#also decided to use loan players!

[elishamanning]

Happy matchday Bayern fans! It’s time for FC Bayern March Madness (2023 Edition)!

It’s the question that every Tumblrina has undoubtedly been looking for an answer to: who is Bayernblr’s favorite player?

Starting on Monday, March 6, I’ll be posting a series of 1:1 polls matching up FC Bayern players. Seeding is determined by number of caps with the (senior) team. Players featured are those who are affiliated with FC Bayern in the spring of the 2022/23 season, including players that are currently loaned to and loaned from the club. Each poll will be live for 24 hours and the winner will move on to the next round until we determine Bayernblr's #1 player.

The bracket for the tourney is:

The matches will be posted at 9:00am EST on the following dates:

Round of 32: Monday, March 6 - Thursday, March 9*

Round of 16: Saturday, March 11 - Sunday, March 12*

Quarterfinals: Tuesday, March 14

Semifinals: Thursday, March 16

Final: Saturday, March 18

Results: Sunday, 19

*Due to the number of matches in the first two rounds, there will be 2-4 days with 4 matches

I will be tagging all updates and polls with "fc bayern march madness," should you want to track (or blacklist, I will not judge).

I hope y'all vote and enjoy!

[auroralwriting]

poker face

spencer reid x fem!bau!reader

spencer and you go to the casino to find the unsub. you think he looks pretty hot playing poker.

word count: 2.0k

warnings: making out, gambling, poker face spencer aghhh

"Forensics got a fingerprint match on the last victim. Eddie Langdon. We're looking into him." You said as you walked back into the office that held some of your team members.

Hotch came in behind you, "Hey, any luck?" Emily asked.

"No, they don't want to allocate agency funds for the buy-in. I'm still working on it." Hotch replied, looking down to his phone as he got back on another call.

Rossi chuckled, "Well, I can't imagine why not. We're only asking for fifty thousand bucks of taxpayer money so that FBI agents can play Texas hold 'em."

Emily eyed Rossi, "Hey, what about you?"

"What about me? What?"

"You could stake us the buy-in." Emily smirked.

Spencer sat down next to you, "Yeah, you're a best-selling author."

You nodded enthusiastically, "Don't forget a best-selling author and longtime FBI agent. You could loan us the money, or something."

"No," Rossi shook his head.

"Why not?" Emily frowned.

"One, it's against regulations, and I'd like to hold on to this job for a little while longer." Rossi began.

Under your breath, you muttered, "It's just a little violation, 's all."

Rossi just rolled his eyes at your comment. "And two, I prefer to spend my money on actual things, like single-malt scotch, a fine cigar, beautiful artwork."

"Poker chips are things!" JJ replied quickly with a smile.

Rossi just scoffed as Spencer spoke up again. "Maybe just think of it as like a new experience. I mean, at your age, how often does that happen?" Oh, no he didn't.

"At my what?" Rossi slowly turned his head to Spencer who just gulped and awkwardly looked away.

"Rossi, this may be our only chance to get this guy." You said slowly. "They government isn't going to give us the money. You're our only way to catch this killer. Please?" You paused for a moment. "And if it helps, you can just write a new book to get some more cha-ching."

Rossi sighed, "All right, fine. But I'm ignoring that last comment. I'm a decent poker player, but I can't promise that I can stay in the game long enough to--"

"You know what?" Emily interrupted. "I bet you're a great poker player, but what if we sent in Reid?"

"I am banned from casinos in Las Vegas, Laughlin, and Parump because of my card-counting ability." Spencer commented as if it was the most casual thing in the whole world.

You raised your hand slightly, "Why did I not know this sooner?"

"Look, I know I'm not a genius like the boy wonder here, but poker is not Blackjack." Rossi argued. "It's about bluffing, reading human nature, head games. It's not math."

That's when Spencer stood up, "That's not entirely accurate. There actually is a mathematical equation for knowing when to raise and when to fold. If P represents the size of the pot at the time of play, then P times N minus one, with N representing the estimated number of players in the final round of betting--"

"Okay! Fine, I surrender!" Rossi cut Spencer off quickly. "Just try not to lose all my money. Actually, you know what?" Rossi quickly spoke your name. "Take her with you, I don't want you losing all my money and if she needs to interrupt the game, then so be it."

Your eyes widened, "Rossi, I've never stepped foot into a casino in my life."

"You'll be fine!" Rossi waved it off as Spencer gave you a comforting look.

Oh, this was not what you expected at all.

Spencer and you had to get checked by security with the handheld metal detectors. Yours didn't go off, but Spencer's did. He played it off as just a pen. Thank god they accepted that.

The two of you walked in. For someone who stared at dead bodies and killers all day, this was the most nerve wracking thing you'd experienced in a while. It also didn't help that Hotch decided you and Spencer were to play a couple when you had such a big crush on him.

"Hey," Spencer muttered, "It's okay."

"Just nervous," You replied under your breath. The two of you made your way to the bar. Spencer got himself a drink, and you got some champagne. "Is it really just math?"

Spencer nodded, "Math, and a little bit of luck."

The moment you felt Spencer take your hand, you tried to pull away. "Spencer, what about germs--"

"I don't mind your germs, you're my friend. Plus, we have a part to play, remember?" Spencer muttered, locking his fingers between yours. Your heart pounded as you did the same.

"I'll observe as you play," You muttered, remembering the list of things you needed to look for to find the unsub. "I know you don't need it, but good luck."

Spencer smiled at you, the comment being just so sweet and innocent. "Thank you." You looked so nervous, so out of place. It made Spencer notice you more.

Spencer had taken a seat at a table, which you stood behind him, leaning over his shoulder. Your hands rested on the back of the chair. So far, no one caught your eye, until one man at another table did. Casually, you poked Spencer and he caught onto your stare.

"You know, would it be all right if I sat at table two instead of four? I have a pre-glaucoma condition and the light's kind of bothering my eyes." Spencer called over the employee, who took him to the desired table.

The men didn't just eye Spencer as he sat down, you noticed they eyed you too. Defensively, you wrapped your arms around Spencer's neck from behind. "Ah, I'm calling." One of the men said."

"I'll raise." One guy said. You stared at him, noticing his red eyes. Weird. "Eight thousand."

"Eight thousand.. That's, uh, fifty-six months wages for the average person in Bangladesh." Spencer commented casually. In reply, you giggled and played with some of hair, pushing it out of his face. Spencer hoped you didn't feel his face turn hot under your fingers. "Uh, kind of makes you think, doesn't it?"

"Hey, it's eight thou to you." One guy remarked. "Now, are you in or are you out?"

Spencer sighed, "I.. am in. And I raise."

"Three raise? That's too rich for my blood." The guy sighed. One man, the one who raised before Spencer, bored holes into him.

"Are you in, sir?" Spencer asked.

"I'll call."

"Call?"

Spencer flipped his cards, "Straight."

Based on everyone's reactions and Spencer's coy face, straight was a very good thing. Playing the act, you kissed Spencer's forehead and squealed lightly, deciding to stroke his cheek for a moment. "A gut shot straight draw? Are you kidding me?"

"That is just-- that is nuts."

It was no wonder Spencer was banned from casinos. Spencer's poker face was good. He simply just covered his mouth after a moment and stared, watching everyone's reactions. His hand slowly ran down to his chin, and in that moment, it did it for you. Sure, Spencer was your cute little nerd, but he'd never been so hot to you.

You noticed next to the man who was staring, he had an eight ball keychain. "Hey, mind if I look at this?" You asked, reaching for it.

The man was quick to grab your hand hard. Spencer jumped into action, pulling you from him.

"Hey. What's the problem, sir?" An employee asked.

"She's reaching for my chips!"

"I'm not even in the game," You remarked.

The employee grabbed your arms, "You need to come with me."

If Spencer's eyes could've gotten any wider, they would've popped out of his head. "Hey! Don't manhandle her! She can walk, let go!" Spencer ripped the mans arms off of you and pulled you into his chest. "Come on, love. Let's just go."

Spencer's words caused your chest to tingle as he guided you away. You watched as he clicked the call-device, it lit up red. The look on the mans face, your unsub, was clear. He knew.

You met up with the team as you were lead out the doors, "They're FBI agents," Hotch informed the guard.

"There he goes, plaid shirt, baseball hat." Spencer pointed.

After searching the whole casino, the unsub made a break for it. His name was Curtis Banks. You and Spencer were sent to his house to see if he was there. After a quick search, it was clear he wasn't there.

"Hey Hotch, he isn't here. There's a foreclosure sign in the lawn." You informed your chief.

"All right, you and Reid stay there in case he comes back." Hotch hung up the phone.

You shrugged to Spencer, "And we wait."

After a beat of silence, Spencer turned to you. "At the casino, you couldn't keep your hands off of me after I won." Spencer said out of nowhere. "Your physical proximity was close, you frequently stared at me--"

"I was playing my part," You argued.

"Yeah, too well." Spencer pointed out. "Were you checking me out?"

Heat rose to your cheeks, "No. Why would I do that?"

"Look at me and say it," Spencer demanded, but his tone wasn't harsh. It was simply just firm. "You won't look at me."

Slowly, you turned to look at Spencer, "I wasn't checking you out."

"You can't look me in the eyes. You've never not looked me in the eyes." Spencer continued.

"Stop profiling me," You tried to end the discussion. It was clear Spencer had caught you. You weren't interested in being turned down, especially when you were in some sort of steak-out with the genius.

Spencer frowned, "I'm not profiling you. I'm just telling you as it is."

"That's what profiling is," You countered. "We don't need to have this conversation. Was I checking you out? Yes, I was. Is that what you wanted me to say? That you looked so damn hot winning thousands of dollars with your best poker face while you let me all over you?"

Spencer said your name, but you kept rambling. It took him grabbing your chin and forcing your face closer to his to make you stop. "You think I'm hot?"

"Yeah," You stuttered. "Yeah, I do."

Slowly, Spencer trailed his finger over your bottom lip. "I always thought you were the most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen."

"Where's this confidence coming from?" You asked.

Spencer shrugged, "Gamblers frequently experience a phenomenon called the 'winning high,' it releases dopamine and adrenaline, making gamblers do riskier things than they'd normally do."

"You gonna use that high to kiss me?" Your voice was a mere mutter. Your lips were just grazing Spencers.

"Is that what you want?" Spencer lowly asked.

"What do you think?" You retorted.

Spencer's lips slammed onto your own, harder than you expected. His large hand had the back of your neck, and he pulled you impossibly closer. It was hot, just how you wanted it. Flimsily, Spencer reached to the bottom of his seat to scoot it back. His hands went to your hips, guiding you to move across the seats to his lap.

"You know, we're still on the lookout." You mumbled, pressing another kiss to the genius's lips.

"They haven't called us yet." Spencer challenged, hand running down your back to your waist.

Slowly, Spencer's hand began to creep up your shirt, just to your navel-level. His kisses descended to your neck, pressing opened mouth, warm kisses to your skin.

"Spence," You whined, grabbing his hair to push him closer. He sighed in reply.

You both jolted when your phone began to ring. You grabbed it quickly, "What?"

"Ooh, someone's frisky." Derek teased over the phone. "We got the guy. You two are all good to head back."

"Thanks, Morgan. See you back there." You hung up the phone, tossing it back to to your seat. "Looks like we have to wrap this up."

Spencer smirked, "We fly back in the morning. We'll find some time soon."

Spencer's words weren't a tease, they were a promise.

[livin4woso]

Not so little anymore (leah williamson x sister!reader)

Summary- reader who is leahs younger sister comes back to Arsenal after a loan spell at athletico Madrid, and it seems that in that time, you've grown more than leah wants too accept.

Your loan spell in spain had come to an end, and it was time to come back home to Arsenal. It was a bittersweet moment for you as you knew you had missed your family and friends, but you're also gonna miss the guaranteed playing time and not being known as leah williamsons' little sister.

Now, dont get yourself wrong. You absolutely adored your sister, but after her recent success with the euros and womens football on the rise, you slowly slipped in the shadows from the williamson sisters to leahs little sister. She was 7 years older than you so she has always had a bit of a protective streak over you and always viewed you to be that small little girl that you used to be not who you are now. An adult.

You were now 19, and after your season long loan, things had changed. Arsenal had practically got a whole new squad with newer bigger players, but they also had sold some players some who were close friends to you. But also you had changed due to athletico Madrid more intense training style and not knowing the language so you found yourself in the gym more often than not you had grown to be quite a force not to be reckoned with on the pitch. When at madrid, you had also changed your position to right back after playing in centre back your whole youth career to be like leah, you now wanted something different or maybe you needed something different.

When arriving back home, you had decided to stay in your childhood home with your parents while mid search for an apartment near the training ground. Driving into the training ground felt weird. It was a strange feeling of comfort but also unfamiliarity as you knew the place but not the people in it, and those you did know had surely forgotten about you in that time you had been gone. You made your way through the grounds with small chats to staff who were quite happy to catch up with you and ask about your time in spain which had left a linger on you due to your tanned skin.

Your arrival back had been a secret as jonas had insisted to make it some social media post to have hype to your return but in all honesty you weren't a fan of the cameras so this was like a worst nightmare suitation. Jonas greets you at the entrance of the fields before telling you to wait about 10 minutes before coming down into training. "Right, girls, before we start the next drill, i need you to get into pairs," he says, knowing the squad is an uneven number. "We dont have enough for everyone to be in pairs," leah says to him " oh right well leah i have a guest coming in 5 minutes if you want you can help introduce them to everyone" he suggested back and leah gladly accepts his offer.

You have finally been signalled by staff. You can go onto the field, and as you walk down to the girls, you see leah stood next to jonas. She has to double take to see if its you because she swears she's hallucinating that your walking towards her " have you missed me or something lee you're gonna swallow a few flys if you keep you mouth open" you shout towards her dragging the attention of your other teamates. " girls im happy to announce y/n is back from loan" jonas states, and leah pulls you into the most bone crushing hug ever. However, this time, you're not the smaller williamson. You're actually a decent size bigger than her, and your arms had grown, and so had your legs.

"Woahh mini williamson isn't that mini anymore maybe we should start calling you big williamson?" katie shouted at you as she almost tried to size you up. "Yeah well a year in madrid paid off and surely im now the better looking sibling" you joked flexing your bicep at katie knowing she'd find it funny until leah cliped you the back of the head. "Ow, what was that for?" you asked her. "For being a knobhead now come on, we have new people to meet," she said. She had dragged you around to make you meet people and scoled you if you were a foot out of line it felt like she was trying to be your mother than your sister and truthfully that pissed you off.

You had proved to everyone you could live by yourself at just 18 when you went to madrid, now you're 19 in london and being babied. You loved leah. However, she never knew when to stop pushing you until you break. You could easily get over the throwaway comments of "you're my baby sister man" or when she would tell one of your teammates an embarrassing story. However, this time, she went too far.

Kyra alessia lotte and vic had invited you to come out drinking with them and of course you accepted as it would be nice to be able to talk to them without leah shoving the fact shes you're older sister down there throats. You were having a good time and an even better one when a brunette woman asked you to dance with her. She was in her early twenties, and it seemed the other arsenal girls not fussed, so you kissed her, and she kissed back. " You are so pretty, but im really sorry. i have to go, but here's my phone number you should call me," you said, letting go of her waist and walking back to your friends "Don't tell leah i dont need a lecture on sex" you said to them "we wont" kyra says wrapping an arm round your shoulders as you began to make your separate ways home.

However, the brunette had left a mark on you, more specifically, your neck she had littered hickeys down the side of your neck and well it wasnt a big deal everyone has had one so it didn't fuss you. Yet, coming into training, you were in for it. "Y/n come here" leah demanded "mhm yeah sure" " can you please explain why you have been fucking attacked by a vampire on your neck you're not old enough for that at all !" She shouted in front of everyone, yet you had reached your limit and couldn't keep quiet anymore "leah grow up im not 12 anymore you had no issue with me leaving the country for a year and not one of you bothering to come see me so i dont know why you are so hung up on a hickey on my neck" you shouted back and rather then making the suitation worse you walked out the room slamming the door.

Leah was quick to chase you though "y/n wait please" " what leah i don't want a shitty apology or whatever i just want you to treat me like im your friend not your baby sister who needs protecting i grew up and its time for you to realise it" you said trying to make her understand your frustrations.

"Im sorry i will do i guess you're not so little anymore and i forget that but really you need to stop growing i dont want to be the little williamson" she said breaking a smile and since then you found balance between sister and friends and it was perfect.

[adascore]

North London Bound

pairings: beth mead x arsenal!reader / vivianne miedema x arsenal!reader / jen beattie x arsenal!reader / kim little x arsenal!reader

warnings: none (?).

author’s note: oh to be meadema’s adopted child. anyway- enjoy this one xoxo

masterlist

•••••

''She can move in with me and Viv, if she’d like.'' Beth suggested upon hearing the youngster’s mother concern about how they hadn’t been able to find an appropriate apartment for the teenager.

Her mother glanced to where her daughter was chatting with Lauren and Esme, her former Manchester City teammates. ''Wouldn’t that be a problem for you two? Young couples usually like to have their own space.''

''No, not at all.'' Vivianne chimed in, shaking her head. ''And Y/N’s a sweetheart anyway, so we would love to have her stay with us if she wants to.'' Beth confirmed, throwing in a compliment for the younger girl.

Y/N had grown up at the Arsenal Academy, being recognized by a scout when she was 9 years-old. The potential and skills had always been there for everyone to see, and at just 15 years-old, she was allowed to start training with the first team. Her first two seasons with the older team had been helpful, but limited in actual game time. She got along great with her teammates, but her young age had always been seen as a liability by the coaches.

During the summer in 2021, she had been send on loan to Manchester City, where there were more players closer in age and where she would hopefully improve even more. The Arsenal management had made a correct guess, and playing with The Blues had greatly impacted her style of play. The Arsenal prodigy even making regular starting line-up appearances.

Upon seeing the success she was having with not only the Manchester team, but also the Lionesses, Arsenal invited her back to become one of their strikers. The decision had been made before the start of the European Championship at home, giving the youngster and her family enough time to make all the preparations to move her back into North London. However, it had been a challenge finding the right home for the recently turned 18 year-old. In her previous seasons at Arsenal, she still had been part of the Academy so Y/N was part of their housing-system. At Manchester, the club had organized a living space for her with Lucy and Keira, occupying their guest room for 9 months.

Nonetheless, all of that had been temporarily. Now, they would have to find something permanent for the next 3 seasons, and potentially more if she decided to extend her contract (which she obviously would do).

''Well that is very sweet of you two,'' Y/N’s mother smiled, momentarily patting Beth’s hand, ''I’ll talk to her about it later- I just think she wants to celebrate right now.'' She chuckled, knowing her daughter does not have anything but their fresh win at Wembley on her mind. Y/N's potential move into Beth and Viv's home became a topic for later discussion.

Beth and Vivianne exchanged grins, understanding completely. "Great," Beth replied, nodding. "Understandable, we'll wait then.''

''Darling, I need to talk to you about something.'' Y/N’s mother knocked on her daughter's bedroom door, then entered without waiting for a response. Y/N looked up from her phone, catching her mother's entry with a raised eyebrow. "What?" she asked.

''It’s about your Arsenal living situation.'' Her mother replied, making her way to the bed with a sly smirk.

''Ah, yeah? You found something or?''

The older woman sat down on the bed, creating a space for herself. "Kind of. You actually received a very generous offer a few days ago." Her hand landed on her daughter's thigh, offering a comforting pat.

The young striker frowned, confusion present on her face. ''An offer? What do you mean?'' She asked, shifting on her bed.

''Your teammates, Beth and Vivianne, offered for you to come live with them.'' Her mother revealed.

She processed her words for a bit, surprised by what she said. ''Beth and Viv? Like, Mead and Miedema? That I go and live with them?'' Y/N repeated her mother's words, making sure she heard her right and this was not some misunderstanding.

''Yeah! I got talking with Beth’s family, your transfer came to discussion and I explained how we hadn’t found the right home for you yet, and Beth offered their place.'' Her mother summarized, amused by her daughter’s wide eyes and surprised tone.

Y/N leaned back against her headboard, taking a deep breath. The idea of living with teammates, especially those as established as Beth and Viv, was intriguing. ''Wow, that’s… super nice of them.'' She sighed, her mother nodding. ''Yes, I know.''

''Why, though?''

Her mother chuckled, recognizing the significance of the offer. "Seems like they genuinely want to make it easier for you to settle in, sweetie.''

The question had more been an internal thought than directed at her mother. She had always gotten along with them, especially with Beth once she also joined the England senior team. In Y/N’s mind, there had always been an invisible wall between her and the older Arsenal players. They were always welcoming to her during training, offering guidance when needed, but she was aware they didn't want the responsibility of looking after a 15-year-old.

Her loan spell at Manchester City and subsequent debut with the Lionesses marked a turning point, maturing her both on and off the field. This time, she would not be coming in as an inexperienced youngster that only got on the pitch to replace someone else, but she would be an actual integral part of the team.

''I’ll let you think about it, but I think it can be good for you to stay with them, even if it is only temporary.'' Her mother gave her opinion. As much as she had witnessed the growth in her daughter, she would much prefer it if there were people looking after her every day.

''Yeah, should I talk to them or what did they say?'' Y/N inquired, eager to understand the next steps.

''They’re simply waiting on your decision, but talking with them can’t hurt.''

Beth and Vivianne sat in their cozy living room, the evening sunlight casting a warm glow through the windows. As they went through the papers for their upcoming vacation to Greece, the topic of Y/N potentially moving in with them came up.

'’So, about Y/N maybe coming to live with us… do you really think it's a good idea? I know I might have overwhelmed you when her mum was there, but seriously what do you think about it?'’ Beth asked, leaning back into the couch.

Vivianne processed the question, her gaze fixed on the swirling patterns of her tea. '’I do think it’s a good idea, but it’s quite a responsibility, no? I mean, I love the kid, but having her live with us is a big step.”

'’I know, you’re right. I do think it’s a good idea, though. I mean- she can stay in the guest room, cause it doesn’t get used anyway, and I think it would also be good for her to have people that can keep her grounded, you know? The attention on her since the Euro’s has been insane.” Beth argued.

The young Arsenal prodigy had been one of the break-out stars of the 2022 European Championships, receiving immense media attention.

Vivianne nodded in agreement. "We would be like... her parents- her work parents."

Beth chuckled, taking a sip of her tea. "Yeah, we can use her as practice for later." She winked, lightening the mood.

“I hope she agrees, though. I would understand if she would want to be on her own- most kids her age would, but it would be nice to have her around more," Beth admitted, a hint of vulnerability in her voice.

The Dutchwoman warily eyes her girlfriend, feeling there is more behind her want to have Y/N move in with them than she’s letting on.

Feeling her partner’s eyes and internal judgement, Beth caves in. “She’s mature, but she’s also just a kid, you know? There will be so much pressure on her and she'll need guidance and then… maybe we can take care of her? Kind of like a mum would.” She admits, blush on both of her cheeks.

Her girlfriend's eyes softened, and she reached for Beth's hand. '’You’re cute, Beth,'’ Vivianne grinned, '’but you just want the best for her, that’s normal. How long have we known her for? Since she was like 12, 13? We have basically seen her grow up.'’

Beth smiled, her soft spot for the young English striker evident in her eyes. '’Yeah, and there will just be a lot of eyes on her. I just want to make sure she has all the support she needs.'’

Vivianne nodded, understanding her partner's perspective. '’We've seen how she has grown, and now she's stepping into a bigger spotlight so to say. Maybe she isn’t feeling that pressure yet, but I’m sure it will catch up to her in one way or another.'’

Beth squeezed Vivianne's hand, grateful for her understanding. '’Exactly, we’ll just show her a bunch of extra love.'’ The Lioness star chuckled, relieved her partner was as much into the idea as she was.

'’It’s crazy how much she has grown, as a player and as a person.'’ Vivianne muttered, the image of a 13 year-old Y/N flying in her mind.

'’Like physically grown. The girl’s even almost taller than you!'’ Beth exclaimed, almost offended by the young striker’s growth spurt. '’Remember her first training session with us? She was the cutest little thing, following everyone around like a little puppy and just so eager to prove herself- ugh, just love her.'’

'’Yeah, she was soaking up all our football wisdom.'’ Vivianne sarcastically chuckled.

'’What wisdom? The wisdom of yellow cards by Katie McCabe?'’ Beth laughed, receiving a teasing shove from her girlfriend.

The Dutchie playfully rolled her eyes. '’I mean- that is also a very important skill,'’ she smirked, '’but to come to the point, she has grown a lot and if she would agree to it, I would love to have her here.'’ Vivianne concluded, picking up her and Beth’s intertwined hands and giving it a peck.

Beth grinned, reciprocating the playful mood. '’Alright, alright, fair point. Yellow card wisdom is crucial and Master McCabe will love to see her student return,'’ she snickered, '’and I agree, having her here would be amazing. We can be her home away from home.'’

The couple shared a warm smile, excited about the prospect of welcoming the young girl into their home.

