
"Hello everyone, it's Mn, and welcome to another episode of 'A day with a celeb'. I'm gonna be honest, I have no clue who today's guest is, I was told absolutely nothing but today, um..." Sara zoomed in on your face as you furrowed your brows. "We're Seoul, South Korea." You chuckle nervously. "Um, the only suspicion I have is that I'm going to be hanging out with my first K-pop idol or idols, I was told there was more than one."
"What group do you think you're hanging out with?" Sara asked you with a grin. "Girl, that smile is so creepy." You laugh and you hear a snicker behind you which made you jump (It was Felix, shh). "Wait, is there someone behind me?" "Mn, just answer the question." "Um, Ateez would be pretty cool to hang out with- Oh, wait, you gave me a list." You pull it out of your pocket and unfold it.
"The names are crossed out but there's some activities that I can read. There's eight things crossed out and I can only read cafe, painting, gym, and shop. That doesn't give me much." Sara laughs, her gaze appears to be over your shoulder. "Mn, real quick, can we film your ootd?" "U-Um sure." You readjust your footing and put the paper away. "Today I'm wearing Converse, Jeans, a cream shirt with a little blue pocket, and a Maniac Varsity Jacket from my favorite small business. They customized it to have Wolf.Chan from Stray Kids peaking out the pocket." You point to the embroidery with a smile.
"Who's peaking out of the pocket?" "Um, Chan's animal counterpart, he the leader of-" "Heard someone call my name." An arm is suddenly draped over your shoulders and you look to your left as the sudden arm around you made you jump but your immediately walking away with a scream, hiding your now rapidly warming face as you turn completely, only to be met with the other members as well.
"Are you kidding me?!" You turn to Sara who's laughing with the others. "You are so evil!" You jokingly scold her as Chan approaches you, you cover your face as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you back in front of the camera, seeing as you ran off behind the camera out of shot.
"This can't be real, is this really happening?"
You have to be dreaming.
You get to spend the day...With Stray Kids?!
178 notes · View notes
asexual-juliet · 6 months ago
Note
What’s your favorite thing about each costume in The Outsiders?
there are so very many costumes in this show but here you go!!:
Ponyboy - the faded Will Rogers High School track shirt/Trevor’s sharpie converse doodles
Johnny - the green zig-zag & orange scallop embroidery on Sky’s jean vest that represents his tribe! also a huge fan of Johnny’s yellow converse :)
Dally - i like the dog tag kind of necklace with the ring on it and need to know the backstory behind it lmfao
Darry - The Soc-iness of his costume is SO interesting to me!! the way he’s the only greaser not wearing denim, the moment before the rumble where he and Paul are the only ones who have entered are both in white t-shirts … i love a visual parallel!!
Soda - cowboy boots!!!
Cherry - Bob’s promise ring! also love the little pink flower buttons at her collar!
Cherry's act 2 outfit: the pastel striped skirt is SO cute & also I think she takes off the promise ring
Bob - love the little silver varsity pins on his letter jacket!! also the fact that he is wearing significantly more jewelry than the rest of the Soc boys (watch, necklace, three rings). also love his purple socks!!
Paul - love that he looks exactly like arthur
Daryl as Two-Bit - i owe my life to whoever put daryl in overalls for this show tbh the entire look eats down and the way his undone overall strap swings behind him when he spins around dancing makes me smile :)
Renni as Steve/Two-Bit - LOVE the little pins and patches on his jean jacket!! personal fave is the Kansas City Monarchs pin!
Tilly/Milena/Anna as Ace - little white painted ace of spades symbol on all of their jean shorts!
Henry as Steve/Two-Bit - love the anchor necklace!
Jordan as Steve/Two-Bit - huge fan of the two-tone denim vest!
Ryo as Steve - tragically i do think Ryo’s Steve costume is deeply boring :(
Andre as Steve - “Black is beautiful” patch on his jean jacket!
