#all laterally next to each other. one after the other. in a row. don't question it

[ren-the-pen]

This one's just kind of a love letter to my past self since I was reminiscing today. One of my very first characters ever--lore in tags.

[eufezco]

HOW DID IT END?

How is it that Steve's departure only drove you further apart? How was it possible that the only thing left between you after all was hatred for each other? Maybe these questions could be answered in a therapy session or in a night together.

bucky x fem!reader (angst, smut with plot, lovers to enemies to lovers) + no use of y/n. english isn't my first language (!)

—James, condition of your release, session now.

You looked at Bucky and he looked back at you, pressing his lips together and starting to walk after his therapist, annoyed.

—You too, young lady.

—That's okay, I can wait here with Sam.

—It wasn't a request. Sam, you have front-row seats for the show if you like—. The demanding tone in her voice surprised you and you had no choice but to follow her.

The therapist sat down at the table and opened her notebook. You and Bucky were at the other side of the table, sitting next to each other and in front of the woman. You didn't look at each other, you had not even shared a word. Sam, who was leaning against the wall behind the therapist, looked at both of you and shook his head. Steve was right when he said that you were both equally stubborn.

—So, who would like to start?

—I don't even know what I'm doing here. This is ridiculous.

—Yeah, I agree —. Bucky added.

—See? Making progress already —. She waited a few seconds to see if either of you would like to talk but you and Bucky remained silent. Dr. Raynor sighed, if it was already difficult to deal with him alone, it would be twice as difficult to deal not only with Bucky but also with a copy of him as a woman. —It is my job to make sure you're okay. And yeah, this may be slightly unprofessional but it's the only way that I can see if you're getting over whatever's eating at you.

You huffed a laugh and Bucky rolled his eyes. Whatever's eating at you? What could possibly be eating at you? There was nothing that-

—So, why don't you both start by telling me what kind of relationship you had with Steve Rogers?

Your expression changed completely when you heard his name. Bucky looked at you out of the corner of his eyes, Sam's eyes also went to you as he tensed his back when Dr. Raynow brought Steve up out of nowhere. Bucky decided to start talking but you couldn't hear what he was saying, you could only focus on how tense your jaw was, the knot in your stomach, and all the anger you were feeling.

Just as it was a relief for Bucky to think and talk about Steve, it hurt you. There was never anything romantic about your friendship with Steve, it was purely based on your devotion to him and your mutual admiration and respect.

When you lost Bucky and Steve crashed into the ice, you had no reason to live but before your heart stopped beating, Howard Stark found you and injected you with the serum. And when you woke up there was only Steve, seventy years later and just as confused as you, living in a century that did not belong to you.

You were together during the whole process of readjusting to your new lives. For Steve, you joined a group of people who called themselves the Avengers and fought against the god of mischief in New York. For Steve, you were almost killed by a robot in Sokovia. For Steve, you fought the Winter Soldier. For Steve, you sided against Tony Stark, the son of the man who brought you back to life, and for Steve, you fought, lost, fought again, and won against Thanos.

They say there is no worse heartbreak than that caused by a friend and Steve Rogers stole a piece of your heart when he left.

—Thank you, James. What can you tell us about Steve? —Dr. Raynor asked you.

You shook your head, your eyes fixed on one spot. The feeling of betrayal when Steve didn't return within the five seconds set by Bruce still haunted you. —I will never forgive him.

Bucky shook his head as well, he turned to look at you. —You know, Dr. Raynor? I've met her for more than seventy years now and one thing that hasn't changed about her is how selfish she is.

—James, we are not here to make value judgments about the feelings experienced by the other person.

The condescending tone in Bucky's voice made you close your eyes and take a deep breath before you talked. —You were captured by HYDRA, tried to kill us, then went into cryogenic sleep and disappeared with the snap. I don't expect you to understand what I'm going through since you never lost Steve because you never had him.

—He was my best friend! —Bucky raised his tone and turned in his chair to look at you.

—You don't even remember a single thing of him before he became Captain America!

Sam called your name. That wasn't Bucky's fault.

—He left because that was the life he fought so many years for! That's the life Steve deserved!

—He was my best friend too! We were together all these years while you were killing people and I had to watch him go! —You did the same as him. That was the first time you looked at each other since the session started and you were yelling at each other. Sam didn't miss any part of the argument, he was with his arms crossed and paying attention to everything you were saying to each other. How could two people who had loved each other so much end up like this?

—Okay, that's enough —. The doctor stopped you before it went any further. You and Bucky rested your backs on the chair again, defeated, and your eyes focused on the therapist. —Since this isn't working, we're going to do an exercise. It's something I use with couples when they're trying to figure out what kind of life they wanna built together —. The doctor added. Bucky rolled his eyes and you closed yours while shaking your head.

—You are acting as if you were never a couple —Sam said.

—Back in 1940.

—Yeah, eighty-two years ago.

You both said at the same time.

—Come on, turn around, look at each other.

Both of you hesitated for a few seconds but finally turned to face each other. His blue eyes were fixed on yours, it was difficult to keep eye contact with him.

—The exercise is called Everytime I look at you and consists of saying something that you feel or see in the other person every time you look at them. Why don't you start?

As you looked at Bucky, you could see the young soldier, wearing his new uniform proudly and hanging a copy of his dog tag around your neck. Looking into Bucky's eyes you felt again the last kiss he gave you before falling from the train, you heard his last laugh before he was brainwashed by HYDRA, you could even feel the caress of his fingers on your skin before the vibranium covered one of his hands.

—Every time I look at you, you have that lost puppy look on your face, asking for people's sympathy. I can't even look at you because every time I do, your mere presence reminds me that Steve's no longer here and it makes me want to fucking die, and sometimes I wish-

Sam called your name and you stopped talking before you could finish the sentence. Bucky's eyes never left yours. You were saying all that to his face.

—Let her finish, Sam —. Dr. Raynor said.

There was a silence.

—And sometimes I wish you were gone instead of him.

As Bucky looked at you, he could see the young lady he fell in love with even though everything he remembered about her was gone. The sparkle in that girl's eyes could no longer be found in yours, but he couldn't forget how your eyes shone as he wrapped his arms around your waist to dance. Bucky did not forget the sound of your laughter when he told you that he would marry you after the war, even though he was totally serious.

—Every time I look at you I don't recognize you. You have changed for the worse and I'm not sure if I like this version of you. You are mean, you don't allow people to get close to you and you hide and say that it's Steve's fault for leaving. But let me just say...

Bucky could see how you dealt with sadness by turning it into anger, he knew it because he did the same thing. Your jaw tightened and you closed your fists so hard that your fingernails dug into the palms of your hands. You didn't want him to say it, but at the same time, you couldn't wait to hear it.

—... that being a bitch isn't going to bring him back.

As soon as Bucky finished the sentence, you got up from the chair and left the room slamming the door. He didn't react to you leaving, he just sat in the chair asking himself the same question as Sam. How did you come to this? How could two people who had loved each other so much end up like this? Sam tried to go after you but he could not keep up with your super soldier speed so he went back to the police station with Bucky and gave him the same look of disappointment that Steve would have given him.

That same night someone knocked on your front door.

You thought it would be Sam because he had been calling you nonstop since you left and you had been ignoring him all day long but when you opened the door, you found Bucky instead.

He took a step closer to you to go inside your house and your hand connected firmly with his cheek. The skin on his face burned right where you had hit him and your body was blocking the doorway. He was just as angry as you were so he gave you a strong push on your shoulders. You managed to keep your balance and he managed to get inside the house and close the door behind him.

Bucky towered you with a challenging attitude, keeping eye contact while forcing you to take a few steps backward. You, despite being shorter than him, did not lower your head. Your breathing was heavy, the tension was too much, you wanted to hit him again and you wanted to say worse things to him than what you said in the therapy session.

When you raised your hand to slap him again, he grabbed your arm with his vibranium hand and squeezed hard enough for it to hurt but you did not give him the pleasure of expressing the pain. The tension was overwhelming. There were only two ways to solve this, either he would let go of your arm and start a fight that wouldn't end until both of you were on the floor exhausted and bleeding, or...

Your bodies collided as you pressed your lips together. Bucky held your face with both hands while his lips devoured yours as your hands pulled on the hem of his shirt. He lifted his arms so you could take it off and in that moment you took a few seconds to admire his well-defined abs. He leaned in for another kiss but you pushed him by his shoulder, strong enough for his back to hit against a wall of your house and crack it. Before he could complain, you connected your lips with his again.

Bucky's fingers closed around your neck as a response. Your mouth opened against his lips, trying to get the air that he was keeping from reaching your lungs and Bucky's tongue went pass your lips.

You took a big breath of air once he let go of your neck and he began to unbutton your jeans. He would never admit it but he made sure that you were okay and that he had not taken it too far, especially when your hands went to his shoulders to keep your balance due to the dizziness. And when Bucky thought he had control over you, your fingernails slid painfully from his shoulders to his abdomen and he groaned.

Bucky threw his head back against the wall once your finger sneaked into his jeans and wrapped around his cock. You moved your hand cruelly slow, he had his eyes closed as he bit his lower lip to hold back his moans. You ran your tongue along his collarbone until you reached his earlobe. —I fucking despise you —. You whispered in his ear. He let out a moan and immediately clenched his jaw again. You felt his hips thrust into your hand.

—Fucking same, doll —. Bucky muttered through gritted teeth.

He brought his hands to your ass and squeezed it as he helped you to wrap your legs around his body. Your lips met again as he walked you to the big wooden table in your living room where he helped you to lie down. Bucky pulled his jeans down enough to free his hard cock while you opened your legs to him. He noticed the wet spot on your panties and you noticed the red marks that your fingernails had carved on his chest. As he pulled your panties to the side, your fingers ran over those marks and Bucky hissed.

The head of his cock was more than enough to stretch you open. You repositioned yourself at the table, now sitting up on your elbows to watch as he pushed himself inside of you. You thought he would give you a few seconds to get used to the feeling, but he didn't stop until he was balls deep inside you.

—Now you take it. Make it up for that attitude —. You whined at his words and Bucky rested his forehead against yours while his hips thrusted into yours.

You encircled your legs around his waist and hooked your ankles over the swell of his ass while he kept slamming his hips into you. At that point you couldn't even think straight, he was hitting all the right spots to make your mind foggy. His pace remained fast and hard, and you thought about the serum running through your veins and how you both could keep up with that pace all night long.

Bucky tucked his head into your neck and whispered the filthiest words into your ear, his hands were on your thighs, squeezing your flesh lustfully, he pulled his dick all way out and then pushed in again until his balls were against your pussy. Your fingers tugged his brown hair at the root, getting moans from him because of your tight grip as it encouraged him to fuck you even harder. If that was how hating you felt, he wanted to hate you for all eternity.

When he heard you moaning and whimpering uncontrollably, when your legs fought to close and squeezed his body, when he felt your nails digging into the skin of his back, Bucky pushed your legs up, hooking your legs over his shoulders, and kept fucking you in that position until it became harder and harder for him to keep going because of the tightness of your pussy. You came screaming his name and spasming around him, Bucky came a few seconds later, with a deep groan that made his chest vibrate and emptying himself inside you.

The next morning, when his alarm went off, Bucky was alone in your bed. He took his time to take a shower and grab something from your kitchen for breakfast before he left. Bucky walked to his therapist's office, trying not to give much importance to what happened last night and especially trying not to think about all the horrible things you said to each other earlier that day in front of Sam and Dr. Raynor.

When he entered the office, Dr. Raynor was not alone. Bucky almost apologized and closed the door again, thinking he interrupted someone's session, but then you turned around in your chair and looked at him. He looked back at you, surprised, from the doorway.

You were already inside, now it was up to him to decide whether to go in with you. Bucky didn't have to think about it, he closed the door behind him and sat down in the chair next to you. You wanted to give yourselves a chance, for your sake, for Steve's sake, and for trying to get back what you two once had.

—Let's try again, shall we? —Dr. Raynor asked with a smile.

[moralesmilesanhour]

mad props!

summary: your one-sided beef with Miles morphs into a full-on rivalry until unforseen circumstances force you to call a truce. wc: 789 a/n: drabbles when left to cook in the brain for too long turn into mini-series. watch out ! also yes i am doing another enemies-to-lovers thingy don't look at me 01 02

Snap!

You sucked your teeth in the middle row of Mr. Sanchez’s classroom when the tip of your pencil broke in the middle of your rapid note-taking. 

It broke just as you were forming the tilde that was meant to float above the letter ‘n’, creating an odd downward stroke instead that looked like lightning striking a tree. 

You zipped open your pencil case and took out a tiny metal sharpener, the shavings bound to make a mess of your desk.

“Yikes. That’s why I use the mechanical ones,” remarked the boy sitting beside you. 

A friendly grin spread across his freckled, golden-brown face with round eyes that seemed to ask if you thought his comment was funny. 

You shot him a hard glance to let him know that no, it was not funny that your pencil broke whilst you were in the middle of getting down key grammatical rules. 

The boy’s face fell at the implied rejection. Somehow, the wounded look in his eyes irritated you more than the grin. It made him look like a lost deer.

“Morales, silencio, por favor,” Sanchez said, peering over his glasses at your shoulder partner. “Unless you’d like to explain how direct object pronouns work instead.”

“No, estoy bien.”

There was no sign of panic or apology on Morales’ face as he replied, despite Mr. Sanchez being known to seek out inattentive students to cold-call later. He smiled awkwardly at the bearded man, and again when he was caught a bit later doodling in his notebook.

“Miles Morales, can you translate this sentence for us please?”

“Fui a Madrid el verano pasado,” Miles answered, without missing a beat.

The man shook his head, then moved on.

“Correct. Now, who would like to take the next sentence…”

You would soon learn over the coming weeks since your transfer to Visions that this was a daily routine for Miles: he’d come in late, or get caught scribbling away in the margins of his worksheet. Then he’d get that panicked “help me” smile on his face before making a pun or quip that made you cringe so hard that your back hurt. 

Still, Miles’ answers were never wrong after the fact.

He blended into the crowd otherwise, but the second-hand embarrassment made him hard to forget. 

“Quiz grades were surprisingly low,” Mr. Sanchez announced one Wednesday morning as he walked around, handing out one-page sheets face down. “I would highly suggest going over this unit at home over the long weekend.”

Almost immediately, kids began passing each other’s quizzes back and forth, giggling at how their results all seemed to be floating just under fifty percent. Part of the ease in their laughter came from the assumption that Sanchez would “just curve it anyway.” 

Not that it would make a difference to you. 

You frowned at the eighty-five circled in red at the top of your quiz. Just a couple of points away from a nice, even ninety that would’ve finally bumped your grade up to an ‘A’ instead of an ‘A-’.

Even worse, some of the circled questions were points lost just because you were missing an accent on a letter or two, and a couple of vocab words had slipped your mind. You should’ve answered the bonus questions…

“Wow, you’re the only one without a forty so far,” a familiar voice complimented you. “Good job.”

Miles was offering you another friendly grin, with those same expectant eyes. Please like me, they seemed to plead. 

No thanks.

You replied flatly, “I actually studied.”

It felt like an insult for anyone to be impressed with you in a class full of failing grades.

His grin faded. You expected it to be replaced with disappointment, but he just shrugged and pressed his lips into a thin line before turning away. 

Sanchez returned to where you were sitting to hand Miles’ test back.

He spoke solemnly, “You and L/N were the only passing grades in this class.”

You caught a glance at the number marked atop the page once Miles flipped it over:

‘100%’. With five points as extra credit. 

He looked down at it and hummed quietly in approval before flipping it back over, and suddenly that ‘A-’ felt like a ‘C’. 

It was only logical that the guy who never got an answer wrong would perform similarly on a quiz. But he didn’t deserve it; he didn’t even care. 

“How many hours did you study for that?” you scoffed quietly, like an accusation. 

Miles gave you a sidelong glance, and you could’ve sworn there was mockery in his eyes. 

“I don’t study.”

If you could go back and pinpoint the exact moment where irritation boiled over into disdain, it would be this one.

[the-dumpster-fire-of-life]

hey! Could you write for 2003 Bill meeting a new girl in town and how he gets her to join his band and sort of adopts her into the crew? I feel like he would be very curious as of why a foreigner would come live in loistche of all places germany. I'm such a sucker for the childhood crush trope

(hello! I did your request then just sorta sucked into the trope thing lmao, I hope you enjoy!)

