#also this group of characters is so chaotic together (in a great way).

[lalune9x]

S-classes 'Side Story' chapter 127

spoilery excerpt under the cut.

wait the new brotherly duo is really good intriguing content...??? i'm seeing [redacted] in a new light.

---

"Jin-ah, I'm busy too—why don't you worry about me?" Huang Lin, who had accompanied Director Song, asked me slyly... wait, what?

"You seem kind of down," I said with surprise.

I didn't particularly want to care about that guy, but his mood was noticeably different from usual. I was curious. Normally, he wasn't one to get discouraged easily. 

At my question, Huang Lin sighed deeply, scratching the back of his head.

"As expected, I don't exist here."

Ah..... That was something that could make even someone like Huang Lin feel a bit depressed. It was one thing for him to joke about being an African poison dart frog before the regression, but actually confirming he hadn't existed must feel different.

"Cheer up. You're here now, and that hasn't changed."

"That's true. And best of all, I still have my beloved Hyung-nim!"

Huang Lin suddenly clung to Director Song, as if his previous moodiness had never existed. Surprisingly, Director Song didn't dodge or push away his self-proclaimed younger brother. No way… Director Song?

"Hyung-nim is the proof of my existence, after all~"

Director Song remained silent. I didn't know what exactly had happened between those two, but with Huang Lin saying things like that, it must've been hard for Director Song to push him away. After all, with the Gardener gone, Director Song was indeed Huang Lin's only remaining connection… umm...

"... Director Song, you don't have to put up with everything just because of that," I said.

"I'm fine."

"Even if you say you're fine—"

"Ow, that hurts!"

Huang Lin yelped and jumped away from Director Song.

It seemed someone on my shoulder had sneakily delivered an electric shock just to Huang Lin.

"Song Taewon-ssi's problem is that his heart is just too big," Sung Hyunje said.

I agreed, but wasn't that why he put up with you, too? Honestly, if I had to pick which one between Huang Lin and Sung Hyunje was less of a bother to Director Song, I'd have to say Huang Lin was a bit better. He caused fewer incidents and was surprisingly good at taking care of people. Though Sung Hyunje-ssi was a good cook...

In any case, they needed to agree to either take turns or work out a schedule. If they kept this up, Director Song would get burnt out.

"Hyung, if he's bothering you, should I get rid of him?" Yoohyun asked quietly from behind me, having apparently regained his memories of Huang Lin. Huang Lin stepped back cautiously.

"No, it's fine. For now, Director Song seems to have accepted him, and he's still useful, so let him be."

"If you ever need me to, just say the word."

Yoohyun's cold sharp gaze made Huang Lin hide behind Director Song.

Director Song… hang in there. Being too popular could be a problem too.

[archiveofvirtue]

ROUGH SEX WITH YOUR CO-STAR! ⸻ jensen ackles

content / jensen ackles x fem!reader, actor!jensen, actress!reader, age gap, 18+, mdni, dom!jensen, sub!reader, oral (male receiving), forced blow job, hair pulling, choking, p in v (unprotected), praise kink, just jensen being freaky asf, 3.8k words

summary / when the mixture of alcohol and forbidden attraction hits you, you are no longer sure how long you can deny the growing desire between you and Jensen

The sound of laughter and music filled the bar as you and cast of The Boys gathered around the table, enjoying a rare evening off after a whirlwind of interviews, conventions, and press events promoting the new season.

You sat near the edge of the group, a glass of wine in your hand as you watched the scene unfold. You’d been on the road with them for two weeks now, traveling from state to state to promote the show, and despite the exhausting schedule, nights like this made it all worth it.

Especially with your costar Jensen sitting just across the table, his smile lighting up the room, making everyone around him feel at ease. And despite your usual calm aura, he could tell you were taking it all in, probably still adjusting to the chaotic rhythm of show business.

You had joined the cast as the newest love interest for Soldier Boy, Jensen's character, and while you’d been nervous about working with such an established actor— he quickly made you feel comfortable. He was kind, funny, and despite being almost fifteen years older than you, he never treated you like the "new girl."

When you’d first started working together, Jensen was like a mentor to you but soon enough,m he found himself noticing more than just your talent. While you also found yourself noticing things about him—like the way he smiled at you when you two ran lines together or how his hand would linger just a little longer on your arm when you wrapped a scene.

And then, of course, there was the fact that you found him undeniably attractive. Everyone knew Jensen was good-looking, but up close? It was something else entirely. You’d kept it professional, though. He'd just come off a divorce, and the last thing you wanted was to complicate things for him or yourself.

Still, there was no denying the chemistry between you two, both on-screen and off. And Jensen wasn't oblivious to the tension that had developed between you over the last few weeks either..

"Hey, y/n," Jensen called from across the table, snapping you out of your thoughts. He was leaning forward, his voice cutting through the laughters around you. "You've been quiet tonight. Everything okay?"

You smiled, brushing a strand of hair behind your ear. "Yeah, just still getting used to it."

Jensen grinned, his eyes glistening in the dim light. "You sure? We've got drinks, great company. Seems like a perfect night to me."

You chuckled, sipping your wine to hide the fact that your heart had started beating just a little faster.

He'd been like this all night—talkative, laughing easily, and more physical than usual. His hand had brushed your arm more than once when you talked, and every time, your skin began to burn—in a good way.

As the night wore on, the group started to thin out. Some of the cast heading back to the hotel, but you, Jensen, and a few others stuck around, ordering another round of drinks. The bar was cozier now, quieter, and the low lighting gave it an intimate atmosphere.

So Jensen found himself talking to you more closely, the casual distance between you shrinking without you even realizing it.

"So, how are you feeling about everything?" He asked, his voice low as he swirled the amber liquid in his glass. "The show, all this traveling. It's a lot, huh?"

"Yeah," you admitted, meeting his gaze. "It's been amazing, though. A little surreal, honestly. Sometimes I still can't believe I'm here, working with you guys."

"Well, you're killing it," Jensen said, his eyes locking onto yours. "I mean it, y/n. You've been great this season."

Your cheeks flushed, and you looked down, trying to compose yourself. "Thanks. That means a lot, coming from you."

"Don't downplay it. You're talented as hell. And...you're fun to work with. Really fun,"

he added, letting his words hang in the air. He hadn't meant for them to sound as loaded as they did, but now that he'd said it, he found himself holding your gaze a little longer, wondering if you’d caught the shift in his tone.

Your heart raced as you glanced up at him, trying to read his expression. Was he just being friendly? Or was there something more behind his words?

"I—" you started, but the words caught in your throat. You weren’t sure what you were supposed to say, or even if you should say anything at all. But it was hard to ignore the way he was looking at you, the warmth in his eyes, the subtle way his knee brushed against yours under the table.

"You know," he said, his tone lighter now, though his eyes never left yours, "I think we've spent more time together on this road trip than we did shooting the season."

You laughed softly, grateful for the slight change in topic. "Yeah, but the road trip's been fun. It's nice getting to see different places, meet fans, and, you know, bond with the cast."

Jensen's grin widened. "Bond, huh? Is that what we're calling it?"

You laughed, clearly trying to brush off the tension. "What else would you call it?"

"Something else entirely," he said, his voice low, a hint of challenge that sent a shiver through you.

Before you could respond though, Karl called over from the bar, breaking the moment. Jensen leaned back, laughing at something the others were saying, but his hand lingered on your lower arm, his thumb tracing a small, almost absent-minded circle against your skin. It was such a subtle gesture, but it sent a thrill through you.

You couldn't shake the feeling that there was more going on here than just casual flirting. There was tension between the two of you, a pull you couldn't ignore, and you were certain he felt it too.

But as much as you wanted to explore whatever this was, you knew you had to be careful. Still, you couldn't deny the way your heart fluttered every time he looked at you.

For now, you’d play it cool. But something told you that whatever was happening between you wasn't going away anytime soon.

Eventually, even the most fun nights had to end. The bar's lights dimmed and everyone decided it was time to call it a night. You all made your way back to the hotel, the cool night air helping to clear your mind, which had been buzzing with thoughts of Jensen all night.

When you finally reached your room, you kicked off your shoes and put on your silk pyjamas before flopping onto the bed with a long sigh. The events of the night played in your head—Jensen's teasing remarks, the way he'd stayed close to you, how his touch lingered just a bit too long. There was definitely something there, you could feel it.

But as your thoughts swirled, you suddenly realized something. Your phone. Where was your phone? You shot up, mentally retracing your steps. Then it hit you—you’d given it to Jensen earlier in the night to hold onto because you hadn't brought a purse with you.

"Dammit," you muttered, cursing yourself for forgetting. Now you’d have to go to his room and get it back. You groaned inwardly, knowing it would feel awkward after the way you’d been acting all night. But there was no way you could go to bed without your phone.

Reluctantly, you got up, slipped your shoes back on, and headed out of your room. You walked down the hallway, heart thumping a little faster than it should have. You told yourself it was just because you didn't want to bother him this late, but you knew the truth.

It was Jensen.

And the way he made you feel, had you on edge.

When you reached his door, you took a deep breath and knocked. No response. You frowned and knocked again, a little louder this time. Still nothing. You were just about to turn and head back to your room when the door swung open.

And there stood Jensen, a towel wrapped loosely around his hips, his hair wet and dripping from the shower. He looked at you with those piercing eyes, a playful smirk on his lips, completely unfazed by the fact that he was half-naked in front of you.

Your breath caught in your throat. God, he looked unbelievably sexy. His broad chest was still glistening with water, and your eyes instinctively trailed down over his abs to the towel hanging low on his hips.

You were completely overwhelmed, mind scrambling to find words, but all you could do was stand there, staring like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Uh... I—" you stammered, trying to get rid of any filthy thoughts that were coming to you. "I need my phone... I think you have it? I gave it to you earlier at the bar."

Jensen raised an eyebrow, amused by the way your cheeks flushed as he smirked. "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that," he said, his voice playful. "Come on in. I think I put it on the nightstand."

You hesitated for a split second, heart hammering in your chest, but you forced yourself to move, stepping inside. The room was dimly lit, cozy, and the scent of his sweet body wash hung in the air. You tried not to focus on how close he was standing to you as you made your way to the nightstand where your phone sat.

As you reached for it, you could feel his eyes on you, the tension between you almost palpable. You picked up the phone, your hand trembling slightly, and turned to face him.

He was leaning casually against the wall now, arms crossed, still wearing nothing but that damn towel. His demeanor was teasing, but there was something else in his gaze too—something that made your pulse race even faster.

"You know," Jensen said, his voice low and smooth, "you could've just called for it. Oh wait," he added with a smirk, "you didn't have your phone."

You rolled your eyes, laughing softly. "Yeah, a little hard to call without it," you replied, attempting to sound nonchalant but clearly nervous.

Jensen chuckled softly, pushing off the wall and walking toward you, stopping just a few feet away. He looked down at you with that same playful glint in his eyes, the air between you thick with something unspoken.

"You sure that's all you came for?" he asked, his voice dropping lower. He saw the hesitation in your eyes, the flicker of doubt, but also curiosity, maybe even a hint of longing.

Your breath hitched. You could feel the tension between you two, the way his gaze held yours, and for a brief second, you wondered what would happen if you just... leaned in.

But then reality came crashing back. Jensen had just gone through a divorce. He was vulnerable, and you didn't want to complicate things, not like this. Not now.

You forced yourself to smile, though your heart was still racing. "Yeah," you said, holding up your phone as if to prove your point. "Just needed this."

Jensen's eyes lingered on you for a moment longer before he stepped back a little, his smirk softening. "Well, you've got it now."

"Thanks," you said quickly, eyes dropping down to the floor as you couldn't bare to look into his piercing green eyes, yet the pull too was strong, so that you raised your head again just seconds later.

His eyes flickered with something unreadable as he watched you standing there, still holding onto your phone like a lifeline. The playful smirk never leaving his face, his voice low and laced with a teasing challenge.

"Yet you're still here."

The words hung in the air between you, thick with tension. You froze, the grip on your phone tightening.

Were you imagining things? Misreading him?

The way he had been so flirtatious all night, the casual touches, the lingering glances-it couldn't be nothing, could it?

Your mind was spinning, trying to make sense of the situation. You weren’t sure if you were overthinking or if you were too tipsy to trust your own judgment. But the way he looked at you now, like he was daring you to stay, made your pulse race.

He must have noticed the hesitation in your eyes because his expression shifted. He moved toward you, closing the distance, his hand finding your waist with an almost deliberate slowness. The warmth of his touch sent a shiver through you, and before you could process what was happening, he pulled you just a bit closer.

It was a bold move, one that made your heart skip a beat. You were taken aback, breath hitching in your chest as you looked up at him. His face was inches from yours now, and the tension was so thick it was hard to breathe.

For a moment, your mind raced with mixed emotions. You knew this could complicate everything. And yet, the pull between you was undeniable.

Jensen's thumb gently brushed your side, his touch grounding you as the intensity of the moment swirled around you.

His green eyes bore into yours, and for a split second, you were unsure of what to do. But then, in the next heartbeat, your hesitation melted away. Without thinking, you leaned in, your lips meeting his in a rush of heat and urgency.

The second your mouths touched, it was like a dam had broken. The tension that had been simmering between you all night finally erupted into something raw and electric.

Jensen responded immediately, his grip on your waist tightening as he pulled you fully against him, eager to finally feel you, his lips moving hungrily against yours.

Your mind blurred with a heady mix of desire and disbelief, your hands instinctively finding their way to his bare chest, your fingers grazing his muscles still damp from the shower. You could taste the faint bitterness of alcohol on his lips, and the fact that you were both a little tipsy only seemed to add to the intensity of the moment.

His hands roamed up your sides, one slipping into your hair as the kiss deepened, his body pressing you gently but firmly against the edge of the bed. Your heart raced, pulse pounding in your ears as you softly plunged onto the soft mattress.

You unconsciously bit onto your lower lip as you looked up at him, unholy images replaying in your mind as your gaze fell onto his happy trail, wanting nothing more than to rip that damn towel off of him.

Jensen noticed how your eyes stuck to his body just a little too long, eliciting a chuckle out of him, "Go ahead, no need to be all shy now."

For a second, a small ounce of doubt crept into your mind—this was risky, so risky. You two were co-stars, and if anyone found out, it could lead to complications neither of you were ready for. But as Jensen's hand reached down to your chin, grabbing it with his big palm, that doubt vanished, replaced by desire.

You couldn't bare the need for him any longer, immediately getting to work by dropping onto your knees, the anticipation almost killing you as Jensen teasingly began to remove the towel from his hips.

His eyes never left yours as he pulled down the white cloth, revealing his already hard cock. The sight of him, made your breath catch in your throat, gulping as you saw how big he actually was.

You came face to face with his length, looking up at him through hooded eyes, "Come on, show me what that pretty mouth can do." He groaned, immediately sending tingles to your core, desperately pressing your thighs together.

With easy hands you held him in your soft palms, running your thumb over his tip and spreading the already leaking precum over it.

Pressing your lips together you gathered all your courage and inched closer, sticking out your tongue and licking a stripe all the way from his base to the tip. You repeated this action a few more times, then fully taking him in your mouth as far as you could go.

"Holy fuck, baby." Jensen growled, his head thrown back in pleasure as he couldn't believe how good your wet and warm mouth felt around him, only having imagined it before.

You began to swirl your tongue around his cock, jerking off what you couldn't get in your mouth, as he reached to grab a fist full of your hair, yanking you back a little so he could grab at your neck with his other hand.

"You wanna be a good girl for me, right?" He mumbled in between grunts, admiring your plump lips that were so desperately trying to get back to sucking him off. You nodded hastily, this man could literally do anything to you and you’d thank him after.

"Good then, open up wide, baby."

He instantly took advantage of your parted lips and plunged himself down your throat in a swift motion, your eyes widening as you had to gag at the force.

"Shhh, relax." Jensen cooed, his voice now softer as he gave you some time to get used to your mouth being full of him.

Once you gave him a small nod he began rolling his hips slowly into your mouth, your hands grabbing at his thighs to steady yourself. It was a weird feeling to have him down your throat so deep but as he continued his movements you began to like it, wanting him to go even harder.

You jerked your face closer to his abdomen, earning a deep and breathless chuckle from him. Realizing how eager you were lapping at his dick he picked up his pace, his tip hitting the back of your throat over and over again, driving you crazy.

The built up of saliva and precum that was dripping from the corner of your lips, helped Jensen even more to slide his cock in and out of your warm mouth.

His grunts became louder and his hands were gripping the back of your head as he fucked your throat, your moans sending vibrations throughout his body, and he knew that if he continued he wouldn't last any longer.

But cuming just in your mouth tonight wouldn't satisfy him, he needed more.

Pulling you off him by your hair you shot him a confused look, scared that he might've changed his mind and didn't want any of this, that it was just the alcohol on which behalf he was acting out, but his words quickly made all your doubts vanish.

"Need to finish inside you, y/n." He said, before pulling you back onto your feet and yanking your small frame onto the silky sheets.

Towering over you he ran his hands along the soft fabric of your pyjama shorts, pulling them down harshly as you freed yourself from the little top that was just barely covering your tits anyway.

By the way his eyes widened and the way he pulled some air in sharply, you could tell that he took notice of your dripping wet cunt, already leaking onto the sheets. "Jensen.." you whined, the urge to finally feel him inside taking over you.

"Patience, baby." He smirked up at you, eyes full of lust as he placed some teasing kisses onto the insides of your soft thighs, making you squirm in desperation.

Jensen jerked his still glistening cock for a few times, his one hand stayed at your chest, playing with your tit, as he lined himself up with your entrance.

Looking up at you for approval, you nodded which gave him the sign to proceed, his tip brushing over your clit and through your slick folds to lube himself up, before pushing into your needy cunt fast.

You gasped at the sudden fullness, his cock stretching out your walls so perfectly, making Jensen grunt as he burried himself completely inside you, as if you were made for him.

"Gosh, look how perfect your pretty cunt is sucking me in. Really needed me that bad, huh?"

Your eyes scrunched together, feeling yourself get wetter from his words alone. You rapidly nodded, breathing out a soft "mhm..shit..yes" as he chuckled, leaning down to press open mouthed kisses to your neck.

He was quick to go back to his previous action, rolling his hips smoothly against yours as he picked up his pace, soon slamming into you at an ungodly speed. The almost pornografic noises that came out of your mouth made him chuckle, clearly knowing that there might be some complaints by the morning, but he didn't care.

He kept on pounding into your eager pussy, your legs wrapped around his hips by now, making him hit much deeper, if that was even humanly possible.

"Fuck.. I'm gonna.." you cursed underneath your breath, feeling the familiar knot in your lower stomach screaming for release.

"Cum all over me, sweetheart." Jensen groaned into your ear, his hot breath making your skin prickle. His hand crept down, two of his digits rubbing circles at your clit, causing you to let out a loud, almost scream-like, moan as you released all over him, creaming his cock.

"Fucking shit.." he grunted, teeth pressing into his lower lip as he gave you a few more hard thrusts, pearls of sweat forming on his forehead as he chased his own high.

Groaning out loud you felt him twitch inside of you, cuming deep in your cunt, painting your slick walls white.

As both of you calmed down you still couldn't believe that this was actually real, even as Jensen pulled out of you and plopped onto the bed beside you.

"Shit y/n, that shower was hella pointless..definitely not complaining though." He laughed, his deep voice sending shivers down your spine as he wrapped one of his big arms around your waist, pulling you close.

"Well, screams for a round two then." You replied, stroking his muscular chest.

"You mean this or the shower?" He eyed you down, a smirk plastered on his face as he pointed in between you two.

You just shrugged, yet the devilish smile plastered on your lips gave it away.

wow this was a wild ride, and i am actually kinda proud of this one !!

feedback and requests are greatly appreciated !!

tags 🏷️ @gibson-g1rl @beausling @angelicjackles @nuemanfilms @hischrrypie @seasons-of-death @starkeysprincess @drewsarms @rubyvhs @deansenvy @supernatural-wolfie @sammyluvr @nxptvn @rafecameroninterlude @deansbite

[justwonder113]

Showering Seungmin with affection

Bang Chan; Lee Know ; Changbin; Hyunjin; Han; Felix; IN;

Part 2 Here

Summary: Everything between you and Seungmin was a competition and to win and make him shut up you were even willing to kiss him sensless Warning: Gender neutral reader but if I missed anything please let me know; Bold reader; mentions of consumption of alcohol; Both reader and Seungmin are little bit tipsy; some cursing because I'm cute like that; reader feeling a bit claustrophobic at the beginning. Seungmin being hit on by a drunk girl; unclear feelings; Both reader and Seungmin are brats and really chaotic to put it simply; Bit graphic descriptions of possible scenarios. Making out in the middle of nowhere; Slightly suggestive; Please notify me if I missed something. A/N- I really hope you will like it, It's not really enemies to lovers but It's the first time I've written something inspired by the dynamic. I'm really curious on anything you have to say so please feel free to interact Word count-4.7k

You loved your friends, you really did, but sometimes you just couldn't understand them. It was beyond your imagination why they chose to go to a bar on your first day of vocation, as the first thing to do here. There were so many things to do!

Lately you've been really swarmed with work and it really took it's toll on you, so as a way to unwinde you and your friends alligned your schedules together and decided to go to a winter resort. You arrived just today, and you already fell in love. It was the type of place you see in tvshows and movied. It was a place straight out of fairytail. You were simply mesmerized by this place and you wanted nothing more than to explore every part of it, to get aquitanced with this majestic place, but, unfortunately for you, convincing your friends to go with you was more challenging than you could think it would be. They kept insisting that they were too tired from the road and just wanted to relax and drink today. It kind of bummed you out when no one out of so many people shared the same idea as you. You pondered over the idea to go exploring by yourself, but you also didn't really feel like roaming unknown places in the middle of the night all alone.

Okay, to be fair, Seungmin vouched for you and said it was a good idea to go. But it was Seungmin! Everyone and their mama knew that you two didn't get along with each other. You had conflicated feelings about him, you were by any means no friends but you respected him, but you also really hated how narcissistic, snobbish and so rude! He was like the human boquet of the quialities you disliked in a person. You knew he's an unique character from the start, you were even intrigued by it for a while, you only started hating him when he something Snarky and rude to your best friend. YOUR FUCKING BEST FRIEND! Of course it was eons ago and your best friend was way past over this and now was friends with him, but still. Your friend also explained that he was just like that and didn't mean half of the things he said. That you would just get him if you gave it time and effort but here you were. He failed in your eyes once and there was no going back. Sometimes you pondered of you should let go of the negative feelings, after all he was in your friend group and people were getting tired of your constant bickering. Truth be told, you thought that it was a huge progress from your side that you were now more benevolent and maybe even more friendly towards him. At least you could be in a room with him and parttake in conversations that involved him. By all means you were not friends, you had this weird rivalry between you. You didn't even know when it started but now everything was just competitions between you. And you took great pride whenever you beat him. You just loved rubbing your victories in his face and teasing him about it, but sadly, when you lost he always returned the energy sometimes even ten times more just to piss you off. He was just a huge brat! And to think that only Kim fucking Seungmin was on same wavelength as you.

You took another shot as if on reflex. You wouldn't lie, you enjoyed yourself. Hanging out with your friends was always a pleasure, you had comfortable and had fun with extended friend group it was nice to meet up together after a while ,but you couldn't help but feel restless. Also alcohol didn't hit right today, you were worst kind of drunk, your mind was fully alert while your body felt like it was slowed down and didn't fully listen to you. You tried to engage in conversations but most seemed like they were already out of it, some of them were dancing without a care in the life, you saw few of them chatting up with people. You sighed this wasn't how you imagined your first day of vocation. The main reason you felt overjoyed to go here was that you were tired of being surrounded by four walls constantly and that's what you were doing now, you were stuck in this stuffy place. You didn't want to be a buzzkill but you were getting really restless here. It felt so staffy and full that you felt like you couldn't breathe properly. So after a few you just excused yourself grabbed your coat and went outside.

