#and went “Wow! I wanna look like that!”

[hcsiqs]

TALK TOO MUCH— paige bueckers x famous!reader

༊*·˚ summary: while doing the wired autocomplete interview, you reveal your celebrity crush to be the famous athlete, Paige Bueckers

༊*·˚ warnings: use of y/n, reader is close friends with renee rapp

༊*·˚ author's note: and after months away...here i am so it might be a little rusty my bad yall

You sat down in the chair that was placed perfectly in back center of the all-white room you had just arrived in a few moments prior. Your makeup artist and hair stylist both came up and made some quick fixes before giving a nod to the crew behind the camera that you were ready.

You sat in the chair with your arms resting against the arms of the chairs as the director gave you the cue to start, "Hi guys! It's Y/N Y/L/N, and this is the Wired Autocomplete Interview" you beamed at the camera doing a small wave. You were then handed a card that was made to look like a Google search bar with questions, with certain parts being blocked out by a white piece of paper.

The first board was questions mostly about where you grew up and how you got your start in music, some even asking about your hometown friends. Two boards later you were handed one that had most questions starting with "who".

You held up the board to the camera as you pealed the first question up, "Who is Y/N Y/L/N's inspiration?" you read out loud before tapping your finger against your lips. "I don't know exactly. I feel like I get inspiration for my music from a lot of different artists, but also from the place I grew up and the people I grew up with" you told the camera truthfully, "But, I have really been loving Renee Rapp right now" you smiled, giving your closest friend a small shoutout.

You continued answering a few more questions before peeling the last one off, reading it as you went, "Who is Y/N Y/L/N's celebrity crush?" you read out before slapping your hand to your face and shaking your head no. "Oh Gosh," you laughed softly as your face warmed, the crew behind the camera laughing with you.

"Wow you guys really wanna know my dark secrets" you smiled as you tossed the board off to the side. You bit down on your bottom lip, as you tilted your head side to side, debating if you should tell the entire internet you your celebrity crush was.

Ultimately, you decided that since you were an artist and she was an athlete there was no way your fans crossed between you two, and there was absolutely no way she knew who you were and would see this interview.

"Ugh, okay, okay, I'll tell y'all," you said, covering your face with your hands for a second to calm yourself before letting a small smile fall on your lips as you remove your hands from your face. "Paige Bueckers," you smiled, tilting your head slightly, "And do not tell her! Or I'll like die," you laughed, pointing your finger at the camera.

You finished out the next few boards, cracking jokes, or sometimes leaving answers your fans would have to dissect to figure out your true answer, but soon enough the interview finished and you thanked the crew and said your goodbyes before heading home.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Several weeks passed and you had completely forgotten about your little mention of the star athlete in the video until you were scrolling on TikTok. An edit of the blonde popped up, but much to your shock the intro was a clip of you from the WIRED video talking about the girl before it cut to several velocity-style clips of her, with one of your songs playing in the background. Your eyes then wandered down to the caption which read, "y/n is so real for that" followed by several hashtags.

You then let your curiosity get the best of you as you opened the comments to see what people were saying, some nice and some not so much.

BRO NOT MY FAVS COLLIDING

paige has got to see this

Yall we just lost Paige to whoever this is

not her shooting her shot...and its def not gonna go in

need them together actually

PLEASE never media train her

You couldn't help but scroll in the comments for what seemed like forever before the notification fell from the top of your screen as your phone vibrated lightly. It read with Renee's name at the top with the small phone symbol beside it, you clicked the small answer button and answered the phone, the sound of the girl on the other side dying laughing cutting through.

"Bitch there is no fucking way!" Renee cackled, and you could hear her hitting the couch between each of her words. "Oh My God, I love you so much baby, but exposing yourself like that is crazy work," she spoke into the phone, her laughter dying down.

You groaned, mentally smacking yourself, "I don't even know why I said it! Shit, what if she sees it and thinks I'm some fucking weirdo..." you rambled, before the girl on the other side of the line cut you off.

"Chill. She's not gonna think you're a weirdo," she said, attempting to calm your nerves. "She has like thousands of random ass people talking about her all the time, you're fine."