Childhood Crush

He is very curious at you at first obviously

He's a very nice kid and doesn't want you to be lonely like he used to be so he basically forced you to be his friend

Is he kid next door to you

Tom also became one of your best friends, later along Gustav and Georg also

All thanks to Bill

The more Bill gets to know you the more close you guys get

He is constantly asking questions on why you moved there of all places

Even if you don't speak German very well you both manage

He is stuck to you like glue

Especially when school starts

You both hang out with Tom in the corners and go on and on about y'all's day

Forces you to listen to him singing

One of his first songs was about you

Y'all had crushes on each other for so long before you guys even started dating

He has you join the band and you are very great at it

He practically forced you to be his friend

Came up to you, said hi, liked your vibed and dragged you to play with him and Tom

Your mother's or guardians are always together because you guys are always together

Bill was the kid to have fake weddings for you guys

Took that seriously

Picked random flowers to give to you, making sure they were your favorite

Bought you candy as a broke kid of his time because it's all either of you could afford

When it was your birthday he so graciously got you a gift he spent hours looking for and paid using his mom's money

Anything for you babes

Bill always let you paint his nails and do his hair

You were the front row seat when he was singing it's raining men

Came to you when he scored second and was a bit sad

He always stole your clothes and accessories

It hurt to admit he looked better in them

He always helped you when you got hurt

Like skimmed your knee and Bill suddenly turns into a whole ass mother

The one to push you into a pool and jump after you to "save" you

He has a weird way of telling you he likes you

You guys were literally destined to be together

Your mother's kept looking at y'all like

"Yep. Plan the wedding."

And Bill has been planning the wedding for a very long time

And let me tell you, babe, it was a very good wedding

[piles-of-numbers]

hi, I wrote / doodled my aroace journey for pride

id below the keep reading

ID: A series of 10 images featuring a handwritten story and doodles along the way. They read as follows:

Growing up, I believed my life would follow a certain path. (Doodle: footpath with grass around it). It was the path of all my favorite books, shows, movies, etc. Doodle of a row of five triangular flags along a path. The first is labeled "meet a guy," the second is labeled "we develop some witty banter," the third is labeled "He confesses his love for me," the fourth is labeled "???", and the fifth and final one is labeled "Profit."

That path was in my mind during most interactions with my guy friends. Doodle of a stick figure posed with hand on face, considering another stick figure. Next to the stick figure is a list: nice (check), funny (check), smart (check), likes me??. These candidates became my crushes. I waited for a confession. Sometimes, my friends would suggest I take initiative. Doodle of the same stick figure in a thoughtful pose, along with two more stick figures. One says "You should ask him out!" The other says "Yeah!". But something about the idea felt off.

I told myself I wanted to focus on school instead. (Doodle of a paper with an A on it, two books titled Math and Biology. In truth, the idea of dating didn't really excite me. I thought that there was nothing wrong with being single. Thought it wouldn't be the end of the world if I just kept to myself. But all those stories taught me about what happened to those kinds of sentiments. Doodle of a stick figure, hands on stick hips, saying "I'm better off alone!". Below that is words written in the Spongebob timeskip card, "Two Days Later....". Then there are two stick figures holding hands and looking at each other, saying "I'm only complete now that I've found you."

So, being the star student I was, I decided that I was just staving off the inevitable and decided to skip to that part where I found someone I liked. My sophomore year, the stars seemed to align: I turned 16, the age of most teenage protagonists, I heard through a friend that a guy would have asked be to Jr. Prom if I hadn't already expressed I was busy that day, and said guy got me a small gift for my birthday. So, with encouragement from my friends, I decided to strongly hint (but not outright say) that I liked him. And so, a week after my 16th birthday, he asked me out, to which I responded with a super confident "sure?"

We went on two dates before I ended it. He didn't do anything wrong, but something on my end felt wrong. I wouldn't say that I was repulsed, that seems to strong of a word. But the situation seemed forced. I decided I must not be mature enough, that I would date when I got to college. Towards the end of high school, I discovered the actual definition of asexuality. A doodle of the stick figure wondering Wait... sexual attraction? What is that? That's real? Cue about 3.5 years of questioning: how to prove a negative? maybe I am just anxious? No "right person" yet? I don't hate the idea of sex? Other people are exaggerating?

Fun thing about the anxiety question, I started taking anxiety medication during my last semester of college. With my mind a little more ordered, it all became clearer: I'm ace. The stick figure now waves an ace flag. With that sorted out, I was ready to move along in life when... the stick figure is handed a paper by a little brain and asks "oh? what is this?" The happy little brain smiles as the paper reveals the words HAVE I FELT ROMANTIC ATTRACTION???* The asterisk leads to the smaller note "also gender???"

Of course I had. Right? There was the aforementioned guy in high school, and in early college I thought about pursuing two guys. But I realized something: I always thought I had to like somebody. The butterflies I had in high school were less about the guy, and more... Doodle of two butterflies having a conversation. "Omg he likes us" "Mission accomplished" "Wait now we have to go on a date." "Ahhhh? what do we even do?"

What even is romance? I don't know. It's different for each person. Like a lot of people, I crave a connection founded on trust, shared interests, inside jokes, etc. Doodle of two stick figures, there are squiggly lines between them, a connection. But I think something about that connection, maybe its very essence, is just different. Two stick figures with different squiggly lines between them. I remembered thing how I've always wanted to skip the whole "head over heels" part of the relationship, and go right to being an old married couple. So, I'm aro. At first, I had a mini crisis. Doodle of the stick figuring sitting on the floor with tears, holding the aro flag. A sad brain pats the stick figure in support.

But that crisis ended when I stopped treating this revelation as a path being blocked... Doodle of a path leading to an archway, the archway is boarded off.... and more like a bunch of new paths I hadn't really considered opening up. Doodle of the archway path no longer blocked off, surrounded by a bunch of other archways.

Honestly, the first path isn't even gone, it just looks a little different. Doodle of the archway path looking the same as before, but the archway is a rainbow in the colors of the queerplatonic flag: yellow, pink, white, grey, black. The pathway has pebbles of those colors. I'm thankful for all the stories and comics people have shared related to the aroace spectrum. I shudder to think what my life would look like if I hadn't found these words, what paths I may have forced myself to walk. So now, it's my turn. Happy pride 2023, especially to my aros, my aces, aroaces, my aspecs, and to everyone still figuring things out. Doodle of a stick figure holding an ace flag and an aro flag.

End ID.

[piipaw]

Prompt: Gum and Gale picking fruit together (possibly for a delicious fruit salad later?)

(I was gonna draw this but here we are 😭)

"Well? What do you say?" Gale was all too proud, smirking at his partner as they gazed out over the small patch of land BlackStaff academy had for garden activities. "Perhaps my thumbs are green after all!"

"No, my thumbs are green," gesturing his claws out to Gale, the wizard caught the others sharp gaze on his hands.

"It's an idiom, my heart," melting into a warm smile, Gale took one of Gum's outstretched claws and kissed over his knuckles. "Though I'm far happier to be growing fresh fruit with you than green peas for a king. Shall we check the fruits of our labor?"

Completely missing the pun, Gum crouched down to check the fruit in question. Along the bed of soil were multiple crowns, some still flowering while others had fully grown strawberries ripe for the picking. Gum hesitated, unsure how to go about collecting the fresh fruit.

"You want to leave the ones that are small, off color. Those are still growing," gesturing to a smaller, greenish fruit on one of the flowering crowns. "These still need more sun, more time, but they'll be fresh as any other berry soon enough. But these? These are good, go on."

Watching as Gale's hands delicately plucked a fruit from the crown, turning the berry to show off its sides. Not a dent or a cut blemished the skin. He felt dreamy, sitting in the warm caress of the sun despite the dirt on his hands and knees, taking in the glow of Gale's smile. The breeze gently rolled Gale's locks, making the patches of gray unmissable with how they shimmered. Gum knew he'd remember this forever, the delicate twist of Gale's fingers bringing the fruit out on offering.

Rather than take the fruit with his own hand, Gum leaned down to take a bite from the others offering directly. Sharp teeth made to break bone marrow were gentle as the fruit crunched, filling his mouth with sweetness. Looking down at what was left, Gale finished the fruit off with a second bite of his own, humming in delight at the taste.

Together they filled a basket with what berries were good, occasionally eating one or three from the others hand as they moved down the row.

"When I lived in the astral there were g"lathk that would tend to fungi," wiping his mouth with the back of his palm, Gum found himself feeling anxious. Like he was detailing too much about his experiences. "I never had the chance to get a close look, nor have I gotten to sample it myself, but I doubt even with the chambers used for cultivating that they'd ever experience something like.... this."

"Pity, they don't know what they're missing out on," scooting in closer, Gale gave a peck to the other's cheek. "Thankfully for me, I get to share this moment with you. Though I suppose if you take an interest in fungi we can try to grow that next."

"This is plenty," Gesturing past the basket now full of fresh berries to the crops in the dirt, Gum nuzzled into the peck. They both had promised to be good about their public displays of affection on school grounds, but it was hard to go contactless within each others proximity. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

[ilovecupcakesandtea]

Chapter one Chapter seven My master list

Title: Chapter six

Word Count: 1454

Archive Warnings: Smut in future chapters. Slight angst. Alcohol misuse.

Rating: E

Pairing(s): Eddie Munson/Steve Harrington Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham

Character(s): Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, Chrissy Cunningham, Benny, Uncle Wayne & The Party

Tags: Smut. Angst. Steddie. Buckingham. Steve Harrington. Eddie Munson. Robin Buckley. Chrissy Cunningham. Band AU. TW Alcohol use.

Summary (optional): Two different styles of music, two boys that really don't like each other. What could possibly go wrong?

Beta Reader: Thank you so much to my beautiful beta readers @slippy-slip @ladydarklord & @dontwasteyourchances

Art link and credit: Art is by the wonderfully talented @pink-luna-moth (as is the banner)

Fic link and credit: Ao3 Link

AN: First off thank you to Alex for the art and being just amazing to work alongside. Thank you to Slip for dragging me back from the edge so many times over this. I really am so excited to have this out here!!

I wrote this for the @strangerthingsreversebigbang event and had a lot of fun doing so!!

Divider links: reblog and music notes

“Right, great practise guys. Think we need to practise our timings for the second song but other than that we sounded great�� Eddie voiced as he packed up his guitar and notebooks. “I’m off then, Chris, you need a lift?” he asked, turning to Chrissy. 

“I was thinking we could hang out a bit, I’ll order pizza and we can watch a movie,” Steve suggested before Eddie could leave.

“I’ll pass Harrington, see you all next time.” Eddie answered, continuing to leave. 

“That’s 3 weeks in a row now he’s just left. We always used to hang after. He’s missed writing sessions 3 times as well.” Robin pointed out, packing her own guitar away. 

“Yeah ever since that gig at Healer he’s been acting weird. Skipping out of practice as soon as he can, heading straight home after gigs, missing writing sessions and everything. He hasn’t replied to any of my messages or anything since that night either.” Steve huffed as he grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. 

“He’ll be ok, he’s just going through something right now, ok? He still turns up and plays and he’s here for practice, that's all that really matters.” Chrissy defended. 

She knew exactly what was wrong with Eddie, having done her own intervention 3 days after the gig when he’d called out from work and she hadn’t heard from him. Letting herself into his apartment, she’d found him passed out in bed. Empty bottle of whisky on the nightstand and half-smoked joint in the ashtray. She had made coffee and toast after waking him and they’d sat and had a chat which is when she had found out what happened between him and Steve at the club, including the bit afterwards. 

“Shall we go put a movie on and get a pizza ordered?” she suggested wanting to steer the conversation away from Eddie. 

“You never mentioned something was up with Eddie.” Robin started the conversation later that evening once they were both back at Chrissy’s house. 

“It’s not my place to say, can we leave this conversation? Let’s just get ready for bed and go and cuddle.” Chrissy said, trying to change the subject. 

“No, if it’s going to affect the band, we should know.” Robin pushed. 

“Your best friend should have thought about the band in the club,” Chrissy mumbled, grabbing a vest top and a pair of underwear and heading to the bathroom

“What was that?” Robin asked, following her girlfriend. Steve hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Nothing, this is why I wanted to leave it! Eddie will be ok. He just needs a little time away from Steve, that's all.” Chrissy huffed as she started to take her makeup off.

“Is this about what happened at the club?” Robin questioned, sitting on the closed toilet lid. 

“I’m not discussing this anymore. Please either drop it or allow me to get ready for bed on my own.” Chrissy sighed. 

“Whatever” Robin fumed, storming out of the bathroom and ultimately out of the flat.

Robin walked and walked, not really knowing where her legs were taking her until she got there. 

She knocked on the door before she could think twice and was greeted with the sight of Eddie, hair thrown up in a bun, topless and drinking a beer.

“Everything ok, Buckley?” he asked, clearly already drunk, letting her into the apartment. 

“No, it’s not.” Robin stated, “It hasn't been for weeks now, you keep missing writing, skipping out of practice as soon as possible, and going home as soon as gigs are done with. I’d hoped you had a partner we didn’t know about but you’ve been miserable for weeks now, not just everything else I mentioned, and if having a partner is making you this miserable maybe they aren't for you.”

“Nothing’s wrong, everything's ok.” Eddie frowned, downing his drink and heading to the kitchen for another. 

“Sure it is, you just ran out of practice as soon as you could to come home and get drunk because everything is fine.” she snorted, taking the beer she was handed. 

“Why do you care?” Eddie questioned the girl. 

“We’re all worried about you ok, you’ve been so different these last few weeks. What happened at Healer? Don’t say nothing, it was something.” She pressed. 

“Nothing happened at all. Just doing what I need to do, ok? I’ll be fine, just let me work through some shit. Please” 

“Is this about Steve taking that guy home that night? Do you have an issue with Steve getting laid?” She asked, confused.  

“No! I have an issue with him being on his knees for me less than an hour beforehand and then acting like it meant nothing. Not that I wanted it to mean something, just forget it, ok. Like I said, I’ll be fine.” Eddie sighed, pulling his knees up to his chest and making himself as small as possible. He really didn’t want to have this conversation.

“Oh, oh Eddie, I’m so sorry. This isn’t really for me to say but I don’t think the situation is as bad as you think. Let me talk to him.” Robin pleaded. 

The following morning Robin went back to Chrissy’s apartment. They had to talk. First of all, she needed to fix the issue she had caused last night and secondly, they needed a plan to get the two men together.

“Baby, I am so sorry for last night.” she said as soon as Chrissy opened the door “I should have listened to you and kept my mouth shut when you asked me to.” 

“Yes, you should have. But I love you too much to be mad at you, come in. I’ll make coffee.” Chrissy replied, walking back into her apartment and leaving the door open.

“So I ended up at Eddie’s last night when I left here. He was drunk already and he mentioned that something had happened that night at Healer.” Robin mentioned as she followed her girlfriend into the kitchen.

“Yeah he told me a few days after, don’t be mad I didn’t tell you. He wanted to forget it. It happened, not long after, he saw Steve making out with someone else, figured what had happened meant absolutely nothing to Steve, and walked off. He’s been in a funk ever since.” 

“Oh shit, so he likes Steve like that then?” Robin gasped.

“Yeah, he really does. He figured Steve didn’t like him like that but to see evidence of it so soon after thinking maybe something was there was crushing for him.” Chrissy shrugged.

“Ok, in Steve’s defence, they aren't together and he’s an idiot. Mostly the idiot thing. He likes Eddie so much it’s actually annoying, I’m just not sure he’s admitted it to himself fully yet.”

“We need to get them together.” 

“Yes we do, now can we drink coffee and make out, I mean make up?” Robin asked, pulling Chrissy into her before kissing her deeply. 

“Steven Brett Harrington, you are an idiot.” Robin declared as soon as Steve opened his door later that day.

“Good evening to you as well, what did I do this time?” He questioned. 

“You never told me about you and Eddie at the club for a start!” She accused, pointing a finger at him. “You know that’s why he’s been acting like he has been, right?” 

“Why? Because he’s upset that someone else wanted me when he didn’t?” He asked, annoyed at how he was being made to feel like the bad guy. “I put myself out there and after, he just walked away and didn’t look back. Why shouldn’t I find someone who wants me in that situation?” 

“You two are idiots I swear, you’re both going to give me and Chris migraines.” she sighed, pulling him into a hug.

After Robin’s conversation with him, both girls thought, and hoped, that he would talk to Eddie, either whilst at practice or go to Eddie’s without them knowing. This however did not seem to be the case. Eddie was still leaving practice as soon as he could and heading home from any gig as soon as he could. 

“Bunny, we’ve got to do something,” Robin sighed, throwing herself dramatically onto the couch after practice one day. “We’re getting more and more gigs in different states, we’re going to have to start staying over for some of them and there’s talks of contracts and things like that. They need to figure this shit out and quickly.” 

“Yeah, they do. We need to force them to talk, they won’t do it willingly.” Chrisy agreed. “I have a plan though” she declared, grabbing the other girl and pulling her into a cuddle so they could plot.

