#and miss me with that ‘i didn’t see it’ the rb option isn’t even that far from the tags.

[ceebit]

at this point……. i’m just going to start blocking people who rb my masterlists even though it literally says don’t rb them in the tags

[lovrsm]

“ꜱʟᴜᴛ!”

sum: Ferraris golden boy moves over to RedBull Racing Team.

Daughter of the CEO of Red Bull, you’ve grown to love racing, and in the way making new friends. Even if you felt like your world was falling apart, even when you denied it, he was the only one you needed. And there was absolutely nothing that could change his mind about your beautiful self, the way he loves you.

word count:idk, prb 2k

pairing: rb!charles leclerc x horner!reader

warnings: name calling, alcohol, smut f! receiving, first time writing real horny shit!

a/n: sorry for the long intro, I swear it’s worth it😔✋ LOOOL, I WROTE THIS LIKE A YEAR AGOO, and I rlly wanted to clear up my drafts but this is too good to not come out. Yet idk if I have any mistakes, if I do let me know!! Also, checo acting as a dad (#IloveCheco)

Spotify - Apple Music

ᴍᴀɪɴ ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ

“and I break down, then he’s pullin’ me in In a world of boys, he’s a gentleman”

Clink, clink, that’s what our champagne glasses sounded like together.

“Congratulations, what a wonderful year. It’s been a pleasure being with all of you.” Sergio, Checo Perez, made a brief goodbye to your team.

He was leaving Red Bull. Everyone here loved him, and loves him, including yourself. He became quickly your family after seeing him every day for more than 3 years.

“We will miss you” your dad palms his back, making Checo break a smile.

“It isn’t the end yet, you know that boss.” He laughed.

His reasons? Family, everything for him, he couldn’t bare leaving them anymore alone, so he decided after, several years, to leave formula 1. After helping Max to win his championships, he is a fucking legend.

“Well, I won’t leave you alone, I will still drag you everywhere, you know? Even after you leave.” Max and Checo have developed a very special bond, even if social media said otherwise.

“We, wont leave you alone, you still owe me those therapy sessions” I winked at him, he became a very big emotional support for me, believe it or not, he’s got some great advice to give.

“Lovely dinner” I took a picture of all of us with my camera, a goodbye dinner for Checo, and tomorrow, all of the world would see this on the newspaper.

-

“I really don’t know what to do, do you know how many drivers have reached us out in the last 2 hours? I mean, I have a few options but they keep giving me more reasons and… I just don’t know.” My dad was stressed, typing in his computer as if his life depended on it.

“It’s going to be alright, okey? You don’t necessarily need to worry about it right now, we still have a championship to win, you know?” I gave him a cup of tea, just so he could relax a bit.

When something is about work, everything else doesn’t matter. At all.

“We’ll watch your options, alright? I can help you with anything you want” I smiled at him.

“When did you became such a great business woman?”

“You’re my father, of course I’m hardworking.”

-

“Red Bull did it again, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, world champion and sub-champion!”

Screams from Max and Checo blasted my ears, P1 and P2, again. Absolutely no mistakes. The internet going crazy. And somehow it all became quiet.

“Who will get that Red Bull seat next year? Will he be a fit to Sergio Perez place?”

Everyone went outside to celebrate, while I stayed so I could hear the TV and media.

what do people want?

“Ferrari didn’t have a great year, let’s hope they both get a better car”

“I agree! Great drivers, such a shame Ferrari has been getting worse every year. What a waste of talent.” The other interviewer said.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz appeared in the screen. Both with an obvious forced smile plastered in their faces.

Charles, my secret crush ever since… forever. Was I obvious? Not a single soul knew, well, except him.

-

Charles Leclerc signed in RedBull that was the only thing appearing on my feed right now . Red bull? Bullshit, you mean? What kind of a big lie is that?

Internet was filled with Charles leaving Ferrari for RedBull.

In what twisted universe does that even happen?

I later learned, I am living in that twisted world, and I discovered the great news in social media, and not my own team.

“What do you mean Charles Leclerc, dad? Why wasn’t I even informed about this. Wait, hold on, when did it even crossed your mind?!” I was dignified.

Following around the kitchen.

“I didn’t have to, oh, I do think I need to tell you this, he’s coming to dinner tonight so wear something nice.”

Wear something nice.

Thanks dad, as always, you’re so, so great.

Night time came sooner than expected, if my dad hosts a dinner, even if there’s a million, or just one person coming over, he likes to be extra.

-

Almost time, 8:00 and it is 7:50, all that was missing was the dress. It was placed on my bed. Showing all of it’s beauty.

Navy blue, our color. It was my dream dress.

Light, silky and fancy dress.

I walked downstairs, watching people running and arranging everything, doing just the final touches.

I’ve come to learn, that people arrive late, or just in time. Never earlier.

“Ah, what a beautiful young woman I have here!” Geri, my father’s wife came to greet me.

“You look amazing, I knew that dress would be perfect for you!”

“Geri, you are amazing, seriously. Thank you, and look at you! We both look gorgeous.” I smiled at her and we linked arms, she and I were walking towards the garden, where would be the dinner.

Some big, round, wooden tables were set in the middle. Each seat would have a name, decorated with a white flower in the middle of the plate.

It was easy to find my place. I was at the biggest one of all, where the most important people of this night would be seated.

Lucky for me, his name was right next to my plate.

In a matter of seconds, people started to arrive, old friends, and new faces passed through those doors.

This will be a great night.

“Funny to find you here, it’s been some time since I last saw you…” I rolled my eyes, I (sadly) recognized that voice anywhere.

“Go away Mike.” I grabbed my wine glass and took a big sip out of it. “C’mon princess, where are your manners?” He got too close to me.

“Hey y/n! Your dad was looking for you, like right now.” Max Verstappen here to save my day.

“Oooh that’s unfortunate, I’m so so so sorry Mike, hope to see you later!” I waved him off and quickly moved towards Max who then friendly linked his arm with mine.

“I owe you one.” I sighed. “You owe me much more than 1, little one.” I laughed at him.

We got close to my father, who now had a microphone at his hand.

“Hello everyone, thank you for coming here and be with us tonight. A toast for Checo here!” He announced and a light was shining on Checo, standing from his seat.

“It has been a wonderful year, sadly it has to end. And I know I’m not the first to tell you that an incredible young talent will be joining us for next season.”

There he was. Navy suit with our logo on him. His hair was messy yet perfectly placed. He showed his dimples and I’m sure I heard someone behind me moan at his sight.

My heart rate was increasing slowly but surely.

“y/n, you’re going to squeeze all my blood from my arm. Stop.” Max whispered in my ear.

Shit. I basically dug my nails into his arm due to my tiny crush.

“Yeah, It’s amazing to know that I’m to race with RedBull next year. I hope we can achieve everything we’ve dreamed of. Looking forward to race with my lifetime partner, Max here.”

Now the light was on Max and me. I discreetly let go of max so that he could have the spotlight. As Max waved I looked back at Charles.

The dimples in his face showed even more, he was looking at me too.

“I can’t wait to work with these wonderful people, and I hope we have a great year to remember, thank you and enjoy this night!” He raised his glass and so did all.

“Well, I hope we don’t have any inchidents” Max laughed at his own joke. Dad joke I must say.

“Well If you don’t push me off the track I think we’ll be just fine” his voice gave me chills. I felt his chest on my back.

I wasn’t strong enough to turn around.

“Oh, shoot, you hear that? I think P is calling me!”

“No, Max-” I tried to stop him.

Around Charles, I barely have control over myself.

“Uh-huh, yeah that’s P, she wants to go to the bathroom, and she needs food, ok have a great night bye!” He rushed to god knows where.

“You really don’t want to be with me, do you?” He whispered on my ear. Feeling the heat of his breath.

“Why wouldn’t I? You are such a lovely company, mr Leclerc.” I gathered the strength and turned around, and his beautiful green eyes shined at me, making me blush.

“Look at you, could you get any more beautiful?”

He lowered so he could whisper again. “I’ve missed you” I looked around real quick, thankfully Max took everyone’s attention on the other side of the place.

“Not here, Charles.” I whimpered.

“Yes here, I can finally be with you, do you think I would waste any more time pretending to not love you? If you do, let me tell you, you are completely wrong.”

He kept whispering, his hands slowly finding his way to my hips. And mine to his collarbone.

“It’s not even 9pm, Leclerc, this party hasn’t even started” I fighted against my own will to drag him upstairs.

“You know I’ll wait, just for you.” He winked at me, before slowly letting me go and walking away.

“You’re not coming, mon coeur?” Charles turned around to look at me. “If you insist.” I happily walked by his side.

We walked and talked for a few minutes before Mike magically appeared before us.

“Oh not even 5 seconds and you are already like a slut with the new driver” He looked at me with a disgusted face.

“Excuse her? Don’t tall to her like that. Do we even know you?” Charles used a very cold tone on him. And Mike started to stumble on his word.

“Uhm, no, she does, like I was something to her-”

“Was, that’s a key word, pal. Don’t you ever talk to her, no, don’t you ever talk to any woman that way do you understand?”

Now, I can defend myself just fine, but that right there soaked my pants in an unexplainable way.

“Get out of our sight, man.” And he crawled away.

“That was hot.” I whispered and he blushed. “Your mother did raise a gentleman.” I smiled at him and he gave me a cheek kiss.

-

Lost on the moonlit pool, drinking my… 11th (?) glass of wine at 1 in the morning while everyone was still dancing, was weird.

My feet swinging as I drink the last drop of my glass.

I went on a side quest myself just to get distracted for a bit. All the noise was going to hurt my ears if I stayed any longer.

“Here you are, you got lost?” He sat down at my side. Didn’t have to look, his thick accent gave him away immediately.

I took a long breath and rested my head on his shoulder . “Yes, Charles, I’m going to get lost in my own house.” I felt him move beside me. He then had his feet in the pool, just as I did.

I smiled to myself.

“Has anyone told you just how beautiful you look today?”

“You have, more than once.”

“I couldn’t let that slip, you do look beautiful with that dress. It suits you just perfectly.”

He paused.

“But I bet you’d look much better without it.”

I nervously chuckled at his comment.

“You haven’t talked to me in ages, you came back being a driver for my father, and now you want to have sex? Why don’t you already make me your wife?!” I dramatically fell into his arms

“Ages? I talked to you last week!” He showed his teeth to me in a smile. “That was a long time ago! Besides, you never told me about you and RedBull.” I sit straight up again.

“I needed your dad to love me one way or another. How else am I going to get him to approve of our marriage?” He joked.

“You are unbelievable Leclerc.” I stood up, and grabbed my high-heels on my hand, walking back to the party barefoot.

I surrounded part of the pool, my dad wanted to add a bar right beside it, and it was freshly cemented.

He quickly copied my moves, but instead, he went on a straight line to me, and in a step he covered his feet in cement, falling down and thankfully placing his hands before getting worse.

“Shit!” I ran back to help him. I stupidly placed my hand in the cement, the other helping Charles to get up.

“Look, we made a masterpiece! Your handprints and mine in wet cement.”

“And your feet.” I laughed

“And my feet… I really need to wash this off before it gets dry.” I grabbed his hand and he followed my lead.

If my dad sees that I’m getting his new driver to my room…

We rushed through the multitude of people on the garden.

“Ooh we’re going to your bedroom, can’t remember what happened last time there…” he whispered shouted as we were running up the stairs.

I jokingly rolled my eyes at him. We were giggling like children. He kept making dirty jokes and as much as I tried to control myself I’d end up giggling much more.

We got there quicker than I thought. With my clean hand I closed the door and he was already in my bathroom washing his hands, and feet with water. I ran to his side and did the same with my left hand.

“I’m done” I announced and got out of the bathroom. Deciding to do a touch up for my makeup, thankfully nothing was much out of place, but my lipstick faded.

I slowly applied it looking in the mirror, and through it I saw a curious Charles looking at me. “Why do you even apply lipstick?” He slowly walked towards me.

I took my sweet time spreading the color on my lips.

“Cause we are going back, party is not over.”

“But we don’t need to.” He grabbed me by the waist and turned me around to look at him and he swiftly placed me on the desk. A smirk plastered on his face, as he slowly got on his knees.

“Charles…”

He got to his knees, not breaking eye contact with me.

“You know that if you say no, I won’t do anything. But I’m not hearing those words, am I?” He lifted my dress planted wet kisses on my inner thighs, getting closer to my sweet spot. “You’re so fucking wet”.

“They will know we’re gone” I nervously whispered. He looked into my eyes and stopped, his hot breath making me squirm. “That isn’t a no.” He stood his ground.

And I’m not saying “do it anyway”, but we both know he is going to.

I didn’t even have a chance to think about the cons, his tongue was already doing its job.My legs were closing due to the pleasure, but his strong arms kept them wide open while he drew circles with his thumbs.

“Charles…” he hummed in response, sending me shivers all the way up. He kept licking my folds and as I looked down, he had his shiny green eyes looking at me. A hint of darkness in them that made me moan just at sight.

His head between my legs was surely what heaven looked like.

I curved my back and my hand gripping his hair so he could get closer. He groaned and sucked even harder.

“Fuck, you’re such a good boy, I missed this.” His hand moved quickly into me, curling his two fingers finding my g spot. “Fuck, Charles!” I screamed his name while cumming all over him, his tongue taking all off of me, as he rose without slowly moving his fingers again. My hips rocking back and forth as he arose, keeping his hand busy. “Too bad that pretty mouth of yours can’t do much right now. I really would love to feel it sucking my dick.” I hummed imagining it and getting even closer to my second climax.

“I'll take care of you, just so my princess can remember who she belongs with.” His lips were on my neck, whispering sweet nothing between kisses and soft biting. My moans filled the whole room along with the sound of his fingers working on her center.

Charles, Charles, Charles…

Each time his name left your mouth his cock got even harder, to the point where it hurt. In a short motion his pants down and without any warning he thrusted into you. You both let out a pornographic scream. If the music wasn’t loud everyone would have heard you two. The sound of your slaps were evident, heat rising, the feeling of his beard in your neck was all too much. Curses along with moans were the only thing louder. He did a final thrust and immediately pulled out, jerking off and finishing in his hand.

“You just washed your hands.” I joked breathlessly, he messed up with my head real bad. “Couldn’t resist” he smiled, gave me a peck and disappeared into the bathroom. I melted on that spot.

“Come on mon coeur.” What I loved about Charles was that he always cared. we got into the bathroom and I washed my hands, in the reflection of the mirror his eyes were already in mine.

“What?” I asked as the blood rushed into my cheeks. “Nothing.” He gently smiled, and his eyes shined to me in a different shade of green.

-

Taglist

@delicatepeanutsublime @ironspdy @architect-2015 @buendiabebeta @dreamergirlatpaddock @lercvlie

[havethetimeofyourstyles]

Chapter Three. Mind Your Business

the scene is set in 1956, a young man moved to Hollywood to follow his dreams of becoming an actor. But with little money and a struggle to keep his apartment, he is approached by a man who offers him a job at Sweetland

a/n: decided to title this chapter ‘mind your business’ because no ones sexuality is anyone’s business! dont assume, make fun of, invalidate anyone’s sexuality because it’s not funny nor is it cute. YOUR SEXUALITY MATTERS AND ITS BEAUTIFUL

SERIES MASTERLIST | JOIN THE TAGLIST | chapter word count: 8.9k

warnings: biphobia (it’s the 1950s)

TALK TO ME ABOUT CN! let me know your thoughts!

pls rb to share! <3

It was Friday, two weeks later as you were sitting with your girls at Mel’s Drive in as you three talked and ate. 

Frances was talking about her date that she went on last weekend with the guy that worked with them; as she did assume he was going to ask her out, which he did. She was practically gushing over him as you and Alice listened as you ate, both being happy for her. 

“He was the sweetest guy! Took me to a drive in and after we walked on the beach! It was so fun, and after he kissed me-” You and Alice gasped, interrupting her story. “On my cheek! Jeez, you two are something. But it was the sweetest kiss, and ugh! I just want him to ask me out again.” 

“The next time you see him, maybe mention that you’d like to go out again, or invite him for a bite to eat,” you told her, and she nodded. “So, Alice, what about you and that guy you were seeing?” She changed the subject. 

Alice scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Ugh, I’m not seeing him anymore. He can never make up his mind if he wants to take me out on a date or just wants to continue fucking me, so I dropped him,” 

“Good for you,” you say, taking a bite of your toast. Alice was always one for being decisive and assertive. Just like you, she doesn’t take shit from anyone, but she’s ten times more intense than you. But overall, you love her for it. 

“Yeah, although, I’m having eyes for someone right now. Behind you,” she only told you, since you were sitting across from the two. 

You slowly turned around, trying not to make it obvious that you’re turning around. And what you saw was something shocking, and it made you have a cough attack as you choked on your toast. 

“Oh my god, doll, are you okay?” Frances asked. You grabbed your napkin, hysterically coughing into it, and Alice handed you your cup of water. 

Practically everyone around your booth was staring at you oddly, wondering if you were okay or not, and once you finally calmed down and the piece of bread washed down your throat, you took a deep breath. 

“You sure you’re okay?” Alice asked. 