RJ as Chet - love the class ring that apparently just says “high school high school” on it lmfao
Barton as Brill - i like that his belt is navy blue
Sean as Trip - like the cross necklace
Henry as Soc Boy - i like the mint-green color!
Victor as Soc Boy - i think it’s funny that he is clearly the only Soc boy in long sleeves so they can hide his very noticeable half sleeve tattoo
Ryo as Soc Boy - another tragically boring costume for Ryo but I love the color
SarahGrace as Marcia - i love everything about this outfit and it is absolutely one of my faves
Melody as Bev - the little lightning bolts earrings in her second piercings!
Maggie as Marcia/Bev - ADORE the pastel yellow and white striped dress and the bright yellow character heels are so fun!!
Milena as Bev - i think her dress is SO cute and the color is gorg
Anna as Bev - i think her whole look is SO cute! love the color and love the white accents bows and buttons!
28 notes · View notes
girlyholic · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
RoseMarie seoir is having pastel varsity jackets with cat embroidery lined up for spring.
81 notes · View notes
inkary · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
Anacaona's legacy, a varsity jacket design commissioned by Annie. This one got semi-rendered shading, but I've also done a more simplified style to work with an embroidery machine.
54 notes · View notes
spitinsideme · 1 year ago
Note
you're so lesbian wow ! did you ever come out of the closet irl? or i mean did you even have to or are you noticeably a woman enjoyer
to my family ? im as lesbian as it gets, ive never "officially" come out bwcaude my parents and all of my family are EXTRMELY honophoboc (from siciliy, whoch is a VERY catholic and homophobic and honestly jist all things bad place) like i once asked gor an undercut and i once mentioned liking yuri to my fujoshi aunt (shes a bit of an odd one, but honestly our of everyone in my family shes the most likely to accept me even if it takes time, yay to yaoi i guess !) but i think that all my fmily knlws deeo in thwir heart that im a lesbian, my father believes its because of striped shirts but nonetheless ! i think they all know ... just lyong to th3mselves ...
to like, my friend ? ive mever come out to her either but i think she jusr knows ? we were talkong once about like hypotheritxal boyfriends an she just said "oh but youd prefer a girlfeiend so you get a girlfriend" and i have never in my life even mentioned gays, i nust literally LOOK gay. i have a varsity jafket thats half black half white, and the sleeves are like a different colour to the shirt .. so its black sleeve, white part of th3 jacket, black part of the jacket, white sleeve (its a very cool jacket !) and on the back it has embroidery that says "official bowling" woth cool ass bowling pins and stuff ... and the only shirts i wear are syriped shirts or sjirts with big ass like designs (i have a shirt thats just a huge design of a leopard, its my favoirote !!!) and i exclusovely wear ONLY baggy cargo pants and also huge ass platform boots .. hard to look at me and think yeah she likes men
30 notes · View notes
saltsicklover · 2 years ago
Text
Part Two
Tumblr media
Here is part two! How are we liking it so far? I have so many feelings about asshole Bob and I needed them out in the world! I hope you enjoy!!
Title: Once an Asshole, Always an Asshole
Pairing: Robert "Bob" Floyd x Fem!Reader
Word Count: 2800+
Rating: R
Warnings: Smoking, Rude Bob, Drinking, mentions of sex, betting/gambling (all fun and games), swearing.
Second Chance Romance!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bob Floyd, or anything related to Top Gun Maverick within this piece. Not Proof Read or BETA'd. All mistakes are my own.
I do not consent for my work to be edited, reposted, or translated.
You are responsible for your own media consumption. This is a work of fiction that may contain mature themes. If you are sensitive to those subjects, please do not read.
---
During Senior year of high school, Bob was what one would've described as a big fish in a little pond. Good looking, a captain of the varsity level swim team, and came from a stable family outside of the ranching community that was so popular in Montana. His father owned portions of a large fracking business, which meant Bob's family had money; the Floyd's have always been a very wealthy family in Florence, hell, in Montana, everyone knew it too. 