The cold air caressing your skin immediately soothed your senses, you felt like you could finally breathe again. You looked around the streets were mostly empty, it was way past midnight after all, everyone was probably at home. The streets were lit by vintage looking streetlights which eluminated soft yellowish glow. The streeets were covered with thick layer of fresh snow which crunched with every step you took. What you loved the most other than calmness of this small old city was that how beautiful it looked in the night. The scenery looked like one from the old french drawings you see in antique stores. Also it just simply amazeed you how mesmerizing it was to watch it snow on lampion lights. The snowflakes looked extra beautiful on the light. You were really glad you decided to go here.

The sound of the familliar voice made you groan in distaste. Couldn't let you be at peace for a minute huh? You turned around to scold jim for ruining your perfect picture but the sight had you let's just say rendered speechless. He wasn't alone, he was with some girl who was literally hanging on his arm for dear life? Was she flirting with him? She was really beautiful and stunning, but why did he look so awkward? You scoffed, sure he was really handsome and pretty too but really? Him? Or has he not opened his mouth yet?... You didn't like it.

You prepared yourself to leave this perfect place and go inside when you heard Seungmin say that he wasn't interested and ask to respect his boundaries. You were going to ignore it and just mind your business, you just didn't like how this girl kept pushing despite him declining her offers. Honestly what happened to taking no as an answer? This was just plain disrespectful.

You groaned out and approached them while cursing at yourself. Couldn't you just mind your business? "Baby there you are! I was just going to call you! Do you see how prettily it is snowing? Lets' take some pictures!" You tried to sound as sweet as possible while trying not to die from cringing too hard at yourself. Seungmin's eyes almost went up to his forehead. What a dumbass- you thought as you stood next to him and hugged his armn. "Who's this?" You acted all confused, honestly, you felt like you deserved an oscar. Seungmin atammered for an answer while the girl pouted ar you. She definerly had too much to drink. Where were her friends? Why was she alone?

"You're together?" She looked dishartened, what a poor thing.

"Yes, I tried to explain but you wouldn't listen." Seungmin sighed. The girl pouted, looking offended suddenly she started huffing-" There's no way you're toghether!" Oh she was getting annoying now, you glared at her, how dare she doubt you "I beg your pardon?"

"I've been here with my friends all evening, you two didn't even talk not even once, how would that make you a couple?" So she's been stalking Seungmin all evening, kind of creepy. You were really hating whis whole interaction so damn much!

"Okay I will prove it to you then no problem." You turned to Seungmin who looked confused, unaware of what you were planning to to. You couldn't blame him you also had no idea what the fuck came to you. He looked at you for a second but then gave you a nod, giving you a green light to do whatever you deemed nescessary. You iternally thanked yourself for taking all those shots earlier, there was no way you could do this sober. You grabbed Seungmin by his collar brought him to you and smashed your lips against his. Seungmin immediately leaned into the kiss and kissed you back. Suddenly you were surrounded by him, his soft lips, his warmth, his hands around your waist which felt so hot you felt them through your coat, the intoxicating smell of his perfume. Never woud you have imagined that you would love kissing the Kim Seungmin this much. You mentally counted up till five and then leaned back, already missing the touch. The girl sighed in defeat and left you. This had to be one of the weirdest interactions you've ever had. Well it was another win on your side so you didn't really care.

You quickly let go of Seungmin once you made sure the girl left you two. You had to get out of here so you started walking towards random direction, you had to be anywhere but with him. What the fuck had come onto you? How could you kiss him like that? You don't kiss people you're supposed to hate! It was so embarassing, you wanted the ground to swallow you whole, there's no way you could look him in the eyes after this.

You knew he followed after you by the sound of hurried footsteps and crunching snow, not as satisfying sounding when you're running from your problems, or one big problem called Kim Seungmin.

"Thank you for helping me our there, it was getting really awkward." He said it as if you just casually get him out of the situaation. How was he so calm? Was he even human? Did he even feel even ounce of human emotions, except maybe the need to be annoying all the time. You took a deep breath, there's no way you would show it to him how much this affected you. "Didn't know you had thank you in your vocabulary, the more you know huh?" He scoffed,"don't be a brat." you couldn't help but chuckle, "there you go being your charming old self. seungmin grinned. Oh no. " So you think I'm charming?"He looked at you with "Innocent" smile which made you groan, he sure had a talent for being annoying. "Goodbye." You were not in mood for his teasing. You were somewhere in this city might as well explore it. You thought that Seungmin listened to you for once and left you but no, he had to start yelling in the middle of the night while everyone normal slept "You're the one who kissed me but now you're the one running away?" God sure blessed him to be the most infuriating little creature that ever excisted.

"First of all don't be loud it's middle of the night and people might be sleeping, also I'm not running away, I just don't like to be with you. I'm already starting to regret that I helped you, I should've just minded my business." Seungmin looked unamused.

"But you didn't. You stayed and helped me. You even went as far and kissed me!"

"You're really annoying do you know that?" He smirked and you instantly regretted not ignoring him, so what if he woke half the people here? You didn't know anyone here. Seungmin got closer to you. "While are you backing down and trying to run away from me? Is it that you're flustered baby?" He emphasised the word baby, mimicking the sweet tone you used earlier. The audacity of this fucker! You wanted to just punch him in the nose. You rolled your eyes, dissmissing him entierly. "Please, like you could fluster me." You continiued walking away from him, you wouldn't give him satisfaction to poke fun at you. You didn't hear any steps maybe luck did exist and he left you. You heard a step, a yelp and a loud thud.

Turning around you were greeted with the image of Seungmin laying flat on the ground. You quickly rushed to him, yes the roads were slippery but how did his ass manage to slip this bad to fall flat on the ground? He looked up to the sky with poker face, no sign of pain no nothing, his face completely unreadable? Is it possible to die just from a simple fall? "Seungmin are you okay?" No answer, You shook his shoulders, "Min?" He looked at you for a second, when slowly and dramatically lifted his hands to cover his face. What the hell? " Min? Did you hit your head? Are you hurt? What the fuck are you doing?" Still no answer, it only hit you that he was just embarrased when you noticed how red his neck and ears were. You couldn't help but laugh, and he immediately answered with a groan. "Are you embarassed?" Another groan which made you laugh harder also following by an unimpressed grunt. "Sorry, sorry, it's just ironic, you were the one talking about flustering me and stuff, now you can't even look me in the eyes." He could be cute after all.

"I want to die." Seungmin groaned out after a while, you were hysterical at this point.

You tried to get him get up or at least to remove his hands from his face but to no awail. "Oh stop being difficult, what do you want to get up? You will catch a cold dipshit." What bug did bite you today, why were you kind to him? It really was beyond you.

"I want a kiss on the lips." Oh so he could talk now, you scoffed and got up.

"Nevermind I hope you get pneoumonia! You either get up or I'm leaving you here!" He peaked at you through his fingers, you tried not to crack and not to smile, he looked so silly. He shook his head and covered his eyes again. Wow what a serious adult.

"No you won't you're too kind for your own good." This fucking! You hated how he was right. You really should just leave him here, that's what he's asking for!

After not hearing anything from you, Seungmin took his hands of his faces, to check if you in fact leave him here, he looked baffled when he noticed that instead of leaving him you laid next to him looking at the sky with unreadable face. "What are you doing? The fact about Kim Seungmin was that he was always calm and collected no matter the situation and to think he showed so many emotions today.

"If poeple were to look at you they would think that you're crazy or some drunk asshole, Someome might call cops on you or an ambulance and that's such a headache. If I lay here people most likely will ignore us because we're plain crazy or drunk, I think I am still tipsy." Honestly you were more or less sober now, who wouldn't be after laying on snow? He better pray you don't get sick, or him because you would most certainly beat his ass.

Seungmin looked at you for a second, you could feel his gaze even though you weren't looking at him he turned his head towards the sky after a while though. "Or they might think someone ran us over with a car, someone more creative might even think we were shot, although there's not blood." You couldn't help but huff out a laugh. He seemed more talkative now, even though the subject of conversation was quite unique. You somehow prefered it this way.

"Depends on where we were shot, also we should consider the sound effect. By the way it's snowing the blood might get covered soon. Car theory is also silly, the road is too narrow."

"Hm, you're right." You felt the urge to tease him for finally admitting for once that you were right but you didn't want to disrupt the peaceful moment. The silence was comforting. "It's really pretty, looking up at the snow."

"It is." It really was, in fact it was one of the most majestic sights you've ever witnessed. Streetlights were making it even more beautiful, it was like you could see every snowflake clearly.

You laid for a while enjoying the sight, the sliense, the comfort being with him brought. It felt good to just exist and simply enjoy a simple moment. You didn't even realize when your hands moved towards each other and started holding onto each other so tightly. What baffled you more was why didn't hate the feeling. Mere couple of hours ago you would've simply laughed at the idea of you holding hands with Seungmin. You wondered what shifted inside you.

"I think it's safe to say you do care about me." Of course he had to ruin the moment. Groaning in disdain you straightened up, his hold on your hand immediately tightened, one might even think he was afraid you would let go. He looked at you with the mischevious smile which unforunately tugged quite hard on your heartstrings, you obviously ignored it. "Says the one who literally fell for me." You couldn't help but quip back. He huffed dissaprovingly, his cheeks puffing up so cutely in the meantime you just waned to poke it. "I didn't fall for you!" He protested, you just rolled your eyes, "okay okay, you fell down while chasing after me." He looked uniimpressed. "I only did that because you kept running away god knows where! Do you even know where we are?" It was infuriating how he always pointed out right thing, but you didn't care. Backing down wasn't an option, this was a matter of pride." Do you?" 5 year old kid comeback but hey as long as it worked. Seungmin averted his eyes, he also had no idea. "Damn Seungmin, I didn't know you were so dedicated to me that you would go literally god knows where for me." He scoffed and crossed his hands. "You know what? Nevermind, I hope something finds you and eats you up." Satisfied that you were getting under his skin you grinned. "Oo Kinky."

"I hate you."

"As it turns out my dear Sungsung you don't."

"Okay I don't." You didn't like how his answer made you feel giddy.

"So you do have a heart! I'm impressed." You were not going to lie, you enjoyed this fucked up weird dynamic you two had.

"Yeah, can't seem to get rid of it, it's vital or whatever," he even made a point to dramatically roll his eyes as if he was annoyed at his heart.

"Tell me about it."

It was silent for a second or two but of course Seungmin had to break it. "What about you?" You looked at him expectantly, unsure on what he was getting at, Seungmin sighed as if dissapointed you didn't know what he meant. "Do you hate me?" He really loved asking those tough questions huh.

"Are you curious now?" What were you supposed to say, you knew you didn't hate him but you couldn't also name what you felt towards him.

"I am." He looked at you with wide eyes and you gulped in awe, it was first time you saw so many emotions reflect in his eyes, you had to tell him the truth or it would be ruthless.

"I don't hate you..." You paused hoping he caught the hint that you wouldn't be able to provide him with better answer for now. He smiled at you and shook his head.

"What a sap." Oh this little asshole!

"Oh shut up, you're literally being delusional!" Seungmin was full on grinning now, "why should I shut up? Are you getting shy perhaps?" You made a point to laugh dramatically as possible, "last time you teased me about being all shy and flustered you fell flat on the back, have you even considered to learn your fucking lesson? Or you want Karma to get you back, I knew you were masochistic freak! Be gone evil!" You got up and started walking, again he caought up with you, god this was getting boring.

"It's fun teasing you, I don't care if I might get hurt again because Karma got to me, I like seeing you all flustered up."

"You call this flustered? Oh baby boy how naive you are." It's really a shame you don't have a single oscar, maybe you should've gone into theatrics.

Seungmins face looked almost challenging. "Care to show me then?"

"I don't think you can handle me."

Seungmin did the thing everyone, unfortunately even you, thinks is attractive as fuck, he smiled at you while poking his cheek with his tongue, what a smug asshole. "Try me!"

You just blinked at him, eyebrow raised, -"really now?" You started approaching him while he looked at you with challenging eyes. You got close and close until there was literally no space between you. His face was unreadable once again but you took noticed how heavily he gulped once he felt your body against his. How cute of him to think you wouldn't see right through him. You smirked, "It's kind of funny, really, because I clearly remember how shy you got after I kissed you." He scoffed but didn't say anything, clearly waiting for your next move. He was simply watching you, analyzing you, just stydying you as if you were the most interesting subject. You stared back at him, challenging him back, you slowly started sliding your hands up his arms until they rested on his shoulders. "Can't even deny it, see? Didn't know you could actually be somewhat cute.

Seungmin made a point to just as slowly put his arms around your waist as you did, slowly dragging his hands up your hips and onto your waist. "What are you going to do about it?"

When did you even start whispering to each other? "God, you're so annoying, can you literally shut up for a second?"

Seungmin huffed, clearly amused by the situation, he once again looked dead into your eyes and mused "Make me!"

Oh he was on! You were absolutely set on on ruining him now. "Brat!" You mumbled against his lips before smashing your lips against his. There was literally nothing romantic or slow or emotional about the kiss. It was passionate, hungry, aggressive, hot and full of yearning. You two kissed each other like you two were starved of each other, you kept devouring each other's lips as if you wanted to become whole. You kissed him with as much passion as you could, he almost immediately kissed back, you fought for dominance at first but Seungmin gave in pretty soon, you knew it wasn't because he couldn't keep up, you just knew he could get you weak in the knees if he wanted to. He was thinking of something with his twisted head of this, there was no fucking way you were going to let him win, you were more set on making him flustered mess now. Maybe you were overthinking things but you didn't fucking care.

Seungmin let you do whatever you pleased, it was amazing how pliant he was being. You know he enjoyed just as much as you by the soft sounds he made occasionaly, every gasp of air, every tiniest little whimper did things to your heart you were shamed to admit. You felt excited, greedy, hungry for more! You've never felt more greedy in your life. You wanted to kiss him till your lips fell off. As much as you hated to admit it you just loved how his lips felt against yours, how soft they were even though they were chapped from the cold, how warm they were...You really hated how he made you feel so many emotions at once. What you hated even more was how alive he made you feel.

You slowly slid your hand through his hair, loving the feeling of his soft locks between your fingers, you just couldn't help yourself now. You grabbed the fistful on his nape and pulled on them experimentaly. He groaned against your lips and your heart almost did a backflip at this, you weren't even going to mention other parts of your body. The buttierflies in your stomach were full on raving now. Was he always this hot? You wanted to hear more! You slowly bit his lip and the soft whimper he let out was simply delicious.

Seungmin kissed you with more passion now, his hands migrated from your waist to your neck. His hands were really big and warm, it was something to feel them directly onto your skin, what made you weak in the knees was how he held you, right underneath your jaw, his thumbs caressing your cheeks. He slid his tounge briefly against your lower lip asking for entrance, who were you to deny him? You almost melted into a puddle when his tongue brushed over yours. You would have given in and let him take the lead if you weren't so set on winning this battle you've convinced yourself this was.

Eventually you two had to part because there was this thing called oxygen you needed to live or whatever. Your lungs were burning. Both of you could barely breathe, your lips felt as if they were buzzing, and you were hot all over, but it didn't stop you. You softly held him with one hand on his cheek and the other on his shoulder. You showered his jaw with slow kisses, when you decided to slowly migrate your little attack down his neck, down along his pulseline. You dragged each and every one of them as much as you could to torture him more. His whole body was so tense, so warm. Held onto your hips so tightly, you wondered if it would leave marks on your skin. You kissed your way down his carotid artery feeling perfectly fine how fast and strongly his heat was beating. You wondered for a second if your heart was any better.

You just knew you found just the right spot near his collar when his whole body shruddered and he let out a cutest little noise of both complaint and pleasure, you waited for a second but he did nothing to stop you. He held onto you so tightly you were afraid your back could break in half when you slowly bit him on his sweet spot. He looked deep into your eyes looking unimpressed while you looked at him like you were an angel sent to earth just for him. You felt proud on the reddening spot on his neck. Maybe it would even be visible for days.

"What the fuck?"Both of you got startled by Han's shocked voice. He looked at you all wide eyed clearly waiting for any kind of explanation. You and Seungmin quickly let go of each other.

"We've been searching all over for your asses while you're here eating each other's faces off? What the fuck gyus! Sincw when are you two fucking?" Han kept berating you while you two sat in silence. You looked at Seungmin who looked like he wanted to die, his face all red. You couldn't help but just laugh, . "He wishes I fucked him. Also I win Minnie" You softly patted his butt, honestly even his but was great how was it fair? Seungmin looked like he was about to die from embarassment. You've absolutely won this battle, he coudln't even say a word, he was speechless! Kim fucking Seungmin speechless!

"I'm coming, lead the way Sungie." You ran towards Han completely ignoring Seungmin, smiling like you've never done anything wrong in your life.

"I need details, what the fuck happened here?"Han wasn't giving up. You wondered if you could sneak Seungmin into your room later without anyone noticing.

A/N - Can't believe I finally finished it, you've no idea how many times I have rewritten it. I really hope you enjoyed it. Any type of feedback is always welcomed, or anything really, if you want to send a request, an ask, a thought, headcannon or you simply want to chat. I live for all these interactions. They literally make my whole days! Thanks for reading, love you all and please take care of yourselves^^

[sageandred]

Some Positives of Heartbreak High S2 + Hopes for Possible S3

The camping episode was the best-group coming together for chaotic and hilarious moments ever-the high crawl, Malakai hallucinating, Ant + tree, Darren's mocking of Rowan

Amerie's abortion-was portrayed in a way I don't think is seen often, and wasn't what I was expecting when she was late

Quinni's storyline-She had some powerful lines; I loved her owning her truth and being a bad b*tch when ignoring Darren and friends, because she was in the right.

I want to see more of Quinni's self discovery journey.

I'd like to explore more with Darren and Cash. I do think it's great to see 2 characters who are less visible in media be in a full-on relationship; I like both of those characters individually though I'd have liked to explore more in depth the context of how their relationship works, regardless of whether they stay together or not.

I like that they showed Malakai explore his bisexuality.

Malakai come home! Or at least do a time jump to show Amerie and Malakai reuniting. They're gonna be that deep-seated "what could've been" type love, I can feel it; they've been through so much now; I think they need to grow, but a lot has shaped them while they were involved with each other that I think they are gonna have a tough time moving on from it when it's all unfinished business.

It doesn't have to be a diversity tick, but can they have more queer couples? It did feel lacking in some way after last season. If they never added more queer ships outside of what we had, hypothetically it would be fine, but we've missed some pieces and development as the show's progressed (we've only heard abt some couples from the map; also what is Ant's sexuality?)

the Cash and Harper scenes; I liked that Harper didn't blame Cash, but also didn't try to make him feel better about the situation (that was a good scene).

They actually shocked me with Bird Psycho; they had me until the 2nd half of the szn, which seems uncommon now in shows so props there and the extra twist was a good one.

More parents-it felt lacking this season

Another theme-type/campy episode-they showed a few different elements with this in this season, but I'd like to see another whole focussed episode like the camping; like some wildly out there event or special day that's mandated

Wondering what will happen with school now that theirs burned to the ground...Kind of want them all split up at the beginning of the szn for like an episode-see how that changes them & doing their own thing

[99hook]

Chaotic Collaborations

Synopsis: The whirlwind of two polar opposites, a story line and unmistakable tensions in between

Warnings: pining, cursing, injury, depictions of blood, protective!hook, jealous!hook, angst, fluff eventually

A/N: welllll after who knows how long I’ve finally managed to conjure up the sunshine!reader x coldhearted hook fic! This was actually so fun to write I got carried away and it takes a drastic turn lmao I hope you love it babesss, enjoy!

(Takes place during the Hook and Jack rivalry)

(Also this shit is extremely long and I’m finishing it at 2am so bare with me if there’s grammatical errors, I’m sleepy lmao)

You were originally ecstatic over the shot at your very first story line when Tony pitched the idea to you. You’d been in AEW for a little over a year and had been hoping that you’d get a little more substantial tv time outside of your typical matches sometime soon, so when Tony called you to his office with an idea that was brought up to him, you couldn’t agree quick enough.

That was until the person you’d be doing the storyline with walked through the door.

The coldhearted handsome devil, as he frequently gets called. Someone you were somewhat familiar with due to seeing his matches in the viewing room from time to time, or him sitting alone in catering every so often, typically with a hatred look towards the whole world on his face.

A man you never considered approaching for the simple fact that he gave the impression that he was not to be fucked with, or even smiled at, for that matter. He was the last person you’d expected Tony to bring in.

“Hook, glad you’re here again. I know we’ve already been over this but now that we have your future partner here, I wanted to give you both the rundown. Have a seat.” Tony points to the chair next to you. He steps in, a hoodie over his head shadowing his eyes that glance at you before he silently takes a seat.

He brought a sudden energy to the room with his presence, one that made you feel a tad bit uneasy. Intimidated, more so.

“Y/N, Hook is who I’m pairing you with for this storyline. It’s come to my attention that the two of you are both crowd favorites and apparently a lot of fans want to see you two together. It would be great for the ratings and for both of your character developments.”

You nodded along, wanting to look over at the man next to you to see what he thought of this, though you kept your eyes on Tony. You knew that fans liked to talk about how you and some of the talent should pair up together, and there were a lot of edits on instagram of you and certain wrestlers that they shipped, but Hook was the least of your expectations.

“I’ll be putting you both in a group chat where I’ll send you segment and promo schedules and concepts, so keep your eyes out for that. Next week, during your match with Anna, Jack Perry is going to come out with the FTW title and hand it to her, and that’s when Hook will be coming out after him. The fans will think it’s all part of their feud until he comes to your aid when Anna hits you with the title while Jack and Hook are fighting on the ramp. That’s going to be the start of the entire storyline leading up to a tagteam match between the four of you.”

You listened intently, not wanting to miss a beat of the instruction. The storyline made a lot of sense since you and Anna did have some on screen animosity to begin with, and hook and jack have been at each others throats for some time now, so you could see the relevance to having Hook as your alliance.

“I’ll be sending you both a text soon on more details.” Tony said before he excused you both from his office. Hook silently got out of his chair and headed through the door without sparing you a glance. You weren’t sure if that meant that he was displeased about the storyline or if he just collected the information and went on his way.

You decided to try to talk to him when you both got into the hallway, but quickly wished you would’ve let him keep walking.

“Hey!” You jog up to him, reaching his side. He glanced over at you for a split second before he fixated his sights ahead. He didn’t greet you back, and that alone made you feel a little uneasy, but you still attempted to make conversation.

“I know we’ve never talked before, but since we’re about to do this whole storyline together, I guess I should introduce myself and all.” You managed a nervous chuckle, but he kept a straight face.

“I’m Y/N.” You continued on, feeling your nerves start to get the better of you, which is when you start rambling, usually.

“I mean, obviously you know that now since Tony said it, but, anyway, i just wanted to break the ice a little. This is all pretty new to me. I’ve never done a story line before so-“

That’s when Hook stops in his tracks, turning to face you. His stare was cold and jaw set. He showed no emotion, nothing at all, really. The way he looked straight into your eyes made you immediately shy away from that gaze. Your eyes dropped to the gold cross sitting over his chest similar to the one you had tucked underneath your shirt that you wore as a good luck charm.

You wanted to pull it out and show him that you had one too but something told you he wouldn’t care about that at all.

You glanced back up into his eyes, the ones that were strongly fixated on you, managing to push past the nervousness he made you feel until you heard him say, “Let’s save the talking for the scripts.”

He held his eyes on you for a second longer before he turned on his heel and headed down the hallway. You didn’t bother to follow. It was clear that Hook didn’t care to make conversation with you, and he wanted to make sure you understood that.

———

You were sitting in catering with Skye and Willow, oblivious to their conversation due to the thoughts that kept swirling around in your brain. It had been a week since that very first interaction with Hook and tonight you were going to be starting the whole storyline.

Skye noticed how you barely paid attention to the conversation and decided to ask you what was going on. You had yet to tell them about the storyline since talking to Hook, or attempting to, didn’t go over so well.

“What’s going on with you?” Skye’s voice reached you, snapping you out of your thoughts.

You could’ve said it was nothing to save yourself the conversation but they were going to know about the whole storyline tonight, so you decided to spill it all.

“Tony’s giving me my first storyline.” You say, watching as a smile spreads across both of their faces before the confusion sets in.