“Yeah, uh, that guy your ogling…” 

“What about him?” 

“That’s Harry.” Alice and Frances’ eyes widened, immediately moving their heads to take another look at him as their jaws dropped. 

“That’s Harry?!” Alice asked in shock.

“Like, as in the Harry?!” Frances added. 

“Yup. The one and only.” You watched your friends practically stare at the guy you’ve been thinking about for the past two weeks. 

“Oh my god, he’s hotter in person than you described,” Alice swooned. “Sorry, for hitting on your man, doll.” 

“Eh, don’t worry about it. If he hit on you dolls, I wouldn’t even be mad because I’d hit on you both too,” you teasingly winked at them, and they both raised their eyebrows in a flirty way

Another thing you loved about your trio was that you were able to make those kinds of remarks without them thinking it was weird. You were truly grateful for friends that accepted your bisexuality, or else you would’ve been in shambles. And besides, who doesn’t hit and flirt with their best friends? 

“I can’t believe that’s him!” Frances exclaimed. 

“Yeah, he’s handsome, isn’t he?” They both nodded, excitedly. 

“Well, are you gonna go up to him?” Alice wondered. You turned around again to really get a look at him. He was facing you, sitting across a lady as they both chatted. He hadn’t seen you, and you were thankful for it because you didn’t want him to see the hint of sadness in your eyes because of the hint of jealousy you had in your body. 

You shook your head, “Hell no. He’s obviously on a date.” 

“You don’t know that!” Frances said optimistically. You really didn’t know. It was a bit after four p.m, so you didn’t know if it was for work or if he was actually on a date. Either option, you couldn’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy. Of course, you couldn’t stop him from working, but if it was anything outside of work, the thought made your heart sink. 

“Well you’re gonna have to suck it up because I just paid and he’s sitting right by the door,” Alice said, gathering her purse. You closed your eyes for a moment, preparing yourself to simply just walk by him, and you hoped he wouldn’t see you as you were doing so. 

You walked behind the two, following them to the exit of the diner as you looked at Harry the whole time. He hadn’t noticed you at first, but until you walked past by his table, he definitely saw you. 

As you two made eye contact, it was like you were sucked in; never for a second breaking contact with him as his green eyes captured yours. You noticed his face perk up, smiling widely. 

“Hey,” he greeted. 

“Hi,” you said with a smile as you stopped walking. Alice and Frances heard you causing them to stop walking as well. 

“How are you? Haven’t seen you in a while,” he said; the person sitting across from him was completely forgotten as the woman watched the interaction between you two as she stirred her coffee. 

“Yeah. Uh, two weeks,” you nodded, silently cursing yourself as you seemed like a complete idiot for keeping track. 

You took the time to subtly look over to the person on the other side of the booth, and saw a very gorgeous looking woman who was probably in her late twenties. She was tan and had long locks of red hair, and her outfit was quite cute as well. And if you weren’t swooning over Harry, you would definitely be swooning over the lady in front of you. 

“Yup, two weeks,” he confirmed. 

In all honesty, he’s missed you. You two had only met once, but he’s missed being around you—your presence comforted him. 

“I should get going. Have a lovely rest of your day, you two,” you told Harry and his date before walking out with Alice and Frances. 

Your face remained neutral as you walked out as the girls followed. Once you were outside, they both put an arm around you, comforting you. 

“I’m sorry, doll,” Frances said sadly. 

“I mean, at least you weren’t too attached, right?” Alice said, somehow convincing you. 

“Yeah…” you agreed, but in all honesty, you were already attached. You’ve known him for tops, two hours, and in those two hours, you came to the conclusion that you really like him. That may make you a bit crazy, but you couldn’t help how you feel. Harry’s charming and sweet and humble. How could you not fall for him? 

“It’s okay! Let’s have a dolls night? We can watch a movie at my house and maybe a sleepover?” Frances suggested, and Alice nodded her head eagerly. 

“I’m up for both, what do you say doll?” They both looked at you with pleading eyes, wanting you to agree to have a night with them to simply take your mind off Harry. And you wanted that too; to just be with your girls and out of your parent’s home. 

“Both sounds lovely,” you agreed, and they squealed in excitement as you three walked to your car, hoping your mind gets a break from thinking about the man inside of the diner. 

Harry was sitting in front of a woman that didn’t really spark his interest. Don’t get him wrong, she was very stunning in every way, but he’d noticed that you really set the bar for him. 

After your little cloud nine adventure together two weeks ago, Harry had three customers within those weeks. One of them was married, so they only stuck to oral as she claimed that “it’s not fully cheating if I don’t go all the way,” to which Harry was baffled by her explanation. The next one was a young man, probably the same age as Harry or a little younger, and he told him that he was curious what it was like to have sex with another man. So, Harry fucked him and met all his expectations, to which he got a very decent tip from him. The next one was a woman his age that works at a fancy restaurant, and told him that it was her only day off and decided that she needed to get laid, and of course, Harry helped her. 

But those three encounters did not compare to you. He mentally slapped himself thinking he was crazy that he was even comparing others to each other, but he couldn’t help it. Since the very first time he saw you, he thought you were the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. And it wasn’t just the way you felt around his raging hard on, but it was the way you talked to him and the way you listened to what he had to say. He felt important and valid when he was around you because that’s how you treated him. 

And Daren can throw so many women and men his way, but Harry’s come to the conclusion that you’re always going to be on his mind, despite only knowing each other for less than a day, he was completely whipped. 

“Harry?” Jeannette, the woman from across from he said. He broke out of trance and softly smiled at her. “Are you okay? You kind of blanked out.” 

“Oh, yeah. I am. Did you want to get going?” He suggested, and she perked up at that, nodding her head excitedly. 

Harry and Jeannette headed over to her apartment where they talked for about a minute or two before she inched closer to him, giving him a kiss to his cheek. Harry turned his head slightly, and she captured his lips against hers. 

As they kissed, her hand traveled to his crotch and he was taken by surprise as he slightly jumped as she rubbed the front of his pants. Usually, he would be turned on, but there was a sort of rushness he felt through her actions that he wasn’t into, and he was sure she felt it in the kiss he gave her. And he wasn’t even hard. 

The kiss he gave her was one that had no effort, but kissing just to kiss and going with the flow as she was the one in control of it. 

“I-I’m sorry,” he said as he pulled back. Jeannette’s lipstick was all over the place and he’s sure that there’s some on his lips as well. 

“Is something wrong?” She asked concerningly. 

“Uh, I…yeah. Can we just take it slow?” He asked hesitantly, and she nodded her head slowly. 

“Sure,” she said as she waited for him to make a move or say something. 

But Harry was lost in his mind as he thought about you. And he knows he shouldn’t when there’s a gorgeous girl right in front of him, but the occurring thought of you washed throughout his mind and there was no effort in stopping it. 

He thought back to the day when he met you up to when you two had sex. He loved the way you built up the sexual tension and the way you teased him into sexual agony. The way you would smirk at him when he would do something sexy or when you would participate in his playful banter. And he couldn’t forget about the slight dirty talk that came out of your mouth, to which he knew there’s more from where the words came from, but since it was your first time together, there were only a few words. But those words were enough to cum twice. 

“It’s her, isn’t it?” Jeannette suddenly said, and Harry’s brows raised in confusion. 

“I’m sorry?” 

“The girl from the diner. There’s something between you two, I can tell,” she explained. 

Harry chuckled, scratching his head as she read him very well. “I-I mean there’s nothing going on, but she was a customer and-”

“And you like her,” she finished for him. Harry slowly nodded, feeling guilty that someone else had to tell him. 

“Yeah—I’m sorry. I know you came to the shop for a good time, and I’m sorry I couldn’t deliver,” he apologizes with a small frown on his face, and she waved it off. 

“It’s alright. I could tell she’s into you also, but I don’t know, by her wandering eyes, I may be wrong.” 

Harry looked at her confused, “What do you mean?” 

“I mean, she was checking me out. She had her eyes on me when she was talking to you, and I looked at her as well—saw her eyes go up and down on me. Think she might be into girls too?” She said casually as she got up and walked over to her bar cart, grabbing herself a drink. 

“Oh, uh, did you have a problem with that? Her checking you out?” Harry wondered, and if her answer wasn’t the one he was looking for, then the conversation would end badly. 

“Well, yeah!” And Harry got his answer. “She was checking me out, Harry. Had some flirty eyes when she looked at me, and it made me uncomfortable.” 

Harry controlled his temper, answering her with a cooled tone. “I’m sure she didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. She was probably just wondering who I was with.” 

“Still. I know when someone’s gay, and she definitely is. Do you really want to be with someone like that? One who can’t fully give themselves to you? It’s not a real thing,” she rolled her eyes, and Harry was infuriated. 

“Not a real thing? Don’t speak about her like that! So what if she likes men and women? Her sexuality has nothing to do with you nor is it your business,” he snapped at her, fully angry and annoyed. 

“Woah, why are you getting so mad? I’m just saying-”

“No, what you’re saying is that you’re assuming her sexuality, and also invalidating it. That’s so low, very low,” Harry got up, heading for the door. 

“Well, don’t cry when she doesn’t want you and has eyes on another woman!” 

“You’re saying a lot of bullshit that doesn’t make sense, but gladly, fuck off!” With his last words, he slams the front door, huffing all the way out of the apartment complex. 

He’s never felt so angry with anyone nor had he snapped like that at anyone, especially women. His mother has always taught him to be kind and respectful to everyone. “But if there’s something that they said was wrong, I expect you to stand up for those who aren’t there to stand up for themselves and people who don’t deserve hatred whatsoever,” his mother would say. And that’s exactly what he did. He stood up for you, even if you weren’t, for the Eric and Mack who is gay and bisexual, and for everyone else whose sexualities are being hated on because ‘it’s not the right way.’ 

When he was walking towards Hollywood, he realized he was in Downtown; way too far for his liking to walk back. But luckily, he had some spare change for the railway. 

He arrived at Sweetland a little past five, and Daren smiled, but also wondered why he was back earlier than usual. 

“Sorry, Daren. The customer I had today was just…” he trailed off, not knowing how to put what had happened into words. 

“What happened, kid?” 

“Well, it was going well—kinda. We were at a diner, and went back to her place, kissed a little, but I wasn’t really into it, to be honest,” Harry said, and Daren chuckled. “She started saying things about gay people and how bisexuality isn’t real, and I just snapped.” 

Daren hadn’t said anything, and Harry was starting to feel anxious. He didn’t know if his boss was going to be mad because he didn’t get any tip, plus he made a customer angry. But Daren reacted the opposite and smiled. 

“I’m proud of you, boy,” he said, patting his shoulder. 

“Really? I’m sorry I didn’t get any money and didn’t do my job, but she was insulting people!” 

“Hey, I don’t care. What you did was right, and I’m glad you did it. Would’ve done the same thing, and leave them horny and to dry,” Daren laughed, and Harry joined. 

“Did it for Eric and Mack too,” Harry included. 

“They would be so grateful you stood up for them. Tough world out there, and it hurts that people can’t live freely,” Daren shook his head, feeling ashamed of how society is developing with discrimination and hatred. 

“I’ll clean up here,” Harry said, grabbing a broom from behind the storage door. He started to sweep up the dust and candy that’s fallen out of their jars. It was a long day for Harry, and it’s going to be even a longer one tomorrow. He’s got a day off from Sweetland for a couple of days, so that means he has to run down to the studio to try and be picked to be an extra or get a screen test. He sighed deeply, thinking about how chaotic it’s going to be tomorrow, and hopefully not be let down once again. 

“Hey, kid?” Harry perked up. “You said you weren’t into when you were smacking lips with that customer…why’s that?” 

Harry smirked, holding the broom in his arms as he spoke. “Well, there’s this girl…” 

It was the usual ten a.m morning rush when folks would gather around in front of the gates of the studio, patiently waiting for two casting directors to come out and make their picks. 

He put on his best clothes; wearing a tan gridded trousers, a cream button down shirt with bottles printed on it, and on top of it, a red and yellow sweater vest. He was always a sucker for a stylish and comfy sweater vest; made him feel very professional along with fashionable. 

As he made his way through the crowd, trying to find Mikey, he found that many people were incredibly rude. They pushed and shoved him as he tried to squeeze in between him, and said some really harsh words. He knew he was ‘cutting’ them, but his friend was waiting for him up at the gates. 

“Hey, Mikey,” Harry greeted, and Mikey turned around, beaming his camera smile. 

“Harry! I’m so glad you’re here. They’re about to come out any second,” Mikey nudged him. 

“Do you think today’s the day?” Harry asked his friend hopefully. Mikey always had this sixth sense that he was able to feel the difference between the good and bad vibes from what they both manifested. And most of the time, It was either a blessing or curse to know. 

“Honestly…” he said suspensefully as Harry waited for, hopefully some good news. “I have a good feeling about this,” Mikey smiled, and Harry clapped his hands once, loudly. 

“That is the shit I like to hear,” Harry said excitedly, putting an arm around Mikey as the boys both smiled in anticipation. 

After a few minutes, the crowd spotted two people walking towards the gate as the guards opened them. The crowd of locals went wild, throwing their hands up as they screamed “pick me!” 

Again, Harry used his trick of smiling not too big and not too small to make him seem like he was trying too hard. The woman scanned through the crowd, glancing at the eager people. She pointed at the ones she wanted, usually picking about five or six people to bring with her on set; already picking five people. 

Once she glanced over to the area Harry was standing, looking over if she wanted to pick another one, but stuck with five. Everyone’s eagerness altered, frustrated that they weren’t picked. Harry’s expression turned into a sad one, wishing he wasn’t too hopeful when Mikey said his senses were telling him they were good. And just as he was about to leave, something struck the lady causing her to turn back around. 

Everyone in the front rows saw it, making them smile quickly at her. But Harry panicked because he thinks he’s looking right at him, despite the sunglasses. Harry softly smiled, in case she really was. And his day, possibly his life, changed when she lifted her hand and pointed right at him, gesturing to him to follow her. 

Harry was in complete shock, practically not even believing he was picked until Mikey physically pushed him towards the gate because the ladies and the rest were waiting. 

“Go on man! You got picked!” Mikey said excitedly, and Harry snapped out of his disbelief, beaming at his friend and kissing him on the forehead before walking inside the gates of Paramount Studios. 

He was so in awe of the whole atmosphere; the crew working on building sets, making props, wardrobe, the cameras—everything. He’s never seen the real thing up until now. But when he was picked to be an extra with Mikey when they had first met, they weren’t in front of cameras or a big set; they were part of the rehearsal act that included them being in a room with all the other actors, so this was a huge deal for Harry. 

When the ladies led the ‘picked ones’ to a room where the screenwriter, director, and producers sat, Harry felt his anxiety rise up again. He had no idea what was about to happen, but he made sure to do it with feeling and to give his best performance. 

“Alright, everyone. In my hand, I have the script of the upcoming movie we finally got approved of. I picked six of you by random to act out specific parts that I think will fit you,” the lady explained. Harry noticed that everyone in this industry was very fierce and strong willed. But he figured, they probably have to because this is a very serious job that has to do with entertaining the entire country. “Think of this as an audition to a movie—because it is. This is the real deal, kids. We’ve never done this before, only picking you all up to be extras, but since we have some small roles that need to be filled, this is your time to shine.” 

She grabbed a stack of scripts and handed it to the group. And when Harry felt the stack of papers that could possibly include one of his lines in a big movie, he felt like he was dreaming. He’s never held an entire script in his hands before, and god, he wished he would hold scripts for the rest of his life. 

“Each of your scripts has a sticky note on it that says the name of the character that I think suits you all, again, based on first glance. You will go to the lounge area, study your character and the general plot of the movie, and you will come back to audition for us. You don’t have to memorize it, but it is suggested. We just want you to get a feel of the character. You have an hour to do so,” she dismissed everyone as they walked out the door and to the lounge room. 

The room was like a movie theatre in some sorts; sofas lined up as people sat and talked about everything and anything. Harry picked a spot in the back, so no one would disturb him as he was buried in the script, studying the character he’s auditioning for. 

After thirty minutes of studying the plot and his character, he came to realize that the movie was a romance film. The classic story of a man falling for a woman, but the woman is hesitant. The casting director had assigned Harry to audition for the main character’s best friend. And when Harry found that out, he was ecstatic. The role obviously wasn’t the lead character, but it was pretty close. 

Harry took the rest of his time to memorize the highlighted lines. He knew he didn’t have to, but like the casting director said, it’s better to. And he’s very grateful for his memorization game that he’s had ever since he was younger; always memorizing lyrics to songs when only hearing it twice. 

With hushed mumbles of his lines, repeated saying it over and over again, he felt confident and he was ready. He had about ten minutes to go before it was time to go back to the room, but he decided to head over there already because he learned that you should always show them that you’re ready; it builds confidence in yourself and it’s always good to be early better than late. 

Harry waited outside of the room when an older lady approached him. 

“Harry, right?” The woman asked, and his head perked up, surprised one person even knew his name in this place. 

“Yeah, that’s me. And you are?” He asked politely, flashing her his million dollar smile. 

Always be nice to others; no matter how good you think you are, you never know where kindness will take you in life. 