He was always clade in his letterman jacket, the leather and felt adorned with pins and patches from his many accomplishments both in and out of the pool. On the left side was his athletic letter, the large felt patch covered in bars to represent the amount of hours he put into practice. Each bar the equivalent of another letter earned. 
On his right side was an academic letter, reverse colors from the first, designating his academic achievements. More pins littered themselves around the front, patches up and down each sleeve. Each patch had a date and a swim style on the top, as well as the time for completion on the bottom. 
 "Robert" Was embroidered above the left pocket while his graduation year was embroidered above the right. Floyd was done up in beautiful, scrawling letters that crossed over the expanse of his shoulders, his school logo large and detailed below. 
The jacket itself was a work of art, the older woman at the embroidery shop said it herself. After all, after each new achievement, he brought the jacket into her for upkeep and to sew the new patches into place. She liked to joke that he kept her from retirement with all of the awards he was winning. 
The rich smell of tobacco clung to the fabric of the jacket, the scent wafting from it every time Bob walked past. The tobacco was quality, the smell of cherries and smoke alone making girls weak at the knees. 
Duchenne hated that jacket almost as much as she hated the man who wore it. She hated his perfect hair and the shy smile he always seemed to give teachers, even though he was one of the biggest players in the school. Between him and his buddies, they had slept with half of the girls in the school, grade level and experience be damned. Hell, emotions be damned, Robert Floyd and his buddies left more broken hearts in their wake than anyone she had ever seen. 
The women's bathrooms were littered with magic marker on the stalls, warning of Bob Floyd and his ragtag swim team. How they would love you and leave you, the same old story as the years before. The swim team always seemed to be the hub for the worst of the worst boys, but Bob brought a new level of assholery. 
"Hey there, Douche," Bob smiled, his eyes glittering with something less than friendly. He held his cowboy hat in his hand, arms crossed over his chest. A Cigarillo's tucked behind his ear, there's always one there, ready for Bob to smoke it at any given time. 
"It's Duchenne and you know it," She seethed at him, biting back her raising tone. One of his buddies, Gene, bumps her in the shoulder with his. 
"We all know that's just a nickname, and I think Douche actually fits you better," Bob shrugs, pulling his backpack further up on his shoulder as his eyes wander over her frame. "Tell me something," He grins down at her, eyebrows raised in anticipation, "Do you always dress so uhh..." He waves his hand up and down in front of her, like he is trying to come up with the words. 
"Hand-me-down drab?" His other friend, Johnny, finishes for him, quirking an eyebrow. 
"Yes, John, exactly, hand-me-down drab." Bob nods, pleased with the description. 
Duchenne can't help but look down at her jeans, the cuffs caked in a thin layer of mud, before dragging her eyes over the sleeves of her shirt. A long sleeve white shirt is covered with a faded tee-shirt that once belonged to her older brother. She can't help but try and brush back the hair from her face, but the hair falls in front of her eyes again. The haircut she had asked for looked less chic and more like a bowl cut. She was thankful in that moment to have shoved her glasses into her bag before leaving her last class.
"I am here to get my degree, not to put on a fashion show for the likes of you, Bertie." She stands her ground, her voice only wavering a bit at the end. He shakes his head at the nickname, trying not to let it get to him. He has always hated that nickname and the way it seems to crawl just under his skin. He shivers. She is proud of herself and tries not to let it show of her face. "Unlike you lot, I plan on moving out of this town after graduation instead of being stuck here for the rest of my life."
The boys laugh at her, each thinking about their own plans after graduation. Johnny is all set to take over the family business at the mortuary and Gene has plans on taking the autobody courses down at the community college.  