“Maybe we can let her decorate the guest room? I mean- neither of use it for anything and it’ll give her her own personal space.” Beth suggested.

Viv nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that would be nice for her.”

“Does she still go to school, by the way?” Vivianne inquired.

Beth thought for a moment. “I am not too sure. The England staff had organized a graduation party for her during one of the camps so I know she’s finished with like her A-levels and stuff, but I don’t know if she’s continuing,'’ the English striker shook her head, confusing herself even more on Y/N’s current school situation, '’why?'’

“Just wondering if she would need the study then? Or we could even put a desk in her room?” Her partner explained.

Beth nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“Maybe I should start learning how to cook as well.” Beth thought out loud, taking Viv by surprise.

“How’s that?” She asked with wide eyes.

“Just in case you’re not here, and she wants to eat something. Don’t want to give the kid food poisoning- Jonas will have my head then.” The Brit argued.

Her reasoning made Vivianne laugh, her hand clapping the table. “We can’t let the teacher’s pet mess up, huh?” She teased, receiving a light kick from Beth under the table.

“She hasn’t even agreed yet, and you’re already worrying over nothing.”

Beth grinned, playfully rolling her eyes. "Well, I like to be prepared. What if she agrees tomorrow, and we're caught off guard? It's better to plan ahead.”

“If you are really that worried, maybe you can talk to Lucy or Keira? She used to live with them so they’ll know what to tell you.” It hadn’t occurred to Beth to ask her English teammates for advice.

She nodded. “True… you know what? Maybe we’ll just wait on Y/N, she and her parents will most likely want to talk to us first anyway.” Beth concluded.

“Yeah, she’ll probably come here when pre-season starts so we have time to prepare in case she says yes.” Vivianne, ever so cool headed, calmed her girlfriend down.

''Good thing I’ve got you now. If it was just me, I’d probably would have renovated the entire house or something for her.'' Beth laughed, poking fun at her overthinking.

Vivianne smiled, leaning in to give Beth a quick kiss. "I'm here to keep you grounded, babe. No need to renovate the house just yet. Let's take it step by step.”

Beth chuckled, appreciating her calming presence. "Yeah, you're right. One step at a time. We'll hear Y/N when she's ready, and if she decides to move in, we'll make sure she feels at home.''

Beth’s phone started ringing, making the rest of the couch sigh as they were very into the movie. ''Sorry.'' She excused herself, walking over to the dinner table where she put it. She frowned as it was an unknown number, contemplating whether to answer or not. She opted to pick up. ''Hi, with Beth.''

''Meado? It’s Y/N.'' A shy voice greeted the striker on the other end of the line.

''Y/N, darling, hey, how are ya?'' Beth looked over at Vivianne, who sat next to Ben, Beth’s brother. The Dutchwoman’s head had shot up the moment the youngster’s name was mentioned.

Beth could hear a chuckle. ''I’m good, enjoying the small break. How about you?'' Y/N asked politely.

''That’s good to hear and same, we’re just relaxing.'' Beth bit her nails, hoping the young girl was calling for what she hoped she was calling.

''That’s nice. Uh, I was calling in regards to, uh, your offer or how should I call it?'' Y/N nervously laughed, cringing at her shaky voice.

''Yeah, you could call it that.''

''Uh, if it’s not a bother, me and my parents would like to discuss all the practicals of me maybe moving in with you guys. Is that okay or…?'' The young girl’s stressed voice touched Beth’s heart.

''That’s not a problem, darling. We would love to have a talk,'' she nodded at Viv, who gave her a thumbs up, ''when does it fit for you and your parents?''

''Is Saturday possible for you? I have to be at the club for a medical exam so I’m in town then with my mum and dad.'' Y/N suggested.

Beth smiled, relieved that Y/N had called for the reason she had hoped. "Saturday works for us. What time is convenient for you?''

'’Uh, I have to be at the center at like 10 so is 2 in the afternoon alright?'’ The teenager proposed.

"Perfect. I’ll send you the address, and then you’ll find us here.'’ Beth assured her.

"Alright. Thanks, Meado. We appreciate it.'' Y/N thanked her, sounding grateful.

"No problem at all. We're looking forward to it. See you on Saturday!" Beth ended the call, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness. She turned to Viv and her brother, her partner sporting a supportive smile.

''She’s coming here on Saturday?'' Vivianne asked.

''Yeah, with her parents. She has to be at the club so it works out great that way.'' Beth recalled Y/N’s words.

"That's fantastic. It’s a good sign.'’ The younger one of the couple wearing a hopeful expression on her face.

Ben chimed in, "I'm sure she'll agree to it. If you need any help getting things ready, just let me know.'' Beth had informed her family on the potential new housemate or how Jen had called her, their new football child.

Beth smiled at her brother, grateful for his support. "Thanks. I might take you up on that.''

She indeed took him up on that. The day before Y/N and her family’s arrival, Beth and Vivianne, with the help of family members, had cleaned their entire home. The Dutchwoman wasn’t too worried about anything, but seeing Beth’s distress had been a challenge.

''Why am I so nervous? We’ve known her for so long and I’ve met her parents plenty of times.'' Beth shook herself, wondering why she was so worked up.

''You just want it to go well. It’s okay, lieverd.'' Vivianne tried comforting her, massaging her shoulders.

Beth leaned into her touch. ''Thanks, Viv. You’re the best.''

It felt like forever before Y/N and her family arrived, but eventually, the doorbell rang. The couple exchanged a quick glance before making their way to the hallway. As they opened the door, they were met with a smiley Y/N, decked in an Arsenal training kit, accompanied by her mother and father.

"Hi, everyone! Welcome back in North London! Nice to see ya, how are ya?'' Beth initiated a hug with the younger girl, happy to see her in her full Arsenal spirit again.

Y/N smiled into the hug, briefly caressing Beth's back. ''I'm good, and you?''

''Good as always. Come on in, the weather isn't the best.'' Beth urged the family in, greeting her parents, while Vivianne said her welcome to Y/N.

''Hey, Viv.'' Y/N said, as the Dutchwoman wrapped her arms around her.

''Thank you for having us. Your home looks lovely!'' Y/N's mother complimented their house, glancing around the corridor.

''That's very kind of you, and we're more than happy to have you here.'' Beth responded, motioning for them to follow her further into the house.

The family of three politely followed the couple, observing the place as if it were a museum. Beth tried to ignore their faces, not wanting to be able to read off of their expressions what they were thinking.

Vivianne noticed, and subtly stroked her back- letting her know she was right there with her.

''Do you guys want anything to drink? We have tea, coffee, water, soda,...?'' Vivianne offered, pointing at the kitchen.

Y/N's father declined, politely shaking his head, but thanking Viv. His wife sweetly asked for a tea of Viv's choice, and Y/N opted for the glass of water. Vivianne glanced at Beth who, similarly to Y/N's dad, shook her head- too nervous to consume anything.

While Vivianne disappeared into the kitchen, Beth gave a swift tour of the house; showing where everything was without too much unnecessary information. However, she did spend a bit longer lingering around the guest room and the small bathroom attached.

After the impromptu house tour, they all gathered in the living room. Vivianne returned with the drinks, handing a cup of tea to Y/N’s mother and a glass of water to Y/N.

The atmosphere was one mixed with curiosity, anticipation, and nervousness.

Y/N’s mother was the one to break the light tension. ''So, firstly, we wanted to thank you for your offer. It’s very generous and we really appreciate it.''

''No problem at all.'' Beth brushed it off, not the greatest at accepting compliments.

''We, as parents, find it important for her to be able to focus on her career, while also having a stable life outside of the pitch. Those both sides of her life are essential to one another; a good personal life will help in football, and vice versa.'' Her mother stated.

''And if she were to stay with you two, she’ll still have some sorts of independence away from home, while still having the support she needs.'' Her father chimed in.

Beth and Vivianne nodded attentively. ''Yeah, we completely understand that. She can also carpool with us to training, and she can travel with Beth during the international breaks.'' The younger one of the couple said.

''That would indeed come in handy, eh? Miss No Driver’s License?'' Her mother teased, resulting in a small push from the youngest.

''We just hope it’s not too much of a burden for you. You’re a young couple, we’re sure you would want your space.'' Her mother continued, voicing her concern over Beth and Vivianne’s personal space.

''It’s really not a problem at all. The guest room doesn’t get used anyway so it will finally have a good purpose, and we would love to have her around more.'' Beth smiled at the girl, relieved as Y/N reciprocated.

''I think it would work well. I mean- I’ve been at the club practically my whole life, and you also live closer to most of our teammates so I’ll see them more as well.'' Y/N voiced her opinion.

Beth and Vivianne exchanged pleased and relieved glances, excited to hear her positive response.

As soon as there was an agreement on the offer, they discussed the formalities of Y/N moving in. When she would be moving in, discussions about any allergies or diets, her school work (contrary to what Beth believed, the girl indeed would continue studying), how they would handle things money-wise- Y/N’s parents insisting the couple should be given some kind of financial compensation for the time their daughter stays with them, and all other stuff. Y/N's parents, seeming more at ease with each passing minute, voiced their appreciation for Beth and Vivianne's willingness to provide a supportive environment for their daughter.

The practical conversation was followed up by a more casual and laid-back talk, asking about their upcoming vacation to Greece, how Beth and Viv’s families were doing, what they thought about the upcoming Arsenal season, etc.

As the meeting drew to a close, both parties felt a sense of relaxation and assurance regarding Y/N's potential move. Y/N and her father had already headed outside when Y/N’s mother subtly halted Vivianne and Beth in their tracks. ''I know we’ve said it a lot, but we are very grateful that you’re doing this.''

''It’s really no problem. Y/N’s a lovely girl.'' Beth nodded.

''She really liked it at City, but she was always talking about how she missed playing in the red and white colors.'' Her loan to Manchester City had been a mixed experience for the young player.

Vivianne pouted at her words, while Beth sighed, understanding the sentiment. ''She’s back home now. Our Gunner.''

''Yeah,'' Y/N’s mother chuckled, ''we trust that you’ll take great care of our girl. She really looks up to you two, so this means a lot to her, and to us as well,'' she said with a soft smile.

The couple nodded. ''Absolutely. We’ll treat her like she’s our own child,'' Beth added, and they all shared a laugh.

''No, but seriously, we’ll make her feel at home,'' Vivianne assured her.

''Thank you, girls, and enjoy your vacation- you’ve deserved it,'' Y/N’s mother bid them goodbye, stepping outside to join her own family.

''Thank you, Miss Y/L. Have a safe trip home, okay?''

The family exchanged appreciative smiles. ''We will, thank you.'' She replied warmly before they made their way to their car and were back on their way home. The couple watched until they were out of sight, a strong hold on one another.

As the door closed, Beth let out a relieved laugh. ''Well that went well, don’t you think?'' She turned to her partner, the Dutch’s eyes reflecting a mix of joy and excitement.

Vivianne grinned. ''Yeah, and her parents really seemed to trust us. Y/N also seemed genuinely happy about the idea.'' The youngster’s stance on this had been the most important to them, wanting to get the feeling she genuinely wanted this.

The Brit nodded. ''I hope so, I just want her to be comfortable.''

Viv squeezed her. ''We’ll make her feel at home, liefie. Just like we promised. It’s a bit like parenting, but instead of a crying infant, we get a cool teenager.''

Beth laughed. ''Yeah, and one that plays great football as well. We’re lucky gals.''

''Absolutely, we hit the jackpot.''

On the agreed-upon date, the day before the official start of pre-season, Beth and Vivianne eagerly awaited Y/N’s arrival. Most of her stuff had been already dropped off in their home, so to make it easier for her and them to transition into the new living situation. As both of Y/N’s parents weren’t allowed to take time off of work- much thanks to the European Championship- Y/N would take the train and would be picked up by Jen and Kim, the Scottish pair offering to drive her from the station to the Meadema household.

''Alright, orphan child, let’s bring you to your new mummies.'' Jen had teased her once they got in the car.

As the doorbell rang, signaling the much-anticipated moment, Beth rushed to open the door, while Vivianne took her time to follow her girlfriend into the hall.

The trio stood there, Kim and Jen holding her stuff while Y/N immediately greeted Beth with a hug. ''Meado!''

''Hey, darling! Welcome home now, eh?'' The older one said excitedly, giving the young girl a kiss on her hair.

Vivianne greeted her two other teammates before turning to the strikers. ''Y/N! How you doing?'' Instead of waiting for Beth to be done hugging her, Viv pulled her arms around both women.

''Good, and you?''

''Yeah, I’m fine.'' The bright smile on the girl’s face was infectious, her teammates mirroring her expression.

Once both her new housemates let go of her, they all walked into the house. ''How was the train ride?'' Vivianne asked, taking Y/N’s coat and hanging neatly on a wired hanger.

''Uh, it was a bit delayed, but it wasn’t too busy, so it was okay.'' She answered, having a curious look around their house again as if something drastic would have changed in the two weeks that had passed since she first visited them.

Jen and Kim let out big sighs as they put her stuff down. ''We managed to safely deliver your package, Meado. Don’t we get some kind of reward for that?'' Jen quipped, Y/N giving her a light slap on the arm for referring to her as if she were an Amazon delivery of some sort.

''I agree! She’s in one piece and with a smile on her face.'' Kim added.

The group shared a laugh. ''How about we treat you to some dinner sometime this week?''

Jen raised an eyebrow at the proposal. ''Anywhere we want?'' Beth nodded. ''No budget limits?''

''Within reason, Jennifer. We’re not made of money.'' The Brit grinned.

'’You just became European Champion, I’m sure you got a nice cheque, Meado.'’ Jen continued teasing. ''Anyway- shouldn’t the young grasshopper pay since we’re all doing this for her?'' The Scot turned to Y/N.

The young girl’s eyes widened. ''Stealing money from a minor? Wow, Beattie.'' She joked, getting a laugh out of them.

''Minor? You just turned 18!'' The defender exclaimed.

Y/N teasingly rolled her eyes. ''Age is just a number. That’s what you taught me!''

''Alright, you don’t have to pay! But next time you wanna go out with us, I’m saying no, since you’re still a minor.'' She stuck out her tongue, taunting the young girl with her own words.

''Who says I even want to go out with you guys, you’re all super old.'' Y/N retorted, being met with a bunch of protests.

The banter continued, creating a lighthearted and joyful atmosphere in the Meadema household.

[woso-fan91]

Forever After All (Steph Catley x singer reader)

Steph and reader started dating before both got famous. Let‘s get a sneak peak on a few parts of their story.

2015:

Steph stepped onto the pitch as a Melbourne Victory player for the last time. It was already decided that her next loan step would be Melbourne City. Her eyes scanned the stands before landing on her girlfriend of four years Y/n. She smiled and waved at Steph with a bright smile and Steph waved back. Both of them decided to go out tonight, no matter the outcome of the game just enjoying eachothers presence.

Later that night both Steph and Y/n sat in their booth at their favourite pub enjoying a cold beer with some fries and the jukebox playing softly their song in the background.

Later after their dinner together Y/n took Stephs hand and they walked to Y/n‘s truck. Charmingly Y/n opened Steph the door on the passenger site and let her get in.

Y/n started the truck and drove to the hill where she and Steph kissed for the first time.

After she parked the truck she grabbed the Maglite in the back of the truck taking Steph to an old oaktree cuddling up with her favourite defender.

Steph relaxed into your arms with a content sigh playing with Y/n‘s fingers knowing her scedule will become more hectic once the season starts.

She had no clue how right she was. Sure they lived together but their time alone became sacred.

They got into a routine and Steph felt, that was something that was bothering her girlfriend.

2020

The defender woke up alone in bed and your side of the bed was cold. With a sigh she stood up brushing the wrinkles out of your shirt she usually slept in. Steph usually slept in one of your shirts because they were more comfortable than her own and they smelled like you. She found you in the kitchen drinking tea: ”What are you doing up Baby?“ Surprised Y/n looked up: ”I could ask you the same dear. You need rest after your tough game yesterday.“ Steph stepped between your legs, wrapping her arms around your neck: ”I know but I usually sleep better when you‘re with me.“ You wrapped your arms around Steph‘s waist: „Sorry Love, I couldn‘t sleep properly so I thought getting up would be better than to wake you up.“ The moonlight shone through your kitchen window and danced across Stephs face. You couldn’t help yourself and kissed your girlfriend lovingly, she looked so beautiful in just your shirt, hair up and face void of makeup. It wasn‘t always easy dating a professional footballer who was on the move to England and with your own career kicking off but you knew deep down, that your love was worth everything.

A cold beer's got twelve ounces

A good truck's got maybe three hundred thousand

You only get so much until it's gone

Duracells in a Maglite

A needle drop on a forty-five

Are the kinda things that only last so long

When the new wears off and they get to getting old

Sooner or later, time's gonna take its toll

They say nothing lasts forever

But they ain't seen us together

Or the way the moonlight dances in your eyes

Just a t-shirt in the kitchen

With no make-up and a million

Other things that I could look at my whole life

A love like that makes a man have second thoughts

Maybe some things last forever after all

2023

You and Steph did a year of long distance but with close to 17.000km distance you decided to follow your girlfriend to England. Of course you were scared that Steph would not be happy to have you close again but with the help of Caitlin you decided to bite the bullet and hop on the plane.

You usually lived ob the outskirts of town so the bustling city of London kinda came as a cultural shock. You felt out of place but Caitlin‘s sure hand helped you relax. You were aware that Stephs ex was also in London and both met up regularly. A part of you was bothered by it, knowing how close they both still are but the other, bigger, part of yourself trusted Steph with your life and knew she would never cheat on you. They were still friends after their love fizzled out.

Caitlin drove you to the training facilities and you followed her inside. She guided you to the field where the rest of the Arsenal girls were practicing.

Katie McCabe looked up when she saw her girlfried return with another girl by her side and hollered playfully: ”Oi babe, you cheating on me?“ Caitlin snorted next to you before yelling back: ”Yep, you caught me with my missus.“ Katie laughed and the other girls came closer. Last one coming closer was Steph and when she realized it was you, she dropped her bottle surprised: ”Baby!“ Nervously you scratched your neck and smiled sheepishly: ”Hi…“ Steph stepped closer placing her hands on your cheeks: ”What are you doing here?“ You placed your hands on Stephs hips: ”Surprise?“ und smiled nervously. Steph kissed you infront of her team and you happily kissed her back, picking her up and twirling her around.

Kim cleared her troat: ”Want to introduce us Steph?“ Steph smiled brightly at her teammates: ”This is Y/n, my girlfriend of 12 years.“

Leah and Alessia put 2 and 2 together figuring out who you were: ”Wait, Y/n as in Y/n Y/l/n the country singer?“ Blushing slightly you nodded: ”In the flesh.“ Alessia squealed: ”Oh my god, we‘re such huge fans!“

Later that evening Steph posted a photo of the two of you curled up on her couch with the simple caption: ‚My love is finally home ❤️‘ and tagged you in it. You weren’t sure if it was a hard launch or a soft launch bit you didn’t exactly care either.

FM station on the outskirts

Blue jeans after years of shift work

All fading out like I always knew they would

The strings on this guitar

The first love lost on a young heart

Those things are gonna break after the getting's good

'Cause the new wears off and they get to getting old

Yeah, sooner or later, time's gonna take its toll

They say nothing lasts forever

But they ain't seen us together

Or the way the moonlight dances in your eyes

Just a t-shirt in the kitchen

With no make-up and a million

Other things that I could look at my whole life

A love like that makes a man have second thoughts

Maybe some things last forever after all

They say nothing lasts forever

But they ain't seen us together

Or the way the moonlight dances in your eyes

You settled in nicely in London living with Steph again getting back into spending your time between the studio, writing songs, planning a proposal and spending time with Steph.

Your chance for the proposal came, when you had a huge gig at the O2 Arena in London. Steph and the girls interested got VIP tickets on your insistence and enjoyed their night and the sold out Arena.

You picked up your old guitar, the one that Steph got you for your one year anniversary, and smiled into the crowd: ”Well London, how are you guys doing? Enjoying yourself tonight?“ The crowd cheered loudly and you laughed happily: ”Well, I‘m so happy we’re on the same page here. I got a little surprise for you. You guys know I‘m not a fan of phones during concerts but for this I‘m willing to make an exception. Most of you know I‘m happily taken and very much in love with my girlfriend Stephanie and she is here tonight with some of her friends.“ The crowd cheered for Steph who blushed prettily and you turned to your security: „Guys, can you please help her up her?“ while the staff brought out a chair. As instructed they helped Steph onto the stage and she looked mildly nervous but intrigued what you were up to.

With a smile you took her hand and led her to the chair placed infront of the stool you would sit on. You pressed a tender kiss onto her lips under the roudy cheers of the crowd. Laughing you pulled back: ”Okay, okay, sorry I couldn’t resist. I mean can you blame me? Look at my Missus…“ Steph swatted you playfully: „Thin ice buddy.“ You gave her a crooked smile: „I know but I enjoy living on the edge.“ Steph shakes her head laughing and you decided to get back on track: ”But let me be real now… Baby, we‘ve been together for 12 years now. I watched you thrive on and off the field and I‘m so extremely proud of you. Watching you kick ass at the worldcup in the summer leading your team to such hights I couldn’t help but fall more in love with you every second of every day. We had our ups and downs but we always managed to get through and end up back on top. You‘re my everything Steph and I want to spend my forever with you. The next song kinda puts our relationship to paper and I‘m extremely proud that I wrote this song completely my myself. This is Forever After All.“

When the song finished you took the guitar off and got on one knee infront of Steph: ”I don’t want to do life without you Steph. You made sure I started to believe in a forever kind of love again so I want to ask you something really important: Stephanie-Elise Catly would you do me the honour to become my wife? Will you marry little old me?“

Stephs eyes were brimming with tears: „Fuck yes!“ The laugh that bubbled in your throat was a laughter of facilitation and you took the ring out of the box and put it on her finger. You shared a sweet kiss while you saw the flahes from the cameras: ”Make sure to send me those pictures aye?“ You looked over: ”For the last song I want the Arsenal girls here with us! This is The Angel“

A little look in the future

You were sitting at Stephs hospital bed, holding her hand where her weddingbamd glimmered in the sun. She was weak and you felt it won‘t be long until the Lord called her home first. Deep down you knew that you would soon follow your wife. A lone tear ran down your cheek and you pressed a kiss to the back of her hand: ”Rest love. I know you‘re in pain, just sleep I will be right here. With one last deep breath you knew he took Steph home. Your kids cried out but you smiled despite the tears: ”Kids, look at your mother… she is at peace now and will watch over you guys from above.“ Just as you said that, the sun seemd to get stronger and warmed all your faces and hearts "See, she shows us, that she‘s home. That she‘s fine“

Just a few weeks later, after you made sure that there was nothing to worry about your kids anymore you followed your wife home.

As you arrived you saw your parents laughing with a younger, healthier Steph. You looked down on yorself. The wrinkles were gone and you looked just as young as Steph. With a last look back you heard the voice of your son ”Tell mom hi. We love you so much.“

Your parents pulled you in a hug after all these years apart ”We‘re so proud of you dear. You got a good one there.“ With a bright smile you nodded ”I know. She‘s my Forever After All“

Steph stepped up to you ”Hi Baby. Welcome home, I missed you“ and with that you did what you always did when you still could: Picked the Love of your Forever up, twirled her around and kissed her with all the love you felt.

And I know there'll be that moment

The good Lord calls one of us home and

One won't have the other by their side

But heaven knows that that won't last too long

Maybe some things last forever after all

After all

[quirklessidiot]

title: Y/N and her boys [sneak peek] pairing : Upper classman/popular kid!Gojo Satoru x F!reader, Exchange student!Eren Jaeger x F!reader, MMA Fighter/Celebrity!Ryomen Sukuna x F!reader, Childhood Bestfriend!Aki Hayakawa x F!reader, Varsity football player!Itoshi Rin x F!reader (use of she/her pronouns) Genre: Alternate Universe-University setting, romance, fluff, angst (if you squint), slice of life, drama, all cliche romance genres unite! (Based on the Manhwa, Bunny and her Boys)

Summary: Y/N’s denied the existence of pretty boys and god forbid she’d ever end up dating one yet with one horrid break-up, she decides that relationships aren’t just meant for someone stupid like her but the problem is — five of them suddenly appear and god, why does it seem like they can’t get enough of her?

General warning for the story: mild sexual content, cliche tropes (help), mahito is his own warning, minor character death, mentions of depression, a lot of second-hand embarrassment from y/n's part (shes not a cool girl, SHE IS A BUBBLING MESS AND THATS OK <33), insecurities, bullying, and mentions of cheating Notes: english isn't my first language! (dont judge me) this multi-chaptered story will probably be 20-30 chapters (idk) in ao3. you can totally tell this story is rooted from self-indulgence LMFAO. Im not sure if i should cross post it but im leaning towards ao3 more either ways, can't wait to release this on friday!

also can u guess who she ends up with :P rb’s are appreciated yay FULL VERSION IS RIGHT HERE!