"Why did no one shut me up," you said, pacing around your living room before feeling your phone buzz with the name paigebueckers appearing in the notification. "She just dmed me," your mouth dropped open as you told your best friend as she encouraged you to open it.

paigebueckers Soooo someone told me about your crush. But like don't die though

You opened up the message and started typing out your apology as quickly as you could.

ynyln omg im so sorry!! i literally didn't think you'd see it and completely forgot i said it after i finished the thing

paigebueckers You're good 🤣

paigebueckers I’ll always take a compliment from a pretty girl

And with that message, you practically launched your face into one of the pillows on the couch as you felt the blood rush to your cheeks and your body went warm.

ynyln oh godddd stopppp😭😭

[w1shfullthink1ng]

𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔…𝐀𝐓 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐈 𝐃𝐎

paige bueckers x cheer!fem!reader

DESCRIPTION/ at the wnba draft you & paige show up together finally debuting y’all relationship

WARNINGS/ none (use of y/n AHHH ik ik pls 😔🔫 i swear i only use it like once!! don’t shoot the messenger girl didn’t you write this? shhh )

YOU WHERE IN THE HOTEL BATHROOM GETTING READY….safe to say you where scared no terrified for tonight. You put on your best face but you where drowning in your own mind “what if this goes wrong” “the medias ruthless” “what if-“ and that’s when paige’s voice brought you out of your head and back to reality

“you almost ready baby?” you shoot her a soft smile trying the mask your anxiousness “yeah..” you try your best to sound put together but after a year of being together and being friends for 3 she knows you like the back of her hand. “Hey..” she approached you gently her voice soft and comforting “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours hm?” she cups your face and moves a stand of hair out of your face tucking it behind your ear

you sigh softy “just nervous about tonight” you admit “if your having second thoughts we don’t have to-“ “no no I’m not having second thoughts well..maybe but I want this I do but you know with the media knowing and how they are it’s just nerve wracking and I don’t wanna ruin anything with you I know you have your NIL contract and stuff-“

she has a look of slight disbelief on her face “woah woah woah. you don’t wanna “ruin anything with me” baby you’re the best thing that ever happened to me you could never “ruin” anything in my life ever. so get that thought out of your head and as for the media screw ‘em people are always gonna have something to say. Plus if you don’t got haters then you ain’t poppin.” she says with a soft smirk. “You got me, I got you we’re good alright?” you nod her words of reassurance easing all your worries “Now come on pretty girl we have a draft to get to, and I need my gorgeous girl with me” she smiles placing her hands on your hips “okay okay let’s go” you laugh softly

You guys arrive to the draft squeezing your hand “Come on ma, you got this keep your head up you look beautiful baby, i’ll be with you the whole time okay?” she kisses your forehead softly her words gentle and sweet easing all of your worries “here we go” you sigh plastering a soft smile on your face as you take paige’s hand and head inside

The walk to the building was filled with cameras & people. The camera snaps few photos of you & paige an interviewer comes up to you guys and asks a few questions to paige like “what are you wearing tonight?” “Here to support Nika Mühl?” “How are you feeling about possibly getting drafted next year?” the suddenly the attention was pulled to you “Paige we see you brought a new face as your plus one tonight care to introduce us?” the interviewer asks with a smile “This is y/n, she’s my beautiful girlfriend”

You smiled softly and wave. You weren’t used to this many cameras sure there was a lot of people & cameras at uconn games but nothing like this, and definitely not this up close and personal. Paige had her arm wrapped around your waist and squeezed your hip a silent acknowledgment that she was there for you. The reporter smiled at you and paige “Girlfriend? wow what a surprise, y/n you look beautiful how are you feeling tonight.” “Definitely a little nervous but I have paige with me so I know i’ll be alright and i’m so proud of Nika just came to show my support for her as well.” the interviewer smiled “Y’all are just adorable if you don’t mind me asking how did you two meet?” paige had that stupid smirk you loved on her face. She loved telling the story.

“Well this pretty thing here is Uconn’s sweetheart she’s a cheerleader and she was cheering with all the other cheerleaders at one of our basketball games and I made a shot but after it went in it somehow bounced over and hit her head-“ you shake your head in embarrassment and giggle “Gosh paige don’t-“ she just laughs and shush’s you “Shh baby let me finish. ahem. anyways as I was saying it hit her head so I run up to her and apologize but I look at her and it hit me when I looked in her eyes I was like woah this is genuinely the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen so yeah I found her after the game got her number.” she winks.

The interviewer laughs finding the story so cute but I bud in “Paige thinks she has so much rizz yeah she may have got my number that day but it took her a WHOLE YEAR for her to ask me out” paige rolls her eyes playfully “Aye chill good things take time” the interviewer smiled and was amused by you and paige “Y’all are just the cutest, thank you both so much for your time it was so nice to meet you y/n thank you paige for sharing her.” paige smiles and reply’s “Of course but don’t y’all get to comfortable she’s mine.”

After all the draft night the media fell in love with you just as much as paige did loving your hospitality and transparency. Sure they’re was a few homophobic assholes but there was more positive feedback and so much support from everyone. You could say that everyone adored you…especially paige.