[samynnad102687]

Quiet in the library

@struttingstag April 5th Prompt: Quiet in the library | 1530 words James/Regulus/Sirius | Warnings: NSFW, blow jobs

James was at the library studying with Regulus for the third day in a row. Regulus wasn't studying though, he was just making James study since he had his NEWTs coming up in a month. It didn't help that Regulus kept biting his bottom lip every time James got the answer correct, which happened quite a lot and the longer they sat there the tighter James' jeans became.

"Reg... if you keep doing that, I'm going to end up launching over this table to ravish your neck until we can get to our secret room," James whisper-yelled across the table after he slammed the transfiguration book closed.

"Aww, baby," Regulus cooed. "Am I distracting you?"

"You know you are." James scoffed as he rolled his eyes.

"Well, maybe having you ravish me in the library is my end goal. Did you ever think about that?" Regulus asked as he batted his long lashes at him and James had to adjust himself in his seat.

"You're the one who wanted me to study." James threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

He didn't know how much longer the blood flow was going to continue to go to his brain before it all travelled south in a hurry. Regulus laughed quietly before he stood up and walked around the table to stand behind James and whispered in his ear as he ran his hand up and down James' chest.

"Ten more minutes and I'll let you do whatever you want when we get back to our room. Okay?" James nodded dumbly.

Regulus straightened and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"To get the last book that you need."

Regulus disappeared into the stacks a minute later. James was trying to calm his body down so he could focus. He could wait ten more minutes. Right? James was about to open the book in front of him again when Sirius appeared and plopped himself down in Regulus' chair with a huff. James gave him a confused look before he started speaking.

"I don't get it," Sirius said as he looked around for a second before he locked eyes with James again.

"Get what?"

"What's so special about Reggie? Well, no, I know what's special about him but why him and not me?" Sirius complained. "What does he do better than I can?"

"What are you talking about?"

"We have been best friends for years and we've done stuff in the past, right?" James nodded. "So why him?"

"Well, for one," Regulus smirked from behind Sirius, who nearly fell out of his chair at Regulus' sudden appearance, "I'm better at sucking cock than you are."

"You are not!" Sirius gasped as he put his hand over his heart in offence.

"Pretty sure the noises you were making the last time I sucked you off prove that I am." Regulus shrugged as he sat down next to his brother.

"That's beside the point," Sirius pouted before he turned away from Regulus, who was quietly laughing, and back to James, who was trying to hide his smile behind his hand.

"Is that why?" Sirius asked, gesturing to Regulus.

"I mean, he is quite an expert at it but that's not the only reason," James replied with a shrug.

"Told you," Regulus taunted as he stuck out his tongue at Sirius who was still pouting.

"What if I prove I'm better?" Sirius asked suddenly with a determined look on his face.

"What?" James choked out. He wasn't sure if he heard him correctly. "Better at what?"

"Sucking cock."

"You really think that you're better than me?" Regulus scoffed as he rolled his eyes.

Now see, James loves Regulus. He really does but he has also fantasised about Sirius in the past. They had done some stuff but it never went any further than making out and fondling each other over their clothes. They were teenage boys who just hit puberty and they were curious. James didn't know what to say. He looked at Regulus for a minute with the question on his tongue but Regulus seemed to have already read his mind.

"It's up to you, Jamie," Regulus said nonchalantly as he leaned back in his chair and gestured to his brother with a lazy wave of his hand.

"So what do you say, James?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"What? Now?"

"Yeah. I mean you're already worked up," James glared at Regulus before looking back at Sirius. "Why not let me help you out?" Sirius finished.

"We're in the library," James remarked aghast.

Regulus stood up and walked around the table again to whisper in James' ear.

"He's not going to let it go until you let him suck you off. Plus, if you let him do that, I'll let you tie me up later. I know how much you love doing that."

James could feel his cheeks heat up and he was sure the three Hufflepuff girls could see it from across the library.

James nodded slowly as a soft 'okay' fell from his lips.

Regulus grabbed his hand to pull him up from the table. James went willingly and followed Regulus without hesitation. He didn't know where they were going but he didn't care.

"Are you coming?" Regulus called back to the table where Sirius was still sitting with a confused look on his face.

Sirius jumped up so fast that he nearly knocked the chair over and walked quickly over to them. By the time they stopped, Regulus had dragged them to a secluded part of the library where they kept the outdated books that they refused to get rid of. Regulus pushed James into one of the armchairs before he ran his hand up James' chest lightly and positioned himself behind the chair but close enough to keep his hands on James.

"Let's see what you got, brother."

Sirius nodded and dropped to his knees with a thud and started to release James' cock from its confines. It sprung up quickly once his jeans and pants were pulled halfway down his thighs. Regulus started to run his ring-clad fingers through James' hair, tugging gently at the roots. James' heart flipped in his chest at the prospect of having both brothers at the same time.

"What are you waiting for, Sirius? He's willing and I can already see him leaking from the tip," Regulus scoffed as he ran his lips along the helix of James' ear, making him shiver with anticipation. "If you don't hurry up, I'm going to kick you out and take care of him myself."

Sirius didn't waste another second and swallowed James down in one go, gagging slightly. James moaned at the sudden wet heat and Regulus put his hand over James' mouth.

"You have to be quiet, baby. This is the library remember," Regulus breathed into James' ear and James nodded before he let out another muffled moan into Regulus' hand.

Sirius started to swirl his tongue around James' cock as he bobbed his head faster and faster. James was starting to see stars at the corners of his vision. Was he better than Regulus? James couldn't tell. He was good with his tongue, James would give him that. He could feel himself crawling to the edge and peering over it. He was teetering and when James went to tell Sirius that he was close, he was cut off by another muffled moan from deep in his throat.

"You're close, aren't you, baby?" Regulus asked, always in tune with James' body.

James nodded as he closed his eyes for a second to focus on the feel of having Sirius between his thighs and Regulus behind him. Regulus removed his hand after another rather loud muffled moan and replaced it with his lips, swallowing the moan that followed.

"Quiet, Jamie. You need to behave if you want your treat," Regulus whispered seductively into James' ear, causing his whole body to shudder and his hips to buck up into Sirius' mouth before he spilt down his throat with no warning.

Sirius swallowed every last drop, licking James clean before he pulled off with a smug grin.

"So?" Sirius asked. "Who's better?"

"I- I don't know," James replied as he looked between the brothers.

James was still coming down from the high of his orgasm as Regulus put him back into his jeans. Regulus was trying to hide his own smug grin as Sirius scoffed and threw his hands up in the air. James was sure if Sirius had a chance to prove it by himself then James might be able to make a decision but he was still reeling from having them both at the same time. Could he have them both at the same time?

Once James had calmed his body down, Regulus grabbed his hand again and pulled him along back to the table to pack up their stuff. Sirius was trailing behind like a sad puppy.

"Good boy," Regulus whispered into James' ear after he pulled him in for a kiss after they left the library.

If the three of them ended up in James' and Regulus' room, that was nobody's business except their own. 

Also posted on Ao3: Library Surprises

[struttinevilshroom]

Papa's Freezeria Deluxe is the Greatest Game Ever Made (and I'm not joking)

That statement sounds like a joke but I am being 100% serious. I'll say it again, Papa's freezeria deluxe is the greatest game ever made or atleast it's my favorite game ever. You see, I'm not much of a gamer and I'm only discovering the world of video games now that I know piracy and have money to spend on games. The games that I bought as a child were usually second hand and on a console that was slowly being pushed out of the mainstream by the next one in line so games became more difficult to find and I stopped playing. I don't have many games that really stood out to me from my childhood, maybe Cars 2 for the Playstation 3 but I say that in a joking tone. If you were to ask any one of my friends what games from their childhood left an impact on them, they'd have a myriad of answers to give you. My one friend that I've mentioned in the Pikmin 4 review would probably choose every game in the Wii library. For me though, one game stands out and that is Papa's Freezeria, the original one. I think back on that game and that time very fondly. Me, my sister and my cousin were all huddled around my small laptop, taking turns and swapping after every day in game. We played the other Papa Louie titles and those all improved on Papa's Freezeria by adding fancy new features and bells and whistles to make them look superior to their predecessors but no matter how many new aspects they added to the later releases, I always went back to Papa's Freezeria.

When I think about the evolution of the Papa Louie games, I think about something my science teacher usually says "build your science scaffold everyday" this quote is actually seemingly unrelated but my debate coach says that it's always good to use quotes to get a point across and the point that I want to get across is that the Papa Louie games all build on one another. At the core is very stable formula that every game employs but with each title, they build on that like a scaffold, see it wasn't unrelated (it was unrelated but just roll with it) but the thing is my debate coach also mentioned that another good way to get a point across is through reference to stories or anecdotes. What is a scaffold without a good foundation, it's like that story from the Bible about the house on the rocks vs the house on the sand. The house on the sand would inevitably fall no matter how well it is built. No matter how many fancy bells and shiny whistles they add, without a good formula at the core of a Papa Louie title, it will fall. They all have the same formula but I feel that Papa's Freezeria perfected it. Every Papa Louie game has the Order station, the Build station, the Wait station and the Top station. Order station is where customers Order food, the build station is where you build the plate, wait station is where you cook the food which results in the player having to wait a certain amount of time, the top station is where you add finishing touches like decorations. Sounds simple but some games really mess this up by making the wait times too long (Papa's Taco Mia) or the top station too difficult (Papa's Sushiaria) or even too simple (Papa's Burgeria). Papa's Freezeria got this formula right from the get go. The formula is not too complicated but it has nuance, it appears challenging and impossible until you get the hang of it.

Every customer grades you individually on each station and then gives you an average based off of all the stations, you begin to fall into a groove where you get 99% ratings consistently, I've gotten a perfect score twice in a row with the strictest customer. Not that this game is easy, it's a system that you have to find for yourself.

Now, when Papa's Freezeria Deluxe came out, I was ill, I was really feverish and I thought I'd never play a Papa Louie title ever again due to Flash going down but then I saw Jerma play Papa's Freezeria Deluxe on steam and I bought it immediately. By the way if you think that Papa's Freezeria is too easy, watch Jerma play it, I watched this man struggle for 5 hours and like in that one episode of Breaking Bad where they play the full theme song, my ego got the better of me and I got up and had to show this old man how it's done, even in my sick state (it wasn't that bad, I'm jusy trying to craft a scene here). I downloaded the game and me and my sister played for 5 hours straight. I wrote a steam review on the game that quadruples the length of any essay I've written for school.

It was odd though, revisiting something from your childhood and being a completely different person now that you're experiencing it again. When I first played Papa's Freezeria, I must've been 9 years old, my sister 5, my cousin 11. Now revisiting it, I'm 17 years old, thinking about college and university, my sister is 13 years old, wondering how she's gonna adjust to high school, my cousin is 19 years old in her first year of university, just trying to keep herself afloat. As much as things have changed since then, it took me back and even for 5 hours, I was able to feel like a kid again and i didn't have to stress about school or if my marks are good enough for whatever university I had in mind Back then and I could just enjoy the game, it was lovely. I play it to calm myself down, I worry too much, I'm always overthinking every minute detail in everything and I drive myself crazy. Look at this review, it's just a game where you make sundaes but I've extrapolated some profound meaning out of it. My worrying helps me in my reviews a lot and it helps me to be descriptive in my writing but outside of that it's nothing but a bother and I'm sure we all worry too much at times, this game is good for that, you don't have to worry once you get in the groove of it. I also admire the tropical setting of it all, the music which gets repetitive and I usually have other music playing in a YouTube tab.

Man, this game means a lot to me. I love that they made this Deluxe edition and I've heard through the wire that there's another release in November of this year. I recommend it, it's worth every penny. It really does mean a lot to me and I've always known that in the back of my mind but now writing this and actually stating how much it means to me, I finally realize the full extent of what this game means to me. Thank you for reading this one, even if it was about Papa's Freezeria and maybe too pretentious but I've come to terms with the fact that I'm pretentious and that's OK, atleast it gives these reviews some personality. Anyway, I'll catch you later with something else I'm not sure what just yet.

[profoundlyscreechingchild]

I'm not happy Bob, Not. Happy.

TLDR; TFsource needs to get there shit sorted, or I am going to the better business bureau.

Pardon me while I set up, I generally don't like conflict but I was engaging in good faith for about a month until I realized that it was not being returned on the other end and I want to make clear exactly what happened.

My most recent irresponsible hobby is transformers model kits. I've been doing them for about two years now and its great fun putting them together. Sadly one of my favorites, IDW Drift, came out in 2019, before I got into the hobby, and is sold out everywhere. Occasionally I'll poke around for him but I've been unsuccessful. (I was able to get a interesting metal kit that you fold into shape but it was miserable to put together and the motherfucker fell off of its self once and stabbed me in the back with its sword.) Until this January. I happened to see one in-stock on TFsource, perfect, mint-in-box, ready for assembly. I excitedly clicked the buy button and waited with bated breath. Its important at this moment I point out the collection of links at the bottom of the order received email I got. It's a surprise tool that will help us later.

I also think its notable that this is my first order I have ever made with TFsource. Spoilers: there will not be more after this. I waited a few days. There is no 'your order has shipped' email in my inbox. I check the order. Everything seems fine, but weirdly its listed as a preorder? Did I buy the wrong model kit? I assumed this was a resale. I double check.

Its the right model kit. It came out in 2019. This should not be a preorder. (Important to note at this point that there is no longer a clickable order or preorder button, despite this item now being falsely labeled as a preorder. Not to mention the estimated arrival is a price and not a date.) I check the forums for the average amount of time it takes them to ship. Its about a week. I shake off my misgivings and wait a week. I wait another. Still no shipping notification. I hate sending in tickets or calling or generally being a nuisance in any way but its been two weeks on an item they had in-stock and the order has it listed incorrectly. Its time to talk to someone.

I send an email. I made my order on January 30th. My first email goes out February 16th.

I get a ticket received notification. It says I should get a response in a day or Monday to Tuesday if I sent it Friday.

I don't get a response until the next Wednesday, but whatever. That's still totally in the bounds of reasonable. But the response itself is very weird. Starting with the fact that I get two responses at the same time from the same person outside of their business hours.

This reeks of automated response, which, honestly fine, I expect the first round of a ticket to probably be a bot simply to weed out the people who didn't just check the QA page. BUT if its an automated system why did it take so long to answer me? And if its not a bot why did I receive two emails, each feeling like an automatic response to a keyword found in my email? Okay whatever, they still aren't answering my question and are under the impression that this is a preorder, which again. Its not. I respond.

At this point I'm a little disappointed, I reaaaally wanted that kit, but I mostly just want answers. If someone else got it that's fine. I'll just cancel my order. But I want to be sure that I'm not missing out on my chance to snag this kit.

This time it does take a full, proper week for the response.

"Most Probably"?! Its your job to find out and I figure the second round of a ticket should be a human, but this still feels vaguely bottish. Why are you just regurgitating the order details at me? I would have at the least expected them to ask me directly if I wanted to cancel. Okay so its time to be a big girl and call them, just to be absolutely sure I'm not missing out on the model before I cancel, but I want to have all my ducks in a row and make sure everything is in front of me for the call. This is where shit hits the fan for me because of several facts I had hither to been unaware of.

I checked my credit card. They had already charged me for the kit. The kit, that according to them they did not have in stock and according to their system, was a preorder. This is where I learn that unlike the other sites I have used, they charge you for a preorder before they ever even get it in stock. What the Fuck.

okay well, I want to make sure before I call I know how to cancel the order myself.

Okay, that's weird, no way to cancel. Maybe the view details?

Huh, that's fucking weird. You have literally no way to guarantee I get my product and you already took my $80, and there's no way to cancel the order. (I feel its important to note the other site I use does let you cancel preorders and does not charge you until they come in, you know, like a respectable fucking site.)

I am fucking livid at this point. How am I not able to cancel my order. You labeled this a preorder and your email tells me I can cancel those anytime.

Funny that. In fact, if you go to their front page, they have all those same little link badges...except for one very important one. Can you guess which one?

Something sure seems to be missing there sport. If you click the link in the email it takes to you a page that also says you can cancel preorders at anytime. However. I checked the QA page.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T CANCEL A PREORDER. YOU SAID YOU COULD IN TWO SEPARATE PLACES.

I call. I call with the flames of Hell in my heart. I was so excited to get this model kit. If I had simply missed my chance I would have accepted it. But their system has blocked me from getting real answers. Lied to me about my options and stopped me from solving the problem myself. I am answered by a robo voice cuts out every other word and I select the option that takes me to customer service. I am briefly put on hold and then told nobody is home would I like to leave a message. I wait a while and call back again in an hour. Its the same thing. I leave a message with my number. I just wanted to spend my money on a silly little robot. If they don't call back by Friday. I'm contacting my credit card company for a charge back and the better business bureau for their misleading preorder policy (WHICH SHOULD NOT EVEN APPLY SINCE THIS WAS NOT A PREORDER). Eat my Shorts TFsource.