“You don’t seem too excited?” Willow commented.

“I mean, I am, but… Well, okay, so you know how Hook and Jack Perry have that whole rivalry going on right now?”

The girls nod slowly, clearly they were still a bit confused.

“And me and Anna have a match tonight, so Jack’s going to come out and hand her the FTW title so she can knock my ass out with it,-“

“So then Hook is going to come out to save you.” Skye figured. “So is it like, an on screen dating kind of thing?”

“I don’t think so. Tony said we’ll end up teaming up against them, so I’m pretty sure it’s just alliances.”

Willow’s lips spread into a smirk before she looked down.

“Are you nervous about it or something? You’re the one who said you wished you’d get your shot at a story line and now you’re talking like you don’t want to do it.” Skye said, but you hardly heard her when the man who’s been racing through your mind came walking through the catering doors.

Willow noticed your eyes immediately finding him, following him as he headed around the perimeter of the room to take his seat in the very back.

“I think she’s nervous.” Willow grinned, clearly with insinuation but that’s when you quickly tore your eyes away from the man in question and back to them.

“No, it’s the fact that I tried to talk to him after we left Tony’s office, y’know, introduce myself and break the ice since we’re going to be working together, and he literally looked me dead in my face and told me to save the talking for the scripts.”

Both of their jaw’s dropped and Willow’s eyes cut over to the man, shooting him a look he didn’t see since he was on his phone.

“That’s fucking rude.” She said.

“Yeah, and we haven’t spoke since.”

“I mean, he kind of does look like that type of guy. He’s always by himself, always looks like someone pissed in his cheerios, maybe he’s just a dick. I’d just stick to the storyline and don’t bother with him outside of that if he’s going to have that kind of an attitude.” Skye says before she grabs her phone and stands up from the table.

“Anyway, I gotta go. I’ll be watching your match from the viewing room tonight though. You’re gonna do amazing.” She smiles before she heads out, leaving you and willow at the table.

“I agree with Skye. Just try to enjoy your first storyline despite his negative attitude.”

You nodded, then your eyes adverted over to the back of the room, for some reason you felt strongly compelled to steal a glance of him, only to find his eyes locked on you.

You felt your stomach twist suddenly and looked away immediately, but you could still feel the powerful gaze he possessed burning a hole through you, and you weren’t sure if that meant you should look back again, maybe try to go talk to him, or leave the room all together.

“Oh my God, he’s staring at me. Don’t you fucking look, Willow. Don’t make it obvious.”

Willow didn’t, but it was clear she wanted to. You could practically feel his dark eyes on you from way across the room, and you couldn’t help the way it made the pace of your heart quicken, out of the sheer nervousness that his presence hasn’t failed to make you feel.

“He’s leaving now.” Willow whispered as her eyes followed him around the room before she dropped them to the table. “He’s gone.”

————

You couldn’t help but to be nervous but you attempted to put it all aside as you clutched you ribs, lying on the canvas after Anna kicked into your side, probably a little harder than she should have. You knew what was coming as soon as Jack’s music hit and he came running down the ramp with the FTW title in hand.

You grabbed Anna’s feet before she could reach him, swiftly making her fall flat against the canvas in an attempt to protect yourself from the inevitable. That’s when Hook’s music hit and a sudden pop from the crowd made your ears ring.

He didn’t run down the ramp like Jack did, but it took him only a few seconds to get his hands on the man. Hook snatched the title and threw it to the floor before he threw a series of punches to Jack’s chest, while you and Anna were throwing punches to each other’s jaws. She was hitting you with a force that felt a little more personal than just entertainment purposes. You wondered if she meant that or not.

She grabbed your wrist and slung you against the turnbuckles, hitting your back so hard you sprung foward and fell to your knees. It was all planned, but you were taking one hell of a beating.

That’s when Hook and Jack had the referee distracted enough for Anna to grab the belt. Just as you were getting on your feet, you felt the impact against the side of your head knocking you down flat, staring up at the bright lights of the arena as she pinned you.

The three count came fast and her music rang through your ears. You laid there like you were dazed and confused and thankfully she didn’t actually hit you with it too hard. You had a little pain but nothing like it would’ve been if she would’ve intended to knock you out cold.

The crowd was booing jack and Anna both, but they roared with cheers when Hook slid under the ropes. You felt a warm hand sneak beneath your shoulder before he helped you sit up. There was no script to go off of so you weren’t sure if anything should’ve been said, but nobody would’ve heard over the thousands of screams piercing your ears.

Taz was on commentary hyping the interaction up for the added affect of the viewers watching on tv.

“I don’t know when those two became friends, but I’ll tell you one thing, Y/N has a good one in her corner. If Hook has your back, you know you’re gonna be alright. Jack and Anna better watch out now boys.”

Hook leaned down and grabbed your hand, pulling you up to your feet. The crowd was absolutely wild, and it was a reaction you really didn’t expect. He silently nodded towards the ramp as he let go of your hand. You walked ahead of him, slipping out of the ropes and making your way towards the tunnels, clutching your side and your head for the added affect.

You looked over your shoulder to find hook close behind, his eyes locked on you the second you spared a glance. Just before you reached the tunnels, you heard his voice, somehow over all the commotion around the arena.

“Wait” he caused you to turn around, now inches apart from you. Your eyes widened when you realized the closeness, before you felt his hand grab yours again and hold it up in the air, turning you towards the crowd that was on the verge of losing their minds.

He pointed at you, nodding as he took in the reactions. You were trying to soak it all in but it all had you confused. Assuming he was really good at selling, you tried to ignore the fact that his harsh words had been running through your mind for the past week, but due to that, you didn’t expect all of this.

He dropped your hand and nodded towards the tunnel, letting you lead the way. As soon as you got away from the chaos in the arena, you turned around to face him. Part of you wanted to ask why he was so rude to you last week but the other part of you was screaming for you not to.

Hook’s brows knitted together when you looked up at him. The last thing you probably should’ve been thinking about was the first one that came to mind simply because your brain did that sometimes.

He was wearing a black hoodie, black pants and looked like the walking depiction of darkness with the way his hair casted over nearly half of his face. Meanwhile you had on all white ring gear coupled with white nails and the comparison must have looked nothing less than polar opposites when you stood side by side.

But then you heard him say, “Are you just gonna stand there and stare at me?”

That’s when you realized you’d just been staring up at him, feeling your cheeks immediately burn beneath your skin when he called you out for it. Hook saw the way your face flushed and a rosy tint dusted over. Then he noticed a gold cross sitting against your chest much like his own. He didn’t comment on it, obviously.

You wanted to redeem yourself but couldn’t muster words at that point and he stared down at you awaiting a response or simply for you to move out of his way, which is exactly what you did.

The second you stepped to the side, he slipped past you, brushing your shoulder on his way down the hall. You stood there with a bit of a dumbfounded look on your face as you watched him leave without sparing you another glance.

———

Another week passed by and again, you and hook hadn’t spoke, but your tagged photos on instagram were nothing but you and him from Dynamite the week prior. It was funny how many fans were going crazy for a duo that was anything but when you weren’t on cameras.

You’d looked down at your phone when it buzzed and a text from Tony came through. You were put in the group chat with a 363 area code and debated whether or not you should save him in your contacts.

The text was the instructions for a segment later on. You and hook were going to be spotted talking in the hallway. He sent the full script and with only an hour to memorize and apologized for the last minute scheduling.

You were typing back when another message popped up. It was from hook, nothing but a short and simple reply saying, “All good” meanwhile you’d typed almost a whole paragraph about how it was okay, don’t apologize and you were going to get to memorizing right now. Needless to say, you deleted that and typed back, “No problem, I’ll have them memorized.”

You then scrolled up the long message, unsure if you could actually sell this with such a short amount of study time. You didn’t want to screw up on live tv.

Your lips moved as you read over the lines. It would’ve been way easier if you could actually rehearse them with someone but clearly hook wasn’t going to be down for that and Skye and Willow both had the night off, which was the reason you were sitting alone in catering.

You tried to focus but you felt that feeling again. Eyes on you, unavailable. He was somewhere in the room and you could feel it. He was staring at you again, and you didn’t even have to find him to be able to tell that.

You couldn’t keep your mind on the script now that you knew you were being watched. You wondered why he was staring in the first place. What was his problem with you after all?

The temptations got the better of you and you finally tore your eyes from your phone, only to find him sitting directly across from you at the next table over. Like you already knew, staring.

He didn’t bother to snatch his gaze off of you. He was shameless about the way he watched you. You couldn’t help it when your nerves grabbed strong hold of you and out blurted, “Are you just gonna sit there and stare?”, loud enough for the people around to hear, earning their attention.

Hook didn’t acknowledge them. He didn’t even blink. Didn’t move a single muscle and that’s when you decided to get up and walk over to him, despite the way his dark eyes made you want to take off running.

You approached his table and took a seat directly across from him. He tilted his head back slightly and crossed his arms over his chest. His brows raised in an expectant manner and you could feel the eyes of talent all around focused on the two of you.

“Why do you keep staring at me?” You called him out the same way he did to you last week in the tunnel. He kept a stoic expression as his eyes dropped down to your phone in hand on top of the table. He decided to avoid your question to ask one of his own.

“You think you can sell that segment later?”

Caught off guard, you felt your brows knit together, looking down at your phone which served as a reminder that you needed to be studying those lines.

“I’m gonna do my best.” You answered honestly, looking back at him. “Are you not going to go over your lines?”

“I already know them.”

“The text just came in like five minutes ago.” You pointed out.

“And I already know them, and yours.” He coolly states before he grabs the bookbag from the seat next to him and stands up. “Don’t mess up.” He says before he tries to leave.

“Wait!” Your voice didn’t do you any favors when it came out a little squeakier than you intended, but it kept him there. “Can you help me go over them?”

He stared down at you, face unreadable as always. There was a pause before he said, “If I didn’t have to get ready for my match, maybe I’d consider.” Then he headed out of catering, leaving you alone at the table.

———

You headed down the hallway where you were supposed to shoot the segment. Hook was already there, leaning against the wall with his phone in hand. He had his ring gear on, a couple red marks on his chest and sweat glistening off his skin. He must have just came back from his match.

Nobody else was around yet. You slowly walked over to him and stood against the opposite wall in front of him. He finished typing something before he picked his head up and looked down at you. You did your best not to spare him a glance as you continued going over your lines.

“It’s a little late to be trying to memorize them now.” You heard him mutter.

“I think I have them memorized, actually.” You look up at him, now leaning back with arms crossed. His hair was absolutely unruly and you couldn’t help but stifle a laugh when you saw it up close. The way it was standing straight up over his head reminded you of Chicken Little.

“What?” His brows knit when he catches your reaction.

“Sorry” you shake your head and wipe the smirk off your face. “It’s your hair.”

“What about my hair?”

“It’s like, standing straight up.” You point out, watching his eyes squint at you.

“It’s hair. It does that.” He deadpanned.

“Mine never does.”

“That’s ‘cause Anna’s always pulling yours out.” He bantered back, and for the first time you thought maybe you saw his lips tip up in a smirk, but as soon as you caught it, he wiped it away.

“She is not always pulling it out. That was one time. And that was so long ago, how do you even know that?”

Silence suddenly filled the hallway. He didn’t have an answer for that and thankfully for him, the cameraman made his way around the corner just in time.

“Alright, ready?” He calls out to the both of you. You take one more quick glance at your phone before shoving it in your pocket and taking in a deep breath.

Hook pushed himself off the wall and whispered, “Don’t mess up.” Before he stood behind you, close enough that when you turned around, you had to put a little space between you.

“Action.”

“Y/N.” Hook suddenly spoke. “You can’t let anyone walk all over you in this company. It’s time for you to take control. You need to start fighting fire with fire.”

He was right when he said he had his parts memorized. It was so effortless to him. He went from one persona to the next in a matter of seconds.

You tried to hide the surprise on your face and snap into character. He eyed you skeptically, you could clearly tell he was expecting you to mess up.

“I don’t want to play dirty, Hook. That’s gonna be my karma when it comes back to bite me.” First line down, you didn’t think it was too bad.

“Or maybe Anna Jay and Jack Perry’s karma is us. Did you ever think about that?” He raised his voice and took a step foward unexpectedly, backing you against the wall. You were suddenly flustered but knew you had to force that away.

“Jack knocked me out with the same title Anna hit you with. My FTW title. They’re cornering you and you’re allowing it! What’s gonna happen when you’re in the hospital with a concussion next time and I can’t save you?”

His chest started heaving as hot breaths fanned against your skin. He was way too good at this.

“What do you want me to do, Hook? You want me to be evil like they are? That’s not me!”

A second passed and you saw the way his eyes dropped down to some other part of your face, suddenly making you self conscious about whatever caught his attention. Then, he leaned in even closer, his chest brushing against yours when he inhaled.

“If you’re gonna be with me, you have to be tougher than this. That sweet, innocent personality of yours isn’t going to get us anywhere, and I’m not gonna stand by while you let yourself get assaulted every week. It’s time to start fighting back, Y/N.”

Half of that line, you didn’t recall memorizing. It threw you off a little bit, and thanks to that, you couldn’t remember your final line. You suddenly got anxious, mouth falling open with no words coming out. Hook picked up on this, not letting too much time pass before he tried to jog your memory.

“You don’t have anything to say? You’re okay with these people tormenting us? You want them to take everything from us?”

You hoped he could hear you silently thanking him. You knew that wasn’t a line but he kept it going for the sake of embarrassing yourself.

“If you want me to fight back, then let me do it my way.” You recited, shooting him your best glare for the dramatics. “I’m not turning cold for you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t beat her ass so bad she’ll wish she never stepped foot in a ring with me.”

His lips turned upwards in the faintest hint of a smirk and this time you were certain on it before he quickly brought that straight face back for the camera and nodded his head saying his last line.

“I’m gonna hold you to that.”

“Cut”

The camera man left you and hook in the hallway. As soon as the camera wasn’t on you an enormous weight was lifted off of your shoulders, finally able to take a deep breath, but the air around quickly got suffocating all over again.

Hook didn’t move. He was still standing close enough to you that you felt pinned to the wall. He held those infamously dark eyes on you for a moment, studying you. In his mind, he didn’t see the value of having you as a partner. He couldn’t understand why he got paired with someone who looks like they’d cry the minute someone raised their voice.

You just appeared to him as a sweet, innocent person and not in the way that he intended for it to be a compliment. Sweet and innocent wasn’t his thing. He needed someone just as coldhearted and vengeful as him.

Nevertheless, he was with you now until this storyline ends and his dad told him during a conversation they had a few days prior, that he needs to look at things a little bit differently. Taz seemed to think that he needed someone like you by his side. The coldhearted handsome devil needed a conscious and in his dad’s mind, a babyface with the reputation of being a walking ray of sunshine was the angel on Hook’s shoulder.

He carefully considered his dad’s perspective, but then aroused ideas of his own. A concept that he pitched to Tony that you had no idea what was coming. Plans to take your squeaky clean image and transform it into something greater, something more complimentary to himself.

You eyed him, swallowing past a thick lump accumulating in your throat before you managed to speak in a voice almost weary.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

Hook’s head tilted to the side, as if he was intrigued by the simple question. Your wide eyes reminded him of a skittish puppy ready to bolt, and he was surprised you haven’t yet.

“I thought you had your lines memorized?” He countered your question.

“I did, until you decided to improvise.” You quickly blurted, feeling like you exaggerated that defense. His brows raised slightly from beneath the thick hair against his forehead before he took a step back, putting space between you for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

“See you next week.” He muttered before he disappeared around the corner.

———

Two nights later, as you got cozy in bed, just about to doze off, your phone buzzed with a text from that same area code you recognized as Hook.

“been talking to my dad. you need to learn redrum. im in the hotel gym”

You glanced at the time, nearly baffled when you realized it was one-thirty in the morning. You texted back a quick reply.

“Right now? This can’t wait until tomorrow? And why do I need to learn your moves? I have moves of my own.”

You stared at the message until the delivered turned into read at 1:32 and locked your phone until he texted back.

“im going to bed at 2”

You stared at that simple little message and knew it was basically him not giving much of an option. You huffed as you slid out of bed, never minding to change out of your sweatpants or do anything with yourself for that matter. It was almost two in the morning. You should be asleep.

The elevators brought you down to the first floor. You headed across the lobby towards the gym. You could hear the sound of a punching bag being hit three times each even through the closed door.

You walked in, to your surprise finding Hook and Taz both. Taz was keeping the punching bag steady while Hook threw his fists into it, but that came to an abrupt halt when taz spotted you first.

“Ah, there she is.” His voice echoed through the empty room. “Didn’t think you’d actually show.” He chuckled, turning to his son. “Tyler and I have been talking about that upcoming tagteam match between you and the goofballs, we think if the crowd saw a double redrum they’d go nuts.”

You glanced at hook, now with the new knowledge that his name was actually Tyler, and for some reason that’s all that registered in that moment. He was looking at his dad, not even sparing a glance in your direction until Taz gave him a strong pat on his bare back and said, “I’ll leave you to it son. Your mother’s waiting for me.”

You held the door open to let him through, offering a faint smile. Taz stopped before he left the room, looking over his shoulder at his son, “Polite too” he commented, and you weren’t sure what that was supposed to mean but didn’t ask either. “Don’t hurt him too bad.” He muttered with an amused grin before he headed out.

You closed the door and stepped a little farther in the room. Taz seemed to have taken that lighthearted energy with him when he left because once again, the air was thick. It felt hot and heavy in your lungs and it made no sense to you why that was always the case when you were around him.

He stood at the front of the room with his hands on his hips. He looked like he’d been at it for hours what with the way his cheeks were bright red and sweat was covering every visible inch of his body, and drenching his hair.

“Do you always work out at two in the morning?” You asked as you drew a little closer, feeling like you were physically walking on eggshells.

“I go to sleep at two.” He replied, rather breathlessly. His eyes adverted down to your t-shirt and sweats, and the fuzzy slippers you put on before you left the hotel room. “Apparently you do too.”

“I was almost asleep when you texted.” You defended yourself and your cozy loungewear. “I’m not going to throw on a whole outfit just to come down to the gym.”

“Real shoes either.” He countered.

You looked down at the slippers and then back up at him. “They’re comfy. I don’t care.”

“Clearly.” He nodded. “Doesn’t matter. You familiar with any of my moves at all?”

You could’ve told him that you’d watched some of his matches in the viewing room before but something told you that he would think you were weird for that, so you simply shrugged and said, “kind of, not really.”

The way he eyed you made you think he knew you were lying.

“Never seen me do redrum?” He questioned, raising his brows.

“Maybe like one time.” You lied again, and that’s when his eyes narrowed, as if he was reading right through the bullshit.

He pushed his hair back and let his hand fall to his side with a smack to his hip before he stepped away from the punching bag and over to a bench, grabbing an almost empty water bottle and chugging the rest.

He crumbled the plastic before tossing it in the trash can halfway across the room and walking back over. He stood in front of you. It seemed to you like the man didn’t know the definition of personal space.

“Are you familiar with a half nelson at least?”

You shot him a questionable look, feeling the sarcasm dripping from his question.

“Pretty sure everyone is.” You crossed your arms, deadpanning on him in an attempt to dish it right back. His lips fold in and that’s when you couldn’t help but notice a dimple on his right cheek.

“Alright then-“ he held his arms out to his sides. “Put me in one.”

You shot him another look, wondering if that was a serious request or not. He stared at you, clearly waiting. It didn’t seem probable since the man towered over you.

“How do I do that when you’re like, six foot tall?” You asked, holding your own arms out. “I’m obviously too short to reach.”

“Size doesn’t matter. It’s the way you utilize your body. Anna’s taller than you, how do you expect to put her in a choke? Wait for her to get down?”

“I wasn’t planning to until you said I needed to learn your moves. I have a couple of my own.”

“And clearly they don’t work too well.” He counters comebacks quickly, you realize.

“If you can’t reach, use your legs first.” He instructed, suddenly having a more serious edge to his voice. “If that means you have to jump on their back, then do that. I’ve had to a time or two.” He shrugged before he waved you foward.

You dropped your arms and eyed him skeptically. An uneasy feeling was trying to take over simply because the thought of wrestling around with a man twice your size didn’t seem like the smartest idea.

“You’re not gonna sling me over your shoulder or something, are you?”

You caught the brief flash of confusion that crossed through his eyes before they returned to that cold stare he perfected.

“No, Y/N.” He huffed in annoyance. “I’m not gonna do anything but let you take me down. I’m gonna fall foward though, not back, so if you go flying off of me that’s on you.”

In his mind he was wondering why you were so apprehensive about this. Did you really think he was going to hurt you? He might not be all that friendly but he didn’t have intentions to harm you. Either way, he pushed past those thoughts and focused on the task at hand.

You nodded in understanding before you circled around him, taking a step back for more momentum when you sprung foward. Your legs wrapped tightly around his waist, knees locking in underneath his ribs and you heard a low grunt reverberate through his throat.

“Am I hurting you?” You loosened your legs but felt his hands grab them, keeping you wrapped tightly around him.

“Nope, always keep your legs tight. I’m good. Lock it in.”

You did as you were told, snaking one arm beneath his jaw and the other under his arm, bringing it up and pushing his head down until you felt him falling foward with a low, “Fuck” beneath his breath.

You held on tight as his knees hit the floor and he tapped on your arm quickly. You unwrapped yourself and stood back up, offering your hand to help him to his feet, but he ignored it.

“Was that right?” You asked, feeling somewhat prideful about the way you just brought a six foot tall, two hundred pound man down to his knees with his own finisher.

He nodded, rubbing his neck. “Yeah, that was right.” He cleared his throat. He then eyed you with a somewhat unreadable look on his face, eyes slightly narrowed.

“What?” You asked.

“You’ve never seen that before?” He resorted back to his previous question from earlier.

“I told you I have once.” You reminded him, but again, human lie detector comes out of him and it was evident.

“Most people don’t get it right the first time after seeing me do it more than once.”

“Well I did.” You shrugged, watching as he peered those eyes at you, reading straight through the bullshit once more just to hum in response.

“Not very believable but alright.” He muttered before he walked over to the bench and sat down, grabbing his hoodie and tossing it over his shoulder. You felt your clothes sticking to your body with sweat that wasn’t your own and peeled the fabric from your skin, just for it to stick right back.

Hook noticed this. “You got a little sweat on you.” He comments obviously.

“Do I? I didn’t notice.” You sarcastically replied, and another unreadable expression played on his face, one that had you wondering what he was thinking, but you didn’t ask. It returned back to that blank, emotionless look moments after.

“I have a match Wednesday.” He said as he ran his hand through his unruly hair. “You should probably be ringside.”

“Did Tony say that? I haven’t heard anything.”

“I’m saying that.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, looking up at you. Your mouth clamped shut with that response. He clearly saw the mixed reaction playing on your face and made it a point to clarify.

“The more we’re together, the more we’ll sell.”

But something told you otherwise and you weren’t sure what. Something was nagging at you about his actual motives. If you remember correctly, he didn’t seem too pleased about being paired up with you to begin with.

“I didn’t think you cared so much about this storyline.” You tested. “You seemed really unhappy about it when we were in Tony’s office. And after, especially.” You referred to the first little conversation, or lack there of, in the hallway.

He looked down at his knuckles and a few scars on them before he looked back up at you.

“If we have to do it, I want to at least make it good.” He said, ignoring basically everything you just said. “That means we need to sell it. So we need to be seen together a lot more. Nobody’s gonna believe it if we’re only shot on segments and nowhere else.”

You nodded, understanding that fact.

“So when I have a match, you be there. When you have a match, I’ll be there.” He then stood up and threw on the black hoodie you always saw him wear at work before he walked past you, muttering a low, “see you Wednesday” under his breath before the gym doors shut behind him.

———

“Sounds like he wants to fuck you.” Willow bluntly stated after you told her and Skye all about what’s been going on lately. You felt your cheeks practically burn your skin but looked away in an attempt to hide it.

“Agreed.” Skye adds in. “Looks like someone’s not so coldhearted after all.”

