#also i accidentally posted this on mobile before answering it oops

[v-anrouge]

Hello! 👋 I’m a lurker 🙈

I love Rook too obvi (I mean.. I’m here 🤣) and the other person trauma dumping was.. uh yeah. That was a lot… 😶

But they also said they were autistic, so maybe they just legit didn’t realize you were joking? Maybe they aren’t a follower? Idk. 🤷

Like I’m trying to give the benefit of the doubt because they seemed like one of those people wandering into the wrong classroom like “wait this.. isn’t my homeroom?”

Also you said you have Rook haters DNI interact on your card… but ima be honest. Please don’t hate me. I actually took a legit second to find your card in your pinned post because the text and the link is so smol. 😩 But also I’m blind and dumb sometimes so like don’t mind me too much…

But I DID find it!!! But then I couldn’t find where it said Rook haters DNI. I’m on mobile so maybe there’s a different section that it’s not letting me see??? Maybe THAT’S what happened to them too?

ANYWAY!! I may be a lurker and am just popping up for this so I’m going back down to lurking (aaaa social anxietyyyy) but I love your various posts. I honestly thought that post in question was really funny before all the drama started 😅

Rook going off on long tangents about his much-loved hyperfixations and having time blindness is so relatable help 😭😭😭

Hi nonnie first thank you for warning me about the problems w my carrd! I think ill just make a text and put the link there on pinned then in hopes it will make it easier to see. About the carrd itself i made it on mobile so you're seeing it correctly i just noticed though that a part of my dni is missing, i probaly deleted it accidentally last time i was fixing it so oops that's embarrassing 😭 but to answer they were a follower, they're no longer one because i softblocked and the reason i was so shocked was not because they don't hc rook as autistic since obv it's just a comfort hc i have as someone who also is autistic, but how they said rook was PURPOSELY ignoring social cues like😭😭 that part caught me SO off guard especially as someone who deeply relates to rook, ive had ppl do the same thing to me say that i was just purposely being weird despite knowing i had a difficult time telling what is and what isnt acceptable to say so i simply don't feel comfortable with them in my blog anymore, that trauma dump they had already made me a bit icky but i thought okay maybe they're just joking? because the post i made was clearly joking but clearly they were not (they said it themselves) and rook is one of my ultimate faves and i cant tolerate to see him get mischaracterized, especially not in such extreme manners so yeah they're not coming back but anyways thank you so much for warning me about the pinned thing ill fix it pls tell me if its better for you!

[penshachi]

i am..... very curious about those receipts

i will happily provide them!

in order:

aaron ekblad of the florida panthers is the notorious cookie maker x tho i do believe it was willie mitchell who once said ekblad woke up at 10 am before the team left for away games to bake cookies

kevin hayes of the winnipeg jets did indeed fall during a game and cut then  new york rangers teammate brady skjei’s chin x

carter hart of the philadelphia flyers received valentines from a local elementary school class and threw them a pizza party at the rink as a thank you x

gabe landeskog of the colorado avalanche lost a bet with teammate erik johnson and had to wear an ‘i x

charlotte checkers captain patrick brown often plays rock paper scissors with children during warmups. i’ve seen it in person and have even played with him myself. also its featured in a photo here

colorado avalanche defenseman tyson barrie once broke his leg while wrestling with a teammate during worlds x

known trickster marc-andre fleury of the las vegas golden knights has thrice hung a new teammates clothes from the rafters x

alex galchenyuk of the arizona coyotes scored five goals in each net per his mother x

charlotte checkers forward martin necas is know for scoring while falling down which i have also seen in person x

lots of guys do the gatorade thing but i am referencing the calgary flames top line of johnny gaudreau, sean monahan, and elias lindholm x x

brent burns of the san jose sharks was bitten by a cheetah while out with teammates jumbo joe thornton and joe pavelski x

kevin hayes of the winnipeg jets, while playing for the new york rangers, really bragged about never cooking a meal x also featured are brady skjei and jimmy vesey who also say they can’t/never cook

philadelphia flyers forward ryan hartman’s mother did indeed buy her entire section beer x 

also please feel free to follow my hockey side blog @playbortzbunny

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

So two of my beloved and respected mutuals asked/threatened me to expand upon these tags and because it was my birthday this week which means obviously I’m distraught and can’t stop crying I’m going to break my time honored tradition of lying alone in the dark never answering anybody’s messages. You all will now hear about a boy whether you want to or not. (jk I’m using readmore obvs and I am SO SO SORRY if ur on mobile or sth and it fails mea culpa that this is the longest post in the entire world :( )