[luckyshotwrites]

Ch. 34 // I’m Going to Bed // Day 22

Contents (Warnings): soft teasing, unwilling vore attempt, character shenanigans, a little tiny sprinkle of angst, more character information, and further monster/magic explanations. (Finally done with Life Festival Day 1, wooo!!).

Wordcount: 4136

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

(Oct. 7th Friday)

Zane carried the super large pizza as I bumbled around, knowing good and well the slightest breeze would send me onto the ground.

He set down the pizza on the table. The other, people eaters, were chilling at their own table waiting for us to finish our food and for the boss and Sandra to close up shop, later than the time they agreed upon.

I noticed one of the new girls I was introduced to wasn't around. Beatrice, right? I questioned in my head.

I quickly grabbed a slice as I saw Zane nearly inhale his which was about the size of my forearm. Tila and June were eating it.

Maybe now that I offered them pizza, they’ll tell me what they are? I asked. I now knew Zilla and Zane were mixed with a mimic and naga. Please don't make me think about how that happened. I begged my thoughts. I knew Drake was a vampire beast, Alexander was half and half, Lev was a dragon…Are there different types of dragons? Wait-dang it. He won’t tell me if I ask him! He’d probably give me a counter offer.

I glanced up and across the table. The one known as Elliot slept again. He looked a little less human now with giant clawed hands over his head, and soft little perks for sharp ears.

Should I bother him? What if he does something? No. This is probably the only time I can say something to any of them. I’m safe. Plus, I don’t work on any of their shifts.

“Hey, Elliot-” I called quietly. 

I noticed a twitch at his ears, he lifted his head up and he silently glared with his thistle brown eyes.

“Pizza.” I said, pointing down to it with my free hand. 

He pushed himself up, “thanks.”

And I studied his jaw, it looked like the flesh at his cheeks was missing or replaced with a hollow blackness and I could see his lips as his lips were nonexistent.

He yawned, revealing another row on the inside past the ones that were visible on the outside. I inched back as he crunched through the pizza.

What is he?! He is by far the scariest looking one. 

I felt Zane move toward me again. I pulled my pizza close, “you’re not-” I didn’t let him even get the chance and took my first bite. And immediately looked down at the triple meat. I glared at the other table even though no one was paying attention. 

How can they tell me, people taste better than this!?! I didn’t know if it was due to my hunger, or if the pizza was that good.

I assumed our pizza was phenomenal as I saw repeat customers at least once a week if not more. Understandably so as the crust was crisp and evenly garlic buttered, each bite contained a good chunk of meat and the cheese had that gooey pull that most cheap ones didn’t. 

Maybe I should consider it a blessing that I hadn't tried it until now, because I would have this every day if I could. I said in my head. They should all just eat this instead. 

We finished it off and got ready to head out. Edgar texted the message in the group chat with everyone that were going to meet at Skyler’s Concert. I wondered if Beatrice and Tristan would show up too…

Alexander

He grumbled in his head. I hate being hungry, damn it. I ate that other human for a good three hours. And even after the fight I didn’t waste that much energy…I had Lynette this morning too. He scanned over as he kept her from walking out in the open. 

Alexander forced a gulp. What the hell is going on? He blamed the current atmosphere. There were a bunch of awful smelling monsters around him, so Lynette’s already sweet aroma was vastly more noticeable. 

I need to eat. He thought to himself.

Edgar’s voice called his attention. He didn’t notice Edgar slowed down to walk next to her. Him and Drake have such a lack of presence.

“How are you enjoying your time, Lynette?” 

She chuckled, “oh, it’s very-uh-different.” 

He gave a pleasant smile, “different in a good way I hope! And hopefully Alexander took you to a few fun events, as a good supervisor should.” 

His red hue looked at Alexander playfully. Lev brings humans back all the time, but no, go ahead, punish me, ya old bastard. Alexander squinted at the man in response, though he couldn’t hide his smile.   

“I went to an event and a lot of shops.” She gestured to the backpack, then almost fell back but caught herself and continued, “and by the way that pizza was amazing! Now I think I understand why we have so many customers.”

Edgar gasped, “You’ve never had our pizza after all this time? Dear girl, it’s free for employees! You just need to ask!”

“I-I never got the chance.”

“Why, you have all lunch-” he stopped and heartily chuckled, “ah, right. I always forget. Because unlike the other humans I’ve hired, you continue to remain an excellent, punctual employee.” He tapped at his chest and bowed to her, “and I for one am very glad I hired you.”

Lynette grew embarrassed. “Oh-thanks.” 

Edgar looked back at Alexander with his charming, fatherly smile. “You picked a fine employee.”

“Not on purpose, Edgar.” Alexander mumbled, sheepishly. Edgar came around, patted his back, and gave Alexander a warning with his eyes, “do not eat her today or tomorrow. Or I will punish you.”

Edgar could tell, much like Drake, which annoyed him. He felt relieved when Edgar walked to talk to the others. 

And speaking of Drake, he noticed him eyeing Lynette from behind again. 

He’s just as bad as me, but his dad doesn’t tell him anything. Alexander grumbled as he rolled the thought around in his head. Drake’s usually a lot calmer. Maybe he’s feeling the same insane pull? There’s something just wrong with her right? 

His eyes went ahead to Lev next. However, Lev didn’t notice as he was chatting with Zane. 

“Xander, you’re gonna make me push into one of these buildings.” Lynette said.

He stiffened up, saw he had gravitated closer to her which made her move away. Why does she have to be so small? He asked himself as she had to fully tilt her head up to look at his face.

The constant background chatter and noises captured his attention. “My bad.” He simply replied.

He sealed his lips after and created some distance. Just forget she exists for now. He begged his body as he still couldn't get the thought of how perfectly sized she was out of his head.

…

Lynette

He either scowls or yells at me. I sighed, deciding it was best to ignore it and continued to look over the buildings and circus like tents, each seeming to hold something big inside. Like these monsters. I tried to lighten myself up.

At this point we roaming the events zone once more. There were a few small food areas, but overall it sang with liveliness. Many more masses of species, tall, small, old, and young. And our party finally slowed down at one of the boards. I tried to speed read the English text at the bottom.

Big Event Stations: 

Ronai Concert (Left court stage, Show time: Friday, October 6th 7:45 p.m. til 8:45 p.m.)

End Tilt Concert (Left court stage, Show time: Friday, October 6th 9:00 p.m. til 10:00 p.m.)

Vertical Join (Center Pathian, Show time: All Day Friday, October 6th and Saturday, October 7th)

Magic Bests (Left Tower, Show time: Friday, October 6th 5:15 p.m. til 8:00 p.m.)

Mayhem Maze (Bottom Right Castle, Show time: All Day Friday, October 6th and Saturday, October 7th)

How to Hide (Left Tower, Show time: Friday, October 6th 9:00 p.m. til 11:00 p.m.)

Sweets Party (Center Pink House, Show time: All Day Saturday, October 7th)

Old History (Right Speckled Tent, Show time: Saturday, October 7th 4:00 p.m.)

I couldn’t read anything else, not even the descriptions with each of them as Alexander tugged on the bag.

“Hey!” I exclaimed.

“Everyone’s leaving, keep up, shrimp.”

I pouted, regained my bearings and grumbled following behind him. He wasn't lying, everyone did leave the board. But, I at least wanted to look at more events.

He took me to a stage, Ronai was coming up. I guessed that was the one we were waiting for. I was about to check the time but a few of the crew floated to the woman who sat at the end of the stage, her legs hanging off. And what I assumed were bandmates came up behind her chatting with them as well. I wanted to move closer, but saw someone approaching me.

“Oh, hey, it’s the human from the night crew.” Beatrice said.

I was wondering where she was. She was still in her human form. And then my eyes went to the small little turtle cake she had in her hands. 

“That’s adorable!” I appreciated the detail, it almost looked real except for the cartoony face. 

“And good too.” She said and took a bite out of it. It was filled with whip cream. 

“Where did you get it?” I looked behind her as if it was close. Almost tipping over.

“Sweets House, they’re having a big sweets event tomorrow.” She said in between bites. “She makes a lot of cool looking treats, plus she fills each one with a lot of energy.”

They have food that’s energy filled YET still- I lifted up my finger behind her, “are they still open?”

“Nope, she closed up early to prepare for the event tomorrow.” Beatrice happily ate the last bite. “I’ll be happy to accompany you to get more tomorrow though~” She crouched down to be a little closer to my height, about as tall as Zilla.

“Sure-” I didn’t know what to say to her. “If you’d be willing to show me.”

“Then it’s a date, honey.”

Date? Honey? A friend date, right? I asked in my head, unable to say it outloud as Beatrice’s attention went to the person behind me. 

“Skyler, sweetie.~” Beatrice chirped.

I turned around, face met with her lower abdomen.

She waved to Beatrice with a happy, “yo yo, queen.” She leaned down, looking over my face, closely and I couldn’t back up because of the weight of the bag. “You’re the pizzeria’s new coworker right? Names Skyler,” She said with a wide smile that curled up and opened a little at her cheek, splitting the flesh and showing teeth. 

I stared at it and she put her hand up, backing up, “sorry, my body gets excited very easily.” The corner that split open revealing fell back to normal.

“Y-you’re alright-” I wanted to ask what exactly happened but refrained, “and I’m Lynette.” I offered a hand out of reflex. I couldn't take it back because she went to initiate the handshake back. Even with our clear height difference.

Her hand split open and I jumped back as a tongue came out from in it and licked over my palm.

"Quit it," she muttered holding her hand back, before giving me a quick once over. “Ah, sorry-”

Is her whole body a bunch of mouths in a trench coat? I asked myself.

"There you are, hey, Lynette, and welcome back, Beatrice!” Edgar joined us then gestured up to Skyler while looking at me, “she’s one of the affiliations that do entertainment in our pizzeria." He chuckled, "we had to cancel a month or so before you came along given the whole monster disaster, but her band and a few other groups will be coming back to give our spot entertainment again, next month.”

“O-oh. Cool.” I said. So our pizzeria’s going to be even livelier soon…oh boy. 

“I’ll make sure we give you a nice introduction to our band tonight, Lynette to make up for early!” She said, looking away and then giving me a small wave. 

Beatrice started to walk with her and Edgar. I sighed as the crowd slowly started to pack in. I tried to find Alexander. Stumbling back, I heard a laugh. 

“You’re almost acting like you’ve never had legs before!” June said with a cheerful smile. 

He still had the same color hair as me.

“It’s this giant backpack, my body hurts carrying it.”

June questioned, “oh, did you need some help?”

I wanted to say yes, but even though I couldn’t see Viola, I perfectly imagined her disappointment. “No, it’s a punishment.” One I don’t think I really deserve? Do I? I did call him a dumb…I then shook my head, no, he said I was stupid first! 

“Were you bad?” June asked. 

“A-” The start up of the music scared me. I flicked back away from him seeing the crowd vastly growing. 

“HEY EVERYONE!~” Skyler’s voice boomed over the mic.

June started to jog up, tugging my bag to pull me too. 

“We gotta get a spot with the others!"

…

I met with Alexander and stuck with him for a total of thirty minutes before I lost track of him and the others. The heavy bulk made it hard to move around in the crowd and I couldn’t check my phone. If I took my hands off the straps the backpack would slip off or ruin my balance. I got pushed back and felt someone catch me. 

“Careful, Lynette, you might bump into the wrong being!” He said in a shout. I saw it was Zane on his phone.

“S-sorry!”

He smiled, “just go wait outside of the crowd, you risk getting smushed here!.” He yelled and pointed out.

I agreed, and I wormed my way out between the other monsters, while they danced and sang along with the music.

Upon breaking away from the crowd, everything was clearer. A few stayed back and watched from afar, talking to one another.

"Howdy girly," a lanky all black being being squatted down and gestured with his free hand to the mini fridge with a glass panel he had over his shoulder. "Did you want to get a drink? We have plenty of custom drinks in here to give you some pep in your step or extra strength."

I half expected some kind of threat, and I looked over the choices, "do you have water?"

He opened the fridge and handed me a glass bottle with some clear liquid, its label was "Clearest."

I took out my card and got ready to hold it up.

"No, water's free little missy." He held up his hand, and sprang back up. He tipped his hat back, "if you would like anything else though, I'll be walking around."

I thanked him, holding the water tightly, my other hand on the straps. I saw him go off toward the crowd with his colorful fridge of drinks. I made my way to an empty, smaller table. A lot of them were way too big to be comfortable in.

I stared up, taking a breath, and staring up at the beautiful starry night. Even with the lights below, I could see plenty of the stars. Though, I realized I was tipping too far back and clutched the table quickly. I nearly lost my drink.

I had to lay on the table to keep the bag from dragging me off the bench.

I should text the group chat and tell him where I am.

I brought out my phone, looking over the few messages of nonsense before. I stopped when someone tapped on my typing arm.

"Hey, where's your mark, little human?"

I pulled my arm back. I flipped to the male that was at least eight feet tall. His mouth seemed to match Elliot, except he had a fluffy swishing tail and wolf-like ears on his head.

I smiled, "uh-I don’t have a mark-”

“Why not?” They sat down right next to me. Nearly touching me.

I wanted to scoot over but I was afraid it'd seem rude. “I’m not a giver." I said seeing he had a mark on his own hand like Alexander had earlier. Except it wasn't glowing. “I work for a pizza place that has a stall here-Happy Pizzeria."

Their claws tapped the table, as if they were thinking. I gave a friendly smile, but felt the sweat starting form at my forehead.

“Ah,” He got up from the bench and my phone started to ring. “I guess I’ll find someone else.”

My shoulders slumped. I fumbled to answer it once he walked away and accidentally rejected it. Alexander's going to kill me. I thought as I saw the being with the brown fuzzy trench coat was still behind me. Eyeing me, and once our eyes locked in the mirror, he lurched over to grab me.

He got the backpack and yanked me up. He tried to wrap his arm around my head, but I dropped from the backpack straps. I had to do it so many times in high school when Wicks tried to stop me from walking so fast.

I slipped under the table, clenching my phone, and scrambled to get out from underneath it. They swung it up, and dropped it immediately when I got up. I heard its heavy slam behind me along with the shatter of the glass bottle.

“Stop making this difficult!” The male called. 

I couldn't yell out, the music was too loud and I didn't assume anyone would help me.

I brought my phone out, not able to stop myself as Drake ran out in front of me. He didn't expect me to slam into him, he assumed I'd stop in a panic. I pulled back as his arms were out.

"Alexander's looking for you..." He heard my help, saw my gesture and gasp. I couldn't speak.

The fuzzier being with black fur and horns leaned over us.

Drake moved me behind him when the wolf-like man reached for me. “She’s not a giver.” His tone left calm yet strong.

It made me tense up.

His sour face turned to me, ignoring them, he moved his head in the direction he wanted us to go. "Let's get back to him."

"I'm not scared of you, brat." The being growled. He grabbed Drake who held my arm. Drake let go of me, I wobbled to keep my balance.

Not that it mattered. A few ribbons of fear wrapped around my body, draping over my ears drowning out the music, yet they were thin enough to let the colder breeze in. My body twisted, struggling to run at first, but soon gaining enough traction as I got further away from the situation.

My breath squeaked out, finally. I swayed back and forth and my mind slowly regained its senses hearing the phone I clutched in my hand ringing again.

I answered without reading the name.

“WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!” Alexander’s growl rumbled from beyond the speaker. 

My lip quivered. I tried to look back. “I-uh-Drake might have got into a fight-”

There was a confused silence, “what?” He snapped out of it. “JUST TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE.”

“I don’t know, uh-” I looked at the stage, “left of the stage.”

I heard a gruff groan, followed by a “STAY THERE.” He hung up.

I didn't want to move, but the speaker sounded so loud. I soon saw Viola, Tila, and Beatrice coming over to me.

“What are you doing here, Lynette? Alexander was-” Viola then got closer and looked at my hands then back to my eyes. “Are you alright?”

My hands trembled. “Y-yeah. They just-oh, right, Drake might not be okay-” What am I doing to these monsters to make them attack me?

“What happened?”

I tried to form a coherent sentence. “Someone grabbed him and for some reason I couldn’t stop myself from running away.” I held my chest. I’m a coward, but he'll be okay, right? What if something happened? My heart blamed me again.

“I guess not everyone can get along.” Beatrice sighed, “would be better if we could.”

“And be under your rule, no thanks! I love my freedom.” Tila moved her arms around. 

I went back in the same direction I came from. As if I could do something, Viola grabbed my wrist. “Did you see anyone hit, Drake?”