A/N still haven’t gotten over paige’s draft fit it was absolute perfection she’s so beautiful. also I apologize for being so inactive with finals & then the holidays your girl has been BUSYYY (I wake up everyday & there’s always smth to do i’m sick of it😾) but thank you for the love & support on my last blurb it’s so appreciated also TYSM for 30 followers ily all from the bottom of my heart. My inbox is open for yap sessions, unlicensed therapy sessions (i will always listen to y’all but samantha jones once said “we’re as fucked up as you are it’s like the blind leading the blind”) & requests are open !!

thanks for reading, love you always

wish signing off 🪽

[verycoolusername1]

Under The Mistletoe

Summary: You're at the annual holiday party with the team, and you're found under the mistletoe with your hot co-worker

A/N: Did the summary eat or what? Cole is such a cutie pie... like actually just look at him

And a stranger things reference even tho I don't care much for the show anymore, very funny reference that some people might not get- long story short finn wolfhard(Mike) sees himself as a bad kisser

You debated whether or not to go to the holiday party hosted by the team or to just have a cozy night in. The latter seeming tempting at the moment.

You sighed as you shook your head. You promised your co-worker Emily you would be there and make it the best night ever(her words).

Your dress hugged you well in ways you only imagined, the emerald dress fitting you perfectly.

You finally left the warmth of your car and entered the surprisingly not as loud house. Full of habs, some wags, and others part of the team.

Emily immediately squealed when she saw you, leaving a conversation.

"Oh my god, you look amazing." She hugged you tightly.

You chuckled in her embrace. "Oh uh it's nothing, you know that."

"Nothing? I never get to see you all dolled up like this. If I were your man, I wouldn't be able to take my hands off you." Emily winked.

You scoff at Emily's words. "Okay, okay, I think I know what you mean."

"Maybe tonight Cole will finally realize his undying love for you." Emily whispered, causing you to glare at her.

"No need to say it out loud." You hissed.

"Oh look, he's right over there." Emily moved you where you saw Cole laughing at something, someone had said.

Cole, feeling eyes on him, found yours and sent a warm smile.

"Go get your man!" Emily hushed as she pushed you forward.

You smiled shyly at Cole. He took a couple of steps towards you, meeting in the middle.

"Wow..." Cole looked you up and down. "You look beautiful."

"Oh thanks, didn't wanna go all out." You explained with a shrug.

"Well you look nice, you always do!" Cole exclaimed. "You um look extra nice in emerald... suits you."

"Thank you. I never wore this dress before." You smiled.

Juraj whistles. "Y/n and Cole under the mistletoe!"

That made you perk up and look up and see that, in fact, you were under the mistletoe. You two have been talking for at least five minutes? Did he know this whole time?

Cole's face was tinted pink when his eyes met yours.

"We don't have to do anything, just a dumb tradition." You told him.

Cole chuckled. "Oh no, believe me, I want to."

You kissed his cheek softly. "Well there you go."

You begin to walk away when Cole grabbed your wrist and spun you into his chest.

"Didn't know you had moves, Caufield." You say, suprised.

Cole grinned at your words. "Just wanted a kiss from a pretty girl... properly this time. Can you blame me for being ambitious?"

You lean in, feeling confident. "Then kiss me, sweetheart, no one's stopping you."

That was all Cole needed for confirmation. He leaned in. His lips met yours in a soft and sweet kiss that grew more passionate as time went on.

"Oh cole cmon don't eat her now!" Emily called out, making everyone laugh.

Cole pulled away sheepishly. "Sorry."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." You shook your head. "Let's get away from this mistletoe, seems to bring nothing but attention."

Cole laughed and led you to the kitchen. "Yeah, at least now we can kiss in here."

"Oh hell no, don't you dare make a child in my kitchen." Nick looked at the two of you with a warning look.

Cole groans in frustration. "Damn it!"

[flowersdiceandlove]

I got the tgcf official books last year around this time. I got the first four for Christmas and the last four for my birthday. My birthday’s at the start of February so it made sense to split it that way. For every single one of my birthdays, there has always been a theme. It’s just the tradition my mom set and I love it so we keep doing it. Because of the books and how much I love them, last year’s theme was Heaven Official’s Blessing.

My birthday last year was actually pretty rough bc of medical stuff, but I was really, really happy to have the books. When I first read the series before the official translation, I was going through a hard time and the series really helped me through it. It brought so much joy and happiness to my life, making me laugh and squeal in turn at all the antics and sweet moments. And after I finished it, remembering Xie Lian helped me get through even more. Remembering him and all he went through and how he’s still the same kind and caring person, how he keeps going and persevering, not letting things keep him down for too long, and staying true to himself when it most matters, really, really helped me.

I thought was just going to fly right through the eight books because of how much I love them, but turns out I’ve been dragging my feet and only just started the eighth about a week ago. Lmao. I guess since I already knew what happens, I wasn’t sitting on the edge of my seat to find out “what next.” I still remember the first time I read it and Xie Lian first arrived at the Gambler’s Den. That chapter left on a cliff hanger and I was barely containing my excitement at them meeting again and Xie Lian seeing Hua Cheng’s real appearance.