Ok, now that we’re safely under the readmore hopefully, for the first time ever in front of a human being besides myself, let’s talk about Steve!!!! (”hey so uh, would this Steve happen to have anything to do with the, um, other Steve you can’t shut up about in your stupid paragraph long tags we have to scroll past every time you post, or--” Rest Assured This Post Does Not In Any Way Shape Or Form Concern Award Winning Hollywood Actor Steven Carell) (”ok but like you do recognize it’s a little weird, right, that you just, you know, decided to use that exact name--” It’s Not A Weird RPF Thing Ok We Are Moving On Now)  So Steve is my little baby I love him soooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!! And I can’t tell you anything about him because it’s all too complicated :( but let’s try anyways So you know AU fanfics? I love AU fanfics so much you guys. There are some fandoms I’m in where I never really liked the setting and/or plot of the canon story at all tbh but I loved the characters a lot so I just read All The AU Fic (not giving any examples bc that’d be rude I think but I feel like this is at least a slightly relatable experience for most fans of stuff?? maybe??? comment your fandom experiences down below if you’ve read this far into the post which NOBODY is going to do and that’s fair). So anyways one time starting about 10 years ago (yeah) I took some characters from a couple of very obscure fandoms and also from some pieces of media that are obscure enough not to have any fandom at all and I made a bunch of very elaborate AU fanfics for them and developed all my favorite obscure tertiary characters from these obscure stories and created a whole network of relationships and personalities and then at one point I had a breakdown about never being able to explain any of this stupid idiot strange convoluted fanfiction to anyone because oops! it’s the only thing that makes me happy anymore! but it’s the worst fanfic in the world. it’s not recognizable as anything anyone’s ever seen before. the characters are just things I made up all on my own at this point. it has nothing to do with any story ever written before by another human being. And then I ate some macaroni and was like wait let’s just have it....... not be fanfiction anymore. Was it ever actually fanfiction? Guess we’ll never know.  And now I have OCs!!!!!!!!! But the problem is they only exist in like 86 different alternate universes all of which have their own storylines or at least...... the intention for storylines....... And none of those worlds has any precedence over any of the others so I’ve accidentally created the world’s most unnecessary social experiment (fiction experiment?): What if you had characters with no canonical plot or setting? What would that even mean? If a character’s profession, abilities, location, backstory, age, species, etc. change over and over and over with no “real” default to fall back on then who even are they? Starky oh no what is you doin? :( The answer to all these questions is of course I dunno ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And we’re not getting into that stuff rn I’m just. trying my DAMNEDEST to explain why this is the first time in my entire existence on this planet that I’ve publicly posted anything about my stupid OCs. Because every character profile questionnaire and checklist out there is full of bits where I’d have to write in “it depends” and that’s boring. MUCH LIKE THIS POST!  For the record yes I know the solution is just pick a universe but I’ll be real with you chief, that’s a whole other post. But back to Steve. Now that you know what we can’t know about Steve, here are some things we can. Because Steve is in spite of all this a basically coherent character that you would be able to recognize, the way you’re able to recognize The Doctor in a new regeneration, or Castiel working in a coffee shop, or a piece of fanart of a podcast character. Here are some attributes Steve always has, whether he’s a baker or a robot or a dragon: --tragically, no, he’s not an actual catboy in most settings, but he always has some animal attribute, even if it’s only a kitty ear headband or facepaint whiskers or something --he likes cooking and dancing and rolling around in the dirt outside  --he is an Italian, and a deliberately stereotypical one, in every universe where Italy exists; in every universe where Italy does not exist he still talks with his hands and eats garlic and has an Italian accent but everyone is just like oh I guess that’s just how he is? --his facial features and such look as similar as possible throughout the AUs and you’ll see them below but I MUST also note that he is 1) a very pudgy boy, with fat reserves fit for the survival of much hardship, 2) strong enough to snap essentially any human person in half like a twig, no matter the universe, and the third thing is something I decided just now not to tell anyone because it’s sort of specific and bringing it up would probably make it seem like I have a weird fetish, which of course I don’t have! what part of this character so far could possibly be a weird fetish! certainly no more than 86% --his parents are abusive because I’d already given all the actually interesting and original backstories to other characters and that was the only one left for him, oops --he has dyslexia and forgets things a lot and often mixes up words and hyper-empathizes and has a disordered attachment style but out of all the wondrous weird and terrifying worlds he exists in, few of them have invented therapists, and even in the ones that have, they never really figure out what’s wrong with him; this is on purpose, because I, personally, wanted representation for people who have never even gotten the satisfaction of finding out exactly what’s wrong with us, because I’ve found there are a lot of us out there --he is a Pisces, an Enneagram type 2, and a bisexual; I’m only two out of those three things so no one’s allowed to yell at me about this --he has a special ability to be shipped with basically any other character possible, but most of the time he ends up with two people in the end: Angel, a beautiful boy without mercy, and Joanna, a stoned messiah And with that we’re stopping for now because I stayed up all night making this post and if I don’t post it immediately I’m going to read it over and rightly decide no one should ever see it and then go lie down and wish I were dead. Anyways I can’t draw but I can make horrible things using other ppl’s Picrews so here are some images of the boy to deal this post a killing blow:

(here are the picrew sources! I especially recommend this one (bottom left) because it has the largest array of different skintones which is a VERY important thing that we NEED to encourage picrew artists to provide more of!!!)  So that’s all. I wrote and deleted a paragraph of embarrassment below this but just know this is super lowkey and casually the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. Thanks for letting me do it. If you have any thoughts about Steve, know that you’re officially the second person in existence ever to have thoughts about this idea. I hope that fact makes you feel super cool and special, because Steve and I think you are really super cool and special and awesome and kindhearted and beautiful. <3

[lover-of-many-things]

a couch in any other country would feel as sweet

ao3

Summary: The sequel to The Thing with Feathers. Hope visits Amy in Botswana during her backpacking trip. They catch up and maybe try and define what it is they are to each other.

Rating: M

A/N: I’m uploading this on mobile and can’t find the read more under the cut button so please bare with the long post. I promise to fix it when I can get to my laptop later.

—————————

Hope adjusts the strap of her backpack as she walks off the bus, trying to unstick the strap from her skin in the August heat. She tightens her ponytail and looks at the small town around her. It’s different from what she expects, bigger. Hope has been a lot of places over the past three months, some incredibly lavish while other places incredibly sketchy--it’s all part of the experience—and so far, Botswana seems to fall somewhere in the middle. Over the summer, Hope has gotten pretty good at figuring a place out minutes after she’s gotten there, although Botswana has a very good chance of surging to the top of her list of countries depending on how this trip turns out.

Hope takes out her phone and lifts her sunglasses to rest on top of her as she looks through for any new messages.

“Hey.” The octave of the voice immediately alerts Hope that this isn’t the person she is looking for and glances up to see one of the guys who was on the bus with her who was very unsubtly staring at her the whole time. Her eyes flicker to his backpack, as large and worn as hers is, before she looks back down at her phone. “Are you backpacking too?”

Hope sighs. “What does it look like?” Her complete disinterest and monotonous reply doesn’t seem to deter the man at all as he continues.

“Yeah, me too. I’m actually about to hit up the hostel if you wanted to check in together. Maybe hang out.” It’s said with a suggestive tone that makes Hope groan internally and she opens her mouth to rake this boy over the coals, but before she can get more than two words out a pair of arms slip around her waist and squeeze.

“I can’t believe you’re really here!” As soon as Hope registers the voice she can feel her face soften and she immediately forgets the guy in front of her. She squeezes the arms wrapped around her middle and then turns to drape her arms over Amy’s shoulders. She smiles.

“Believe it.” She says quietly as she gets her first real look at Amy in three months. Botswana agrees with her. She has a nice tan and the sun that she’s gotten really brings out her freckles. But the biggest difference that Hope notices is that Amy looks carefree and confident; it’s a good look on her. She’s so caught up in looking at Amy that she barely hears the guy turn away from them.

“Right…I’ll just uh, catch you later then.” Hope sees Amy glance over her shoulder at the guy and as soon as he walks away she drops her arms away from Hope and steps away.

“I’m ah—sorry about the touchy reunion. It just…it looked like that guy was bothering you when I walked up and I wanted to…help.” Hope lets her arms drop back down to her side, realizing that Amy’s enthusiastic greeting was just to get the guy to stop talking to her and she’s torn between feeling disappointed and endeared. It’s not like she expected a kiss as soon as she and Amy were face to face, but she didn’t think a hug was out of the realm of possibility. They had texted and even talked on the phone over the course of the summer when they had the chance to, and Hope likes to think they’ve gotten pretty close; as close as Amy let’s anyone outside of Molly get. And they’ve been kind of sort of flirting all summer; mostly on Hope’s side, she can admit that, but sometimes Amy flirts back and doesn’t stumble over her words and Hope loves when that happens. She loves being surprised.

Amy nervously moves to tuck her hair behind her ear as she always does but Hope beats her to it, running her hand across Amy’s cheek before she tucks her hair behind her cheek. “A regular knight in shining armor, huh.” Amy flushes.

“Um…hm…aaah.” Amy stutters and shakes her head, until Hope takes pity on her and slides her hand down to grab Amy’s and squeezes.