I denied it, then realized the bag was gone too. “And you’re bag, I’m sorry-” My overwhelmed and muddled mind felt more for the bag and Drake than my own safety. It had a funny way to cope...

…

Viola worked on calming down Alexander behind me.

“Sorry,” Drake apologized.

At this point the whole crew was together, besides Sandra, Edgar, and Tristan. And as far as I know, no one really mentioned the scenario to them. 

“You shouldn’t apologize.” I said walking beside him in the hotel lobby.

Drake shook his head, “I used my animosity and forgot how it’d affect you.”

“Your animosity?” 

“It’s something certain beings, like me, can do. It creates a pressure around weaker creatures to either make them run or unable to move.” Drake sighed, “I wanted him to back off, not you, it spreads over an area and I don't have control over who I affect in that area.”

I listened to his sheepish tone, and saw he avoided eye contact with me. I nodded, “th-thank you though, I’d rather that than…what might have happened…”

Drake agreed with a half smile, “I suppose.”

Alexander "broke" containment.

“You idiot!” Alexander's voice rose out from behind me. “It’s like you want other monsters to eat you! Why did you go off by yourself!” He pushed between the two of us. Viola couldn’t hold him back. 

“I got pushed away from you and I could barely stand up with the backpack!" I exclaimed, "I was tired, plus I could have gotten crushed by the giants!”

“Then you find and TELL me-!” Alexander snarled. We neared the elevator. “You know how annoying it’d be to get you out of someone's stomach AGAIN?”

I squeaked and hated the thought. “It's worse for me.”

“And you still-” He put his hands out to me then pulled them back and held his head up. “I’ll eat you if I pick you up and shake you.”

“Please don’t.”

He turned his head the opposite direction, “and there you go again, acting all meek and preyish! Stop teasing me!”

“I’M NOT!”

Lev laughed aloud as he held the elevator door for us, “I know, her little squeaks make me hungry too.” He stopped me from going into it. “Are you sure you don’t want to bunk with me tonight?”

“NEVER.” I pulled away, refusing to ride it up with them. “Can’t you guys just stop threatening to eat me!” 

“Nope~” Lev said.

“You’re literally what I eat-”

Zilla pushed me ahead. She wanted to get in and I was in her way, “I gave you the offer to switch with me, Lynette.” 

“Sis!” Zane said, he looked over at me, “she may be the size of a cute teddy bear, but still I’d rather have you." He tapped his chin, "or maybe the three of us?”

“I don’t want to wake up next to a giant of any species.” I went to the corner of the mirrored elevator.

“Aw, Lynette, then you’d be all alone,” Claudia turned and smirked at Tila, “oh wait, Tila’s smaller than you.”

Tila puffed up, her pigtails raised too, “you Fae always act so superior.”

Claudia chuckled, “It's because we are.~”

“I’d offer but I think our room is full enough.” Beatrice remarked. 

They ignored my giant comment.

“Oh, oh! She can stay with us!” June said, clinging onto my arm. His skin touching mine made me shiver. He felt cold and slightly squishy even though he looked normal.

“I don’t need a human in my room.” Elliot said.

You know, touché.

I glanced at Drake who hadn't said anything. Then smiled, “Or, better yet,” I gestured at Alexander, “you can go bunk with Lev and Drake.”

“I don’t have a bed in there.”

“We have a couch,” Lev said before looking at me, “but wouldn’t you get lonely? Any monster could easily sneak in there and gobble you up…” He teased, “oh," excitement fluttered in his irises, "you know, maybe you should sleep in our room, Alexander.”

I rushed out of the elevator, “nevermind, forgot it! I-I don’t-ugh,” I didn’t want to argue anymore. I fumbled to get the keycard from the wallet at the back of my phone. “I'M GOING TO BED. GOODNIGHT."

…

Thank you for reading! :D Have a gouda day! (Nonnegotiable, if you're lactose intolerant, you're about to be in a lot of pain, sorry, not sorry. Lol).

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What I’d do for a Livable Income (Synopsis/Chapter - List)

[isca-rambles]

5x11 Lucy loving her man being so helpless over a coffee machine. Tim being the worst fucking liar in the world how did this man survive even one minute of UC work. Lucy probably writing up 20 pages of research for any possible questions that anyone might ask. The little smiles they have for each other. Tim's hatred of screenwriters. The flirting. My god the flirting you two please calm down you're in a police station. Nothing will have to wait until later. Tim and Aaron friendship and banter is everything. Why. Whhhhy. Lucy and her overwhelming desire to protect everyone. Beautiful sunshine human being. So did Tim text her he was going to be coaching at this moment. Did he tell her? Did she ask? Or did she ask Genny? Because Genny does not seem surprised to see her there and Tim does that adorable little 'hey' when he sees her like the adorable boy in love he is. But look at her there supporting her man. Giving him back-up when she sees him struggling to be a little more strict. Oh my god his face when she says 'friend'. He knows what that 'friend' means and he is very happy. Their little flirting with the ball. Genny pointedly not looking at them as they turn back around because she 100% knows and she's trying to give them their space until they're ready to tell her. Their little fumbles when Genny teases about how well they work together. How close they're constantly standing. Ahhhhh. Wes is probably making note of how close these two are standing so he can report back to Angela later. Tim's face when Lucy says Nolan is a badass in the streets. Hah. Oh my boy. He knows Nolan is vaguely badass as a cop, but he also knows Lucy is 100% the baddest of asses. Ugh, she's pure sunshine but that means her heart keeps getting broken a little bit every time she goes through shit like this. She's strong enough by far to handle it and stay a ray of pure sunshine, but it still hurts to see her hurt. Hello Elijah. I'm not sad to see you, I just know it'll mean more Monica soon. Ugh. My god Lucy and Tim are so married. Look at him reining her back in when she needs it, just like he does for her. God they'd be the best parents. I don't know if we'll ever get to that point on the show, even if they do get back together, but it's wonderful to think about. And I know it was part of a bet but their little high five turned hand holding is fucking adorable.

Angela and Nyla with front row seats to watch Chenford fail at pretending they're not together. It's probably one of their favourite pasttimes. Texting James and Wesley updates. 5x12 I know cold opens don't really count but Tim's face when he recognises Kelly. Grey's face too! What a secret fangirl. Tim letting his girl go in the elevator first as well, like the cutie he is. She was clearly further away and he held the door for her and waited for her to go in first. And then after Lucy speaks to Kelly, she looks up at Tim with this 'OHEMGEE' expression. You can imagine him trying to be all 'calm down' but secretly thrilled his wifey got to meet one of her singers. Tamara really should be a detective. But also oh my god just imagining her looking out the window or something and seeing Tim drop Lucy off. A little good night smooch. Can you just imagine her squealing a little on seeing them and realising they got their act together? Mildly furious Lucy hasn't told her yet and plotting when she'll corner her next and tease her until she slips? Lucy immediately replying that she knows exactly how she feels. It's the most amazing relationship of her life. The certainty she has in what she has with Tim, especially considering how unsure she's been in all her past relationships and even in herself. Being a cop and being with Tim. Those are the two things she knows without hesitation. OH MY GOD THE HANDS. THE HANDS. THEIR SMILES. BUT THE HANDS. LOOK AT THE HANDS. So desperate to touch each other even though they saw each other probably barely hours before. Tim trying to play it cool given what Lucy just told him. The looks they're giving each other right in front of everyone. Grey absolutely knows without question. My god you two you cannot be flirting this hard in the station. Also, Grey, please. Why would you assign Nolan to this. You have other officers. It doesn't have to be Nolan! This just seems like the worst idea. Nolan knows who Oscar is but he's not that hard of a book to read.

God I do love Oscar though. Annoyed he's bringing Jason back in S7 but I forgive him. Poor Angela when that realisation hits. God Lucy is just literal sunshine. Look at how she looks at him. I know some people don't like how she dealt with the whole Lucy lesson thing and the earrings, but she's Lucy. She's got this planned out. And Tim needed to be shown. Maybe there was a better way but everyone else has done a lot worse to prove a smaller point. And yes, I am happy to let Lucy slide on pretty much anything. I'm weak. But oh, Tim so frantic to help Lucy out. He's got it so bad.

They'll figure it out. New Chenford tag that one. And they will. But they need to start properly communicating. Hopefully in S7. And that means Lucy too, not just Tim. She puts the same walls up that he does, she deflects, and she spirals, hard. I get the spiralling, I really do, so I feel for her. But she has to communicate back when he opens up. Oh Angela, baby, no. Tim's smile dropping, hah. And yes, another classic communication. Her thinking they cancelled. It's small but it's there. God her smile though. And he can't help but smile back. Ugh. Monica. They only have two real options, and neither of them even takes a second to consider breaking up as an actual option. You know, despite the fact that yes, they shouldn't be riding together regularly if they're a couple, they still work so well together on the job. No matter what their relationship is like, they never have an issue once they're out on patrol. Her taking that bit of lint off his shirt. Tim forever refusing to accept that they're partners on the job and her little play shove. Uuuugh. The sad look of realisation she gets, knowing they won't be able to see each other as much. They've spent so long together, day in day out, before they were even close to being in a relationship, and now anything less is just not enough for them. Tim makes his mind up right in that moment that he'll be the one to change jobs. He doesn't want to see her any less either, but he can't see her sad like that for any longer than he can help it. Taking the bags from her uuuuuuugh these two MY HEART. Grey's been waiting for this conversation for so long. He's not oblivious. Look at that happy little smile he has for them. He knows it's going to be difficult for them, he knows it's not perfect, but he also knows how important this is. How important it must be to Tim, taking a desk job. But Grey can see the effect Lucy has had on him over the years. He's seen how happy he's become. Aaaand, while an incredibly sweet and romantic gesture, Tim making that decision without Lucy being involved is another sign of their communication issues in their personal lives. No sense in arguing about it. It's done. How much that echoes forwards to S6 when he decides alone that they have to break up. No arguing. It's done. Uuuuuugh these two better have the communication skills of a fucking poet in S7. Aaaaand what more can I saw about this scene. My god the UST. Their hands. Their smiles. Their eyes. Her face admiring him. His hand against the door to stop her head from hitting it. The giddy smiles disolving into intensity. The door slam. Her hair against the door pane. I CANNOT WITH THESE TWO.

[lou-struck]

Smile!

Atsumu Miya x Reader x Osamu Miya

~ The twins can't help but compete with each other, especially when you are in the 'picture'

This is my first time writing with two love interests so I hope I'm not leading one way over another. There isn't really an established relationship or anything like that, just them both pining after the reader who really is just enjoying the attention.

This another installment for my 300 followers event which you could find HERE. This event will be open for a bit longer if you want to check it out and make a request!!

One of the best things about being a college student is that you are not technically forced to go to class. Of course, there are participation grades and whatnot, but usually, students are allowed one or two free absences over the course of the semester, no questions, no haggling, and most importantly no reason to provide an excuse.

With this in mind, you and your other friends from your university all decided to ditch class and meet at the Amusement park. However, like any other college friend group, yours had a huge mix-up in communication. You and your car got to the park right at the opening while the others aren't planning on leaving till later in the afternoon.

This wouldn't be a problem but now your heart is beating out of your chest. You are basically alone in this big park with the stupidly attractive Miya twins. Although you are nowhere near as close to them as you would like to be, they insisted you rode down with them. Who are you to deny them and your hormones?

Not wanting to be the one to initiate the conversation you hang back a bit allowing the twins to talk and adorably bicker amongst themselves. But you miss the way they both glance your way in anticipation.

Since it's just the three of us for now, why don't we go on a few rides before it gets too busy?” Osamu suggests pulling you happily into their conversation.

“That’s a good idea, we should do some of the thrill rides since the lines are so short,” you say in agreement pointing out the first mega coaster on your path.

The lines are so sparse that all you need to do is walk straight through the ropes to get to the loading dock.

As you head to your seat the twins stop and stare at eachother, the ride only fits two people per row which means that whoever gets to your line first will be the one to you

You may be unaware at the time but both twins are crazy about you. It’s more than a competition. This is why they were so adamant about driving over the park with you.

With this in mind, both twins take off into an aggressive powerwalk. They stand shoulder to shoulder trying to get the upper hand.

Atsumu’s strides are slightly bigger but he puts too much weight against Osamu.

The grey-haired twin notices this and slows his step so Atsumu falls past him off balance. 

Smirking back at his fallen brother Osamu slides into his prized seat next to you as you try and reach the safety harness above your head from your seated position. He uses his longer arms to pull it down for you.

“There ya go, he winks patting the now secure harness. “I wouldn't want to lose ya up there.

“Thanks,” you say softly not trusting the words that leave your mouth. 

Was he flirting with you? No, you must be imagining it…

While you are sitting in denial of Osamu’s blatant flirting Atsumu stares daggers at his brother. “That was my move Samu,” he practically growls under his breath, it is drowned out by the instructions blasting over the speakers signaling the ride is about to take off.

Bracing yourself for takeoff you put your head back against the seat. Suddenly you Zip forward, tears of excitement form in your eyes as you twist and tumble across the track. The brothers are just as excited as they cheer loudly. The sense of freedom that the adrenaline of the ride gives you makes you want to throw your hands in the air to experience the weightlessness of the ride. The wind tenderly wraps around your limbs when the coaster dips. Suddenly you see the unmistakable flash of a camera, you are not sure whether you blinked before or after but no matter. You're still wondering this as the ride comes to a stop. 

The bar comes up and you spring out of your seat. “That was so fun,” you say panting out of breath.

“We should go on another one since it's not busy,” Osamu says looking at you with a flush on his cheeks.

“Not till I see that photo,” you say looking over at the screens in anticipation.

The twins try to shove past eachother to see the photo with Atsumu gaining the upper hand just as they stumble to the screen.

“Let’s see ere,” he says scanning for his blond head. His handsome face is blocked by the raised hands of his brother as he scowls at the screen

“Not fair, I wanted a photo with you too Y/n. he whines as his brother stifles a laugh.

“It’s not that great,” you say gesturing to the screen, “I totally blinked, let's go on another ride. Maybe I can keep my eyes open

“Next time I get to sit with ya, maybe I’ll be ya good luck charm,” Atsumu says softly taking your hand and leading you towards the next ride as your face heats up like a kettle on the stovetop.

Between the twins vying for your affections and the speeding coasters, the next few hours go by in a blur. But, no matter which brother sat next to you, you still managed to conveniently blink at the time every photo was taken. It’s annoying for sure, but you are filled with determination as you make your way through the log ride.

“Hey guys, maybe I can keep my eyes open this time?” you joke as the logs come into view. This time the ride sits three people per row which means you have the pleasure of being squeezed between the Miya twins.

The ride starts out slow with a few little drops, but everyone knows the camera is at the largest drop. It is approaching fast and you tighten your grip on the bar hoping that you can finally get a good ride picture not noticing the twins are sitting in mischievous silence beside you.

The front of your log dips forward before sliding down the track picking up speed.

Just as the camera flashes you feel something warm and soft brush against your cheeks. Almost touching the corners of your upturned mouth. 

You blink and the feeling is gone and you and the twins are pummeled with water from your descent. Water splashes all over you soaking through your t-shirt but you don't care, you really need to see that picture. Your shoes squelch on the pavement as you hurry to the photo kiosk while the twins follow close behind wondering if you even realized what happened on the ride.

Your feet come to a stop in front of the screen and your jaw drops, your eyes were open for once but in your determination to not have a bad photo, you barely registered that both twins leaned in to kiss you on the cheek just as the camera flashed.

But now you that you see it with your own eyes your heart feels like it's about to burst. You shyly look down at the floor. Osamu drapes his sweater over your shoulders while Atsumu goes to buy the picture.

"Ur eyes were open this time," the grey-haired twin says softly gently squeezing your shoulders.

"shuttup," you mumble relishing in the attention wondering if the heat in your cheeks will ever subside.

[unluckyhoneybee]

The Handsome Artist 18. (Daniel Ricciardo)

Australia. Danny is so happy to have Abi at home, so is everyone else.

MASTERLIST

Previous part: The Hoppers

Note: cheesiness, uncle Dan, farmer Dan. Just look at the gif. He had never looked better than in that gif.

Warning: long af. Mentions of smut but not explicitly.

Danny pulled my hand and we walked to our seats. Michael was sleeping but Blake was shaking his head. I blushed hard and Daniel chuckled. It was obvious. There was no way of hiding this.

"Sit baby"

I sat next to Blake and he looked at me with a smile.

"Good?"

"Yep"

He chuckled. Daniel sat on his place next to the window and sighed happy.

"Better than good, Blakey"

I slapped Danny's thigh and he giggled.

"Why are you dating him?" Blake said joking.

I looked at him and laughed.

"I still ask myself that question every morning."

"Oh, c'mon. I'm cute. Charming. Talented. And I have a bi-"

"Big ego?" I said crossing my arms. "So big, yes"

Blake was laughing next to me.