“I’m Shareen. I’m not sure if you remember me, but I was at one of your auditions a few weeks ago,” she told him, handing him her hand to shake. Harry took it as his eyes widened, remembering the woman in front of him. She was an older woman--somewhere in her 60s. Harry noticed that she was wearing a barrette on her head, just like the last time he saw her; probably one of her staple pieces, which he thinks is lovely. Shareen had a friendly face as well; Harry not being intimidated by her like he is with the rest of them as she kindly smiled at him with bright eyes. 

“Ah, yes! I remember you. It’s lovely to meet you, officially. Also, love the barette you’re wearing,” he compliments honestly. 

“Oh, thank you, dear. Quite a favorite of mine.” Shareen felt nothing but giddiness when someone noticed her barrette. None of her coworkers rarely noticed it, so it made her happy when someone complimented her on it. 

“It looks wonderful on you,” he smiled, and she placed her hand on his arm. 

“You’re sweet. But I wanted to come by and introduce myself, and tell you that I think you did really well. It’s too bad one of the producers cut it way too short--I was eager to see what you could offer,” Shareen smiled softly, feeling bad for the young man in front of her. 

“Oh, thank you. That means a lot to me,” Harry smiled widely, feeling immensely grateful for someone from the industry to say something like that to him. He rarely gets told that he’s good at what he does, and for someone to say that to him means a ton. “But I’m happy to be getting another shot.” 

“Me too, dear. I just know you’ll do just great,” she patted his shoulders before walking into the room, leaving him to wait alone again. What she had told Harry had given him a boost in motivation; it encouraged him to keep going and to keep trying. And sometimes that’s all he needs--a boost of encouragement to tell him that he’s doing things right. That’s all what everyone needs. 

The other five people had gathered around next to Harry as they waited for another three minutes before they were called in. He took in everyone’s moods as he does, and controlled his breathing and nerves. Everyone was obviously very nervous--Harry was as well, considering this could possibly be a huge step in their careers. 

“Harry and Sky, please come in,” a man called out from the door. Sky was another actress that he assumed he would be auditioning with. She smiled softly at him before walking towards the room, Harry following. 

The room was even more intimidating than the first time. Five pairs of eyes stared at the two as they walked in and stood on the mark that was taped to the floor. 

“Alright, you two. You’ve studied your roles, and now it’s time to perform them. You will be auditioning for page 50.” Harry and Sky flipped to that page as they both studied it for a second. Feel free to use your scripts. But give us your best performance, okay?” One of the ladies said, and Harry and Sky nodded eagerly, nerves creeping up both of their skins. 

Harry glanced at Shareen, and found her smiling at him. The friendly face and smile had calmed him down a bit, remembering her words. After a minute of gathering their notepads, she spoke again. “And action!” 

Harry and Sky turned towards each other with scripts in their hands; Harry walking passed her, arms crossed so he wasn’t tempted to look down at his lines. “I just…they’re not right for each other!” He said. 

“They’re getting married--what can you do?” Sky acted out, a frustrated look on her face. 

“Stop it.” 

“What?” Sky scoffed. 

Harry grabbed her shoulders, according to the script, shaking her lightly and said, “Don’t you get it? We have to stop the wedding!” 

“You’re his best friend! How could you do that-”

“Because I’m in love with her!” Harry exclaimed

“No…” 

“Yes! I’m in love with her. We have to stop the wedding,” his eyes pleaded. 

“You’re insane, Nate.” Sky removed herself from his hold, walking away before Harry ran in front of her to stop her, grabbing her shoulders again. 

“Insane? Don’t tell me that you haven’t been thinking about it too. I know you’re in love with Matt,” Harry raised his brows. 

“That doesn’t mean we stop their wedding,” Sky scolded. 

“But that means we’ll be happy. Can’t you see that?” 

“And cut!” 

Harry and Sky broke out of character. Their faces returned back to normal as they weren’t two stressed out adults who were planning to ruin their best friend’s wedding. Half of the table clapped for them, Shareen, of course, being one of them. 

“Wonderful job, you two,” Shareen said with a delighted smile. “We just need your contact information just in case, and you’re free to go.” 

Once Harry gave them his contact information, which was simply his home phone, he walked out of the studio with a big smile on his face. He had no idea what the outcome would be with all of this, but he was proud of himself for getting through it, and he thought he did a wonderful job this time. 

“Catherine, I know you can lift your leg up higher than that!” You teased one of your students, giving them an encouraging smile. Catherine lifted her leg up all the way to her head, and you clapped for her. “There you go!” 

It was your Monday ballet basics class as little five to seven year olds were spread out, and working on the little number you made up for them. You were exhausted from the long hours of class and plus, it was eleven in the morning, seeing as you were up since seven. But you had an hour left to go before you get to go home, and have a nice bath and a house all to yourself. 

Your father was at work, thankfully not going to be home until later in the night, and your mother was helping her friend with a charity foundation. And an empty house and a relaxing bath that will probably end up with you touching yourself, was calling your name. 

You haven’t been laid since the night you and Harry had sex, and the most you’ve been doing since then was pleasuring yourself. There was just simply no sexual interest when you looked at others, and you may have to just curse Harry out for ruining your sexual life for you, but you were fine getting yourself off. 

As you watched your class run through the routine, you felt a presence behind you, causing you to turn around and see Tyler smiling at you. Tyler was one of the few guys who taught ballet, and on Mondays, he taught the ages of eight to twelve in the morning; the same time as you. 

“Hi, Tyler.” 

“Hey. Are you almost done with the class?” He asked. 

“Yeah. About 40 minutes left--why aren’t you in class?” You asked, figuring he had about the same time left as you, and wondered why he wasn’t with his students.

“I dismissed them early. It’s Monday, the hardest day of the week. But I was wondering if you’d like to get some lunch after your class ends? I’m free for the rest of the day,” he asked you hopefully. 

It wasn’t like you didn’t like Tyler because you thought he was really nice and friendly. When you two had met, he asked you out for dinner, but you were with Chris at the time, so being a loyal girlfriend that you were, you said no, to which he understood. When he somehow found out that you and Chris broke up, he asked again, and you told him honestly that you didn’t want to date nor did you want to go out, and he understood again. But up until now, it was constant questions of asking you on a date and the constant rejection of you saying no. It was clear he couldn’t take a hint. 

“Oh, uhm, I was hoping to be alone today…” you scratched your neck awkwardly. 

“Gotcha,” he nodded his head. “But another question, why do you never want to go out with me?”

“Tyler, I think you’re a really nice guy and I’ve noticed you have some certain eyes for me ever since we met, but I’m just not interested in you. And I hope you understand that,” you told him honestly, but ultimately feeling bad that you even had to tell him that. 

You heard him scoff and saw him roll his eyes, “Unbelievable.” You saw him start to pace, and you were afraid that he would snap in front of your students, so you stopped the music, telling them to take 5, and brought him out to the hall. 

“What is your problem?” You asked confusingly.

“You think you’re the shit, don’t you?” His voice started to raise.

“No, I don’t actually.” 

“You do though! Think you’re all high and mighty just because you’re a rich bitch, but guess what? You’re not!” 

“I never thought I was, but okay,” you said sarcastically, completely annoyed that you have to put up with this dumb arguement. 

“No, you do. Just because you like men and women, you think you can just get anyone?” You looked at him amusingly; you think it’s funny he says that because he’s been begging you to go out on a date with him. “What? You’re secret’s out.” 

“Never really kept it a secret, and I’m happy about that,” you entertained him as he began to grow more frustrated, but you were completely over this conversation as you were never going to give him the satisfaction of snapping at him, so he could possibly tell people that you weren’t all what you seemed. 

Before you reached for the door to your classroom, you turned around one last time. “Hey.” Tyler turned around like a kid who just got scolded, which only added to your amusement. “Feel free to spread that secret of mine, yeah? Makes me proud to be who I am.” 

Your original plan was to go home after class and have a nice day to yourself, but you found yourself parked in front of Sweetland, debating with yourself whether you should go in or not. 

You’ve been sitting in your car for a good 10 minutes under the sun, and your debate meter is pointing to yes because it’s scorching hot in July in California. But not only your body melting from the heat that your debate meter is green on yes, but also wanting to see Harry. 

It’s been a few days since you last saw him at the diner, and it was no secret that you missed him, but seeing his face after two weeks made you realize that you truly missed him. So you made the conscious decision to get out of your car and enter Sweetland. 

When you opened the door, you stumbled into someone who was pushing the door out, but you beat him to it, causing him to fall forward slightly. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Once the man regained his balance, his eyes met yours, and he smiled. “Oh, Harry.” It was the same man that you were at the shop for, and you couldn’t be more happy to see him. 

“H-Hi,” he said nervously, running his ringed clad hand through his disheveled curls. 

“Are you off of work right now?” 

“No, I didn’t work today actually. But we’re still open, so you could go inside.” A hint of pain was felt in his chest when he said those words; wanting to be the one to help you and not one of his coworkers. 

“Oh…I was actually looking for you,” you smiled, and Harry’s eyes widened. 

“R-Really?” He asked surprisingly, and you nodded. “I’m not working though, I just came by to get my paycheck.” 

“Yeah, but I was wondering if we could maybe go out for lunch? That’s if you’re free though.” A hopeful smile was brought onto your face and your innocent eyes looked at him, making it unbelievably hard for Harry to say no, not like he wanted to. 

“I’d love to!” He said a little too excitedly, so he toned it down a bit. You chuckled at his lifted mood. “Where would you like to go?” 

“Swinger’s isn’t too far from here, if you’d like to check that place out? Heard their waffles and milkshakes are to die for,” you mentioned, trying to convince him at the thought of food. 

“Didn’t have to mention waffles—already wanted to go with ya,” he smirked, teasing you as he read your mind while you were trying to convince him. He earned a giggle from you as you walked to the driver side of your car as he walked up to the passenger side. “Ah, missed Rosie,” he said as he got in. 

“Rosie or me?” You bantered, starting your car up. 

“It’s a close tie between you two, to be honest. Although, Rosie might be winning,” he played back. Your jaw dropped dramatically, slapping his chest playfully. 

“Well, what if I say we could share a milkshake? Would I earn points then?” You leaned in a tad bit, asking something so innocent but your time was saying the opposite. 

“Do I get to choose the flavor?” 

“The choice is all yours, honey.” 

“Let’s get there in one piece and maybe I’ll decide then, yeah?” He said, ending the bacon and forth teasing. You giggled as you put your car in drive, and drove off to Swinger’s.

The booth was a cushioned, checkered print seat, but it wasn’t as comfortable as Mel’s, albeit, you’re a bit biased because you’ve been going to Mel’s ever since you were younger, so you couldn’t compare the two. But it was a lovely diner either way. 

Sitting in front of Harry was a bit of a dream. You’d imagined meeting him again over and over without it leading to sex, and the simplicity of how the reality of it turned out to be made you happy. 

You and Harry talked about simple likes and dislikes as a way to ease into getting to know each other. You found out that he prefered mint chip over cookies n’ cream, and to say you were disappointed was an understatement when he ordered you both a mint chip milkshake to share. 

“What? It’s flavorful! Not your usual,” he argued playfully. 

“But cookies n’ cream is just a staple. You can’t go wrong with that,” you raised your brows, knowing you were right and he knew it too. 

“I mean you’re right, but mint chip is good! We’ll get cookies n’ cream the next time,” he told you, putting a truce on the debate, but you ignored the truce as your heart fluttered multiple times at the words ‘next time’ and you wanted to do pirouettes from excitement. “Okay, okay. Pancakes or waffles?” 

“You can’t pick between the two,” you simply put it. 

“That’s a very easy answer though. It’s waffles,” he said. 

Just as you two discussed how you couldn’t choose between the two because you had to be in a certain mood for both, your food had arrived; the aroma of freshly made waffles hit your senses, making your mouth water. 

“So…” you started, sipping the milkshake with your straw. Harry’s head lifted, giving you a smile, encouraging you to continue. “How was your date on Friday?” You asked hesitantly, not really wanting to know if it went well. 

“Uh, not so good…” 

“Oh?” Now you were intrigued. You tried to contain a smile from beaming out by pulling in your lips together, but your eyes said it all. And Harry read your expression, knowing you were happy with what he said. “What happened? If you don’t mind me asking?” 

“Oh, uhm-”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” you said, noticing his hesitation. 

“I do. I just don’t know how to put it,” Harry nervously scratched his head as you told him to take his time. “So she was actually a customer from the shop,” he mentioned, and you gulped, waiting for him to continue. “She wanted to grab a bite to eat before we go back to hers, then we saw you, and I was just so lost in thought of you that I wasn’t paying attention to her that she noticed, so I suggested we just go back to hers. We got there and she immediately started making out with me and placing her hand on my dick, which kind of startled me because I wasn’t really hard or turned on nor was I into it,” Harry explained. 

“Can I ask why you weren’t into it?” You asked, somewhat knowing the reason, but wanting to hear it from him. 

“You. I was thinking of you the whole time, and she also sensed that. And then…” he stopped talking, like he didn’t want to tell you anything. 

“Take your time, or you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” you said calmly, having no idea if something bad had happened during their time together, and you were a bit pissed but you didn’t want to force him into telling you. 

He took a deep breath, controlling his breathing. “We stopped, and she assumed that you were the reason why I wasn’t into it, and she was correct, but then she started to say things how you were into both men and women, saying how weird that was because you wouldn’t give yourself to one person or some shit like that, and by then I was completely off the rails--pissed.” 

“She said that?” You asked with no emotion behind your words, and he nodded. 

“Said it was because you were checking her out at the diner and it wasn't a real thing to like two genders or some shit. I was proper livid,” he shook his head, still in disbelief that he came across a person like that. You only nodded your head slowly, trying to take everything in. Plus, this was not how you imagined coming out to Harry. “But told her to fuck off, and how rude it was to one, assume someone’s sexuality. And two, say that it’s not a real thing. Then I left.” 

Your eyes softened as you looked at him; a crease in his forehead made you reach across the table and smooth it out with your thumb. His features softened, and he looked at you, seeing your glossy eyes look right back at him. 

“Thank you for saying that. No one’s ever defended me like that besides my friends, and that means a lot to me,” you gave him a small smile to which you earned one back. It felt some sort of shock knowing that people live in fear and can’t be who they want to be because society doesn’t accept it, and he felt some sort of sadness when you thanked him and said that no one else ever defended you. 

“Of course,” he said, reaching across the table to hold onto your hand, which you gladly took. His thumb caressed your soft skin, making no effort to let go; not like you wanted him to. 

“I was supposed to have a relaxing night to myself, but I’m glad I went to the shop.” 

“Me too. What made you change your mind?” He asked, and you rolled your eyes, remembering the events that happened before you left the studio. 

You told Harry about Tyler, not leaving out a single detail of what he said to you as it was still fresh and ingrained into your mind. The entire time you told the story, Harry also rolled his eyes and scoffed at some people’s immaturity. But you just shrugged your shoulders, telling him that you were going to live your bisexual life freely. 

“What’d you do this weekend?” You asked, putting an end to your story as you felt like you were talking about yourself too much. 

“Oh, I, uh…had a couple of days off from the shop and I had an audition,” he said with a humble smile. Your eyes widened, jaw dropping. 

“Harry!”

“What?” He asked obliviously. 

“Oh, I don’t know--you just casually mention that you had an audition,” you said sarcastically; a chuckle from Harry was heard. “That’s amazing! I’m so proud of you,” you beamed at him, feeling so happy for him as he maintained his composure and tried not to get too excited. 

“Thank you. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but it was such a thrill being in front of the producers,” he said, proceeding to tell you the entire story. He felt giddy telling someone other than Mikey or Daren, and he definitely felt your energy, telling him that you were just as excited for him as well. 

“Harry, that’s truly so great. They would be missing out if they don’t pick you.”

“Thanks, sweet girl.” The name had slipped out. It came out naturally, but he closed his mouth immediately, not knowing if that crossed the line since he used that pet name in bed. 

“I’ve missed hearing that name,” you told him honestly, and he calmed down a bit, smirking at you. 

The night was going by quicker than you intended as you hung out with Harry starting around 1 p.m, and now it was nearing 4.

 As much as you wanted to continue hanging out with him, you still wanted to have some alone time with yourself since it was rare that you would have the house to yourself. Besides, like he said, it wasn’t the last time you would be seeing each other. 

“I should probably get going,” you say, a sad tone behind your words. 

“Yeah, okay, sure. Let me just grab the check,” he turned around to find the waitress that served you both. 

“Oh, I can pay for half,” you said, beginning to reach into your purse for your wallet. 

“It’s okay. Let me; I just got paid. And besides, I was the one who picked the milkshake flavor, so let me pay for it,” he smiled at you, making you blush. “Next time, you’ll pick the flavor, and maybe you can pay if you want to next time.” You only nodded, smiling as you watched him just walk up to your waitress and pay for your meals. 

Once he paid, you two walked out the diner; the summer sun was still bright outside, making it seem like it was still early in the day. You walked over to the driver side as Harry stayed still in front of the restaurant. 

“I’ll see you soon, maybe? Drive safe,” he said, waving at you. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Oh, I was gonna catch the railway.” he said shyly, and you chuckled, thinking you were probably crazy if you were going to leave him out here. 