“No, he definitely is.” You affirm with a quick nod. “He’s just good at selling a storyline. He’s a different person on camera than he is elsewhere.”

“He looks pretty angry all the time to me. On camera and every time I pass his grumpy ass in the halls” Willow chuckled and you couldn’t help but do the same. “And if he’s trying to sell the story purely, I don’t think he’d bother getting you down to the gym at almost two in the morning.”

“Well it was to teach me his finisher for when we have that tagteam match.” You justified, but they didn’t buy it.

“That could’ve waited for a day time hour, Y/N.” Skye tried to convince you, but there was no use in that. You looked at the time and realized his match was starting soon. You got up from the seat, thankful for an excuse to leave the conversation.

“I’m needed ringside.” You tell them, noting the smirks on their face before you left.

Hook was already in the gorilla waiting for his music to hit when you finally got there. His back was turned and head hung as he pushed himself back and to against the bars.

“Hey.” You breathlessly said, due to nearly racing to be in time. He turned his head, looking over his shoulder as he kept doing what looked to you like mid air push ups, assuming it was just something he did to get amped up.

His eyes adverted down to your shirt. You didn’t have a match tonight so you didn’t bother throwing on your ring gear. He was wearing all black this time, and you were wearing a bright yellow top and black shorts.

“Hey sunshine.” He said with a condescending, mocking tone as he eyed your apparel.

“Sunshine? Why? Because of my shirt?” You asked. “Was I supposed to match you or something?”

He shook his head and dropped it, exposing that dimple again. He pushed himself off the rails to stand up straight, looking down at you rather dramatically with the way he dropped his head.

“I didn’t say anything about your clothes.”

“You insinuated by the way you looked at my yellow shirt, then called me sunshine.” You pointed out, watching an amused grin spread across his lips before he dropped his head to cover it. You know you weren’t mistaking.

It was then that his music hit and the pop of the arena was already ringing your ears. He headed through the tunnel and you followed, unsure what you were actually supposed to do now that you were here.

The crowd went crazy when hook came out, but nearly insane when you popped out right behind him. He stopped at the top of the ramp to look amongst the sea of faces, and you endured it all next to him. You turned to look at him, only to find him staring down at you.

He nodded towards the ring, signaling for you to take the lead, so you did. On commentary once again, Taz was hyping it up for the viewers at home.

“That’s hook right there folks. The coldhearted handsome devil. He’s being accompanied by one of AEW’s crowd favorites, Y/N for this match. These two have been joined at the hip ever since Anna Jay knocked her upside the head with the FTW title. They’ve got each others backs, I’ll tell you that much.”

If you could hear commentary it would probably make you laugh just how much his dad sells the storyline.

You stopped at the end of the ramp and waited for hook to walk down. He stopped next to you for a moment, the cameraman panning in on the two of you taking in the crowd reactions before he nodded towards where you would be standing, signaling for you to take your place while he rounds the ring.

When the bell rings and the match gets started, you watch on from where you stood leaning against the canvas. You’ve seen a few of his matches but never up close. It was clear exactly why he was favored in this industry. His quickness and agility was otherworldly. He was fast thinking and cleverly destructive.

He made quick work of getting his opponent down. It had only taken about three and a half minutes and the redrum was locked in, and seconds after, his music boomed through the arena.

You clapped genuinely, watching as he got to his feet and slipped out the ring on your side. He nodded towards the tunnels and by this point you already knew to take the lead while he walks behind you. No idea why he prefers it that way, but you didn’t question.

When you reached the stage, you stopped and turned to face the crowd. He got up next to you and looked at you questionably when you grabbed his wrist, even though he already knew what you were going to do.

You raised his hand in the air and listened to the crowd explode. The pop was unlike anything you’d witnessed yourself, and it was doing a pretty good job at bringing your confidence level way up.

“Probably one of AEW’s most unlikely duos. The coldhearted handsome devil and Y/N look like night and day standing next to each other.” Excalibur mentions on commentary.

“Their appearances may be complete opposites but don’t let that fool you my guy. These two are a force to be reckoned with.” Taz adds.

You get halfway through the tunnel when you look over your shoulder to find hook trailing closely behind you.

“Good job.” You smile at him, though he doesn’t return the smile back. You didn’t expect him to, anyway. He hummed in response and dropped his head, ruffling his hair.

Just then, a text came through to your phone. You pulled it out of your pocket and read the group chat message.

“It’s Tony.” You tell hook. “He said me being ringside was a nice touch for whoever’s idea that was. Want me to tell him it was yours?”

“Nah.” He shortly replied. “Did he say anything else?” He asked, seeming a little curious.

“No.” You told him, watching as he nods once. “What do you think we’ll be doing next? Another segment? When even is this tagteam match happening?”

“Ask him.” He mutters.

He wasn’t saying much all of the sudden which confused you. It was like he retreated into a shell after he decided he didn’t like the outside world for the two minutes he experienced it.

“Are you tired?” You asked, noticing the questioning glance he gave you.

“No?”

“Oh. You sound tired.” You added as you headed down the hall with him, unsure where you were actually going since you just got caught up in talking to him.

“Not tired” he sighed, giving you the impression that he didn’t want to talk at all anymore. Or maybe he never even did in the first place.

“Alright well, I’ll see you next week then.” Your voice was far weaker than his was. He slowed down but didn’t stop, muttering “alright” before he kept walking down the hallway, leaving you standing in the middle of it for what felt like the hundredth time watching him leave.

———

A text from Tony came through two days later. It was a graph with the ratings for Wednesday night’s show and apparently the interactions with you and Hook brought a lot of attention on.

You were typing a reply when another message came through. It was next weeks plans for the two of you. Reading over it, you couldn’t help but to be confused. Apparently you were supposed to interfere in one of Anna’s matches that Jack was going to be standing ringside for. This time, you were going to be the one using the belt against her after hook takes it from jack.

Sounded like heel work in your opinion.

You didn’t reply due to the fact that you weren’t sure what to say, but hook did. His message came through a few minutes after the text was sent and was nothing but a simple okay emoji.

That night, you received a text from hook. It was short and simple like all the other ones had been.

“you own any black clothes?”

You felt like you could feel the sarcasm through the screen. What kind of question was that?

“Why?” You replied, not having much time to close your phone before another one came through.

“so we can match”

You understood the reasoning but weren’t super thrilled about black of all colors.

“Do you own anything other than black clothes?” You retorted. This time there was a pause between messages.

“what color do you want to wear, y/n” if you were standing in front of him having this conversation you just knew he’d have that bored look on his face. You thought for a minute about a reasonable color. Then decided on one he probably would glare at you for.

“Got anything yellow?” You grinned to yourself knowing that he was probably going to roll his eyes at that one.

“no.”

“Fine… Blue?”

“no.”

“Red?”

“no. wear black wednesday”

You stared down at that message for a moment debating on what to say back. You looked across the room at your suitcase overflowing with clothes but you already knew the only article of clothing you brought with you that was all black was a dress you wore to go out in. Nothing reasonable for the show.

“I don’t have anything black suitable for tv.”

“how would something not be suitable? just wear it”

You sighed deeply as you walked over to your suitcase and pulled out the dress that you only wore once simply because it rode up way too high all night long. You threw it on the bed and snapped a picture, sending it to him.

“This is it and I’m not wearing it.”

There was a couple moments that passed before you received a message back.

“i don’t see the issue”

“It’s revealing.”

“so is your ring gear but you still wear it?” You stared at that message wondering why you were standing in the middle of the room arguing with that man right now. And still, you continue to do so.

“That’s ring gear. That’s different.”

This time, a good five minutes pass by before he replies. You had just tossed your phone on the bed when you figured he was done texting only to grab it almost as quickly as you tossed it when your phone buzzed again.

“ill bring one of my hoodies then”

On the other end of the phone, Tyler was sitting at a restaurant table with his dad going over the next couple of weeks.

Taz was the one who told him that the two of you should match and it would probably do good at winning over the crowd and the viewers, but he was thinking more along the lines of his son wearing something other than the typical black attire he exhausts.

“It’s funny seeing you two up on that stage” taz chuckles as he digs his fork into his pasta. “You’re like the moon and she’s the sun, for now at least”

Tyler’s eyes lifted from his phone. He was staring at the three little dots while he awaited your response. He said he’d bring you one of his hoodies and for some reason he was apprehensive about sending that message. It felt like odd territory to him to be letting you wear his clothes, but apparently all you had was a little black dress you didn’t feel comfortable wearing.

“And I’ll tell you another thing, when you two team up in that ring, the fans are gonna lose their freakin’ minds”

Just then, a text came through and for some reason a slight smile landed on tyler’s lips, until his dad called it out.

“Who’s that?” He questioned, trying to lean foward to steal a glance at his son’s phone. He was quick to lock it and stuff it in his pocket.

“Y/N.” He muttered before he dug his own fork into his food.

“Have you talked to her about the turn yet?” Taz asked, and Tyler froze for a second.

“Nah, not yet.”

“She doesn’t know?” He questioned, looking a bit taken back. “What does she think the plans for you two are? You have to tell her, son.”

“I’m pretty sure she’ll figure it out on her own.” He grumbled, leaning back in his seat and dropping the fork against his plate.

“Tyler” taz shot him a look, “It was your idea. You need to be the one to tell her straight.”

And it was his idea. He approached Tony shortly after he left you in the hallway that first time the two of you talked, and pitched the idea that you should have a heel run by his side. Tony wasn’t apprehensive at all. To him, and to Hook, the idea of an America’s Sweetheart type of personality completely doing a 180 with the coldhearted handsome devil was golden.

It was just that he told Tony that he’d talk to you about it and never did. Plans had changed from the originality of the first idea and you had no clue about it.

“What’s gonna happen when she’s supposed to go out in front of thousands of people as a heel, and she’s thinking she’s still this babyface character?” Taz reasons, making Tyler drop his eyes to the table.

“She needs time to prepare. It’s not easy going a complete 180 son. Especially not if you wait until last minute to tell her.”

He retrieved his phone from his pocket and read your message back.

“Thank you” was all you said. His thumbs hovered over the screen before he finally managed a response. It was hard to put it into words for some reason and when he realized what it sounded like, he had to send a double text for clarification.

“can you come to my room later”

“to talk. it’s kinda important”

———

Later meant way later than you expected when Hook sent you the text letting you know what room number he was in at midnight.

Regardless of how tired you were, you were way more anxious than anything to figure out what was so important. You reached room 235 and knocked on his door. You heard some shuffling around before he opened it, hair even messier than usual and eyes low, like he was on the verge of passing out himself.

He stepped back and waved you in. You walked in and eyed him as he walked around you. He didn’t sit down anywhere and you didn’t make yourself comfy either. This was awkward. Probably the most awkward encounter you’ve had with him yet.

Truth was that he was a little nervous. He didn’t know how you were going to take the fact that this entire time, you were working on a heel turn without even knowing it. And he was the one behind it all.

He looked down at you, leaning against the wall as he contemplated the best way to go about the conversation. He never really got nervous about anything so this was fairly new and rather uncomfortable for him.

“Did you get that message from Tony about Wednesday?” He started off by asking, and you slowly nodded. You eyed him, trying to read an unreadable man.

“What did you think about it?” He was doing a good job at reading you though. Wasn’t hard since you had a tendency to wear your emotions on your face. He could tell you were skeptical of him in that moment by the way you stared at him solely. He’s seen that look from you a couple dozen times already and the only other one he can recognize that easily is the look you give when he makes a smart comment to you.

“You mean about me using the title to hit Anna? It sounded like heel work to me.” You told him, watching as he nodded.

“Cause it is.”

You blinked twice. “I’m not a heel.”

“I talked to Tony about this storyline a while back. We agreed it’s a better idea if you have a heel run with me.”

You stared up at him, a bit lost. The original idea was for the babyfaces to win in the end, since jack and Anna were already heels. Now it turns out that you had a whole new character transition coming you didn’t even know about in the first place and frankly, you were unsure how to feel.

“Wait so this whole time I’ve been working on turning heel? And you knew that and didn’t tell me?” You peered your eyes at him, glaring. “Why not?”

“Never had the chance, I guess.” He shrugged.

“Never had the chance?” You felt your eyes form into small slits. “You had plenty. How come you got to decide what I do with my gimmick and I didn’t even get the chance to give my opinion?”

Just then, a voice popped into his head, belonging to his dad. Women don’t like when you lie to them, son.

He didn’t intend to lie. It just happened that way. He kind of assumed you’d catch on with the whole heel turn thing and not ask questions but now that he knows you a little better, he knows better than that.

“Your goody two shoes persona wasn’t working well for you anyway, Y/N. We knew it wouldn’t sell for a storyline like this so we came up with something better. If Tony pitched the idea you wouldn’t be getting all fired up at him”

“It’s not the fact that I’ll be turning heel, it’s the fact that nobody told me. Especially you.” You pointed out. You weren’t even mad about the new plans. You would’ve agreed to it anyway if that was the first idea Tony pitched, but you were walking around with no idea what was coming for you and that alone made you more nervous than you needed to be.

“Maybe you didn’t realize, but this is my very first storyline. The last thing I want to do is blow my chance at another one and I’ve been going around absolutely oblivious to the fact that I’m expected to do a whole heel turn in who knows how soon, and you just let me look stupid when you were the one who unrightfully came up with the idea in the first place!”

You rarely yelled at people and he rarely ever got yelled at. It was heightening the tensions between both of you and he expected as much, but didn’t foresee you chewing him out this bad.

“You’re not going around looking stupid! Tony gives you the rundown every week. You know what’s coming and if you didn’t by now you would’ve figured it out.”

You were somewhat baffled by his defensiveness. There was no true justification to what he omitted and he probably knew that full well and just didn’t want to admit he was wrong.

“Yeah, like last minute!” You shout, not meaning to be as loud as you were but you couldn’t help it. “This means something to me, Tyler!”

The use of his name took him back a little and you didn’t mean for that to slip in the first place but for some reason Hook wasn’t the first name to come out in that moment.

Just then, there was a knock on his door that caught both of your attentions.

“Go away” he shouted, but that’s when his dad’s voice reached both of you.

“Open the door, son.”

He rolled his eyes as he walked over. Opening the door and taking a step back so taz could walk in. It was strange to see him wearing pajamas but you ignored that.

“I can hear you two across the hall. What is going on in here?”

Tyler looked at you for a second before he looked back at his dad. “She’s not happy about the heel run.”

“No-“ you stepped forward, correcting him. “I’m not happy about being lied to.”

Taz gave his son a look. A stern I told you so kind of glance.

“Alright” taz held his hands up, “I get that, Y/N. I told this man that he needed to let you know what was going on and not at the very last minute. He doesn’t listen to nobody but himself and half the time that steers him wrong.”

“Clearly.” You huffed out, crossing your arms.

He turned to Tyler and shrugged. “This one’s on you bud. Make it right but keep it down. We don’t need to draw attention.”

You nodded and taz made his way back out, leaving you and Tyler alone once again. He dropped his head and ran his hands through his hair, thinking.

“I’m not happy about this.” You state.

“Couldn’t tell.” He muttered under his breath. The fact that he had the audacity to be sarcastic was mind blowing to you. It made you actually want to scream at him but the last thing you wanted was Taz to come back and give you both some sort of lecture or something.

Tyler picked his head up, tired eyes landing on you. “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.” He said, shrugging his shoulders. It was a half ass apology but the only one he’d ever given. He never really cared to give anyone that type of respect, or what he thinks is respect in his mind.

“There was no reason why you kept it from me.” You remind him, watching him nod.

“I know.” He sighed.

“And I have a right to be mad right now because my whole entire image is about to change dramatically and I haven’t even been prepared for it.”

“Yeah, but you’re not doing it all on your own. You’re doing it with me. I’m turning too.”

“Yeah, but you had time to prepare for that.” You pointedly state. “How much time do I have? Literally I’m about to start at the next show and I didn’t even realize it.”

“It’s not something you really have to prepare for, Y/N. You just go out there and put on a show. It’s not much different than what we do right now.” He walked around you and made his way to the bed, sitting down on the edge.

“It’s different for me. I’m not mean in general. I need to practice.”

You watched a weird look cross over his face, bringing his lips up in a faint smirk. “You’re not mean?” He quirked a brow. “Not even a little bit?”

“No?” You shrugged.

You heard a low chuckle before he looked down at his phone in hand. You sighed when you realized that this conversation was probably going nowhere fast and the best thing you could do was accept the reality of the situation and work with what you’re dealing with.

“Since you seem to think it’s easy becoming a whole different person, tell me where to start.” You plopped down on the chair awkwardly positioned halfway across the room. His eyes lifted from his phone before he tossed it to the side.

“It’s just acting, Y/N. It’s not like you’re becoming a different person all together. It’s literally one day out of the week that you put on a tough face and sell a gimmick. There’s nothing complicated about it. You’re complicating it yourself.”

You glared at him and the annoyance that was so evident in his tone. He sighed and leaned back on his hands, his eyes lowering by the second.

“I guess just start acting like you hate the world. Go out there and give everyone the biggest eat shit look. Be a little more aggressive in the ring and more no fucks given outside of it.” He advised, watching you nod before you stood up from the chair.

“So basically, be more like you.” You pointed out. Before he could respond to that, you held up your hand to silence him. “Got it.” You said before you left his room.

———

“Doesn’t make sense why he didn’t tell you.” Skye says as you and her head down the hall towards catering. “It’s literally your gimmick changing.”

“I know.” You roll your eyes. You were sick and tired of thinking on it. At this point you’d decided to stop wishing you would’ve known beforehand, since clearly there was no changing that, and take the bull by the horns.

Even though Tyler told you that nothing really changes, everything was about to. Your persona, your ring gear, especially your attitude. You had a lot of winning over to do and you were determined to use this transformation to the best of your ability. No matter how bitter you might feel about the fact that he kept the whole thing from you for weeks.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m gonna be a good heel. I’ve been thinking about all of it. I have tons of ideas and I’m starting to actually get excited about it.” You told her, rounding the corner.

“Speak of the devil.” Skye muttered. “Want me to wait up for you or are you good?”

“I’m good.” You nod as you watch him slowly approach with a black hoodie on and one draped across his shoulder.

He got a look from Skye as she passed by but he didn’t pay attention. He pulled that hoodie off of his shoulder and handed it to you wordlessly. You eyed him as you took it from his hand and threw it over your own shoulder. You hadn’t spoke since that night in his room and he’d been meaning to ask you if you were still mad but never ended up doing so.

The look you were giving him was telling him the answer is definitely yes, you’re still mad.

“I’m going out tomorrow to get some different clothes for my heel era so Ill give this back to you after we’re done tonight.”

“Alright.” He nodded, watching as you pull the hoodie off and hold it up to see it better. Clearly it was going to swallow you whole.

“This might as well be a baggy dress on me.” You pointed out as you held it against your body, showing that it falls nearly to your knees. He noticed the same thing.

“You can cut it if you need to.” He shrugged. “To make it fit decently.”

Your brows knitted together as you looked back up at him. “If I’m giving it back why would I cut it?”

He shrugged again, looking down at the large hoodie covering you whole.

“You can keep it. I don’t really care. Might need to match again sometime later.”

For some reason he was being nice and it was strange to you. You’d chalked it up to the fact that he feels guilty for lying to you. As he should. You tossed the hoodie back over your shoulder.

“I’ll deal with it. You can have it back later.” You say before you brush past him and head down to catering to meet up with Skye.

“What happened?” She asked when you took a seat. Her eyes adverted to your shoulder. “Is that his hoodie he was just wearing?!” You could see the thoughts rolling around in her mind and quickly shut them down. You slung the hoodie down on the table.

“No, not the one he was just wearing, Skye. Just one of them.”

“You’re wearing his clothes? What did I miss in the last five minutes?”

“Nothing.” You shake your head. “He texted me a few days ago telling me I needed to wear black so we could match and I told him I didn’t have anything. So he brought me his hoodie. I’m giving it back right after our interference and getting some new clothes tomorrow.”

She held a weird grin on her face before she looked down at her phone. “Mmkay.” She chuckled.

“What?” You peered your eyes at her.

“Nothing it’s just- it’s funny.” She shrugged.

“What is?”

“The fact that you pretend to be so annoyed by him but you’re willingly going to wear his hoodie.” She pointed at the clothing on the table. “It’s funny.”

“I don’t pretend to be so annoyed by him. He actually does annoy me. I tried to be his friend but he’s so hot and cold all the time. He will be a decent person one minute and an asshole the next, it’s exhausting.” You rambled, making sure she got the point but judging by the smirk on her face, she didn’t buy it.

“Right.” She nodded. “Well it’s almost nine. You should be meeting up with lover boy for your interference in a few minutes.” She teased, earning another roll of your eyes as you stood up from the table with a huff. “Don’t forget his hoodie.” She said before you snatched it up and headed out of catering.

He wasn’t there when you got to the gorilla but you knew he’d show soon. The directors were standing by, seemingly waiting for Hook so they could send you both out at the right time.

You took that time to toss the hoodie on, and it did nothing at all for your figure. It was far baggier than you expected, so much that the sleeves swallowed your hands.

You heard footsteps behind you tracking fast and turned to face the man in question. He took one look at you and his lips turned up in a smirk he was clearly trying to hide.

“This thing is huge on me.” You deadpan.

“I told you to cut it.” He reminds you. Then he reaches down to the ends of the sleeves and rolls them up so your hands are exposed. “Can’t fight if you don’t have fists.”

You stared at him while he rolled the other sleeve up. When your hands were exposed you pulled your hair out of the hood and did your best to make yourself decent before the music hit. As much as you could given the circumstances, at least.

Tyler held his gaze on you for a moment longer before he tore it away the moment your eyes connected, looking down at the floor and fluffing his hair. For once, you matched. You’d noticed his gold cross pendant he was wearing and remembered the one you had on yourself.

“Funny.” You said dryly. “I have one too.”

You pulled the necklace out from under the hoodie and laid it against your chest. He looked down and nodded. “I noticed.” He said, just as your music hit.

You turned around and got ready for your first appearance leading up to a heel turn. You didn’t want to psych yourself out about it, but you felt a little nervous.

“Never thought I’d be coming out to this type of song.” He commented from behind you.

“It’ll be changing soon, evidently.” You muttered before heading down the tunnel.

Anna was staring at the stage when you and Hook came through the tunnel. He threw on his best scowl and it made it a little easier for you to mimick him. Jack came racing up the ramp, hook moving you to the side before he lunged towards Perry.

He snatched the belt clean from jacks hands and tossed it over to you. The crowd went completely and utterly insane as the boys backed down the ramp, throwing punches everywhere they could visibly see of each other’s bodies.

You raced towards the ring as anna was sliding out of it, calling jacks name over and over in an attempt to get him away from hook, and as soon as she had noticed you getting close, she turned around and you slammed the title into the side of her head like she’d done to you weeks prior.

She fell to the floor and Jack immediately rushed to her aid, screaming and cursing you and Hook as you held up the title and shouted back, “This is gonna be his. You just wait! It was always his!”

A proud smirk from hook was caught on camera but you didn’t get to see it. He knew that there were no lines to this. You just came up with something and the fast thinking was what really got him.

Jack then got up to his feet and raced towards you both, but hook stepped in front of you and held his arm out, blocking Perry from getting any closer.

On commentary, everyone was eating the whole situation up.

“Looks like the coldhearted handsome devil has made quite an impact on Y/N!” Excalibur shouted through his headpiece. “This is wild!”

“That it is my friend. I said it from the start. Those two are an absolute force to be reckoned with. God help jack and Anna. Wouldn’t wanna be those clowns right now.” Taz chuckled.

You and hook walked back up to the stage and just before you were about to head through the face tunnel, he grabbed your wrist and nodded his head to the left.

You looked up at him, realizing it was happening this soon. You heard the commotion from thousands around the second you let him lead you through to the heel side, in your mind, you made it official. You were no longer the babyface you’d been for over a year. The transition was starting faster than you’d expected but, it felt a tad bit easier to have someone doing it with you.

“That’s not a shock to me. I could see that coming with those two. Bonnie and Clyde of AEW.” tony announced from commentary.

“Y/N and Hook have made their impression here tonight, and they’re just getting started boys.”