"I really like you, Abigail"

"Yeah? No pay back for you later" He said referring to our little scaped to the toilet.

"I can fix that myself" I replied in the most sassy way.

"Oh do you?"

"Mhm"

"No funny business in Australia for you then"

"Can you stop arguing about you sex life?" Michael groaned.

I blushed hard when a woman in the next row looked at us.

Daniel kissed my cheek.

"He is just jealous babe. And that woman? Haven't been touched since she retired" Danny whispered in my ear.

I covered my mouth to not laugh. I looked at him and he kissed my nose. He still had pink cheeks and the stupid smile he got after sex. I cupped his cheek gently and kissed him.

"Let's sleep for a bit, huh"

I nodded.

The next time I joke up, the for of us were snuggling against each other. I had my head on Blake's shoulder, Danny was almost laying on me and Michael was also laying on Blake. I moved and Daniel groaned. He sat straight and looked at me.

"Comfy?"

I nodded.

"Blake is comfy, yeah"

I smiled and moved so I was laying on him now, he lifted his arm and hugged me against him. Then kissed my head.

"I'm happy you are here. They wouldn't have blow..."

"Danny..." I groaned.

He giggled and caressed my face.

"Sleep. Only an hour left."

We landed at 8.45pm and I was exhausted. My back hurted and even my clothes bothered.

We were crossing the airport and the guys were all bubbly and happy to be back home, which was amazing.

And suddenly...

"Guys!"

We all looked at the right and Daniel laughed. He literally let his suitcase fall and ran to his mum and dad, engulfing both of them in a big hug. I felt a warm feeling on my chest.

Carefully, I picked Danny's suitcase and waited for them to get their grettings. I was supposed to be a surprise so...

Daniel still had an arm around his mum shoulders and a hand on his dad's. He was talking to them with a smile and suddenly the three of them turned to me. They had the biggest smiles.

"There you have them" Michael said pushing me slightly. "Go"

I bit my lip and nodded.

I left my things there with them and walked to the Ricciardos.

"Oh Abigail" Grace scaped Dan's grip and walked to me, hugging me so hard and making me laugh. "I'm so happy, dear. So so happy. I knew you were the one."

I hugged her tight and smiled. This meant a world to me. I have been feeling insecure this days. Even though Daniel had told me so many times that it would be fine, I felt like I would be intruding on their lifes.

"I'm so happy you are here, really." She said pulling back and touching my cheek. "Thank you for coming with him. I know he is a bit difficult sometimes."

"Mum..."Danny groaned.

"it's fine, Grace. He usually behaves." I said giggling.

He hugged me again and laughed.

"I'm so happy. You are so nice together"

"Let me say hi to my daughter in law."

I blushed when I heard that. Joe gave me a nice hug.

"I'm also happy, you know?"

"Of course, Joe"

"Congratulations."

I smiled.

"Thank you"

He leaned on my ear.

"Take care of him"

It took me a bit by surprise, but I nodded.

"Of course"

"Dad. Don't scare her, man."

"I'm not!"

"The guys! Sorry guys, I forgot about you. I didn't know Abigail was coming, it's a big surprise" Grace walked to the guys and hugged them.

I felt Danny's hand on my waist and looked at him.

"Welcome home" He said.

I laid my hand on his chest and felt his heart beating hard. He leaned and kissed me deeply, but I pulled back.

"Dan..."

He chuckled.

"Let's go, I got something for dinner ready and we still have a some time on the road.

They had a big car and all of us fitted inside. Daniel was holding my hand the whole time, pointing at things throgh the window and telling me about all the things he wanted to do. We dropped Mike and Blake at home and then headed to the farm. I fell asleep without noticing, only waking up when Danny touched my cheek.

"Sweetheart, we are at home"

I smiled and looked in front of me. The house was big. It was so big.

"Oh wow"

Once we got inside, I couldn't stop looking around.

"Do you like it?" Grace touched my arm.

"It's beautiful, Grace."

There were many plants, as Daniel had told me when I gifted him Elisa.

"Feel at home."

"Yeah, this will be for Danny and you once we..." Joe started.

"Joe! We are still young"

I giggled.

"Hey, love. I'm going up to shower and get some comfy clothes."

"Oh yeah. I'm going with you"

"Show her were everything is!"

"Yes mum!"

Daniel showed me the place. Upstairs, there were 4 bedrooms. The main one for Grace and Joe was the first on the corridor. He said there was a toilet inside. Then there was another one with bunk beds and toys, the names Izzy and Isaac written on the walls.

I looked at Daniel, who was looking at the room. He was deep in his thoughts and when I grabbed his hand, he shook his head.

"This room is half finished." He said

I nodded. There were empty spaces.

"They asked for a room for grandkids when they got this build"

I took a deep breath and hugged his waist. What happened to him didn't only happen to him. It affected everyone around. I got on my tip toes and kissed his cheek.

He sighed.

"Come here." He opened another room. "This is Michelle's room. She comes on weekends" Then he opened another door right in front. "And this is my... Our room" He smiled to himself. "Our room. And our bed, our wardrobe..."

I hugged him and kissed his lips.

"How happy are you?"

He cupped my cheeks.

"I think I haven't been happier."

"You are so cute"

He kissed my cheek.

"Thank you for coming. Have you seen how happy they are?"

I nodded.

"I told you"

It made me laugh.

"You were dying to say that, weren't you?"

"Fuck yes, I was."

I kissed him again.

"I'll shower first so you can have your time, okay?"

I nodded.

As he showered, I looked around the bedroom. There were some of his drawings on the wall, a big desk with some lights. A metal box similar to those I had seen on his studio. The bedsheets were blue. Then I moved to the window and looked outside. I could only see the big eucalyptus and... Wow. A big pool. It was so big.

Soon he was out of the shower with a towel hanging way too low on his hips.

"Dan. How much money does wine give?"

He chuckled.

"We do quite good. To be good. The whole country has Ricciardo wine. And we export to some other places too."

"That's a big ass pool"

"And it's warm"

I gasped.

"Can we swim? I didn't..."

"You don't need it" He said pinching my ass.

"No. No. Not if your parents are..."

"Shh. They always have dinner with some friends on the city on Fridays"

My cheeks warmed.

"So..."

"You, me, the farm, the stars..."

I laughed.

"You are the biggest idiot"

He laughed and patted my ass. Go and shower.

I did and it felt like heaven. Soon we were having dinner in the kitchen.

"I talked to Michelle and told her that maybe you could pick the kids from school."

Daniel nodded.

"Yeah, of course."

"But... They don't know about Abigail"

I smiled.

"They will freak out" Danny said.

"I can't wait to see them" I said with a smile. Those little kids had my heart since moment one.

"They liked you a lot." Joe said. "Isabella only talks about you if she sees a little plant or flower. And Isaac thought about calling you for his homework"

I gasped.

"Really? He should have called!"

"The little man forgot he had those homework, got nervous and starter doing them the night before"

Daniel laughed.

"That's my guy"

Grace hit his arm.

"Oh" I giggled.

"So... We can pick them from school and go and get some ice cream"

"It's winter, Daniel" Grace said.

"And? Ice cream is delicious in winter too. Right, Abi?"

"It is"

Joe laughed.

"Let them spoil the kids."

Exhaustion got us pretty quickly after dinner, so Danny and I went to bed.

We washed our teeth together and I went to the bed before, leaving him on the toilet. I laid down and sighed. The bed felt like a hug.

"I'm so tired"

He climbed on the bed and spooned me, kissing my cheek and then leaning on my shoulders.

"How tired?"

I looked at him.

"Why?"

"Well..." With a hand on my waist, he pressed himself against me.

I bit my lip.

"You are insatiable, right?"

He kissed my cheek and then my neck.

"What do you say?"

I smiled and reached to push down my trousers, which made him smile and hugged me tight from behind. There is no need to say that we both fell asleep quite happy and relaxed that night.

Jet lag kicked hour asses, Grace had to wake us up for lunch. And even after that, we had to sleep a bit more, this time, curled around each other in the sofa. It felt domestic and real. It was hour first time sharing a space like this and if felt good already.

By the afternoon, Danny took his old truck from the parking lot in the farm. It was a metallic building full of tractors and other farming machines. We saw a couple of workers from the farm before leaving.

"There is a cattle down there. I'm sure that Isaac will want you to see it. Izzy is a little princess and doesn't like the smell, though."

"They are so cute"

He took my hand and put it on his lap.

"Can I ask something?"

I nodded.

"Do you miss them? In some way."

I took a deep breath.

"I do. They took a little piece of my heart. When I saw Izzy crying after the barbecue..."

"Yeah, that was hard. It was pretty hard to calm her down after you left"

I gasped.

"She spent the afternoon curled on my lap"

"Oh" I bit my lip. "I didn't know..."

"It's fine. That's how it is. We live far away. It's normal that they miss... Us" He looked at me.

I kissed his hand.

"Danny."

"Mhm"

"Once we are back... Can I talk to them? M-maybe when you call them or... I don't know."

"What's in that head of yours?" He said smiling softly.

"Well... We are together now... I'm your girlfriend."

"Mhm"

"They are... My family now, right?"

"I love you" He blurted out a second later.

I gasped.

Quite harshly, Daniel pulled aside and stopped the car before turning to me. He cupped my cheeks and kissed me deeply. I grabbed into him and kiss back just as deep.

He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.

He pulled back and made me look at him in the eyes.

"I love you, okay? That's it. I have for a while. And it's okay if you don't feel like that yet. It's fine. Trust me. Just take your time. I wanted you to know. And yes. You are a part of my family. And I love that. And obviously you can talk to them. I want you to. I want you to have the best relationship with them. I want the kids to call you Auntie if that's fine with you, and I want Isaac to call for help if he can't finish his homework, and I want Izzy to have her own flower shop because you inspired her. I want you around. I want you to be another one of us."

"I'm gonna cry, you fucking prick"

He chuckled and hugged me. I cried. I obviously cried. He let me be, caressing my hair and kissing my cheek once in a while.

"I-I have no words" I whispered

He kissed my lips.

"You have all the time you want to find them" He kissed me once more.

"Thank you"

We shared a moment of silence.

"Wow. Um... We should go" He said.

"We should"

I was still a bit taken aback by his words. I couldn't stop looking at him. He was driving and biting his lips, probably trying to not smile like a kid or something.

"I'm so happy your brought me here" I told him. "It's a lot for me"

He took my hand once more.

"It means to much for me that you want me this close. More even knowing what happened."

He shot a quick glance to me.

"I trust you. I know that you won't ever do something like that. Even... Even if this doesn't work out. Which I'm gonna make sure that happens. I'm gonna make this works. We are. But even if we end up following different paths... I trust you. An I'll always love you and... "

"Don't make me cry more, Daniel."

He laughed.

"If you are here is because I feel safe and loved around you and I trust you."

I nodded and clean my tears.

"Stop making me cry, pretty please"

"Okay love." He said smiling.

We arrived at the school on time and we walked to the door. He had his arm around me.

"I can't wait to see their faces." He said.

"Do they know you are here or that's a surprise to?"

"They think I will arrive for the weekend"

"Uncle Dan?! Abi?!" Isaac was there standing with his mouth agape and big eyes. "You are here!"

The kid started running and Daniel let go of me. I was there with my phone ready to take lots of pics.

"Uncle Dan!" Isaac was so happy, hugging Daniel so hard and laughing.

"Little man! I missed you so much"

Daniel pushed him a bit and messed with his hair, making the boy chuckle.

"Stop!"

"Say hi to Abi"

Isaac looked at me and smiled. I knelt.

"Hi, Isaac"

He hugged me tight.

"Hi, Abi"

"How are you, sweet boy?"

"I'm fine. Mum says I'm taller"

Danny chuckled.

"You are. You are super tall"

"Yeah, buddy. You've grown a lot."

I pinched the kid's cheek.

"Uncle Dan?"

We all looked. There she was, with her hair in a ponytail and a shy look on her eyes.

"Izzy! Come here, princess"

She didn't move. Instead, she looked at me.

"Hi, Izzy"

I got up.

"Isabella?" Daniel walked to her. "What's up, princess?"

She hugged Daniel's leg.

"Hey..."

I looked at Isaac.

"Is Izzy fine?"

He nodded.

"She is shy"

"Okay"

Daniel was trying to get her to talk.

"Izzy, princess. Hey... Do you want me to pick you up?"

She nodded and Daniel took her on his arms. He walked to me.

"Sweetie?" I touched her back and she hid a bit.

"Izzy, Abi is here. She came to see you" Daniel said.

"Dan. It's fine. She didn't expect us here today. Let's go and have those ice creams, okay?"

"Ice cream?!" Isaac took mh hand excited. "I'm winter?!"

"Yes buddy. Let's go and have some ice cream."

Izzy moved a bit and looked at me, but didn't say anything.

I helped Isaac with his seat belts while Danny sat Izzy on her seat. She reached and brought him closer.

"Hi uncle Dan." She said with a smile. He touched her nose and smiled.

"Hi, princess."

We drove them to their favourtie shop. Isaac was talking nonstop about Perth, he was just like Dan last night.

"Look! The pet shop! They sell spiders in there!" He giggled.

"There are spiders at home. Why do they sell them" Isabella asked.

"I don't know. It's silly" Isaac answered.

Arrived to the shop and both kids took Danny's hands.

"Oreos and... Vainilla!" Isaac said.

"Okay, Nutella for me and for the lady..."

"Mango, please"

"And the little princess?"

She looked at me and pulled Danny's hand. He sighed and leaned. She whispered on his ear.

"Strawberries" Daniel pulled his wallet out. "Go with Abi to the table, okay?"

I walked with them, Izzy still in silence. I helped Isaac first with his coat and then looked at her.

"Do you need help?" I said smiling.

She blushed and nodded. I helped her and she whispered a little thank you.

"Are you and Uncle Dan going to stay too long?" Isaac asked.

"For seventeen days"

He gasped and smiled.

"That's a lot! Have you ever come here?"

"Nop"

"And did you like the farm? Did you see the sheep? And the pool? The water is warm and you can swim in winter."

"We didn't have time. But I really want to see the sheep" I said smiling.

"They smell so bad" Izzy said while looking at her hands.

"You are so boring" Her brother said.

"Oh, I'm sure she likes other things about the farm"

"The grapes. She eats them but Uncle Dan and Grampa don't know" Isaac said giggling.

"Little Izzy eats my grapes?"

Izzy looked up in panic.

"Isaac it was a secret!" She said with teary eyes.

"Oops" The boy giggled.

I looked at Dan and pointed at Izzy, who was on the verge of tears.

"Isabella." Danny sat. "You can eat my grapes if you give me something"

"Do you want my piggy? I have coins"

I covered my mouth. She was so sweet.

"Nah. Give me a kiss." Danny tapped his cheek.

She leaned and kissed his cheek.

"One kiss. One grape. One big hug. Ten grapes." He said.

It made my heart beat so fast. He was so good and caring with them.

"She will need to give you a million hugs then" Isaac said laughing.

Izzy blushed, but she didn't had tears anymore.

"How many grapes have you been eating?" Danny said tickling her.

Izzy jumped from her seat and unexpectedly, she leaned on me.

"Abi, help me"

I smiled and sat her on my lap.

"Enough, Danny!" I said laughing and slapping Dan's hands away.

"Oh, so now you have Auntie Abi to protect you, huh?"

We all stayed still.

"Auntie Abi?" Isaac asked slowly. "Abi is our Aunt"

Daniel looked at me and bit his lip blushing.

"She is."

Isabella looked up.

"Really?"

"Yes" I said.

She smiled so big.

"Aren't you shy anymore?" Daniel said pinching her.

"Your ice creams"

The waiter brought our ice creams and the kids got excited about it. Daniel looked at me and smiled.

"Can I sit here?" Izzy said.

"Of course, sweetie"

She stayed on my lap for the whole afternoon. We ate our ice creams and they told us about school. Isaac omitted his little accident with the plants homework but Izzy was quick with her revenge.

"And he almost didn't have time to finish" She said putting a spoon full of ice cream on her mouth. "Mum got angry"

"You have to do you homework on time, mate" Daniel said pinching his arm.

"I forgot" He shrugged.

After that, they insisted on having a walk around. They showed me some of their favorite places, the park they played in, the kindergarten where Izzy was last year, the place where Michelle worked... And then we went to their house where their mum was already there.

She hugged me so tight, telling me over and over again how happy she was for us.

"Mum. Can we go and have dinner at the farm tomorrow?" Isaac asked.

"of course"

Izzy touched my hand and I crouched down. She gave me a hug.

"Hi, Abi"

I smiled and caressed her hair.

"Hi, Izzy"

"I'm happy you are here" She said and kissed my cheek.