“You know you’re too kind for the world, and don’t need to get all shy on me. It’s just me—you’re comfortable with me?” You asked, wanting to make sure he felt comfortable with you no matter what. 

“Yeah, of course-”

“Then hop in. I don’t bite, that is, only if you want me to,” you smirked, starting your car and putting on your sunglasses. He absolutely loved when you wore your sunnies; you had a different pair on than when he first met you. Today’s sunnies were pink circular glasses; the lens was see through as he saw your eyes, thinking you look absolutely stylish and all kinds of adorable. 

“I live in West Hollywood,” he said suddenly, feeling a bit anxious for you to see the neighborhood he lives in because he knows that it’s nothing compared to where you probably live. 

“Okay, that’s on the way to where I live anyways. Just lead the way,” you quickly glanced at him, giving him a smile before turning your head back to the road. You sensed his anxiousness as you did when you first met him; and you thought that it was simply his personality—he was a shy guy in general. That’s why you wanted to make sure he was comfortable around you, and not push his limits. 

After a few directions from Harry, making a left here and making a right there, you made it in front of his apartment building. It obviously wasn’t a neighborhood you were used to, but you didn’t mind it nor were you going to judge it. It was Harry’s home, and as long as it makes him safe, then everything was fine. 

Harry waited a few seconds, not immediately getting out of the car, before turning towards you as you turned your car off. “I had a really nice time tonight,” 

“Me too. I’m glad we were able to go out. Until the next one?” You subtly slipped in, in case he had forgotten, or to see if he wasn’t joking when he said ‘next time’ at the diner. 

“Of course. I’ll see you then,” he gave you one last smile before getting out of your car. 

“Harry…” you called out just like the last time you had dropped him off. He once again turned around, leaning his forearms on the top of the door and bent down. 

“Yes?” 

You unclicked your seatbelt, making your way towards the passenger side as you kneel on the seat. You reached your hand to place your palm against his right cheek, feeling his stubbled skin. 

“Thank you for today, and for lunch. I mean it when I said I had a really great time.” Your face was inches away from him, and Harry was starting to get very antsy; wanting to kiss you so bad as your lips were so close but so far from his. 

“The pleasure is all mine. I’ll see you next time, sweet girl,” he said. He noticed how much you really like being called that because every time he does, a blushy smile appears on your face, and he would make sure to always call you ‘sweet girl’ to see that kind of smile from you all the time. 

His eyes flickered between your eyes and your lips as it was painted in a bit of lip gloss. He also noticed how your attention was on his lips as well. And before he could ask you if he could kiss you, you had leaned your head into his left cheek, planting a kiss to his skin. 

It wasn’t anywhere on his lips, but it was sweet and soft; a sweet innocent kiss that he would always remember and and he was sure he would giddily  scream once he got back to his apartment. 

“Have a good night, honey,” you said as you pulled away. Harry’s heart immediately swooned at the second time you called him honey. 

“Honey?” He said as it came out as a pleasant surprise. You say back down in your seat, blushing. 

“Yeah, is it too cheesy?” 

“No, no! I really like it,” he smiled, dimples showing off. 

“Good.” 

“Great.” 

You two stared at each other, smiling like idiots as neither one of you wanted to leave. But you two broke eye contact due to the car alarm that startled you both, but both looking back at each other as you two giggled. 

“Bye—for the millionth time,” you said as you started your car, putting the gear into drive. 

“See ya, sweet girl,” he bid you goodbye as he gave you one last wave and watched you drive away. 

As he walked up the stairs to his front door, he thought of how the day had been really good and how much he had fun; anticipating the next time he gets to see you again. 

one of my favorite chapters! BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE. YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL AND VALID. 

next chapter will be posted on September 4! LETS CHAT IN MY INBOX!

taglist babies: @froggystyles​​ @outofsstyles​​ @whoschantel​​ @4592222 @groovybaybee​​ @bfharry​​ @wellbafineline​​ @tfonty​​ @bfilipa52 @afire-hes​ @thorsangel​​ @brrilliant-harry​​ @apples2019​​ @bbymichelleee​​ @harrys-cherrry​​ @ggaayyyong​​ @heslilac​​ @hufflepuff-always-and-forever​​ @sozvuchiy​​ @mellamolayla​​

[chrisevansszn]

THE GAMES WE PLAY PT 4‼‼‼‼

FINAL CHAPTER ‼

1.6 Word Count

*quick recap*

 

The ride was nice, and you guys held hands the whole way home. When you got back home yall decided on order Door Dash. You both were taking off your shoes and such when the doorbell rings.

 

“That’s odd”, Chris says. You both was still standing in the hallway, and Chris walks up to the door and opens it. Standing there is his ex, Lily James with a bottle of wine.

 

“Hi there”, she says.

 

Chris stops and stare for a second, and then finally says “Lily. What a pleasant surprise.” “I just thought a nice pop up would be ok since you just finished the premiere maybe we can celebrate”. Lily holds up the bottle of wine.

 

She still hasn’t noticed you standing in the hallway. Her eyes are directly on Chris.

 

“Well,”, Chris says, “I do have a friend here.” He moves to side and opens the door a little wider revealing you. “Oh, goodness”. Lilly blurts out. “I had no idea”.

 

You smile respectfully and walk up to the door to shake her hand. “Y/N, nice to meet you”. Lily shakes your hand back but not in a super friendly way.  “Lily”. It takes you back. “Chris, please let Lily join us for a drink to celebrate our premiere”, you say. You turn around to walk towards the kitchen.

 

Chris and Lily follow behind. Lily hands Chris the wine to open and you both sit at this kitchen bar. Chris begins looking for the wine opener and remembers he left at his wine bar next to the living room. He walks out.

 

Lily looks at you. “Are you and Chris dating?” Your faced grimaced. You couldn’t believe that she had the audacity to ask you that. “I don’t think that is any of your business”, you reply. “Well, you know Chris is a lady’s man…if you are thinking about taking things to the next level, I wouldn’t recommend it…from personal experience”. Lily gives you a fake smile.

 

“Well, what the fuck are you doing here then?” You don’t have time for the games.

 

Chris walks back in. “Ok, ladies I finally found it”. He popped the bottle open and grabbed some glasses. He notices that something is afoot. “Is everything ok?” He’s asking both of you.

 

You waste no time. “Lily asked if we were dating. I told her it was none of her business”. He stopped pouring. “She also said that if I was considering taking things to the next level with you that I shouldn’t, because you are a lady’s man.” Chris set down the glass and the champagne.

 

“Lily, stand up. Get your shit and go”, she says without hesitation. “Chris, I didn’t-…” “NOW, Lily. You came here to start some shit and I won’t allow it.” He pulls her chair back for her. She gets up and he follows her down the hallway. You can hear him say “I don’t want to hear that bullshit” and closes the door.

 

Maybe you shouldn’t have said that! BUT she was being a bitch for no reason. Chris walks back in. “I am so sorry. I had no clue she was going to show up.”

 

“It’s ok. Damn ol girl got put out before she could have a sip of her wine”. Chris throws her wine in the trash. “Her fault”.

 

You and Chris continue the night drinking and playing card games. You just love how simple this man is. Then you get a message through Instagram. You click “unread messages”, but don’t actually click the message just yet.

 

Sender: Lily James

 

You pre-read the message.

 

“I just wanted to let you know Chris invited me to visit last week. I don’t know what you guys have going on, but I wouldn’t just show up like a creeper. Here are the screenshots to prove it”.

 

You hesitate. Chris is looking at his phone not really paying attention. You both are fucking wasted. If you click this message Lily will know that you read it. You think…and think…and think.

 

Chris is not your man. These messages have nothing to do you with you.

 

You click it.

 

It’s Chris professing his love for Lily and how much he missed her. That he only has eyes for her. That he wants to try it again, and to come down for the premiere so they can spend some time together.

 

Why would he invite you after her? You keep reading….she declined his offer. You were the back up option. You are completely intoxicated, and your emotions are beginning to get the best of you.

 

“Chris”. He looks up. “Yes”. “Lily is messaging me on IG and sent me screen shots of you asking for a second chance and to come to LA for the premiere. She declined…was I just a backup?” He froze. You can tell he was processing everything. “She sent you screenshots of mine and her text messages to you?”

 

“Correct.”

 

He ran his hand over his beard. “I….wanted to see if there was anything left between Lily and I.”  “So I was a backup bitch??”

“Y/N, no!” “Yes, I am Christopher”. You stand up.

 

Its literally 2AM and your flight leaves out in 6 hours.

 

“Y/N please sit so we can discuss this.” “There is nothing to discuss Chris. You are not my man and I am not your woman”. His eyes grow big. “I do not have times for these games with you, Chris. If you just wanted to fuck I would have been fine with that. Don’t cuddle with me, hold me, and whisper a whole bunch of nothing to me”. “Y/N I never said I wanted to be in a relationship with you. Why would you even assume that?”  Chris finally stands up.

 

You are taken back by what he just said.

 

“You know what Chris; you are fucking right. Why would I? You’re damn near 40, still no wife, still no kids, all alone, and maybe that’s the life you so deserve.” That hit a soft spot.

 

“FUCK YOU Y/N! You don’t know shit. I’ve been working my ass off in my 30’s and neglected the one thing that I’ve always wanted the most in my entire life. A fucking family!”  You both are standing face to face.

 

You’ve never seen Chris so upset. You’ve never heard him raise his voice, but all that ended today.

 

“I am going to pack my shit and leave”. “Where are you going to go Y/N, it 2 o clock in the fucking morning!” He screams at you. You begin to walk off, and Chris grabs your arm. “You are not leaving, that’s ridiculous.” You yank your arm back. “Don’t touch me”.

 

You begin down the hallway, and he follows you. You enter the guest room and throw your suitcase on the floor and start placing your items in there. Chris is standing in the doorway watching. You are on your knees googling hotels so you can leave. Chris closes the door and locks it. You and him are in the room. He comes and snatches your phone out of your hand.

 

“Are you out of your mind?”, you yell and stands up to try to get your phone back. He holds it up high over his head. “Chris, give me my phone now!”

 

“Listen to me….listen to me NOW! Please don’t leave. I will leave you alone, but you must promise me you will not leave in the middle of the night.”

 

You stop. You both are looking each other in the eyes.

 

“I will take you to the airport in the morning like I had planned.” He gives you your phone back.

 

“I am going to bed.” You can hear his footsteps going down the hall. You are so emotional and drained. You look at your phone 3:05AM. You change clothes and  peep down the hall and you can see a light coming from Chris��� room. He normally sleeps with his door closed. He’s making sure you don’t leave.

 

You finish packing quickly and lay in your bed. Sleep really isn’t finding you right now. Then you hear footsteps headed your way. Your bedroom door is open. Chris knocks respectfully.

 

“Hey”, you say. “Hey”, he replies. Chris walks over and sits on the bed. “I just want to apologize for everything. I never wanted you to feel second. You are so special to me; you have no idea.  I did reach out to Lily and I am happy she declined. My intentions were to never hurt you. Do you forgive me?”

 

Well...how can you stay mad at him?? Those blue damn eyes! “I forgive you Chris”.

He leans over and hugs you.

 

“Can I sleep with you tonight?”

 

“Absolutely.”

 

Chris crawls into bed with you and holds you close. You both fall asleep. Your alarm goes off at 6:30AM. You both are dreading getting out of the bed. You throw on some joggers, hoodie, and some Nikes. Chris makes you a fresh cup of coffee, while you give all the goodbye kisses to Dodger.

 

The drive to the airport was quiet. You were holding Chris’ hand. You arrive to the airport, and he helps you with your luggage. “Thank you again for everything Chris.” “You are absolutely welcome”. You give him a kiss on the cheek, paparazzi are starting to swarm.

 

“I’ll text you when I land back in Texas.” “Sure thing”

 

“Bye Chris”. “Bye Y/N”.

 

You enter the airport… and never look back. Maybe it’s best for you to keep Chris just as a friend. 

I hope each and everyone one of you enjoyed this one! 💜💜💜

@thatoneperson5000

@stylesann

@melannie77

@jst-sayhell-no

@kcath-rb

@hopefulbonkvoidland

@thummbelina

@lovinevans

@mrspeacem1nusone

@thesecretlifeofdaydreams-bl-blog

[tokugou]

Hi. First: I love your GIFs! They're pleasing to see on my dash (and sometimes gives me niggling ideas for creating GIFs of my own but almost never do it cuz procrastination and my creativity sucks haha 😅)! Please keep creating! <3

Second, genuine question (and out of curiosity): Why do you self reblog your posts often? People can see your posts on their dash, and even on the search thingy. The search thingy doesn't let people see your self-reblogs (just the original post). Even though I've kinda been on and off of Tumblr for years, I don't really get how it works, so I'm a bit confused as to why you and other bloggers self-reblog your/their own posts?

You don't have to answer if you don't want to, though! I'm just genuinely confused and I don't know who/where else to ask/search 😅. Thanks in advance! Have a nice day! <3

I honestly don't know what I did to get dragged into this discourse

Thank you for polite question, I honestly don't know if I can help you a lot and if my answer will explain it as you expect. I also was on and off tumblr for a long time and often, but I can answer it based on my own experience on this becasue it was confusing to me too when I first met with self reblogging.

Long reply under read more so to not trash other people' dash

first of all self promotion isn't a bad thing and i'm staring to think some of people here see it as a crime

compared to old one nowday t/mblr is a mess, lot of people left this site and most of them were content creators (either artists or gifmakers) and back then it seemd more welcoming to editors? People would rb your stuff no matter your popularity becasue hey it is content from my fav series i wanna see more i wanna keep it on my blog and show it to others so there was no need for people to self reblog becasue it circulated around a lot on its own.

new people who join this app are raised on i/stagram t/itter and/or f/book where LIKES means everything, you show your support by liking posts THIS NOT APPLY TO TUMBLR AND NEVER DID [you can check this amazing post about rebloging]. As nice as it is to get likes on your post becasue it is like a pat on a head - it is only a pat, doesn't mean anything on a long run. Reblog = spreading. If people don't spread it we stay unnoticed and we tend to self reblog more.

another thing that changed is: people no longer scroll from top to the last post they saw before going to sleep, cos why would they? You wake up in the morning open app while eating breakfast or drinking coffee and you sroll past ten or twenty post or an equivalent of hour or two of your absence - you dont go deeper cos it would be a waste of time - again, I say USUALLY, some ppl still do this and it is ok either way - which leads us to main point of self/reblog:

DIFFERENCE in TIME ZONE not all of our followers live in the same time-zone, when I post something in my free time it doesn't mean others have it too, most of them are probably sleeping or in working place at that hour. We self reblog so people who were absent (and we think might be interested in - becasue why not? they follow us for a reason right?) can see it when they get back on here. By reblogging ourself multiple times, that puts the post back on the follower’s dash and hopefully gives them a chance to see it.

most of people follow ton of blogs (one of my friend I met here told me they follow over 1k blogs) imagine even half of these blogs posting regulary, a few things per hour, the dash is messy and crowded OUR EDITS TEND TO GET LOST IN IT. Most of people follow a lot of blogs and might miss our posts becaue their dashes are WAY more active than these who follow five or ten blogs.

t/mblr fandoms aren't welcoming to new creators in my experience, to get notes you need to be popular/have lot of followers but you can't have lot of them if your posts aren't spread/seen and so on and so on it go in circle (a lot of ppl also only reblog popular posts and avoid these with litte of notes - don't know why it is like this, maybe they think these posts are suspicious?) so with self reblog we also give some of these fake notes to make a post more appealing, i guess? this one is just speculation.

the search function you mentioned is very rarely used tbh people don't go to search for things daily, they usually only do this when they join new series/ship/etc to check if there is something. People usually stick to what they see on their dashes. AND most importantly this option doesn't work as it should. It is some type of algoritm that promote post that are alive/active - even if your post is relativy new it might not show in search becasue it died quickly (as if it wasn't interacted with for some time). With search option it is 50/50 your thing either show there or not. ALSO REMEMBER search option is a terrible promoted thingy that doesn't show you everything so you better stick to /tagged/ thing you can enter manually while on dash if you are using web t/mblr.

people no longer go straight to specific blogs to check if they missed something, they might do it for their besties (as they call it) but other than that DASH is all people see and focus on, so the more often content creators self/reblog the higher chance followrs will see it.

we are not paid for what we do and it come to everything: edits, gifs, arts, writing, video and META POST we are not paid for it and no matter how many people say notes are just numbers these numbers are our motivational payment, the less you get the less you create because you just don't feel the point of sharing your creations if it is not received well or at all.

when I started posting I used to post new content daily even twice a day, nowdays seeing most of my edits not being well recieved in fandom I lost motivation to the point I was thinking of quiting because it didn’t give me joy anymore and I'm still considering it.

I personally never felt bothered seeing self rebbloged post, I follow a bunch of content creators, some of them sr twice a day some each hour, some more or less often. It often helped me to see something I would missed becasue I wasn't here and personally it often give me joy to see the post I remember seeing that had 2 notes when I rb it and now it is 500 or more.

to anyone who read it and still think self reblog is a bother: do not tell people to stop self reblogging. If you genuinely have a problem with self reblogging, just unfollow or block the person who does it and don’t make a fuss over it!