Bob wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he thinks he is the only one with any real plan after graduation. He's already been accepted to a 'fancy' out of statue university in order to get a mathematics degree so he can enter the Navy as an officer. He wants to be an aviator, he wants to make a difference, but the last thing he would do is let that thought slip out. But hell, he for sure knew that he wasn't going to get himself stuck in Montana like the rest of his family had- hell, like most everyone's families had. 
"And what exactly do you plan on doing out in the big bad world, huh?" Bob teases her, inching a bit closer with each word. 
He doesn't like that he is mean, though he wouldn't say that to anyone either. He found out early on, during the first semester of Freshman year, that the only way he was going to make it through was to establish himself as a bully before he himself could be bullied. The swim team took him in first because he was good. He swam fast and had good form, overall he started as a means to an end; get the team to nationals. Soon after that, he began acquiring more awards than he could count and the meanness was so far under his skin it came out in habit. 
She did not shrink as he stalked towards her- she had never been afraid of Bob. Hell, she even harbored a crush for him when they first started high school, but as the time went on, that crush grew into hatred and loathing for his presence and the man he became. 
"I am going to be a writer," Duchenne's words are a matter of fact. The boys just laugh at her, not entertaining her thoughts anymore than that. She could feel the pinprick of tears forming in her eyes, but did her best to blink them away as they turned to saunter down the hallway. 
"Fucking assholes," Is all she can mutter. With a swift wipe of the stay tear that has found it's way down her face, she turns and heads to class herself. She fails to shake the smokey cherry scent from her mind. 
---
"Somebody order the expensive shit, we are celebrating tonight!" Natasha shouts, her body basically hurdling towards the men at the pool table. Hangman is bent over the table, lining up a shot for a center pocket. As Phoenix comes barreling around the table, her hip catches the back of his cue, dismantling his whole shot and earning her a stern glair from the blond. 
She makes it over to Bob, sliding haphazardly onto the stool next to him. Their shoulders bump and he laughs a bit, but Natasha misses it, her nose glued to her phone. 
"What's got you all excited?" Rooster questions her, wiping foam off of his mustache. 
"Sunny is why I am so goddamn excited!" She shouts, earning her looks from each member of their team as well as other patrons that have found themselves sitting near the Dagger Squad. 
"What's up with Sunny?" Bob asks, excitement behind his eyes that's shrouded by furrowed brows. 
"Who's Sunny?" Payback questions, taking his shot at the pool table. 
"She is my best friend! And also my digital pen-pal! I just got an email from her and she said she is coming out to San Diego for work but is taking vacation after her business trip is done! She wants to finally meet!" Phoenix spills, tracing her eyes over the email for the fifth time since she got off work a half hour ago. 
"Wait- you've never met this woman?" Hangman questions her with a tilt of his well groomed head. 
"Nope, never met her! Never even seen a picture. We agreed to that when we first started writing each other and I guess after all of this time we never really thought to change the agreement," Nat shrugs, turning her attention to the beer Fanboy holds out for her. 
"How long have you been writing each other?" Rooster throws out a question. 
"Ten years, almost eleven maybe?"
"Ten years?!" The group erupts. 
"Yeah. Started when I was twenty two, she was eighteen. It was the idea of the MFLAC counselor at the time, and I it was unconventional, but I got drunk one night after a grueling week during flight school and ended up on that dumb website. A drunk email later that I barely remember sending later, and here we are!" She throws her arms up ceremoniously. 
Bob can't help but laugh to himself. He knows all about Sunny. The pen-pal topic was one of the first really deep conversations Bob and Natasha shared. She was hesitant to share the knowledge of her best friend with her back seater, but she knew that if anyone were going to understand the situation, it would be Bob. 
By the time Bob zones back into the conversation, Natasha's attention is square on him, a big smile plastered to her face. 
"What is it? Do I have something on my face?" Bob's hand comes up to wipe at his lips. 
"Oh my God, Bob!" She swats his arm gently, "I thought you were always tuned in but I guess not," She laughs, "I said, I hope it's okay with you that I already told Sunny she could use our guestroom for the couple weeks she will be in town. I am going to take some of my leave days while she is here," 
"Oh! Yeah, definitely. Sunny is welcome anytime!" 