You couldn’t deny that you had an adrenaline rush running ramped. He turned around to let you catch up to him before you entered the hallway.

“How’d it feel?” He asked.

At that moment you almost felt thankful to him for pitching the heel turn idea to Tony in the first place but then you remembered how he kept it from you for weeks. Either way you were able to not let that bother you for the time being.

“Kind of exhilarating. Did you hear that crowd?” You say as you round the corner. There’s looks being sent your way from multiple talent. In your mind it’s judgement but in all actuality they’re wondering how long you and Hook have been hooking up on the low.

“Yeah, they loved it.” He says. He walked a little slower than usual. Usually he was ready to get to the shower but he didn’t mind talking to you a little before that today. He wouldn’t tell you that though.

“I didn’t expect it.” You say. Just then someone calls your name. You turn around and find that it’s Ricky. He reaches his hand out to dap hook up but his eyes stay on you.

“That was fucking crazy what you did out there.” He tells you, making a grin spread across your lips. “I never expected you to turn heel, especially not with my man Hook.” He throws his arm around hooks shoulders, and he stiffens them immediately.

“Next time you’re on I need a heads up so I can watch in the viewing room. Both of you.” He looks at Hook who suddenly has a stiff jaw. He picked up on a vibe Ricky was emitting and he didn’t like it. He didn’t know why but he wanted to get you away from him.

“Thanks Ricky.” You smiled before he nodded his head and gave Hook a pat on his back. “Good choice man.”

You didn’t miss the way hooks eyes followed him all the way down the hall. He suddenly looked like he reverted right back to the version of him you had an unfortunate encounter with weeks ago.

“You okay?” You asked, but he didn’t look at you until Ricky was out of his sights. Then he turned back started walking. You followed close behind, reaching for his arm when you realize you were being ignored.

“Hey” you stopped him. He turned to face you but kept his head down, staring at the floor. “Why do you suddenly look so mad? What just happened?”

“I’m not.” He picked his head up. You could see it on his face. It was clear as day whether he wanted it to be or not.

“You are though.” You attested. “Did he do something to you? I thought you were friends.”

“Can you drop it?” He quickly cut in with a sharp tone. You took a step back, almost feeling like his words forcefully pushed you away. He noticed the distance you put in and his eyes seemed to have softened, but only for a mere second.

He turned back towards the hall and muttered, “see you next week, Y/N.” Before, once again, he left you there watching him go.

———-

“Clearly jealous.” Willow nods dramatically.

“Obviously.” Skye agrees.

“That’s hard for me to believe.” You tell them as you adjust your ring gear. You had a segment to shoot tonight in the ring. It was going to be the first time you actually talked in front of the crowd and you were beyond anxious about it. Tyler was going to be in the ring with you but he wasn’t going to say anything and the fact that you hadn’t spoken to him since that last conversation made you even more nervous.

“Because he wants you.” Willow smirked. “And if you haven’t already heard, everyone is talking about it.”

“Who’s everyone?” You asked as you strapped the laces on your new shoes. It was going to be a little difficult to break in another pair but you assumed that was the price you pay when you turn heel and can’t wear bright, glorious colors anymore.

That was the whole reason you donned an all black attire tonight. Black nails to match. It was never something you expected to wear but if you were going to be a heel you were going to rock it.

“Everyone as in everyone in this building right now.” Willow says. “People keep wondering how long you’ve been secretly hooking up under everyone’s nose.”

“But we’re not.”

“Not yet.” Skye points. “I give it two more weeks and you’re going to send us a picture from his room.”

“I give it one and a half.”

You rolled your eyes and stood up from the bench. “It’s not gonna happen. It’s nothing like that.”

“Then why did he suddenly get all weird when Ricky came up to you?” Willow raised her brows. “Skye, please tell me, why would a man do that?”

“Because he’s jealous. Because he wants you.” She answered, and you shook your head back.

“Whatever. I have to go. I have a segment in the ring in about ten minutes.”

“Good luck. We’ll be watching from the viewing room.” Willow calls out as you head through the door.

To your surprise, Tyler was already waiting for you when you reached the gorilla. To his surprise, you looked like a certified heel. The new attire and dark makeup, it looked way too natural on you.

He had on that signature black hoodie which reminded you of the one you had laying across your bed that you forgot to give back to him.

“Shit, I forgot I still have your hoodie.” You blurted, watching his dark eyes linger down to your attire before they made their way back to your face.

“Told you to keep it.” He said. It was clear he was in another one of his moods again tonight. It was really starting to bother you how he switches so fast, but right now the last thing you needed was to get in an argument and forget your lines. This time you knew you had them memorized thanks to staying up until three am studying them.

“I’ll give it back next time I see you.” You mumbled before music started playing and a song he recognized, but not as your own reached his ears.

“You changed the music?” He asked as he stepped to the side to let you lead.

“I’m a heel now, remember?”

You slid past him and made your way out. It was strange knowing you could no longer interact with the fans. Usually you’d blow a kiss or tag their hands but now you practically ignored them. At least they were engaged and supportive of this new you, so it seemed. Or maybe they were just going crazy over the two of you. Either way, you weren’t the ones getting boo’d.

You plastered a scowling look on your face and tried to keep it there as you made your way to the ring. Hook followed closely behind you, trying not to bob his head to your music.

You slid under the ropes and he took the steps, but you both met back in the middle. You took a minute to take in the reactions from the crowd. It was something you had to try hard not to smile about. Which was going to take some work.

Tony Schiavone handed you a mic and you snatched it from his hand, all for the dramatics, of course.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven’t already noticed, you’re looking at two of the absolute best AEW has ever had to offer you.” You pointed at Hook who nodded his head, stepping side to side on his feet.

You weren’t being boo’d, which came as a thrill to you. If they were eating it up you just wanted to give them more.

“When Anna Jay and Jack Perry made the unfortunate decision to target us, we made the decision to fight back, and what you saw last week when I knocked that bitch out with Hook’s FTW title-“ you paused to make sure the fans were taking it all in, “It was just the beginning.”

You looked over at Hook who continued to nod, chewing on a piece of gum as his eyes scanned the crowd.

“And when Anna recovers from that blow to the head she took from me, I’ll be waiting. And as for Jack, well” you chuckled darkly as you nodded towards your partner, “Let’s just say Hook was some fun things planned for him.”

He looked over at you, and you could see a faint smile on his face before he ran his hand over his lips.

“You see, I realized something a little while ago. You know, after Anna smashed the FTW title into my head?” You reminded the crowd of weeks ago.

“It’s that being nice gets you used and abused. All the times I’ve let that bitch get away with attacking me, I regret it. I really do, but it’s alright, because it will never happen again.”

The crowd popped when you took a pause, but you had to keep that cold expression on your face.

“So Anna Jay, Jungleboy, if you’re watching from the hospital, I just want to say, get well soon. Please.” The camera panned on you and you shot a mischievous grin before you dropped the mic and heard the crowd scream their lungs out.

Your music hit and Hook walked over to the ropes, holding one up for you to slip through.

You headed towards the stage, trying not to let a smile break out. You felt his arm brush yours as he walked alongside you.

When you disappeared through the tunnel you huffed out a deep breath. “Fuck that was exciting.” You chuckled as you placed your hand over your racing heart.

“Fun isn’t it?” He asked as he squeezed into the space next to you.

“Yeah, really fun.” You said before rounding the corner to find Skye standing there. Her match was next but you’d forgotten that in the mix of everything. Her eyes lingered to the man next to you before they fell to you with a smirk plastering her face.

“That was hot.” She remarked as she walked up to you. Tyler stopped when you did, to your surprise and Skye’s.

“You think it was good?” You asked.

“It was perfect. You are doing the damn thing, isn’t she hook?”

You could see what she was doing and tried to send her a look but her eyes were on him instead.

“Yeah, she did real good.” He nodded. That’s when she looked at you again and caught the look you sent.

“You two are a good duo. Can’t wait to see what comes next.” She ran her hand over your arm before she brushed past you.

Tyler looked back down at you and you hoped he didn’t pick up on Skye’s insinuations. He did, but he didn’t mention it.

He started walking when you did, and again, you saw all the people around with their eyes on the two of you. You wondered if Skye and Willow were right. Did everyone think you and Tyler were hooking up? And if so, why? You didn’t think you gave that impression at all. It was just acting, like Tyler told you.

Truth is that Tyler had been approached quite a few times, being asked about you more often than not. He never gave anyone a straight answer, which obviously left them to make their own assumptions.

“Everyone keeps staring.” You whispered.

“They’ll do that.” He muttered back.

You were heading towards the locker room when Jeff Hardy came around a corner, a smile brought to his and Hook’s face when they saw each other.

“What’s up man.” Jeff greeted, “And ma’am.”

“What’s up” hook nodded.

Jeff’s eyes adverted between the two of you, then landed back on Hook. “When are we gonna see this duo beat some ass?” He asked, “I’m ready for it.”

“Whenever Tony calls the shot.” Hook shrugged. “I’m ready too. I think we both are.” He glanced at you. Jeff brought a full fledged smile to Hook’s face pretty easily. One you hadn’t seen from him in all the weeks you’d been around him.

“It’s highly anticipated. From a lot of people, actually.” Jeff chuckles and hook drops his head, seeming to try to hide that smile that you evidently caught.

“We can tell.” He says.

Jeff’s eyes switch back to you again before he looks back at Hook. Both men were grinning from ear to ear as if they had some sort of secret telepathy going on.

“Alright well I’ll see you around brother, and you maam.” He nodded his head and you nodded back.

“Alright bro.” Hook said before Jeff walked around the two of you.

“Best friend?” You teased, watching as he brought his hand to his mouth, physically wiping away that smile.

“Something like that, yeah.” He said as the two of you made your way towards your respected rooms.

“Kind of cool how everyone likes our heel turn. I thought we’d get hate for it.”

“We still might, but it’ll be alright.” He shrugged. You reached the end of the hall that branches off into two opposing directions and it hit you that this was the first time he hadn’t left you standing in the middle of it.

He stopped and turned to face you, adjusting the collar of his hoodie.

“You did good out there.” He tells you, surprisingly. “You should think so too.”

You were somewhat dumbfounded at the fact that he actually complimented you without underlying sarcasm. You smiled even though you didn’t mean to, assuming your lips had a mind of their own.

“Thanks.” You say as you suddenly feel the air getting thick, but not as suffocating as usual.

Hook nodded before his eyes adverted to the empty hall behind you. He didn’t have anywhere to really be, but he told you he did.

“I’m gonna go shower.” He lied for no reason. You just nodded. You felt your hands clamming up, sweat spreading across your palms and didn’t like it.

“Alright well, see you next week?” You didn’t know why you asked. Of course you’d see him next week. It’s been like that for a while now.

“Yeah.” He nodded before he brushed past you, heading one way while you headed the other.

————

A text from Tony at eleven in the morning got your attention that following Saturday.

“This is it. Big match Wednesday.” Was all it said.

It felt like you’d anticipated this whole thing for so long and now that it was coming you weren’t sure how to feel. You stared down at the message until another one came through, but not on the group chat.

“you ready?” He asked, clearly referring to Tony’s previous message.

“No lol” you replied back, but you were being honest.

“you’re ready” he quickly responded, and all you did was stare at those words for a minute to long.

Why it was making you nervous, you weren’t sure. Probably because it was your biggest match to date and held a lot of value to your current heel run but, what happens next? What happens when you and Hook beat Jack and Anna? Is there even going to be a you and Hook anymore?

Lots of questions were left unanswered because you were too hesitant to ask them. You just decided to play it by ear, but the thought of a heel run all on your own wasn’t very appealing to you. As much as you didn’t want to admit it, having Hook alongside you, sort of paving the way for all your antics made things less worrisome and a lot more fun for you.

You truly couldn’t picture doing it without him and that alone was something you never expected.

Another text came through and you were surprised to find that it was Skye. She sent you the picture from AEW’s instagram account when they announced the tagteam match on Wednesday.

“This is your biggest match yet girl. I’m so proud of you. You’re gonna kill it!”

You smiled down at your phone and typed a couple hearts back. The support you had made things a little easier but your nerves were still trying to get the best of you, and you assumed it was going to be that way until the match was over.

————

It was anticipated and highly talked about all over the internet. You were constantly being tagged on twitter, instagram and TikTok. It seemed like the whole world was awaiting this match and the time had finally come.

You were heading towards the gorilla with a racing heart. You kept trying to tell yourself that this was just like any other match, any other opponent but it wasn’t. It was your first match as a heel, first match as a tagteam and longest tv time to date. You had a couple moves you were expected to pull that you never had before and there was very little familiarity around the entire situation.

“Hey” you heard a deep voice from behind you. You turned around to find Ricky standing there.

“Hey” you smiled, adjusting your black wristbands.

“Good luck on your match tonight. Just wanted to say that.” He grinned, and it was then that you picked up on a vibe that you weren’t all that into. You took a small step back but kept your politeness.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” You say. Before you can turn back, he asks another question. One that catches you off guard.

“Hey, are you and hook like, a thing?”

Your brows knitted together but you wiped that look away quickly. You were about to respond when you felt eyes on you, and just like all the times before, you knew Hook was around.

Ricky’s eyes adverted above your head and that’s when you felt warmth radiating against your back.

“Y/N, you ready?” His deep voice reached you, making your heart flutter for some reason.

He held his eyes on Ricky as you turned around to face him. You could see that familiar expression like before. Jaw set and teeth clenched. It was then that you realized Skye and Willow were right. Hook was jealous. He didn’t get that way at all when Jeff approached the two of you. It was just Ricky.

You spared the man a glance over your shoulder and caught the disappointment on his face, but you couldn’t take enough time to think about it when you had a match in a few minutes.

“What was he talking to you about?” Hook muttered next to you.

You felt a little nervous to say it, but when his eyes landed on you, it urged you to tell him.

“He wished me luck on the match and… he asked if we were a thing.”

His jaw throbbed and you caught it, but by the time that happened you were already reaching the gorilla.

What you didn’t know was that Ricky had been coming up to him asking the same thing, and at one point he expressed that he wanted to ask you to go out with him. He thought he made it clear when he glared the man down but evidently he didn’t make it clear enough. Either that or Ricky just didn’t care, which was what Hook was now figuring on.

He knew he couldn’t get distracted. A lot was riding on this match for you and he didn’t want to ruin that. He pushed the thoughts out of his head and turned to face you instead.

“Ready?” He asked, but he could tell that you were anxious. You still had those wide, round eyes that reminded him of a puppy and as much as you might be good at playing a heel, you just weren’t that person on the inside.

“Ready as I can be.” You nodded, attempting to collect yourself.

Jack’s music was almost finished and you knew that meant it was time for you and Hook to come out. You took in a deep breath and he noticed that it was shaky.

“Something that helps me when I feel under pressure is thinking about the look on the faces of all the people who ever doubted me when they have to watch me prove them wrong.” He blurted, shrugging a shoulder.

You thought on that. Remembering back when you first came to AEW and had no foothold in the industry. All the mean, offensive things you’d heard about yourself start replaying over and over again in your mind and to your surprise, you felt a little bit of adrenaline surge.

“That’s helpful, actually” you tell him, noticing the right side of his mouth tipping upwards.

Just then, the intro of Chairman’s Intent boomed through the speakers and Hook nodded. “Remember that if you get nervous.”

You nodded back before he stepped to the side, as he usually did, to let you lead the way.

You headed out with him trailing right behind you and held your eyes on both Anna and Jack standing in the ring, amping each other up.

The glares being shared between the four of you was making for great tensions arising in the arena and the crowd was intensely engaged in all of it, which made you happy, of course, but you couldn’t show that.

You headed in one direction and he headed in the other, you both circling the ring with eyes on your opponents.

When you passed each other, he held his hand out. You tagged it as you walked past and that simple interaction had the crowd bursting with cheers.

You met up at the steel steps and he stepped back, waving you to go first. You stepped up onto the canvas and slipped between the ropes, Hook following. He didn’t lean against the turnbuckles like he usually did but you assumed that was because this wasn’t one of his typical matches. He stayed at your side and shot daggers to jack and Anna.

You and Anna were going first. You walked up to her, showing no signs of intimidation as you stood toe to toe. She smirked down at you before forcefully pushing you a foot back, making you stumble before you caught your footing.

You wiped that grin off of her face when you delivered a harsh slap to her cheek and from that point on, the two of you were rolling around the ring, throwing fists and kneeing ribs until Paul said it was enough.

You put some separation between you two and that’s when she tagged Jack, so you went to your corner where hook was waiting with an extended hand, eyeing you as you approached.

“You good?”

“I’m good” you slapped his hand and he hopped over the top rope, lunging towards back with a force that knocked him off his feet.

The crowd went wild at his explosiveness and the energy in the arena was absolutely riveting. It could’ve given you a high at that point.

You watched as Hook clotheslined jack right over the ropes, and when he hit the floor, Anna hopped off of the canvas. Hook jumped down and grabbed jack by his hair, but that’s when Anna came behind him and jabbed her elbow into the side of his neck, bringing him down to his knees.

You hopped down and raced over, grabbing her from behind and spinning her until she slammed into the barricades. Hook watched for a moment before he returned his attention to jack.

The two of them were back in the ring while you and Anna threw punches on the outside.

She was way more aggressive than you were, making you feel the urge to hit a little harder. You heard Hook shouting and you both looked up, finding that Jack had used Hook’s redrum against him, but Hook was trying to fight it, and failing.

You kicked Anna back and created enough space to slide under the ropes and break the hold. Hook fell to his knees and jack rose to his feet, walking you back towards the turnbuckles before you felt annas hands around your ankles and your face crashed into the canvas.

You lifted your head to see blood stains dripping from your mouth. Your tongue slid over your teeth to see if one was broken but all you tasted was metallic.

You glanced up to see Hook’s eyes on you. He was in the middle of getting jack ready for a German Suplex when he got distracted by the blood pouring from your busted lip.

He snapped back into it and slung jack over, then got back to his feet like he didn’t take a harsh landing himself and walked over to you.

Kneeling down, he scanned every inch of your face. This wasn’t planned and you both knew that. There was concern in his eyes that quickly turned into undoubted rage when jack grabbed Hook’s shoulders from behind and slammed him down to the canvas.

It was only then that he realized you were bleeding but by that time, it was too late for him.

Hook rose up quickly and threw his fists into jacks jaw. He stumbled back, falling against the turnbuckles and hook just didn’t stop.

Paul had to separate the two, and you when he did, Jack shouted out, “I didn’t know she was bleeding man!”

You got back up and saw the look on Anna’s face when she noticed all the blood leaving a trail from your lip to your chin. She didn’t mean it, and you weren’t mad. Accidents happened all the time, it’s a part of the business.

Hook’s eyes followed you as you walked around the ring back over to your corner, and tensions seemed to have died down when he saw that you were okay.

You held your hand out for him, knowing you and Anna were the ones finishing the match and he hesitated a little bit before he tagged you in.

“You alright?” He asked, and you nodded before you hopped over the top rope.

Anna lunged foward and you stepped to the side, letting her slam into the turnbuckle. Hook smirked at this, it was a classic move.

You grabbed her by the back of her head and slammed her down on her back, watching as she clutched her neck and rolled around, before you pulled her back up.

You knew what was next and had to remember what Hook said that night that you learned you’d be using his finisher to end this match.

Anna was a good bit taller but since you brought a six foot man to his knees, you knew size wasn’t an obstacle.

She turned her back in an attempt to create some distance and you quickly sprung forward and hopped on her. Jack immediately slid under the ropes but that’s when hook raced in and wrapped his arm under his jaw, immediately making him wobbly at the knees.

“Lock it in!” Hook shouted at you as he hopped up and wrapped his legs around jacks waist, effectively bringing him down to the canvas.

You dug your knees into Anna’s sides and reared back, holding on tight when your back hit the canvas and within only seconds, they both tapped out and Hook’s music bursted through the arena, though it wasn’t too easy to hear over the eruption of the crowd.

You kicked Anna’s limp body off of you and looked up to see Hook’s extended hand. You took it, helping you to your feet before he held both your hands in the air.

His eyes would’ve been scanning the arena but they were focused on the blood smearing your skin instead. He nodded towards the tunnels and you lead the way, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand, and feeling the sting of an open wound.

“That was a hell of a match right there boys” taz exclaimed from commentary.

“That it was, taz, those two know how to bring the energy to an arena” tony chipped in.

“I’ll tell you what, I wasn’t too thrilled about the new attitude from Y/N at first, but she’s toughened up a lot since her and Hook teamed up.” Excalibur adds.

“He’s coldhearted and she’s following in his footsteps I guess” tony chuckled

“No, I’ll tell you this much. I’ve had many, many conversations with the coldhearted handsome devil and with Y/N myself and those two simply have like minds, like-personalities and like-spirits. We should’ve seen this one coming boys, it was bound to happen.”

As soon as the arena was behind you, you felt his hand on your shoulder, turning you to face him. His eyes were trained on the laceration but you quickly covered it with your hand.

“It’s fine” you tell him. You wanted to continue feeling the rush that the big win gave you, wondering why he didn’t seem excited at all.

“I don’t care about the cut, I’m too pumped up right now” you tell him as you head through the tunnel with a little pep in your step.

“It’s deep.” He says as he catches up. “I think you should go make sure you don’t need stitches”

“It’s just a cut, it’s fine Tyler.”

Accidentally once again, you said his real name. Once again, he felt a little taken back by it, but tried not to show it.

“It’s bleeding a lot.” He keeps on, like it hasn’t stopped at all.

You wiped the blood with the back of your hand and he grabbed your wrist to show you the crimson covering your skin. “That is a lot.”

“I’ve had worse, seriously. I’ll just go wash my face and hold a gauze to it for a couple minutes and it’ll stop.”

Before he could object again, Skye and Willow were both racing up to you. Their arms engulfed you and you felt the giddiness arising within you again. You glanced over at Tyler who was watching the whole group hug with an evident, proud looking smile.

“You are the baddest fucking bitch” Skye says when they unwrap their arms. “That shit was so good I would watch it a hundred times!”

You couldn’t contain the smile breaking out, and that’s when Willow asks, “Does your mouth hurt? That was a nasty fall.”

“Yeah but she got up and kept fighting cause she’s a bad fucking bitch” Skye grins.

“It’s fine, I don’t even feel it I’m too happy right now” you say as you glance back over to see that Tyler was no longer there. Your eyes adverted all around but he had disappeared elsewhere.

“C’mon, we’re gonna get you cleaned up.” Willow grabs your hand and pulls you along. “Oh, and we’re going out tonight to celebrate you.”

————

You stumbled through the hotel doors at one in the morning, wobbly on your feet with willow and Skye by your side. You’d went out to a bar on the north side of town and downed way too many drinks that you could actually remember but you were still on a high from your match that you didn’t even realize how drunk you actually were.

You were all three laughing amongst yourselves about nothing in particular when you caught sight of Taz coming out of the hotel gym.

He had an amused smirk on his face when he approached the three of you.

“Ladies, looks like you had a good time tonight.” He said as he eyed all three of you before focusing on you specifically.

“You took a nasty fall, Y/N, my son was just telling me about how you were too stubborn to get it checked out.” He chucked. That’s when your eyes lingered over to the gym doors.

“Yeah but it’s fine” you slurred. “I was so pumped I didn’t even feel a thing.”

“Be careful about that adrenaline rush, it can sneak up on you sometimes” he said.

“Okay. Is he in there?” You pointed to the gym, stumbling a little bit.

“Tyler? Yeah, he always does his workouts at this ungodly hour.”

When you heard that, that’s all your attention was focused on. You looked over and Skye and Willow who already knew what you were thinking, but they didn’t say anything except, “Well see you tomorrow girl”

Taz eyed you before a smirk came to his face and he shook his head with a low laugh. “Alright, I’m off to my room. Tell my son he needs to stop calling me down to the gym at anytime past midnight and call his tagteam partner from now on instead.”

You nodded, a smile willingly spreading across your lips before you headed towards the gym. You opened the door to find him sitting on the weight bench staring down at his phone, and right as you saw that, your phone buzzed in your pocket.