SNEAK PEAK

“Maybe…Maybe we should break up.”

There's another round of silence between you two, and you know that you can’t exactly take it back anymore since you had said it loud and clear, “Woah, woah, I told you I wasn’t with Misa.” his voice turns louder, and the background noises are good as gone as if he had left the noisy place, “Where are you? I’m coming to get you-”

“I said,” you try to control the stammering of your voice, trying to avoid the stares of the people who cast odd glances, “We’re done. I don’t want to see or hear from you again.��� and before he could let another excuse out of his mouth, you end the call. It is only now that you notice how your legs have been quivering and your mouth has gone dry, seemingly like a pup who had just been born and trying to walk. You lose your footing and sit down on the dirty pavement.

No tears were shed at that very moment, probably because you were only stupefied, and it was written clearly on your face that this wouldn’t be something you’d recover anytime soon. Heck, you couldn’t even grasp the idea entirely that someone you’ve been friends with for years and, eventually, a lover would do that to you.

Was it as easy as a snap of a finger?

“Miss? Miss?” someone calls out, but it only bounces back to him like an echo in a cave. You remain still, eyes blinking rapidly while the rest of your face is slack. Everyone around you continued to move, but you remained there like a decorated statue.

“Miss? Christ, you’re about to be–” the husky voice also stops, and it’s only now that you look up to find a man. He seems stocky but, simultaneously, smaller, as if he didn’t want to come off as intimidating when he maintained eye-to-eye contact. 

He is incongruous with everyone who walks by since he desperately tries to hide his features with a baseball cap and a dark face mark. The only thing you can see are strands of his bleached hair, his eyes that resemble the sunshine that peeked through the glasses of whiskey, and the swirls of ink becoming visible underneath his coat when he stretches out his arm.

If this were any other day, you’d run in the opposite direction because he looked like an unscrupulous loan shark, but your body remains in a state of unknown fatigue that you just wanted to stay still. 

You watch as his face softens, the lines on his forehead somewhat disappearing when he watches the color bleed from your face. “...Alright…” he stops, squinting as he crouches to your level. His thick thighs encompass the rough expanse of his straight jeans, and you wondered if he had been an athlete or something. Aside from his built, his presence was rather invigorating,  “oh…” he continues, “Sorry, you-uh…” The confidence he had to throw you off is gone like the evening dust as he motions his index finger up and down his face.

At that moment, you feel something wet running down your cheek. It seemed like the waterworks were late.

You didn’t want to be a pity party in front of anyone, and you’d expect there to be only bystanders, not ‘good samaritans’.

You sniffled, violently wiping the tears away as you felt your ribs were too tight when you took one long breath, “I’m fine…” you respond monotonously.

Who were you even fooling? 

“Right…” you carefully watch him take out a handkerchief, “Fine, sitting on a dirty pavement near my car doesn’t make you look fine, Miss.” he prodded.

“Well, what do you care, anyways?” you tried to keep your voice from cracking, but the stranger showed no qualms of anxiety or fear, nor did he seem mad at your snappy attitude. The blue handkerchief is laid on his palm, waiting for you to take it, yet you exhibit no signs of accepting his kindness. Instead of forcing you through like the usual status quo, he returns it to his pockets.

The odd man.

“Well, for one, I don’t want to run your feet over since I’m parked over here,” he thumbs towards the black jeep that’s parked in front of you, “And my mom didn’t raise me to leave a girl sitting alone, crying her eyes out…”

“Well, did your mom tell you to mind your own business, as well?” your body remains heavy and distant from the stranger, not minding if it came off as rude, but you’ve always been wary of them, especially the ones who claimed to be nice. You wouldn’t be swayed even if you were in a vulnerable place.

He sucks in a deep breath, quite surprised that you had the energy to exchange a vehement response to him. Weren’t you just about to bawl your eyes out?

“Well, you honestly looked like you deserve some niceness after whatever happened.” he conceded, remaining suspiciously friendly, “Piece of advice, though, if it’s a guy, he’s not worth it.” 

“I-what makes you think it’s a guy?” there it goes again, the unknown tightening of your throat and the way the gummy lids on your eyes would heat up as if a pipe of water was about to burst and flood the segways any moment.

“It’s always an asshole who doesn’t seem to know how to treat a woman right.” he lamely explains, and slowly but hesitantly, as if he was waiting for you to move away, he places one hand on top of your hand. 

Unlike a while ago, you weren’t as hostile, but you were confused about why the stranger suddenly did this and didn’t seem to tilt away like you usually would, “So go home tonight, Miss. Cry it out and wake up tomorrow for yourself. You’ll be fine.”

You don’t even see his entire face, but the way he gently caresses your hair as if you were a long-time friend had your lips quivering, and without even realizing it, your torso bends forward. You bury your face in your arms, finding solace in your makeshift fetal position.

The stranger says nothing more; honestly, you didn’t even mind. His newfound presence is comforting.

[gotham--fc]

January Hymn - An Emily Sonnett Imagine

So this takes place during 2020 when Sonnett was on loan to Gothenburg and that was a very long time ago so if the timeline is not correct that's the way the cookie crumbles 🤷‍♀️(also my first time writing in second person if y'all like it I might do more second person stuff)

Also based off the song January Hymn by The Decemberists which I cannot recommend enough their entire discography is *chefs kiss*

About 2k words, pretty angsty, not a happy ending

You had long since accepted that this was as far as your career will take you.

You grew up in Sweden, up north, and moved to Gothenburg when you turned 18. You played soccer all your life and it was obvious to everyone who saw you that you were yards ahead of every other kid you played with. Your parents would drive you hours away from your hometown so you could play on a competitive team in a bigger city, where your talent was matched and developed. You ended up on an academy team and set your sights on going pro.

You are a professional player now. In your teenage years, you imagined yourself in World Cup finals, Champions League finals, you imagined your mantle filled with trophies and medals. You imagine you would leave Sweden. You liked to imagine yourself in Germany, or France, or England, maybe even America, and playing for top clubs around the world. However, none of those dreams really panned out for you.

You moved to Gothenburg and signed your first professional contract. You didn’t notice it at the time, but you were nearing your peak in your play, your development slowing. You love playing here, always have, but you didn’t imagine spending your whole career here. Over the years, you have watched players leave. Young players rise quickly through the ranks and get swooped up by flashy contracts at even flashier clubs. You look back at yourself at 18, 19, 20, and you know you were never as good as they are, never really had a chance at going somewhere else.

You’re not upset. You’re at peace with it all now. Sure, when you first realized that your dreams wouldn’t pan out, you were heartbroken, disappointed, frustrated, but you moved on. You’re happy with your life. You still get to play the sport you love for a living. You recognize now that you would’ve crashed and burned had you gone anywhere else. You love Sweden too much to leave, and the homesickness would’ve been too much. All in all, you’re happy where you are and you don’t regret a thing.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

Players move around all the time. It’s the nature of sports, players choosing to leave for a variety of reasons, teams deciding not to resign players for whatever reason, the team is always changing. You have been a staple in Gothenburg for years, but you’re one of a few. You’re used to having your friends move away and you’re used to only seeing them over Facetime after fighting through time differences. It’s part of your life.

You don’t think much of it when your coach announces a new player will be joining the team on loan from America. It’s not the first American, and it’s not the first loan, and really you’re just happy to see a new face. With Covid restrictions you really only see your teammates and the coaching staff, and you’re looking forward to not having the same conversations over and over. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to have an extra player to contribute when you’re pushing for a title.

Emily Sonnett, when you meet her looks like she’s had more of a year than you have. There’s a deep tiredness in her, one that she tries to hide behind her smile. You hear whispers in the locker room, about trades and the team in America she wasn’t playing for. You don’t care. You don’t care what she’s running from in America, you don’t care what her reasons for coming here are. It’s not really your business to care, anyway.

"Hi, Emily, right?" You approach her in the locker room. Her head is trained down at her cleats even though she’s tied them tight already. Her head snaps up when you speak.

“Most people just call me Sonnett. Or Sonny. Whatever you want.”

“Okay Sonnett,” You say, “You enjoying the city so far?”

“Uh, I haven’t really had a chance,” Emily, Sonnett, says, “I don’t really speak Swedish so, I just try not to get lost.”

Most of the team knows some English, some more fluent than others, but they do tend to speak Swedish to each other. You learned English when you were younger, in the hope that you might need it when you moved away. You’re grateful for it now, because Sonnett looks like she needs someone she can speak to.

“I’ve lived here for a long time, let me show you around. Gothenburg is a beautiful city, I would hate for you to not see the city the way I do.”

“Okay,” Sonnett says, “I’d like that.”

You take Sonnett around the city, showing her all your favourite spots, and you love sharing your city and your country with your teammates, but something feels different with Sonnett. She’s hilarious, and you laugh the whole day, and every time you laugh her eyes light up. You asked her, earlier in the day, why she came to Gothenburg, and she gave you a vague answer about COVID and not being able to play in the States over the summer and just wanting to get some games under her belt before the Olympics next year. You understand, in a way, because you’ve never not had soccer, never not been able to play, and you can’t imagine having it taken away without your control.

You have been fairly lucky with injuries, never having anything serious enough to take you out for a long time. You have watched your teammates and friends sidelined for months with injuries, and you feel extremely grateful that you’ve never had to deal with that. You know that Sonnett isn’t unable to play in the States because of injuries, but because of the pandemic that has effected you as well. No one really knows what the pandemic will bring, how the world will be impacted by it, and you’re just happy you get play, that the team has found a way to play safely.

“I know Sweden is not as warm as Florida,” You say when you noticed Sonnett shiver.

“Oh, I wasn’t in Florida, I was in Georgia with my family,” Sonnett says, “I don’t have a place in Florida and I’m not about to couch surf off my friends, so I just stayed with my family.”

“I did not realize your American teams don’t provide housing.”

“They did, they do,” Sonnett says, “There’s no point in getting me a place. They’re not playing in Florida this year, and they won’t keep me next year. I told them I don’t want to stay next year.”

You’re not really sure what to say. The conversations today have been lighthearted, and you’re not sure how to handle the change. You’ve had teammates request transfers before, but the system here is so different than in the States. Here, if you don’t want to stay with a team, you just don’t sign another contract, but it’s different over there.

“I was traded,” Sonnett says when you stay quiet, “From Portland. I’d been there for so long and I really thought they’d keep me, but then they traded me. And I don’t want to play for Orlando. I… I want to go back to Portland, I want my old life back. All my friends were there and I was really happy. It felt shitty that they could just get rid of me like that.”

“I’m sorry,” You say, because what else is there to say?

“I’m not playing in Florida, for the Pride, and I made that clear. I don’t even want to go back to Portland, because it’s obvious I don’t mean anything to them, and all my friends are gone too.”

“I’m sorry.”

“D’you know any good pet shops?” Sonnett says suddenly, “I wanna get my dog Bagel so many Swedish dog toys before I go back.”

Your head reels from the abrupt change in conversation. You get the sense that Sonnett is not someone who likes to have serious conversations, so you don’t push. You don’t have any pets, so you don’t know where the nearest pet shop is, but you use google maps and you laugh as Sonnett makes jokes about each toy and the way she butchers the pronunciations of names.

It feels like the start of something, something you can’t put a name on. You didn’t know it then, but the start sometimes can also be the end.

***

You knew Sonnett’s loan would end. That’s how loans work, there’s also an end date to them. While you knew that, and knew your time was limited, her departure crept up on you. First, you were ecstatic, thrilled, that you won the league. It’s what the team has been working towards, and you get to see all your hard work paid off. Through the celebrations and the champagne, you find Sonnett alone.

“I thought you were the life of the party,” You say, “Or are your stories lies?”

“No, I am usually pretty rowdy,” Sonnett says, “They don’t call me Saucy for nothing.” You chuckle. “I was just thinking how much I’ll miss this.”

You head cocks to the side. Miss this? It’s hits you, the season is over, and Sonnett’s loan is over, and she’ll be going back to the States.

“I’m happy to go home, see my family and friends again, but I’ve really enjoyed it here.”

“Yeah,” You say quietly, feeling choked up suddenly.

The two of you look at each other and you can see the emotion in Sonnett’s eyes, no doubt mirrored in yours. There’s something you want to say, caught on the tip of your tongue, and you’re not even sure yourself what it is, but before you can, someone bumps into you and then you and Sonnett are dragged back into the celebrations.

Sonnett leaves a week later.

You offer to drive her to the airport. It’s an excuse to see her one last time before she leaves and she doesn’t fight you on it. You pick her up from her apartment and she slides into the passengers seat of your car. She looks tired, and you think a little sad, but she hides her emotions so well that you can’t tell if you’re just projecting.

The drive is quiet, the two of you attempting to make conversation, but there’s nothing to say. She’s leaving, and you’re staying, and neither of those facts will change. Her life is in the States, and yours is here, and maybe in another life you would’ve been more talented and more skilled and maybe you would’ve found yourself in the States, on the same team as Sonnett.

You park in the drop off zone and you get out of the car while Sonnett grabs her bags from the back. You take a moment to just look at her, and then you pull her into a hug.

“I’m glad you came here,” You say, “Even if it was short. I… I wish…” There’s so much you want to say. You pull back to look Sonnett in the eyes. As soon as you lock eyes, all the words leave you. What can you say?

She stands there, looking at you, and she’s waiting, she’s waiting for you to say it, and you’re waiting for her to say it, because how can you say anything right before she leaves you? How can she say anything right before she leaves you?

“Goodbye Emily Sonnett,” You say, “Don’t forget about me when you win a gold medal, okay?”

“Never,” She says, “Don’t forget me when you win the Champions League.”

And with that, she’s gone.

You drive back alone.

As you drive, even though you’ve lived in Sweden your whole life, it feels colder than it has ever been.

You go about your life as normal, except with an aching hole in your chest. You go over the drive and the goodbye over and over, wondering. What would you have said? What could you have said that might’ve made her stay? If you said something, if she said something, would it have changed anything?

No, you think, it wouldn’t have, because your lives are thousands of miles apart and nothing will ever change that.

You watch her at the Olympics that summer and you watch her lose in the semis and you watch Sonnett on the field, with her teammates, after the loss, and then in the bronze medal game, when they win. You wish you were there, you wish you could call her, congratulate her. You wonder if she watched your Champions League games. You wonder if she saw you lose and wished she could call you. You wonder if she thinks about you at all.

Maybe in another life, you tell yourself, maybe if things were different. Maybe you should just let it all go, maybe when you stop waiting, she’ll come back to you.

[resident-idiot-simp]

Haya everyone Resi here

Disclaimer for my account

You can find me here on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter , and Ao3.

My pronouns are She/Her (above 18) and I am somehow not any form of fruity ¯⁠\⁠_���(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ (well I might be a bit Aro/Ace but I don't really care)

I apologize beforehand because I cannot type dysgraphia is a bitch (I also use voice to type I am not sorry) and I'm also your local Southerner and Christian (tasteful kind) here in the U.S. of A.

I am riddled with the ADHD and I am here to commit arson and have fun.

I love answering asks and questions (especially about my fics) so please shoot me any you have 🩷🩷🩷

Tags on my blog:

#Resi Responds #Resi's breakdowns

#Resi's shorts #Resi's Life

#wendi!verse #Deer!Ghost

#walks up to mic #09 angst

#Deadclaw's Adoption Agency

Most current hyper fixation:

🧼Mw💀 & ❤️Dp&W💛

My fics :

DP&W

(how I picture the characters)

Deadclaw’s Adoption Agency- Wade and Logan end up adopting an army of misfits and create a home for those without one.

Meeting the Uncle- What happens when Laura runs into Sabretooth in the void?

What Comes Around Goes Around- The X-Men don't know how to feel about this new logan and have some horrible realizations about their own

Bloodline Spite- Laura doesn't like the X-men because of how they treated Logan

The Spider and The Mini Wolverine- Peter befriends Laura and the Avengers are in for a shock

COD

Past Ghosts- Steve meets a man he thought long dead

What is the Deal With Thoes Two?- Students POV on Deadpool and Wolverine

(Not a fic but the Captain MacTavish essay also characterization)

The Family Reunion- What if Soap's cousin saw him again after years of no contact?

An Outsiders Thoughts- What do others see when observing Soap and Ghost

The Uncle- What if Joseph didn't die and Ghost gets to be an uncle

Comfort- Soap gets overstimulated and Ghost helps comfort him

The Loaned Sergeant- Since Soap is so used to Ghost as his LT how would he work with another Lieutenant?

The Old Team- What happens when Soap meets his old team?

Soap and MacTavish- What if Soap meets Captain MacTavish?

Time Kept Ticking- Soap's Family thinks he's dead, but he comes knocking on their door how will they react?

Your a CAPTAIN?!- What if the original 141 were canon in the same universe as their reboot counterparts and Soap with Ghost were using the task force as a cover for their own team?

Don't Dish Out What You Can't Take- Soap and Ghost have a badass kid

Hunger- Ghost is a wendigo because it fits so well!!

The BAU Meet SoapGhost- The BAU deal with John 'Soap' MacTavish and Simon 'Ghost' Riley

The Prince & his Knight- Soap is a prince Ghost is a knight what will happen when Soap I told to court someone?

I haven't Talked to You Since last Year- Simon keeps making jokes and Soap is NOT having it

The Mistake- What if after Roba Tommy kicks Simon out?

Favored by the Crows- Ghost gains an army of crows

Task Force Try Playing Games With Civilians- The 141 play laser tag and paintball with some civilians

What People Around and On Base See- MORE POVS ON YOUR FAVORITE IDIOTS

Alone Time Interrupted by Your Team- Captain MacTavish is rudely interrupted by his team during his not so alone alone time

Cowboy Dan- Cowboy Dan is so Ghost-coded I needed to write a fic so decided to make it sad and about Soap becoming Ghost after Ghost died.

A Little Help- Ghost helps preen Soap's wings

A Little Pick-Me-Up With Company- Soap offers fresh blood to Ghost so they can escape a sticky situation while Price is an unwitting watcher

Jailbirds- Soap and Ghost get arrested on a mission gone wrong

A Preventable Fate- 09 Angst regarding Price not being a good person

What is With Those Two?- Model Ghost and Football player Soap are following each other on social media and the fans just realized

Feeding Your God- 09 Ghost as a lore accurate wendigo (Azilver wrote a story based off of this go read it! Also it has fanart that also works for my fic)

Accidental Mate Acquisition- Seal Mer Soap sees Ghost as his mate what will they do?

The Captain Blowing Off Steam- The Captain has his way with Riley who is just happy to be there

Mama Bear- Mama bear Beth

What do you need?- The Captain has visitors while having his way with Riley

Matching Smiles- Soap has a Glasgow smile

How Did This Snowball so Bad?! - Soap and Ghost experience their first heat/rut together

Relief- Soap with swollen balls needing relief and Ghost offering to help.

Wisper From the Woods - Wendigo Roach activities including but not limited to eating Graves

Mending of Broken Souls - Past meet their future selves (part of this event I hosted)

Love Bites- Vampire Riley getting less traumatized with some TLC from his Captain

Team Bonding- Team bonding over how the 141 imagine Captain MacTavish is like in bed and how badly everyone wants him.

MacTavish and Riley Take on the Apocalypse- Wendi!Verse meets TWD and interacts with the termites (also another small snippet for nine lives)

Feed Your Local Vampire they get Hangry- Vampire MacTavish and willing blood bag Riley

FNAF

Empire of dirt- Ever wanted to know what others in Hurricane thought of the Aftons well wonder no longer!

The Ghost & The Bear- Freddy's POV on a ghost Michael

Final Encore- What would happen if Michael met the crew in Security Breach

[pleasereadmeok]

 “I thought, I should give that go! Why don’t I give it a crack?”

A very young Matthew Goode - who had recently decided that he might as well try being an actor!

@asgoodeasgold 's post today reminded me about this. From Matthew's biography page on matthew-goode.net. [I wrote this a LOOOOOONG time ago so don't judge 😂]

He does remember ‘performing’ from an early age �� “Probably being the youngest and fighting for attention is something to do with it.”  “I’d always been someone who sang in the choir. I was head chorister of my choir at my prep school and we did school plays and bits and bobs.”  [Backstage]

Jenny Goode (Matthew's mum) was also an amateur theatre director –  “She did have a huge passion for the theatre, though, and ran The Campion Players, the local amateur dramatics group. She involved me from a young age. I always thought that actors were an incredibly fun bunch and smart with it.” [Red] Matthew has been on stage since a young age.  He remembers playing a singing rodent in ‘The Wind and the Willows’ when he was about 6. Matthew’s mum says – “From an early age in junior school productions, I saw that he had considerable presence on stage and found learning both the script and the music very easy. At that age of course children show a wide area of abilities, he particularly loved all forms of sport and had a good ear for singing and playing a musical instrument.”  [Devon live]

He says that his mum was an orphan and joked that – “She genuinely at one point thought she was Laurence Olivier’s love child. She had an incredible passion for it.”  [Herald Scotland]

[Matthew with his mum Jenny at the Brideshead Revisited premiere / Richard Young]

Matthew enjoyed being around theatres, amateur actors and being out until late in a “Brilliant adult fantasy word.” [Clocktower Radio].  However he never considered acting as a career and as he got older he got shy about performing because he tended to be a blusher.   He admits that his first kiss was on stage – “Michelle Halford was her name – she was a little minx.” “We had a kiss on stage.  It wasn’t particularly enjoyable but it was my first.”[New York Times Screen Test interview]  Unfortunately he gave up acting in his teens because he went red on stage, [Guardian] and he was more interested in sport, “so it sort of went on the back burner a bit” [Backstage]. Matthew didn’t take up acting again until he was in Sixth Form (about 17). Meanwhile Matthew excelled in sport.  Matthew Rhys asked him “How big a part does sport play in your life?” Goode: “It used to play a phenomenal part in my life, because I used to play a lot of county sport, a lot of sport for my school. I love team sports”.  [Interview Magazine].  He played hockey and cricket representing his County/school but golf became his main sporting passion. Matthew started playing crazy golf with his brother James, then progressed to ‘pitch and putt’ and on to the full size version when he was about 14.  His parents loaned him some money to pay for club fees. “I was the dream child for the holidays.  My parents would drop me off [at the golf club] first thing and pick me up when the light was going.” [Robb Report]  He reached a high level of skill at an early age with a handicap of 4 but that has dropped to a 7 today. [Discussion with Greg Kinnear at Dunhill Links Tournament]. Matthew talks about his relationship with his late father very fondly – sadly he died early in Matthew’s career.  He refers to how his father taught him about wine and Scottish whisky.  Matthew’s father also taught him to fish and he talked about this in an interview with his friend Matthew Rhys. RHYS: When did you first start fishing? GOODE: I will never forget it. I used to go to Wales for canal holidays. When I first started fishing, I was on the Brecon Canal in Wales. We pulled up in our canal boat and Dad got out these two maroon, telescopic fishing rods, and put a reel on. RHYS: Was your father a fisherman? GOODE: Yes, he loved it. In fact we used the tackle he used as a boy. It’s no longer with us. He put a couple of maggots on, cast it out, and handed it over to me. I would’ve been eight or nine. Then, about five second later I saw the thing just drift away and I had got one, and it was a beautiful roach—a perfect little roach, silver, about three-quarters of a pound. RHYS: What is it about fishing? GOODE: It’s quite exciting—it’s like acting, some bits are quite exciting and then there’s moments where you’re not doing anything or nothing is happening.  [Interview Magazine]

Education Matthew’s parents worked hard to pay for himself and James to have a private education.  James boarded at his school while Matthew was a day boy at Exeter School, an independent school in the city of Exeter in Devon.

[DevonLive]

Matthew studied A levels including Geography, Drama/Theatre studies and English.  He was considering a career in Archaeology. “For a time I wanted to do archeology, also because my father was a geologist.”[Style Magazine Italia] but his drama teacher, Stephanie Tratmore, had spotted his talent and encouraged him to take up acting again.

[Matthew’s drama teacher Stephanie Tratmore/Crupeck – Exeter School]

Stephanie was putting on a production of Sean O’Casey’s ‘The Plough and the Stars’ and persuaded Matthew to audition for the part of socialist ‘The Young Covey.’  He was reluctant because he hadn’t been on stage for a few years and he was still a blusher. Stephanie got her way and he enjoyed playing the part.   “it wasn’t until I was 17 that I really caught the acting bug,” [Herald Scotland] During this time Matthew was in many Exeter city productions including ‘Richard III’ (as the ambitious Buckingham) and ‘Waiting For Godot’. [Devon Live]  He recalls being in productions at the Northcott Theatre and Barnfield Theatre in Exeter.