I hope I managed to answer you at least partly? I probably lost the point somewhere between first sentence and second but... well

[galaxitic]

Why it’s better to kill Shin Tsukimi in the Second Main Game

Anyone who’s been on my blog for awhile knows that I am in love with Shin Tsukimi. Everything about him just screams good character writing and development. He’s extremely well done, and he holds a large place in my heart. And yet, when the time came to choose someone in the Second Main Game, I voted for him. It devastated me. I cried for nearly an hour. But I voted for him, and I am still extremely content with that decision.

Why is that?

...there are a lot of reasons, but the first and foremost was just...it was his turn to die. It was. His arc had built up and built up and built up, and it was just ready to be over at the time of the Second Main Game. There didn’t need to be anything else added to it. It had fulfilled its purpose as both a plot device and character development.

Second reason. He knew it would happen. There was not a moment that passed in the facility where Shin was not painfully aware that he was going to end up dead. It’s much better to kill him now when he specifically requests it than to prolong his painful existence in anticipation.

Third reason. Embarrassment/lack of strategy. Can you imagine how the extent of how Shin would be out of options when he doesn’t die? All of his secrets are exposed. He’s been forced to play every card he’s been keeping close to his chest for a reason.Everything has come crashing down on him. He has nothing left. No more lies to sustain him. No way to give himself any sort of upper-hand. Even when he revealed his secrets, it turned out to have very little effect on what he wanted it to. It’s hopeless for Shin at this point in the game. If you vote for Shin, he dies with hope, and there’s a significant amount to be said for “dying with hope is better than living with despondency”.

Fourth reason. From what we can tell, Shin has had a really shitty life. Between unstable jobs, Midori, and likely more tragedy in his past (because this game is just so kind to its characters), it doesn’t really seem like Shin’s ever had a whole lot to make his life worthwhile. For what is likely the first time in his life, Shin has found something to make his life better; someone he loves like a sister: Kanna. It’s just...wrong to kill someone he’s willing to tear down everything for, especially when she’s likely the first person to be close to him. He’s lived through enough. If he’d rather die than see Kanna dead, so be it. Give the tragic excuse for a man some solace in what should arguably be his last moments.

Fifth reason. Satisfaction. The route where Shin dies leaves chapter 2 ending on a hopeful note, and feels so much more whole than in the route where Kanna dies. I’m stating the obvious here, but I think it’s worth bringing up. Isn’t it better to have as much satisfaction as you can in a game like this? It’s the reason the fandom has so many things like shitposts and memes and whatnot. That’s how we cope. This game is so dark and brutal that any extra satisfaction we can slip in is very rewarding. Why say that you want as much light content from this game as possible and then take the specifically more corrupt route?

Sixth reason. Reactions. When you kill Kanna, Shin completely flips out. First with his claim to kill everyone, then with the malicious Joe AI, and then with claiming he “has no allies” in chapter three, after clearly believing the opposite in the Second Main Game. To put it quite frankly, his mental state tanks when you kill Kanna. But in the route where you kill Shin, Kanna’s reaction is much gentler (as to be expected, I suppose). While she seems distraught in a way, she is able to move on and keep going. It’s so much better for the morale of the group and just in general when there’s minimized toxicity, and clearly that’s much more evident in the Shin-dies route.

An acknowledgment of the counterargument(s):

Look. I get it that you miss Shin. His character is beautifully done, even with all of his flaws, and it’s heartbreakingly sad to see him go. I know. Reminder that I’m a Shin kinnie, too. But in all honesty, it’s just for the better of everyone (including Shin himself).

There is also something to be said for thinking the game can benefit from having more of his character. Shin is an extremely well-constructed character, and I do agree that there’s a little something missing in chapter 3 when he’s gone. I just don’t think that’s enough of a reason to keep him alive.

Continuing with a personal note, I feel incredibly dirty taking the route where Shin lives. It doesn’t feel right to me at all. I feel like I almost owe it to him in a way for him to be dead. It feels like the least I can do for him, and that’s how I personally express my love for him in-game.

Of course, I understand if your way of expressing your fondness of him is through keeping him alive. I’m not going to try and argue with logic against an emotion that is felt. I can completely see how it would feel more comforting to have him alive. I just...disagree.

You could also argue it’s more “logical” to keep him alive and kill Kanna to up your chances of survival and to have Shin’s hacking skills on your side. Which is a really valid point, and is rather difficult to argue against. But...how can you guarantee he’ll even help you? From the way Shin’s behaved in chapter 3, it doesn’t seem like he’d be too interested in helping anyone else. If he won’t use his hacking skills to help all of you, what’s the point in keeping him alive for them? And even if he will help you, is it really worth it with all of the opposite arguments in mind? I leave that up to you to decide, but from me it’s a hard no.

If you’ve made it up to here, congratulations! Thank you for reading through my opinion and reasoning! I hope I’ve at least provided an interesting read, even if your opinion isn’t swayed/was never different than mine. This is totally okay to rb with your own opinion if you want to.

[theroleofimagination]

what do you think of the england roster?

 I’m very busy at work today so haven’t been able to be online much but on my lunchbreak now so here are my initial thoughts on the roster:

(I’ll try to answer some of the other asks too but may have to wait til this evening)

·       Very pleased to see Chloe Kelly and Beth England get the call up over Jodie Taylor. Personally I think Taylor’s time with England is over and it’s time for some fresh blood and they’ve both been killing it in the WSL this season.

·       Sad not to see Beth (Mead) not on the roster but didn’t expect to. The tournament is only a few weeks away and whatever the injury is it would be too early. Neville has said he is hoping she’ll be at the April camp so either that’s just wishful thinking on his part or he knows that it’s not as serious as it seemed. We’ll just have to wait for a proper update.

·       Very pleased to see Roebuck there – seems that boot on her foot the other day was just precautionary. I’d really like her to be England’s no.1, I think she’s the best keeper in the league.

·       Good to see MacIver as well, so important to get younger keepers into the team and getting them experience of tournaments like this. Seems to me that Telford and Roebuck are likely to be the keepers chosen for the Olympics, but we’ll see – a few months yet so anything could happen.

·       8 of the squad are under 23 and I think that’s fantastic frankly – we need to be looking to the youngsters rather than just relying on the ‘experienced’ players, especially as a fair few were rather disappointing at the World Cup and the games afterwards. Looks to be a good mix of youth and experience, and it’s important to get the younger players some tournament experience ahead of the Euros.

·       On that note, great to see Hannah Hampton go with the squad as a training player. Always very impressed with her with Birmingham and hope the experience with the national team will only improve her. Likewise, excited to see Alessia Russo go as a training player – she’s doing very well at UNC and I’m interested to see which club she goes to after her final season.

·       Hemp and McIver were both at SBC last year as training players so it’s great to see them in the full squad this time – Hemp in particular definitely deserves it, she’s been fantastic for City this season and we need her doubly without Beth there as a winger. Frankly once Beth is back to full fitness I’d like to see the two of them playing together on the wings.

·       A little surprised by Fisk’s inclusion but again, good to see youth coming through throughout the squad.

·       I’d really like to see some other options for LB, and RB too tbh. Haven’t been especially impressed by Greenwood for some time and Stokes can be rather hit and miss at times too. She’s only young still but I’d like to see Esme Morgan in with the squad at some point. Likewise, I know Neville will use Rach Daly as a back up for Bronze (and possibly, God forbid, Georgia Stanway too) but it would be nice to have a RB back up who isn’t actually a forward in disguise. I understand that he’s got an eye on the Olympics and so won’t take two RB specialists with him so a more flexible player who can play multiple positions will be more likely to get the spot, but I do hope we can have a proper RB back up for the Euros!

·       Hoping that Leah can solidify her place as a starter with this tournament, although I imagine he’ll probably try to use everyone as this is a good opportunity to try things out.

·       Still would like a proper DM in the squad – feel Keira is a bit wasted if she’s put there but also don’t trust the defence without one.

I really hope they practice defending set pieces – do not want a repeat of the end of 2019… 

It’ll be interesting generally to see how they play as they haven’t been together for 3 months, have all been playing for their clubs (except Daly) and there are a few new/relatively new players to incorporate. Also very much looking forward to seeing what Dawn Scott can do with the squad!

[imthepunchlord]

For all the new things, I kinda wished they showed all of this before SwSh was released, now it's a bit more pricey and I feel like it's kinda rushed. Also for the Mystery Dungeon, I'm excited for that bit I really hope that include all the starters and non starters as well in the final.

I wish they went ahead and pushed back SaS so it’d be released 2020, with this expansion back already included, and the new places we go to can be unlocked during our adventure or as postgame. I would’ve fine waiting and would’ve preferred it, especially to give them a chance to do more with the main story which is pretty weak and made little sense, and Rose was a very forced in villain. Also made no sense in the story climax. Watching playthroughs and seeing the climax of SaS I’m just... 

Its also frustrating that you get to hear about things happening and not actually witness or help. Like, its nice having adults acknowledge that you’re a kid, don’t worry about it we’ll handle it, but at the same time, that’s a chunk of story we have a right to see, and we’re kids in this game, we don’t always do what adults say we should follow and see what’s going on. That could’ve been something optional. Go to event to see what’s happening or skip it to go to the next gym. 

And this is turning into a rant so I’m going to put this below. For those that just want to read my comments on Mystery Dungeon, scroll down till you get to the Pikachu gif, I’ll talk about it below. 

Also there could’ve been improvements with the rivals. Marnie is suuuuper intriguing and I love her, Bede I also like though that’s more me missing mean rivals and man, he’s a brat and I say that with affection. But in the grand scheme of things, they felt pointless. More could’ve been done to include them. And Hop. God, Hop. I know people like him, but from what I’ve seen, he seems like the most annoying “friend rival” made to date. He does not know what personal space is. He waits for you in front of gyms. He waits for you on new routes. He has to comment on almost every move you make in your fights with him. 

I don’t even own the games but just from the playthroughs I’ve watched I’m just... go away. Leave the lead alone. Everywhere you turn, he’s there, waiting for you. It also feels like he only got endorsed because he’s Leon’s younger brother. There’s nothing about him that I like. And, I don’t know why he gets the other wolf legendary? What makes him worthy?What makes him want to be a Professor in the future? That’s out of nowhere. 

Something more could’ve been done with Hop, maybe an arc of him resenting you a little because every match you beat him, and he’s the Champion’s younger brother and you just seem to stay ahead. Maybe let us have more scene of him talking with Sonia since he’s going to be her future assistant. If he’s going to be constantly stalking us and waiting for us, then yeah, let’s at least better build up where his character will go. 

Then there’s the issue of pokemon. With it pretty much confirmed they just reused models from gen 7, yeah, there’s no reason to not include more pokemon. If not the National Dex, which wouldn’t bother me too much, then go ahead and add about half. At most, I’d love pokemon included that would make the most sense. Like, lion is a big symbol throughout all of Europe. There should be a lion in Galar, either Litleo or Shinx returning if not a new lion pokemon. And with the expansion packs, yeah, they’re already adding 200 each pack. 

And a lot of this dlc should already be in the game. If 400 pokemon are going to be added in, they should already be there. The new Giga forms should already be there and we should’ve seen the Giga Venusaur and Blastoise the same time as Charizard. 

I’m also salty that there’s no going to Kalos. Maybe it’ll be a future expansion, and that’s a dlc I wouldn’t mind, but those are two very linked countries they’re based on. And Galar truly isn’t a big region. The Wild Area isn’t as big as it could be. Like, it doesn’t have to be BotW big, but it could’ve been bigger than what we got. And if not expanding the Wild Area, we could’ve had Kalos as a new region to go to, and more gyms for us to do. 

ALSO.

I am not a fan of you refacing the gyms and having them act as your “Elite Four”. 

They’ve already been fought. Aside from the first two, you’ve already fought all the star Giga forms they have. Its a really lazy decision. At least, you can have the two first gym leaders come in since you didn’t fight their star Giga forms, and include the other two version exclusive gym leaders as the other two. Just for some freshness in this final challenge. 

I know they’re not big on voice acting, but, they should’ve put some form of VA into these games. Its a little awkward to get animated cutscenes and there’s no voices coming forth. And its at its worst when you get to Piers and you see him singing away, I presume loudly, into his mic and its just awkward cause there’s no voice and you can hear him tapping his foot to the music and its just so off putting to watch cause something is missing: a voice! And you know what’s the kicker? Pokemon has included voice acting before. 

There is no reason to not do something similar, at least for Piers’ intro so its not so awkward to watch. 

And then post game... the official post game... I, I honestly can’t say what is even going on? Those two blonde bimbos, those designs, who agreed to pass them? For sword guy, I don’t know whether I should be laughing or uncomfortable. Its like, an in between especially when his hair flops around. Also, their reasoning, they’re causing chaos in Galar because they didn’t like a book Sonia wrote??? 

The villains in these games are just so dumb.

Like, Rose had a good motive but, he is still forced in. And he activates the climax for no reason. He was promised by Leon that he would help with Eternatus, all he had to do was wait through one match. One match that would’ve been 30 minutes at most, roughly. Yet he couldn’t wait for one match and went ahead and woke up Eternatus, does a video asking for help, and when you arrive, stops you for a battle that doesn’t make sense to have cause he asked for help why is he holding you up with a battle?? 

And Team Yell. Supposed to be like, a 2nd Team Skull and these guys could dream to live up to Team Skull. They can’t. They’re not funny or enjoyable at all. And my friend brought up a good point on the issue of having Team Yell based on punks when they’re supposed to be the “villainous” team. Punks, historically, were rebelling against an unfair system, they were progressive and revolutionary. They stood up for LBGT rights, they stood for having individual freedom, and just wanted to break the restrictions society wanted to place on people, let people express themselves and be who they want to be. 

If you want Team Yell to be a 2nd Skull and play around with punks as their theme, then they should’ve been set up to be red herrings as well. Be wary at first and then later find that they have hearts of gold, and mean well, even if they can be a tad extreme sometimes. And maybe they can help build up the danger of Rose, who in turn wants to paint them in with a bad image since they’re going against him and what’s normal in society. 

Anyway... Sword and Shield honestly should’ve been pushed back. They should’ve been saved for 2020, or even 2021, or however how much time they need. I would’ve been fine waiting. A lot of fans would be. But what we got wasn’t worth the $60 it was being sold at, and definitely not worth the $90 its being sold at with the expansion packs, and as far as I know, these are very, very small areas to explore. Cause as we’ve seen with SaS, they built it up to be big and grand and, well, the Wild Area was smaller than expected and the whole was far shorter than expected. You could beat it in 20 hours roughly. 

I even have mixed feelings on there being no enhanced version, cause these games do have potential, they just needed more time and polish, and then it could’ve worth the $60 price. But also thankful that there’s not another 2nd version and we may be getting a few expansion packs instead. 

Though I do think a lot they’re bringing in should already be in the game. 

Anyway, enough ranting about Sas, onto Mystery Dungeon!

Demo I think could’ve been a little longer, they stop you before you go on the Skarmory mission, I think it could’ve been a better placement to end after the Skarmory mission. 

Anyway, I like the changes so far. I love you can choose a different pokemon if you don’t like what you got from the test. I love that you have an updated move pool, though I feel kinda OP but you also kinda need it for these games cause I remember them being so hard and as a starter that can’t evolve till like, post game, yeah you’re going to need that help. I love that you get to wear a little scarf. Design wise, a little weird at first but it grew on me. Kinda reminds me of Okami. 

By trailer, for sure they’re adding more pokemon in. Lucario is seen in the team, when before, you only saw Lucario as a statue in Red Blue, I believe? Its been a long time. But they only had Gen 1-3 in RB, and Lucario is there so I would think they’d add in a lot more pokemon. 

For starters, I’m hopeful that beating the game, if you replay, you’ll get more options for the starters to play as and have as your partner. I’d loooove to have a chance to play as Popplio. Mega Evolution is confirmed, I wonder if regional forms would also be playable, like if we could evolve into Alolan Marowak or be one of the other two regional Meowths. Otherwise, everyone you could be in the old game is there, with no gender restriction! You can be a female Cubone! A male Eevee! A female Cyndaquil! I’m so happy about that since as a kid, I wanted to play Cyndaquil but never got it in the test and had to look it up and was bummed that it was male only and I wanted to be a girl. 

My biggest hope though is that with this, we’ll have a chance to play two player, since you have a team of two usually, and your friend or sibling or SO can play your partner. 

I am pleasantly surprised with it so far, though I will be holding off when its released in a few months, just going to listen to all reviews once they beat the game and if its very positive, cause SaS had a strong start and then went down hill with Gamefreak rushing it and cutting corners. I’m hopeful for this remake but cautious still. 

[justlightthefirstspark]

Utd vs City - FA Cup 4th round - Jan 25th 2020

Okay so this game was a little all over the place, I feel like everything just goes out the window on derby day. For real tho my blood pressure went through the roof this afternoon, I HATE derby day. Moving on.