"Good, because she will be here next week, Wednesday. Her work thing in Monday and Tuesday, but then she will be all mine!" Phoenix practically giggles. 
"Are we going to take bets on if she is hot?" Rooster asks, his cheeks a bit red, more out of worry that Phoenix will slap him than of the words themselves. 
"Oh, we are definitely taking bets on if Phoenix's mystery best friend is hot!" Hangman said, taking out his wallet. 
Almost everyone bet on whether or not Sunny would be attractive. Bradley, Jake, Javy and Natasha herself bet that she would be, while Mickey, Callie, and Reuben voted against. Yale and Harvard wanted to vote but lost their cash at a poker game and couldn't pay in, but they voted 'yes' and 'no' respectively. Fritz and Omaha each got tasked with holding half of the bets, leaving them unable to make a bet of their own. Bob was the only one who didn't vote. Hell, he didn't need to. He knew from the way Phoenix talks about Sunny that she was going to be absolute breathtaking. 
He didn't need to know what she looked like; he knew from every little detail that Nat shared with him, and some that he read over her shoulder, that she was going to be his definition of perfection. 
Sunny was well read, well spoken, and had so many ideas about the world it made his head spin. He hung off of ever detail Nat would tell him, usually over breakfast, before they headed into work that morning. 
She always got the emails early in the morning, since Sunny was somewhere a time zone or two away. He wasn't actually sure where she lived, or where she was from. He made a note to ask Nat later. Bob loved to hear about the adventures of Sunny and the things she was up to in her world. She would write to Nat about her bad dates and the meetings that she often got stuck in that could have just been emails. She laments about her inability to find love and her hopes and dreams for the future. Sunny even shares stories from her past. Each little piece he gets makes him feel like he already knows her. 
As the night goes on, the liquor flows, specifically the good stuff that Nat ordered to celebrate the news. Half of the team left an hour ago before things really started picking up, and now Bradley, Jake, Javy, Natasha and Bob are slotted on stools, taking shots and talking about their worst memories from high school.
"I swear to god, I had no idea that she was the daughter of the district's super intendent!" Javy holds his hands up in defense, tears of laughter pouring down his face. "IF I would've know that, I most definitely would not have TP'd their house the same day I asked her to Homecoming!" 
The group laughs at their friend's expense before Hangman pipes up, "I remember Homecoming! All of the girls came to school with those giant, ridiculous, mums they wore around their necks!" The team looks at him like he has two heads. 
"You know, the big flower things that they decorated with streamers and all that crap? It was kinda like a pissing contest for the family's who had money, but I also think it was to keep dates from getting handsy. Afterall, who could cop a feel with all of that in the way?"  The team make mixed sounds of amusement and understanding, but Jake just shakes his head and waves his hand, muttering a 'you have no idea' into his beer. 
"My date and I were given condoms by my Mom before we left for Junior Prom," Bradley runs a hand over the back of his neck, a flush of color blooming over his skin. The men erupt in big booming laughs as Nat just looks at him with a wide smile. She has heard stories about his Mom and Dad and knows just how much they loved their son; she also knows that is exactly something that would happen to Rooster. 
"Did you use them?" Hangman manages to ask between fits of giggles. 
"Of course we did!" Rooster says the words a little more confidently than intended, making the validity of his statement round off into a question. 
"What about you Bob?" Javy questions, leaning in. 
"I uhh, I didn't really do school functions," It was a lie, he absolutely did, and he remembers Senior prom as one of the best and words days of his life. It was all so good, perfect really, until it all came crashing down, and it was his fault. 
The Daggers tease him a bit before deciding to call it a night. They stumble out to the parking lot, each waiting on some sort of ride service. Bob follows his drunken friends out of the Hard Deck, swinging his keys around his finger. He unlocks his truck and Natasha climbs clumsily into the passenger seat. 