[Northcott Theatre Exeter]

[Barnfield Theatre – Exeter]

Stephanie and Andrzej Chrupek taught Matthew drama at Exeter School.  He got top marks in GCSE drama and A-Level theatre studies but worked hard at his craft. Mrs Chrupek said: “He had amazing concentration when he was on the stage and an intensity. He was also very intuitive and had incredible stage presence.”  Mr Chrupek added: “He had a very charming smile, which is obviously his trademark. He hasn’t changed a lot. He was great, great fun to be around and he had charisma on the stage. Your eye was drawn to him when he acted.”  [Devon Live] His mum proudly says – “Towards the end of senior school, I began to see someone who could sustain and create a character and make it his own and I increasingly began to think that a career as an actor was a real possibility.” [Devon Live]

However Matthew decided to go to University rather than go straight to Drama School. “By the time I got to 18, I had to get a degree to make my parents happy.” [Backstage].  Matthew was also considering a career in sport and briefly considered Archaeology [Style Italia] before he finally decided to study Drama at University because he didn’t think he was good at anything else. There was a lot of competition to do drama as a degree course and so he needed high grades. He remembers that most drama courses required an ‘A’ and 2 ‘B’s at A level.  The University of Birmingham offered him a place if he got 3 B’s so he opted for their course.  He actually got 2 ‘A’s and a ‘C’ at A level so he was accepted to study a BA in Drama and Theatre Arts – graduating in 1998. [Clocktower Radio Interview] Matthew remembered some good times studying at Birmingham in this Birmingham Mail interview:- ‘The 31 year-old star has fond memories of the city where he attended Birmingham University to study drama. And as well as treading the boards in the city’s theatres he managed to hit a few of the dartboards in its pubs, too. “It was bostin’,” he laughs. “I had a great time. I used to live on balti. There were a lot of curry houses that used to open late that I remember fondly. I wasn’t thinking about being an actor but I enjoyed doing drama and it had a very good course.  I really came out of my shell and I met the people who are still closest to me there.  We were like cock of the walk and thought we ran the town, or we thought we did as far as the drama course went. We were members of the summer darts league at The Brook Pub in Selly Oak, which got in the way of a lot of work.” [Birmingham Mail]

[The Brook Pub in Selly Oak – now demolished from Our Brum]

[Screenshot from ‘Silent Night’.]

Towards the end of his degree Matthew still wasn’t totally set on a career in acting but he says that his friend Gary got a place at Drama School and “I knew I was a better actor than him [laughs] so I thought I could do it too!”  “I thought, I should give that go! Why don’t I give it a crack?” [Backstage]  He says – “If you ask my teachers and my mother they would say ‘We always knew’ – but I didn’t!”  [Clocktower radio interview] Matthew applied for a loan to attend drama school and got a place at London’s Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.  I went up to London to audition and managed to get the postgrad course there.”

By the way - this is Gary - we have a lot to thank him for!

Goode fans owe this guy EVERYTHING!!!!   He is Gary Crystal - Matthew Goode’s mate from way back.  Matthew wasn’t heading for a career in acting until this guy applied for Drama school and got in.  

“I knew I was a better actor than him [laughs] so I thought I could do it too!”  “I thought, I should give that go! Why don’t I give it a crack?” [Backstage]

Gary is now a director/editor/writer.  And Matthew Goode?  Well whatever happened to him?  

[📷- IMDb]

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Same Trailer, Different Park

(Season 1, Episode 1 - A Slice of Life)

May 14, 2024

Notes - This took a lot longer than I anticipated, but I had a lot going on with work and Mother's Day, so I'm not surprised it took me a bit longer than it normally would have. Anyway, it's here now, it’s 40-something pages long, and I'll be starting on the next one tonight, if everything goes well at work this afternoon!

Waves crashed along the shore, lapping calmly against the sand as emerald eyes scoured for shells along the water’s edge. Salty ocean air mingled with the distant smell of grilled foods as Vivien walked along the beach. Hours had passed since her arrival in St. Pete Beach, but the crowded restaurant everyone seemed to love just wasn’t her scene. Crowded places, in general, weren’t something Vivien cared for - bar the occasional mall trip, that was - but after being shuffled around for what felt like forever, listening to people sing and being shown off like a shiny trophy, she grew tired of the crowds and excused herself.

Royce and Bentley had been eager to show her off to, well, everyone they knew in Big Momma’s, but after a while, Vivien had found it hard to keep track of all the names and faces she’d been introduced to. By the time they were done showing her off, it was time for Royce to return to work, so Bentley was quick to pull her over to the booth where they were eating. That did nothing to stop the crowd from gathering at their table, making Vivien’s chest tighten as they herded around the end of the table. Claustrophobia settled in, pinning her to the booth like a wall of concrete had fallen on her from above, but it wasn’t until Carrie said something about ordering her something to eat that people began moving away.

Unable to even think of food without feeling nauseous, Vivien excused herself and ducked out through the kitchen, ducking as she scooted past the restaurant’s windows and made her way around the building to the beach. Although it didn’t take long for her to finally relax once she was away from the chaos, Vivien found herself incapable of forcing herself back inside. The thought of admitting her fears and potentially facing the swarm of people not only interested in her but also in her relationship with Royce made her breath catch in her throat, and she ultimately decided to continue along the water’s edge, keeping her distance from any rogue sun tanners or volleyball players as she went.

Her sneakers had been abandoned at some point and were tied by their laces around the belt Lela had loaned her, the Converse tapping her thigh and cascading sand down her legs with every step she took. She made sure not to stray too far from the restaurant in case anyone went searching for her, but as the collection of tiny shells in her hand began to grow, she wondered if they had chosen to let her come back when she wanted to. Examining another moon snail shell and finding it still had a little critter living inside, Vivien waited for a wave to roll in by her feet and released it back to the ocean before choosing to turn around and venture back toward the restaurant.

In the back of her mind, she wondered if anybody owned a metal detector. Her dad had taught her how to use one during their annual road trip to Hampton Beach back when her parents were still married. Though it felt like forever ago, she could distinctly recall the excitement she felt when the machine started beeping and her subsequent disappointment when they found it was just a dirty quarter that had fallen from someone’s pocket. Despite her initial dissatisfaction at the discovery, Vivien had refused to leave until she found something else, and when she later discovered someone’s watch buried in the sand on their way to their hotel for the night, her excitement returned. Nowadays, their trips to the beach were few and far between, but Vivien’s memories of happier days with her family still lived on. 

As a group of people left Big Momma’s, laughing and chattering loudly as they grabbed their surfboards and took off for the waves, Vivien took in a deep breath and wondered how many people still crowded the restaurant. Checking the cell phone she had tucked into her back pocket, Vivien sighed - it was just barely two in the afternoon. The lunch rush would soon be replaced with the dinner rush, and she would be bombarded by yet another crowd of rowdy surfers and boisterous bikers, all clamoring for a chance to speak with the new girl who had somehow managed to be the object of Royce’s affection.

They meant well - Vivien knew they did - but it was all too much, too quickly. She could handle being the drummer at the back of the stage that hardly anyone conversed with after performances, letting Riven do all the talking in interviews whenever they won a competition, and being the last one to talk during group presentations, but being the main focus of everyone’s attention - be it a big or small crowd - had never been easy for her. Honestly, it was a miracle she didn’t pass out in the booth right then and there. If it hadn’t been for Carrie stepping up and gently pushing people away with her signature, beaming smile and a thinly veiled promise for autographs if they left them alone long enough to have a meal, Vivien was sure she would have been on the floor, surrounded by worried patrons.

The idea of that crowd surrounding her and being the first thing she’d see when she came to, sent a shiver down Vivien’s spine despite the Florida heat. Yeah, that would have only made things worse. Bentley had tried to help her while the crowds cornered them, holding her hand and offering her a small smile that appeared apologetic as he tried to combat as many questions for her as the people allowed. In a way, Vivien knew he must have dealt with a similar situation upon his arrival in the small town. She could only imagine him and Royce standing in the center of Big Momma’s, being fawned over by anyone who even minutely considered Miles a friend. They probably handled it far better than she had.

They probably had warnings ahead of time. Bentley most likely handled them with ease, spouting off answers to every question with a cheerful smile and the enthusiasm of a child who still believed in Santa Claus. Royce, on the other hand, probably wasn’t much better than Vivien. As ambiverted as he was, he most likely only began to enjoy the sudden popularity once he realized it was both temporary and commonplace in the small community. Vivien’s reaction to the whole thing probably felt a bit overboard to the people in the restaurant, but being thrust into the spotlight and surrounded by total strangers in a small booth with no easy way to escape made it feel as though the world was closing in around her.

Vivien sighed to herself as she stared out at the surfers gliding over the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe she should have gone back to the restaurant. Maybe she was just overreacting. Swallowing thickly, Vivien hoped nobody thought she was being rude for just up and leaving once she had a way out. In a way, she knew she was, but her quick departure had nothing to do with the people and everything to do with the little person in her head pressing the panic button every time someone aimed another question at her. How on earth celebrities could handle the constant spotlight and pressing questions, she would never know.

Wandering down the beach, Vivien let out a noise as she tripped over a beach bag she was sure hadn’t been there a moment ago, stumbling through the sand with an apology tumbling out of her mouth as she righted herself. The beach-goer simply waved her off and returned to the book they were reading, and with a sigh, Vivien continued her trek, only stopping as a voice called out to her, “You alright, kid?”

Squinting as the person jogged over to her, Vivien shrugged, toying with the handful of shells in her hand as she said, “I’m fine, Miles.”

The taller brunette sighed, his hands placed firmly on his hips in what Vivien could only consider to be a “dad pose” as he said, “You’re not.”

“It’s nothing,” Vivien offered, hoping to brush the whole situation under the rug. “Did the food come yet?”

“First of all,” Miles began with a somewhat disappointed look in his gaze, “you didn’t even order. Second, don’t change the subject on me. I’ve known you for long enough to know when you’re not alright.” Placing a hand on Vivien’s arm, he asked, “You know you can talk to me, right, Viv?”

Not wanting to upset the boy who was only trying to help, Vivien admitted, “I don’t like people.”

Miles chuckled, “Tell me how you really feel.”

Vivien looked up at Miles, ready to argue, before rolling her eyes as she took in the genuine humor in his eyes, “You know what I mean.” Huffing a sigh as she began walking again, Vivien admitted, “Crowds, crowded people, being the center of attention - that kind of thing. I get all claustrophobic and shit.”

Humming in understanding, Miles followed alongside the younger girl and brought an arm around her shoulders as he asked, “What happens?”

“I can’t breathe, I can’t think,” Vivien shrugged. “I remember this one time that we were at a competition, and a bunch of people with cameras came around, and I ended up passing out.”

“Damn,” Miles breathed. “Was it that bad in there for you?”

“Getting there,” Vivien sighed, leaning her head against Miles as he guided her back toward the restaurant. “I went out through the kitchen the first chance I got.”

Miles glanced around at the beach, taking in a slow breath that encouraged Vivien to do the same, “Did the fresh air help?”

“Mhm,” she nodded against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Miles said firmly as he guided Vivien toward an empty table on the front porch of the restaurant. “I, of all people, understand how hard it is to be the new kid in town. Why don’t you sit out here for a bit? I’ll get the others, and we can eat out here.”

Vivien was quick to shake her head, “I don’t want to make them drop everything and come out just because of me. I can handle it.”

“But you don’t have to,” Miles argued sincerely. “And, for the record, nobody’s going to mind moving out here if it means we don’t have to call an ambulance for you on your first day here. Besides, if anything, it gives Royce an excuse to be our waiter.”

At that, Vivien paused, her argument dying in her throat. The idea of going back into the crowded restaurant just to sit there, hoping no people crowded their table while they ate, was mildly overwhelming. Whilst she didn’t care for the notion of making everyone abandon their usual places in their favorite hangout spot, she knew it would be easier to sit outside. And, to top it all off, Miles’ suggestion that Royce would be coming to their table more frequently made her answer seem even more obvious. Finding the courage to meet Miles’ concerned blue eyes, Vivien allowed herself to nod, muttering a soft thanks as he smiled back at her.

“Don’t thank me yet,” he chuckled, patting her on the shoulder before making his way toward the front door. “You had Carrie thinking you somehow climbed out the bathroom window and ran away.”

Feeling embarrassment flood her face again, Vivien sat so that she could see the beach and began tapping her feet on the wooden deck as she distantly examined the menu before her. Though the thought of making everyone eat outside rather than inside, where the overhead fans kept everyone as cool as a cucumber, made her disappointed in herself for not being able to pull herself together in a new environment, Vivien knew Miles’ encouragement for her to choose the safest option for herself, would ultimately be the best decision in the end. It wasn’t long before Mack and Brady emerged from the restaurant, scanning the area before finding Vivien and dragging another table and handful of chairs over to meet hers.

As Mack pushed a chair in, she said, “You know, you’re not the first person to find this whole place a bit much.”

“I’m not?” Vivien asked, setting the menu down as she glanced up at the woman.

Mack laughed, shaking her head, “My first time here, I was thrown head-first into a musical number and made to dance in the center of the room with all of the other surfers and bikers. If you think I wasn’t ready to run the second it started, you’re dead wrong.”

Vivien let out a soft chuckle but, after taking a deep breath, decided to ask, “Is it always like that in there? Chaos?”

“Not all the time,” Brady offered. “Once they get used to you, you’ll meld into one group or another, and they’ll leave you alone.”

“From the sound of it, though,” Mack began with a grin, “they’re more interested in how you ended up with Royce.”

Vivien scoffed, fighting the urge to roll her eyes as she asked, “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“To them, yeah,” Brady claimed. “Since he got here, Royce hasn’t shown a deep interest in anyone. When he came back from Christmas vacation and claimed he had a girlfriend, not a lot of people believed him.”

Mack hummed, nodding in agreement as she spoke, “I think that seeing you show up all of a sudden made everyone want to know what was so special about you that he pushed aside any offers from other girls at school.”

Vivien nodded, but as the others began to pour out of the building, her mind drifted to the thought of random girls at Royce’s school asking him out. Was it just something Mack had said to ease her mind, or was it a fact that others had tried asking him out? Vivien knew he had gone on a date before, but that he and the girl - Samantha, Serenity, something with an S - only went on one relatively awful date a few months before he even met Vivien. They had talked about their previous relationships - or lack thereof - but Royce had never mentioned anything about girls asking him out at school. Vivien could understand if girls had been asking him out - hell, that’s how she ended up with him - but to think that he had been turning them away without a second thought brought a smile to Vivien’s face. 

She had to wonder, though, if it was true. Royce was the kind to get on the phone with her, listen to her blabber on and on about her day, and then do the same while she listened intently. Never had he mentioned letting down girls from his school. If it was true, he had no reason to keep it from her; she wasn’t a jealous person, after all, and they both knew that. Shaking her head with a smile as Bentley raised an eyebrow curiously at her, Vivien brushed off the thought and focused on asking everyone what they thought would be the best thing for her to order.

When Royce made his first appearance at the table, he stepped around Bentley’s chair at the end of the table and stepped up behind Vivien, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and asking if she was alright before beginning to write out their orders. Tipping her head to the side to watch as Royce scribbled out Bentley’s presumably habitual order of chicken tenders and fries, Vivien smiled up at her boyfriend as she watched him fondly. Her staring became evident as it became her turn to order, but as she’d been more focused on him than on the menu before her, Vivien stumbled over her words and hastily scanned the page in search of something to eat.

With a chuckle, Royce lowered himself to the floor beside her and softly said, “You don’t have to rush. The longer you take to order, the longer I’m able to stay out here with you.”

Vivien glanced back at him, ready to argue that it wasn’t right for him to ignore his other tables just to spend time with her, but found the words trapped in her throat as she nodded dumbly. Clearing her throat, she asked, “Well, what do you think I should get? You know this place more than I do.”

Tawny eyes scanned over the menu with ease, and Vivien found herself following his finger as he pointed at a few different things. “You like mac and cheese, so the mac and cheese bites are right up your alley, but they’re only in small portions, so if you get them with a burger, hot dog, or maybe some fish and get a cup of nacho cheese on the side, it would be good, but that’s just what I think. You don’t have to get it.”

Eyeing the small image of a basket of fried balls of mac and cheese, Vivien smiled and nodded, “Actually, I think that’s just what I’ll get. Haddock with mac and cheese bites, please.”

Royce smiled as he wrote her order on his notepad and asked, “Baked or fried fish?”

Confused by the question, Vivien softly asked, “There’s more than one way to get fish?”

“Yeah,” Royce nodded, a small laugh passing his lips. “How do you usually get yours?”

Opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water, Vivien muttered, “I don’t know. My dad usually orders it when we eat out because I always go up to get stuff from the salad bar with Mom.” Hurriedly turning and leaning over so that she could see the Birches at the other side of the joined tables, she asked, “Do any of you know what I usually get?”

Brady held in a laugh and nodded knowingly, “Your dad always jokes about baked fish being healthier for you, so when your mom leaves to get her salad, he orders you guys…”

As the older man gestured toward her, the lightbulb inside her head flickered on, and Vivien turned back to her boyfriend with a smile, “Fried!” At the glowing amusement in Royce’s eyes, Vivien cleared her throat and toned down her voice as her face warmed, “I, uh, I mean, fried, please.”

Patting Vivien’s arm as she rested it on the armrest of her chair, Royce smiled and stood, “Alright. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Vivien nodded, smiling up at her boyfriend until he disappeared into the restaurant once more, and she was free to let out an uncomfortable groan as she placed her hands over her face. “I feel like a complete moron.”

Entertained by the girl’s mortification, Bentley shrugged and set his bottle of soda back on the table as he teased, “If the shoe fits.”

Miles choked on his drink, fighting to swallow his soda before coughing, “Bentley!”

Vivien was quick to brush off the remark, her smile evidence that she didn’t take the comment to heart in the slightest. “Miles, it’s fine. I thought it was funny,” she claimed with a small laugh. Turning her attention onto the blonde to her right, she asked, “So, do you have anything fun in mind that we can do while I’m here?”

Bentley was quick to nod, “I’ve already been thinking of places we should take you to and things we should do.”

“I’m not surprised,” Vivien commented with a grin. “Care to fill me in, or is it all a surprise?”

“Not all of it,” Bentley shrugged. “We can go to the record shop, and you can meet some of our friends from school and all of that stuff, but first, I have a question.”

Vivien let out a soft snort, “I might have an answer.”

Eager, Bentley beamed as he asked, “Are you gonna be staying with us while you’re here?”

“Benny,” Miles sighed, “where are we going to put her?”

“We have an extra room,” Bentley said as though it should have occurred to Miles.

Glancing at the blond boy, Carrie asked, “I thought you were going to move into that room once Miles got it cleaned out?”

“But Viv’s here now. I can wait,” Bentley brushed off with a wave of his hand. “And, for your information, I like sharing a room with Royce.”

“I never said you didn’t,” Carrie said with a shrug, brushing off the boy’s faintly snippy tone with a sigh.

Choosing to ignore the blonde, Bentley turned his pleading blue eyes onto Miles and said, “Anyway, my point is, we have a whole spare room she can use if we clean it out.”

Weakened by his brother’s powerful puppy dog eyes, Miles took in a breath and sighed, “Baby, I don’t even know where we’re going to put all of that stuff. It’s not like the cabin or our old place. We don’t have a basement to shove stuff in.”

“You don’t?” Vivien wondered, bewildered by the idea of any home not having a basement. As Miles shook his head, Bentley looked ready to whine his way to victory, but Vivien quickly jumped in, “Well, if it’s any help, I like organizing things.”

Mick let out a snort from her seat beside Vivien, “Yeah, except your closet.”

Vivien discretely flipped the older girl the bird before directing her attention back to Miles, “What I mean is that I can help put everything wherever you need it, if that’s any help to you.”

“See?” Bentley asked with a smile. “She’s even willing to help us! Can she stay with us now?”

Spotting the look of worry on Miles’ face at potentially having another mouth to feed with his already tight budget, Butchy piped up, “Actually, bud, Viv was supposed to stay with Mickie, Lela, and I.”

Bentley’s head tipped to the side, his confusion evident as he simply asked, “Where?”

“What do you mean?” Lela asked.

“With Aunt Mack and Uncle Brady in Miles’ old room, where is she going to sleep?” Bentley rephrased. “The couch?”

Miles evaded Bentley’s curiosity, glancing pleadingly toward his friends and silently asking them for help with the situation. However, it was Carrie who tried next, “When we went to Mick’s house for that Valentine’s party, Vivi and I talked on that video call thing about her staying in my apartment for a while if she ever came to visit.”

Butchy scoffed, and Vivien could almost hear him roll his eyes at the blonde from across the table as he said, “I can’t imagine anyone, especially Vivien, willingly staying under the same roof as you for any amount of time.”

Vivien made an attempt to cut in, hoping to keep the energy around the table calm before Royce returned with the food, but she was quickly interrupted as Carrie said, “Vivi and I are friends, dipshit. Right, Vivi?”

Again, Vivien opened her mouth to reply, but Butchy spoke up, “Just because you two have talked all of - what? - two times since she found out about this world, doesn’t make you friends.”

“Actually-” Vivien began, ready to defend the blonde as gently as possible, only to be cut off.

“Says the asshole who won’t even let her talk!” Carrie exclaimed.

Determined to stop things before they could escalate, Vivien tried again, “Guys, I-“

“You’re one to talk,” Butchy scoffed. “Look, just because your head’s so far up your own ass that your idea of friendship is a few little chit-chats here and there, Cole, doesn’t mean it has to be that way for the rest of us.”

As the argument continued, Vivien looked around the table. Although nobody seemed keen on stopping the pair from fighting, Bentley had pushed himself back in his chair, his eyes glued to his lap while Miles held his hand on the table, Mack and Brady appeared exasperated by the argument, though neither seemed ready to step in as both offending parties were still arguing at a relatively normal volume, and Mick and Lela just sat quietly, both seeming tired of the pair’s fights occurring so often. Tired of being spoken over, angered by the conversation spiraling out of control, and upset that nobody else seemed half as bothered as she was, Vivien took in a deep breath and thumped her fist on the table, causing those around her to jump at the noise as she turned toward the arguing pair, and snapped, “Enough! Can both of you just stop?”

Silence fell over the table as Vivien’s gaze flickered between the pair, the group watching as the usually argumentative pair fell silent. Whether it was due to the girl’s tone or the pleading look in her eyes, neither Carrie nor Butchy could be sure, but regardless, they felt their quarrel die in the silence as Vivien’s piercing emerald eyes flickered between them, effectively staring them down. With the table sitting in silence and the verbal smackdown extinguished, Vivien felt herself growing uncomfortable as she began to feel the various pairs of eyes flitting between her and the others. Sucking in a breath, she softly apologized and sunk back in her chair, hoping the cushion behind her would swallow her embarrassment.

“Viv?” Bentley asked softly, placing a hand atop the girl’s closed fist.

Letting out the rest of her breath in a sigh, Vivien opened her hand to hold Bentley’s, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice like that, especially in public.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Brady said with a shake of his head. “Are you okay?” 

Not willing to look up from an old scratch she has found on the table as her leg began bouncing again under it, Vivien shrugged, “I’m fine, it’s just-” she cut herself off with a huff, taking a moment to think about what she wanted to say. Glancing at the older couple at the end of the table, she admitted, “My parents have been arguing a lot the last week or so because Dad told Oliver he could join his boyfriend’s family on a trip during summer break, but they never asked her what she thought about it before agreeing, and I’ve had to step in to stop them a few times so Mom wouldn’t cancel all of the trips we had planned for this week. I guess I just… I wanted to stop their fight before it got worse like my parents’ have been.”

Before the others could think of something to say, Bentley grinned and squeezed Vivien’s hand, gaining her attention as he spoke, “Butchy and Carrie don’t get much worse than that. They insult each other and play tetherball with nasty remarks until someone stops them, or they get sick of each other.”

“Or one shoves the other into the town pool,” Royce commented as he stepped outside with a wide tray of food in plastic baskets with pieces of wax paper preventing anything from spilling.

Vivien attempted a small chuckle as her boyfriend placed her basket of fish before her, looking up at him as she asked, “And how often does that happen?”

As Carrie opened her mouth to respond, Bentley took his food from his brother and beamed, “Butchy’s only shoved Carrie into the pool once so far, but their fighting is pretty much an everyday thing.”

Glancing away from the brothers, who both seemed to enjoy the memory of Carrie getting pushed into the pool by the metaphorical guard dog of their mismatched, makeshift family, Vivien looked around the table and asked, “Why don’t you just lock them in a room until they work things out?”

Without allowing Butchy the chance to voice his opinion, Mick gave Vivien a look and answered, “Because they’d both come out of it in body bags if we did.”

Snorting a laugh, Vivien allowed her gaze to drift back onto her boyfriend, watching as he circled the table before coming to a stop behind her and tucking his tray under his arm. With her head tipped back, she smiled up at him and mouthed a greeting as he chuckled at her. With his free hand, Royce tapped the tip of her nose before asking if she was alright.

Incapable of wiping the smile from her face now that he was present, Vivien, in turn, asked, “What time do you get off of work?”

Out of habit, Royce shrugged, “I get out in about an hour, so two o’clock. Why?”