“C’mon, nerd. Show me this couch I’ve heard so much about.” And really, she has. Amy found a way to mention it in almost every conversation they’ve had throughout the summer. Talking about how comfortable and nice it is. It was a little bit adorable, as if Amy needed to do more to convince Hope to visit her beyond just seeing her.

In a surprising move, Amy doesn’t remove her hand from Hope’s but rather entangles their fingers and leads her away from the bus terminal, already talking about her host family and making tampons and the town and the weather. She burns through many topics very rapidly which makes Hope smile, knowing that Amy is as nervous as she doesn’t want to show she is. Hope hums, makes little comments, and adds input when she wants to just so that Amy knows she’s still there with her, but mostly she just listens and admires Amy from the corner of her eye.

After ten minutes occupied with Amy mostly talking and Hope mostly listening, Amy comes to a stop in front of a small house and gestures to it with both hands, even though one is preoccupied with holding Hope’s. “Oops,” Amy starts to let go of Hope’s hand, but Hope just gives her hand a squeeze and continues to hold on. Amy laughs and kicks her foot against the ground. “Well, um, this is it.”

Hope looks between the house and Amy. “I see that…are you gonna show me in? Or is the couch somewhere else?”

“Oh! Oh. Right. Yeah. Come on—come on in.” Amy leads Hope to the door and scrambles a bit with her pockets and keys with just the one hand, so Hope semi-reluctantly lets go so that they can at least get inside. Her hand, newly free, goes to rest on the small of Amy’s back as she adjusts her backpack again with her other hand. As soon as her hand makes contact she hears Amy’s quick intake of breath and feels her freeze as she drops her keys. Hope smirks and raised an eyebrow; this is an interesting and confidence boosting development.

“You okay there?” She slowly moves her hand up and down Amy’s back, which could be seen as a friendly gesture or something more. She hopes that Amy knows she isn’t much of a ‘friendly gesture’ person, plus it’s also fun to make Amy squirm. Amy’s voice catches as she replies and she coughs to try to cover it up.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine. I’m good. Great even-yeah I’m great. Right as rain.” She rolls back on her heels.

“I’m glad you’re right as rain, but your keys?” Hope laughs as Amy mumbles a curse and bends down to grab her keys. And if it just so happens that when she stands back up Hope’s arm falls around her shoulder? Well then that’s just mere coincidence.

Finally, after a few more moments of struggling with the lock Amy finally gets the door open and hurries inside, Hope strolling in after her. Hope takes her time to look around the house as she enters, trying to absorb everything about the space Amy has spent three months in and still has nine more months to go. It’s nice; small but…home-y. The kitchen looks well used but taken care of. The dining space is a small table in the kitchen with four chairs. In the living room there’s a small television set and the famous couch that she’s heard so much about. From the living room there’s a small hallway with three more doors. Hope assumes it’s two bedrooms and a bathroom.

By the time she surveys most of the house, her eyes scanning and falling on the different decorations, she realizes that it’s been quiet for a while—Amy isn’t filling the silence with chatter as she usually does. Hope’s eyes flicker to her and she’s surprised to find Amy looking at her with a look that almost has Hope’s breath catching. “What?” She laughs lightly, “something on my face?”

The look on Amy’s face doesn’t change. “You’ve always done that—observe everything. Ever since I’ve known you.”

Hope smiles and shrugs, actually a little sheepish at Amy noticing her proclivity for watching people and things. She wonders if over the months since they’ve seen each other Amy has thought about the past and noticed that one of Hope’s favorite things to observe is her. “What can I say? I like to take it all in.”

“What have you taken in about me then? I mean surely I’m not that interesting, but you…” Well, that answers that question. Hope raises her eyebrows in surprise that Amy has the guts to ask her about that; the Amy from three months ago definitely would not have.

“Wow, we haven’t even sat down yet and you’re hitting me with the hard questions, huh?” Amy immediately falters back into her meekness, ushering Hope over to the couch and taking her backpack and asking if she wants anything to drink. Hope doesn’t mean for this and as Amy rushes past her to get her a glass of water that Amy has talked herself into getting for Hope, Hope reaches out and grabs Amy’s arm. “Hey,” she speaks softly, “relax. I was just kidding…sit down with me.” She pats the seat next to her and Amy takes a deep breath before sitting down. “You really wanna know what I’ve taken in about you?”

Amy looks uncertain for a second before her brows furrow in determination and she nods, “yeah. I do.”