I love them so much.

Hua Cheng is probably one of my all time favorite characters. I love his personality. His charm, his playfulness, his teasing.His devotion is literally on the next level. Like dude. Wow. I bow to you #1 Simp King. I mean that with the upmost respect, really. It is impressive. That level of loyalty and trust and yearning is admirable. His perseverance and how he gained power? Wow. His sense of justice, his trickiness with his words… He’s awesome. I aspire to be as much of a badass gay simp boss as he is one day. He is GOALS. Especially his style. Like damn. He’s hot. I wanna look like that. But I would like to keep both my eyes, please.

…what was i talking about again? Uh… I don’t remember my point.

Anyway, I love hualian. I love tgcf. I’m so happy I have them😊

Oh, also, I don’t know when I got this, but I love it cause it reminds me of the wraith butterflies and subsequently Hua Cheng, Hualian, tgcf, and all those wonderful feelings. I don’t know if you can see it too well in the photo, but the white part on the wings sparkles and the transparent white fabric of the wings itself sparkles in the light too.

[dood-itsradical]

Lost Cause.

Pairing: Vasco/Euntae Lee x F!Reader

Summary: Dense Vasco. That's it.

Genre/Trope: Comedy, fluff, slow fucking burn, hopeless romantic x oblivious.

Details: 1.6k words, non established relationship/crush, tomboy!reader, reader are childhood friends with Mary and Vin Jin.

A/n: That one blogger was right. Vasco not getting a oneshot is a crime. I hope this answer anyone's prayer. As always I don't do requests.

Masterlist

“What do you want?” Jace crossed his arms over his chest, blocking your path. You scoffed, “Out of the way, monkey. I need to talk to Vasco.” You simply pushed his big head out of the way as he yelped. “Hey!” As you marched forward he follows behind. “Stop! In the name of justice!”

Ignoring him, you keep a calming pace towards the leader of Burn Knuckles with Jace still hot on your tail. “Oi! What business to you have with him?” Again you spare no reply. “What's that on your hand? Show me!”

“Jace!” Mary emerged in front of him. Giving him a good view of her 'mountains'. He clicked his tongue in frustration, “Not now, Mary. I'm busy.” “I know. We can be busy together.” She grinned, playfully pulling on his ear while giving you a knowing side glance. Allowing you to continue your objective.

You approached Vasco, slowly pulling out the item from your back.

“Vasco! Look out!” Jace warned as he slid to the side from Mary and leaped forward. Your eyes widened at the sudden attack, causing you to miss your footing. The box opened on its own mid air cinematically in slow motion over Vasco's face.

Pause. So Let's recap.

You have a crush Vasco. It just came over you. It's a silly crush, you thought to yourself. It's a never ending phase, though the sooner you start to realise that you're actually turning whipped for this buffoon. You told no one at first, thinking it's a piece of cake to confess your feelings by asking him to a simple hangout. But to your utter disappointment, you often stammer your ass out and shift on your spot like an idiot. Deciding that it's officially an issue you need to overcome, you went to your best friends for help.

You learnt two things that day. One, never talk about your feelings. Two, never talk about your feelings to Vin Jin. Because you can always guarantee another two things to happen from him if you do. That is he will laugh right at your face and mock you after. Stuff like quote unquote “killing two birds with one stone”. But no, this is killing one bird with two stones.

To be fair you blamed it on yourself. You should know his antics by now and in the end you pay the prize. You hardly took it personally. At first. Other side of you thought he was right. You, having a crush on the Burn Knuckle’s leader? That airhead out of all people. Vin Jin’s word, not yours. Mary was considerate enough to beat his ass as for you. But you don't deny the fact. Crushes are stupid. However, the constant teasing never goes unpunished by you because it's starting to actually get on your fucking nerves.

Your fist left a transparent smoke after feeding Vin one of your tasty punches as he lays there flat on his back. His face left a visible outline of your knuckles.

Mary crouched down, “Wow, that's gotta leave a mark.”

“No shit.” Vin choked. “What the hell? Are you on your period or somethin’?”

You sneered, slowing the smoke off your fist. “Nah. You got a bug on your face.” Vin scoffed back. Immediately after that Mary turned to you. “So any luck with your future husband?”

At the mention of the topic your shoulders slumped, “No…” Mary stood back up, now facing you. “Why? Just tell him right to his face. What's the worst gonna happen?” Before you could even answer, she clinged her arm around yours, “C’mon, let's go! I wanna see Jace.” and dragged you away from the classroom, leaving Vin behind. “Oi.”

“Can you quit it?” Jace sighed but took no action regarding Mary pulling with his huge ears. “Nah.”