“That’s when I’ll be alright,” Vivien decided. “I’ll be fine in the meantime, but the moment you get to clock out and join the rest of us wherever they choose to take me, is when I’ll actually be alright.”

A deep shade of pink began to flush Royce’s cheeks, peeking through the tan the Floridian sun had graced him with over his time living in the state, but he chose to ignore the burn under his skin as he grinned at the brunette seated before him. “Well, in that case, I might just go inside and start putting all the clocks ahead an hour.”

Vivien smirked, “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“Deal,” Royce smiled. As though he had only just remembered the others sitting around the table, Royce glanced around and quickly said, “I’ll check on you guys in a few. I have to clear some tables.”

Grinning at the blush still evident on her boyfriend’s face, Vivien teased, “Hurry back.”

Before his older brother could respond in kind, Bentley looked up at Royce and batted his eyes at him as he repeated Vivien, “Yeah, Royce, hurry back!”

Batting the back of his brother’s head with his serving tray, Royce rolled his eyes, “Keep it up and I’ll stop buying you ice cream after school.”

“Nooo,” Bentley whined, grabbing Royce’s wrist and tugging him back to the table. Pressing the back of his free hand to his forehead, he complained, “Whatever will I do without my daily dose of crack?”

“Bentley,” Miles chided as he glanced around to make sure nobody apart from their tables had heard the boy. “You’ve got to stop with the crack thing.”

The young blond snickered, “Says the guy who has some every morning.”

Looking pleadingly at his youngest brother, Miles took in a breath and spoke in a hushed voice, “I don’t do crack.”

“Sure, you do,” Bentley teased, leaning back in his chair and beginning to count on his fingers. “You have some when you wake up, you always take some to work, and sometimes you even have some when you get home. You can’t go a day without it.”

“Ben,” Miles sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose exasperatedly as he realized exactly what Bentley meant. “How on earth does coffee equal crack to you?”

Vivien grinned, nudging Bentley’s arm as she joined the blond’s efforts and asked Miles, “Are you sure you didn’t do crack this morning?”

Looking across the table with wide eyes, Miles shook his head, “What? No.”

“In the bathroom when you got here?”

“No, I-”

“Are you doing some right now?”

“No!” Miles exclaimed with a shake of his head. “Vivien-”

“Then when?” Vivien pressed.

“Never!” Miles barked. “I have never - nor will I ever - do crack!”

“Are you sure?” Bentley questioned.

Beaming from behind Bentley’s chair, Royce spoke up before Miles could, “Are you lying?” 

“Yes,” Miles said in response to Bentley before realizing Royce’s question and backpedaling. “Wait, no! Look, you-”

“See how angry you are?” Vivien asked somewhat rhetorically. “It’s the crack.”

“Just admit it,” Bentley said with a sigh, shaking his head at his older brother. “Royce is your faithful crack dealer just as much as he is mine.”

Miles looked between the trio, beginning to wonder if he would regret offering to house the girl if this was what he would be getting himself into. Taking in a breath, he slowly turned to the others sitting around the table and breathed, “I’m going to have an aneurysm with them all together under one roof, aren’t I?”

Mack chuckled as she placed her drink back down on the table, “And you wonder what it’s like for us everytime we take you kids up to the cabin.”

“Does that mean Viv is staying with us while she’s here?” Royce asked, hope glimmering in his caramel eyes.

Hoping to finally get an answer to his earlier question, Bentley’s pale blue irises searched Miles’ face as he pleaded, “Yeah, Miley, does it?”

For a moment, Miles seemed to hesitate, momentarily thrown off by the boys’ complete one-eighty turn from taunting him to begging him for permission to house Vivien. He began to weigh his options - on one hand, the extra room had a bed and a somewhat functional closet for Vivien to put her belongings in until they got the rest of the room cleared out, but on the other, the savings he had been squirreling away to be able to buy better quality gifts for his brothers and Carrie would end up taking a hit if he had another mouth to feed. Ultimately, it was the look of hope in the trio's eyes that sealed his fate, resulting in a somewhat tentative nod from the eldest of the Murphy brothers.

“Yeah, alright,” he allowed, taking a moment to enjoy the simultaneous burst of excitement the three reveled in. With a smile, he then added, “Viv can stay with us, but you guys are going to have your work cut out for you with that bedroom.”

While the three teens began talking about how they would handle everything, Miles felt a hand on his arm, making him turn to the blonde beside him as she softly asked, “Are you sure? I don’t mind taking her back to my place.”

Miles returned her offer with a smile and a shake of his head, “It’s alright. I’ll figure something out for now and we’ll work it all out later on.”

Although he was sure that the subject was far from dropped by anyone around the table apart from the children, Miles tried to relax as the table’s occupants resumed their meal while Royce returned to his duties inside the restaurant. However, despite appearing interested in the conversations that flitted around the table and flowed from topic to topic, a mental jungle gym had already begun construction in Miles’ head. He worked hard all the time to provide for his brothers and still have a small fund set aside for dates with Carrie and days off with the boys - would having the girl stay with them be as difficult as he was making it out to be?

Since he had met her a few years back, Miles knew all too well that Vivien was far from a difficult child. She would eat pretty much anything handed to her, and he had seen her fall asleep practically anywhere she could - she wouldn’t be hard to house. However, Vivien was used to modern things that he didn’t have access to - televisions with more than a few select channels, computers that could find anything in the blink of an eye, internet, social media, and so on - and he could only provide so much. Would she be okay with the severe lack of technology in his fixer-upper of a home?

To top it all off, he knew firsthand how hard it was to stretch meals four ways. When they lived with their father, Miles would make meals every day for the four of them, taking whatever he could find in the fridge or pantry and making up a random recipe that he practically pulled out of his ass. With just his brothers, it was easy enough as they weren’t picky eaters - Pop-Tarts or toast for breakfast, discounted meals at school or work for lunch, and something more fulfilling for supper so that they had at least one meal together where they didn’t have to feel like cheapskates living paycheck to paycheck. Miles could manage that well enough. However, with Vivien not having a job or school to give her something for lunch, he’d have to take her shopping for things to eat throughout the day.

By the time the meal was over, Miles realized he hadn’t followed any of the conversation, his mind too preoccupied with his finances - or lack thereof - to bother listening to anything he wasn’t actively a part of. Once the table was cleared, they broke onto the beach, but Miles chose to sit on the front steps of the restaurant so that he was there when Royce clocked out. Carrie had sat with him for a few minutes before Vivien came over and begged them to join her in building a sandcastle. Miles had smiled and politely declined after explaining his desire to talk with Royce, but he nudged Carrie to join the group, watching the brunette pull his girlfriend away by the hand with a smile.

After discarding his apron and saying a quick farewell to some of his coworkers, Royce made his way out of the restaurant with a sigh, ready to start his three-day break from the place as the sun greeted him. Spotting his brother on the steps, Royce grinned and stepped down next to him, sitting beside Miles and leaning his head on the elder’s shoulder. “I forgot to thank you earlier.”

Glancing down at Royce’s tangled curls, Miles allowed a smirk to tug at his lips as he rested his cheek atop Royce’s head. “Oh yeah? What for?”

“Letting Viv stay with us,” Royce spoke softly as he listened to the waves crash against the shore. Lifting his head from its resting place, Royce found Miles’ baby blue eyes and said, “I’ll help however you need me to. If we need money or anything-”

“No,” Miles breathed, shaking his head lightly. Taking Royce’s hand in his, Miles squeezed it reassuringly. “We already talked about this, baby. I’m not letting you pay for anything.”

Royce’s expression contorted into one of exasperated understanding, “Miley-”

“RJ,” Miles interrupted with a smile, stopping his brother’s argument in its tracks. “I’ve got this. We’ll be alright. The only things you should focus on are work, school, and cleaning that disaster area you and Ben call a bedroom.”

Royce let out a scoff, “That’s more his disaster than it is mine.”

“Tell that to the pretty girl you’ve got staying with us,” Miles chuckled. As he glanced over at the group who were mourning the loss of a sand tower that had crumbled due to lack of moisture, Royce followed his gaze and smiled at the brunette who seemed to glow in the warmth of the Florida sun. Miles grinned at his brother’s expression and watched the group as he said, “The minute she walks in the door, you’ll see every little thing you forgot to clean and wish like hell it would all disappear before she saw anything.”

Royce’s smile seemed to falter as he recalled just how many dishes he’d left in the sink that morning that he was supposed to do after dinner that night, the basket full of freshly done laundry on the floor in his room that he’d neglected to put away and had just been pulling clothes out of for the last few days, and the multitude of books and paperwork strewn about the living room where his and Bentley’s friend groups congregated to work on homework and assignments together. As his gaze landed on Vivien once more, her infectious smile beaming proudly as she carried a snail back to the group alongside her bucket of wet sand, Royce couldn’t help but breathe, “I’m so screwed.”

Miles let out a soft chuckle and patted Royce’s knee as he stood, “Welcome to the club.”

Tearing his gaze away from his girlfriend of nearly four months to peer up at his brother, Royce’s eyebrow lifted and his head tipped to the side ever so slightly as he cautiously asked, “What club?”

Miles grinned, “The Whipped Idiots Committee. Butchy started it, I joined later on, and now, you’re here; congrats. If you’re anything like us, you’ll be here for a while.”

Though, as Miles walked off to join the others, Royce’s first instinct was to tiredly roll his eyes in disgust at the thought of Miles - of all people - feeling “whipped” over someone like Carrie, he found himself stopping to think for a moment. He knew from the relatively short amount of time he knew the man that Butchy was truly, inescapably attached to Mick’s hip; she could ask him anything and he would do it at the drop of a hat for her. And though it disgusted Royce to think about Carrie having Miles wrapped around her manicured little claws, he knew for a fact that if she told him to jump, he’d ask “how high”. Was he really any different from either of them? 

If Vivien needed Royce for anything, he would be there in an instant and they both knew it. Hell, everyone who knew about their relationship, knew it. And he knew from experience she would do the same for him. Well… him, his brothers, their collective friend group, and even people he couldn’t stand someone like Carrie. Vivien was a naturally selfless person, but Royce knew that she cared about him and he’d be damned if she didn’t know he was crazy about her. He would do anything she wanted or needed him to do; even when they were just friends, he would have done anything for her, and they both knew it.

Thinking for a moment as he watched Vivien help build a castle in the sand, Royce smiled as he realized Miles was right. He was unconditionally, irrevocably, head-over-heels whipped for the brunette girl he was fortunate enough to call his girlfriend. Was that a problem? If you asked Royce, he would say no, no it wasn’t. Not in the slightest. If anything, he was proud. You could’ve put a plastic cap on his head and shoved him into one of the refrigerators at the grocery store alongside the cans of whipped cream for all he cared. He adored Vivien with all he had, and heaven help anyone who said otherwise.

Pushing himself from the steps with a goofy grin that just wouldn’t go away despite his efforts, Royce tucked his hands into the pockets of his shorts and made his way across the sand to where Vivien had begun decorating a lopsided, half-crumbling sandcastle with the shells she had pocketed on her earlier walk. The way her tongue poked out between her lips in concentration made his grin split into a smile, but as he watched her eyes sparkle as she turned her attention toward him, he felt as though he could have melted into the sand under his feet and he would have died happy right then and there.

Vivien patted the sand on her right, an invitation of sorts that Royce eagerly accepted, his hands immediately filled with a pile of shells as Bentley continued to spout off ideas about things they could do in the area. Although Vivien’s attention was split between the brothers and the castle before her, Royce found himself listening intently as his gaze drifted onto the eldest of his siblings, finding Miles smirking knowingly at him. Royce rolled his eyes, a soft sigh passing his lips as he relented with a shrug. Yeah, Miles was right, but did he have to act like he knew he was right?

Focusing on the task at hand, Royce slid a seashell into one of the sand walls and listened as Bentley began rattling off about places he enjoyed, “There’s a nature preserve that my whole grade went to and we got to feed the alligators, but I don’t know if we would be allowed to since we’re not with the school.”

“It still sounds cool,” Vivien said with a smile. “Is that your favorite place around here?”

Bentley was quick to shake his head, but Miles began teasing him before he could speak, “No, he prefers hanging out with his little girlfriend at the art museum.”

As soon as the words left Miles’ mouth, Bentley’s face scrunched up as a look nobody could quite decipher filled his face and he shook his head, “Kona and I are just friends.”

“Whatever you say, bud,” Butchy chuckled as he and Mick worked on sculpting a moat.

“Kona?” Vivien repeated with a grin. “Like my car?”

“It’s spelled the same,” Royce shrugged. “She moved here from Hawaii not long after we got here and is in the same grade as Bentley.”

Bentley’s smile returned as he explained, “Her parents own this really cool record shop near where Miles works. Her dad runs a radio station out of it and they live upstairs. You’ve gotta meet her; you would love her.”

Vivien smiled in kind, but couldn’t help teasing the boy as she elbowed his arm, “Not nearly as much as you do, apparently.”

Choosing to simply ignore the girl’s teasing, Bentley said, “She’s got two cats who roam around the store and beg for treats.”

With a nod, Vivien sighed, “I’m not a big cat person, but I bet they’re cute.”

As though snapped from a trance, Royce looked up and found Miles’ gaze already on him, concern filling their locked eyes as Bentley asked, “You don’t like cats?”

Vivien shrugged, “It’s not that I don’t like them - I do and I think they’re adorable - I’ve just never had one around, so I prefer dogs. My mom claims that she’s allergic to cats, so we’ve always had dogs. Personally, I think she just doesn’t like cats because she’s always calling them prissy and aggressive.”

Tentatively, Royce swallowed thickly and turned toward his girlfriend with a hopeful grin, “Would you mind living with one?”

Confused, Vivien shook her head, “No, why? Do you want one?”

“We already have one,” Miles explained. “A black cat we got around Halloween a while back.”

“His name is Binx - like the Hocus Pocus cat,” Bentley added with a proud smile as he stuck a stick into the top of a sand tower. “He likes Cheetos, long baths, and he sits on our shoulders like a parrot sometimes.”

Vivien giggled, while the concept of the boys having a pet had crossed her mind, she just assumed Miles would have a German shepherd or something for protection - if not a breed with enough energy to entertain Bentley’s golden retriever mannerisms. If anything, the only person in that house who she could imagine owning a cat was her boyfriend. Royce was, for all intents and purposes, the embodiment of a Chartreux - quiet, inquisitive, and gentle, yet playful when he wanted to be. He seemed to be the oddball of the group - Vivien’s spirit animal of sorts being the same outgoing, yet calm and perceptive hound who always fell asleep somewhere on her bed back home.

Shaking her head, Vivien grinned, “If you guys don’t have Cheetos at home, we need to pick some up for him.”

Carrie beamed, “They keep a bag just for him.”

“Aww!” Vivien cooed, her smile growing so big it began pushing her eyes closed. Lightly smacking Royce’s arm with the back of her hand, she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about him before?”

“I thought I had,” Royce admitted shyly.

Vivien shook her head, “I would’ve remembered his name! Hocus Pocus is one of my favorite movies of all time.”

“Sorry,” Royce chuckled, a hand coming up to the back of his neck as Vivien smiled in his direction.

Nudging Royce’s arm with an elbow, Vivien grinned, “That just means you’ll have to formally introduce us later.”

Feeling himself smile as warmth crawled up his neck and spread across his cheeks, Royce nodded and breathed, “Yeah, okay.”

Giggling at her boyfriend’s reaction, Vivien turned to the others and asked, “So, what should we do first? Should we take the day to clean, and then you guys can show me around tomorrow, or…?”

“Well, today’s Saturday, so Kona should be busy helping her dad with his broadcast,” Bentley commented thoughtfully. “And the museums will be packed.”

“Sadly, so will that new mall I told you about on the phone,” Carrie mentioned as Vivien glanced her way. “Saturdays are when everyone and their mother try to get good deals.”

Royce looked ready to argue that he knew all too well that the blonde had already wasted enough money at the shiny new building, but Vivien spoke before he got the chance, effectively shutting down any snide remarks he planned on making as she smiled in Carrie’s direction. “I guess some things never change. My bandmates, Erica and Jade, work at the Mall of New Hampshire and say that they only work weekends so they get to watch the chaos from the food court on their breaks.”

Realizing, to his dismay, that his girlfriend would probably be just as enamored with the new shopping center as Carrie was, Royce asked, “Do you go there often?”

“All the time!” Vivien exclaimed. “It’s not a huge mall or anything, but they have some of the best clothes and stuff. I got my first pair of skates at that mall when I was little.”

“They sell figure skates at the mall?” Bentley asked.

“Yeah,” Vivien nodded. Glancing over at the unsuspecting Butchy, she smirked and added, “We went to Dick’s.”

Butchy looked up, an eyebrow raised at the younger girl as she grinned in his direction. Although he looked ready to speak up and ask the girl how on earth that could be the name of a store, Bentley beat him to the punch as his blue eyes sparkled with glee, “Dick’s?”

Vivien nodded, glad to finally have found a way to evade Butchy’s tax on swearing, but Royce let out a snort as he asked, “Is there seriously a store named Dick’s?”

“Dick’s Sporting Goods,” Mick nodded, fighting back a laugh as Butchy’s head practically snapped toward her, an incredulous look in his eyes. “What? It’s true!”

“You’ve got to be screwing with me,” Butchy muttered. 

Carrie scoffed a laugh, her oversized sunglasses lifting as she smirked at Butchy, “What? Can’t handle a few Dick’s being thrown around here and there?”

“Yeah, it’s just a sports shop, big guy.” Vivien smirked, glancing around the group as she thoughtfully said, “I bet you would’ve had a heart attack if you had been with us on that trip my school took to the Hoover Dam.”

Bentley’s eyes sparkled as the third Percy Jackson book dragged to the front of his mind, and he asked, “Did you have to ride the dam elevator?”

Ignoring Butchy’s startled call of her friend’s name, Vivien beamed, “We did, but a few of us had to stop to use the dam bathroom first.”

Having read the books with his brother and girlfriend, Royce grinned as he questioned, “Did you get any dam snacks from the dam snack bar?”

“I bet those dam t-shirts were expensive.” An almost maniacal giggle bubbled up from Vivien’s chest as Mick spoke, her nonchalance causing a ripple of laughter to course through the group as Butchy sighed.

“This is the part where I admit defeat,” he muttered, pushing himself to his feet.

“I’d tell you to give up while you’re ahead, but you’re definitely not ahead of them by any means,” Miles chuckled, following his friend’s lead before reaching down and offering a hand to his girlfriend. As the kids scrambled to their feet, proud smiles on their faces as Butchy and Mick began the walk to Mick’s bus, Miles asked, “So, kiddies, where to first?”

Vivien took in a breath as both Royce and Bentley turned toward her expectantly, but her first thought wasn’t of adventure; it was of genuine confusion as Miles and Carrie followed the others toward Mick’s Volkswagen. “I thought we were going with you guys. Where’s your car?”

“We walked,” Bentley said with a shrug. “Our house is close enough that we walk or ride our bikes everywhere almost every day.”

“And I left my car at their house,” Carrie added, nudging her sunglasses further up her nose with a smile at the brunette.

Ignoring the blonde’s addition to the conversation with ease despite his girlfriend’s nod of understanding, Royce added, “And Miles’ piece of crap Jeep needs new spark plugs.”

“It’s not a piece of crap if it gets you two to school on time,” Miles sighed, the mere thought of having to put more work into the rust bucket exhausting him.

“What do you need to have done to it?” Vivien asked. “My Grandpa George lets me help him with his old truck all the time; maybe I can help.”

Miles shook his head, “You’re our guest; you shouldn’t be helping me with stuff like that. Besides, it’s mostly simple fixes - new spark plugs, an oil change, that kind of thing. The only thing I need to check on other than that is the clutch.”

“You drive a stick?” Vivien asked, her eyes sparkling at the thought. “Can you teach me how?”

Smiling at the girl, Miles chuckled and nodded, “Maybe one of these days, sure. Now, where do you need to go?”

Sighing as Miles turned the topic back onto her, Vivien shrugged as she replied, “Can we stop at a gas station or something so I can pick up some snacks before we get to cleaning?”

“Then what?” Carrie asked before Miles could ask her what she wanted.

“I don’t know, really,” Vivien admitted as Bentley tucked his arm into the crook of her elbow, her other arm already looped around Royce’s. “I’m just happy to be here with you guys. It doesn’t feel real.”

“I know the feeling,” Royce chuckled, offering his girlfriend a smile. “Having you here is so surreal.”

“Just wait until you meet everyone,” Bentley said, hopping off of a concrete parking block as Vivien laughed.

“You mean I haven’t already?” she asked. “I think I met everyone in town.”

“Not everyone,” Royce claimed, “but there aren’t a lot of people you haven’t met yet.”

“Kona, Zack, and August,” Bentley began.

“Benny’s friends from school,” Royce explained, to which Vivien nodded.

“Don’t forget Sandy, Lake, and Kit,” Miles tacked on.

“Cassandra Wheaton, and Laken and Katrina Dubois,” Bentley explained, tugging Vivien’s hand as he spoke. “Those are Royce’s friends.”

“Sandy is this red-head girl in my grade who constantly picks fights with the teachers if she thinks they’re wrong,” Royce explained. “She’s related to Butchy’s friend, Larry.”

“Lugnut,” Miles stated, holding the door open for the kids to climb in. “That’s what we call him. And, for the record, they’re cousins.”

“Why on earth do you call him that?” Vivien asked with a grin, pausing by the doorway. “Because he’s got bolts for brains?”

Butchy snorted from the front seat, turning to grin at the kids, “That’s one reason.”

As Bentley followed Vivien into the VW bus, Royce said, “She and her family are on vacation this week, though. Lake and Kit, on the other hand, are Lela's boyfriend’s best friend’s younger brother and sister - they’re twins.”

“Lake is usually the one getting into trouble at school, but he gets good enough grades that nobody really says anything,” Royce explained. “Kit, on the other hand, is the only sane one. She’s the polar opposite of her brother in school, but we’re all pretty sure she’s got some kind of rebellious side under her good-girl exterior.”

As Vivien pieced together the web that linked the group together as friends, she smiled curiously, “And they’re your friends from school?” Royce nodded, and Vivien shook her head with a chuckle. “Sounds like my friends - a mismatched abomination that works, for whatever reason.”

Royce smiled, but it was Bentley who spoke up, “You know, Lake’s the only reason Royce didn’t get in much trouble for punching that kid in the face back in February.”

“Really?” Vivien asked. When Bentley nodded proudly, still clearly relishing in how protective his typically calm older brother had gotten, Vivien turned to Royce and said, “I have to say, when I first found out about that, I didn’t believe it, but now that I know it’s true, I’m proud of you.”

Royce looked away as he heaved a sigh, “I could have handled it better.”

“You could,” Vivien shrugged, “but I would have done the same.”

“You would have?” Royce asked softly as the door slid shut behind Miles.

Vivien hummed, nodding in confirmation before smiling at her boyfriend, “Nobody messes with our siblings.”

Royce smiled, a breath of a laugh escaping him as he nodded, “I still feel kind of bad about breaking his nose and tripping the other one down the stairs.”

“You shouldn’t,” Vivien claimed calmly. Leaning her head on Royce’s shoulder, she smirked as she added, “Besides, I kind of like the thought of seeing you get all protective over the people you care about.”

One of Royce’s eyebrows raised as he looked down at the top of Vivien’s head. “Yeah?”

Instead of replying outright, she nodded against his shoulder, tipping her head back so that she could see his face as she muttered, “I would have paid big bucks to watch it go down.”

“I watched it in real time,” Bentley claimed, heaving a laugh as he recalled the day he watched his ever-calm older brother rail his fist into an upperclassman’s face. “It was a wonder Royce didn’t break his fist in Darren’s face.”

“Or get into any more trouble than I did,” Royce sighed as he leaned over to look at Bentley. “It was honestly a miracle I wasn’t suspended.”

Bentley rolled his eyes before grinning at Vivien and explaining, “Lake went with us to the principal and explained that he saw the whole thing. If he hadn’t, we would’ve gone back and forth until the bell rang.”

“Instead,” Royce continued, “they took his word and called Miles to come and pick us up.”

Turning enough to see the kids, Miles mused, “Most terrifying call of my life.”

“How come?” Vivien asked.

“All they told me was that there was a fight and I needed to get the boys,” Miles recalled. With a sigh, he said, “Since neither of them start fights, I figured I’d be dealing with broken teeth and blood everywhere. Instead, I get to the office, find some kid being called into the principal’s office with an icepack on his face, and these two sitting with the nurse, looking relatively unharmed.”

Royce glanced down at the knuckles on his right hand, flexing and clenching his fist as he examined the leftover marks from his first-ever fistfight. Though it wasn’t his dominant hand, his punch to the older boy’s face had certainly made a mark on both him and the older boy - breaking Darren’s nose for the second time that school year. The quarterback was a caricature of the stereotypical jock - obnoxiously loud, rude, and always vying for access to some poor girl’s skirt. Although Royce doubted he had much success with women in general, Darren acted like he had been crowned King of the school anytime he had a girl under his arm, pushing underclassmen out of his way and picking out random things to taunt them with at least once a day. He was rude, uncouth, and, quite frankly, had the punch coming.