Hope nods and takes a deep breath, fully ready to embarrass herself for this girl—really, what has she become. She reaches over and gently takes one of Amy’s hands, pulling it to her lap and playing with it as she speaks. “In Kindergarten, you helped Molly when she fell off the monkey bars and yelled at everyone who laughed at her. In the second grade, Tanner accidentally elbowed you in the face and you comforted him because he thought you were going to tell and he’d get in trouble, but you didn’t and you told the teacher that you tripped over your shoes in the hall. You had a black eye for the whole week. In sixth grade, you joined debate team instead of choir like you wanted to because Molly didn’t want to be the only sixth grader to try out for the team. In eighth grade, you wrote graduation-grams to everyone and slipped them on their desk at lunch so that no one would feel left out if they didn’t get any others. In sophomore year, right after you came out, a freshman came to you to tell you they didn’t feel comfortable using either bathroom and you doubled your efforts to get a gender-neutral bathroom until it actually happened. In junior year, you once ran into a pole because Ryan waved at you across the schoolyard. In senior year, you finally stood up for yourself and proved yourself to be quite the good kisser. You’re caring and funny and smart, but also kind of an idiot sometimes. You’re less of a pushover than you used to be, Botswana has been good for you. You look cute with your new freckles and tan, and I’m actually kinda hoping that I’ve taken in that…you like me.”

Amy surges forward and captures Hope’s lips. She hums in surprise at first before melting into the kiss and raises her hands to cradle Amy’s face. This isn’t the reaction she was exactly expecting, maybe the one she was hoping for, but either way she’s not complaining. She gets caught up in the kiss, in Amy, for minutes. She’s not exactly sure how long they’ve been kissing when she pulls away, but Amy chases her lips. “mm…what…about…your…host family?” Hope says in between kisses as she starts pulling back. Amy finally pulls away and leans back with a deep exhale.

“Y-you’re right. They’ll be back from work soon…but they’re going to visit family this weekend.” Hope quirks an eyebrow at that but decides to leave that information alone for now. Amy leans forward and rests her head against Hope’s shoulder. She freezes for a second, but then lifts her hand to tangle her fingers through Amy’s hair and scratch at her scalp. For a moment the two of them breathe together and just—exist. Until Hope’s stomach growls, ruining the moment, which she has to admit is on brand for them. Amy shakes with laughter against Hope’s shoulder and pulls away. “Let’s go get some food, I’m sure you’ve had a long trip.”

Hope smiles. “Can’t argue with you there.” Amy sits back and grabs Hope’s hands pulling her onto her feet as she stands.

“Come on, I’ll take you to my favorite place.” Hope bends over to pick up her backpack, but Amy just continues to tug her forward. “Leave it, I’ll pay.” Hope opens her mouth to argue but Amy has already dragged them out the door.

Amy takes Hope to a small hole in the wall restaurant. “I know it doesn’t look like it, but this place has amazing burgers.” Amy tells Hope as they sit down across from each other.

“Alright, but if I’m disappointed it’s on you.” Hope leans back and looks around the restaurant, this time hyper-aware of Amy looking at her.

“You won’t be,” Amy says before a waitress comes over and she orders for them. Hope doesn’t tell Amy that even if she didn’t like the burger she’d never be disappointed.

“So how’s the wife?” She asks as soon as the waitress walks away. Amy rolls her eyes.

“Molly’s fine. And still not my wife. She’s getting ready to head to Yale…she and Annabelle are actually going to try rooming together.” Hope hums in thought.

“That’ll be interesting.”

“You’re telling me…so, do you know what you’re doing for school yet?” Amy fiddles with the cutlery and tries to act nonchalant. Hope laughs.

“Real subtle, nerd…Yeah, actually. I’m, uh, going to Barnard.” Amy’s mouth drops open in surprise.

“Really?!” Amy leans forward out of her seat.

“What? Did you not think I could get in there?” Hope can’t help but poke fun.

“What? No! It’s just—you’ll be like, right across the street once I’m at Columbia.” Hope smiles and hums.

“You’re right. I guess I will be.” Amy opens her mouth to respond, but their food is brought to the table and they both start to eat their burgers.

“Mmm, you’re right. This is good.” Hope says in between bites.

“So,” Hope wipes her hands with her napkin when she finishes her burger, “are you gonna visit me when you get to Columbia? I hear streets there can be tough to cross…” Hope knows this makes no sense, but she’s both giving Amy an out and a way to possibly solidify whatever it is that they have.

“Of course I will! I’m excited you’ll be so nearby. It’ll be nice to have something familiar.” Amy rubs the back of her neck and Hope smiles sweetly. Amy fishes out her wallet and pays for their meal. “It’ll um…it’ll be nice to have…you…there. With me. I mean-not with with me. Unless that is you want to. But why would you want to? Aaahhh.” She shakes her head and blows out some air while looking at the ground.