When Bob pulls himself into the drivers seat, she mumbles something about being thankful that he didn't drink often, while she fought with her seatbelt. Once she finally gets it clicked in, Bob is backing up, ready for the night to be over so that he can stop thinking about the damn Senior Prom. 
By the time they hit the main drag, Natasha has turned to him with a goofy smile on her face. "So, tell me Bob, how was your Prom?" Her words come out giggly and slurred, and in that moment he hated that she could read him so easily. A blush bit at his ears as he let out a heavy sigh. 
"It was the best and worst night of my adolescence," He finally admits, throwing on a blinker to switch lanes. 
"Go on," She waves her hand for him to continue, rolling the window down with the other.
"I remember it like it was yesterday," He begins to explain, letting the memory wash over him like water that is just a touch too hot to be comfortable.
57 notes · View notes
freshthoughts2020 · 3 months ago
Text
Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2025 Menswear: My Favorite Looks and Aspirations
Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2025 Menswear: My Favorite Looks and Aspirations
January 22, 2025
As someone deeply inspired by fashion, music, and the intersection of art and culture, the Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2025 Menswear show was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Pharrell Williams and Nigo delivered a collection that seamlessly fused streetwear and high fashion, all set against the iconic backdrop of the Louvre. The show opened with "One-Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII, instantly setting an epic and theatrical tone that captivated the audience. This choice of music not only showcased the boldness of the collection but also highlighted its connection to culture and storytelling.
The Collection as a Whole
The Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2025 collection embodied a perfect harmony of the past and future. Pharrell and Nigo’s shared history in streetwear and Japanese subculture was evident in every piece, from monogrammed sneakers to tailored suits. The collection celebrated individuality, craftsmanship, and the concept of travel, bringing together diverse inspirations in a cohesive and powerful statement. Wide-leg trousers, pixelated camo, and intricate leatherwork paid homage to both early 2000s streetwear and classic luxury. The use of archival pieces from the designers' personal collections added layers of meaning, creating a visual narrative that was both nostalgic and forward-thinking.
My Favorite Looks
1. The Leather Trench
The all-black leather trench with gold accents exuded power and elegance. The structured silhouette, combined with the subtle checkerboard detailing, elevated it beyond a simple statement piece. Paired with a vintage-inspired suitcase, this look screamed modern nomad—someone always on the move, but in undeniable style.
2. Leopard Print Overcoat
The leopard print coat brought an audacious energy to the runway. It struck a balance between dandyism and streetwear, which is no easy feat. The rich, warm tones and oversized cut felt effortlessly chic, making it a standout piece that I’d love to see in my wardrobe.
3. The Tweed Suit
Tweed has a timeless appeal, and seeing it reimagined in an oversized silhouette with a hint of shimmer added a fresh twist. The subtle pink flecks in the fabric gave the suit a unique texture, while the compact, structured bag added a layer of practicality and sophistication.
4. Croc-Embossed Leather Jacket
The croc-embossed leather bomber with cargo pants was an edgy take on luxury. The craftsmanship in the embossed detailing was unmatched, and the contrast between the sleek jacket and utilitarian pants showcased the versatility of the collection.
5. Classic Black Suit with a Twist
The black suit was redefined with sharp tailoring and a whimsical touch of color through the pastel green bag. This look felt like a nod to the brand’s roots in travel while embracing modern minimalism.
6. Varsity Jacket Elegance
Pharrell and Nigo’s streetwear roots were on full display with the deep burgundy varsity jacket. Paired with tailored trousers, it embodied the perfect mix of nostalgia and refinement. The intricate embroidery and subtle LV logos paid homage to the duo’s history in bridging street and luxury fashion.
7. Monogrammed Sneakers
No collection is complete without footwear, and the LV monogrammed sneakers in black and orange were showstoppers. Both pairs balanced boldness and simplicity, making them versatile enough to pair with high-fashion looks or streetwear staples.