Meanwhile, you are gaining your courage for your operation to confess your feelings to Vasco. He was first to greet you, pausing his dumbbells mid air like they weight nothing. “Hey, (Name).”

“Hey.” You said casually. “What's up?” or better yet awkwardly. You hardly remember the rest of the conversation after that. Three easy words, that's it. That's literally it. Yet it felt harder than pulling your punches.

“(Name) like Vasco?” Mary nodded. Jace added, “Damn.”

You cleared your throat, “Listen, I got something to tell you. It's important. Sort of.”

He sets down the dumbbells, now fully have his attention on yours, “What is it?”

At the same time Jace and Mary continue to observe both of you.

“She gonna say it? She better said it. How hard can it be?” All the sudden Jace seem to root for you.

“Listen.” You exhaled, fisted formed on your sides. “I…I like you.”

Vasco pulled a small grin, “Really? Ah, that's good. I like you too.”

“R-really?”

He nodded, “Of course. Why wouldn't I? We're friends aren't we?”

We're friends aren't we?

Friends aren't we?

Friends we.

Friends.

Both Mary and Jace winced. The word seems to echo even they can feel it.

It was until then the news spread quickly to Vin’s ear. He bursted into laughter while pointing at you. “No fucking way! He fucking said that?!”

You and Mary immediately shut him the fuck up with your own fists.

You sulked in the corner as Mary sighed, “Well, that's that. He's a lost cause.”

“That's not his fault! He's just slow.” You bit your knuckles, crying comically. You then stop abruptly once an idea hits you. “I know! I'mma just dress it.”

She cocked her brow, “Dress what?” You pulled a condescending grin, “Dress to impress that's what.”

Shrugging to your idea, you later found yourself wearing a decent attire with a bouquet of flowers in your hand. Only for your knees to tremble out of nervousness. Again.

“You suck, (Name).” Mary deadpanned.

“Don't I know that already?!” You barked. You inhaled then stood up straight. “I can do this!”

“You can do this!” She cheered, raising one leg up.

Again you found yourself pacing away from the reserved place to meet Vasco. “I can't do this.” “Hey!” Mary exclaimed. This time she didn't follow you. Vin joined her, “Well that's a bummer- ugh!” He clenched his gut at Mary's brief elbow blow.

Your snickers scratched lazily on the concrete. You tossed the bouquet into the nearest trash bin. Your mind starts to pondered the irony of the male species' difficulty to ask a woman out. Even to spare even the smallest amount of their confession and it baffles you greatly. You know that this isn't your first rodeo. Even in elementary and middle school you failed the subject of love. You tried. You really tried. But they often claimed you as scary or that ‘girls can't act like boys, it's unattractive’. And although those words seem to do a number on you, it wasn't enough to change you entirely. Instead you embraced it and endure your crushes in silence.

You groaned and yelled to the sky, “All this because I like a fucking boy!!”

The birds gawked upon you, basically mocking you.

“Shut up!” You barked back, sitting down on one of the swings. Your shoulder slumped once more before you started swinging slowly.

“(Name)!”

You almost fly from your seat by the booming voice. You turned over your shoulder. “V-Vasco! Hey, man. My dude.” You stood up, clearing your throat and shoot him finger guns. “What...are you doing here?”

“I came to see you.” Vasco scratched his head and handed you a small card. “You dropped this. It has your name on it.”

You took it from him and read it through. You froze once you realise this is your card that comes with the flowers that you planned to give it to him. You decided to just brush it off subtly while trying to hide your disappointment, “Oh thanks. Nearly lost this…”

“Glad to help. Don't want that person to think it's from anyone else but you.” You couldn't help but smile at his words. You love that he's considerate. The size of his golden heart is what makes you fall for him. Too bad he's just too dense to see it. And come to think of it, maybe it wasn't too bad. You are grateful enough to be able to stand this close to talk to him. It was better to just shoot your shot and go the flow.

“Hey.” You started, more loosely this time. “Are you hungry? Maybe you and I can hit the ramen shop like right now? My treat.”

He blinked before beaming with joy at the mention of food. “Would I?”

Now that part settles it, you can now confirm that you and Vasco…are no close to being a couple, sadly. But you actually didn't complain. Although shutting Vin up is a hassle, you still get to see Vasco more often. Giving him your homemade goods is one of them.

“Vasco! Look out!” Jace warned as he slid to the side from Mary and leaped forward. Your eyes widened at the sudden attack, causing you to miss your footing. The box opened on its own mid air cinematically as they fell right on Vasco's face.

“Shit! Vasco!” Jace stood back up, you followed suit, pushing pass him with roughly.

“Vasco! I am so sorry!” You carefully pulled the tupperware off Vasco’s face to see how much damage have you done.

And to your relieve, barely.

“Mm! Strawberry. Did you make these?” Vasco licked the cream cake from his cheek.