He looked up at you, brows knitted but with amusement in his eyes.

“That’s weird, I just texted you. Do you teleport now?” He asked, then cringed to himself. That was stupid, why did he say that?

You chuckle nonetheless as you stumbled in, thinking you weren’t noticeably drunk but it was way more obvious than you thought.

“Have fun?” He asked as he watched you head over to the bench across from his and sit down.

“I did” you grinned sheepishly. “It’s been such a good day, actually.”

He nodded back, eyes lingering to the laceration on your bottom lip that was already healing.

“I just ran into your dad” you tell him, swaying side to side.

“Did you?” He smirks, and you wished your vision wasn’t so blurry.

“Yeah, said to tell you stop calling him down here so late and call your tag team partner instead” you hiccuped.

He dropped his head. “Of course he did” he said as he shook it. You watched as he ran his hand through his hair and fluffed it out.

“Hey” you catch his attention.

“Hey” he says back.

“What’s coming next?” You asked the question that’s been running through your mind for a couple of days leading up to the match. “You know, we won tonight. The rivalry doesn’t really have anywhere else to go. So what does that mean for us? Are we done being partners now that we’ve beat them? I mean I know you still have the FTW title to win back, and I can be there ringside for it… if you wanted”

His eyes dropped to your fingers fidgeting over your lap.

“I don’t really know. What do you want to happen?” He asked, knowing already that he has thought about this same exact thing and the idea of the two of you no longer being a duo didn’t sit right with him, but he hadn’t mentioned anything to Tony and Tony hasn’t said anything else either.

“I want things to stay like they are” you admitted with another hiccup. “We have fun, don’t we?”

He had to keep in mind that you were drunk and now probably wasn’t the best time to take anything you said to heart, but it was hard for him not to.

“Yeah, we do.” He nods.

“So let’s call Tony and tell him we’re going to keep doing this heel run together” you pulled out your phone and read the text that was floating on your screen from Tyler earlier.

“can you come to the gym, i want to talk to you about something”

“Wait, what did want to talk about?” You asked. He shifted around and straightened his posture as he rubbed his palms over his sweats.

Before he texted you that, he was having a talk with his dad about you. It wasn’t often that Tyler came to him for advice on women but he didn’t really know who else he could trust.

He admitted that even though he tried to fight against it, he’d fallen pretty hard for you and it was starting to eat away at him. He didn’t have the impression that you would feel the same way, even though Taz completely disagreed with him on that.

He told his son that he would bet a million bucks that the feeling was mutual, claiming that a connection like the two of you have is undeniable and if he’s ever listened to anything taz told him, it needed to be that.

“You two remind me of myself and your mother when we were young” he recalls his dad saying. “We were too stubborn to admit we had feelings until we got drunk one night and it all spilled out”

“Tyler?” Your voice broke him out of his own thoughts. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

He never had to have a conversation like this before. He never really wanted anyone for more than just a fun night before. His adams apple bobbed as he swallowed thickly and tried to keep his nerves under control.

“I- uh-“ he rubbed the back of his neck as he inhaled deeply. Letting it all out in a quick huff.

“I been thinking a lot about me and you, and I don’t want to stop what we’ve been doing, but I do want to start doing more” he danced around the confession and you couldn’t quite piece it together.

“Like… how?” You asked, a little lost.

“I want to be with you.” He blurted, feeling his cheeks burn the minute the words flew from his mouth. His eyes scanned your face, studying it, searching for a reaction but you were blank faced and for once he couldn’t read you.

“You want to be with me? Like, be with me?” You were sure you weren’t hearing him right. Maybe everyone else thought you and Tyler were a thing but you never thought it was actually going to be an option.

“Yes, I do” he boldly stated, holding his eyes on you, watching as all the conversations you, Willow and Skye had over the last couple of weeks flashed through your mind and you couldn’t believe they were right the entire time.

“But if you don’t feel the same way, it’s okay, I’ll still do the heel run with you and we can forget I ever said anything.” He lowly muttered, waiting for what felt like an eternity for you to say anything back.

“Or if you’re already into someone else, like Ricky or something-“

“I’m not” you blurted out. “I’m not into anyone else.”

You couldn’t ignore the way your heart was beginning to race and your skin felt like it was engulfed in a million small fires. You stared back at him, your eyes lingering to his lips when his tongue slid over them.

A bunch of feelings you’d suppressed out of sheer denial suddenly came rushing in and it was now impossible to force them back again. All the tensions between the two of you, the anger and the confusion over the last few weeks was quickly diminished by an even stronger feeling of pure anticipation and desire.

The space between the two of you was too much and it was if Tyler had that same thought when he stood up from the weight bench and extended his hand. You took it, and he helped you to your feet.

You were unsure what to do with your hands when he let go but it became easy to find a place for them to rest on his waist when his finger curled beneath your chin, angling your head up, lips would’ve been brushing against each other if you were just a little taller.

His eyes were soft and a sprinkle of hazel appeared against the dark brown, and you realized you never noticed that before now.

He took in every inch of your face with a slow and meaningful gaze before an easy smile spread across his lips and a dimple soon followed.

You felt butterflies erupt in your stomach and spread through your whole body when he leaned in. You rose to you tip toes and your lips met gently, slowly, and tenderly. The way they fit like two pieces of a puzzle, moving in sync and pure harmony had your head spinning.

The taste of mint lingered on your tongue long after his lips were no longer on yours and you didn’t want it to vanish anytime soon.

He looked at you with eyes of adoration, his fingers slipping from your chin and pulling you into his chest. You buried your face into the fabric of his t-shirt, taking in the scent of cologne that you recognized from his hoodie you never gave back to him, and that’s when you remembered it.

“I still have your hoodie.” You chuckled, feeling his chest rise and fall with a low chuckle of his own.

“Keep it. It’s yours. It’s been yours since I gave it to you.”

———-

From that night in the hotel room gym on, you and Tyler were always together at the arena and outside of it. Your heel run was going strong. You were an undefeated tagteam that nobody wanted to step in the ring with.

After two weeks of keeping your love life on the low, he decided he wanted everyone to know. You were walking back from another successful match, standing on the stage when he grabbed your hand and spun you to him, placing a kiss to your lips that made the whole arena erupt in screams and chants of your conjoined names the fans came up with.

“Bet nobody saw that coming” Tony sarcastically remarked from commentary. “AEW’s modern day Bonnie and Clyde”

“Looks like you need to set an extra plate at the table when the holidays roll around, Taz.”

“I’ll gladly do that my friend.” Taz grinned as he watched you and hook exit through the tunnel.

“We’ve never seen the coldhearted handsome devil show any sort of emotion whatsoever… except with her!” Excalibur exclaims.

“Guess he’s not so coldhearted after all” Tony chips in.

“Oh no, he’s coldhearted son, but not towards her. Everyone else including myself gets the cold shoulder from my man, but she’s something special to him.”

Tyler walked you to the locker room and leaned against the wall. A soft smile stays on his face whenever the cameras aren’t around now.

“You looked gorgeous slamming Britt’s head into the canvas.” He taunts, earning a laugh from you.

“Thanks, I didn’t really try” you bantered back.

“Never have to.” He grins as he leans in and brushes his lips against yours before they fully connect.

“Everyone knows now” he says when you pull apart.

“They probably already did. We’ve been caught making out a lot” you remind him, earning that dimple you love so much to appear.

“True. I’m glad we don’t have to hide it anymore. I can officially call you mine.” He grins.

You place another gentle kiss to his lips before you whisper against them, “I’ve been yours this whole time”

[torahoes]

(IDOLiSH7) Ryunosuke Tsunashi - Drama Collection 2 Summer Rabbit Chat

Please note that I am not a professional translator. If you come across any mistakes, feel free to let me know and I will make the necessary corrections.

Haruka Isumi: Good work today, this is Haruka Isumi from ŹOOĻ.

Haruka Isumi: Um

Haruka Isumi: About tomorrow’s drama promotion, I don’t have much experience with location shoots so I might cause you some trouble, but I’ll do my best. Looking forward to working with you!

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Haruka-kun, good work today! This is Ryunosuke Tsunashi from TRIGGER. Thanks for reaching out!

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: It’s a location shoot at a resort, isn't it? I’ve been really looking forward to working with you one-on-one. Let’s do our best to get a lot of people to watch the drama! ✨

Haruka Isumi: Thank you! I’ll do my very besh!

Haruka Isumi: ↑ I'm sorry, that was a typo

Haruka Isumi: I’ll do my bast

Haruka Isumi: Ahhhhhhhhhhh

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: It’s okay! I got what you meant! 😊

Haruka Isumi: Mannnn, I’m really sorry

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Don’t worry about it! It kind of feels like I’m chatting with my little brother, so it's comforting

Haruka Isumi: Oh right, you have a little brother, don't you

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: That's right! I have three younger brothers: one in first year of high school, one in first year of middle school, and one in fifth year of elementary school

Haruka Isumi: All younger than me…

Haruka Isumi: I’m not usually like this, I promise!! I’m usually more well put together

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Of course! You lead your group as the center of ŹOOĻ, and I always find your performances incredibly powerful and cool!

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Oh, speaking of which, yesterday Torao-kun told me, "Take care of Haruka" ✨

Haruka Isumi: Huh, for real!?

Haruka Isumi: I mean, really!?

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Yeah, after we wrapped up filming for the drama! Maybe he was worried because the location is a bit far from the city 😊

Haruka Isumi: Torao, seriously — that guy's too overprotective, I swear...

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: I’m a bit worried about you too, Haruka-kun 💦

Haruka Isumi: Eh, about what!?

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Have you been getting sunburned during the shoots? Are you okay? I’m used to it since I grew up on an island, but it can get really bad and painful with the stinging and peeling, so I was concerned.

Haruka Isumi: Ah, I’m perfectly alright! Rokuya-san shared some good tips with me, and I’ve also been using the expensive sunscreen Torao gave me

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: That's a relief! Nagi-kun struggles with the summer heat too, after all 😅 When he showed up for the shoot in an outfit that completely hid his face, I assume for sun protection, I was surprised ☀️

Haruka Isumi: I panicked; I thought I messed up during the shoot…

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: No way! You’re a great actor! That scene where your character evolves and says, “I used to think it'd be nice if the four of us could always be together. But there’s still so much I need to learn,” really struck a chord with me! 👍

Haruka Isumi: T- Thank you! ✨ There were quite a few scenes where I was the only one sulking or crying, and they were a bit complicated, so I'm glad to hear that lol

Haruka Isumi: And Tsunashi-san, you were like the mood-maker, always cheering up your childhood friends

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Until now, I haven't had the chance to play such a lively and high-spirited character, so it’s really refreshing 😳 And since my character's rich, delivering the line, “I’ll take everything from here to here in this store,” got me really excited! Lol

Haruka Isumi: It's definitely one of those things you want to say at least once, right? 😳 lol

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Right! Lol. Filming has been a blast, including the drama-filled chaotic scenes that unfold when we have no choice but to take care of a wealthy acquaintance's son and daughter during vacation 😆

Haruka Isumi: Same here! I came to realize that this is what a lively summer vacation spent with friends must feel like. I’m pretty shy like my character, so I haven’t had many experiences like this

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Oh, I know! If you'd like, how about hanging out together sometime when we're both free? 😆

Haruka Isumi: Eh, is that alright?

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Only if you're up for it, Haruka-kun 😆 Since you’re close in age to my brothers too, I’d love to learn about what’s trendy and stuff from you ✨

Haruka Isumi: Rather, if you're okay with me, I'd be happy to...!

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Thanks! I'm looking forward to it! 😊👌

Ryunosuke Tsunashi:

Haruka Isumi:

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: I'm excited for the drama's completion...! Will you watch it with your family, Haruka-kun?

Haruka Isumi: Yes, I plan to watch it with my grandma. Though it's a bit embarrassing

Haruka Isumi: How about you, Tsunashi-san?

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: My brothers saw the commercial for the drama the other day apparently and gave me call

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Since I really took to the child actors, it seems my youngest brother got a bit jealous, so it ended up being an angry phone call 😂💦 Lol

Haruka Isumi: Cute lol. Did you guys make up?

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: As I asked him about what happened at school and other things, he started feeling better 🤝

Haruka Isumi: That's good! Being an older brother sounds tough

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Maybe it bothered him more than usual since I haven’t been home much recently 💦 Haruka-kun, what do you want to do in the summer? I'd like to hear it as a reference 🤗

Haruka Isumi: Um, I'm not sure

Haruka Isumi: Maybe have Nagashi Somen...? [1]

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Nagashi Somen!!

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: That's great! It's also something you can enjoy with a large group! Thanks for the wonderful suggestion! ✨

Haruka Isumi: I- Is that really good enough...?

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: You won't believe this

Haruka Isumi: Yes?

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: They've recently launched a raffle in the nearby shopping district, and the third prize is a Nagashi Somen machine!

Haruka Isumi: No way!!

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: And to top it off, it's named "Nagashi Somen-kun Hyper Great Ver.!" The name was so impactful that it stuck with me. Lol

Haruka Isumi: Sounds like those noodles are gonna flow super fast!! lmao

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: We have no choice but to win it now, huh?! How about we try our luck at the raffle when we hang out? 😂✨

Haruka Isumi: Absolutely!!! I'll make sure we win 🔥

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: That’s reassuring...! Then, let's have a strategy meeting tomorrow! 🔥

Haruka Isumi:

The End.

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

[1] Nagashi Somen: A traditional Japanese summer dish where somen noodles are served flowing down a bamboo flume filled with ice-cold water.

[daddy-dins-girl]

Pedro Boys - "Zombie Apocalypse Team"

this might be my favourite one yet... keep reading for headcanons!

related posts: Pedro Boys "During a Fire Emergency" Pedro Boys "Nice Argument. Unfortunately," Pedro Boys "Don't Fuck This Up" Pedro Boys "Dad(dy) Matrix" Pedro Boys & Stabbing Pedro Boys "Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic" Pedro Boys "Feral/Sad/Angelic" Pedro Boys Respond to "I love you." Pedro Boys "Character Tropes" Pedro Boys "Gay/Depressed/Horny on Main" Pedro Boys "Dad/THOT/Bastard" Pedro Boys "bring some Coke to the party" Pedro Boys "I Want a Baby" Pedro Boys "As Babysitters" Pedro Boys "As McDonald's Dads" Pedro Boys "in a horror movie" Pedro Boys "Cinnamon Rolls" Pedro Boys "5 Kids, 3 Chairs" Pedro Boys "Playing Monopoly"

Headcanons under the cut!

Leader - Dave York. Simply put, Dave wouldn’t allow anyone else to be in charge of him, regardless if they’d be better suited for it. Some of the others follow him out of fear, others simply because they'd just prefer not to be in charge.

Brawler - Joel Miller. The muscle. Not so great with his words, much better with his fists.

Weapons Expert - Din Djarin. A bonafide space cowboy, this man has it all. Blasters, rifles, flamethrower, jet pack. Evaporating infected before they even see him coming.

Brains - Marcus Moreno. Truly the Team Leader, but he lets Dave hold the title. He has the mutual respect of everyone, is level headed and the glue that holds the whole group together. He advises Dave, but in a way that makes Dave think they’re his own ideas. Marcus doesn't need to take any credit, he just wants everyone to be safe.

Medic - Frankie "Catfish" Morales. He’s no doctor, but he's had enough basic field medical training in his military days to at least be able to patch everyone up better than anyone else on the team. He’d prefer to be the Vehicle Expert but sadly, modes of transportation in the apocalypse are hard to come by.

Moral Support - Marcus Pike. Always looking at the bright side of the apocalypse. He likes to joke “when life hands you cordyceps, make mushroom tetrazzini”.

Scientist - Ezra. Not exactly Einstein, but he knows what berries and plants are safe and which to avoid during long treks through the wilderness. He’s proven himself useful more so than not. Mostly he keeps Dieter from accidentally un-aliving himself.

Risk taker - Max Phillips. Loud and outspoken, Max's mouth is always getting the group into trouble. Good luck to any infected that tries to turn him though, his ego is so big its like a thick candy shell around the vulnerable parts of his brain.

Stealthy - Oberyn Martell. Forget sniping infected from 100 yards away, this man simply sneaks up behind them and with some flourishing footwork they're on the ground with any sharp object he could get his hands on slicing through the flesh of their throat. He's also stealthy in the way he manages to slip into the others' sleeping bags without them evening realizing at the time that they want him to, but that's a headcanon for another post...

Dumbass - Dieter Bravo. It's not that he wants to die, it's just that he seems to occasionally forget that he can't just eat the fungus as if it came in a Ziplock bag that he use to pay 40 bucks a pop for.

Badass - Javier Peña. This man just continuously takes down infected as if they might actually come to an end. He knows that as quickly as he takes down one colony, four more spring up, but he's stubborn and refuses to stop trying, regardless of how tired he is of it all.

Mascot - Javi Gutierrez. He is babygirl. To be protected at all costs.

Distraction - Jack "Whiskey" Daniels. A real root-tootin, gun-blazin cowboy. Jack never needs to be asked twice to go put on a spectacle in the middle of an open field, gathering all the attention so the rest of the group can flank all sides under brush cover. He seems to have nine lives too, narrowly escaping death more times than any other. And he can handle his own. He argued for the spot of Weapons Expert but ultimately was swayed when he realized being the distraction actually meant being the center of attention.

Stereotype - Pero Tovar. One look at this man screams "if anyone was going to survive a zombie apocalypse, it's him"

Sacrifice - Dio. Look, it was his idea. The weird part was that nobody even asked him to.

First Dead - Eddie. It's just facts. In a long line of Pedro Boys deaths, someone had to be first.

Reply or reblog with your own headcanons, I'd love to hear them :)

[sorbeau]

hi its me again i feel legally obligated to ask about your thoughts on the new riz design (but also extends to al of the other new art for the bad kids too!!!)

HI SHOKO sorry this took so long to asnwer, it feels a little late to the party now but I have lots of thoughts and this has been in my drafts for a hot minute so I'll break my thoughts down in order <3

Fig

GOD DO I LOVE FIG'S DESIGN. It hasn't changed too drastically in many ways, it's largely the same beats with the plaid skirt, leather jacket, biker gloves, and docs, but there's a lot more detail pertaining to her character now. Ayda's feather earring is abviously a huge win, everyone loves to see it, but I love the small details like the added wallet chain on her skirt, the added ear piercings, and her painted nails. If I had to choose something I didn't like, it'd be the color of her shoelaces, which isn't a huge deal bc you know spyre might have different cultural beats, but it's very reminiscent of punk doc lace codes, which were a way to sort of factionize yourself among punks. Fig wears one purple and one red, and traditionally purple means gay pride(which is great and i would've picked it for her too) but red usually means you allign yourself with neo-nazi's and similar groups which. is definitely Not Fig. It's not a HUGE deal but, maybe some more research could've been put into it.

Gorgug

Gorgug's new design is so. Perfect. Amazing. Spectacular. No notes. It's exactly the changes I wanted to see. The goggles, the dirt-covered face, the ripped jeans, the bags and tools, the gloves, the most disgusting worn pair of convers you've ever seen. It's absolutely amazing and the artist has managed to bring all the beats we loved about his original design(his extremely fashionable purple pants) and mixes them perfectly with all of the new facets of Gorgug's personality that have changed and grown theough their adventures. A little detail I love is how the color of his headphones has changed to match with the rest of his outfit better, creating a more cohesive design with the introduction of more red/maroon tones. This was always a little bit of an issue with the old design for me. The colors sort of didn't go together.

Kristen

She's going through a break up. She's at the most chaotic she's ever been and she's trying to fix it. It is so genius to make her jacked. The bright yellow tracksuit is beautiful and exactly something Kristen would buy and wear every day. Plus the tiedye purple sports bra tying in her old church camp shirt aesthetic is brilliant. I'm mourning the loss of her sandals, but the matching shoes to her tracksuit can't be complained about. Not a whole lot to say, I'm excited about how this design will change and reflect her growth this season! Praise Saint Kristen Applebees!!

Adaine

THE ELVEN ORACLE IS COOL NOW!!! I love her jacket, all the patches and the toned down fur lining is absolutely perfect. I also love the cool strapped bags on her hips and legs, it's just a really cool adventurer addition cementing her as a bad ass practical caster. Her entire face seems more assured and relaxed, which is absolutely amazing for her and reflects how her resting state is no longer as addled with panic and anxiety as it used to be. Her hair also seems a lot more her! Not sure how to describe it, but it seems like she's focusing less on keeping herself perfect, and more on just keeping herself, herself! Not very big design swings or changes, but she doesn't need to change, she just needs to be true to herself. (Also. a huge fan of her cool magic circle shirt.) My only gripe. Give her blue hair. And pronouns. And glasses pretty please.

Fabian

That boy is the future of dance!!!!!!!!!! I love the color palette shift for his design, it's a really great way to show how he's grown out of Bill's shadow and embraced his own passions with the grey tones with red and gold accents. Also a huge fan of the fancy robed pants, tons of great movement lines and something a dancer would totally wear. On the same note however, I feel like it doesn't really go with the rest of his outfit. I love how the changes made are geared towards movement and dance(his shoes changing from sneakers to dance shoes is great) but I feel like the changes are all sort of mismatched? The dance shoes look a lot like tap shoes, but the pants look more big and flowy, better for a more leaping and running style of dance, and his jacket has almost nothing to do with dance. It's delightfully artsy and detailed, which is so chic and Fabian, but the shapes of it don't really match up, and especially without a clear view of the front it makes him look like he's wearing half of a matador outfit. I would've loved to see a more dramatic silhouette without the use of the battle sheet(which is absolutely perfect, no notes) with either lots of flowy parts for movement, or a sharp jacket with skinnier pants for that exaggerated silhouette. Again, I think this is really all due to a lack of research, but the spirit of Fabian is still in the room with us. The colors are great, the bandages on his hands are perfect, and the fanciful element is very on point, just needs some better shape language and cohesiveness.

Riz

There he goes, he's gone from gritty detective to gadget-heavy superspy. I LOVE the character choices that Murph made for Riz, he's become even more of a loser and seems a lot less hard and fast, and more generally passionate. In freshman and sophomore year, he was entirely goal oriented, completely focused on completing his mission and solving the mystery, this time around he's still got a mission, but because he can't do it all himself, he's sort of given the opportunity to branch out and explore himself. This is all to say, i love the insufferable loser hipster kid that he's become. He is truly the trinket goblin of all time, I love all his wild little gadgets and jewelry, and all the extra arcano-tech screens on his glasses are brilliant. I'm also a huge fan of his torso gun-holdster, which is a beautiful homage to his detective nature. The undercut is also obviously perfection. The loser teen-boy urge to cut away your beautiful hair for a nerdy undercut is so painfully lore accurate that it's one of my favorite details. It's probably because he's a dork. but I would love to know why he has rolled up pants and no socks. What is that. Why would he do that. ALSO STOP BEING A COWARD D20. GIVE HIM DIGITIGRADE LEGS AND A TAIL. CAT GOBLIN TRUTHERS UNITE!!!!!!!!!!

anyways that's probably the end of my rant for now. I love the bad kids and overall their designs are great. constantly wishing all of my headcannons were real but understanding that the cannon will never relent.

[ay-chuu]

As a Boyfriend: Jade Leech

Warnings: Tooth roothinf fluff,cringe and lol first time writing for a character that im not so close... BUT for my dear; @fukashiin <3

Jade is the most advanced person in terms of emotional intelligence between Floyd, himself and Azul! He just doesn't show it, or makes people hard to guess it with his slightly sadistic traits. But he is neither open to everything like Floyd and lives according to the moment or doesn’t get hysterical like Azul and make things get out of control. He analyzes everything and approaches the person with the most point shots in an emotional sense. Just like when he managed to impress you (;

He considers himself a loser in many things, and he didn't realize it until he met you... he thought he was incompetent in most things because he set himself back from everyone, but after he becoma lovers with you, he realized that this was an idea that could only be overcome. And this is actually also when he falls in love with you. Because he has always known that someone who can make him believe unexpected thoughts is his soulmate.