Additional Standout Looks
8. The Chocolate Brown Suit
This double-breasted suit in a rich chocolate hue was elevated by the pastel pink tie and mustard yellow bag. It was a masterclass in combining traditional tailoring with playful modernity.
9. Blue Bomber and Denim Bag
The navy bomber jacket paired with wide-leg trousers and a denim duffle bag brought an effortlessly cool vibe. The layering and texture of this look captured the essence of urban sophistication.
10. Pastel Blue Croc Jacket
A pastel blue croc-embossed jacket paired with beige trousers felt like a fresh take on casual luxury. The structured yet relaxed silhouette made it a versatile piece for both day and night.
11. Tan Shearling Bomber
The tan bomber with shearling accents paired with cream trousers was a standout. It brought warmth and comfort while maintaining the high-fashion edge of the collection.
12. Denim Double-Breasted Suit
This look featured a denim suit with subtle pink stitching details, paired with a mustard yellow bag. The retro-modern aesthetic was a bold statement of individuality.
13. Gray Varsity Jacket with Neon Accent
The gray varsity jacket featuring a bold neon logo brought a youthful energy to the collection. Paired with cargo pants and a sleek black bag, it exemplified Pharrell and Nigo’s ability to bridge high fashion with street culture.
My Aspirations with Louis Vuitton
Attending a Louis Vuitton show has always been a dream of mine. The thought of walking through the mirrored box at the Louvre (or wherever the next one will be) feeling the energy of the crowd and witnessing the artistry of the pieces up close, fills me with excitement. Beyond attending, I’d love to walk in a show, representing the intersection of art and music while wearing a look that tells my story.
Even more, I envision one of my tracks playing as models grace the runway. Fashion and music are inseparable; each enhances the other. My sound—a fusion of confidence, introspection, and culture—would perfectly complement the bold visions of Louis Vuitton.
How long would yall think it’d take me to get an invite to a LV show? I need to walk a show one day for sure !
2 notes · View notes
kicksaddictny · 7 months ago
Text
Nike and NIGO Unveil Exclusive Air Force III and Apparel Collection in New Collaboration
Tumblr media
Nike has teamed up with renowned streetwear icon Nigo for the first time, unveiling an exclusive Air Force III and apparel collection that merges sneaker culture with a rich tapestry of pop culture influences. Known as a modern archivist and master collage artist, Nigo has been shaping contemporary streetwear since the early 1990s, and his latest collaboration with Nike showcases his deep love for music, movies, and traditions that have inspired his decades-long career.
At the heart of this collaboration is Nigo’s fresh take on the classic Air Force III. Reimagining the rugged silhouette, the Nike x NIGO Air Force III features a premium upper made from embossed leathers and textiles, along with the signature foam midsole and rubber outsole from the original design. Unique graphics on the tongue and heel nod to both the sneaker’s heritage and Nigo’s cultural inspirations. Each pair comes in a custom-designed box that hints at future releases and includes a special patch and pin specific to the debut colorway.
The accompanying apparel collection includes a varsity jacket, hoodie, and T-shirts, all inspired by one of Nigo’s favorite Japanese cartoons. The varsity jacket stands out with chainstitch embroidery, custom snaps, a three-layer chenille patch, and a Nike x NIGO quilted liner.
Exclusive to select markets like China and Japan, a playful twist on the collection will be released under the name Nike x OGIN—a backwards homage to how Nigo’s work has been embraced and reimagined globally. This limited release highlights Nigo’s signature style and attention to detail, making it a must-have for collectors.
Launching September 28 at Otsumo Plaza in Tokyo, humanmade.jp, and the "I Know Nigo 2" pop-up in New York, the Nike x NIGO collection will see a global release on October 4 via SNKRS and select retailers. This partnership marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for both Nike and Nigo, blending innovation with a collector’s spirit and promising even more to come.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
3 notes · View notes