“It’s just a miracle his parent’s didn’t press charges,” Miles mused. “Lawyer fees wouldn’t be cheap if we went against the town’s darling little quarterback.”

“It would have been sooo worth it to take them all down a peg, though,” Carrie sighed. 

“Why do you even care?” Royce asked with a roll of his eyes. “Just because you would’ve had the money to handle it doesn’t mean all of us peasants could’ve.”

Though Carrie looked ready to fire back something about how money had little to do with the situation or how she cared because Miles cared, she bit her tongue and instead sighed, “I’ve heard enough shit about that family. They’re dicks to everyone.”

“Oh, joy,” Vivien sighed with a roll of her eyes. “I get away from one asshole family at my school only to meet another asshole family at this one.”

“Swear jar,” Butchy muttered from the front, echoed in near unison by his younger sister and Miles.

“Good thing I’m not staying at your place tonight,” Vivien snickered.

Lela glanced at the girl and sighed, “Don’t be surprised if he nails you for it later.”

“That’s not fair,” Vivien huffed.

“Neither is the swear jar,” Miles laughed.

“College fund,” Butchy corrected.

“More like the bullshit fund,” Carrie claimed with a roll of her eyes as she looked out the window at the passing scenery.

“Wait, how come she gets to cuss, but I don’t?” Vivien scoffed in disbelief, gesturing to Carrie.

Twisting in his seat to look back at the teenager in the backseat, Butchy grinned, “Because I don’t care what she does. You, on the other hand, are one of my responsibilities while you’re here.”

Crossing her arms over her chest and preparing her fiercest glare, Vivien smirked, but Miles caught on quickly, smirking as he attempted to placate the girl before she could push Butchy’s buttons any more than he was sure she had already planned to, “I wouldn’t.”

Choosing to ignore Miles’ tame warning, Vivien giggled, “If Butchy can’t handle the heat, maybe he shouldn’t be such a colossal dickhead.” 

“Vivien,” Mack cautioned, “be nice.”

“I just want to see where the line is so that I can play jump rope with it,” Vivien claimed somewhat innocently, making Butchy roll his eyes as he turned back toward the road ahead. “Have I crossed it yet?”

“Wouldn’t be the first or the last time you did,” Butchy shrugged.

Vivien’s smile only seemed to grow as she contemplated her next course of action. Tapping her chin thoughtfully, she hummed, “How about prick; is that okay, Corporal Shithead?”

“I mean, under certain circumstances, I guess, but-”

“Shit? Damn?” Vivien continued. “How about Dick’s? The sporting goods place, not the anatomy.”

“I don’t have a written list of acceptable swears,” Butchy claimed with a chuckle. “And, yeah, store names are fine. Why do you-”

“How about fuck-nuggets?” Vivien pressed, her eyes practically glistening with joy. “I reserve that one for special people, you know, Señor Fu-”

“We’re here!” Mick exclaimed, cutting off Vivien’s fun as she pulled into the parking lot of a red and white convenience store, rolling up to the side of a gas pump before putting the oversized vehicle in park.

As she jumped out of the van, Vivien stared up at the building’s name with a look of scrutiny, encouraging a snort from Butchy as he smirked at her. “What’s with your face, piccola?”

Without batting an eye, Vivien stared up at the sign and asked, “The fuck is Wawa - some baby store bullshit?”

“It’s a gas station,” Bentley laughed as he followed Miles toward the store, digging into his pocket for some money. “You wanted snacks.”

Nudging the girl with his arm, Butchy grinned, “They have some of the best mac and cheese you will ever try.”

Slowly tearing her gaze from the store, Vivien looked up at Butchy and inspected his expression before softly asking him, “Better than Chick-fil-A?”

Dutifully, Butchy nodded as he brought an arm around the brunette’s shoulders, “By far.”

Eyes widening at the idea of anything being better than Chick-fil-A’s mac and cheese, Vivien swallowed and allowed Butchy to guide her toward the store. “I swear,” she began as he pulled the door open for her, “if you’re lying to me, I’ll strangle you.”

With a chuckle and a shake of his head, Butchy asked, “And if I was right?”

Vivien thought for a moment before shrugging, “I don’t know - I’ll tell Mick to kiss you or something.”

Butchy’s flat stare landed on Vivien as he asked, “She and I have been together for years now; why wouldn’t she kiss me?”

After thinking for a second, she shuddered and made a face at the taller man, “Well, I’m certainly not kissing you.”

Though Butchy pretended to gag at the thought, Vivien giggled, shoving him with her elbow as he guided her toward the wall of buffet-style foods across from the door. Chuckling, Butchy said, “Go check out the food, child. I’m going to pry Lela away from the Slurpee machine before she brings home another abomination that makes her sick.”

“Good luck with that,” Vivien snickered, watching him saunter off with a grin before turning to the food before her. The typical gas station foods - cheap hotdogs, sketchy burritos, and some half-empty trays of pizza - were on full display, but Vivien passed them with ease as her gaze narrowed in on a heated section of deep metal bowls of soups and steaming mac and cheese. Taking in a slow breath, Vivien paused as the smell of the food filled her. Why did it smell good? Gas station food never smelled good.

As a hand landed on her shoulder, Vivien jumped, turning toward Mack with wide eyes. Curious, the woman examined the food before asking, “Looks a hell of a lot better than the stuff we’d get at Cumby’s, doesn’t it?”

Cumberland Farms, a convenience store chain most commonly found in the New England region that Vivien proudly hailed from, was known amongst locals for their terrible, grow-hair-on-your-chest type coffee and shitty selection of “hot foods” that workers would hastily throw into the microwave before selling. Despite their food being sub-par, Vivien almost always stopped there for gas and a snack between school and skate practice. This Wawa place was putting her favorite gas station to shame with their fancy displays of food and varied selection of decent-looking snacks! 

Nodding at the older woman, she asked, “Why does it smell so good?” 

Mack smiled, “Because, believe it or not, it’s good food.”

“You’ve had some?” Vivien asked. When the graying woman nodded, she looked at the array of food and asked, “What do you recommend?”

“Just about anything,” Mack shrugged. “It’s all a lot cheaper than the stuff back home.”

As the brunette woman patted her shoulder and walked away, Vivien’s eyebrow raised, but as she slowly turned her attention back to the food before her, her curiosity was quickly replaced with surprise as she read the prices along the top of the heated cases. Thirty-five cents for a bowl of mac and cheese?! A box of uncooked mac and cheese - not even a good brand, just the generic, store-brand kind - back home was almost two dollars, and you still had to buy butter and milk to make it! Digging into the purse Lela had let her borrow, Vivien dug out her NASA-branded wallet and came to the realization that she had saved a load more money for the trip than she would probably ever need. Feeling a sense of wealth in a gas station - of all places - was surreal, but there she was, standing in front of the gas station’s array of mac and cheeses, feeling like the richest person in the world. Having saved all of her money from her band’s tip jar at their gigs, her allowances, and her part-time work at her family’s winery, she now had just shy of a thousand dollars saved for a trip that would, more likely than not, cost a whole lot less than she had anticipated.

“Are you good, kid?” a voice asked, making Vivien hastily zip her wallet shut as she turned toward Miles, her thoughts running wild at the thought of storming into the nearby mall and buying everything her heart desired without feeling bad for spending a ton on herself.

Vivien scrambled to find the words to say before stammering out, “I-I, uh, I just- I saved money for this trip.”

Miles smiled, a sense of pride filling him as he nodded, “Good job. Is it enough to buy what you want or do you need some change?”

Vivien’s eyes flickered to the sign, its two-digit number startling her once more as she half expected it to have changed since the last time she looked. With a vehement shake of her head, she began, “N-No, it’s not-!” She cut herself off and took in a breath, lowering her voice to a whisper and holding up her wallet with wide eyes, “I think I could buy a house with this.”

Miles glanced at the girl’s wallet and smirked, placing a hand over it and lowering it, “I highly doubt that, but isn’t that a good thing?”

“Yeah, I think so, but-”

“But nothing,” Miles interrupted, taking the girl’s arms in his hands and forcing her to focus on his words. “You’re here to have fun, not worry about finances.”

Vivien nodded dutifully, but as her gaze fell on her borrowed clothes, she found herself beginning to worry again as she muttered, “I don’t have any clothes.”

“What?” Miles asked, not having heard the girl’s simple statement.

Emerald eyes flickered up to meet Miles’, and he watched as worry filled them. “Mick told me to leave my clothes at her parent’s house and only take what I needed because I’d leave here with more clothes than I could fit in my suitcase. I borrowed all of this-” she gestured to herself, “from Lela. I don’t- I don’t have pajamas for tonight or clothes for tomorrow - o-or any day, for that matter. Miles, what am I going to do? I can’t just run around in the same outfit every day!”

“First of all, breathe,” Miles instructed, waiting until Vivien sucked in a breath before continuing, “and second, relax. You can borrow something for tonight, and I can take you clothes shopping tomorrow.”

Vivien took in the idea and slowly nodded. “Are you sure? I don’t want to get in the way of your plans.”

“You won’t,” Miles decided with a shake of his head. “We’ll worry about all of that tomorrow. Now, go pick out some snacks for tonight before the boys decide to buy half the store for you.”

Allowing Miles to nudge her toward the coolers full of drinks where Bentley and Royce were arguing over which drink they thought Vivien would want, she shoved her wallet back into her bag and allowed their voices to lure her in, glancing around at the myriad of snacks available as she closed the distance between them. “What’re you guys talking about?”

Glad to have someone there as a tie-breaker, Bentley beamed, “Oh, good! Viv, would you please tell your boyfriend that you’d like root beer more than Mountain Dew?”

Switching her gaze from the bottle of A&W in Bentley’s hand to the sloshing, radioactive green liquid in the glass bottle held by the brunet on her right, Vivien opened her mouth to speak, but Royce spoke first, “She’s been talking about having us bring her a bottle of this stuff since January, Ben.”

Choosing to speak up before the boys could argue more about her choice of drink, Vivien asked, “Why not just get both?” When the boys looked her way, she said, “I can have one tonight while we work and another in the morning with breakfast.”

“Soda with breakfast?” Bentley wondered aloud, glancing between Vivien and Royce. “Is that allowed?”

Vivien shrugged as she took the bottles from the boys, “Why not? If Miles can have his crackhead coffee in the morning, I can have a soda.”

Turning on her heel, Vivien headed for the chip aisle, examining the funky fonts with a smile as the boys fetched their own drinks from the coolers. As she picked up a tube of Pringles - the “newfangled” chip in a can, as the container claimed - Vivien tucked it into the crook of her elbow and waited for the boys to pick out their own snacks before following them to the cash register where a middle-aged man in a sweater vest began punching in the prices of their selection. Pulling out her wallet, Vivien began searching for her one-dollar bills, but Royce was quicker as he handed over a few bills and accepted the change from the cashier.

Taking the bag of items from the counter and thanking the man, Vivien allowed Royce to lead her outside before speaking, “I was going to pay for that, you know.”

“I know,” Royce said, a hint of a grin tugging at his lips as Bentley pulled his drink and snack from the bag in Vivien’s arms and took off for the van, “but I also know how expensive things are back in your world and how cheap everything seems here. You and I both know you’ll try paying for anything and everything if you get the chance, and I wanted to be able to say that I paid for at least one thing for you while you’re here.”

Vivien couldn’t argue with her boyfriend’s good intentions. She knew he meant well and, well, he wasn’t wrong. She liked being able to provide for the people she cared about. Taking in a breath and sighing, she relented, “Alright, you’ve got me there.”

“I know,” Royce smirked triumphantly. “I just hope you’ll let me pay for our anniversary dinner.”

“Anniversary dinner?” Vivien echoed. “We haven’t been together a year yet, Rolls.”

“No, but it’s almost our four-month anniversary, and we haven’t had the chance to really celebrate the last three,” Royce stated as they reached Mick’s bus, taking the bag from Vivien and stepping aside to allow her to climb in. “Why; do you not want to celebrate it?”

“I hadn’t thought about it, to be honest with you,” Vivien admitted. “My parents only really ever celebrated their yearly anniversary.” Pausing as she stepped into the bus, Vivien turned back to Royce and said, “But, I guess, if you think about it, they are divorced now. Maybe it’s not such a good idea to follow their lead.”

Royce let out a breathy laugh, “Yeah, maybe not.”

Once they were seated, Vivien leaned her head on Royce’s shoulder and asked, “So what did you have in mind for it?”

Royce chuckled somewhat nervously, “Honestly, I hadn’t really planned anything since I thought we would be on opposite sides of the country. My original plan was to see if we could have dinner over video chat or something, but now that you’re here, I don’t know what to do.”

Vivien hummed as she smiled up at her boyfriend, “Well, we have plenty of time to figure it out.”

“Yeah,” Royce nodded as he returned her smile, leaning closer to her with the intention of pressing the tip of his nose to hers in a sort of eskimo kiss. However, the van’s other occupant had another idea.

“Can you guys not be all lovey-dovey and gross when I’m trying to eat?” Bentley complained, interrupting the couple’s interaction and digging his hand back into his snack bag as the others began to return to the vehicle. 

Instead of resorting to sitting silently and putting up with the boy’s teasing, Vivien turned toward the blond and pursed her lips, smacking them in an effort to psych him out with her exaggerated kissing noises as she leaned toward him, acting as though she was going to kiss him. Bentley was quick to react, letting out a squeal as he pressed himself as far away from her as possible. As he tossed a handful of Corn Diggers at Vivien, pleading with her to stop, Vivien laughed triumphantly and returned to her seat, pulling a couple of the Bugles' predecessors from her ponytail and popping them into her mouth as Bentley let out a noise of complaint.

“You tossed ‘em, you lost ‘em,” Vivien taunted in a sing-song voice, handing one of the corn chips to Royce as he chuckled beside her.

Before Bentley could complain any further, Mick turned toward the others in the back of the bus and asked, “Everybody in?”

Once everyone gave some form of confirmation, Mick turned back to the wheel before her and twisted the key in the ignition, feeling the vehicle rumble to life before pulling away from the gas pump. As the bus pulled away from the gas station and began to roll down Gulf Boulevard, Bentley and Royce began showing Vivien their town through the windows, pointing out locations as they flew by. Although the glimpses of buildings and hang-out spots wouldn’t satiate Vivien’s desire to explore to small city to its fullest, the palpable excitement radiating off of the boys on either side of her as they rambled and raved about their favorite places made her feel as though she had explored the area alongside them. 

To Vivien’s great disappointment, the car ride didn’t last long, and they were pulling into the brick-lined driveway of Butchy and Lela’s Mediterranean-style home within minutes. The red shingles on the roof glistened in the afternoon sun, giving the structure a warm, comforting glow as Mick rolled to a stop in front of the garage. Climbing out of the bus, Vivien looked around at the neighborhood, a collection of one-floor, mid-century homes dotting the streets amidst the occasional larger home and making Vivien breath a sort of chuckle through her nose as she smirked. The pattern of large and small homes distantly reminded her of Morse Code - the larger building becoming dashes and the smaller ones turning into little dots in her head. However, before she could think too much on it, Lela took the girl by the hand and began leading her up the brick walkway to the front door, pushing her way inside before turning back toward the group and calling for Carrie to join them. Lela pulled Vivien inside before leaving to retrieve the girl’s suitcase from the kitchen where she had abandoned it earlier, allowing the younger teen to look around the living room for the first time as Carrie’s platform boots clunked against the hardwood floors. Though Vivien was only somewhat disappointed the home didn’t have a sunken conversation pit for a living room, the patterns and warm colors gave off an inherently sixties vibe that made her smile nonetheless. Turning to Carrie with a smile, Vivien watched as the blonde rolled her eyes, nudging her sunglasses atop her head with a sigh.

“This place feels like something out of I Dream of Jeannie,” Vivien commented with a smile, “or Bewitched or I Love Lucy.”

Carrie looked around and shrugged slightly, her head tipping to the side in a sort of “I guess so,” movement. Then, she beamed, “If you think this is nice, just wait until you see my place.”

“I thought you said you guys weren’t done rearranging your furniture again?” Lela wondered as she rolled Vivien’s suitcase into the living room.

“We’re not,” Carrie agreed, “but it still has one of the best ocean views anyone could ask for.”

“And looks like the inside of a Barbie Dreamhouse,” Butchy poked as he followed his wife into the house and headed for the kitchen with one of their bags from the convenience store.

The half-assed jab at her choice in decor did nothing to Carrie as she rolled her eyes and called after him, “At least I have taste. Your wallpaper is so bright it could blind the people on the moon.”

“Hey,” Mick whined in a mildly offended tone as she looked around her ecclectically decorated living quarters. “I thought you liked the wallpaper.”

As Carrie struggled to find something nice to say about the yellow, floral, somewhat kitschy wallpaper, Vivien quickly turned to the brunette and attempted to cover for the blonde, “I think it’s beautiful, Mickie. Loud and proud, but beautiful. Right, Carrie?”

“Yeah!” Carrie hurried to agree, plastering a smile on her face that only a skilled actress - such as herself - could have pulled off so flawlessly. “It matches the furniture and decor perfectly.”

Wiping her dismay from her face, Mick grinned, “I’m just screwing with you. It’s ugly as sin and we all know it.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Carrie pressed a hand to her chest and breathed, “Oh, thank God.”

“It really is awful,” Vivien muttered as she looked around. Glancing at the coffee table in all of its wiry, metallic glory, Vivien winced at the rug. “I mean, come on, Mick! You’ve got a baby-poop-green rug, for crying out loud.”

Mick leaned against the back of the couch and laughed, “It’s atrocious, isn’t it? We’re going to be redecorating entire ground level soon.”

“Finally getting rid of the poop rug?” Bentley asked in a giggle as he perched himself on the armrest of a chair.

“If that thing’s not the first thing that gets thrown in the dumpster,” Butchy began as he came back into the room with a freshly opened box of popsicles and began handing them out, “I might just pitch myself off of the roof.”

“Promise?” Carrie asked with a smirk.

Digging into the box, Butchy produced a purple popsicle with a grin and held it out to the blonde with a smirk, watching as her expression soured once he pushed the clear plastic wrapper into her hand. “Just for that, here you go.”

“I’d rather drink sewer water,” Carrie claimed, letting the popsicle dangle from her fingers as she pinched the stick, her nose crinkling in disgust as she eyes the offensively purple ice pop.

With a giggle, Vivien pried the popsicle from Carrie’s hand and swapped it for the blue raspberry one she had been given, claiming, “I love the grape ones.”

“More power to ya,” Carrie shuddered. “They taste like these shitty throat drops I had to take before singing lessons.”

Butchy smiled as he slowly turned, ready to hit the blonde with a comment about how her singing lessons were clearly a waste of her family’s money, but Lela quickly intervened with a smile, stepping up to grab a pink-lemonade-flavored pop from the box in her brother’s hands before turning to Vivien and Carrie. “Are you girls ready?”

“For what?” Vivien asked as she unwrapped her purple pop.

“We need to make up a list of all the things you need so that we can go shopping,” Carrie explained.

Vivien shook her head with a small smile, “That’s alright, guys, Miles already said he’d take me shopping tomorrow.”

Not even a moment after the words left Vivien’s mouth, Miles felt the urge to run, hide, melt in to the floor - anything to get away before he felt the stares of the women around him sear holes into his skin. However, to his dismay, he felt rooted in place by an invisible force that he knew could only be described as fear - though he would never admit it. If it wasn’t bad enough that Lela’s mildly bewildered, somewhat upset blue eyes landed on him with an immediate “how dare you” glare befitting of her status as the self-proclaimed, spoiled youngest child, Miles tried not to wince as Carrie’s sharp gaze landed on him, her rarely used, angry girlfriend stare boring into his soul. Miles had hoped he would have the chance to tell at least Carrie about his short conversation with Vivien about taking the chance to shop on a day he and his brothers had nothing better to do. He knew Carrie would have understood and told the others - mainly the raven-haired girl starring daggers at him in the hopes he would croak where he stood - to let things go for the night.

Clearly, however, he hadn’t had the chance.

“You what?” Lela asked darkly, a thinly veiled threat latched onto her words. 

“Yeah,” Carrie nodded, her arms crossing over her chest as she watched her boyfriend’s expression flit as he fought the urge to speak up in defense of his actions. “We told you we wanted to take her shipping tonight while you guys worked on getting things set up for her in the spare room.”

Shrugging in a vain attempt to calm the girls’ fury, Miles admitted, “I told her she could just relax tonight and get used to our place a bit before we hound her with shopping trips and adventures. You guys can still take her, but I wanted her to feel comfortable first.”

“He’s right,” Vivien confirmed with a nod as she took a bite of her popsicle, watching in mild amusement as Carrie and Lela’s matching aquamarine gazes fell on her in near-perfect unison. “I wanted to help clean out the room I’m staying in tonight anyway. I like organizing, and, besides, I would’ve felt bad if the guys did all the work when I had already offered to help.”

Carrie hummed thoughtfully, accepting the teen’s statement with relative ease as Lela huffed, “Fine, but we’re taking you out tomorrow - no excuses.”

Raising her hands in surrender, Vivien nodded, “So long as I can crash in a nice, comfy bed tonight, I have no issue with going out tomorrow. You can drag me out of bed, for all I care.”

“Don’t tell them that,” Bentley said quickly, shaking his head emphatically at the brunette. “They take that stuff literally.”

Vivien smiled at the young blond, but found her amusement wiped off her face as she caught sight of Lela’s mischievously glittering eyes. She attempted a glance at Carrie, but found the blonde smiling knowingly in her direction, the actress’ excitement fueled by her eagerness to get the chance to spend time with Vivien and get to know the young figure skater better. Hoping she wouldn’t regret signing up for whatever day-long plans the girls had in store for her, Vivien swallowed and plastered a wary smile on her face as she asked, “Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret agreeing to this?”

“Hanging out with Lela is fun, but you’re spending the day with Carrie too,” Royce stated before taking in the last bite of his popsicle. Quickly polishing it off, he grinned as he rhetorically asked, “Who wouldn’t regret that?”

Though Royce was quickly shut up by Miles elbowing his side and quietly telling him to quit it, Vivien latched onto his words and stared him down with a disappointed frown knitting her eyebrows together. With Vivien’s stare unwavering, Royce opened his mouth to speak before sighing and looking away, his small argument forgotten. Placing a hand on Carrie’s arm, Vivien turned her gaze onto the blonde and smiled, “I’m actually looking forward to spending more time with you.”

“You are?” Carrie asked, echoed bewilderedly by Butchy, Royce, and Bentley.

The smiling brunette nodded, ignoring the boys’ comments and grinning as she admitted, “We haven’t really gotten the chance to get to know each other other than our love of theatre and music, so I don’t doubt we’ll have a lot of fun tomorrow.”

Vivien could tell by her smile that Carrie was happy, but the actress’ eyes seemed to water at her words, tears she was determined not to shed making her eyes burn. Carrie pulled herself together as best she could before nodding, “Lela and I will make sure you have fun.”

“And,” Lela began, sidling up to the pair with a smile and bringing her arms around them, “maybe we can even make a detour to Sycamore Close to check out where Miles and Carrie work.”

Though confused at first, realization hit Vivien like a Mack truck speeding down the highway as she recalled just where Carrie worked. Beaming at the blonde, she asked, “Really? Can we check out the studio?”

Carrie shrugged, a teasing gleam in her eyes as she offered, “I guess we’ll just have to find out, won’t we?”

As Carrie pivoted on her heel and began sauntering toward the door, Vivien balked and squawked, “You can’t just give me a ‘you’ll see’ and walk away!”

“I just did!” Carrie laughed as she stepped outside.

Vivien made a noise of disgruntled surprise and followed the actress, but was stopped at the doorway by Butchy’s arm. Looking up at the man, she found him smirking at her. Lifting an eyebrow curiously, Vivien followed his gaze to where Lela stood with a suitcase as he asked, “Forgetting something?”

Sighing, Vivien jogged back to Lela, thanking her with a hug as Miles led his brothers out of the house. Dragging her suitcase behind her, Vivien wrapped Mick in an embrace next, thanking her once more in a whisper. Running her hand up and down the younger brunette’s back, Mick grinned, “Anytime.” 

As they separated, Mack stepped up and said, “Next week, the boys will be back to school and Brady and I will be going back to California. The choice is yours whether or not you want to stay at their house or come stay here in the spare room, but you should probably talk it over with Miles and the boys before Monday.”

Vivien nodded, glancing toward the door as Miles told Bentley to stop chasing Carrie around the driveway with a worm he plucked from the bushes while Royce laughed. Turning back to her neighbor and friend, Vivien smiled, “I think I can handle that.”

“Good,” Brady spoke up. Patting his pseudo-daughter on the shoulder, he grinned, “Have fun, alright?”