A romantic gentleman. Everything he does in the position of butler is a factor that is not a role for you. Are you tired? Your favorite drink is already ready. Are you sad? Why don't you lie down on that couch over there and tell him everything? Problems with the lesson? Here are the most profound books on this topic.

You're a new member of Mountain Lover Club! At first you thought you'd be so bored... (no, you definitely didn't join that club to impress Jade...) But taking mountain trips and determining the types of mushrooms from the book turned out to be more fun than you expected! First of all, there is no phone, it's a great Decoupling from the digital environment.... Secondly, you are drunk with nature, and at the end of every walk you become full of love and mushrooms. Finally and most importantly, you taste Jade in the most authentic way... when you two are alone together, he shows you his incredibly true self and always makes you feel soft inside.

One of the things that upsets Jade the most is the sadness of his loved ones. Floyd and you are at the top of this list. If someone has upset you... God bless them. I don't think he'll let them go without leaving a serious trauma. Even if this person is your family, he scares them in some way and makes them respect him. Because Jade is always an influential person. But if any event has upset you, what he will do is solve the incident as soon as possible as efficiently as possible, because he would rather drown the world than see you upset.

He's quite jealous. But he usually shows it to the person he's jealous of by making life a little hell because he doesn't want you to understand that he's jealous…

Swimming in the sea with you with the eel form, is his favorite. You're playing with each other, laughing like there's no tomorrow, and just.... You're together.... As you lean your foreheads against each other, the reflection of the setting sun on your face is an incredible happiness for both of you.

It may seem like he's the dominant person in the relationship, but actually you're the secret boss! He's just being angry at you and leading you so that you can be happy. (He's a complete malewife... When you get married, you get a 10/10 service in your home. He is a devoted husband! devoted to his spouse, *insert proud face with mop!*)

To be lovers together with Jade is to be able to say that you also have a close relationship with Floyd! You three are a chaotic group, and there are no people who can understand or put it in a sentence to describe the craziness you are doing. And that's why Jade loves you so much. Just as you can have peaceful moments when you two are together, all the calm disappears in an instant when you put your twin Decoupled! (Floyd is very happy thst you two are dating and even jealous that Jade is dating you... But that's another day's topic!)

All in all, Jade is both a gentle lover who has all the qualities you can look for and want, and a wonderful partner who can give you the most crazy and adventurous moments.

[shinyrhinestones]

okay so i saw your post about sending in TH requests so i’m gunna send one

so basically reader is georgs little sister (maybe like a year younger that tom and bill but it’s up to you) and she goes on tour with them all the time and georg is really protective over her and constantly babies her and gustav treats her like a sister as well and her and bill are best friends but tom is always flirting with reader and she doesn’t get the hint but one day she is hanging out with georg without the rest of the guys and she just blurts out “i think tom likes me” or something like that and georg is like “congrats you’re the last person to figure it out” and it ends with her going to ask tom about it and they end up kissing and confessing their feelings for each other and georg thinks they’re sweet together but he still does the whole big brother talk with tom and threatens him yk .

wow that was a lot . anyways hope this is okay , just ignore it if you don’t like it .

okay bye-bye bestie all the love 🩷🫶

Hii! Thank you for your request! Anyways let’s get into it.

So as the request says pairing is Tom Kaullitz X (Georgs littlesister) Reader.

(this is acrually so cringe, i'm so sorry. Also so sorry if there's many spelling mistakes and if it’s out of character).

Warnings: Kissing, nausea. (Let me know if I overlooked any)…

———————————————————————

So as always you were on the tour bus with the popular german band Tokio Hotel. Not that you didn't enjoy being on tour with some of your most important people in your life, it's just the motion sickness that sucked.

It almost felt surreal that your older brother was this young and successful. But it was fun. Especially when you were allowed to be around the band so often even on tour.

Since you met the band your brother was in, you became great friends with them. It was a chaotic enviroment to be in that was too funny not to want to be apart of. The only member on the band who you didn't want to call a friend was Tom. Ever since Georg had known the boys and been in the band you were introduced to them right away. And of course Tom caught your eye. He was pretty, goofy and he knew how to play the guitar. But the problem with Tom was that you never knew if Tom meant what he said when he was flirting with you. You always took it like a joke. It was hard to tell. He was all over girls when he could. He was known as the player in the group. It hurt. It hurt just a little bit that you didn't know where you stood with Tom. You never took him seriously.

But you did appreciate how Tom can be caring. He's proved it before and did it once again on the tour bus. You were trying to keep your eyes open as you held your fingertips against your forehead, like you could ease your nausea that way. Tom noticed placing a calm hand on your shoulder.

You felt dizzy everytime the bus rocked to the side. "Are you okay?" He asked and tried to look you in the face, but you looking down at the bus' floor made it hard for him. You sighed before answering. "Yeah". What was Tom gonna do? No need to tell him you were actually feeling like puking. Your eyes were barely open, but you tried to keep them open. Which was hard when you felt so sick but you knew that it could help with watching where the bus was driving and your surroundings. You heard some shuffling before you felt an arm go around your back and a hand resting on top of your left shoulder. "Are you sure?" His voice sounded again. You sighed once again. "Tom, i'm fine".

He wasn't brave enough to keep going. Feeling like he had already crossed a boundary he sat a bottle of water infront of you on one of the tables and left, patting you lightly on your back. Tom isn't scared to cross boundaries. Everyone else on the bus knew that too. Probably why they all shared a look of confusion as if Tom would've pushed you further.

----------

When you arrived at the hotel you would be staying at you had to sit in the lobby for what felt like forever, because the hotel had a mess up and couldn't check you in just yet. You sat on one of the couches resting your chin in your hand. You watched the boys bickering as always. Bill and Tom were being messy with each other. You weren't even listening to what they were arguing about. You just observed how chaotic the boys were. It was entertaining. You guessed that Tom noticed and wanted to tease you. "Like what you see, babygirl".

You furrowed your eyebrows before rolling your eyes at his sillyness. A small butterfly might've visited for a second when he smiled at you. He just chuckled at you. The blush you spotted on his face wasn't fully registered in your brain, thinking that it might just be adrenaline running through his body. Bill shoved Tom playfully as to say that he didn't want his best friend to constantly be flirted with if it wasn't something you wished yourself. Just like Georg looked at him with a disproving look. "Leave my sister alone" He said with a lightly playful tone but it was a mutual understanding that he meant it.

It's not that you weren't fully aware of your own crush on Tom but it just didn't take up a lot of space when you already made peace with the fact that Tom wasn't interested in a relationship.

But your brother had already caught up on it. To be honest he was mostly scared that Tom was just trying to get you into bed and leave it at that. So Georg made sure to stop Tom on the way up to your hotel rooms. You were walking along with Bill and Gustav talking about anything between heaven and earth up the stairs. You didn't even notice Georg had stopped Tom.

"Tom, I mean it. Mess around with my sister and it won't end well for you" Georg didn't actually want to threaten one of his best friends but he also felt a need to protect his family. Tom furrowed his eyebrows. "What?" Tom understood why Georg was being like that. Tom was always covering up his romantic feelings for you with his natural player and flirty personality. "You heard me. Don't hurt my sister. I mean it." Tom just stared at Georg unsure of what to say. So many thoughts and feelings going on at once. "Uhm, sure okay. Yeah.." He said with almost a blank expression, but it was clear in his eyes that something was going on inside of there. Georg went up the stairs leaving Tom at the bottom of them, staring in the air before following behind.

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

Later on the evening you were out walking with Georg. Something that felt nice after being hours on the road. You were clutching onto your jacket walking down an unfamiliar street with your brother. It was already dark and stars were already painting the nightsky.

Georg finished a sentence when he felt like you weren't 100% present. Which wasn't completely off. You did have a lot of thoughts on your mind. Especially one thought that clouded your mind the most. "I think Tom might like me" You almost whispered. You stopped walking making Georg stop aswell. He raised an eyebrow at you before he let out a breath. You saw how the cold air met with his warm breath creating a fog. You almost regretted saying it until you saw Georgs small smirk. "Finally. We all noticed." He saw smiled slightly, shrugging his shoulders like it was the most obvious thing.

"Oh..okay" You started to smile yourself. The thought of him liking you like that started to form more butterflies than you felt earlier.

It was hard to focus on the rest of the walk, now knowing that you had to act on these feelings. And even though you had time to confess, you still couldn't wait.

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

When you entreres the hotel you felt how vold you had been meeting such warmth embrace you after walking in snow. But you also felt the excitement running through you as you remembered what Georg had given away.

You walked up the stairs of the hotel looking for Toms room. Finally finding his door, you knocked and waited.

Tom was just as surprised to see you standing in his door, just like you yourself were. "Hi Tom" You breathed out, like you had been holding your breath. He studied your face. "Hi".

"Uhm.." You were really starting to regret this. What if Georg was just joking? Or what if you misunderstood him?

"I just...I heard that you like me? Or well.." You looked up at the ceiling trying to think of how to actually form your sentences. You held your palms against each other as a nervous figdet. Toms lips started to slowly curve upwards.

He took a step forward letting his hand fall from the doorhandle. He cupped your face with his hands before giving you a deep kiss. You helt onto his arm, standing a little bit on the tip of your toes. It was hard not to feel all dazed. Like you had discovered something new but it was familiar in a sense that you’ve known Tom for so long. After the kiss he gave you one quick one and let his hands let go off your face. He didn’t need to say no more. The kiss and the look in his eyes was an answer good enough.

[nonbinarypirat]

Heyyy so I saw you were open to questions and doing commentary!! So I was wondering do you think Azz and Iruma’s relationship is different than Clara’s and Iruma’s? And and also would love to hear any love trio thoughts🙏 tysm !!!!

this is a great question!! as a spoiler, i am deeply in love and invested in the soulmate group and love the connections they have together and on one on one ways. yes! i do think they are different in many ways! Here's a little break down on my thoughts on their relationships :) .Get ready for word vomit, i went overboard

Azz and Iruma: Azz and Iruma relationship is one of deep personal openess. That isn't to say that they leave Clara out of their personal feelings, they do, but both of them lacked the normal carefree freedom as kids. Azz because of his brilliance and Iruma because of his parents.

Due to this, we see they often fall into sharing thoughts and anxieties with each other in their solo interactions. Azz and Iruma have also known each other the longest, at least a week or two went by before meeting Clara. So Azz met Iruma VERY much when Iruma was at his weakest moment, when he was so confused about the world he found himself in. And despite the weridness with their relationship at the start, Azz has always been there with Iruma, he's the third person he ever met here. With Azz having toned down is extreme admiration to Iruma this has made these moments possible between them.

I also don't want to make it seem like they don't joke with each other, we have seen that they do. They have both changed so much when it comes to having fun thanks to Clara. Now, they are able to have a shopping day and be silly. But without Clara to really push the envelope when it comes to fun, they have more calculated fun.

Clara and Iruma: Very much a playful cutesy relationship. (I honestly hope we get more interactions of just the two of them in the future.) Clara represents the childhood Iruma never had, never could have, and therefore allows him to explore childlike wonder. How to open up in more expressive ways, carefree exploration, amd fun to the fullest extent. And by doing so, Clara is able to understand Iruma's moods better than most since we let our guards down completely during moments of pure relaxation.

We see this when Clara immediately saw Iruma was upset and needed to let out his emotions and just be a child. She knows when Iruma is genuinely happy and when he's stressed and doesn't know how to express it. And we have seen that Iruma greatly appreciates Clara for letting him experience and understand playing, something he never had the time to do before. And by being around Iruma, Clara has been able to develop strong moral and logical thinking. Clara has always been a character that is more aware of what's going on then she let's on. But I think the childlike part got in the way of full development in this aspect of her character.

With Iruma, she is able to explore and understand more complex ideas and thinking. One issue with being so isolated like Clara was is that she never got to explore any type of critical reasoning. These things can only be developed by interacting with others. And so, in the beginning Clara was very short sighted and immature. Now, she not only has the love trio, she also has the misfits and it's not clear if she would have been able to create this friend circle without meeting Iruma. She has grown so much as a character and I love seeing her be mature and willing to make sacrifices (putting aside Iruma time because Azz needed it more) while still being chaotically happy.

Love Trio: What can I say that probably hasn't been screamed about in a different post. They are soulmates, deeply connected to each other in every way and bring out the best in each other. They don't "complete" each other, more like they allow for each other to be themselves to the fulllest. They all default to too serious/angry (Azz), too hyper/inconsiderate (Clara) and too in his own way/"yes man" (Iruma) when apart and together, make up for their weaknesses and boost their strengths.

Each of them has been important to the other's growth. They all have their place in the love trio and deeply love their roles too. The love trios relationship is based on deep trust, mutual (and healthy) dependency, and joy. By being with each other, they have created a safe space to allow expressiveness and vulnerablity while still leaving room for fun and happiness.

And it's so cute to see how close and personal they all get. Especially Asmodeus who always felt more standoffish to physical affection in the beginnings, even with Iruma besides a hand of the shoulder. As the story progresses, we see them be more comfortable with each other and that shows in their physical closeness. It's just a wonderful design choice on the artistic side of things and perfect for showing them care more for each other. On a personal note, my headcannon is a queerplatonic poly relationship (though sometimes I ship it as a full on romantic relationship) so it's even cuter to me.

anyway, those are my thoughts and interpretations of the relationships! since this post become super duper large, I will make a seperate post about Azz and Clara and link it in the comments because their relationship is shaping up to be very cute too and not just iruma focused :)

[ghostieyanyan]

Have you heard of the musical Ride the Cyclone? I thought of an MC who’s inspired by Jane Doe. They died and lost their head somewhere so they got isekai’d into twisted wonderland with a doll head to replace their lost one instead and they walk around with their headless doll. They have no memory of who they used to be and they’re very naive about how things work in the new world they’re transported to. If anyone of the boys goes Yandere for Jane Doe!Mc, any one of the would take advantage of their amnesia and keep them to theirselves. Which one of the boys do you think would be the most manipulative when it comes to stealing Jane Doe!Mc?

If you don’t know the musical, feel free to skip.

i havent seen the musical, but i love the idea of just some twst yandere taking advantage of amnesia mc. like they would use mc to make them their perfect little play thing or "help" them find themselves, only to hurt them with betrayal. also i know that a good handfull of the twst characters are sadistic but im gonna just list a few (cause if i went their all of them, qwq, this will be a very long post xD)

Also there’s only one drawing in this post (because it felt weird not not include one so ye) but it’s mainly fanfic and I’ll be labeled it as fanfic and not as fanfic plus art… if that’s cool owo

~Amnesia!Mc~

Yan!Ace x mc x Yan!Deuce

Yan!Lilia x mc

Yan!Rook x mc

Yan!Trey x mc

Warning: yandere, manipulation, stalking, threats, hint of murder, mention of war and starvation, hunting, displaying you like a animal(?), kidnapping,

~~~~~

Ace and Deuce

Why are these two together? cause they are chaotic together and i love how it can be wholesome at times.

In the relationship, they both agreed to help mc and also show them the ropes of twisted wonderland. Deuce, more on the side of helping mc with finding themself, because he understands how it can be very difficult at times. But he also doesn't want mc to go home so soon. Ace, more on the side of wanting mc to stay in twisted wonderland, but also help them find themself with him and deuce in mind. They basically agreed to be the opposite sides to the same coin.

They'll, of course, fight with each other on how to help you. what thing are most important for you to work on right now? but they overall want the same thing. but they are still very mischievous when they want to be.

Example, Ace will in intentional start fights with deuce to show mc that they'll be so lost without you to step in to help. or even, when they get into a situation that they need your help to solve.

"only their perfect can save them. don't leave them alone. they'd be lost without you."

But deuce, he would show you the amazing things that twisted wonderland could offer and see if you like anything or dislike it. i imagine he has a book with all your like and dislikes, your taste, favorite food and drinks, how you like certain things or your hobbies. plus if you forget anything, he'll be there to help.

if someone outside their group ask about their strange behavior with you, they will deny it all. but if this person keeps digging, ace and deuce will show them how protective they can be.

if you asked about their strange behavior, they'll just tell you that you're imagining things.

"maybe its some of your old memories coming back? but they don't make sense? strange..."

~~~~~

Lilia

"Awww what a cute little human that lost their way~ it reminds me of when i met Silver~ so cute~"

this man will 100% use your amnesia to make you into his play thing. he could mold you into a sibling for Silver. he could mold you into a great warrior for malleus, side by side with sebek. or he can even mold you to be his and his alone.

with his years of experience of life, he'll show you anything you wish to see and make your dreams come true. he'll tell you stories, a mix between fairy tales to myths to his very own experiences. he'll show you everything and anything, for the price of your name~

he's given you no reason on not to trust him. Lilia takes great care of you when you first came to his world. i mean with tweedldee and tweedledumber, plus that beast cat, you'll likely be dead by the first week.

Lilia takes every opportunity to take you away to diasomnia and cares for you. with a high secured castle plus luxury food, he tried to feed you his meet one time and you fell into a coma for a week... maybe the vegs were bad?

if you had an issue with this arrangement, he'll gladly show you the dangerous of this world without his aid. he'll show you a small unimportant war that was just west coast of the main land. all the deaths and threats, the horrors in peoples faces. how some people became mad and turn against their own kind for a glimpse of hope in their future, only for it to be ripe away when they get caught. Lilia will also show you the horror that are not necessarily violent like war. hungry starving kids and families that had to turn to stealing just to make sure they're guaranteed a place in tomorrow. he'll tell you that the cycle repeats whether people like it or not.

"That's why its safer to be with me. the world is a cruel place, a place that a sweet angel like you doesnt belong. this place also has a good handful of cueal people aswell. youre not even garentee that crowel will find a way home for you, he doesnt even know that place! thats why its safer with me. ill keep you safe. now rest... youve had a very long day..."

~~~~~

Rook

the beauty of it all! To Rook, you are like a blank piece of paper waiting for a poet to spill their silk words on you. you're like a caterpillar waiting for some leaves to turn into a chrysalis and then to your turn form as a beautiful butterfly~

Rook doesn't have any ill intent for you but he merely aims to preserve your pure innocents. in his words, keep your angelic wings white from the impurities of the world. he will not hesitate to strike down anything or any one that wants you to fall, or cover your wings in their mud.

he admits, its difficult to learn anything about you when you don't even remember who you are, but in a way its beautiful for him. like a bird learning how to fly.

if you ask him about his view on beauty, he'll gladly show you all the beauties in the world. hell show you how some things look scary or mysterious can look enchanted. but if anything ugly comes in your way, he'll shield you from it and make it disappear on the face of twisted wonderland.

if you dont like what hes doing and you try to run from him.. lets say Rook loves a good hunt. He will not stop until he finds his butterfly. of course, he doesn't want to hurt you, or even dirty you in any means, but he will threaten you. Rook would say that if anything bad would happen to you, to not have the light in your eyes that he loves so much, he'll display you like those beautiful insect display in a museum. you'll forever be part of his display from his hunts.

but you dont want that to happen right? he wants you to live! to fly with the other butterflies.

but maybe Night Raven College is no place for a fragile butterfly like you to be in. he doesnt might taking you away for only his eyes to see. he'll take great care of you.

"what do you say~?"

~~~~~

Trey

Whether Trey likes it or not, he takes great care of his dorm, like a big brother or even a dad for some. so when he saw you, his instict took over and he immediately was worried for you.

"did you eat yet? how's your day? anyone giving you a hard time? are ace and deuce causing trouble for you? you look pale! come on, follow me. we have some treats in Heartslabyul that will make you feel better"

to say he spoils you with sweets is an understatement, and if you are craving sweets then he'll gladly make you something else. don't worry about repaying him. you're smile and well being are perfect payment.

even though Trey has a very busy schedule, being the vice housewarden, being part of the science club, taken care of his house, plus riddle, he still makes time for you.

a lot of people wonders how but like magic, he makes it works. for some, its a little creepy. Trey starts to show up, like he knows your schedule like the back of his hand. always with treats and a drink in hand.

if there are people causing you trouble, or in trey's eyes, people he does not approves of. he'll tell you in a "im just looking out for you manner."

Trey will get you, sit you down, hands you some treats and talks to you about his "issues" with your friends. he might just say some things that make you see your friends in a different light. the type of light that makes you not rely on them too much. But you can rely on Trey if anything comes up.