"I'm happy to be here too. Your house is really pretty. And I already like Perth a lot."

She smiled so big.

"I like you home too"

Danny's phone rang.

"It's mum. We should get going Abi"

"See you tomorrow, Auntie Abi"

I smiled.

"Bye bye, Izzy"

The kids said bye to us and went to change their clothes.

Michelle looked at me.

"Auntie?"

"It's all Danny's fault" I said laughing.

"I guess."

Next part: Perth.

Taglist: @d0ntjudgemy50shades @controsnes   @thybulleric   @ln15  @lcuppo  @priylodhasstuff  @shadowbowgirl13   @txtflxx @scotlynaurora @chxrryrose  @f1-incorrect-s @yearsof-war @earfquak3 @amsofftrack @xgallysonegoodlung

[skamenglishsubs]

Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 1, Episode 2

Episode 2 picks up the morning day after the initiation party, the girls are having breakfast lunch at their dorm, the boys at theirs, and everyone wants the juicy details about what happened at the party...

Culture: Tell me more, tell me more, did you get very far? Although, it's pretty funny how the roles are reversed, Maddie is all "meh" about it, while Nils tells a different story. Then again, since when do you get together after a blowjob?

Culture: I actually have no idea why Simon is having breakfast at Skogsbacken, since regular schools only cover lunch for students, everyone eats breakfast at home, and then goes to school. Then again, it allows a scene where (Never mind, they're having lunch, thanks @kamand !) Blink and you miss it: Wilhelm casts some nervous glances at Simon after having been called out for disappearing at the party and almost forced to confess to making out with someone.

Culture: I know Felice is trying to put August down, but don't knock a proper Swedish pizza! As much as I like living in the US, they can't fucking make pizzas here, and the first thing I eat every time I go back to Sweden is always a real pizza. With pineapple and shrimp as God intended pizza to be made!

Culture: August is namedropping ski resorts in the Alps, which is where you go skiing in Europe if you have money, although Saint-Martin-de-Belleville is actually near Val Thorens in France, while Verbier is in Switzerland. It does have a three-star restaurant, though. Sweden and Norway have a couple of decent ski resorts, but the Scandinavian mountain chain is simply not as impressive as the Alps.

Subtext: Remember Wilhelm getting up and hurrying to math class in the beginning of the scene? It was so he could grab the other seat next to Simon, because he knows Simon is gonna sit next to Sara, since no-one else does.

Culture: Formally greeting your teacher before class is very uncommon in Sweden, but since Hillerska is all about discipline and tradition, of course they do it. Note that they're again using the formal Swedish title for male teachers, Magister, which in a regular school would be kind of a joke, since teachers and students are on a first-name basis with each other.

Subtext: Wilhelm is exposing how the world works if you have money. At Simon's old school, studying alone would result in good grades, but Hillerska is slightly corrupt and almost expects the students to essentially pay for getting a good grade.

Subtext: Simon is lying to his teacher, he absolutely hasn't talked to his parents about paying for private lessons.

Subtext: No, Sara absolutely does care about what other people think about her, and when she directly tells Felice that she would actually like some friends, that's when Felice gets it and starts making an effort to become real friends with her.

Culture: They're all bilingual at Simon's home, they're all speaking Spanish and Swedish, although Linda has a very noticeable accent to her Swedish. Based on demographics and statistics, the most likely scenario is that Linda immigrated to Sweden from Chile, met Micke, and started a family. In real life, Omar Rudberg was born in Venezuela and grew up in Sweden, while Carmen Gloria Pérez was born in New York, and grew up in Puerto Rico.

Subtext: Remember how I talked in the intro post about how distant social classes know nothing of each other? Ayub and Rosh are either working class or lower middle class like Simon, and since rowing is a typical upper class sport, they know nothing of it, they don't even think of it as a real sport. Unlike football, which is a proper working class sport, they know all about that!

Subtext: Scandinavia has Jantelagen, and everyone there thinks it's uniquely Scandinavian, but all countries have some form of Tall Poppy Syndrome. In this scene, Simon is starting to make a class journey, he started rowing, he started trying to fit in with the other upper-class kids, and getting into a relationship with someone as upper-class as Wilhelm would definitely move him all the way. But going on a journey means leaving things behind, which is why Rosh and Ayub are cutting him down and literally turning their backs on him. They like it in the small town of Bjärstad, why can't he be happy there too? Why is he betraying his roots?

Subtext: This comment from August nicely foreshadows a later episode when August does something traceable on a School computer...

Subtext: What August means is that he's not sure Wilhelm has the same desire to be accultured into the upper class, to play the part of a proper prince, in the same way that he and Erik have accepted their roles and are even enjoying them.

Culture: Although it's impossible to read the name of the medicine, the paper tag on the bottle indicates that it's some kind of prescription medicine. From the conversation with Vincent, we learn that it's some kind of ADHD medication, probably some kind of Dextroamphetamine since those improve athletic ability and cognitive functions in healthy people.

Culture: Birkenstock sandals are associated with hippies in Sweden as well as in many parts of the world, so August is actually saying that the school counselor isn't really part of the same upper-class society as the rest of the staff. And again, his use of the word sosse drives the point home.

Subtext: Consequently, the counselor sees right through August and refuses to immediately prescribe him the medication that he wants...

Subtext: ...even though August tries to both bribe him and threaten him into giving him the medication he wants.

Subtext: A big theme of this episode is class journeys, and in this scene and a previous exercise scene, August gushes about how good a thing that is, how proud he is of Simon for going on one, and spouts some crap about how everyone can make it if they really want to.

Subtext: Thankfully, Madison says what we're all thinking: August is full of shit, life isn't fair, and they're only at the school because they were born into privilege.

Blink and you miss it: After Wilhelm has nervously texted his crush for the first time, he starts to bite his fingernails, but quickly stops himself, because why would he be nervous? He's just texting another boy about rowing practice, there's nothing more to it!

Subtext: Simon's texting game is on point though, he knows exactly what he should write to get Wilhelm to go on a totally-not-a-date with him.

Subtext: In the same way that August couldn't convince the counselor about being sick, I don't think Wilhelm's atrocious acting here convinces August that he's sick either.

Culture: Public transport in the greater Stockholm area - or wherever we're supposed to be - is of course cash-less, and you pay by either charging a special card, or by signing up in their app and buying tickets through there. The point of this scene though is to drive home how Wilhelm has never ever had to take the bus before in his life, and therefore has no idea how it works.

Culture: The totally-not-a-date starts at a Circle K, which in Sweden is just another gas station, but it is actually a Canadian multi-national convenience store corporation. The price of gas is of course posted in kr/l, and 13.98kr/l corresponds to roughly $6/gal.

Subtext: Throughout the totally-not-a-date, Wilhelm is trying to reach for common ground with Simon, trying to show him how he's just a regular guy...

Subtext: ...but then real life intrudes, Wilhelm is recognized by some local girls, who call out to him and run away giggling, which shows how he's not a regular guy, he's going to get recognized wherever he goes.

Culture: Kokt eller grillat, boiled or grilled, are the two ways you can get your hot-dog at pretty much any hot-dog place in Sweden, and ketchup and mustard is always offered. The correct answer to this question is of course grilled, with ketchup and mustard, and this just shows that Wilhelm is a man of culture and good taste. Unfortunately, they were out grilled ones, so they all got boring soggy boiled hot-dogs instead. Is there a metaphor here? I don't know.

Subtext: Again, the show drives home the point that absolutely no-one has a problem with people being gay. Simon is clearly out to Ayub and the rest of his friends, and Ayub immediately picks up on the fact that this is totally a date.

Blink and you miss it: Ayub nudges Simon with his elbow to tell him that he should make a move on Wilhelm.

Culture: What we're looking at is just the local junior/high school football team, Bjärstad, playing a match against some other unnamed junior football team. Since the stakes are super low, the audience basically consists of whichever parents and friends of the players that could be bothered showing up.

Culture: Driving age is 18 in Sweden, and even then getting your own car at that age is extremely uncommon. However, you can easily get a license for a moped when you turn 15, so these are the vehicles of choice for teenagers to get around.

Subtext: August found out about Wilhelm's trip to town, but his main problem with it is that he wants Wilhelm to stop slumming it with lower class people, and to start hanging out with everyone at school instead, so that he can be properly accultured into the upper class. Again, sosse in this context means working class, not socialist.

Subtext: Although Simon felt really great about his first date with Wilhelm, the text message reminds him that Wilhelm isn't a regular person, and that even this innocent little trip generates interest and scrutiny, and can't be posted publicly.

Culture: As everyone should have noticed by now, Madison keeps speaking English, while everyone speaks to her in Swedish, so clearly she understands it. But here she gives her motivation for sticking to English, and that is that she doesn't feel she's good enough at speaking Swedish. Boarding schools like Hillerska attracts international students that have some kind of connection to the country, so a likely scenario is that Madison grew up in the US with a Swedish parent, and she's being sent here to experience Swedish culture and get immersed in the language to learn it better.

Cinematography: This shot of August drives really home all the pressure he is under, he's out of drugs, the headmistress just hinted that he's out of money, and he's literally being weighed down by books and work-out weights.

Subtext: Simon has kept his visits to Micke a secret from Sara, so here he has to intervene to make sure August doesn't accidentally reveal this to her. He also wants to protect his sister, so he's redirecting August's search for drugs onto himself.

Subtext: And on the flipside, Simon isn't really telling his dad that Sara still hates him and really doesn't want to see him, so he's vague when Micke asks about Sara and Linda.

Culture: Finally a bottle of medicine where we can read the label! Unfortunately for Simon, this is Tramadol, an opiate prescribed for pain relief, which is the complete opposite of the kind of drugs August wants.

Subtext: If you haven't figured out yet that this episode is about class journeys, August spells it out for us here. However, the reason he's "congratulating" Simon in front of everybody is because Simon just supplied him with more drugs, so this is his way of thanking him, since he can't really pay him.

Blink and you miss it: For a split second, Wilhelm grabs Simon's leg during the scary scene.

Subtext: The entire dialogue of the movie works as subtext for what's actually going on between Wilhelm and Simon at this point, and Wilhelm is getting a little freaked out by this sneaky display of affection.

Subtext: The movie also puts words on the implications of Wilhelm getting together with a boy, what about having kids in the future? Can you carry on your family name and traditions, or will they die with you?

Lost in translation: The plaque actually says "FEEL YOUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE HERITAGE". Even though the plaque means the heritage and legacy of the school itself, Wilhelm is thinking about his legacy, his heritage, and how getting together with Simon would threaten that.

Lost in translation: Wilhelm actually says "jag är inte en..." - "I'm not a..." before he stops himself. So it's not possible that he was trying to say "I'm not gay", because that doesn't work grammatically in Swedish either. He could be trying to say "I'm not a guy like that" or "I'm not a guy who likes guys", that would work.

Cinematography: The framing and silhouetting of this shot is just chef's kiss. The outline of their hair allows us to see who is who, and we can see from their poses that Simon is welcoming a kiss, while Wilhelm is still hesitating.

[soyouthinkucanwrite]

What did he say? - Daniel Ricciardo one shot

Update: I just realized it's Carlos' birthday TODAY! I'm so so sorry hahaha I feel like a jerk, but it's just play pretend ok?

Guys, this is based on a dream I had but listen, it’s so weird cause I KNOW this is not like Carlos AT ALL. He’s kind of the vilan in this one... Please don’t be mad if you’re a Carlos fan, it’s just for fun, I swear. I’ll even try to write something with him later to make it up to you guys! Also, I clearly don't know how vacuum works in racing, so again, just humor me and pretend I got it right, ok?

As always, please take the time to let me know what you think, means a lot to me (even if it’s constructive criticism)! And thank you so much to everyone that always does! 💕 Your lovely messages always motivate me to keep writing!

Warnings: angst, jealous Daniel, kind of a dick Carlos (again, sorry! I know he’d never)

.

I was in the “side stage” at the press room for the Austin GP, the first I ever went and of course, the first with Daniel, as his girlfriend. He was answering questions along with Pierre Gasly on stage. There were a few people besides me, including some of the drivers, waiting for their turn to face the press.

"Coco, ¿quién es?" I heard Carlos Sainz whispering to his cousin, nodding his head in my direction.

"No conozco. ¿Creo que es periodista?" his cousin answered looking at me. I just acted like I wasn't listening, or understanding, not sure why though.

"No, si fuera periodista estaría allá fuera, haciendo preguntas" Carlos continued.

"Sí, pero no me parece estar perdida" his cousin commented, they kept whispering but I could hear them very clearly.

"Qué pena, no me importaría darte direcciones" Carlos said with a smirk and I felt really uncomfortable at that, which only made me stay even more frozen in place and wish Daniel came back sooner.

"Si no te conociera, diría que acabas de romper una relación. Ni siquiera puedes ver a una chica alrededor" his cousin said hitting him playfully in the head.

"¿Y te parece esta una chica cualquier? Siempre debes andar con supermodelos, ¿no?" Carlos joked back.

"Vale, tienes razón" his cousin answered him and I was counting the seconds for Daniel to come back now.

"Pero sin duda es nueva aquí. Me recordaría de algo como eso. Tampoco pienso ser americana, ellas no tienen esta-" Just then someone called him.

"Sainz, you're up next" Daniel walked out, coming by my side. "Hey" he said to me and I smiled. "They just asked to wait 5 minutes, something about changing the batteries of the mics" he said looking back at Carlos, his cousin, and Kimi, who was going to be pairing with Carlos in the press conference and was just hanging in the corner by himself this whole time.

"Alright, thanks mate" Carlos answered.

"Hey, have you guys met (y/n)? Carlos, Carlos, (y/n)... (y/n), Carlos, Carlos" Daniel made the introductions grinning like a teenager, probably finding it super funny that they had the same first name.

"¡Hola! Mucho gusto en conocerlos, soy (y/n). ¿Como están?" I extended my hand to greet them, feeling much more confident now that I had a 5' 9" Australian by my side. They looked startled at me and then at each other.

“¿Hablas español?” Carlos asked me.

“Sí, y compreendo muy bien también” I told him and my tone made it clear I knew exactly what they were talking about earlier and didn’t like it a bit.

"Carlos, Kimi, they're ready for you" an assistant called.

"Good one kid" Kimi said to me when he walked past us, winking at Daniel. Carlos followed him to the stage and since I didn't want to just stand there in the remains of the awkward situation with Dan and Carlos’ cousin, I just walked in the opposite direction, outside the press room. Not too long after, Daniel walked after me.

"Hey, what was that about?" he asked, still smiling. Boy, he wouldn't be smiling for too long after I told him what that was about.

"What?" I asked, trying not to make a big deal. He reached for my hand, taking it in his.

"You know what. Come on, what happened back there? Did you guys know each other?"

"No!" I have to tell him now, or he'll think I have something to hide. I took a deep breath. "They were talking between themselves before you come out, in Spanish. And I don't think they thought I could understand" he looked at me confused but then it hit him and his expression changed from confusion to rage.

"What did they said?"

"Nothing, it's not a big deal ok? I just wanted to let them know I could understand, so I just said 'hello' in Spanish, that's all" I said, walking away from the place where we were standing and pulling his hand. God knows I didn't want to be there when Carlos walked out, or better, for Daniel to be there.

"I figured that much. But what did he said? Just tell me" Daniel looked at me.

"Let's just go? Please? It's not worth it. What are you going to do? Sucker punch him?"

"Do I need to sucker punch him? Is it that bad?"

"No! Dan, please, let's just go. This is not going to lead us anywhere"

"(y/n)"

"I'll tell you. Promise. Back at the trailer, okay?" I tried to negotiate.

"Fine"

When we stepped back inside his driver's room, Daniel closed the door and looked at me.

"Alright. Spill it"

"Promise me you won't do anything to him"

"Absolutely not. The longer you stall me, the more pissed off I get"

"Okay” I knew I had no choice and honestly, why should I protect him really? I’m just worried about how this might make Daniel feel. “They were wondering who I was, his cousin was teasing him saying he was only interested because he just ended a relationship"

"That's not all" he said and I didn't answer, just looked away, shaking my head. "Alright. I'm sorry you had to hear that. But you can tell me these things ok? I want to protect you baby" He said stepping closer to me and hugging me.

"I don't want you to cause trouble for something stupid"

"Hey!" he said pulling away a bit to look at me. "This is not stupid. Nothing about you is stupid. It's a big deal baby, that’s plain disrespectful. I want you here with me, always. And I want you to feel comfortable here, okay?"

"I feel comfortable now" I said hugging him closer. He smiled and kissed the top of my head.

"Fuckers" he whispered to himself.