Hope blinks for a moment registering what Amy has just blabbered out. Did she just ask her out in a really convoluted way? Before she can respond Amy is up and babbling about getting back home, walking out the door. Hope jumps of after her and even though Amy seems to be speed walking, with a couple quick strides Hope has caught up with Amy outside and linked their arms together. She thinks she hears Amy mumble something about “damn long legs” under her breath but isn’t too certain.

“Do you want me?” The phrase seems to short circuit Amy as she comes to an abrupt stop and her mouth flops open and closed for a couple moments with nothing coming out. Hope decides to take it easy on her and adds to her question. “There. With you when you get back.”

“Oh!” Amy at least starts walking again and Hope feels her looking at the side of her face as she keeps her gaze forward. “I—um...y-yeah. I do....I want you with me most of the time these days.” Amy mumbles the last part to herself, but seeing as they’ve linked arms, Hope hears it pretty clearly. She just hums and nods her head.

They reach Amy’s host house and walk inside, Amy getting increasingly nervous. “I-is that it? Are you gonna say anything?”

Hope looks around the house, trying to see any noticeable changes that someone is home. Her eyes land on a piece of paper on the kitchen table and she walks over to it; she hears Amy question what she’s doing behind her. Looking down at the paper she sees it’s a note from Amy’s host family telling her they’ll be back on Monday and to have fun with her friend from America. Oh, they have no idea.

Reassured that no one will walk in on them unannounced—she is not letting this get screwed up again—she turns and holds Amy’s face in her hands, silencing Amy’s next question and replacing it with a questioning look instead. “Just wanted to make sure your host family didn’t come home to anything...scandalous, but they’re gone for the weekend now.” Hope thinks she hears Amy squeak and she smirks as she leans in. She barely brushes her lips over Amy’s before pulling back a millimeter to talk, pulling back even further to maintain the distance when Amy tries to surge forward and kiss her again. “I want you too...and I’ll be with you now and then and every moment in between...if you ask me to.”

Her lips brush Amy’s as she speaks and then leans backward to give Amy some space to think and talk. Instead, Amy grabs onto the front of her tank top and pulls her toward her. She gets out a “yes” before she’s kissing Hope.

Hope smiles into the kiss. “Yes, what?” She says in between kisses; she’s not letting Amy get away with not actually asking and secretly the insecure part of Hope that she’s squashed deep, deep down needs this reassurance.

Amy pulls away from the kiss just enough to rest her forehead against Hope’s. “W-will you be my girlfriend?”

Hope smiles, her eyes crinkling at the corners, “Yeah, you nerd.”

“C-cool.” Hope laughs and kisses Amy again, leading them slowly over to the couch before Amy stops again.

“I...I know I really hyped up the couch, but...I think my bed is even better.” Hope raises an eyebrow, shocked and a bit turned on by the accidental smoothness of the statement. As if Hope needs any convincing. She takes Amy’s hand and walks down the hallway.

“Which door?”

“Right.”

Hope opens the aforementioned door, drags Amy in, pushes her to sit down on the bed, and shuts the door, leaning against it. Hope looks around the room for a quick second before focusing on more important things, bringing her eyes to Amy’s form. She looks breathless, her chest heaving a bit, and a bit disheveled from their making out; her hair a little messy and her eyes dazed as she looks at Hope. She looks...beautiful.

Hope smiles and takes to two strides to the bed before straddling Amy’s lap and connecting their lips again. Amy’s hands first land on Hope’s thighs, rubbing circles into them with her thumbs before she runs them up Hope’s shorts and around her lower back. Hope makes a sound of encouragement as she tightens her grip a bit in Amy’s hair, kissing her more fervently.

Hope gets lost in the kiss until she feels Amy’s hands slips down onto her ass and squeeze. She moans into the kiss and grinds down onto Amy’s lap. She feels Amy pause and pulls away enough to speak. “Was that okay…? Do you want to stop?”

Amy shakes her head and Hope feels relief fill her. “No, nonono. That...was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.” Hope bites her lip.

“Yeah?”

Amy almost visibly gulps and nods before she’s sliding up the bed. Hope takes the hint and follows, still straddling the now laying down Amy. She slides her hands under the hem of Amy’s shirt as she leans down to kiss her and slowly moves her hand up bringing the shirt with her hands. “This time, I wanna enjoy you first.” She whispers against Amy’s lips and pulls away, helping Amy lift get her shirt over her head.

“O-okay” Amy smiles up at Hope with a look that has Hope captivated. Hope scoots further down Amy’s body and places her lips right where Amy’s shorts meet her lower stomach. Hope can feel the muscles tense under her lips and she gently rubs her thumbs at Amy’s sides as she continues to kiss up her body until their lips reconnect, Amy’s hands combing through Hope’s hair, taking out her ponytail.