‘10 - Cracking save from Earps. She was on her game today (except for towards the end, but we’ll get to that later on). She did have some great saves though

Today I learned that I’m not a massive fan of Ellen White. She’s very good, yes, so disagree with me if you must, but she seemed pretty intent on literally killing Abbie McManus for a little while there, and she nearly came through Hayley Ladd at one stage, so... yeah. I’m not really a fan. Just don’t think a striker needs to make as many sliding tackles as she did today 🤷🏽‍♀️

‘22 - Jackie meggsed Steph Houghton and I thought I was gonna die of joy. If that’s even a thing. Also, wish we could have made something from that but hey.

‘24 - Was a little choppy for a lot of the first half. Sigsworth had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring but unfortunately couldn’t make anything happen, and then Ross went kinda close, but it ended up creeping over the bar. City were definitely in charge at this point though, most of what United had was coming off the counter

‘30 - Goal, City. Abbie... bro. Personally, I never bought a ticket for the McManus hype train. And that’s why.

‘37 - Nailed on chance for United surely, ball in from Hanson I’m pretty sure, but Sigsworth just couldn’t get there

Half time: First half went pretty much as I expected it to, minus the goal if I’m being honest. McManus’ mistake was pretty stupid, and shortsighted, but what’s done is done. I do think that we need a new CB (at least one) in the summer, cause I haven’t been majorly impressed w McManus tbh. I much prefer the Turner x2 partnership at CB, but even then Amy can have a tendency to make some silly mistakes. (I’m sure Millie does too, I just haven’t seen those yet. They’re human, not robots, we all make mistakes!) I think Abbie, needs to be benched for a little while; move Amy back to CB w Millie, move Smith onto the right and bring Ökvist in on the left, and just let her develop and learn on the job. (Should Amy have to relinquish that RB spot, Smith should have it over Harris imo)

‘45 - No changes at the half, which was annoyingggggg. Also the male commentator (can’t remember his name, soz) kept making reference to the QF loss to Reading last season and I was not appreciative. Like, at all.

‘48 - Like for the majority of the first half, Zelem was sitting very deep in the Utd midfield. Was almost like a back 5 at times, w Zel sat just in front of Abbie and Millie. She was basically invisible during the first half due to this as well, little to no offensive action. I’m pretty sure that Ladd started sitting deeper to push Zelem up at some stage though

‘56 - Goal, City. This was game over for me (lol). I’m not really sure who I blame for this one, seen a lot of blame on Amy, but there was definitely a delayed reaction from Millie in there too, so I’d have to watch it back (which I don’t plan to tbh) to fully make up my mind, so I’m gonna blame them both. Seems only fair. 🤷🏽‍♀️

‘59 - James 🔁 Ross. An hour too late but I’ll take it. I’d have started James, without a doubt, but Casey said they were “managing her for the upcoming games”, also she kinda has a tendency to pick up yellows - through no fault of her own really though. Some other players just can’t deal with her strength on the ball so when they challenge her, they come off the worse and she gets in trouble. Riddle me that one 🧐

I also think we need a new striker in the summer, Ross just isn’t working. We need another game changer, another creative outlet like Lauren cause it’s massively unfair to rest that responsibility solely on the shoulders of an 18 year old.

‘60 - glorious shot from Hanson that just couldn’t make it. She really opened City up down the right side. To be honest it was a great save from Roebuck too

‘69 - GOAL; United. Remember when I said Lauren James should have started? Because Lauren James scored a super goal 10 mins after she came on the pitch. Lovely turn and shot, straight past the keeper. Game on, apparently.

‘69 - Arnot 🔁 Sigsworth. I think this was a good swap, even though it may not have been like for like. Jess was EVERYWHERE today, I genuinely don’t think there was an inch of the pitch she didn’t cover. She had a few decent chances, which any other day she probably would have put away but that’s the way it goes I guess 🤷🏽‍♀️ Honestly if we had any other options, I’d rest her more, but we don’t so... I do think it’s the right decision to sub her off around the hour mark if she’s gonna play this often though. She’s gonna burn out quick cause she’s doing way more than she needs/has to (because we have no bench and a lot of inexperience/players who just aren’t that good, so everyone is doing 47 jobs but shhhh)

‘72 - 👻 - Pure daylight robbery is the only way I can describe this. One of McManus or Arnot has the ball OVER the line, but it’s disallowed 🤦🏽‍♀️ (Before anyone comes for me claiming “salt” or whatever, there is nothing you can say to me that would change my mind. There’s videos from the stand that show the ball over the line, Ellie Roebuck’s body-language and position show her clearly fishing the ball out of the net, the reaction of all the players around the goal show that it went in - Utd players elated, and City’s dejected. Also Miss Ellen “I couldn’t really see. I wasn’t in the line of it” White can swing. She was 2 feet away and staring right at it.)

‘76 - Goal; City. Jill Scott floats it up and in , with a delayed reaction from Earps. She should have seen that one coming a mile off but I reckon it took a deflection (possibly off McManus’ shoulder?) cause her body movements completely changed - albeit just a fraction too late. Also, I have *no idea* what Amy was doing in the box there, I just know that I don’t ever wanna see whatever that was ever again. Flailing around on the ground like a literal fish out of water. Not good.

‘87 - GOAL; United. Well, own goal; Hemp. But I’ll take it. Thought for a second it was Houghton but she was too busy feigning a foul 🤷🏽‍♀️

‘90 - I’ll be honest, I had to stop watching here cause I couldn’t take it. There was like, a year’s worth of added time bc of two injuries to City players but nothing of note happened during this time so I have nothing to say.

All in all, I think our entire back line had an off day today.

Abbie, imo she’s our main defensive weak link. I’d say a solid 70% of City’s chances came down our right side due to this. I’d have to go back and rewatch every game from the start of the season to pick out specific instances, but there can be a bit of hesitancy and airiness to her game sometimes, it doesn’t always seem like she thinks before she does. And she (well, all of them do it really) plays it back way more than is healthy for my stress levels.

Millie gets the benefit of the doubt from me today cause she very rarely has off days, but she was very quiet today.

Amy, has some extent of the benefit of the doubt cause she’s not a RB/FB by nature, she’s had to change her game a bit, but she was not great today (see previous point about the right side of our defence)

I actually think Kirsty Smith was the best of the 4, her service to Hanson on the left was excellent.

We really, really missed Galton down the left though, so I hope she’s back for Wednesday! Lauren needs to start vs Chelsea too, and against Reading tbh but we’ll worry about that one later.

Also, as a little side note, I have to say I really enjoyed Jayne Ludlow’s commentary this afternoon! I know she did the Utd/Spurs reverse fixture in October, and I’m sure she’s done a few more, but I’d like to hear a lot more of her (or really, anyone else who knows the game as well as she does, or in a similar capacity). She, obviously, knows the game really well, and I thought her analysis and opinions were really interesting to listen to.

[drabblesaf]

what you did in the dark - Mieczyslaw Stilinski Smut (Void) - pt 2

REQUESTED: Yes, requested by an anon and three lovely users!!

“p2 please !” - @one-thread-can-save-a-life “Ooooh I love it! Do more!” @fox-in-a-mousetrap-8 (also thank you for the rb! <3) “pls do a pt 2 of bury a friend omg its so good” – anon “Ok hi, I need a part two of the bury a friend imagine for Stiles, like now please! It’s so good, oh my lord.” - @alopix861

Well, ask and ye shall receive!

WARNINGS: unprotected sex, biting, blood, choking

SUMMARY: You knew that Stiles was possessed, but you had no idea to what extent. You would learn soon enough, when the fox took more of an interest in you…

NOTES: So this one was again inspired by a song, but it wasn’t a Billie song (I was debating using bad guy buuuuuut I found a slowed version of “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark” by Fall Out Boy which I thought worked much better). You can listen to that here!

Thank you to everyone who liked, reblogged and asked for more – I literally posted that yesterday on a whim, and the response was amazing! (Also, thank y’all for allowing me to write more Stiles because I love and miss my boy <3)

Hope you enjoy, and you can find pt1 here!

Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark Can’t be sure when they’ve hit their mark, And besides, in the mean-meantime, I’m Just dreaming of tearing you apart

I had been trying to deal with what Stiles had said to me that day. At least, I’m sure he said it - rather, whispered it - to me as his hands wrapped around my waist, yet there was no warm breath in my ear. It was as though he had spoken in my mind, invaded my thoughts, and etched his words into my brain.

“My darling (Y/N), you should never trust a fox. No matter what.”

The words had been going around in my mind all day, and the weirdest thing was that nobody else had heard them. In fact, it was just as though everything was normal, as if our friend hadn’t been possessed by a fox spirit. An evil fox spirit at that.

So when I was heading home, I definitely wasn’t expecting Stiles to offer to drive me back to mine, “As thanks for everything you did for me yesterday. Even if we did end up falling asleep.” The ride back was nice, some old 80s song playing on the radio, and I was alone with my thoughts.

As we pulled up to my house, I turned to Stiles to thank him, but was instead met by his lips crashing onto mine. He tasted like the spearmint gum he always chewed, but also faintly of chocolate from the muffin he’d eaten for lunch earlier that day. He pulled away briefly, trying to catch my reaction, to which I responded by kissing him again, crawling onto his lap carefully (so as to avoid the steering wheel jabbing me in the back) as his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me in tighter to him.

I’m in the de-details with the devil, No the world can never get me on my level, I just gotta get you out the cage, I’m a young lover’s rage, Gonna need a spark to ignite

After a while, Stiles mumbled, “Shall we take this inside?” to which I nodded, breaking apart if only for a few seconds in order to get inside the house. As soon as we were in and the door was closed, our lips reconnected, tongues dancing a deadly tango. In the back of my mind, Stiles’ words were still playing on repeat.

No matter what.

No matter how good his lips felt against my own, no matter how much his hands ignited sparks everywhere he touched me, no matter how much I wanted this, craved all of this, I shouldn’t have trusted him. However, at the point we were at, I didn’t really have much of an option.

“Bedroom?” Stiles said, lifting me up so my legs were wrapped around his waist. I nodded, pointing up the stairs.

“First door on the right.” The thrill that ran through my body was intense, and had the dark-haired teen not been holding me securely, I would have fallen over then and there. We crashed into the door, him kicking it closed behind us, throwing me onto the bed and removing his shirt.

The writers keep writing what they write, Somewhere another pretty vein just died, I’ve got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see That you’re the antidote to everything except for me

In Stiles’ eyes, there was nothing but darkness when I looked at him. “Oh, kitten,” he tutted. “What did I say earlier?” He said that last part as he grabbed my chin, forcing me to keep looking at him.

“No matter what,” I whispered, and he nodded. 

“Exactly. No matter what, you should never trust a fox. But, seems like you forgot about that part, overcome by your attraction for the boy, the host. Hmm, you should hear how he’s screaming currently, begging me not to hurt you. Don’t worry kitten, I’m not likely to hurt you anytime soon, as long as you do as you’re told and don’t try to do anything stupid or reckless. You can do that for me, can’t you?” 

I nodded, and he tutted again. “Ah, ah, ah, use your words.”

“Y-yes Sir,” I stuttered out, and he smirked.

“Good girl kitten. Now, I think you need a bit of a treat, but only if you comply with being marked. Can’t let anyone try and get their hands on you, y’know,” he said, before moving to my neck, tugging at my t-shirt for me to remove it. My eyes widened as he began to nip at my neck, biting as though aiming to leave pierced marks through my skin, drawing blood as he did so.

With every suck, bite and nip the teen underwent, I squirmed slightly beneath him, trying to not enjoy it but finding arousal building in the pit of my stomach. I felt something prickle at the corner of my eyes as I fought the tears that threatened to spill out, until Stiles said, “Let it all out angel. I thrive off your fear, could eat it up for days. And my goodness, kitten, you have so. Much. Fear.” He shuddered slightly, as if relishing the fear he was consuming from me, and kissed further down until he reached the hemline of my pants.

A constellation of tears on your lashes, Burn everything you love then burn the ashes, In the end everything collides, my childhood Spat back out the monster that you see

When Stiles reached the hemline, my breathing hitched slightly, and he chuckled. “Hm, do you deserve a treat kitten? You did let me consume your fear, even if it meant I had to go further than planned. Do you want me to repay the favour for you?”

“Fuck, please Sir, I need it so bad,” I whimpered, and he smirked. 

“As you wish. Well done kitten, for remembering to call me by the correct name as well,” he said in a satisfied manner before pulling down my underwear and diving in to attack my pussy. He gave fast licks to the clit, sucking harshly on it to the point where I may have exploded. However, almost as soon as he’d begun he withdrew, shoving his own pants down and off and palming himself, eyeing up my needy form in bed.

“Y’know, you look so good like this, an absolute wreck all for me. But it isn’t all for me, is it kitten? Part of it is also for the host, isn’t it? Well kitten, I will show you how much better I can fuck you than him. Get you screaming out his name because I look just like him. You’ll be thinking of his cock every time you fuck me. Except, that’s just it. You’re fucking me. So I want to hear you screaming out Sir, understand?”

I had no time to give an answer as he pushed straight into me, causing me to cry out in agony. If he had truly taken on Stiles and possessed him as he said he did, then Stiles was hung. He was stretching me out to a painful degree, but didn’t seem to care one bit. “Did I mention I also feed off your pain?” He said, grunting as he thrusted into me harshly. “That’s right kitten, I live for your pain. Give it all to me. I know you want to. Give yourself to me.”

He kept thrusting into me, and after a while I had gotten used to the pain, moaning instead as the feeling he was causing felt amazing. I felt lightheaded, almost swooning, until he pulled me up onto him so I was straddling him, legs around his waist and one hand wrapped around my throat.

“Want me to cum in you? Want me to fill you up with my seed? We’re going to be together for a long time (Y/N)...let me fill you up with my cock,” the teen growled, nipping at my ear as I felt my pussy tighten around him, causing him to release with a groan and bringing about my own release shortly after. He removed himself from me and lay me down carefully on the bed. My whole body was on fire from that session, and as soon as he left I heard a voice in my head before everything went dark.

“See you soon, kitten.”

[mariogoetze]

the game yesterday for me was the final proof to me why favre has pretty much no future and why we should try to get a new coach in 2020. we played the first half incredible, wait let me rephrase that, we played one half very good, much better. we were dominating them pretty much we did good movements overall and our passing was good they had a tough deal time clearing all of our balls and couldn’t press us at all due to us playing pretty clever and managing to find the right gaps and passing through and through and even added some individual skill into it like jadon’s dribbling or jule’s worldclass ball receiving and movement and then there was also roman with two (2) good saves before the half ended. we pretty tied the knot and owned the game and didn’t break apart thanks to our awesome goalie. 

and then there was the other half which you all saw. this whole half was an disaster (we scored another yes, but let me talk) the game basically started and we had an major mistakes. it’s not about roman or jule’s mistake here and nor won’t i blame them, what i wanna rather focus on is that we are not consistence. we receive bad goals it’s like thanksgiving for our opponents as we serve them the goals basically. one goal after another was basically gifted to their opponents all they had to do was wait for it and score i mean we couldn’t make it either for them could we? and if you look back at all the highlights of our other games, those where we conceded you will see how many bad goals we concede, to give you one example go watch freiburg - bvb and see the goal we conceded a few mins before the game ended i think it was an own goal by akanji and roman couldnt save it it was really messy. but regardless of that for me have been like this since favre arrived. in the first half of the season when he came he had this momentum which most of the new coaches have and made good subs but then the second half of the season and even now this season is like a roller coaster. 

this game was pretty much a summary of favreball that one half we can play very good and actually reach our potential and we owned the first table of the league with 2-0 and in the very next half we look like clowns who can’t even pass a ball. 

also let’s talk about subs like why is marco playing all the time striker? he said multiple times that he hates it and he’s effective at all. yes he may have scored and assisted here but overall? he’s not doing good and isn’t made for that role. watch another team with an ‘real’ striker and you will spot major differences. we had paco on the bench for the whole 90 minutes, he’s a striker and we could have subbed him in in the last 20 mins. marco also had an major chance when he was in front of the goalie and missed, i don’t wanna blame him don’t get me wrong, my point is that we had paco on the bench you know, he’s a striker and he has that killer instinct to score and perhaps he would have scored that one or perhaps get into the position in the last few minutes to get the ball and score it’s like rb’s 3rd goal where schick scored that goal and he smelled it that the ball would go there i mean i don’t have to explain to you guys how a striker works, but yeah we had options. also mario could have been subbed in bc after jule’s major mistake which lead to the 2nd goal for rb he wasn’t visible at all, but ofc favre doesn’t do subs and if he does he subs in defenders. 

nagelsmann subbed in 3 offensive players and we subbed in 2 defensive players and left one sub. do you see it? what kind of vibe does that give you? yeah exactly. and before someone says it’s not all favre’s fault, ofc sometimes the players don’t do well but for me favre does way too many mistakes and i have been saying that for a very loooong time, in times where we were even successful. we’re too fragile for me that has no consistency nor a future also we don’t move forward with favre, like we did very well in his first half when he took over but then? we started to move back. instead of moving forward and owning the league with all the quality and potential we have, we struggled and that a lot. and yes that’s favre’s fault not the players, he played often bad tactics and systems, he’s often biased and let’s his favorite play all the time even tho for example marco had a few months ago a really bad time and could have been benched for example for jule or mario but he didn’t do that. it took him literally months to finally change the system and tactics. he always stick to his same tactics. also he barely rotates like a good coach knows how to rotate well enough that we can still perform well and win the games. 

honestly i could go on but i don’t want to. in 2020 i would just like to have a new coach that’s all - knowing bvb it won’t happen until summer probably. well i don’t see us winning anything with favre, but welp here goes another wasted season, thanks bvb.