"Promise me you won't confront him. He'll deny, or start a fight. Or both. And besides, it’s not so much what he said, it’s more like how they were eyeing me. And I don't want you to get involved in a scandal" I said pulling away and sitting down in a chair. Daniel leaned against the table, looking at me.

"A scandal?" he laughed.

"You do know gossip is the major product of motorsports, right?" I smirked at him.

"Fair enough" he agreed. "Fuck baby, the things I have to deal with for having a goddess as a girlfriend" he was joking now, so the mood seemed lighter, but knowing Daniel, I knew he hadn't completely let that go yet. I just rolled my eyes at him. Hopefully, the events of the weekend would be enough to get his mind out of it.

.

.

Friday and Saturday kept us busy enough so that we didn’t touch the subject anymore, but I could still catch Daniel staring at Carlos here and there. And I could definitely see Carlos staring at me too, which I tried to avoid at all costs, staying out of his visual field. If Daniel saw that, I don’t know if I’d be able to hold him back again.

On Sunday I’d be watching from the garage with Michael and Blake, which was super exciting, to see all the action from the front row. But I didn’t want to disturb Daniel’s routine, so I tried to stay back a little. Yet, he kept coming to steal kisses and joke around. He seemed really relaxed and confident. He was P5 and I took the care to see that Carlos was P8, so I knew they might race each other eventually but I also knew that Dan would be much more preoccupied doing what he does best and overtaking the 4 in front of him to even think about whoever was behind. Everything was going to be fine, no harm done.

“Alright. Time to go” he announced to me. “Kiss for good luck?”

“Good luck. Just go and do what you do best, okay? And try to come back in one piece” I smiled through the kiss and then watched him take his helmet from the table, wink at me, and turn to walk towards his Mclaren. My chest was tight but I could only pray and hope now.

The cars were already outside the garage for some reason, so Dan was walking out when Carlos passed in front of the orange crew. He stopped to greet some of them and that would be fine, except he was not paying any attention to the people he was talking to. He was looking inside the garage like he was looking for something, or rather someone, cause when he saw me he nodded like he was greeting me and checked me out, head to toes. Dan saw it and looked back inside just in time to see me step aside, behind Michael, clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing.

“Hey... man” Carlos greeted Daniel. And his tone made me sure that it wasn’t even about me anymore. Carlos knew how much it must be bothering Daniel and was clearly using it to try and get him pissed off and unfocused. The thing is, very few things were capable of getting Daniel out of his “all good all ways” vibe, but when they did, you definitely don’t want to be on his way. I’m actually a bit worried about the other drivers now, Carlos included, because Dan just turned back to his machine, like he knew exactly what he was going to do and nothing would stop him, getting inside the car a mere formality. He didn’t even bother to take a second look at Carlos.

“Oh boy” I commented.

“Yeah, I saw it” Michael said to me. “What was that about anyway? I thought they got along fine”. I don’t say anything else, and from that moment on my eyes are glued to the screen in front of us, following any micro movement Daniel makes.

They go for the warm-up lap, which feels like it takes forever, and then, finally, Grid formation. That sign must be broken cause the lights also took hours to change.

3, 2, 1... there they go. Thank god we’re wearing masks, otherwise, my nails and fingertips would be long gone.

The first turn is a sharp one and Daniel had an opening to overtake Perez, the first driver in front of him, we could see it clearly from the drone view, but he didn’t take it. What is he doing?

“What is he doing?” Somebody in the garage voiced my thoughts.

“You had an opening Daniel” the engineer said on the radio.

“All under control. I know what I’m doing. How far are the others behind me?” Daniel answered.

I hoped he wasn’t doing what I thought he was doing but I already knew he was. Being the risk-it-all-idiot he was, Dan was waiting for Carlos to catch up to him. Knowing him, I knew he wanted to race and beat him personally, which was crazy stupid, but wouldn’t take long since Carlos had already overtaken Gasly and Alonso, and was now only a few nanoseconds behind Daniel.

“Come on Dan” I said to myself.

“Come on Daniel” Blake practically yelled at the screen.

I feel like throwing up. He’s gonna get hurt and jeopardize all the work the team put into the weekend just to... to what? I don’t even know. If he gets out of this race alive, I’ll personally kill him.

The race’s still going, no major changes after the first turn. Then suddenly Daniel seems to remember he had a gas pedal, finally getting speed in the big straight and leaving Perez behind. Carlos followed him, seeming to use the vacuum in his favor. Everybody in the garage celebrates, but I’m too focused to cheer along. He’s so close to the podium now. Just keep it up, baby. Carlos is still on his tail.

“Good job mate” the engineer says on the radio. “Watch for Sainz on your right. Bottas’ next”

“Keep me posted on Sainz’s time” it’s all Daniel says.

A couple more laps go and he’s really trying to overtake Bottas, not playing games anymore. Carlos doesn’t seem to try to overtake him even once though, he’s too far behind still.

More laps go by and I can’t standstill. When they’re in the 19th lap, with Max and Hamilton battling each other and taking turns in the lead, Daniel’s voice comes on the radio.

“Let’s be the first to box” I’m not sure what he’s playing at, as it’s still too soon to box, but the team seems to agree.

“Copy that. I’ll let you know when. Let’s get a couple more laps in. Keep this up for now” his engineer answers.

“Understood” Daniel’s voice come through the radio. “How’s Sainz time?”

“At least 1.5 seconds behind you” the engineer informs him.

“Understood” Daniel says.

He’s planning something. Not sure what, and I don’t know if I even could, not knowing much about racing strategies, but it definitely has something to do with Carlos and what happened earlier.

“Ouch!” I hear Michael say and nod towards the screen, making me focus on the race again, and not only on Daniel. Max and Hamilton had touched tires. “They're really going at it, definitely using way more tires than necessary"

"If Dan box before them..." I begin to ask.

"He needs a fast box, gaining speed later and for their box to be slower, but yeah, that's his best shot at them" Michael explains to me.

"Come on baby" I whisper to myself.

Daniel seems to finally get close enough to Bottas, but the Finnish guy won't make it easy for him. Turn 11 on sector 2 will be his best shot now and it's getting closer.

The garage and the radio go silent. Feels like the whole world is holding their breaths while Daniel smoothly overtakes Bottas from his left. And then I almost go deaf with all the cheering around me, it's a podium for Daniel, for now.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to last too long, cause once he comes to the box all the other drivers will pass him. It's just so frustrating.

"Good job mate. Spectacular time. Box now" the engineer informs on the radio.

"Box confirmed. We need to ace this, boys" Daniels says.

Not even a full minute later, I hear his car and see it on the screen. I look outside to see the orange machine with the big 3 in front of it, but I don't even have time to try and take a look at him, cause 2.3 seconds later (or at least that's what the TV tells me) there he goes again. The good news is, only Bottas passed him. The bad news is he almost crashes into Carlos when he comes out of the Pit Lane.

Some of the crew were still celebrating the fast pit stop when they realized what happened. I let out a gasp. They touched tires but Carlos seemed to have managed to get away from Daniel, quickly returning to his side a moment later but struggling to keep it up. Dan, on the other side, seems unbothered. He keeps gaining speed, even though the pit exit is right on the first turn.

"Take it easy now mate, even if Sainz passes you, his time is not enough to stay in front" the engineer informs Daniel, clearly worried that the risk doesn't justify the ends.

"Understood" Daniel responds.

We're on lap 30 now and just as the engineer said, Carlos is a full 2 seconds behind Daniel. Bottas still in front of him (which is frustrating for me because he had just overtaken him before the pit stop), then Hamilton, and finally Max.

"Daniel" the engineer calls him. "How're the tires?"

"All good"

"Good. Ready to race, mate? Hamilton's going to box now"

"Before Bottas?"

"Yes, that's confirmed"

"Understood"

I listen to the conversation between Daniel and the engineer closely, but I can't say I know exactly what the implications are.

"Bottas' going to second, Daniel to third again. Let's hope for a slow pitstop for Hamilton, so when he comes out, he comes in third and races Daniel. That's the best-case scenario, so he needs to gain speed now" Blake explains to me.

"Got it" I confirm to him. "What about Bottas? He should box on the next lap right?"

"Yeah. If Daniel overtakes him still on this lap, the difference will be too big for him to recover after his pit stop. Hopefully" He tells me.

There's a lot of 'hopefullys' and 'best-case scenarios' in this conversation, but I'll take it. I start to silently pray right away, eyes glued to the screen to see exactly what Blake predicted unfold: Hamilton pit stops, Bottas and Daniel are the firsts to go up on the positions, then Carlos, Alonso, and Gasly. The first turn comes again and Dan seises the opportunity to overtake Bottas, who, to his credit, is fighting real hard, but Dan isn't letting him take back his position.

Dan is P2 now. Max is almost 3 seconds in front of him. Hamilton comes out of the pit lane behind Gasly, it should take him long to again his positions.

"Bottas to box on this lap mate" the engineer announces.

"Not worried about Bottas. What about Max?" Daniel answers. A few moments of silence follow.

"Box confirmed for Max on this lap as well. Just get closer to him" the engineer instructs.

"Understood" Daniel answers.

"Come on, baby" I cheer silently again.

"Fuck! He's gonna make it" Michael yells. "Come on Daniel!"

Bottas is 2 seconds behind Daniel, and on the big straight Daniel manages to shorten his time difference to Max to 1.8 seconds. The next thing I know, Max is coming down the pit lane, quickly followed by Bottas. Daniel is P1. I can't believe this. Carlos is P2, but he hasn't boxed yet. Surprisingly enough, Alonso is P3 and, not so surprisingly, Hamilton is already P4 and gaining speed.

"Alonso hasn't boxed yet" Blake comments. That's bad news if we were hoping for him to defend his position against Hamilton. I take a look on the TV and they're showing the conditions of his tires, which to me doesn't mean anything.

"Will he be able to hold him?" I ask Blake.

"Not sure, he's tough though and doesn't want Hamilton to win, that's for sure" Blake answers me.

Then we hear Max passing outside, had almost forgotten about him.

"That took him longer than normal" Michael comments and we look at the screen, his pit stop was 3.6 seconds long. An eternity for the Redbull team. But awesome news for us. Bottas had already left the pit lane, his pit stop was 2.4 seconds long.

The grid is now Daniel, Carlos, Alonso, Hamilton, Bottas, and then Max. Alonso is still holding Hamilton back. Normally, I'd guess Carlos would box soon and maybe even Alonso, but since I know Carlos has some personal motivation against Daniel, I feel like he's going to hold on the longer he can and the same goes for Alonso regarding Hamilton.

We're at the final 10 laps now and nothing has changed, except Carlos is dangerously closer to Daniel now. Alonso still hasn't let Hamilton go by him, repeating the Hungaroring events. I hear the signal of the radio, indicating we're about to hear some communication between Daniel and his engineer, and my chest tightens. It's Daniel's voice that comes on then.

"Something wrong. I'm losing power" Fuck. No.

"Sainz is at your tail. Can you hold on?" the engineer asks.

"I don't know. Fuck. It's just not working. How much's the difference?"

"Less than 1 second"

"Fuck. Why hasn't he boxed yet?"

"His tires are in real bad condition. But I don't think he's going to do it now"

"I'll put some pressure on him"

"Negative. Negative. Stay away"

"Not going to touch him. Pinky promise" Bastard. I can hear the smirk in his voice, even though this is extremely dangerous and insane pressure, Daniel's still having the time of his life.

9 laps to go.

8 laps to go.

Carlos almost overtakes Daniel.

"Engine's not good. Can you do something?" Daniel asks.

"Negative. 7 laps to go mate, just hold it"

"Understood"

On the big straight of the 51st lap, Carlos overtakes Daniel, but then on the next turn, Daniel takes back his position. The sequel of turns that follows is the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever seen in my life, they're so close to each other, and at such a high speed that if they simply touch tires they would fly off the track and everything would be lost to both of them, maybe even their lives.

"Hamilton passed Alonso, mate. Watch out" the engineer informs him, and I look at the screen. Fuck.

"Fuuuuck" Daniel says on the radio.

It's the 52nd lap now, only 4 more to go and Carlos doesn't even signal a pit stop. He's going to try to make the whole race without it.

"Ferrari is not happy with him" Michael laughs a dark laugh. I knew he had a history of being stubborn but this is too much.

"His tires are at less than 10% integrity. How is he still going?" I ask.

There's the big straight again and Carlos falls a bit behind Daniel, but I've watched enough to know that that doesn't necessarily mean a good thing. Just as I predicted, he tries to use Daniel's vacuum to gain more speed and overtake him, Daniel doesn't let him through and get in front of him, making him almost go off track. That would be a "normal" movement, except Hamilton was using Carlos' vacuum in his favor and, when Carlos is forced to change directions, Hamilton hits his back left tire, which makes it blows off and it's a mess from then on.

Daniel is far from the whole ordeal by now, safe and sound, thankfully. But Carlos spins in the track, taking Hamilton with him. They both go off track and Max flies by, followed by Bottas, Charles (where did he come from?), and then Alonso.

"Are they alright?" It's the first thing that comes up to me to ask.

"Fuck! That was crazy. Is everyone ok?" Daniel asks on the radio.

"Positive. Everyone's ok. Keep going, mate. 3 more laps to go" the engineer informs him.

"Who's behind me now? Bottas?" Daniel asks.

"Max. But he's at least 2 seconds behind, we should be fine" I hear the engineer say and it's like I can almost breathe again. Daniel's going to win this thing. He's so close now.

"It wasn't Daniel's fault, was it? Can they punish him in some way for the accident?" I ask Michael.

"Don't know. He was defending his position, but he's been closing in Carlos ever since the begging of the race. Depends on how Ferrari and Mercedes spin this, they'll try anything that favors them" Michael explains to me in a worried tone.

They're in the final lap and Daniel's been clearly losing speed. Something's wrong with the engine. But it's the final lap, just a few more moments, come on baby, you can do it. Max is so close to him though, I wouldn't be surprised if the winner was declared based on the replay of the finishing line. The big straight comes up and Dan has to stay out of Max's front, so as to not give him any advantages.

I can barely see it, but at the same time, I can't take my eyes off the screen.

"Full force now mate, final sector. You can win this" the engineer says on the radio but Daniel doesn't respond. Max is right by his side, he's going to pass him.

There's smoke coming out of his car, the whole thing is going to blow off any second now. Oh my god, please just a few more seconds.

5 turns to go.

4 turns to go.

3 turns to go. Max overtakes him. Shit.

2 turns to go. Daniel wins his place on the podium back.

Final turn. Daniel's in the front, barely. They cross the finish line and the whole garage explores with cheering. There are people running outside to wave at him. I can only smile and hold my own head like it would fall off otherwise. He did it. He fucking did it.

"Woo-hoo! Yes! Yes! Fuck yes!" I can hear Daniel on the radio, screaming his lungs out.

"Good job mate. Spectacular work. First-class, really! Well done!" the engineer cheers on.

The next thing I know, Michael is hugging me and lifting me from the ground just to puck me back down and Blake lift me up again. I can only laugh at their excitement. I'm so happy for Daniel I can barely grasp it!

"Let's go!" Blake puts me down and runs outside the garage. I follow him out, to the place where Daniel is stopping the car, a bunch of smoke coming out and some people with fire extinguishers around it.

He's got his fists up, celebrating. But is still inside the car. Then he takes off the steering wheel and handles it to one of the mechanics waiting outside. He gets out of the car and stands on top of it, smokes still coming out from behind. It's a nice picture. I just hoped he got away from that thing before it explodes, but it's a nice picture, can't deny it.

Then he jumps down and run towards the crew, jumping over them, helmet still on. Everybody is celebrating and cheering, I can only laugh and clap at the scene before me. So much joy and happiness going on, the energy is amazing! Then I can see Daniel looking around, but since his helmet is still on, I have no idea what he's doing. Somebody seems to understand though and they wave at me, calling me to come closer. I approach, but I'm still unsure, don't want to get in the middle of the team's celebration. But Daniel grabs me, pulling me closer and hugging me. I just laugh, can't barely see him with the suit and helmet still on. He's saying something, but I can't understand a thing.

"What?" I laugh at his attempts to communicating with me. He opens his helmet visor and repeats.

"I fucking won baby!" He yells laughing.

"I know! I know! You won Dan! I'm so proud! You're the best baby!"

"I need to get this thing off" he says struggling to get the helmet and the balaclava off, when he finally manages to do it, he jumps over the fence that was separating us and hugs me again, lifting me in the air and kissing me deeply, making everyone around us cheer even louder and I smile against his lips. I wrap my legs around him and he keeps kissing me, only after a few seconds do I pull away to breathe and he touches our foreheads. I laugh again, just enjoying the feeling of pure happiness for him.

"I'm so proud of you. You were so good. This is crazy" I whisper to him.

"Get used to it, cause there's more where it came from" he answers kissing me again.