“I will,” Vivien said, tucking herself into the couple’s open arms and squeezing them close before heading back to the doorway Butchy leaned against. She examined him for a moment, taking in his laid-back expression and his knowing smirk before asking, “You knew I was coming, didn’t you?”

Lifting a brow, Butchy asked, “What gave you that idea?”

“You weren’t surprised to see me, but Lela was,” Vivien claimed. “That means that either Mickie told you or you just seem to know things, which would mean I have to go all super spy mode while I’m around you.”

Leaning closer to the girl, Butchy lowered his voice and grinned as he said, “Mick’s great with secrets, but I think we both know that she’s pretty shit at keeping her excitement for surprises under wraps.”

Vivien snickered, a knowing nod following soon after. However, as she took in his words once again, she gasped dramatically, pointing up at him with wide, sparkling eyes, “You swore!”

Butchy rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips, “I have been known to, yeah.”

“But the swear jar-”

“Has been decommissioned until you go home,” Butchy interrupted. When Vivien’s accusatory gaze begged him to explain his decision, he simply shrugged, brushing off the matter with ease. “You’re on vacation, piccola - I’d rather you didn’t go broke just because you swear like a drunken sailor.”

Vivien’s expression shifted, a knowing smile taking over her face as she patted his arm, “Whatever you say, big guy.”

Sighing in some form of admittance - at least, that’s how it sounded to Vivien - Butchy shook his head and tugged the younger girl into a hug, smiling as her snake-like arms wound around him in a tight squeeze. “Have fun with the guys.”

“And Carrie,” Vivien tried, a part of her still hoping to mend the blonde’s relationships with both Butchy and Royce during her stay despite the reluctance from all parties.

“Yeah, sure,” Butchy scoffed as Vivien took a step back. Cocking his head in a sort of shrug, he chuckled, “Well, I’m sure you’ll have fun with that empty-headed plaything; the boys aren’t exactly the Barbie-doll type.”

“You’re such a dick,” Vivien retorted, thumping her fist against his chest as she took her suitcase by the handle once more.

“To her, absolutely.”

“That’s not a good thing.”

“Is to me.”

Vivien rolled her eyes and nudged her glasses further up her nose before scoffing and allowing the subject to drop. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow, right?”

“Maybe after you’re done with your girl’s day,” Mick said with a nod.

“Aren’t you joining us?” Vivien asked.

With a shake of her head and a smile, Mick admitted, “Butchy and I have to help some friends move into their new place tomorrow, but I’m sure you’ll have a blast.”

Although the thought of not having Mick there as a buffer between herself and the other girls made her nervous, Vivien masked her worries with a smile and a nod, and gave the group a final wave before leaving the house, jogging down the front steps and joining the others at the end of the driveway. Miles looked up from his conversation with Royce and smiled, “You ready, kid?”

Nodding more for herself than for Miles, Vivien smiled, “As I’ll ever be. Did you guys call a taxi or something to bring us to your place?”

“No,” Miles chuckled with a shake of his head, gently tugging the girl’s suitcase from her hand and pulling it behind him as he began leading the way down the street. “We can walk from here to our house. It’ll take us maybe five minutes.”

“Seriously?” Vivien asked as Bentley took up the hand Miles emptied and began swinging it between them as they walked down Bay Street. “I know you guys said you could ride your bikes everywhere, but I didn’t know you could get where you needed to go so quickly.”

“It must be odd to you,” Carrie offered the younger girl as she fell into step on Miles free side. “I remember when I came to your world that everything in New Hampshire was really spread out. It made everything feel so small.”

Before Royce could butt in with a snappy comment, Vivien hummed, “Yeah, well, most of New England is like that, I think. The area used to be a lot of big farming areas and stuff in colonial times, so when things progressed, the plots of land didn’t, and there are a ton of places where you have to walk a country mile to get to your neighbor’s house.”

“It’s definitely not like that here,” Royce chuckled as Bentley took his hand and began swinging their joined arms between them in time with the other hand the blond had captured along the way to their home. “There may not be a lot of sidewalks on back streets, but in cities and communities like ours, it’s easier to walk places.”

Vivien smiled, “That’ll take some getting used to.”

Bentley grinned, “Nah, you’ll be a city girl before you know it.”

Although Vivien agreed with a nod, allowing the boys to carry the conversation as she let her mind wander. Though she could definitely get used to spending her days lounging on the beach with the boys or shopping with her friends for clothes that would only cost her a fraction of what they would back home, would she truly be able to adjust to wandering a city without a care in the world? In a way, she supposed, there would be pros and cons as there would be anywhere, but safety was something she doubted she had the need to worry about. With them living in a sort of movie universe, Vivien doubted there would be much crime, if any existed in their world at all - a welcome difference from her world. 

Maybe staying In St. Pete Beach would be like the stories her grandparents had told her from their childhood - homes being left unlocked all day and night regardless of whether or not anyone was home and kids roaming the neighborhood until the street lights came on. Basically, things that would give her parents a literal heart attack if they knew where - or when - she really was. Would it really be so hard to adjust? Maybe it wouldn’t be half as hard as she was making it out to be. Regardless, as she listened to Bentley ramble about much he loved Florida more than their old hometown in South Carolina, Vivien came to the conclusion that she would try her hardest to feel at home in the small city.

As they turned right off of 64th Avenue and onto Gulf Winds Drive, Vivien found sandy, crack-riddled, cement driveways becoming more and more common than the clean-cut, brick driveways on the street Mick, Butchy, and Lela lived on. The larger, waterfront homes that lined the Boca Ciega Bay became nonexistent - replaced by a handful of one-floor, mid-century-style homes with cheerfully colored exteriors and neatly-kept gardens filled with palm trees, cacti, and other succulents. With a gentle tug on her sleeve and a somewhat apologetic smile, Royce led Vivien toward a pale turquoise house with a matching, topless Mustang parked out front, encouraging her to step over the edge of the driveway that the cement company hadn’t completely flattened out before allowing her to stop as she examined their home in full.

For a while now, Vivien had only seen glimpses of the building in pictures. She had practically memorized the peeled spot in the living room wallpaper from the background of where Bentley had opened his birthday presents the month before, the terracotta tiles of the back patio where everyone seemed to congregate on the weekends for cookouts, and the chipped, peeling paint of the front door that the trio of brothers had taken pictures in front of not long after Royce and Bentley had moved in with Miles. Now that she had their home in front of her and she was able to take in all of its haphazard glory, the idea of piecing together the rest of the puzzle pieces and seeing the rest of the house filled her with a sort of childlike wonder she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Nervously clearing his throat as his girlfriend stared at their house in silence, Royce admitted, “I know it’s nothing big or exciting like what you’re used to - and we’re still working on fixing up the walls and stuff - but it’s home.”

Vivien was quick to shake her head, wrapping her arm around Royce’s and squeezing it as she asked, “What are you talking about? I love it already.”

“Y-You do?” Royce asked in a breath.

“Yeah,” Vivien beamed. “I’ve only ever seen pictures of your house, so I’ve been looking forward to exploring it for months now.”

As Royce struggled to find something to say in response, Miles nudged Vivien and said, “If you’re that excited, the spare key is above the door frame. You can use it while you’re here.”

“Aren’t you guys coming inside?” Vivien asked, her eyebrow lifting in mild concern.

Miles nodded, smiling reassuringly at the younger brunette, “Carrie and I are just saying goodbye for the night. I’ll be in after she heads out.”

“I’ll pick you up around nine, if that’s alright?” Carrie offered as she tugged her car keys from her purse. “The mall opens at nine thirty, so that gives us plenty of time to pick Lela up and stop for coffee on the way.”

“Sounds good,” Vivien agreed with a smile.

“Good,” Miles grinned. “Now, go. I’m sure you’re dying to check out the dumpster fire that is our house.”

Carrie lightly smacked his chest with the back of her hand, scoffing that it wasn’t a dumpster fire now that they had started fixing everything up, but the comment went mostly ignored as the teenagers began making their way up the driveway. Although Vivien’s excitement was obvious and understandable as she began pulling Royce toward the door, Bentley jogged across the sandy grass to the door, his hand-painted key already glistening in the light as he tugged its chain over his head and slipped the key into the handle of the door. Stepping to the side as Royce took the key down from above the door frame and handed it to his girlfriend, Bentley pushed the door open and gestured for Vivien to enter first, “Ladies first.”

However, before she could take a step inside, Miles called out to Vivien from near Carrie’s Mustang, “Make sure the cat doesn’t get out!”

Vivien glanced back at Miles and nodded, but almost as though he had been summoned, a sleek black cat with golden eyes that shimmered in the sunlight trotted up to the door, sitting at the threshold as it observed the visitor before him with silent scrutiny. Without giving Vivien the chance to introduce herself to the cat, Bentley leaned down and scooped him up, cradling the onyx feline to his chest as he asked, “Did you come out to meet Vivien, Binx?”

Eyeing the girl, the cat’s golden eyes slid closed in a slow blink before peeling back open as he meowed softly. Reaching up a hand, Vivien allowed the cat to sniff her fingers with a grin, her smile growing as the cat’s head nuzzled into her hand, giving her permission to pet him. As Royce let out a breath of a chuckle, Vivien turned to him and said, “I think he likes me.”

Royce nodded, unable to wipe the smile from his face as he agreed, “I knew he would.”

Wriggling in Bentley’s grasp, the cat stretched out toward Vivien, forcing the girl to hold him as he climbed toward her shoulder and perched himself there. Smiling at the cat as his purrs filled her ear, Vivien chuckled, “He really is part parrot.”

“Told you,” Bentley grinned.

As the cat sprawled out, curling around the back of Vivien’s neck and resting his head on her left shoulder, she pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Watching his girlfriend as she nuzzled the top of the cat’s head and scratched between his ears, Royce smiled and spared a glance at the chaos they had left in the house that morning when they were rushing out the door. Miles was right; it was a dumpster fire. Although Royce was certain Vivien wouldn’t care that much about the art supplies littering the counters or the cat toys strewn across the floor, the urge to clean while she was distracted with the cat was strong. However, his time ran out as Vivien turned toward the door, stepping across the threshold and allowing the cat to jump onto the table by the door where Miles always ditched his keys. 

As she began looking around, drinking in the details of the house with a smile, Royce stepped up beside her and said, “If we had known you were coming, we would’ve cleaned before we left this morning.”

“No, we wouldn’t have,” Bentley retorted with a snort as he stepped into the house and closed the door. “Miles woke up late because his alarm clock is a piece of junk, Jules picked you up early for work, and I was half-asleep still since you weren’t there to keep me or Miles awake.”

Reaching behind Vivien to half-heartedly slap the back of Bentley’s head, Royce sent him a look that begged for him to shut up as Vivien laughed, “I don't care how clean your home is. It’s your home and it should look lived in, not like some house on Trulia that’s been staged to look good.”

“Well, that’s good,” Bentley said with a grin, pointedly giving Royce an ‘I told you so’ look before taking Vivien’s arm and dragging her into the kitchen, exclaiming something about having to show her the progress report card he had been sent home from school with on Friday.

Royce let out a sigh and turned his attention to Binx as the cat head-butted his arm, asking for attention. “I’m glad you like her, Binx,” he whispered as he picked up the cat, the feline’s golden eyes somewhat calming as Royce took in a breath. “Knowing her, you’ll be spoiled rotten by the time she has to go home.”

The cat’s soft meow encouraged Royce to smile as the front door opened behind him, allowing Miles to step inside as the roaring engine of Carrie’s Mustang faded outside. Petting the cat as he set Vivien’s suitcase by the wall, Miles greeted him before turning his attention to Royce, “Where did they go?”

“Kitchen,” Royce replied with a shrug. Glancing at the door, he asked, “Where did she run off to?”

Brushing off his brother’s snipped tone, Miles answered, “She’s going home to make up a list of everything she thinks Viv might want.”

Royce scoffed, rolling his eyes at the thought, “How could she possibly know what Viv wants?”

“Royce,” Miles sighed softly as he put his hands on his hips, “can we not do this while Vivien’s here? You know she likes Carrie.”

“I don’t see how she can,” Royce commented with a shake of his head. “But seriously, Carrie hardly knows Viv; what gives her the idea that she can make up a list for her without talking it over with her first?”

“All I know is that she’s calling Lela and Mick for ideas,” Miles admitted with a shrug. “Knowing them, they’ll be on the phone all night.”

Running his hand down Binx’s side, Royce refrained from rolling his eyes as he relented, “That’s good. At least they’d take Viv’s interests into account.”

Curious yet cautious as he knew how deep Royce’s distaste for Carrie went, Miles asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, Viv and Carrie are total opposites,” Royce stated as though his brother should have known that a long time ago. “The chances of Vivien liking anything Carrie picks out for her are slim to none.”

Hoping he didn’t appear nearly as happy to correct his younger brother as he felt, Miles grinned as he said, “Actually, Carrie was telling me that Vivien’s borrowed clothes from her a couple of times since they went to that show together; something about Mick being their delivery person.”

Though he didn’t want to believe his brother’s claim - or Carrie’s, for that matter - Royce sighed and chose to drop the subject, determined not to let his distaste for Carrie get in the way of him enjoying having his girlfriend around. Instead, he allowed Miles to bring an arm around his shoulders and guide him to the kitchen where Vivien was looking over a piece of paper. Bentley shifted a few magnets around on the fridge, nudging one from Miles’ work and one with their school’s mascot up to make room for the paper once Vivien was done with it.

As he caught sight of Vivien’s smile, Miles asked, “We’ve got a real genius on our hands, right, kid?”

Vivien nodded, glancing up from the paper briefly to tease the eldest of the brothers, “What does that make it, then; two out of three? That’s pretty good odds, all things considered.”

“Look here, you little shit,” Miles said, his grin still strong as he pointed at the brunette, “I happened to get good grades when I was in school.”

Waving Bentley’s progress report in the air, Vivien pointed at the teacher’s remarks and taunted, “I bet you weren’t this good, though. I mean, come on, Miles! How could you - of all people - possibly beat ‘has an inquisitive and engaged mind’?”

Miles shook his head, his smile beaming as Bentley’s face turned a soft pink at the praise from his friend, and the youngest of the family said, “It’s not that great. I’ve only got one A so far this year.”

“That’s because the American grading system is a pile of hot garbage,” Vivien scoffed, shoving the boy’s shoulder. “Besides, it’s still better than last time, if this is anything to go by. Last time, you had no A’s at all.”

“My art teacher liked me,” Bentley shrugged, hoping to brush off the praise. “This last trimester, I have French, and I just know it’s going to suck.”

“We can work on that,” Royce chimed in as Binx crawled out of his arms and perched himself on one of the kitchen counters. “Miles has been trying to teach me some more lately, so that won’t be a problem.”

Miles hummed, “And English should also be a breeze since Royce had Cushing last year too.”

“And I’m good with math and history, so those are covered,” Vivien added with a smile. Glancing down at the paper in her hands, she tried not to wince at the glaring D in the slot for Bentley’s science class as she said, “All we need to work on after that is science since everything else has a pretty good mark.”

“Science will be a bust,” Bentley huffed as he leaned against the fridge. “I think Mrs. Purington has it out for me.”

“She doesn’t have it out for you,” Royce claimed with a chuckle. “You just hate science.”

“I mean, yeah,” Bentley relented. “It makes no sense! The stuff she teaches doesn’t even come up on our tests, and half the class can’t stand her because of it. Most of our final grades this year will come from the science fair, and nobody knows what to do for it.”

As Miles hummed thoughtfully, a lightbulb flickered on in Vivien’s mind, snapping to life with a jolt as she thumped a fist on the counter and hissed, “Motherfucker!”

The three brothers and their cat jumped, watching as Vivien let out a frustrated sigh. Tentatively, Royce placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just-” she let out a heavy sigh, “I just realized that I left all the stuff for my battle bot project at home. I was going to ask Mickie to work on it with me while I’m here, and I figured Ben could borrow it, but without the motors, the radio control system, and some of the stuff I literally picked up yesterday at school, it’s useless.”

“That’s alright,” Miles reassured as Bentley stepped up and graciously wrapped an arm around Vivien’s back. “We’ll find something to do for his project - and maybe help you with the rest of yours too… if we can find anything for whatever it is.”

Though Vivien looked ready to explain her project, Bentley piped up, “Besides, the science fair isn’t until the middle of next month.”

Vivien grinned at the boy as Royce asked, “The Friday before prom, right?”

Bentley nodded, but it was Vivien’s gaze that locked on the curly-haired boy almost instantly. “Prom?” Vivien asked, earning a nod from her boyfriend. “You have prom in May? My school’s prom isn’t until the beginning of June!”

Though Royce was pleased to know that he would be able to attend Vivien’s prom - if she was willing to have him by her side in front of her entire grade, that is - the thought of her potentially still being in the area for his prom sent a hurricane of rabid butterflies through his stomach as he turned to Miles, a silent question on his lips as he grinned curiously at his older brother. With a smirk and a subtle roll of his eyes, Miles suggested, “Maybe, if you’re still here, you can go to Royce’s prom.”

Though Vivien’s eyes sparkled at the idea of attending another prom, she grinned and shrugged, “Well, he’d have to ask me to go with him first, but I’m sure I could find a place in my schedule for it.”

Royce’s smile widened as Vivien’s eyes met his, a surge of emotions flooding his veins as she smiled back at him. Maybe Miles was right - he was wrapped around her finger like one of her rings. He would drop anything to be with her so long as she would have him. Then, Bentley’s voice cut through their moment like a dagger, “You just got here, Viv. How do you have a schedule already?”

Wrapping an arm around Bentley’s shoulders, Miles chuckled and ushered him out of the room, “Come on, Benny, let’s get to cleaning Viv’s room.”

“But what about her schedule?” Bentley wondered as Binx hopped down from the counter and began following them. “How are we going to take her places if she has a schedule already?”

“She was joking,” Miles chuckled, tugging Bentley into the hall to leave the young couple alone. 

“Oh,” Bentley breathed, a wave of understanding washing over his features as he turned back to Vivien, who nodded in confirmation. Beaming back at his brother’s girlfriend, Bentley wiggled his eyebrows at the pair and whistled comically before Miles slapped a hand over his mouth and pulled him away.

As his brothers left the room, Royce closed his eyes, turned to Vivien, and sighed, “I’m sorry about them.”

“Don’t be,” Vivien giggled, tucking Bentley’s report card back under a set of magnets on the refrigerator and turning toward Royce with a smile. “I’m used to their shenanigans by now.”

“I’m not so sure that’s a good thing,” Royce breathed as Vivien stepped into his personal space and draped her arms around his shoulders. “They can get a bit wild.”

Vivien snorted, “What, like I can’t?”

“Touché,” Royce grinned, bringing his arms around Vivien’s back. Smiling as he breathed in the scent of her perfume - a light, fruity combination of pomegranates, strawberries, and apple juice that was so distinctly Vivien that it had his attention in an instant - Royce swallowed his apprehension and asked, “Are you thinking of staying here for my prom?”

“If you’ll have me,” Vivien agreed with a nod. After a brief moment of silence, she met his gaze and asked, “Is this your way of asking me to go to prom with you?”

Royce grinned, but shook his head, “Not yet; I want it to be special.”

Grinning so hard her cheeks began to burn, she teased, “So, me flying across the country and entering another world for you isn’t special enough?”

“You know what I mean,” Royce chuckled, his fingers absentmindedly toying with the ends of Vivien’s hair as his thumbs rubbed circles on her spine. “As special as all of this day has been, I want to do one of those prom-posal things that are popular in your world. I don’t want to look back at this moment when we’re all old and wrinkly, and regret that I hadn’t been some knight in shining armor for you; riding up to you on a horse and asking you to prom like it was some fantasy ball.”

Smiling as his words came to life in her mind, images of him in blinding silver armor, riding up to her on a Clydesdale with a single question on his mind flooding her overactive imagination, she tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. “A knight in shining armor, huh?” she asked softly, running her fingers through his curls as she hummed thoughtfully. “I could see that.”

“You could?”

“Mhm,” she hummed, twirling a single curl around her index finger and allowing it to bounce back into place. “But, what I’m more interested in is the fact that you see the two of us growing old together.”

Freezing as his prior statement surged back to the front of his mind, Royce softly asked, “Can… Do you think we won’t?”

“I want us to - believe me, I do,” Vivien stated calmly, “but I guess I always sort of worry about the future. As much as I want a fairytale love like my grandparents’, my only other relationship crashed and burned so suddenly it made my head spin, and my parents’ relationship isn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows.”

Royce hummed thoughtfully. Vivien had told him enough about her parents and their on-again-off-again relationship for him to know that their relationship wasn’t something worth aspiring for. With a small smile, he said, “Well, if it means anything, I have every intention of staying by your side until you tell me you no longer want me to.”

“That won’t happen,” Vivien said with a firm shake of her head.

“In that case,” Royce began with a small smile, “we’ll have that happily ever after someday.”

“You think so?”

Royce’s curls bounced as he nodded, “I know so.”

Though her fond smile was evident, Vivien couldn’t resist teasing her boyfriend as she smirked, “That was so damn cheesy.”

“You love it,” Royce chuckled, smiling as his gaze flickered between Vivien’s eyes.

“I love-” Vivien’s brain froze as she coughed to clear her throat, her mind struggling to reboot itself as she realized how close she had come to telling Royce she loved him. Pretending to have gotten a hair in her mouth, Vivien wiped at the corners of her lips and made a face before deciding how to respond to Royce’s jest. “I-I’ll always love your way with words, but that doesn’t make it any less cheesy.”

“Are you okay?” Royce asked, taking a step back as Vivien dragged her nails across her bottom lip.

Nodding eagerly in the hopes that Royce hadn’t taken notice of her near-confession, she smiled and breathed, “Yeah, I think I just had some cat hair in my mouth, that’s all.”

Glancing toward the hall Binx had followed his brothers into as he grabbed a bottle of water from the floor by the refrigerator and handed it to Vivien, Royce chuckled, “That happens a lot with Binx. I think he sheds enough to make a whole other cat out of his fur.”

Glad to have moved on from her moment of adoration-fueled dipshittery with relative ease, Vivien smiled and opened the bottle after thanking her boyfriend, “Where is Binx, anyway?”

“He’s a nosy little guy, so he’s probably bugging my brothers while they clean,” Royce shrugged, watching Vivien take in a gulp of water. Holding a hand out to her, he offered, “Want to help me look for him?”

“Sure,” she replied as she capped her new drink. Smiling, she reached out for his hand, her fingertips just barely grazing his as an electrifying jolt ran up her arm toward her chest, forcing her to reel her hand back with a gasp. Royce was quick to follow suit, a noise of surprise leaving him as he jumped, his hand flinching toward his chest as aftershocks fizzled up and down his arm. Laughing as Royce shook his hand to rid himself of the electric tingles, she wiggled her fingers and gasped, “You shocked me!”

“No,” Royce argued lightly with a smile, “you shocked me!”

“Bullshit!” she laughed, shaking the electricity from her hand. “I think you were rubbing your shoes on a rug or something, because that hurt.”

“I could say the same,” Royce taunted as Vivien stuck her tongue out at him in retaliation, which he quickly reciprocated.

Brushing off the zap and their playful banter with a fond giggle, Vivien took Royce’s hand and laced her fingers with his as the static-like tingles pulsed under her skin, “Lead the way, static boy.” Though Royce looked ready to continue their mock-argument and declare, once again, that it wasn’t him who had shocked her, but the other way around, he took in her victorious smile and resigned with a humored shake of his head before guiding Vivien out of the room. Watching with a fond smile as Royce showed her the rest of the house, Vivien’s mind flitted back to her almost confession and she began to wonder why it had come with such ease? 

They hadn’t even been dating for four months; how had she been so ready to tell him she loved him? She had dated Lexi for a lot longer and never once felt ready to tell her that. What was different with Royce? Well, actually, Vivien knew a lot of things that were different between the two. Really, there was no comparison. Royce was - in one way or another - a lot of things to her that Lexi never was. Despite their - quite literal - time difference, they never once had any issues with communication, and they had both been quite open with each other about what was going on in their lives, even before Vivien knew about his actual home. 

Royce stepped aside as he guided her into the bedroom she would be staying in, allowing her to get a look at where she would be staying for the foreseeable future. Vivien smiled at him as she realized that she now had a lot more questions to ponder than she ever thought she would have while on her little stay-cation. With her luck, she would be up all night, staring at the ceiling in the dark as her thoughts wandered to her relationship with Royce. Letting out a soft sigh as she examined the room before her, Vivien grinned. So long as her thoughts were full of Royce, she really didn’t care if they kept her up all night.

[gatheringbones]

[“Herself a landlord, Karen paid attention to how someone looked at her unit. This point was repeated in the thick training manual landlords received at registration: “Do they check out each room?…Do they mentally visualize where the furniture will go, which room the children will sleep in, or how they’ll make best use of the kitchen layout? Or do they barely walk in the front door before asking to rent, showing a surprising lack of interest in the details? People who make an honest living care about their home and often show it in the way they look at the unit. Some who rent for illegal operations forget to pretend they have the same interest.”