also whether he sees you in the light of a sibling or a partner, you're not 100% sure which one. but all the things he does for you... is coming from the heart..

~~~~~

[coco-bee]

COCO’S REVIEW: RAMSHACKLE (PILOT)

Welcome to Coco’s Review! Where I review and breakdown episodes, movies and etc and overthink every tiny detail and/or give my thoughts and opinions :D

Today I’ll be discussing Ramshackle by Zeddyzi

Ramshackle is an animated pilot by online creator Zeddyzi that’s been in development since 2010 and has a thesis film, webtoon and now an animated pilot! (I’ll be discussing the Pilot)

It’s about three street rats Vinnie, Stone and Skipp who try to survive the grimy and gross streets of Ramshackle with their various scams and schemes while trying not to die!

The animation is really good! The characters have very expressive faces and sharp silhouettes! All the designs feel so angular and have a very warm color palette! Not to mention there’s the sorta coffee paper or brown paper texture to it that I really like!!

And it takes what Disney did during their Bronze Age with the scribbly line art and that scratchy kinda feel. (even using crosshatching)

I also find it interesting how the town of Ramshackle is set in its own universe and not sticking to a specific timeline with its mix of different vintage aesthetics mixed together! (in the creator’s words)

To me it feels a lot like a mix of the Great Depression and the Victorian Era!

The humor is a lovechild of early season Spongebob and Gravity Falls! Because this pilot is so fucking funny for no reason 😭

It just has so much visual comedy and dialogue that makes you go “Did I hear that correctly??”

I’ll be honest the plot isn’t perfect but the characters and humor easily makes up for it and makes things very enjoyable!! THE LITTLE DETAILS THEY PUT IN THE BACKGROUND JUST CRACK ME UP WITH EVERY REWATCH!

These are some of my personal favorite details but it’s more fun to spot them yourself!!

I also want to talk about Maggot who is a baby the trio found and decided to try and raise!

I’m not going to spoil the ending BUT MAGGOT IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!

I love how they didn’t go with just the dumb baby trope with Maggot- I swear he is such an entertaining part of the pilot I’m a little sad he probably won’t appear in the series again 😔

And just the comedy they got out of him is so great I love him smm

The main trio are just as entertaining!

They complement each other so well!! The way they bounce off each other and have very different personalities but the same goals

I’ll get this out of the way VINNIE IS SO DAMN HOT ARGHHH LIKE AAAAA I LOVE HER SMM- Shes so badass and lowkey reminds me of Grunkle Stan personality wise

Stone is basically the mandatory emo boy but now hes upgraded to main character- I love his unlimited supply of alcoholic drinks and I hope tumblr loves him

Skipp is just underrated imo 😭 I love how he has a heart of gold but he also doesnt mind scamming people (he has no other choice anyway

The way theyre so caring with Maggot just warms my heart<33

THEYRE SUCH A GREAT FRIEND GROUP I CANTTT

Anyway there are only a few complaints I have- some of the jokes can be hit or miss and it gets a bit chaotic which can possibly be a little overwhelming. Bug I want to talk about the “scam” aspect of the main premise, I feel like the webtoon explored that part of the trio’s lives much better than the pilot. They could’ve done a lot of interesting scams with a baby but applying him to a baby pageant isn’t really a scam.

The obvious commentary on the high class’s treatment of the lower class feels a bit on the nose in my opinion (like it feels almost too obvious) but doesn’t spoil the experience. Like I said the humor and character still make up for it!!

I highly recommend this pilot and series!!

Congrats to Zeddyzi and their team for bringing this year long project to life!

This is Coco typing… Thank you for reading!

[whataboutsimple]

So you once said you prefer Gabriel being Jesse's father figure and Ivor as Petra's.

But I don't think I've ever seen Ivor and Petra with this relationship before

So I was wondering if you have any headcanons or concepts about it?

Oh god it took me a while to get to this. Too long even.

Anyway, yep! I actually have some, because c'mon. It's not me, if I don't have hcs for some strange thing only I could've think of.

First things first lemme tell you, why exactly I see them having a father-daugther relationship!

Of course I've seen lots of concepts about Jesse being Ivor's child, even in those AU with New Order as kids, but I never really understood why? Like father, like son, isn't it? Jesse is nothing like Ivor and Ivor is nothing like Jesse, so it's very hard for me to get the reasoning behind that.

Sure I'm not rooting for the concept of kids being an exact copy of their parents, but there should be at least some similarities, right?

Let's take apart characters of Gabriel, Jesse, Ivor and Petra to understand things a bit better.

Gabriel is the "dad" friend of Original Order Of The Stone, he's kind, patient, peacemaker and mostly important: connects all members of the group. I've already talked about it in my small study of his character, but if we look closely, he's the only member who no one has personal beef with, well, expect for Ivor, and even he behaves differently to Gabriel, than to other his friends.

Now Jesse, who are they? It really depends on which options the player chooses, but usually they're kind and sympathetic, also a peacemaker and the one who holds their friends together. Jesse had a better relationship with Petra in S1Ep1-4 than Axel or Olivia, they also kept Lukas around. He, just like Gabriel, keeps the group together.

Now Petra. Clearly and outsider, not used to work on team, hotheaded, sometimes arrogant. Doesn't she reminds you of Ivor? She's also fangirling over Jack just like Ivor was fangirling over Old Builders, and both of them were denying it. They also both can't express their feelings the right way.

So what I'm talking about is the fact, that Gabriel and Jesse, as well as Ivor and Petra, have some similarities over which they can bond. Ivor would be more of a chaotic good dad, meanwhile Gabriel is pure good.

Just see an example of Gabriel's and Jesse's interactions:

Gabriel, making dinner: So early from school?

Jesse, throwing their back pack on the chair: Miss Applegate got sick, they let us go earlier.

Gabriel: Poor woman, hope she's going to be okay. How's the day?

Jesse: Actually it's fine! I've got three A's and one B.

Gabriel: That's great, keep it up! How about your friends?

Jesse: Oh, me and Olivia got paries up for science project and Axel was whining all day about how he got paired up with Aiden. They gonna destroy each other!

Gabriel, laughing: Sure they are. Go to your room and change, I've baked apple pie today. Don't forget to take Reuben from backyard!

And now let's see the same situations, but with Ivor and Petra:

Ivor, cleaning the dishes: Ahh, it's early. You run away from school or what?

Petra: Yeah, dream old man. They let us go earlier cause teach got sick.

Ivor: Sssure, whatever. Lemme guess: you got all F's?

Petra slamming her backpack in the table: Dreeeeam! Two B's, ha!

Ivor: Oh wow, surprised you know at least something.

Petra: Yeah, thanks god I got my brains from mom. Otherwise I would have none from you.

Ivor, rolling his eyes: Get lost. The chicken will be ready in twenty minutes.

Petra: Ah, also, I got paired up for science project with Maya, so she'll come over today! Axel is paired up with Aiden.. I bet 20$ they're going to kill each other till tomorrow.

Ivor: Tomorrow? Pfff, wait for the news till the dinner!

See the difference? Both families are happy, but one is calm and the other is chaotic.

Also there is no way I won't remind you, that both Ivor and Petra loves to call things different names.. Petra with her "Miss Butter" and Ivor with his whole collection of different armour, where each has a name.

Like father like daughter.

Let me speak another detail! Since Ivor got visibly better at expressing his feelings in S2, I bet you he also helped Petra to get through her "I don't want to loose my friends but I want freedom" stage. He too was friendless at some point, so he knows how it feels like no one else does. The feeling of betrayal and discomfort.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Not hcs or concepts, but at least I got my thoughts out.

[ninthprime]

i don’t ever post about snowpiercer on here despite the fact that i’ve watched it since season one started- not sure why i didn’t share my thoughts frankly. i was definitely adjacent to the circles that dismissed season one for seeming like a murder mystery show at first, and i thought it was alright, but season two was actually the one that really impressed me and made me an actual fan of the show (which seems to not be the opinion of most people in the fandom, interestingly). part of it is that i have almost never watched it live for the most part- it’s the last of the shows that my dad and i would watch together when i lived at home, so i don’t usually remember to start it until he does. and maybe i still thought it was cringe? but look, i’m firmly of the belief that everyone needs a show that’s basically a 7/10 but that you feel an attachment to nonetheless.

uh, all that said, i’m up to 4x06 now (and pretty thoroughly spoiled on the rest of the season) so here’s some season four thoughts

first of all i cant believe no one has made a "i miss my wife tails" edit of till talking to ben. literally all that was playing in my head whenever she brought up audrey

to get the big thing out of the way: i’m slightly less peeved about new eden allowing layton and co to take the train than most people, but to me the frustrating part is actually that i think the problems with that storyline are fairly easy to fix, to the point that i wonder if a scene was deleted. by the end of 4x06 we know for a fact that millius’ group is planning to ambush new eden (the bombs oz found), but i think it’s pretty obvious that new eden is under some sort of threat from the moment liana gets kidnapped and zarah dies. this is less of a 100% solution and more a papering over, but i think all you really need is someone else giving another speech after layton’s not-speech in 4x03 about how everyone’s loved ones on snowpiercer are being worked to death, and now the people responsible appear to have killed a new eden resident and kidnapped a child- meaning they’ve found the town already and likely have plans for everyone there. if you give that speech, you don’t have to frame this storyline as “new eden lets layton risk everything for his kid”; you can instead do “new eden knows they’re at potentially immediate risk, so they’re sending a scouting mission with hopes of helping their loved ones and saving themselves.” you’d still be able to do the “layton is making selfish choices for his kid” story, because i think everyone in his main circle would pick up that it’s what he’s doing, and they’d have to work around that and bounce off of it. you could still poke a lot of holes in this but i think that would reduce a lot of the frustration with the premise of this season.

more scattered thoughts:

zarah’s death is not something i like but it’s entirely not a surprise. that said, if they had to do it, i think having josie there is exactly the right move. that part worked real well for me.

ben’s death is also pretty well executed for me! seeing him literally hype himself up to die and then seeing till at the last moment was rough! i feel like if i ever rewatch (and i’m definitely thinking about it) i need to pay more attention to ben. he has a rough edge to him that i think is easy to forget about (ie. being a big part of mel’s choice to steal the train) and seeing his arc as a whole strikes me as a worthwhile exercise.

for all that’s shaky about season 4 it’s giving me a lot of my favorite snowpiercer thing, which is “the appealing cast/characters of this show bouncing around in fun new ways.” ben and till’s friendship was great, i loved the till and ruth talking in the bath scene, and i think the javi-sykes-oz trio is the most chaotic “throw a bunch of supporting characters into a storyline and see what happens” bit that we’ve ever had. oz leaving a severed hand on javi’s desk and then that turning into javi trying to show sykes he trusts her by showing her said severed hand gave me the biggest “this is the weird shit that i watch this show for!!” reaction i’ve had so far.

i think everyone is underrating the javi/sykes stuff this season actually, beyond just “this is cute.” i’m biased because i love them both (javi is tied with alex as my favorite character in this show and sykes has always been underutilized, so i’m extremely happy to see her more), but i found both their conversations about their relationship in 4x04 to be really interesting- javi interpreting her as overprotective of him, sykes having a lot of hangups about everyone trusting her, etc. it turns out that when you bond with someone over being abused by the same person you both still have trauma about that thing. and this is exactly the type of hets i like, so i’m biting into it like a juicy apple.

speaking of alex i have been lowkey disappointed that she hasn’t done much yet but it has been interesting seeing her have to hold back about her worries for new eden and now mourning ben because she’s juggling her seemingly endless list of dads. will be very interested to see her with her mom again.

gotta give a shout out to my two favorite fits in this season so far: 1. audrey’s little work headband outfit in 4x02, of course she is killing it even on the killer work train, and 2. sykes’ pink overalls agsec outfit which is soooo cute on her. also till’s new haircut this season unironically works for me lol

the purest joy of this show is whenever a minor character who has inexplicably survived for four seasons pops up and gets to do things. every time i see dr pelton, tristan, z-wreck, or lights i’m hooting and hollering.

hey “jackson cage” came up on shuffle while i wrote this post and that’s a snowpiercer song if there ever was one. does anyone here make amvs. i’m giving that to you all for free. make it any ship you want, i can think of like three that fit

anyway what if i posted about this show now that the entire thing is done. that’d be fucking funny

[videogamelover99]

[Gravity Falls] Waking Days Ch. 4: The Stranger

Summary: Bill Cipher is reborn, but not in the way he would have wanted. Stuck as a mortal and relying on those who brought his downfall, he realizes that maybe he didn't lie as hard as he should have. [AO3 Link] Characters: Bill Cipher, Mabel Pines, Dipper Pines, Stanford Pines, Stanley Pines, Jheselbraum the Unswerving, The Axolotl Pairings: past BillFord Rating: T

A/N: This was one of my favorite chapters to write (Bill and Mabel just...work so well off each other, I wish they had more screen time together). Thank you to @megxolotl and @nexstage for beta-reading. Enjoy!

---

Free-floating through the mindscape, Bill tried to find Cashier Girl’s boss, Sarah Wheatfield. 

Of course, there was no cleansing ritual. Bill didn’t know what the heck was up with the weird static in Cashier Girl’s mind, or how to get rid of it. Likely it was a symptom of a latent psychotic break, brought on by a glimpse into his dimension, but hey, that wasn’t his problem. The ability to make deals was as powerful as it was a pain, and for once, being able to drop the other end of the bargain worked in his favor.

When he finally found Sarah, he wasn’t thrilled.

I remember you, he thought and watched the woman arrange a shelf of T-shirts. She was middle-aged, with braided dark hair and a mole over her upper lip, one she bit constantly in a nervous fervor. Once in a while she would reach up and rub at her necklace, a rough string threaded through a tacky pink crystal. 

She’d made a great backrest for his Throne of Human Agony, but this also meant that she probably remembered him. 

No way of talking to her through the mindscape. She’ll know who I am.

He could take on another form if he wanted. He could look like anything he wished in the minds of humans, but he couldn’t risk some too-observant idiot connecting the dots. Best-case scenario, it’s a fit of horrified, traumatized screaming, which would be fun to watch, but not very useful. Worst case scenario: a quick trip to the town’s resident paranormal nerd. And the last thing Bill wanted was for Stanford Pines to know he got some of his power back.

He watched her fold T-shirts, fuming and trying to come up with a plan, when he felt something tugging at him, like a hook sinking into his middle, right underneath the bowtie.

“What? No, not yet!”

It didn’t matter how much Bill struggled to stay asleep when his body was waking up. It yanked him straight out of the mindscape, back to a dirty park bench with two children staring him down. 

“Have a nice nap?” Dipper asked. “Come on, it’s getting dark.”

Mabel sheepishly held out a hand. Bill scowled at it, before pushing himself up, ignoring the pout he received. “Like a cacophony of ten screaming toddlers with their feet cut off.”

“Why do I keep talking to you?” Dipper wondered out loud, looking slightly nauseous, “You never have anything good to say.”

—

Greasy’s Diner was crowded with a dozen or so people, and it was pretty damn unusual at this time of day. No one paid him any attention, which was good. People didn’t know the Pines were harboring a chaotic space demon, and it better stay that way. 

Stan managed to squeeze in between the Valentinos and find a place to sit, just as someone in the center of the big group of people cleared his throat. 

It was a well-kempt man in a pristine white suit. A gleaming, expensive-looking pen poked out of his front coat pocket, and the greying sideburns in his dark hair only made him more good-looking.  This man could’ve walked off the cover of a Business for Middle-Aged Men!

The man spoke in a soft, kind voice. “Hello, everyone! I’m glad so many could make it at this hour. For those who don’t know, hello! I’m Mason Jewels, the town’s new tourism consultant. I just wanted to get a better picture of the difficulties the small businesses of Gravity Falls are facing. Who wants to start?”

“Ooh, me, me!” Lazy Susan, standing behind the counter, raised her hand eagerly.

“Yes, you first, my dear.”

“Well, hi. I’m Lazy Susan,” she waved at the crowd.

“We know who you are!” Someone yelled from the back.

“As for difficulties, well…” She frowned for a moment. “Well, you see after last summer…”

“Nothing happened last summer!” Manly Dan bellowed from a booth. His wide frame took up most of it.

“Yeah, it’s the Mayor’s Nevermind All That Act!” someone else said.

“What happened last summer?” Jewels asked.

“Never mind all that!”

“Oh, right,” said Lady Susan. “After all that, I keep getting customers of the more…unnatural variety.”

Jewels frowned. “Unnatural variety?”

“Yes! Those little gnome men. And that bear with many heads. Not that I don’t like the business, but, well, this place is meant for human-sized guests,” she fretted with her hair. “And I don’t have the money to fix any more walls.” She pointed at a giant boarded-up hole behind the counter. A slight breeze came through the gaps in the boards.

“I see,” Jewels jotted something down in the little notepad he was carrying. “And the, ah, bear destroyed that wall?”

“Oh, no, he’s a peach! It’s those gnomes. One of them tried to get me to marry all of them, and they thought getting a ring the size of a minivan would do it. Couldn’t get it through the front door, so…”

Stan let out a laugh, then chocked it down when someone glared at him.

Jewels, for his part, seemed to roll with it. Either this man encountered gnomes numerous times in his career, or he was writing a note to send Lazy Susan to a mental hospital. “I see. Perhaps we can suggest some ideas on how to mitigate this issue?”

Manly Dan raised a hand.

“Yes?”

“Run ‘em outta town!”

“Oh no, I couldn’t,” Lazy Susan protested.

“Yes? Mrs. Valentino?”

“I, for one, found a nice cup of tea and a polite conversation went a long way. One of those bull-men had recently, ah-”

“Gone belly-up?” her husband suggested.

“Oh, yes.” Mrs. Valentino giggled. “And all of his friends requested funeral arrangements. They were very loud, and, well, bullheaded, haha. But after a few calming cups of tea, they were sweethearts. One even cried right in front of us.”

“Aw,” Manly Dan wiped away a tear. 

Stan rolled his eyes. 

“Yes, perhaps discussing better arrangements with your new patrons would be beneficial,” Jewels said. “What do you think?”

“I could try,” said Susan, scratching her head. 

“Anyone else?”

Stan raised his hand.

The man’s bright blue eyes fell on him. He looked surprised for a moment, almost like he recognized Stan. He better not have seen one of the wanted posters. 

“Yes? Stanford Pines, is it?”

“Stanley,” he corrected. “Anyway, aren’t you a business expert? What’s with the support group nonsense?”

“I’m just here to better understand the situation of all my clients,” Jewels replied, polite as ever. His voice started getting on Stan’s nerves. “What about you, Mr. Pines? I’ve gotten up to date on every business in this town, including yours. Any problems at the Mystery Shack you are currently facing? You are welcome to share if you like.”

“No.”

“That’s not true,” Lazy Susan piped up. “Yesterday-”

“Okay, there is…one.” Stan folded his arms. “But he ain’t exactly easy to get rid of.” 

“Troublesome customer?” asked Jewels.

“Worse.”

They were all looking at him. Damn him and his mouth. He couldn’t exactly come clean and admit he was housing that demon, of all things. Mayor’s Act or not, the panic that would set in would be a huge mess. “There’s, uh, this guy we’re letting stay at the Shack. He ain’t easy to get along with. He makes everything worse for everyone and then acts like he owns the place.”

“I’ve got a cousin like that,” Farmer Sprott piped up. “Why don’t you get rid of him?”

“...He’s got nowhere else to go, I guess.”

“Aw,” said Lazy Susan.

“Hey, don’t make it sound like we’re doing him a favor. If I could get rid of him, I would,” Stan muttered. 

“That is commendable, Mr. Pines,” Jewels said. The gleam in his eye caught Stan off guard. He stared at Stan for a few moments longer, before clapping his hands together and turning to the rest of the townsfolk. “Well, you can see how our problems affect more than just our business. They create stress and fatigue, and suck away our energy.”

Stan grunted.

“There are ways to mitigate that stress,” Jewels continued. “The tourist wave is yet to start. By then you will all be busy. But before you go, I would like you all to have something.” 

With that, Jewels opened his suitcase and took out a black velvet bag. He reached into the bag and presented���a set of crystals.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” said Stan. 

The rest of the townsfolk seemed captivated as Jewels presented each piece. Stan meanwhile, was starting to put his own pieces together, as he held his free crystal in his palm. 

Mason Jewels was a con artist, plain and simple. 

—

By the time they got back, Seven Eyes was already gone, but Bill could tell she’d been there by the ionized air left behind by the dimensional scissors. Which was for the better. He had no interest in dealing with that. He didn’t want to see her.

Things took on a routine. Sixer avoided him in the most I don’t care of course I’m over it! way possible by hiding in his lab. Stanley came back from whatever it was old men do on their days off, a tacky new-age crystal in his hand, and Bill found it hilarious that the two-bit con artist had gotten swindled.

Bill had taken his usual spot on the couch when Mabel suddenly appeared next to him and produced her sketchbook. “We need to talk about your progress,” she said very seriously.

“You know,” Bill remarked idly. “That ‘I can fix him!’ attitude ain’t gonna do you any favors in your dating life.”

She ignored him and flipped back to the page with the drawing of his badness level. “Maybe we’re going at it the wrong way.”

“Uh-huh. Sure. Can I sleep now?”

“You’re not taking this seriously. That’s the problem.”

“Sure I am! I’ve done all those things you asked me to! And don’t forget your end of the bargain.”

Mabel sighed, defeated. “Do you really like being a jerk that much?”

“I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, so listen close.” Bill lowered his voice for the dramatics of it. “Everyone on this planet, everyone in this reality, and all the other realities, they’re all jerks. Every last one of ‘em!”

“That’s not true,” said Mabel.

“Oh please,” Bill rolled his eyes. “You think people do things out of the goodness of their hearts? You think people are nice to each other just because? It ain’t how it works, kid. The big wigs up top invented ‘morality’ to get suckers to fall in line and feel bad about themselves every other opportunity. And those suckers? They do things not because they’re good, but because they feel good. That’s why you humans can’t even decide what religion to follow or who gets to die in prison. Morality is a scam.”

Mabel looked at him for a long time. “That’s a really sad way of looking at it,” she said finally.

“It’s not how you look at it, kid. It’s how it is.” Bill shrugged. “The sooner you realize it the sooner you’ll be free of all those guilt-generating shackles society’s put on you.”

“I don’t think so,” said Mabel. “I think you think that because it’s easier.”

“Whatever,” Bill flipped over on his side and pulled the blanket over his head. 

Mabel didn’t move. He heard her scribbling furiously in her sketchbook.

He closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep. 

—

He couldn’t. Bill squirmed on the couch, restless, unable to calm down, and unable to tell why. This body was supposed to want to sleep, and yet despite how tired he felt, he still lay awake, hours later, staring at the ceiling, where the blue translucent light of the water tank cast long wavy shadows across its surface. 

The Axolotl was silent.

Mabel had fallen asleep, sketchbook still in her lap. Her head had fallen forward, her hair brushing against Bill’s ankles. 

Frustrated, Bill sat up and watched her. Shooting Star, the only Pines he was sure could have caused as much chaos as he did. Right now, she looked less like a catalyst of sugar hallucinations and glitter and more like any other human thirteen-year-old girl.

He should draw on her face.

Bill reached for the marker still held loosely in Mabel’s hand. She gasped lightly in her sleep. The sketchbook fell from her lap, onto the floor.

He uncapped the marker.

Then Mabel sobbed and shuddered, her body twitching. She curled up into herself.

Ah. Nightmare.

It must be the one about the pig again. Bill watched her shoulders rise and fall with rapid, panicked breaths, marker still hovering inches from her cheek. All of a sudden drawing on her face didn’t seem that appealing.

In fact, not a lot of things seemed appealing at the moment. Mabel Pines worked best as an unapologetic little brat, not whatever this pathetic excuse was.

It’s not like he owed her anything.

But he didn’t like it.

Fine. The kid would get one freebie, on the house. Bill laid down on the couch again and closed his eyes.

This time, sleep came quickly.

—

Mabel Pines’ mindscape was just like he remembered, except it was on fire. 

Crackling flames rose high above him, and Bill watched, floating in the center of it, as the inferno engulfed a giant cast of colorful characters, all screaming in pain. So not the pig one. This one was way more fun.

That’s when he heard the laugh. His laugh.

Bill looked up.

It was kinda surreal, seeing his own monstrous, spider-like form hovering over the glittery town of Mabel’s dream. Hey, she’d at least gotten his good angle! Bill should be flattered by the accuracy. He admired the screaming and the sights just a little longer before he remembered what he was here for in the first place. Right, find Mabel. Bill tore his eye away from his dream self and scanned the crowd.

There. Through the screams and the roaring flames and his own laughter, he heard it. Mariah Carey, entirely in meows. 

He floated up to avoid the crowds and followed the sound of her voice. He watched a glamorous hot dog run by, screaming because one of its eyes was on fire. Oh man, that’s why you don’t carry extras, that was hilariou-

He found Mabel.

She was sitting on the ground of some tiny gross alley, her knees scraped and bloody. Her sweater was singed. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her hands over her ears as she sang as loudly as she could.

Bill felt something in his center pull and twist, like someone had stabbed his eye with a hot-iron poker. Suddenly none of it seemed funny anymore. It was like-

His thoughts all turned to static. Don’t think about it.

Bill snapped his fingers.

Instantly, the fire and the screams cut out. Bill ran a haphazard hand through Mabel’s surface thoughts and threw the first pleasant one he could find over the mindscape. Pink, fluffy white clouds floated underneath their feet, resembling pigs, above which was a kaleidoscopic sky of bright stars. 

Mabel raised her head slowly and uncovered her ears. She looked around her own mindscape in disbelief. 

Bill was out before she could see him. You owe me, kid.

—

“Morning, Grunkle Stan!” Mabel grinned over her cup of Mabel Juice. 

“Morning, Pumpkin,” Stan’s usual demeanor gave way to a smile when he saw his grand-niece. 

“Eugh,” next to Mabel, Bill made a face. Trust even Fez to be annoyingly sappy first thing in the morning.

Mabel elbowed him on the side before clearing her throat. “Grunkle Stan, our not-so-esteemed resident has something to say to you.”

She gave Bill a look. Bill returned the look with another look, one that spelled he would rather pull his eyeballs out than do what she wanted him to.

Stan, for his part, looked unimpressed. “What’s his problem this time?”

Bill caught her elbow before it met his side again. He gave Stan a pacifying smile. Or, at least, his best attempt at a pacifying smile. In reality, he was thinking of more and more creative ways to rearrange Stanley’s body parts.  “Look, my bad. For the glue thing. For real this time.”

Stan still looked unimpressed. “And?”

“...And the shampoo.”

“And?”

“And that time I filled your room with geese.”

“And?”

“And for setting the toaster on fire. That one wasn’t even intentional, I swear.”

Stan grunted. “Not buying it.”

“Hey, I’m stuck here, in this awful, impractical human body. And you’re stuck with me. So why don’t we let bygones be bygones and make our mutual existence here less miserable? How’s that sound, pal? Also, is that a new undershirt?”

Stan stared Bill down. Bill smiled innocently. “...This is a new undershirt. Finally, somebody noticed.”

“Looks great on ya, less stains than usual. So, what do you say?”

Stan scratched the side of his face. “Look, I ain’t gonna pretend like every other word that comes outta your mouth isn’t a sugarcoated lie. But…alright. As long as I don’t get another toaster fire or…birds in the house. I’ll lay off.”

“It’s a deal, Fez?”

Stanley’s face made a funny little dance. “Don’t even start.”

When Stan left, Mabel took the opportunity to wrap her clingy little arms around Bill’s middle. “See? I knew you could do it!”

Bill squawked but resigned himself to his fate. If only she didn’t hug so tight, he couldn’t breathe. “Yeah, yeah, don’t make it a habit.”

“Well, this Mabel is proud of you anyway.”

Bill watched her skip away. He didn’t give what he’d seen in Mabel’s head yesterday much thought. 

As far as he was concerned, he got one of them, hook, line, and sinker. 

---

[next]

[prev]

[first]