You blinked twice before nodding, “Uh, yeah. Of course. Sorry about that." You reached for your handkerchief to wipe the mess off of him.

Jace watched in disbelief. “What? It's not a bomb?” Your neck cracked, turning to give Jace a death glare, veins popping on your forehead. “Bomb? What expired milk did you drink today?”

“Do you have more?” Vasco licked his finger.

You turn back with a happy grin, “Of course! I'll go get it right now.” You sprint away from the scene, not forgetting to give Jace a threatening gaze as he shivers with fear.

During lunch break Vasco devour your desserts like a starving man. Jace watched with anticipation as he spoke, “You know (Name) likes you right?”

Vasco nodded with mouthful, “Yeah! I like her too.”

“No, as in she like like you. She has a romantic crush on you, Vasco.” Jace corrected himself. Vasco paused mid chew as he processed the news.

“Huh?!” Food spat out of his mouth.

[dragonfruitghosts]

So I might’ve gotten a bit too silly with giving Kinito the markings and also decided it would be funny to give them heterochromia

But in my defense: It’s funny and I prioritize my entertainment over everything else (also my brother validated this silly ass design and that’s all that matters) /j

Anyways piebald Kinito real

It’s my favorite beast ever, the silliest guy

[starry-bi-sky]

(Part of this post with older brother danyal al ghul)

...Okay, look. Sam knows she's staring. She knows very well that she is staring. And that if she doesn't stop staring it's gonna draw her unwanted attention, and that will only have to make her explain why she's staring. Which she doesn't want to do.

She's trying not to stare, which she thinks she should get brownie points for. She tries to look away, to find a spot on the wall to stare lifelessly at, maybe she can burn holes into some of these annoying socialites' heads. But eventually her eyes drift, and suddenly she's back to staring again.

Can you blame her though? Damian Wayne looks like a very close mini-me of her fucking best friend. Seriously, it's like looking into a mirror to the past. If that mirror to the past had green eyes rather than blue and a distinctive lack of a facial scar.

The first time she sees him when her parents drag her over to Bruce Wayne to butter up to him she has to do a doubletake. Then a triple take. Then a quadruple take, just for good measure that she was seeing what she was actually seeing. She was sure she looked like one of those stress toys that when squeezed had their eyes pop out comically like a Saturday morning cartoon, that's what she certainly felt like anyways.

Look, Danny's come a decent way from being that scowl-y, jerkish little ten year old she first met when he arrived like the wind to Amity Park five years ago (even if he was still occasionally scowl-y and jerkish), but one thing that's stayed the same is how reserved he is about his home life prior to being taken in by the Fentons.

He doesn't talk about it much, and Sam's come to know that he's very good at changing the subject when it gets brought up. Even after being friends for nearly four years, the only thing she and Tuck know for certain is that he has a little brother that he refers to as 'starlight', whom he cares a lot about but left on really bad terms with. And that he's never met his father, but wants to and knows who he is.

He's never told her or Tucker who he was though, and glancing at Bruce Wayne, Sam is realizing why. She can begrudgingly acknowledge all the good he's done for Gotham, but... well, if Danny told her that Bruce Wayne was his dad, she wouldn't have believed him at all.

But she's starting to see the resemblance, as subtle as it is.

And she sees the resemblance to Damian Wayne, her eyes dropping back down to him as he wears a very Danny-like scowl on his face, arms crossed behind his back as his eyes swept around the ballroom. He was five years younger than Danny, and god it was so, so weird.

His eyes turned on to her, and they locked gazes for a moment.

Involuntarily, Sam makes a startled noise and looks away. Fingers tap against her purse, black and purple and unfortunately a clutch that only held her phone and her wallet in it. She would have kept a knife on her, but her parents put their foot down and there was a security detail at the door. Only in Gotham.

Silently, she was hoping that the little Danny-me didn't say anything. Or at least, he hadn't noticed her staring. Which was a tall order if she ever heard one -- and unfortunately, her silent prayers went unanswered as her mother's eyes dropped down onto her.

"Did you say something, Samantha?" She asks in a sickeningly sweet voice, a sound that makes Sam's skin crawl. Her dad and Bruce Wayne's attention also turns onto her, and she glowers at her mom from the corner of her eye.

"I didn't say anything." Sam says, barely keeping her tone polite as she turned her head away. Her mother clucks her tongue, disapproving, but from her peripherals doesn't pester her more

Bruce Wayne, the bastard, takes that time to turn to Sam and grace her with his dime-a-dozen billboard smiles. "I've been talking with your parents this whole time, Miss Manson, you must be terribly bored. How is your schooling going?"

Sam eyes him up and down. On one hand, she immediately wants to be snarky. It's none of his business what her school life is like, she doesn't care for his fucking small talk.