She separates from Amy and moves away despite Amy’s protests and grabbing hands to work on getting off Amy’s shoes. “Not making that mistake again...please refrain from drinking any cups full of ash. I’d rather not end up covered in vomit.” Hope laughs as she gets Amy’s shoes of and Amy groans, covering her face with her hands.

“I’m never gonna live that down am I?”

“Nope...but we can just put the memory of something much better on top.” She punctuates her sentence by unbuttoning Amy’s shorts. Amy moves her hands from her face and watches as Hope slides her shorts down and tosses them to the side. Hope pauses and just appreciates the sight of Amy beneath her, her eyes greedily taking in each and every freckle she can spot; she makes a mental note to kiss each and every one at some point.

“What..?” Hope hears the self-consciousness seep into Amy’s voice and decides to nip that right in the bud.

“Nothing. Just...appreciating the best view of my whole trip.” Amy immediately covers her face and somehow does a combination of groan and laugh. “What?”

“That, was so cheesy.” Amy curls up a bit in laughter and Hope huffs in mock offense.

“Well that’s the last time I try to be romantic.” Hope pouts and Amy rests her hands on Hope’s thighs as her laughter dies down.

“Come on, you know I like it way more when you’re kinda being a bitch.” Amy’s eyes widen as she finishes her sentence and clamps her mouth shut as Hope almost gasps in surprise and attraction. “I-I mean it’s just kind of hot, but romantic is really nice too! I like romantic.” Amy closes her eyes and stops talking, seemingly accepting the hole she’s dug herself.

“Okay. We’re definitely putting a pin in that and we will revisit it. But first...as someone once said, ‘I should probably take mine off too.’” Amy nods enthusiastically, probably happy for the out from that conversation, but Hope does not plan to let that one go soon at all. She slips her tank top off and tosses it in the same direction as Amy’s shorts. Amy sits up and kisses along Hope’s jaw line and down her neck as she undoes the button of Hope’s jean shorts. They work together to get Hope’s shorts off over her sandals, laughing as they fumble a bit and Hope kicks her sandals off.

Before Hope can really register it, there’s enough maneuvering in the removal of clothing that Amy is straddling Hope, and even though Hope wanted to do Amy first, she can’t say she’s too upset at this turn of events. The night is young still and Hope will get her turn. She’s excited to make up for lost time with her--girlfriend. Hope smiles into Amy’s kiss at the thought before deepening it, letting her hands roam along Amy’s body. She reaches around Amy’s back to unhook her bra and pushes the straps from her shoulders without breaking the kiss.

Amy throws her bra off to the side with a mumbled, “smooth move” before she’s slipping her hands underneath Hope and Hope arches her back to allow Amy easier access.

Eventually, in between kisses and laughs and touches, they’ve removed each other’s underwear and holy shit--if Hope thought that their “almost” in the bathroom felt good with only their bras on, the feeling of Amy on top of her in nothing is absolutely groundbreaking. As they kiss, Amy’s hands find her chest and Hope can feel her breath stutter against her lips. “I hope they didn’t come as a surprise to you.” Hope mumbles cheekily but is immediately shut up, gasping, as Amy gently squeezes her hands and brushes her thumbs over Hope’s nipples. Amy kisses down Hope’s neck, stopping for a second to gently tug on her earlobe with her teeth on her way down.

She continues her trail of kisses down to Hope’s chest and Hope immediately moves her hands up Amy’s back, clutching at her as Amy takes a nipple into her mouth, running her tongue over it just like her thumb. Hope moans and arches into Amy.

Hope barely registers one of Amy’s hands travelling lower and lower and Hope lets out a breathy gasp when Amy finally enters her. Amy immediately pauses and Hope almost groans in frustration. “H-how is this for you?” Amy stutters out, her cheeks flushed and her eyes dilated with desire, and Hope is immediately brought back to a night three months ago.

“Amazing,” she says a bit breathless, “you’ve found the right hole. Now please, continue before I combust.” Hope pulls her in for a kiss and Amy starts to to move her fingers at a steady pace. Hope finds a rhythm and grinds down against Amy’s hand, moving one of her legs to slot in between Amy’s and feels smug satisfaction when Amy lets out a breathy moan. Hope feels herself getting close after a couple minutes with each pump of Amy’s hand and by the feel of her thigh, she thinks Amy is pretty close too. Amy curls her fingers as she circles her thumb around Hope’s clit and Hope throws her head back in pleasure. It only takes a few more moments before Hope is pushed over the edge and she tenses as she lets out a strangled, breathy moan.