The small act of screening could have big consequences. From thousands of yes/no decisions emerged a geography of advantage and disadvantage that characterized the modern American city: good schools and failing ones, safe streets and dangerous ones. Landlords were major players in distributing the spoils. They decided who got to live where. And their screening practices (or lack thereof) revealed why crime and gang activity or an area’s civic engagement and its spirit of neighborliness could vary drastically from one block to the next. They also helped explain why on the same block in the same low-income neighborhood, one apartment complex but not another became familiar to the police.

Screening practices that banned criminality and poverty in the same stroke drew poor families shoulder to shoulder with drug dealers, sex offenders, and other lawbreakers in places with lenient requirements. Neighborhoods marred by high poverty and crime were that way not only because poverty could incite crime, and crime could invite poverty, but also because the techniques landlords used to “keep illegal and destructive activity out of rental property” kept poverty out as well. This also meant that violence, drug activity, deep poverty, and other social problems coalesced at a much smaller, more acute level than the neighborhood. They gathered at the same address.

For people familiar with hunger and scarcity, addiction and prison, that often meant being isolated from job networks and exposed to vice and violence. But it also meant people could air problems; swap food, clothes, and information; and finish one another’s sentences about lousy jobs or social workers or prison (“They put gravy—”…“On everything!”). It meant that, should they be in the early stages of opiate withdrawal, they could take a walk around their trailer park to calm the shakes and run into a fellow junkie who could give them what they needed.

Some landlords neglected to screen tenants for the same reason payday lenders offered unsecured, high-interest loans to families with unpaid debt or lousy credit; for the same reason that the subprime industry gave mortgages to people who could not afford them; for the same reason Rent-A-Center allowed you to take home a new Hisense air conditioner or Klaussner “Lazarus” reclining sofa without running a credit check. There was a business model at the bottom of every market.”]

matthew desmond, from evicted: poverty and profit in the american city, 2016

[belmottetower]

just one more question, promise!! this isn't so much me wanting info as it is wanting your opinion. how do you think jamie's loan came about? he made it to the first team but he wasn't good enough to get regular minutes yet, is what they said iirc. was he the one who pushed for a loan? do you think he was struggling with "dominating" or did that only happen at richmond with the gaffer pushing him to be the star? just interested in hearing your thoughts

Fun question! Let's start with the facts. Much like player sales, player loans can only happen during the transfer window - the period of time when it’s agreed teams can conduct business of adding players to their roster. These happen twice a year. The main one is in the summer, usually from mid June after the season ends, until the end of August. And then there is a shorter one in the middle of season, from 1 - 31 January. The summer transfer window starts during the off-season and extends into the beginning of the season - this is how Richmond was able to sign Zava in the first few weeks of the season. (When Jamie signs with Richmond at the start of season 2, it’s October, and that’s outside the transfer window BUT Jamie is also a free agent. He has no contract with another club. Teams can sign free agents at any time.)

Ted Lasso season 1 begins in early January 2020, so during the January transfer window. Jamie’s loan would have been agreed upon either the summer before the start of the 2019/2020 football season, or a few days before Ted joins Richmond in the winter transfer window. Given how settled he seems with the team, I think it’s pretty safe to say Jamie's loan started in the summer of 2019, six months before Ted came, and that he arrived in the same transfer window as Sam and Dani. This is Sam’s first season in the Premier League and he’s been there long enough for his stats to drop, so more than a couple of weeks, ergo, he came in the summer, and Dani is said to have arrived in the summer transfer window and immediately gotten injured. Jamie didn’t seem to know Dani at all when he arrived in 1.06, so it could be that Dani came to the UK in July and got injured in preseason training before Jamie arrived at Richmond. This would imply that Jamie’s loan was decided late in the transfer window, maybe in August, right as the season was about to get underway. 

There is the slight possibility that Jamie’s loan was longer than a single year and that he actually arrived at Richmond in the summer of 2018, or the January of 2019. I don’t actually believe this is the case, mainly because Jamie had not attended the For The Children gala before - the one in 1.04, February 2020, was his first time, and he would have been present for the February 2019 one if he’d been at Richmond earlier.  I also think if Jamie had been at Richmond for 12 or 18 months by the time Ted arrived, the vibe would be different between him and Roy - their tension is still fresh enough for it to have only been a few months. The main reason I am bringing up the possibility of a longer loan is just to say that they theoretically can happen. They aren’t a strict one-year thing.

As for the personal circumstances… I don’t think Jamie would have pushed for it. City was always his team growing up, and going through the Academy I think he would have always wanted to stay with City. But City has such a deep squad. They have players who would be starting every single game if they played at another club sitting on the bench week after week, just because of how talented the whole team is. They have more talent than they can use.

There’s actually a situation happening right now at City with Cole Palmer. He's one of their former academy players who is now 21, and he was called up to the senior team a few years ago. He has been training with them and getting some minutes, but just not enough time on the pitch to keep developing. He’s played in 28 first team matches across all competitions since 2020, he hasn’t started most of them, and to give some context, City played 61 matches across all competitions JUST THIS SEASON. He’s had very little game time in the past 3 seasons. City don't want to sell him, they see him as an academy success story, so the rumour is that now the summer transfer window is open, they’re going to send him away on loan so he can get good minutes and get more confidence and experience, and then at the end of the 2023/24 season, the club will reassess and maybe recall him to the main team, or maybe loan him for longer. 

I think it’ll have been a similar situation with Jamie. They couldn’t give him the minutes he needed but they didn’t want to sell him, so they sent him on loan to a club where he’d start every match, get a lot of minutes and develop more, then bring him home. But a couple of things make this a bit unusual for Jamie in terms of football realism: 

1) His age. 23 is very old for a loan from City. Even if he was 22 when it started, that’s still old. Cole’s only just turned 21 and his situation, of actually being called up to the senior squad and then loaned, is one that I haven’t seen happen in a while at City - while Ted Lasso was airing, there weren’t any players in that situation, so this is a brand new comparison I can now make for Jamie, and Cole is still a fair bit younger than Jamie would have been. The fact that Jamie was loaned out when he was almost 23 means that he was either lingering on the City senior team bench for YEARS, or that he was a bit of a late bloomer - that he actually hadn’t been called up to the senior squad very often, and he was one of the older players on City’s Elite Development Squad (the reserve team of young pro players, I wrote about them in the first answer) until he was about 21. If you click there, you’ll see quite a number of EDS squad are on loan. This is far more common than loaning out players who have already been called up to the senior squad. 

2) The fact he was loaned to another Premier League team. This is rare and weird for City, usually they send loanees to a lower league or to another country. Some Premier League teams DO loan to other Prem teams, but City doesn’t tend to, so this is something they fudged for the sake of the show. Important note about this: if you ever write a season 1 canon divergent fic where Jamie does NOT get sent back to Man City in 1.06, he could not play for Richmond against Man City in that final match of the season. Players on loan cannot play against their parent club - Jamie would have had to watch that match as a spectator. He could not have sat on the bench or been in the dressing room or anything, he would have literally not been allowed to be a part of the Richmond team in any way. (I included this situation in my season 1 do-over fic “jeff bridges.”)

A bit more on the age thing - sometimes, a really stunning young teenage player will be called up to the senior team almost immediately after signing their pro contract. The best real life example of this for Man City is Phil Foden. He’s a local Manchester lad, an academy product called up to the senior side when he was only 17. He didn’t always play that much, but he was never loaned out. Over the years, Pep Guardiola was criticised by some for not loaning him, pundits said Foden should demand a loan. But Pep wanted to keep him close and oversee his training development himself - he thought he was the most talented young player he had ever seen and the future of Man City. Over the years Foden rose through the ranks and started becoming a starter and a main part of the squad, and also the England squad - he debuted for England at 20. He’s just turned 23 and he is now seen as a main player, an established regular City star and Pep is now in a similar situation with Rico Lewis, a defender who went from captaining City’s Under 18 team in the 2021–22 season to being called up to the senior team in August 2022. Rico is also not going to be loaned, he is going to be kept close.

But this Magical Teenager Thing was very much NOT how the show portrayed Jamie’s story. The show acts like Jamie is an inexperienced youngster on the rise at 23, not an established superstar with six years of Premier League glory like Foden. It’s kind of unusual that at 23, Jamie still wasn’t getting enough minutes to get experience and yet City still wanted to retain him. By 23, the club really should have made a decision about keeping him or selling him. So this is what makes me think that he’d been playing a major role in the EDS team til he aged out of it, and only had a short time on the senior side - maybe one season, when he was 21 turning 22 - before his loan to Richmond.

There is a world in which Jamie WAS a teenage rising star who was getting the Phil Foden treatment - being kept around the first team by Pep but not playing games - and that after several years of that, he did actually request a loan so that he could play more. But I just find it really hard to imagine that he was lingering unused on the first team for 5 years. Jamie seemed to think Richmond was really shit - tragic he called them, he clearly thought he was above it and didn’t want to be there. That doesn’t fit for me with Jamie requesting a loan. But it’s possible he requested one and expected to be sent to a team in Germany or something and instead got Richmond. If someone wanted to write a fic in which he requested a loan, there would be specific ways to make it plausible, but it’s just not how I see it going.

Side note: I like to imagine that most real footballers are also in the Ted Lasso universe, especially as people like Pep and Southgate and Marcus Rashford are real, but Phil Foden is one of the players that I DON’T include as existing in the Ted universe, because his story of being that young superstar, even younger than Jamie, who Pep wanted to keep close, makes Jamie’s story so angsty in comparison - Jamie not making the same progress in the team as Foden, Jamie getting loaned when Foden wasn’t. Phil Foden would be, as @scoatneyhall likes to put it, a stick that James would use to beat Jamie with, and that’s not the kind of angst I enjoy, and Man City also didn’t have another local lad on the team at the time, it doesn’t quite track logistically. So for me, Jamie replaces Foden as the Man City Academy Product retained by City. (I also don’t think Jack Grealish exists in Ted world, sorry! Jamie is styled too closely on Jack, with the hair and with the low socks and shin pads. And Jamie is an original, he wants to be known for himself. He would never copy the famous style of another, more established player who was currently playing in the same league. He would never want to be known as a Grealish copycat, ergo, Jack does not exist in the same universe as Jamie.)

Re: Jamie “dominating” - given that it's the real Pep who was City’s manager on the show, I just can’t imagine this having happened on the City senior squad. Jamie could have been a leader and a star player on his EDS team, but a bad attitude would have counted against him, and with Pep on the City first team, it’s very much a no egos allowed zone. Jamie would have been a small fish in a big pond and whether he liked it or not, he would have had to be a team player in order to get to play at all. He would not have gotten away with acting like a prick to people off the pitch and he would not have succeeded in getting more minutes if he acted like a selfish player at City. He could have tried to prove himself and “dominate,” and be responsible for great solo goals, but he probably would have gotten in trouble for it - Pep does not offer players a lot of freedom to take control of the game. He has a system, he wants them to do exactly what he’s planned and stay exactly where he’s told them to go. 

City already play a version of Total Football, and what I think was happening is that James was “backseat driving” Jamie and telling him what he should do and how he should play, with no actual understanding of professional football or of how Pep specifically was playing the game. We talk about Jamie's history with Pep and Total Football on Subjectify, in our conversation review of episode 3.07, but Pep uses a really high rotation of players and I just think that James was in Jamie’s ear saying stuff that was stupid and uneducated in terms of City’s actual tactics. It could be that Jamie didn’t fully love or understand Pep’s Total Football system either, and he himself wanted to play different football, but given that he’s the one who explains to everyone that he’s actually NOT best used as a striker but rather as a central attacking midfielder, I think he knew perfectly well that his dad didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but that his wrong opinions were wearing on him anyway. 

I have a personal headcanon as well that someone at club - maybe one of the coaches that had been around him a lot as he worked his way through the academy - saw James start to hang around more after Jamie signed his senior pro contract and could see the impact it was happening on him and they played a role in suggesting the loan, hoping maybe some distance from James would be good. I don’t think Jamie got the loan as “punishment” for being a prick, or not being a good team player - they definitely would have sent him away EXPECTING him to be playing a much more major role at a club that needed him - but I also don’t think he was happy about it, because even if HE understood the reason why it would benefit him in the long run, his dad would act like Jamie had failed to do well enough to earn a place in City’s starting lineup. And Jamie may have felt this way too, even if he had more understanding as to why. We know that Jamie never really agreed with James, he hated his dad’s opinions - James’s commentary on Jamie’s playing was something Jamie was pushing back against, not trying to live up to. But he would still have to agree with the basic assessment of “you’re not good enough to play for City so you’re getting loaned.” That’s the objective truth, there’s just a lot of different ways someone could say that or feel about it. Pep’s approach to that concept will be very different from James’s, and Jamie probably ended up feeling pretty shit about it.

So yes. I think the majority of the issues we see in season 1 with Jamie are because Jamie is bitter about being sent away, about being deemed not good enough to get the minutes with City, and because of how George Cartrick used him at Richmond. In the conversation review I linked above, I said "I see George’s mindset as being so similar to the way James thinks Jamie should act and play. So if you have Jamie feeling resentment over being sent away, and then being managed by George who would have just reinforced every nasty thing James had been saying over the years, it really makes sense why he would act the way he did." He took a young, talented player trained by Pep Guardiola who could operate in a variety of attacking roles but who was used to being a small part of a Total Football team and put him up front by himself as an out and out striker, a classic 9, and used him to coast, basically saying, “this kid is better than all of you, just get the ball to him,” encouraged Jamie to take over, and Jamie was almost forced to lead the team that way and therefore feel responsible for everything they achieved. It's exactly like the formation with Zava in season 3 except that Jamie would not have had the power to request that formation, it would have been thrust upon him.

We talked about this in the conversation review of 3.03, how he had no discipline and how his raw talent was being exploited. And how that situation both fed Jamie’s ego and made him feel VERY stressed about the wins and losses - the thing is, even with Jamie as the team’s best player, Richmond still wasn't doing well! They were mid-table and had lost 3 of the last 4 when Ted arrived. Jamie is struggling with all of this, the losses hit him hard just like they hit Roy hard. It’s one of the things they have in common in season 1 - those two are really angry about the team’s losses and about Ted being hired, far more than the rest of the team. I think the Jamie we meet in season 1 is the worst Jamie has ever been, but I also don't think that he has been acting like that for years on end or anything. I think it's recent. I think the reason he bounces back to having a better attitude so quickly, in the middle of season 1, is because it’s a reversion, a return to his more natural sense of self, even if his ego is very real.

This is a bit all over the place but I hope some of this makes sense or resonates with you!

[pinkinsect]

can you elaborate on what you mean when you mention the "blue lock sociolect." because the linguistic/social situation that must be developing in this stanford prison ass training center fascinates me endlessly

hello this is going to be a lot. tldr at the end.

for anyone unaware, i use blue lock "sociolect" in this case specifically meaning the dialect that develops in the blue lock facility. i'd classify it more as a sociolect than a dialect, because while they now have a geographic location in common, i would say the speech features show up more in certain characters who've leaned into the blue lock egoist mentality more. the way hiori speaks changes as his view of himself and soccer change. (i also think that bltv enjoyers start talking like this. horrifically)

the blue lock sociolect is a phenomenon i invented in my mind palace to cope with the way i feel when i read blue lock and see phrases like "you're an eyesore, you pink-haired philistine" and "rotten orange." i brought it up in this post on my other blog some time ago, but in short, i've decided that the rather. unique way the blue lockers speak to one another is a result of putting 300 [and lowering] boys age 15-18 from all over japan in a hypercompetitive environment with very little adult supervision.

it's all about the individual, hence many of the insults taking the target's most striking physical trait and combining it with something the speaker decides is negative about the target. with japanese being a language with pretty structured assignments of appropriate politeness based on age, experience, and status, i could see it eroding given the general lack of older adult presence (ego appearing on a screen for like 15 minutes doesn't count, especially since he's rude as hell), and the mentality the players are encouraged to accept. rin isn't the best example given his dedication to hating across languages, cultures, and age ranges, but isagi pretty much comments on how he's rude as hell by social norms once, then clearly gets used to it.

i think the blue lock sociolect starts to diversify a bit once we enter the nel. the blue lock boys are shown studying english, but the nel introduces an environment where a lot of their teammates will most likely be speaking a language other than english or japanese within their teams (except for manshine but that's british english which isn't usually what's taught in japan so even then their contributions to the sociolect will be a bit different).

we don't know exactly how accurate the translation software is, or how it handles the cultural differences in honorific language, but based on some of the things we've seen (ness calling kunigami "kunigami-san" that one time, also ness being shown saying "ja" through the translation, "beinschuss" from kaiser, whatever's going on with charles, etc.) they're not always consistent.

(i haven't checked out the raws for these yet though, so im actually not entirely sure what's coming through in japanese.these could just be translation choices.)

this multi-language environment and the non-translation of certain speech could also have an impact on our blue lock players' vocabulary and introduce other languages' terms and speech patterns. japanese already has a pretty huge collection of loan words that eventually create "foreign" phrases that don't exist outside of japanese, so this facility could make this phenomenon occur more rapidly.

we see otoya say "golazo" during the fc barcha match, and while darai says the same thing during their bowling match, it wouldn't be too far off to assume that otoya picked it up from his spanish speaking teammates.

i could add more but this is getting too long so tl;dr: putting 300 15-18 year old boys in a prison with barely any adult supervision would make neat language shifts.

some features of the blue lock sociolect i think exist:

the particular type of insult we see so much of in blue lock

general lack of/comparatively less importance given to honorific language and polite conjugations of words

shounen protag accent (you'd know it when you hear it.)

increased usage of german, english, spanish, italian, and/or french terms

FAR less subject omission than average japanese, especially when the subject is "i" [thanks aryu.]

[easily-distracted-by-fandom]

Musical ask game

I have a couple for mcyt cause I couldn't decide

- brother by madds buckley

- dawning of spring by Anson seabra

- allies or enemies by the crane wives

- monster from adventure time

- everything stays from adventure time

Ok so, this is a lot of them so I'll just do short blurbs for each of them!

Brother - Esmp s1 but Lizzie, instead of loosing her memories when the apocalypse happened she instead turned into a deity of flames, and she blames Jimmy. So she goes to find and confront him, all the meanwhile her memories are slowly burnt away until all she can remember about Jimmy is that she hates him for starting the apocalypse.

When she finds him, he begs her to forgive him and calls her sister, which angers her further, and she begins using her fire to boil the water around him. Much angst and whump.

Dawning of Spring - Flower Husbands, where 3rd Life was a past life for both of them when they reincarnated into Empires. Scott finds this a lot harder because as an elf he is very sensitive to memories, so every time Jimmy says something or does something that reminds him of his past life, he'll basically pass out and when he wakes up be fully 3rd Life! Scott, which means he only trusts Jimmy.

This means that half the time they're basically very distant allies, closer to enemies than anything, and then the other half of the time Scott is holding onto Jimmy like he'll disappear if he lets go. Very cute, potential for angst.

Allies or Enemies - Same as previous Au but it's swapped. Instead of it being Esmp!Scott it's 3rd Life! Scott getting all the memories, this is worse. Esmp!Scott, while trusting Jimmy enough, also trusts most of the other players without a lot of questions. Also he doesn't know how to fight without magic.

This means that Jimmy is frantically chasing after his husband, while Scott gets almost-killed MULTIPLE times. This is bad, noone is happy with this situation. Much hurt-comfort. Jimmy being the responsible one.

Monster - WcSmp! Lauren and Scott duo! They used to know each other before Lauren was found to not have magic and kicked out of a coven and Scott found Milo and left with him. Scott and Milo were very in love so he needs to win. But Lauren doesn't recognize him, and she has her magic on loan from a shooting star, so she needs to win to keep it (she doesn't know this). It ends with Scott winning and needing to give up something to get Milo back, but he doesn't realize that what he needs to give up is his connection to Lauren, like when they were kids. Angst either choice he makes.

Everything stays - Afterlife SMP! au, Lauren is left behind on the server, with only Oli left. Lauren can sense him because he used to be and enderman and so did she, but he can't sense her because he's a bee and doesn't have magic. She knows that if he can leave he will and she can't be left alone again. She chases the magic signature and finds she's too late. He's gone, but she can follow (she's a vex). She gets to Esmp, but it's been ages, and she doesn't remember anyone but Smajor (the vampire version who looks nothing like Scott) and Oli. This causes even more chaos as she tries to figure out how ELSE she can leave a server because she can never leave them until she gets a new invite (she's never seen the Hub)

Includes a scene where Lauren looks at Lizzie and goes "weren't you that alien girl I killed" in a very casual way and refuses to elaborate.

[gotham--fc]

You simply can't compare leagues that are so different, especially not from a preseason friendly where both teams don't play their strongest players (Arsenal team was mostly the academy kids)

No exactly, like you can prefer one league to another like everyone is entitled to their personal preference, it’s the same as having a favourite team or a favourite sport, like you can’t argue that soccer is better than basketball just because you personally don’t like basketball, it’s apples and oranges

And I think these inter league friendly games are so fun, but they’re also not indicative of what team is better because the seasons are opposite like you’re never gonna get a mid season wsl team playing a mid season nwsl team, and like you said both teams didn’t play their strongest lineup. Both teams were still missing some of their Olympic players, Arsenal played a lot of their academy players, Arsenal played this game like a preseason game where you get your starters minutes but you also want to see what you have with your depth you want to see what your academy has what your young players are so you can decide okay is this player ready to play with us full time this season or should we send them on loan to develop more, and the spirit played like their first game back from a long break, getting their players back to game speed for the rest of the season

Like I said you can like one league better for whatever reason you want but just because you like one better doesn’t mean that league is objectively better

[beardedmrbean]

Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has created a calculator to help readers determine if it is more cost effective for them to rent or buy a home in the current market.

HS noted the shifting attitudes towards home ownership in Finland, with renting becoming a viable alternative for many.

"In the 1990s, young couples were automatically asked when they planned to buy a home, now they are asked if they are going to buy one. It is no longer taken for granted," said Anne Viita, director of Finnish Tenants, an advocacy group for renters.

Viita told HS that uncertainties around job security as well as a more mobile lifestyle have made renting attractive, offering an exit option without the obligations of ownership, such as repair or renovation costs.

Rising costs in home ownership, including mortgage rates, energy and maintenance fees, have also dampened enthusiasm for buying.

Juho Kostiainen, an economist at Nordea, said that while mortgage costs can surpass rent, ownership remains appealing because loan repayments contribute to personal equity.

Economist Veera Holappa of the Pellervo Economic Research (PTT) meanwhile noted to HS that in cities like Helsinki and Tampere, owning was twice as expensive as renting in 2023. However, a recent decrease in interest rates has somewhat balanced the equation.

Holappa added that high rental supply is keeping rent increases modest in the Helsinki area.

For first-time buyers, falling property prices present an opportunity, though current owners may find it challenging to sell at past values.

Immigration has also contributed to the rental market's growth, with newcomers typically renting during their first years in Finland, according to Kostiainen.

Far-right's building burns

Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat reports that a fire broke out early on Monday morning at a building known as a hub for Finland's far-right groups in the Hiiltomo industrial area of Hyvinkää.

The blaze, which affected a single-story structure of approximately 400 square metres known as Otsola, required a response from 14 firefighting units.

Although the building was not completely destroyed, it sustained extensive damage. Authorities did not immediately comment on the suspected cause of the fire.

Otsola is unique in Finland as a space openly identified with far-right groups, the most prominent being the openly fascist Blue-Black Movement.

Members have referred to the building as a cultural centre, hosting various gatherings and events, including concerts.

Finnish forestry exports and Trump

Rural-focused newspaper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus writes that Donald Trump's re-election raises questions for Finland's forestry industry, particularly regarding his proposals to boost American manufacturing and impose broad import tariffs.

Trump's campaign included a general 10 percent tariff on imports, with a specific 60 percent levy targeting Chinese goods.

Finland's major forestry players — UPM, Stora Enso, and Metsä Group's Metsä Board — remain cautious, with all three declining to speculate on potential impacts.

Timo Tolonen of the lobby group Finnish Forest Industries emphasised that any significant change will happen over time, with Trump's term starting in January and policy shifts possibly taking even longer.

"It's too early to judge at this stage. As an industry, we support free trade and measures that do not lead to protectionism, ensuring a level playing field for industry," Tolonen told MT.

Currently, Finland exports forestry products worth one billion euros annually to the US, accounting for over eight percent of the country's total forestry exports.

For Metsä Board, which exports primarily from Finland and Sweden without local US production, new tariffs could pose challenges.

UPM, on the other hand, operates production sites in the US, potentially giving it an advantage if Trump's policies favour domestic manufacturers.

Increased tariffs may reduce demand for Finnish imports, forcing companies to seek new markets and offer discounts, especially in competitive sectors like cardboard.

Meanwhile, the US dollar's value has bolstered in the wake of Trump's victory. This could help offset some impacts by making Finnish exports cheaper for American buyers, though how long this exchange rate will hold remains uncertain.