On the other hand, this was Danny's whole father. Someone who she knows that Danny has wanted to meet for, what she's assuming, his whole life. He's never brought it up much, but she remembers that very quiet, solemn conversation she and Tucker had with him where he admits to having never met his dad. But god does he want to.

And... wait. Sam's eyes narrow, and she meets Bruce Wayne's eyes. Does this man even know Danny exists? She drops her gaze down to Damian, who was staring at her suspiciously, and then back up to Bruce, and she alternates between them.

Why was Damian living with Bruce, but not Danny? Why hasn't Bruce done anything to reach out to him - what was going on with Danny's biological family that Danny had to be separated from them, but not Damian? Danny's always been kinda mysterious, but now things weren't adding up.

Was Danny given up? Does Bruce just not want Danny, but wanted Damian? Why the fuck does Bruce Wayne know about Damian but not her best friend -- or does he know and just not care? He's fought for custody for his adoptive kids before, does he just not want to fight for his other biological son? Does he think Danny's not worth it?

She's never cared much about the Wayne family before, other than to hear about the advancements on WE's eco-friendly tech, but Sam thinks she's gonna have to look into why Damian Wayne was living with the Waynes.

Slowly, with a protective anger beginning to burn in her gut and crawl up her throat, a scowl slowly curls at the corner of her lip as she redirects her glare from her mother onto Bruce. "It's going fine," She says curtly, jutting her chin out defiantly. "Me and my friend Danny started a petition to fix the leaky faucets in the girls and boys' bathrooms in order to conserve more water for the rest of the city."

She eyes his face, waiting to see if anything like recognition flashes through it. And- and nothing. Sam breathes in slowly through her nose, trying to quell the red that's blurring the edge of her vision -- does he just, not know where Danny is?

Her parents however, make vaguely displeased expressions. "Our Samantha is... quite passionate about her pet projects." Her dad says, laughing low and nervously, "she's very vocal about silly things like that."

"Her friend Daniel is perhaps even worse than she is sometimes." Her mother adds on, fanning her face with her perfectly manicured hands with a sigh. "I swear, he's the one that keeps dragging her into these things."

Sam's anger turns on its head, and she whirls on her heel like a fire-breathing dragon. "It's Danyal." It rolls out like instinct. Danny's told them both that he hates the Americanized pronunciation of his name, but in a rare moment of restraint, puts up with it for reasons unknown to her. "And Danny doesn't make me do anything, it was my idea."

The name, Danyal, seems to ring some kind of bell in Brucie Wayne's head, because she sees him and Damian quietly perk up like two cats pricking up their ears. Her eyes flick onto him immediately, something dangerous rearing its head. So Bruce Wayne knows about Danny. And he's not reaching out to him. Is he? She's not sure.

She does know that she's gonna rip his throat out if she finds out that he's known about Danny this entire time and has been ignoring him while favoring his little brother. She'll hunt down Aragon herself and steal his dragon-shifting amulet and wreck house on Bruce Wayne if that's the case. Batman and his league of vigilantes be damned. Her parents don't notice her slowly turning head towards Bruce.

But Bruce does, and she makes direct eye contact with him. His smile doesn't falter, he just tilts his head like a curious puppy and looks at Sam's parents. She hopes Bruce can read minds, she hopes he can hear her threatening him.

"Danyal?" He asks, and Sam doesn't know if she hates the fact that he said it correctly or not. She just continues burning holes into him and hoping he might spontaneously combust.

Her mother waves her hand dismissively, tilting her nose up poshly into the air. "Our dear Samantha's little... foster friend from school," she says, not even bothering to hide her disdain, "a creepy little boy with the most garish scar on his face. He's a rude little thing, not good for polite company."

Scratch that, Sam mentally alternates between ripping into her parents and Bruce. She whirls on them. "Do not talk about Danny that way." She all but snarls, and they all but ignore her.

(She's tearing up the upholstery when she gets home. She's going to paint over the fine china. She's going to do something to make them pay for this.)

"Oh yes, he was taken in by that freaky Fenton family a few years ago." Her dad continues in lieu of her mom, and they both shake their heads disapprovingly. "It's just what our city needs, another menace."

"Danny is not a menace." Sam continues, raising her voice while her hands shake with rage. Her parents finally look at her, but she can already tell that they're going to scold her for raising her voice. She bulldozes over them and jabs her black-painted finger at them. "He's got a bigger heart than the both of you combined."

"Samantha, please." her mom says, exasperated. They both give her disapproving looks, Sam thinks about grabbing champagne off the tray of a nearby waiter and throwing it in their faces. "You defend that boy far too much. What do you actually know about him and his family?"