[msjr0119]

Love, Fate, Destiny

Part 12a - Kismet

Riley Brooks is a waitress in a ‘Dive bar” in New York. One Saturday night, her past comes back to haunt her as some unfamiliar punters enter her bar on a bachelor party- one of them being someone who she was once close to.

*CHARACTERS BELONG TO PIXELBERRY*

Tags- @annekebbphotography @burnsoslow @drakesensworld @ladyangel70 @kingliam2019 @bbrandy2002 @butindeed @bascmve01 @drakewalker04 @pedudley @captain-kingliamsqueen @duchessemersynwalker @insideamirage @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld @kozabaji @texaskitten30 @ibldw-main @kimmiedoo5 @nikkis1983 @dangerouseggseagleartisan @gnatbrain @walker7519 @lodberg @cmestrella @hopefulmoonobject @addictedtodrakefanfic @angi15h @liamxs-world @rafasgirl23415 @notoriouscs @yukinagato2012

There’s two parts... at the bottom of the page click continue reading as Tumblr said it was too long - so had to split it 😫

*****

Liam and the others arrived back at the hotel. Bastien decided to go to his room, he was feeling guilty enough so didn’t want to face Drake and Riley together.

“Drake? Where’s Riley?” Liam asked shocked. He had assumed that they would still be together making up for lost time.

“She... she saw the ring!”

“You fucking moron! We weren’t dragging you round NYC to try and get you to pull.”

“Fuck off Olivia! Maybe if none of you forced me to move on I wouldn’t have to wear a fake wedding ring to stop women trying to hit on me!”

“Did you show her the tattoo? Explain about the ring?” Liam asked, they had just found Riley again and lost her again. Regretting not getting her new number off of her, he didn’t know how they were going to find her again.

“She didn’t give me chance to.” Drake said in a pitiful tone of voice.

I’ve lost her again.

*******

Drake was frustrated with everyone forcing him out all the time -attempting to get him to move on from Riley. Stupidly he had agreed to go out with all the men later that night for a night away in Greece. Previous nights out, he had women drool over him- but he wasn’t interested. One woman said to him “there’s no ring on your finger, so I assume you’re single. Come back to my place.”

Driving into the capitol, he found a jewellery store. Choosing the cheapest ring he could find, he would wear it. If another woman attempted to convince him that he was single he would just rise his left hand up.

Later that day he met the men, and they travelled to Greece. In the first club, Liam tried to push him towards some attractive women- but they weren’t Riley. No one would compare to her. As the women came over, one touched Drake’s arm- he brushed her away and showed her the ring. Liam pulled him to the side.

“Since when did you get married Sir Walker?”

“Does it matter? I’m not moving on Liam! I could have been married to Riley by now. Had children. But no, I got that torn away from me. I don’t want to move on- so please don’t try and make me!”

The night went on, Drake became more and more intoxicated every second that went by. He was even dancing with Maxwell- something that wasn’t his forte.

“Drake... buddy.... why don’t we go for a tattoo.... have matching ones....” Maxwell slurred, not understanding what exactly he had suggested.

“Yes man! Let’s.... go....” Drake suggested as he tried to stable his balance. The two snuck out of the club laughing like naughty school boys.

Entering the tattoo shop, Maxwell flipped through the folders finding a few tattoos they could have. Drake frowned at the options; a flower, a cat with pussay patrol written under it, Winnie the Pooh, Duracell bunny. There was also one for couples, where one person would have ‘Dis’ tattooed on their knee and the other would have ‘ney’ on their - Disney.

“Or you could get a hippo tattoo like me.....we’d be twinnies.”

“Fuck no! I know what... I’m getting.”

The tattoo artist started working on Drake’s tattoo. Once done- he returned to Maxwell.

“That was quick.... did you chicken out bud?” Maxwell impersonated a chicken, making a fool out of himself.

“No! Look...”

“RB? As in Riley Brooks? On your wedding finger?”

“Yep!” The first genuine smile he had on his face for months- he kept picturing her face. Hoping that fate one day would bring them back together.

“Ah Drake... I hope you don’t regret that in the morning. I’m going for the ‘pussay patrol’ tattoo.”

Drake was drunk- knowing that this was a bad idea, he held his laughter in. He couldn’t wait to see Max’s reaction tomorrow- Maxwell may regret his choice of tattoo but Drake certainly wouldn’t.

*******

Riley was an emotional wreck, heading straight to Beth’s apartment she broke down in tears. After explaining what had happened- Beth was shellshocked.

“Tonight! We are going out.. you need it! I’ll pay.”

“Thanks Beth. I need a rebound quick.”

As Riley was getting ready, she had a new friend request - Maxwell. Not wanting to be rude, she decided to accept his message, and had a short conversation with him- keep it simple she thought.

“You ready to go?” Beth asked whilst topping up her lipstick- pouting in the mirror.

“I so am. Drake Walker who?” Riley smirked, whilst putting her heels on.

“That’s the spirit chick! Let’s go!” The two women necked their pre drinks down quickly, before shooting out of the door.

******

Maxwell arranged to meet everyone in the hotel bar. After stalking Riley’s Instagram he had figured out where she was going that night- he knew she was annoyed with Drake and that they were both as stubborn as each other, but he needed to get them back together.

“So glad you could meet me guys. Liam I hope you’ve delayed our flight back. Where’s her majesty?”

“Why? We need to get back to Cordonia as soon as possible! I need to have stern words with certain people. She refused to come- she said and I quote ‘I am not stepping foot in another shithole bar.’ So she’s staying here.”

“Her loss. Guess who’s friends with Riley on Instagram? Oh yes that would be me!”

“And your point is?” Liam questioned, not understanding why this was relevant.

“I know what she’s doing tonight. I spoke to her in a chat- then stalked all her pictures. She’s a professional model now... she’s fucking hot as fuck.”

Drake scowled at him, he felt jealousy burn through him. He knew Maxwell would never make a move on her- he wasn’t like Liam. But it still hurt that he would call his ‘girlfriend’ hot as fuck.

“Wow! She is hot!” Hana’s eyes widened.

“Is she turning you Hana?” Maxwell winked at her and nudged her. Seeing Drake becoming wound up- maybe this might encourage him to win her back.

“Quite possibly she could do haha.”

“Look Liam, Drake, Bastien....”

Bastien gulped, he knew that she was a model- he had stalked her Instagram page ever since finding it. At times he had to knock off the page- as he gained a slight erection. On one occasion he masturbated over one of her pictures- it was a heat of the moment thing. He would never be able to tell Drake the truth about this.

“Yes, she is gorgeous.” He muttered.

“I think she’s out of everyone’s league.” Liam responded after witnessing Drake scowling at everyone’s reactions.

Drake snatched the phone, scrolling through the pictures- he agreed with everyone; she was hot, she was gorgeous and she most certainly was out of his league. Ordering another whiskey, he knew he needed some dutch courage to explain what Riley misinterpreted if they saw her.

*****

“Hey babe, are you still at Kismet?”

Riley’s eyes widened, her heart sank. Regretting tagging herself in things on social media- she now had Maxwell stalking her. Quickly looking around to see if they were there- she couldn’t see any of them.

“Hey Max. No we are in bed, all worn out. Sorry.” Phew- hopefully they won’t come.

Strolling up to the bar, she kept looking over her shoulders. Hoping that they wouldn’t turn up. She had lost Drake due to her poor decision making- it was time to move on and she couldn’t if the bunch of misfits from fucked up Cordonia turned up. Waiting at the bar for Beth to return from the bathroom, she was contemplating what to order.

“Mark. Jesus. You scared the life out of me.”

“Looking good Ri. You’re photos don’t do it any justice.”

Riley noticed Beth on the dance floor- wishing that Beth would stop kissing her boyfriend and head over to rescue her from her ex.

“Erm. Thanks.” Fucking creep. Leave me alone.

“What are you having to drink?” Rolling her eyes, she believed if she accepted a drink he would leave her be and go and pester some other poor person.

“Surprise me.” Mark smirked as he ordered her a drink. When she wasn’t looking he poured an extra ingredient into the cocktail.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. I’ve missed you you know.”

“Oh well the feeling isn’t mutual.”

“Come on Ri, we had a good thing going on.”

“It was in college. And you was a rebound. You know that!”

Riley felt uncomfortable in his presence, his hand tightening around her waist- she couldn’t remove it. He began to kiss her neck making her feel physically sick. Pushing him away she wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. Turning around to make her escape she bumped into someone familiar.

“Hey blossom!”

Shit

“Hey, Max. I’m so glad to see you.” Smiling at Max - he was her saviour, her new best friend.

“Who’s this douche?” Mark raised his eyebrows at the stranger.

“This Mark.... Is my boyfriend Maxwell.”

Riley pulled Maxwell closer to her, just please pretend for fuck sake- he’s a creep, follow my lead. Kissing Max on the lips- he was frozen at first, but eventually melted into it. Once they parted Maxwell slapped Riley on her arse, lowering her mouth to his ear, too far Beaumont but I’ll use it.

“Oh he does love spanking me. He’s so cute isn’t he Mark?” Riley said as she caressed Maxwell’s cheeks.

“Er yeah. See ya around Riley. Hopefully sooner rather than later.”

Watching Mark leave the area, she turned to her friend, hoping he wouldn’t berate her on her lie she previously told him.

“Thanks.”

“So you’re in bed are ya?” Folding his arms and raising his eyebrows- Riley knew he was angry. Maxwell was never angry, he was always so cheery and full of life.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t come. So I lied. I’m sorry. But honestly thank you for helping me.”

“Who is he?”

“My college boyfriend. My rebound for Drake.”

“Ohhh talking about Drake...”

“He’s here isn’t he?” Riley looked towards the floor, that was surrounded by the sticky residue of spilts drinks.

“Yeah, come and see him. He’s devastated.”

“Let me finish this drink. I need to use the bathroom too... I’ll be right back. I’ll find you all.”

Continue Reading

[dear--charlie]

Dear Charlie,

It’s been three weeks since denmark and I miss S so fucking much. I wasn’t expecting that, since, to be honest, we didn’t talk that much. But I just miss him. There’s something special in the air around him and he makes me feel calm and at ease, like I’m home. I miss him so bad and I don’t have any way to contact him. I just wish he is coming back next year, because I will.

Anyway, summers slowly coming to it’s end and I really don’t want it to. This has been the most exciting summer in years and going back to school dosn’t sound tempting at all. I miss RB, I really do. She keeps telling me that she can’t wait for me to come back and I really appriciate that. It makes it a bit easier. Haven’t really been thinking about R or A at all this summer and honestly, I don’t really want to see them again. Or like I want to see R again, because when we don’t flirt, we have a really good friendship to hopefully fall back on. I thought I would miss my friends from Finland more, but truthfully, I don’t miss them even a little bit, with RB as an exception, of course.

I’ve been trying to find my own apartment but it’s been really though. I can’t seem to find anything so I think I’m just going to end up renting a room somewhere again. Which really suck because I want to live on my own, but it’s less then a month until I need to get back there and I’m kind of running out of options. Hopefully things will work out, they normally do.

I’m also really relived, my birthday is over a month away and I already got plans for it, which I’m so happy about. Last year I sat alone in my room on my birthday, and whilst I actually enjoyed it, I don’t need a rerun of that. Also I hate planning parties or asking people to celebrate me. It has never been my thing, I didn’t even want birthday parties when I was a child, even though my parents offered to throw me one.

Anyway, I gotta sleep now. I’m going to try not to think of S too much, but It’s going to be hard. He has a face worth remembering and I just miss him. This year is going to be long, isn’t it?

Love, Milla.

[tkmedia]

Cop or Drop: Week 3 Edition Holds Lots Of New Possibilities

Fantasy football managers were treated to an intense Week 3. Christian McCaffrey was injured, Mike Williams exploded for big numbers, and players like Patrick Mahomes stuttered en route to losses or slim wins. The confusing events might have managers confused on who to claim on waivers, who to release, and who to trade for. Down below, I’ll try and guess which players will have what kind of games and how managers should act accordingly in this edition of Cop or Drop.

Cop Or Drop: Taylor Heinicke’s Happy Day

Embed from Getty Images Heinicke’s performance against the Bills wasn’t half-bad. He threw two touchdowns, completed 14 passes in 24 attempts, and had 21 rushing yards in eight carries. Although Heinicke threw two interceptions and the offense isn’t centered around him, Heinicke could be a steal. Only 5% of ESPN Fantasy Football Leagues have him rostered, and that doesn’t reflect his hot start. Although Heinicke has had hiccups, he could be a nice steal. He could tear up a weak Falcons secondary if he wins the confidence of his coach. For now, he’s a safe waiver play. Get him on your rosters and either start him(if you’re really that desperate) or bench him and see how he plays out.

QB Drop: Zach Wilson

Embed from Getty Images As usual, the New York Jets don’t look like Super Bowl winners. And the QB is representative of that. In his first three games, Wilson has been intercepted seven times, thrown for two touchdowns, and was only able to manage 628 passing yards. The offense has been chaotic, and it will only get more unruly with an untested rookie quarterback at the helm. Even though the Titans aren’t an elite football team, managers should drop Wilson. There’s always the chance that he recovers from the disappointing start, but it looks faint.

RB Cop: Chuba Hubbard

Embed from Getty Images Although Hubbard isn’t McCaffrey material, Carolina’s ground game has been extraordinary. Additionally, Hubbard didn’t do half-bad in McCaffrey’s absence. His 11 carries and 52 yards alongside 3 receptions and 27 yards helped Carolina to victory over the Texans. Hubbard has shown a lot of promise with Oklahoma State, but for now, it’s best to acquire him, wait and see how Hubbard does against the Cowboys.

RB Drop: Phillip Lindsay

Embed from Getty Images Lindsay isn’t the best option for fantasy managers. The Texans running back doesn’t play as much as Mark Ingram II or David Johnson, so he isn’t really the best option. His seven carries for five yards against Carolina means that Ingram or Johnson should be a better play. Buffalo, a formidable opponent, lays in wait. Drop him for RBs with more favorable matchups, or even for Ingram or Johnson.

WR Cop: Jakobi Meyers

Embed from Getty Images New England receiver Jakobi Meyers had a productive night against the Saints. His stat line included nine receptions, 94 receiving yards, alongside a whopping fourteen targets. Ahead of a matchup with the porous Buccaneers defense, Meyers, if he receives enough targets, could be a nice under-the-radar pickup. He isn’t a real starter though.

WR Drop: Elijah Moore

Embed from Getty Images Not only is Moore not the first-choice receiver on the Jets, but he’s also questionable for their clash against the Titans. Moore caught three passes for 22 receiving yards while being targeted twice. There are better options than Moore, especially taking into consideration the fact that the Jets stink.

TE Cop: Dalton Schultz

Embed from Getty Images Cowboys tight end Dalton Schultz turned in a solid stat line(6 REC, 80 YDS, 2 TDs), elevating him to top-tier tight end status. It only helps that he was doing OK before his breakout game against the Eagles. The only knock against Schultz would be his small amount of targets and an underwhelming game against the Chargers. His game against Carolina will be the main test in his season. Schultz could be a dependable starter if he can get more targets and prove himself against the Panthers.

TE Drop: Jonnu Smith

Embed from Getty Images This one is a little more straightforward. Smith and Hunter Henry are splitting snaps and targets, meaning Smith won’t have the targets needed to become an A+ TE. Smith has usually been a dependable tight end when he catches, but splitting snaps, a disappointing performance against the Saints, and there being better options means that Smith shouldn’t be trusted. Cop or drop? This one’s definitely a drop. There are at least 20 tight ends better than Smith.

D/ST Cop: Saints D/ST

Embed from Getty Images Is the New Orleans defense the best in the league? Maybe not, but they have a case for it. They have six interceptions, six sacks, a fumble recovery, and only 42 points allowed(third-least in the league behind Panthers and Broncos). A favorable matchup against the Giants should give you more incentive to pick him up. They’re very good as a defensive unit and can get you the points need to pull an upset over your opponent.

D/ST Drop: Ravens D/ST

Embed from Getty Images On the other end of the spectrum, Baltimore is doing worse. The Ravens have given up 79 points, and, even though they’ve shown signs of improving, they don’t look like the team to trust. There are better options to choose from, and, if you have faith in the Ravens unit, you should at least bench them. On the cop or drop list, the Ravens have one of the better chances to recover, as evidence by their decent performance in Week 3.

K Cop: Daniel Carlson

Embed from Getty Images To the 32% of ESPN Fantasy Football Leagues who don’t have Carlson rostered: what are you doing? Carlson is having a surprisingly good season and is statistically the best kicker in the NFL right now. His Raiders team is good offensively, and because he’s a field goal and extra point machine, that means bonus fantasy football points to use to your advantage. Carlson is golden in field goal attempts and has only missed one extra point attempt. This kicker should be a starter unless something happens to the Las Vegas offense. That shouldn’t even have been a cop or drop. This is a start-or-start: Carlson will be one of the best kickers in the league.