As soon as her body starts relaxing, she slides her hand down her leg and her fingers move to help Amy as she grinds against her leg. With her other hand she pulls Amy into a kiss from the back of her neck, playing with the hairs at the nape of her neck. She slides her fingers between Amy and her leg, curling them up to rub against Amy’s clit and she moves her thigh against Amy more quickly. Within moments, Amy tenses with a gasp and drops against Hope’s shoulder. They rest for a moment, catching their breath together as Hope cards her fingers through Amy’s hair.

“For someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing…” Hope starts, playing with Amy’s hair and tracing patterns on her back.

“I, uh...I read a lot of fan fiction.” Amy turns her head into Hope’s neck and her breath tickles a bit.

Hope laughs, “nerd.” It’s said entirely filled with affection. Amy’s hand rests on Hope’s stomach and they lay in silence for a bit just enjoying each other’s company before Hope speaks up again. “So you think I’m hot when I’m a bitch, huh?”

Amy buries her head further into Hope’s shoulder and groans, “shut up.”

“Make me.” Amy’s hand suddenly travels down Hope’s body and shut her up she indeed does. For hours.

After they are both more than tired out, Hope stretches and starts to sit up and Amy grabs her hand before she can leave the bed. “Where are you going?”

“Well I figured it’s time for me to move to the couch. You’ve talked it up so much I don’t know if I can pass it up.” Hope can’t help the smirk that starts forming on her face and Amy just rolls her eyes and tugs Hope back onto the bed with a little more force than entirely necessary. She wraps Hope’s arm around her middle so that she’s spooning her and hums contentedly.

“Shut up and go to bed.”

Hope laughs but settles in, enjoying the feeling of holding Amy and being the big spoon. She drops a kiss on Amy’s shoulder before she closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep.

Hope wakes the next morning to her phone buzzing and a sleeping Amy on her chest with her arms wrapped around her. Hope reaches out and it takes a few tries before she finds her phone. She squints at the brightness of her phone so soon after waking up at it takes a second to register that it’s a text from Gigi. They’ve talked a bit in the past months, mostly weird, incoherent, and spontaneous conversations started by the other girl. Hope can never predict when she’ll receive one or what it’ll be about. She unlocks her phones and goes to her messages to see what randomness it will be this time.

Pulling up the chat, the new message just says Congrats! Hope quickly looks between her phone, Amy’s and her disheveled state, and the room around them. She knows Gigi too well to assume this is just a random congratulations about something else. Seeing no apparent presence of a camera or anything she texts back.

Gigi wtf. Literally how. She receives a reply only moments later.

As if I wouldn’t be able to feel in the universe when two of my best friends finally got together. I was sitting last night in the middle of a seance when I felt it.

Right.

You’ll be good for each other. This makes Hope smile and she puts her phone aside to look down at Amy, playing with her hair. That is until Amy’s phone starts going off like crazy with barely a pause in between buzzes. Hope gently shakes Amy’s shoulder.

“Amy...Amy,” Amy barely starts stirring with her name being called so Hope increases the shaking, “Amy….Amy…hey, babe.” At that utterance Amy seems to be wide awake.

“Hm, huh? What?” She lifts her head and looks around confusedly until her eyes land on Hope. “Did you just call me—“

“You’re phone is buzzing non-stop.” Hope rushes out before Amy can finish her question, knowing Amy will tease her for it. Amy sighs and rolls over to grab her phone, her head still pillowed on Hope’s now outstretched arm. She runs her eyes and looks at the messages, scrolling through them slowly.

“Oh….oh no.” Hope wants to give Amy her privacy, but she is really curious so she glances over at her phone. She doesn’t read anything important just sees that it’s Molly who’s texting her.

“What’s up?”

“Molly’s freaking out because Gigi texted her about us and she’s furious she wasn’t the first to know. Wait—how the hell does Gigi know?” Hope shrugs.

“How the hell does Gigi know anything? She texted me this morning with just a ‘congrats’...you deal with Molly, I’ll make breakfast.” Hope leans over and gives Amy a peck on the lips before sliding her arm out from under Amy and climbing out of bed, getting just as dressed as she needs to be; so not very. She makes a pit stop to the bathroom to freshen up and then makes them breakfast. Amy eventually comes out of her room talking about an averted crisis; it’s so domestic and unlike anything Hope has ever had before...and she loves every second of it.

Hope leaves Botswana at the end of the weekend with a girlfriend, a promise to talk as soon as she arrives home, a promise to see each other in nine months in NYC, and still with no clue as to how comfortable that couch really is. Hope thinks Botswana makes it to the top of the list.