Sam sets her jaw, puffing herself up like a dragon protecting its hoard. She steps into her mom's space. "I know that he loves the stars; you can ask him anything about astronomy and he could give you an entire lecture on the formation, class types, and various gasses that stars are made up of. He can tell you how the Earth was formed, he can tell you about the visible light spectrum and about light curves, and a whole ton of other stuff that I don't really understand. But Danny loves talking about it."

Her face twists and scowls, "I know he cares a ton about the environment and about fixing light pollution, and preserving the forests and natural habitats of animals." She nearly jabs her finger into her mom's chest, "I know he loves dogs, and that there's one he feeds every day on the way to school that he calls Cujo, its a St. Bernard puppy and Danny carries him around whenever he sees him after school, and is in the middle of training him."

It's not a total lie, but it's not the whole truth either. Cujo doesn't need food, but Danny gives him it anyways. "I know he likes spicy food and loves movies but specifically only sci-fi and horror, and he hates most martial arts movies. His favorite superhero is the Martian Manhunter, but Batman comes in at a close second." For reasons to her that were pretty unknown, but it didn't matter.

"I know he loves wordplay and making puns, which I would have never expected from him when we first met, but it's so unbelievably Danny-like that I can't imagine him not making puns." And she smiles a little to herself, she remembers the first time Danny intentionally made a pun once and it got startled laughs out of both her and Tucker.

Her smile suddenly falters, and she swallows. Her lips purse up, wobbling, and she very quickly glances over to Damian Wayne, of whom is watching her with a vaguely bewildered expression alongside Bruce.

She turns her eyes back onto her parents. "And I know that he worries a lot, even if he has a shit way of showing it. I know he had a little brother that he hasn't seen since he was adopted by the Fentons, and he doesn't talk about him often but when he does he he calls him 'starlight'." From the corner of her eye, she sees Damian jerk.

"So- so, so what if he's not 'good for polite company'." Sam's voice, embarrassingly, cracks down the middle. But she's so angry over Danny's behalf that she doesn't really care. "Or that he can be mean, and critical, and stubborn. He's learning, and he's becoming kinder by the day. That's more than I can say about you."

(She remembers when Danny finally admitted to her and Tucker being his 'closest friends'. It was sometime before the portal incident, and it felt like a milestone because beforehand he only really referred to them as his companions or allies.)

(At the time, he'd looked unsure of himself. Skittish like a stray in the back of an alleyway, almost shy in his own way. It had come out stilted, slow, like an infant taking its first steps, and it would have been endearing if it hadn't been heartbreaking.)

Her parents rear back like she'd struck them, and her mother holds a hand against her chest in aghast. Sam doesn't care, she blinks the sting out of her eyes. "Samantha." Her mother starts.

Sam cuts her off, "I don't care what you have to say, you-- you pricks." she snaps, around her, there are gasps. Belatedly, she realizes she's grown an audience, but again she doesn't care. "Danny might be an asshole, but he cares. And I'd rather be around someone whose mean but cares, than someone whose nice but doesn't."

With that, she whirls on her foot and turns on Bruce Wayne, who has been silent the entire time with a surprised expression on his face. He starts to shake out of it when Sam turns to him, but she doesn't give him the chance to speak. "Enjoy your party." She snarls, and then stalks away.

[elviraaxen]

I'm probably not the first to admit this but goddamn was I a narcissistic prick when I wasn't on stimulants

[moeblob]

Karen: LMAO every guy I meet reminds me of my big brothers that's so funny except if Paul is already my brother and you're also a brother that's a bit awkward, huh Hot bartender: THATS MOVING REALLY FAST AND I LIKE YOU AS A PERSON BUT - Karen: having my brothers date would be SO WEIRD Hot bartender: Well on the bright side I literally cannot speak more than five words to him so we aren't dating because he's so cute

(Everyone else: that is somehow the most depressing bright side we never want to hear)

[millyrocking]

y’all i watched the greatest rivalries dvd and BEST $10 ever spent. seriously. i want to sum up my thoughts and observations but honestly i need to watch it again to remember what i found particularly interesting and bits of information that helped clarify the unmaking of their relationship as well. it was a great interview and im so glad they were able to sit down TOGETHER and TALK. if i don’t procrastinate this, ill probably make a post about it this week if anyone’s interested.

[pileofpawns]

yeah

[ashmp3]

i know i said i would snork mimimi but i just took a shower and realized something okay story goes:boni pleaded me to sit with her on the floor this whole week and you guys my tailbone is bruised. Properly tender. like i don’t have enough ass for this it’s funny but painful like GIRL get urself together i was known for my volleyball player ass now i’m just a shadow this is tragic. TRAGIC.

[zenithpng]

..

[victory-cookies]

I wish I could handle myself in an argument without fucking crying

[running-in-the-dark]

-

[fexalted]

what's worse: my landlord telling us we should turn our heat down to 62 at night to save money or my mom actually listening and turning the heat down to 64 when we usually keep it at 66-67 at night