K Drop: Jason Myers

Embed from Getty Images Myers hasn’t come roaring out of the gates like some of his contemporaries. He was limited to three field-goal tries, and he missed one of them. Although Myers has been able to sink nine out of ten extra-point attempts, there are kickers out there who can give you extra-point attempts and lots of FG attempts. Myers is either sitting on the bench, or he’s being dropped. I wouldn’t go forward and start players on the Cop or Drop list. I wouldn’t drop a lot of the players on the list either. It depends on the team you have and what strategy you’re going for. If you want to talk about fantasy football with me, come on down to the WorldInSport forums. It has a lot of useful information, and I’ll be there a lot.

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[sp0rtsbr0]

On Thursday December 18th, 2020, the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Las Vegas Raiders 30-24 in Overtime...

This is a very good tweet by S.V.P. here and I agree wholeheartedly. He wrote this during the 4th quarter of Chargers-Raiders as both coaches/teams were doing their best to try and lose the football game.

This really sums up why I love the sport, though. The stakes couldn't have been higher. I had Herbert/Ekeler in the first round of my fantasy playoffs; my opponent had Waller on the side. Less importantly, the Raiders were in a must-win spot to keep their playoff hopes alive. I hedged the fantasy implications (in a sense) by betting on Las Vegas -3, but also felt strongly going in that that was the winning side to wager on.

LA were one of the few teams I hadn't watched a full game of yet this season. Oh, I'd heard the tales though: the Legend of Lynne and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I was aware. And that final quarter (and honestly, the entire game) did no disappoint. If you left that contest with one takeaway, how could not be that the Chargers are a competent coach away from being KC 2.0? Cuz hooboy Herbert is every bit as good as Lynne is bad and they have a fleet of skill guys who are either sneaky good or made to look that way because of their quarterback's laser focused rocket arm. They attempted just one pass in the fourth quarter.

To call the play-calling inept would be insult to both the ideas of plays and the genesis of their creation. I had no rooting interest in this game aside from the above fantasy implications and my wager (I also made two losing prop bets—see “Sidebar” below), but because of their dueling nature and the inherent frustration of watching these coaches (mostly Lynne), it really did take on the feeling of modern art. I'm seeing what I want to see. I'm pretty sure it isn't good but I love it. The pleasure and the pain.

Adding to the game's overall VIBES was the fact that Derek Carr groined up his groin on a futile third and goal scramble during the opening drive. He returned in street clothes to watch one Marcus Mariota do a pretty damn good Carr impression or maybe an impression of 2016 Marcus Mariota?

I countered this (also very good) tweet by offering up Doug Flutie as the comparison. My case, in brief: both players were/are...

Highly touted college QBs who mostly but not fully flamed out upon arrival in the pros (Flutie by default; choosing the doomed USFL and then the CFL over the NFL to start. And Mariota by flopping as a high pick in the draft, but not in the Ryan Leaf sense; more like in the David Carr tradition, or so it seemed?)

Expert scramblers / solid runners who can chuck it down field when they have to, to varying degrees of success 

Who knows what the future holds for Mariota. Will he have an aesthetically pleasing if not consistently victorious, nomadic second act like the Fluties and Fitzgeralds (Fitzmagic has had maybe nine acts at this point lol), or was last night's brutal loss a one-and-done? I'm rooting for the former but who the heck knows.

And as for that brutal loss, my God was it brutal. Two late missed field goals by Los Angeles 'set up' by, perhaps, the misguided notion that it is easier to kick said field goals if you're team gets FURTHER away from the goalposts, then 'sets up' the Raiders with their own opportunity to charger things away and they do just that by taking one minute to go fifteen yards and attempt the longest field goal in NFL history only to have a bad snap and head to overtime where they win the coin toss and drain a ton of clock to kick a chip shot for the very precarious lead but then again this is the Chargers we're talking about so I’m sure they’re fine...

But then again, the Chargers have Justin Herbert.

Even at the very end, they tried to squander it away. A pass interference sets up first and goal at the one and in comes journeyman/castaway RB Kalen Ballage who already has stolen one TD away from countless needy fantasy players (ie, me). He gets stuffed. The next play is a QB sneak -> fumble into the back of the end zone recovered by an LA offensive lineman! Oh but you can't do that! It's the Kenny Stabler rule! Third and goal. What do you dial up now? How ‘bout a second QB sneak of course. And against all odds, it works. Herbert willed it to be so, extending the ball away from his body and over the goal line despite the fact that that same move just a minute earlier resulted in a nervous breakdown fumble. This is the (charger) way. I get some much needed FF points from Herbert as my bet goes into the toilet. The yin and yang of football, the beauty of football, never better encapsulated when it’s this damn ugly... in a dumb, structurally bad Thursday night game.

☯️

I could go on and on here still. There's so much I feel I didn't mention (like the fact that Gruden wore an OAKLAND Raiders hat for most of the first half and the fact that you could see his nipples from his way-too-tight shirt) but I'll leave it at this. Y’all can have your 47-42 Monday night “classic” between two actually good teams; give me this shit all day.

Thank you, football. In one of the weirdest and worst years ever, you showed up (even if you probably shouldn't have), and I'll be forever grateful for the distraction :)

Prop Bets Frustration Sidebar

I’m not sure if the Chargers were attempting to shenanigans or if their injury treatment/assessment skills are as bad as their game management (they did stab Tyrod Taylor in the lung), but for MOST of the day leading up to this one, it appeared like both Keenan Allen and Mike Williams weren’t gonna play. They both did, however, and they were both clearly hobbled. I’m not sure what the plan was here but it, like so many things that LAC does, failed miserably.

Speaking of failing miserably, this “news” led me to make 2 player prop bets on the games.

#1 Tyron Johnson OVER 3.5 receptions (+125). The upstart #3 or #4 WR had been coming on strong and if both Herbert’s first wideout two options might be sidelined? Sign me up, baby. This prop bet looked as GOLDEN as they get, as Johnson had 3 catches including a long TD by half-time. He did not catch another ball :/

#2 Carr > Herbert passing yards (+100). Again, this was a MUST-WIN for the Raiders. With their RB Jacobs a bit banged up and the aforementioned missing weapons for Herbert, I thought there was a decent chance he’d end up with more yards especially if the game remained relatively close. Well, we know how this one ended... Groiny groin, groin-groin, and such. A comical way to lose any prop bet is when said player starts the game and then almost immediately leaves for good, clutching his crotch en route to the locker room.

Oh well. I love it so damn much I’m not even mad. 

[racingtoaredlight]

RTARL’s 2020 NFL Season Week 7 Extravapalooza

With the way the COVID-19 situation in America (and lots of other places around the world) is rapidly heading in the wrong direction, I’m beginning to genuinely wonder if the NFL is going to have to pause the season for a few weeks as some states potentially decide that the gatherings that come with staging a football game are less than necessary. 

Once the league decided to start the season as scheduled, I figured there was no way they’d stop the train once it began lurching forward, even if some unlucky teams were forced to start someone like Brian Hoyer at QB instead of their normal guy. Ahem. But, I also didn’t think things would deteriorate virus-spread wise quite to this degree. I was really giving us as a society way too much credit, it would appear. Given the resistance to the first round of shutdown measures, I think there’s a real possibility that shit could hit the fan in a way few of us have seen before if another batch were implemented, but it seems like the only option going forward for some places if they don’t get their shit together. Our choices in the very near future appear to be: court massive civil unrest spurred on by the very worst among us, or do nothing and let many of those same people carry disease to every corner of the country as hospitals become overwhelmed and people die alone and miserable. Hooray for letting the dumbest assholes dictate the courses of everyone else’s lives. 

Now for some football picks!!!

My picks are in BOLD, and the lines come to us courtesy of our friends at Vegas Insider. I use the “VI Consensus” line, which is the line that occurs most frequently across Vegas Insider’s list of sportsbooks. Your sportsbook of choice may offer a different number, and if you’d like my opinion on said number A) you are insane, and B) leave a comment below and I’ll try to answer at some point before things kickoff today.

EARLY GAMES

Detroit Lions at Atlanta Falcons (-2)

Ah, a team who recently fired their terrible head coach against a team who desperately needs to. I’m glad it finally appears to be dawning on Detroit’s offensive braintrust that D’Andre Swift is the best RB on the team and thus should get the bulk of the touches. You could even say he deserves the LION’S SHARE. Sorry. 

I was ready to declare Matt Ryan officially washed heading into last week’s games, but then he went out and threw for 371 and 4 TDs against the (admittedly trash-ass) Vikings defense, and now I just don’t know. Does having Julio Jones in the lineup really make that much of a difference for him? Maybe! This game should be enjoyable slop and I don’t have any strong leanings one way or another. I’ll pick the Falcons just because a Lions loss gets them one step closer to freedom from their dipshit Goomba-from-Mario-Bros-lookin’ motherfucker of a head coach.

Cleveland Browns (-3.5) at Cincinnati Bengals

I like to make fun of the Browns just like everyone else, but I’d prefer to see less digital ink spilled on QB Baker Mayfield’s crappy play and more celebration of DE Myles Garrett instead. Garrett is AWESOME. Through 6 games he has 7 sacks (2nd in the NFL) and 3 forced fumbles (also 2nd in the league), and those numbers don’t fully capture how disruptive and nightmarish he is for opposing offenses most weeks. Sure, he maybe tried to kill a guy with his helmet last year, but c’mon. That was just a harmless little goof. No reason to hold it against him, in my opinion. Like, have you seen what Mason Rudolph looks like? He had it coming.

I feel bad every time I pick against Joe Burrow because I want he and I to be friends, but *points to previous paragraph about how Myles Garrett swallows planets whole*.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Tennessee Titans (-1.5)

Last week I wrote a whole big thing (with stats to back it up!) in the Titans blurb about how Derrick Henry wasn’t playing well and was potentially wearing down, and then he proceeded to rush for over 200 yards and 2 TDs, including an unreal 94-yarder. I concede that I may have been misguided, and that attempting to use research is for lameass nerds. That said, I HIGHLY doubt he’ll have a huge day against the Steelers defense, but the combo of Henry and the Ryan Tannehill-led passing game should be able to put up enough points to win. 

These teams are both very good and very evenly matched, but I don’t want to pick Pittsburgh because I actively dislike them. You won’t find that kind of analysis on Football Outsiders, friends.

Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints (-7)

New Orleans will be without WRs Michael Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders for this one, and I think QB Drew Brees is too far over-the-hill to make chicken salad out of the chicken shit that remains in their group of pass catchers. RB Alvin Kamara is great, but he can’t do it by himself. Oh, and speaking of Michael Thomas, a report came out yesterday that the Saints are open to dealing him. This report came from Mike Florio, so grain of salt and all, but it did lead to me reading a rumor that Thomas’ teammates hate him and secretly call him “Can’t Stand Mike,” a play on his “Can’t Guard Mike” Twitter handle. I found this hilarious and very much want it to be true.

Let’s raise a glass to Panthers backup RB and fantasy football savior Mike Davis, as his gravy train likely comes to a halt after today with the impending return of Christian McCaffery. The New Orleans rush defense is very good, so I don’t see him going out in a blaze of glory, but his out-of-nowhere statistical bonanza deserves to be celebrated.

Buffalo Bills (-10) at New York Jets

LOL Jets Head Coach Adam Gase still hasn’t been fired despite losing 24-0 to Miami last week. What’s it gonna take, I wonder? A second consecutive shutout may do it, but the Bills defense has been terrible, so it’ll take a real commitment to ineptitude for the Jets to put up their second squadoosh in a row. NY QB Sam Darnold is returning to the lineup, but he’s going to be without his best weapon, WR Jamison Crowder. I honestly feel terrible for poor Sam, as he was drafted into the worst situation I can remember. At least David Carr was hit enough that he likely doesn’t remember ALL of the bad stuff. 

Nearly all of the Bills’ TEs are in the COVID-19 protocol, so I’m not sure how they’re gonna address that. BRING BACK JAY RIEMERSMA!

Dallas Cowboys at Washington Football Team (-1)

The Cowboys being underdogs against Washington is hilarious, even more so because it’s justified. I thought QB Andy Dalton would do a decent job leading the Cowboys offense last week against Arizona, and I was very, very wrong. I still think he can get his shit together somewhat, but the ceiling for this team has been lowered to “Darren Sproles might have to duck a bit” height. I can only condone watching this game for schadenfreude purposes, but even that’s stretching it. Any more than a quarter is just straight-up masochism.

Green Bay Packers (-3.5) at Houston Texans

I’m simultaneously excited to watch this game and struggling to come up with anything novel to say about it. I’m interested to see how Green Bay deploys their awesome CB Jaire Alexander, as whichever Texans WR avoids him is likely to be peppered with targets. Shoutout to Will Fuller’s hamstrings for holding up so far and allowing him to kick ass. 

As of right now it looks like Green Bay will be without studly RB Aaron Jones and sexy touchdown beast TE Robert Tonyan, which isn’t great. But, if there’s one opponent where you should still be ok using a backup RB, it’s the Houston Texans and their atrocious rush defense. Wait, why am I picking Houston? Whatever, fuck it, the heart wants what the heart wants.

LATE GAMES

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-5) at Las Vegas Raiders

A couple of days ago, it looked like the entire Las Vegas offensive line might miss this game due to being placed on the COVID-19/Reserve list. As of this writing, all those beefy boys are cleared to play, which is good news since they’re going against Tampa Bay’s top-shelf defense (ranked #1 in defensive DVOA). Even with their full compliment of offensive personnel, I still predict many hilarious angry and frustrated faces from Jon Gruden.

Tampa Bay has decided to sign WR Antonio Brown, despite already having two Pro Bowl-caliber receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. It’s pretty clear this signing was done entirely because QB Tom Brady wanted it, as Brady has been pushing for his team to sign Brown going back to last year in New England. It’s so weird, Tom Brady doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would advocate for an emotionally unstable and supremely narcissistic accused rapist who’s left multiple organizations in disarray upon his unceremonious departure.  

Kansas City Chiefs (-7.5) at Denver Broncos

Fuck yeah, our first potential snow game of the year! The gametime forecast as of right now calls for 5-degree windchill temps with a 35-40 percent chance of flakes throughout. That sounds horrible to play in, but glorious to watch. If we don’t get at least one shot of steam rising off of an offensive lineman’s head I’m gonna be pissed. I’m curious to see what Kansas City does with newly acquired RB Le’Veon Bell in this game. He’s definitely played in more winter-weather games than my boy Clyde Edwards-Helaire, so do they give him more carries this week than they would normally? I hope not, but I can definitely see the argument for it.

San Francisco 49ers at New England Patriots (-3)

I’m a little shaken (relatively, I’m not a complete lunatic) by how shitty New England, and Cam Newton in particular, looked against Denver last week. The lack of practice time due to multiple COVID-related outbreaks is a valid reason for it, but still. I think the Niners are the much better team when healthy, but they’re gonna be missing their best RB Raheem Mostert for this game (and the next few), which does impede their power-run game somewhat. Backup Jerick McKinnon is still very good, he just has a different, less-demoralizing style. Handsome Jimmy will have to make some plays, and I think he can do just enough. The overall talent gap will be too much for NE to overcome, I fear.

Jacksonville Jaguars at Los Angeles Chargers (-7.5)

The Jags have lost five straight games coming into this one, while the Chargers have dropped four in a row. Something’s gotta give! I will say that the Jacksonville losses seem more depressing (3 of them were by double-digits), while even though L.A. is losing, they at least feel exciting. A shiny rookie QB who looks decent will do that, I guess. Still, I’m riding with my man Minshew to cover one last time here. If he fails, well, I think it’ll be time for us to go our separate ways. “Separate Ways” by Journey is also what plays in Gardiner Minshew’s helmet speaker instead of play calls, coincidentally. 

SNF: Seattle Seahawks (-3.5) at Arizona Cardinals

Seattle’s already abysmal secondary is going to be down Pro Bowl safety Jamal Adams for this one, so Cards QB Kyler Murray should be able to sling it around with relative ease. His best weapon, WR Deandre Hopkins is Questionable with a lingering ankle injury, but he’s been playing through it so far and it hasn’t seemed to slow him much. I think this is the week the magic runs out for the Seahawks, and they take their first L of the season. Russell Wilson can’t bail them out EVERY time. Probably. This game is likely to be the stylistic opposite of the Monday nighter, because...

MNF: Chicago Bears at Los Angeles Rams (-6)

...all signs point to this being a butt-ugly game. I like good defense, don’t get me wrong, but nobody should purposely watch Nick Foles and Jared Goff play QB against competent defenses. I suppose I can see some entertainment value in getting to see both Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack torment quarterbacks in the same game, but I think I’m gonna pass for the same reason that I don’t really like to watch animals get eaten in nature shows. I get that it’s the way things are meant to happen, but damn. I’m a real wimp, by the way.

Last Week’s Record: 7-7

Season Record: 44-38-4